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I was banded on 12/15/11 and had my first fill on 1/15/11. I was going along fine until about a month ago. I just started to feel too tight, so I went into the Drs and had an unfill. Still too tight. I returned 2 weeks later and the removed all of the fluid, so I have an empty band. I can't keep anything down, not even pudding or yogurt. I don't really have any other symptoms besides a sore throat from all of the vomiting. Im going back to the Drs later this week to see what the next step is. Does this sound like a band slip? If I did have a slip, what are my options? Thanks!!

I hated crushing my pills for the first 10 days. It's smash them in a ziplock baggie then sprinkle them in a tablespoon of lite Cool Whip to help with the taste (couldn't do yogurt at the time). But after 10 days I had no problem. Just take it slow and spread out the times you take the big pills.

Obviously how one feels after surgery is different for everybody. I was lucky, not too much pain just some discomfort, I was walking around the same afternoon. The gas pains are annoying but they go away fairly soon. I had a specific plan to follow for the re-introduction of foods. One thing will remain the same, try to get in at least 64 oz of liquids every day and 60-80 grams of Protein. Most people start with a couple of days of Clear Liquids, Isopure for protein (you can buy it at Vitamin Shoppe or GNC) decaf coffee and decaf tea, all sugar free non-carbonated drinks, chicken, beef or vegetable broth, SF Jello and SF popsicles.....after that full liquids including regular Protein shakes, creamy soups, thinned out hot Cereal, thinned out yogurt, SF puddings, jello. After 2 weeks, move to pureed or mushy foods, hot cereals, softly scrambled eggs, soups, softly cooked meats and veggies (think crockpot meals) yogurt, cottage cheese with fruit, refried Beans with melted cheese, chili beans, mashed potatoes with canned chicken and gravy, tuna and any soft fish, stuff like that. At this stage of the diet, I was still drinking 2 protein shakes to meet my daily goals and lots of decaf hot and iced tea. At 4-6 weeks start introducing more solids, start slowly and see how you tolerate foods, move toward being able to get in at least 4 oz of a solid protein, then a non-starch veggie...try and stay away from carbs for the most part, if you do eat carbs have whole grains if possible. At 6 months out I can eat most things but not very much of them. I do still drink a Protein shake each day, and sometimes a Protein Bar as a snack. I was not hungry after surgery and it took a while to normalize and feel hunger come back, but not with a vengeance, and you get full so fast. I have 2 hiccups when I am full and that has happened since I had this surgery. A lot of people get these little burps/hiccups that signal fullness, or a runny nose, it's weird, but a good signal from the body. I feel normal, just that I can only eat very small meals, but you have to eat right to keep losing weight and exercising. That has to continue ...so be prepared, the sleeve is a tool, but you still have to make the right choices. I am so happy with my sleeve...down to a size 14 from a 3X-4X and I can walk for miles, and none of my old clothes fit, they are tent size on me....this is the best decision I ever made for myself. Good luck !!!!

I buy the small tubs of yogurt, they are about the same price as a 4 pack or buying a few singles @ .50 a pop. Then just measure out how much you want. Dannon light and fit comes in the tubs, which is probably the best yogurt for calories and carbs, at 80. Greek also comes in the tubs.

While I haven't been on a cruise POST OP, I have recently went on a cruise and I thought about what they had. First let me say there's a TON of options!! At every restaurant they are very happy to accommodate and please their guests. All the buffets have soups, yogurts, cottage cheese, applesauce, scrambled eggs etc. If I were in your shoes, I would pack stuff from home just in case. There will be a fridge in your room. Have so much fun!!!

You do not say when you had surgery. At 6 months post op my husband and I eat 1 boiled egg or 1 scrambled egg and cannot add anything extra because that fills us up. I would never make a casserole for the two of us and we steer clear of any kind of potato or pasta, and bread, because we do not want to go back to gaining weight. At 5 weeks post op I choked terribly on a small piece of soft crockpot chicken (thought I was having a heart attack), so went two more weeks on soft foods. We have kept our meals simple. No fuss. Tonight we shared ONE Chic-Fil-A asian salad, and could only eat half. I recommend eating a slow, small amount of anything, and see how full you get really fast. I would eat about 2-3 level T. refried beans, with melted Laughing Cow cheese melted, very filling. At 3 months I was told I was eating too much protein and I started substituting more soft veggies, especially zucchini. I did try the turkey meatballs, with a little sauce (barbecue) because dry meats might tend to stick in your chest. You could add a little mushroom soup to simmer them in, with some Worcestershire sauce or spices you like. I relied on a small yogurt every day for breakfast (less than 13 grams of sugar), no lunch, and dinner has always been very light and uncomplicated. BTW, I think my first favorite "food" was a lowfat turkey chili I made for Christmas, as I was craving something a little spicy. Had no problem with that. Best of luck!

I lived on cottage cheese, Protein shakes, mashed carrots, Greek yogurt and creamed Soup during the puréed stage. I just gagged on puréed meats and eggs. I will say that once I hit the soft food stage, chicken breast and fish were my two best friends. Here are some things that went very well for me: Chicken breast with fat free gravy Chicken breast with marinara, mushrooms and green pepper Chicken breast with healthy request cream of mushroom soup Chicken breast shredded with taco seasoning Salmon Orange roughy with lemon butter sauce I always made double vegetables and stopped making all starches. This is what I cooked a and my family ate it too. I maybe made mashed potatoes once a week for my family and a sweet potatoe for me. Cauliflower was the vegetable that I used to replace potatoes or rice. I used the 2/1 method for ensuring a balanced meal. 2 bites of protein for every 1 bite of vegetables (healthy carbs). I did not really eat any bad carbs until I was probably 8 months post op and then only very occasionally. When I say bad carbs I am talking about crackers, a bite of dessert, that sort of thing. I cannot eat much so what I do eat I make sure that I get my protein in. For a snack I will usually have beef jerkey, nuts, Apple with Peanut Butter. If I want something sweet and icy, I will have some dole, dark chocolate covered bananas or strawberries. They come 4 slices in each pack, the strawberries are 60 calories with 6 grams of carb, the bananas are 100 calories with 12 grams of carbs. They take care of my need for something icy and sweet. I have also found that simply having a cup of skim milk also curbs my appetite when I am between meals.

Try to relax a little about all these intense and scary thoughts and feelings you are having. Really, they ARE normal for some people and nothing to feel odd about. But right now, please consider that your thoughts are lying to you. You have several stages of new eating to go through while your stomach heals and your body and brain adjust. Stuff you have never come close to experiencing in your entire life. But does that mean you are doomed for life???? NO!! You must have patience and follow your program. Remember you DID just have MAJOR SURGERY. You can CHOOSE to feel sorry for yourself for awhile. And that is ok if that is what you absolutely need to do. (Ask yourself though--is it REALLY?) But please remember that you have to be good to yourself to be successful long-term with WLS. YOU made the decision for WLS. Wishing you didn't is very unproductive thinking and takes away from your precious energy that you soooo need to build that POSITIVE ENERGY and POSITIVE ATTITUDE AND SELF-TALK to view your decision as a FUN ADVENTURE, full of possibilities instead of a lifetime of regret. You have a lot of work to do down the road in learning your new lifestyle and eating habits. You knew this was going to be HARD WORK before you signed on the dotted line. I respectfully must disagree with you--if you could have done it "on your own" you would have done it a long time ago. I had my surgery one day earlier than you four years ago on 4/26/11. You are probably not ready to hear, must less believe this right now, but my lifestyle and eating is totally normal. I don't think of myself as a freak compared to other "normal" people who haven't had WLS. I eat 3 meals a day and 2 healthy Snacks. The quantity of my meals is very close to what I ate before surgery. Breakfast is often a 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1/4 cup Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup fresh fruit, 1/4 cup All-bran, made into a pretty parfait! Most sleevers by one year can eat an average of 1 to 1-1/2 cups of food per meal. For dinner that would equal about 4-6 oz of some kind of meat Protein, and 2 servings of veggies and/or complex carb. I dine out with friends (although I choose to keep restraunt eating to a minimum because I like to eat the most nutritious meals that I can and those are the ones we prepare at home). You will learn to not "hate what you did to yourself" because who wants to live their life feeling that emotion? We want to LOVE life. You are way too young to regret ANY decisions you make. You honor yourself, trust yourself, and live in the present, not yesterday. We cannot change yesterday no matter how hard we try and cry!!! I wish you peace...

i like to use milk for my chocolate Protein. i just hate the foam/froth and sometimes i don't have the time to let them settle. i would like to have the consistency of a Wendy's frosty, but i haven't mastered that yet. As for my vanilla shakes, i would use fruit, yogurt or coffee with milk to flavor, along with syrups. but now that i'm on my all liquid diet pre-op, i use Water with a pack of crystal light for flavor. gives it a creamsicle like flavor. i may just start freezing them and making creamsicle pop lol. i never tried milk half and water half.

hi all, i was banded on the 25th and am doing pretty well. i have been walking every day but mostly just around the neighborhood. i am having no problem with taking my pills but they just take forever to go down. i got an infection in my arm from the iv so i am on antibiotics which is making me have a bit o diarrea so i need to drink more. i have times when i am really hungry. went out to vitamin cottage today and got higher protein powder so that maybe some of these liquids will stay. i have been ok with yogurt but it seems to take me a long time to eat it. i bought a bunch of different cream soups so i hope that by adding protein powder they will stay. i go back to work on thursday. glad to hear how you are all doing. anyone else besides me not weighing themselves. i threw out my scale a few years ago because i became so obsessive with it? i don't know if it is good or bad. i do know i am losing weight so that what counts! hang in there fellow september banders!:whoo:

I do track is MFP and am staying around 1000 -1200 calls a day although my Doc doesn't have a specific calorie range. I also measure all of my food, no more than 3oz of meat plus 1/4 cup of veggies or fruit per meal generally. My NUT diet has as an example, Greek yogurt for Breakfast, Protein shake for snack, 3oz tuna for lunch, Protein Shake snack, 3oz cottage cheese plus 1/4 cup no. Starch veggie for dinner. The Protein shakes are part of the NUT diet, she requires a min of 16oz per day in this phase. My exercise is moderately more than pre surgery, I haven't been wih my trainer since Nov (I buy 6 week sessions with her). As for weighing, it's a tool I use after years of weight related therapy I have learned for me, daily weigh ins are a must, as my therapist says, it keeps it in the forefront of my mind.

I was told by surgeon not to swallow pills whole until 3 months out. When I had one of my post op appointments he said go ahead and try swallowing the capsule that was beyond bitter. I was about 2 months out then. One night I did and got an excruciating pain below chest, radiating to stomach and back, just like a gallbladder attack, except I do not have a gallbladder. It lasted abut 2 hours. spoke with the on call doc, he said sounded like pills got stuck g back to crushing them. I am now almost 4 months out and have been swallowing my pills for about a month. last night, i got that excruciating pain again. This time lasted about an hour. I had not overeaten for Thanksgiving, was very proud of what and how much I ate. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced anything like this, pain, stuck pills, anything. I messaged my doc this AM, but do not even know if they are open today. So for today I am mostly doing liquids and very soft stuff like yogurt and cottage cheese.

I make smoothies from baby spinach, plain non-fat Greek yogurt, crushed pineapple in its own juice, banana, almond milk, & a little protein powder. YUM!

Today, I am 3 weeks out from band to sleeve revision. My 3 week stall started at two weeks out, and I haven't moved since. I am a lightweight (didn't wait to gain all my band weight back when that went down the crapper) and only have another 20-30 lbs to goal. How long did your 3 week stall last? I wonder if I'm done losing already? If I am, so be it, my most pressing need was to make sure that I didn't keep gaining. Also, for reference, I'm eating mostly mushy foods, just starting to work in some actual meat. Yesterday I had turkey lunchmeat for the first time, today I had shredded chicken for the first time. Otherwise I'm doing yogurts, cottage cheese, string cheese, tuna salad, that type of thing. I generally get in my 60-64 oz of Water, and am usually in the 55 -60 g of Protein a day, without using any Protein shakes. Thoughts? How did other lightweights fare?

How do you fit in the Water if you graze I am still trying to balance everything do you wait 30 minutes before and after eating. Do you have to wait with yogurt Sent from my SPH-D700 using VST

Whoops, I'm drinking yogurt Greek now. Can t to talk to you tomorrow. Very confused.

Hi folks. Hope everyone had a happy, successful holiday. I just had a couple slices of turkey and a spoonful of au-gratin potatoes. I was completely satisfied and full. Simply amazing! October 3 surgery date and 64 lbs gone! Here's the tip: I was having difficulty taking all my medicine crushed. I used both yogurt and applesauce to mask the flavor of the different BP meds, the Ursodiol, the Iron pill, etc. The medicine would always leave a terrible taste in my mouth & it would last for an hour or more. Then I discovered Popsicle pops again (loved 'em as a kid). Only diffence is, I'm buying them sugar-free now. These really do the trick to get rid of the medicine aftertaste. Try it. No calories, no sodium, no fat, and of course, no carbs. They also are an easy, awesome way to help keep you hydrated. You can have as many as you want, as often as you want. Enjoy!

I am almost three months out from surgery and have only lost 52 lbs including the 18 lbs lost in pre-op phase. I've been in a stall for a week but I continue to walk 4 miles a day seven days a week. I feel like I am losing inches but the scale doesn't lie. Breakfast is 2 scrambled eggs and 1/2C fruit. lunch is 4oz of lean Protein. dinner is 4oz lean protein and 1/2C cooked vegetables. The hardest part is getting in 64 oz of Water and I have to force myself to reach that amount each day. My plan doesn't allow yogurt until six months out. I do drink two mugs of caffeinated coffee in the morning which I'm not supposed to be doing. One cup of caffeinated coffee is allowed at six months. I do have a container of sugar free Jello in the evening and during the day I have one or two low fat cheese sticks. Hopefully soon the weight loss will resume. I'm getting a bit discouraged with my progress. The surgeon predicted I'd lose 17 more lbs but I'd like another 30 lbs more than that. At this rate it will be a year before I can reach my goal. One good point is that I've been taken off blood pressure medication, have had my statin Rx dose reduced by half and had my CPAP pressure settings lowered.

Hello my fellow May sleevers! I don't think I have introduced myself yet. I'm in Detroit, Michigan and I am a band to sleeve revision. I was initially scheduled for a gastric bypass in March but I chickened out the week of surgery. My sleeve date is May 16th! I feel so much better about this decision. My docs office was a bit irritated with me but I have to do what is right for me! I have had my crap band for five years with little weight loss and I have been taking off and putting back on the same twenty pounds for the last six months. I'm just sick of it and I need to do something different. I've been trying to get myself ready so months ago I quit soda, carbonation, and caffeine. I also gave up alcohol almost completely (never thought I'd be able to do that). I've also learned to love yogurt which, until two weeks ago I could not stand! I made a list of what I will need and posted in a thread. I purchased my Vitamins, belly band, ear plugs, and eye mask for the hospital today. My goal is to get to the gym everyday until surgery so that I go in in the best shape possible. My doc does not require a liquid diet but I would really like to try to do one for a couple of weeks prior. I figure there can't be any harm in trying to keep my liver out of the docs way! My surgery will include gallbladder removal, band removal, hernia repair (caused by the crap band), and my revision to a sleeve so I am anticipating being in a world of hurt or as the coordinator at the surgeons office put it a "hot mess"! She has assured me they will get me through it. I look forward to sharing this experience with all of you and wish you the best of luck!

I'm 2 weeks post op tomorrow, I still can't really get yogurt, applesauce, protein shakes etc down.. Just water & crystal light .. I still wake up with a feeling of wanting to throw up and sometimes when I go to bed but during the day for the most part I'm ok... Anyone else experience this ??

Pudding and yogurt are full liquids.

I did... i mixed with vanilla and chicolate pudding. Yogurt and Greek yogurt. Sent from my SM-G920T1 using the BariatricPal App

Yuck. I can't stand fat free dairy. It's like a sin to me. I do reduced fat everything except I do drink skim milk and ff fage Greek yogurt. Some stuff that helped me: scrambled egg wit milk in it and our some spicy stuff on it to waken up your taste buds! Made a three bean chili Soup and puréed it...from William sanoma and is delic!, making your own tuna salad is also really good cause you can put in the flavors you like. PB2 mixed with some greek yogurt or with some low sugar jelly. Good luck!

Casper, Im doing good. Im doing soft foods, only for a few days so far. I had some trouble yesterday with pain during eating so I am going to back off today and do Protein shakes and maybe some yogurt and try again tomorrow. Overall pretty good though. I am able to exercise-just walking- 45-60 minutes at a time and feel good with that. I am back to work half days this week and that is also going well. I do take a nap in the afternoon though. Next week I am back to full time and actually have to travel to a conference so I will need to do some planning this weekend for the food portion. What about you?

I think every pre-op diet is a little different. Mine was only clear liquids and the 4 protein shakes per day. My coworker's husband had surgery a month before me from the same doctor and he was able to have low fat yogurt, cottage cheese and certain veggies in addition to the liquids. I stuck with the liquid diet and lost 13lbs before my surgery. Check with your dietician.