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I was sleeved on the 24th and discharged on the 25th from Johns Hopkins. Getting in both fluids and Proteins has been a huge challenge due to acid reflux. I'm taking a 40 mg protonix in the morning and a 20 mg otc prilosec in the evening. Anyone else find something that works better? I only got in 24 oz of fluids today, but discovered I can tolerate sf popsicles and ice. It took me 2.5 hours to drink an 8 oz Protein shake. Greek yogurt and sf pudding goes down more easily. I only had one dose of pain meds today and am going to try and make that it so that i can maybe have a bm again someday. Can we take Colace yet? Sunday was awful, but Monday and Tuesday continued to improve.

2nd day home I'm feeling pretty good! Gas started passing this morning when I woke up! Been walking around the house, walking outside, and only had to take pain meds twice! Having a hard time getting my fluids in also after I drink my tummy gets a little hurt... Tomorrow I start milk, yogurt, etc! Hopefully, I can tolerate it well.

Great description Megan. Did you mean a whole pie in level 1 or a whole slice. I hope you meant a slice. I agree with you. I think I am at level 3 most of the time now but I have to say that if I don't eat slow enough or take small bites, I can feel very uncomfortable. Only PB'd once and that was enough for me. Funny thing is, even though I have such great restriction, the easiest foods for me to eat are all the unhealthy ones such as Icecream, cookies, candy, pretzels, chips. I know because I have tried one of each in the past few weeks. The other not so funny thing is that the healthy proteins like chicken, eggs, fish, yogurt, turkey are very difficult to swallow. They have to be moist and tiny. The good thing is that salad with some diced chicken and fat free dressing goes down easy too. I think my point is (got off task lol) that restriction is great in many ways but it is not so great in other ways. Too tight and you can blow your cookies sitting at the table with friends, or you can't eat a yummy seafood pilaf that you and your son made together cause you took too big of a first bite. Restriction is not going to automatically make you stop eating or make you pick the right foods to eat. Like everyone says, the band is a tool and we have to use it but it is no magic gatekeeper for what we grab off the table or out of a bag and hope that the band won't let us eat it. I just wanted to all that in because I thought that once I had restriction, I wouldn't be able to eat much at all. THat is true but I still have to decide what I am going to eat. Salad with grilled chicken or a milk shake and cookies. It would be nice though if the band was so powerful.

I hate to break this to you, but that's the post-op diet too. It's even more restrictive immediately postop and for many months after that. Protein, veggies, yogurt. That's about what I eat.

I use the bariatric advantage, i crush them up and mix it with 1/4c of Greek yogurt, this way my yogurt taste tropical, i get protein and i can manage them better! Becuz they are DISGUSTING! It takes me 30 min to eat it but it works!

I was banded May 19 also. I have been having feelings like I am going to burp or urp or something. I keep fighting it. I am wondering if the yogurt was getting to me. I haven't ate any today and have only had this a little. I am so afraid of messing up my surgery. Anyone having anything like this?

2 weeks post ops and my team says I am doing great. Starting weight shortly before surgery was 293 and I am now at 277.... 16 lbs so far. My incisions have all healed, I have had no gas pains, nausea or any of the other uncomfortable complications I have read about here. Stayed on full liquids day 2-10 and still incorporate a lot of full liquids such as yogurt, cream of wheat and protein water into my daily diet. In fact you could say I am on full liquids all day, eating whatever else will go down comfortably for dinner, keeping an eye on my own personal nutritional goals. I was doing this for awhile before surgery anyways, and has now bwcome habit. I worry about progressing too fast with the diet. I asked my doctor if I ate something wrong, would it cause any problems with the band, such as slipping? He assured me that might have been true in the “old days” but that he now ties the lapband in securely by bringing up some of the lower stomach and stitching it around the band. The band will not slip by eating something wrong. He did say if I had a prolonged bout of throwing there was a slight chance of slippage, but unlikely. He also said that before the first banding the stomach pouch will not stretch as there is little restriction, any excess food just slips through to the lower stomach. His said I would be limited in what I eat by what felt comfortable “slipping through” and could gage how much swelling is remaining from the surgery by what size goes down OK. I would learn from trial and error what I could eat and what would be not be nice to me. So I have tried out various other foods to see how they feel, being sure to chew very well. This is very much feedback trial and error, as if I forget and do not chew well it does not feel good going down. I have the best luck on foods that are on the soft slippery type, like fish(scallops, red snapper), noodles, eggs and various oatmeals, even soggy morning cereal. All with no problems. No gas, bloating nausea or any other complications that I can feel. All went down just fine. Rice, flour tortillas and anything fibrous that can’t be chewed into pieces get “stuck” and I have to wait for it to clear before eating more. Not painful, just annoying. My nutritionist did say to avoid coffee as that has tannic acid which could cause ulcers on the band. I wonder if that applies to tomato products, such as spaghetti sauce, as tomatoes have tannic acid, as does wine, I think. I will need to verify that with her. I am thinking it may be the daily prolonged use of coffee that could cause an ulcer, but for now I just say no. The temptation is to keep pushing the limit, such as gobbling down a Burger King Steakburger ( I did not even though I probably could if chewed well), but I had better have enough self discipline to not do that or I have wasted my life, time and money on a procedure I do not respect. I log everything on FITDAY.com (have done this for years) and keep a careful eye on my calories, cards, proteins, etc. When I was on full liquids I was taking in about 800 calories and usually met the 60 protein goal. I am looking now at keeping my calories around 1200, so that I will continue to lose weight. My doctor has taken me off the high blood pressure med as I now test in the normal range. I have reduced my glyburide by 50%, and am slowly reducing my 24 hour insulin. I am experiencing fasting glucose of 120, which is about 100 points lower than pre lapband. So far I am very happy with my lapband.

My surgery was Monday 11/9. Doc said it couldn't have gone better, but i had real difficulty keeping pain meds down on tuesday, so they made me stay for another night. One incision is crazy painful, the rest I don't feel at all. It took 4 staff and an ultrasound machine to get a line on me, so I look bruised and battered. Because of my uncontrollable painkiller induced nausea and vomiting, I could only keep Water down. The hospital food was naaaaaasty. They released me yestersay. Today I've had cream Soup and yogurt. My tummy is making lots of gurgley noises, and it hurts to cough, sneeze and laugh.

Oh darnit. I have to come here and put a new confession here. For the sake of accountability, I'm forcing myself to admit my screw-ups to my friends on-line. So, I had a fill Thursday - and was religiously compliant with my day of Clear liquids, my day of full liquids and the FIRST day of my mushies. Did great today until we got together with a bunch of friends for dinner tonight. They made homemade pizzas. I brought yogurt with me, and ate it while they ate the pizza. The smell of that pizza was just too much. I scraped the cheese and mushrooms off one slice (chewed it well) and ate it up. Shouldn't have done that, because one wasn't enough. Scraped the toppings off a second slice - ate it also. At this point, I feel like I've blown it already, so I eat a handful of strawberries and M&M's to round it out. (Thank goodness I had at least enough willpower to avoid the crust) Luckily, nothing stuck, and nothing came back up. However, I am crazy full, and have wicked gas as a punishment. Note to self - avoid smell of pizza.

Ok....here goes: Hello to everyone! I was sleeved on 5/5/13. Starting weight 196, current weight 158. I love my sleeve! I have never had any kind of complication or problem. I think I could tolerate eating anything...Now, if only I liked meat I would be set. I am trying my best to eat some of the nasty stuff every day. My preferred proteins are the protein drinks like Unjury and Premier Protein in vanilla, eggs, cheese, cottage cheese and yogurt. I do like chicken breast grilled or baked (boneless and skinless) but I get tired of it. We are heaving grilled steak for dinner tonight. I hate it but will try to eat an ounce.......

This is something I have wondered about. Probably the easiest way to add in calories is to swap low fat varieties for full fat. So if you currently eat lf yogurt and milk try the full fat versions. Eat healthy fats like avocados and nuts etc. I have seen a number of posts on fb lately with photos of people that have got to a BMI of 18 and all the responses have been great, well done etc. What concerns me is that no one seems worried that for an adult a BMI of 18 is very low (even though it is technically in the healthy range). I think it would be very easy to become addicted to the high of losing weight and ignore the signs that a person may be getting too thin. I am glad that you are addressing this.

Beware.....scolding in progress. Here's the thing, you just had major surgery on your stomach. No matter how bad the head hunger is, do you really think eating chocolate at all is wise a few days after surgery? I am guessing your answer is no or you would not be on here in scared mode. Honestly you should be scared. You should pick up the phone and immediately call your therapist. Having WLS is 90% head, 10% if that surgery. You can eat around your surgery from day one. and if you do, why bother going through all the pre work and pain? That is called self destruction and you need to get a handle on it now. For me, sugars cravings have never gone away. I have had to learn to deal with this. Sometimes you give in and have something but never ever just when you get home from the hospital. Lastly I would say that baby food does not have the nutrition that homemade prepared purees have. Not to mention they taste like crap unless you are eating all the fruits which have carbs in them. Why not simply make some of your own purees, eat greek yogurt, cottage cheese, Protein shakes, ricotta bake. There are a ton of bariatric friendly pureed stage options available on pinterest. I really wish you the best but you are definately going to need some help to get your head hunger under control. When those cravings come up the best thing you can do is try to get your mind off of it. Firstly, you cannot possibly be feeling real hunger at this stage. Dehydration mimics hunger for us. So if you feel it keep sipping your approved liquids until that feeling goes away. If you have met your liquid goals and still feel that way, you are likely feeling some reflux if you are a sleeve patient. If not those two things it is definately head hunger and you need some coping mechanisms. I use distraction techniques....go wash dishes, do some laundry, take a shower, do something with your hands like crafts - knitting, crocheting....etc. get your mind off of food. Lastly do NOT watch food porn shows or commercials, they can make head hunger terrible. Go see a therapist they will provide lost of techniques and get at the bottom of why you are already self sabotaging.

I'm 3 weeks out and can eat 3oz of dense protein, and 4 oz of soft food like yogurt

I am so sorry to learn that you are going through all of this. I was on liquid pain killers. Hydrocodine and I had a pill for nausea that desolved in my mouth. You should still be on liquids and creams. You might want to have some yogurt so that you can tolerate your meds. It's gonna get easier. You are 2 weeks behind me.

Great thank you. I'm taking off three weeks. I just feel So weak I thought I should start doing something f to get energy/ strength back. Maybe I'll feel better once I can add more food. Still in liquid stage with cottage cheese and yogurt Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I'm 26 months out and have been below goal for 18 of them. Of course the further out I got my portions increased. I could only eat a couple tablespoons at a time at 2-3 months and reached my max capacity of about a cup by 14 months. I can eat more in the evenings than in the morning and I can eat more of things like Soup and yogurt than I can chicken or steak. When I was close to goal I upped my fat and carbs by adding in more fruit, whole grains and full fat dairy, nuts, etc. in order to slow down and stop my loss. I can't give you numbers as far as grams of fat, Protein, carbs and calories because I don't track or measure. But I shoot for protein first, minimize (not exclude) carbs like Pasta, rice, bread and sweets and pay no attention to fat content. Besides my high protein diet I drink a protein shake and eat a Quest bar everyday so I know I'm getting well over 60-80g protein/day. I drink 64-100oz every day. I eat fruit, veggies and grains every day. I take my Vitamins every day. I don't ever feel like I'm dieting because there's nothing I can't or don't eat, just in moderation. I saw the nut on my day of surgery and haven't talk to her since. I just figured out what worked for me based on the basics of meeting protein and Fluid goals and making healthy food choices.

@@QueenBx girl I want Chipotles. But I have to admit that I'm liking mushy. I'm in Texas and there must be like 4 bbq spots not far from me and I like to get the smoked chicken thigh (no sauce), it's tender and gets mushy easily, plus the flavor is amazing. But I can only eat about half before I get full. Are you expermenting with your food? I was bored at first b/c all I ate was yogurt, cottage cheese, Soup and canned tuna. I just odered me a pressure cooker, I'm going to try to make my own healthy version of soft mushy Protein and veggies. Are you getting your Water? I'm still having trouble! Any ideas please share.

Chicken Caesar is good but the chewing is essential. I think it will be long term with the chewing unless we are really stretching out that hole between the stomach and intestine. I get what you means that its weird and sometimes gross, but with the salad i dont feel like it is gross. I tried a piece of breakfast sausage this morning and could barely take it after a few bites. Never again. My favorites still remain -- retried beans and lean beef chili with pinto beans and Greek yogurt. I'm okay with this after trying new things and not enjoying them at all. Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

That completely depends on what foods your surgeon allows you to eat. 8 days post op I was allowed protein shakes, drinkable yogurt, and clear liquids. I had a protein shake for breakfast and dinner and strained clear soups for lunch. 10 days post op I was allowed to switch to strained cream soups. I really didn't bother with "snacks" because I wasn't hungry and because the sugar-free jello and popsicles I was allowed didn't have any calories, so why bother?

Hey Guys, I got sleeved on the 21st. Everything went well in the hospital, no drains. In recovery, I did need the pain medicine, however now (at home), I've only taken it at night. I constantly feel full and am having issues taking in the required Protein and liquid. I am 4 days postop and I tried yogurt yesterday but since then I have felt unbelievably full and couldn't handle drinking Water. After the yogurt I couldn't eat or drink anything. Does this mean I stretched my sleeve? Maybe I pushed it too far? Anyone feel like this? Another thing, is it bad I keep sleeping on my belly? I also keep getting Charlie horses in my legs, anyone else get these? Thanks Jess

For me, all day nausea, horrible gas, stomach cramping and discomfort, followed by really bad bathroom issues. It's horrible. RTD Protein drinks, even lactose free ones, make me horribly ill. I used to love Oh Yeah or Muscle Milk but they make me so sick I can't stand it. I stick to Syntrax Nectars and mix with Water, coffee, tea, soy milk or juice. The good news is that my intolerance has gotten much better the farther out from surgery I get. I still can't drink a glass of cow's milk, but I can tolerate cheeses, a small amount of yogurt or ice cream, cream sauces if they aren't too rich, and most important to me: a splash of cream in my coffee. ~Cheri

I doubt you're actually hungry but suffering from head hunger. My surgery was the 15th and all I've been able to think about is eating a sandwich (stupid Subway commercials). My surgeon said I could eat yogurt, which I've enjoyed because it's not too sweet, but having strained soup has saved me. Broccoli cheese and tomato basil. I wanted the salt and broth wasn't doing it. Also, once I started feeling better more of the foods I could eat started sounding and tasting better. Good luck and it will just be a few more days before you get to pureed food!

Hi I was sleeved may 30th and have lost about 35lbs and I am still not cleared for certain textured food, like anything hard, crunchy, crispy, crisp raw veggies, or generally scratchy (like pretzels) on the inside of your mouth. I am also not allowed any grains (my doc is specific on carbs and allowables to reach his goal of max 50 per day) or anything with lots of "membrane" tissue like eating actual orange/grapefruit slices, grape skins or raisins, fruit peels, popcorn or regular corn. My typical day looks like breakfast and first snack, one a Protein shake and one a greek yogurt. lunch I try to eat leftover meat from the night before but usually can only get in about 3 oz before i'm stuffed. Today I "treated" myself to a whole foods hot bar, $2.12 and delicious! I'm a cheap date now! I have not done great with the afternoon snack, most days just skip to dinner, where I'm eating only meat and like 1 tbsp of veggies. I am paranoid about losing hair because mine is fine to start so I'm trying to eat as much meat and cheese as possible. Problem is tiny tummy gets so full so fast on them. I have only been able to get in about 700-800 per day unless I start grazing on Peanut Butter, then it's all over. I use Bariactiv Vitamins, took them once on an empty stomach and threw them up but since then eat them mid breakfast and ok. Like the others, powdery and fruit flavored. I'm also on Iron, b12, and a ppi acid blocker

I need a good protein recipe recipe for breakfast. Anybody know of any? I want one that I can add yogurt

Strained or blended soups, cheeses, refried Beans (taco bell pintos and cheese was a NUT approved staple), guacamole, hummus, yogurt, ricotta cheese (part skim) with tomato sauce. I also ate avocado with hard boiled eggs and occasionally mashed potatoes or mushed sweet potatoes. It took me a bit to tolerate tuna fish and scrambled eggs. They were too textured for me. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App