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I lost 1.6 lbs this week. Not as much as I would like, but a loss is a loss so no complaining from me. I have noticed I am eating more at meals. I think today at lunch was my biggest meal so far. I had a quarter cup of chicken salad and almost an entire 5oz yogurt. Still a good portion size but I need to be on the lookout for that. Surgery wt 226.50 Last week 207.8 Today 206.2 Hope everyone has a great week!

Honestly, if you eat things slow enough and chew well or liquify them in your mouth more before swallowing there isn't much difference in the two stages other than "full liquids" are technically still liquids. I added more water to mashed potatoes to make them more watery and used them during my full liquid stage. I'm on pureeds now and I usually have tuna with mayo, ricotta with marinara, refried black beans, and greek yogurt for my main foods. I thought that cottage cheese was considered a puree, but a friend said our surgeon told her it was a full liquid. It's so weird how different people classify things into the different stages. I definitely notice restriction and fullness with the pureeds more than I ever did with the full liquids. Just go slow and try adding one new thing a day and see how you do with it.

Hi Everyone, I decided that I would make a list of things for new people who are thinking about having WLS that might be helpful to them. This is long so please PRINT THIS OUT TO READ if you don’t want to read it all at one time. This is my point of view after having surgery with Dr. Aceves , in Mexicali, Mexico. First thing is to start asking people on the board you are on all kinds of questions—make of list of things you want to ask and keep coming back and ask more questions as time goes on. The more questions that ask the more you educate yourself about WLS and the process and what doctor they liked. Don’t rely on just one source of information. It is really normal to have all kind of feeling and emotions when trying to decide if you want to have Weight Loss Surgery. I must have talked myself in and out of doing this at least 50 times during my 6 months of research. My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. This is a big step. But if diet and exercise worked for us then we still wouldn’t be fat and would have lost the weight a long time ago and never regained it. It takes a lot of courage to have Weight Loss Surgery. I am very proud of you for looking into this. Don’t give any more days of your life being overweight, and your body hurting along with being unhealthy. WLS really is your answer. How do you select your surgeon? First of all this is NOT a time to price shop for the cheapest doctor to do your WLS—that is just the wrong way to go at this. There are a lot of doctors who advertise on the Internet doing sleeve surgery for a lot less than some other doctors. I found one posting from a person who had the following concerns after having surgery in Tijuana, Mexico. (a) They put NO name band on her to be able to ID her when giving medications or anything else. ( NO one asked if she had any allergies to foods or medications—thank goodness this person didn’t have any. ( The lab did NOT label tubes of blood with the person’s name on it—very dangerous. © Day after surgery they gave this person ice chips, tea and apple juice. The next day (day 2) they gave this person NOTHING so this person asked why and the nurse said this person wasn’t allowed to eat anything. Well, this person then said I had Clear liquids the day before and they wanted to know WHO gave it to this person?? (d) This person was told that they would get a copy of the operative report on their discharge to take home with them—This person has not received it yet and that was about 2 weeks ago. So make sure have positive feedback about the Surgeon and Staff and Hospital that you choose. There are some good doctors out there and there are so NOT so good doctors out there. My choice after 6 months of research was Dr. Aceves in Mexicali, Mexico. What I can tell you in my opinion is that he is the very best you will ever find to do your surgery. I can only speak about my experience and my research that I did before I made him my choice for a surgeon. I am sure there are other people out there that feel the very same way about their doctor too. Pack lightly for your WLS. So many of us have gone to Mexico, so you want a small suitcase with wheels, a laptop & a cell phone. The clothing that you wear to Mexico are the same ones you can wear home—slip on shoes work great too. Make sure that the clothing is loose fitting. Something just comfortable for your ride home. While in Mexico—that is if you go to Mexico for WLS make sure you take GAS-X. They have nothing in Mexico that they give your for gas, and the use gas in your abdominal area during surgery. It is painful after the surgery, so GAS-X STRIPS are easy to use by just placing them on your tongue. Take a couple of boxes with you—you will be glad you did. If you are going to use a credit card make sure you tell your credit card company and your Bank if you use your debit card or credit card. Sometimes if you DO NOT let these companies know you are outside of the US they block your charges. Use a credit card or debit card vs cash it is much easier to use. Take small amounts of cash for tips—I took $45.00 in 1’s for tip money for various things. If you go to any hospital anywhere leave ALL jewelry at home –just a watch and no rings or other jewelry. I never had any problems at all leaving my purse and computer& cell phone in my room while I was in surgery, but they recommend that you leave all jewelry at home. If you are a lady please remove all nail polish—they need it removed to see your nail beds during surgery. The first month you do after surgery is the HARDEST month you will ever have to do. You do 10 days of nothing but clear liquids to start with—that means you have to be able to see through the liquid. Do not panic if you can not get the Protein they want you to have the 1st 10 days—I couldn’t find anything I liked that was clear during the 1st 10 days. They want you to try to drink 64 oz each day, and I don’t think I could ever get that much Water drank—just do the best you can. Your new stomach has just had major surgery and it is swollen and will only hold something about the size of your thumb. The next 10 days gets much better—you are now on creamy liquids for these 10 days. You can now have some creamy Soups, yogurt, and pudding—sugar free and find a Protein Drink that you like. For me it is Premier Protein Drink and I get mine at costco. When looking for a protein drink, make sure they are low in calories, high in Protein—Premier has 30 grams of protein in each drink box and make sure you have low carbs too. I know there are a lot of other Protein drinks out there that people like. When it comes to carbs I tried to keep mine at no more than 20 carbs per day. Ask others what kind of Protein drinks they liked and where they get them. The last 10 days are mushy foods. So this is a bit of a challenge. How many foods can I make mushy? I even considered using some baby foods. Start thinking about what will work as mushy foods for you. Starting the 2nd month is quite an adventure. You can eat regular food. Here is where the relearning process takes place. You now will take tiny BABY BITES of food and chew each bit about 30 times or until it is like a liquid. From here on out you will need to take small bites of food and chew and chew and chew. I found out that chicken and fish were a lot easier to chew up. I don’t eat much red meat—your tastes will change and things you didn’t like a lot might taste good and something that you used to love don’t taste that great anymore. Keep track of what you are eating and keep your calories at about 800 calories per day and no more than 20 carbs per day—whole grain carbs are the best to have—NO white or refined carbs. I highly suggest that you keep track by writing them down or using some of the Internet sites that offers you this. I suggest this site it works great there are other sites to use this is just a suggestion. hair 3 or 4 months after having WLS. I would find a lot of hair in the shower after washing my hair. That is pretty normal for a lot of us—this does not happen to everyone. There is no magical cure for hair loss—some people use different shampoo’s or take Biotin. It happens and you live with it. YES, it will grow back. For me I had pencil straight hair and mine grew back natural curly and I love it now. I already had thin hair so for me, I got some cute wigs and wore them for about 9 months until my hair looked a lot better. It was worth the hair loss to lose 105 pounds. Because we eat a lot of protein we suffer from constipation. You need to have at least 70 grams of protein EACH day. So I mix my protein drink each morning with MIRALAX. It is NOT habit forming and is tasteless and it is just a good way to start off the day. I put the protein and a cap full of Miralax in the blender with about 5 small ice cubes and that is my Breakfast. 3 years later I still have this for breakfast and nothing else, it just works for me. You may have periods where you have what we call STALLS. You may be doing everything right and eating and exercising and you have NO weight loss for a week or more. This is normal—mine lasted 9 days. Don’t panic the weight loss will start up again, just keep doing what you are doing. Our heads play games with us sometimes it is ugly what our brain tried to convince us of—We call these “Head Games” and they really are tough times to work though, but you can do it. Your head is still thinking with your old brain and way of thinking that you have been doing for most of your life. You now are eating VERY small amount of food, but your head is used to you eating LARGE amounts of food and that is what your brain wants—so it tries to tell you the you should be eating more—NOT true at all. So you need to have a talk with yourself. Do I just WAN T to eat or do I really NEED to eat? You are not on a diet, but you are making a LIFESTYLE change and that is good because you can do this for the rest of your life. You will NEVER be able to eat like you used to. That is good because that is how we got fat. You will morn the loss of food—you will look around and see others inhaling all this food and you think to yourself—I used to eat like that. You will notice how fast people eat and inhale their food and talk and hardly chew what they are eating. That is pretty normal feeling to have—because you are now eating such small amounts of food and chewing and chewing. You will never be able to guzzle a bottle of water again—that is OK too. These are all good things. In time you will look at all the food people are eating and thinking to yourself oh my gosh I could never eat that much again—it is way too much food. When you have issues or problems come back to the board and ask others who have already done this. We are here to help and support you. Give or exchange all your fat clothes away. You will never need them again after they become too big for you. This weight loss is something you will be able to maintain for the rest of your life. You have earned the right to have new clothes. Make sure you have the VERY best doctor that has had a lot of experience with sleeve surgery and check his success rates out. Check the doctor for HIGH patient reviews from the people who have gone to him or her. I can NOT STRESSS this enough. Make sure that your surgery is being done in a hospital NOT a Clinic. One clue that it is a clinic is if they send you to a hotel room to recover—that is why they cost less, this is also dangerous too. YOU are worth the extra money that it cost to have this WLS in a Hospital and by the best Doctor you can have. You want to have a happy and GREAT life and having the RIGHT Doctor and Hospital are the key to this. Sorry if this is long, but it is intended to have as a reference and answer a lot of your questions that you might have. For some of you, you are very lucky because your health insurance is now starting to pay for Weight Loss Surgery. For many of us, we did not have your luck, so we are self pay patients. There are companies that loan money for this surgery—be aware that their interest rate is high. Once you pick your doctor ask them about these companies that give loans for surgery if you are a self pay patient. You know we never think twice about making car payments. If you have to borrow the money for this surgery just look at this as “body payment.” It will be the best money you have ever borrowed. Please PRINT this out to read later. If you have any questions for me please feel free to contact me. I had surgery almost 4 years ago, so I do have quite a bit of experience. I really am here to help you along your journey. It took me 14 months to lose this weight and I was 63 when I had the surgery, so it is NEVER too late in life to do this.

Hi! I am one month out from surgery. Surgery date: 10/22/13 Highest weight: 272 Surgery weight: 252 Current weight: 242 1 month out Pre op diseases: Diabetes II, Gout, Hypertension, High Cholesterol and Sleep Apnea Post op meds: Down to 1/2 of all medication amounts and should be medication free in another month, except Gout! I have been struggling to get all my food in. I only seem to be able to get in 1oz of chicken or fish and then I feel like I have to throw up! On two occasions I got 2 oz of protien in but am getting really sick of protien drinks and yogurt. Eggs make me sick as well. Anyone have suggestions. I take all my vitamins and have been getting my protien by protien shots from Sunkist (27g) per shot.

Try the clear drinks instead. Isopure make premixed ones, Syntrax nectar can be made with Water. I used ProSource NoCarb the first 2 weeks post op. It was great thinned with water or added to herbal teas. Also look for protein rich beverages. Kefir ( a yogurt drink), cream of chicken, beef, etc... thinned with broth, etc... Milk of choice: cow, hemp, almond have the most protein.

I'm tight in the mornings, so I usually have a protein shake or yogurt for breakfast and I mix in 2 or 3 spoonfuls of Benefiber. If I get stopped up I rely on good ole MOM (milk of magnesia). I'm running to the potty about an hour after that. Pre surgery, I had multiple bm's a day and they were the sudden urge types, now I go once every couple of days or once a day. Maybe TMI, but oh well.

Ugh, bananas - IMPOSSIBLE for me to eat with any fill. I could eat an apple with the skin more easily than a banana. There is no rhyme nor reason to what our bands will tolerate. I couldnt eat easily bananas, yogurt, ice cream, juice, milk, but I could easily eat bread, steak, raw carrot and salads.

Its really pretty easy. The first rule of healthy is variety. Dont eat the same thing day in day out. You need to decide whether the low carb thing sits well with you or not, for me I dont believe in it, dont have an interest in living that way and would have to relearn planning and cooking a healthy diet, so I just eat "normally". So..... eat a lot of different foods, try to include a few different coloured vegies on your plate with your evening meal, try to eat two fruit, five veg a day, dont overdo the bread, Pasta and rice, eat the wholegrain or wholemeal varieties where possible, dont add fat when cooking and definitely dont bread and fry things - the grill and the barbecue and dry roasting are best. Most nights of the week we do eat boring and plain - ie. a piece of Protein be it chicken, fish or red meat simply prepared, potato and vegies. We'll do a rice or pasta meal once a week. Home made Soup makes a good dinner and your family can have a bread roll with that even if you dont. Salads, yogurt, fruit and nuts, someting on crackers and some fruit makes good lunches, and I always stick with a basic good quality Cereal (oatmeal, muesli etc) for Breakfast, usually with some berries and a dollop of yogurt, or a piece of wholegrain toast with Peanut Butter (or vegemite, lol, I am an Aussie after all). I pretty much stick with 3 meals a day, no Snacks, no seconds, avoid sweet stuff nearly all of the time and dont have a lot of alcohol or liquid calories. I lost 130lb, and have maintained that loss unfilled for five months now, just a basic, sensible diet really does work - but I do run for an hour or so or go to the gym most days.

Rlocke, Hang in there. It is a long race and remember we are just at the beginning! I was sleeved at the end of Dec., so I am bit further out than you. I probably eat a bit more carbs that is ideal, but I make sure all of my food is as healthy as possible. Most days I have 1/2 yogurt & 1/2 cottage cheese, then for lunch usually tuna, but today I had 5 think ham slices with one wedge of laughing cow cheese, then I roll them up. They are yum. Tonight I plan to have swai (fish) and roasted veggies. I always save myself a late night treat of either a sf fudge pop or sf popsicle. I have lost about 30 so far, but only lose about 1-2 pounds a week at this point.

I was sleeved 10/16 and a few days into a full liquid diet I felt just like you. I did not think I could choke another protein shake down.... I asked my Doc if it was more important to get in fluids or protein right now, and he said that they were both equally important. He suggested Greek yogurt. It has saved my life! It is yummy and creamy. Eight oz of nonfat yogurt have 120 calories and 23 grams of protein! A bite that I can handle is the amount I can lick off the back of my baby spoon, but if I keep working I can get it down in about an hour.

I was banded on the 20th and I am having the same issues. I am allowed applesauce yogurt baby juice and soup liquid only. Try some mint tea and warm soup

I also use myfitnesspal.com . I keep my calories around 1100 per day and try to get as much protein in as I can. I start my day with a protein shake to which I add a banana, greek yogurt and frozen fruit. Fills me for a long time.

Hello Team, I thought I was finally over the 4 days of massive runs. I did mostly Clear liquids on Wednesday and yesterday felt good. This morning I had a Chike Protein shake and it sent me straight back to the bathroom. The same thing happened this afternoon after a sugar free fudgesicle. Have any of you become lactose intolerant post op? Does it go away? How long until it does? Any suggestions on things to eat while on Full Liquids? I have another week on full and I don't want to get weak. I may try Greek Yogurt again tomorrow without any other dairy to see if stays in ok. I could live on Greek Yogurt but would love some variety. I haven't made Cream of Wheat or applesauce because I don't want the carbs. What would you do if you were me? :thumbup:

What you can and cannot tolerate post-op is really a "Your Mileage May Vary" kind of situation. For the first 3 months post op, I was totally lactose intolerant. Now, I can ocassionally have hard cheese and cultured things like yogurt, in measured quantities. Protein shakes still make me nauseated, bloaty and gassy. I cannot tolerate bread in any form, any type of rice, or Pasta. I have a difficult time with chicken in any form still. I can do a few bites of baked potato, but any type of fried potatoes make me very ill (so no fries, hash browns, etc). PB makes me very nauseated. On the other hand, I eat steak often, which many post-ops have a difficult time with. There is really no good way to predict how your body will react.

Other than what's in my Protein shakes, I don't really track or count or measure anything, so my routine might be a little hard to follow. I'm about 5 weeks further out than you, and I've come pretty far in how much I can consume over the last month...especially liquids. I can take several large gulps at a time now, and a month ago I was still kind of sipping. I also couldn't drink plain Water until this past month. During the week, I'm on the road working, so meals are tuff. I make a large Protein shake for Breakfast (at least 24 oz. and 30g protein) and take and hour or two to drink it in between appointments. Premier Protein chocolate with skim milk and blended banana is my favorite these days. Then I'll have a string cheese stick or Natures Valley Protein Bar (a month ago I could only eat 1/2) for lunch. In the afternoon I make sure I drink a liter of water or better yet a liter of Syntrax nectar (I mix 2 packets in a 32 oz Nalgene bottle which gives me another 46 G protein). Sometimes I'll eat one Chobani Greek yogurt if I have time. When I get home I eat whatever I'm in the mood for...always protein first...tuna, pork loin, crab cake, grilled chicken, hamburger, turkey curry salad, whatever. I don't cook, so most of my meals are whatever yummy thing they have at the local deli. The smallest container they have usually lasts me at least 4 meals before I end up giving the rest to the dogs. I get a few veggies here and there...squash, spinach, green Beans, cucumbers, or at least some V8 juice. I stop eating just before I get too full. I try and get some more liquid in before bed. Sleepy time tea is a stand by. Favorite Snacks are Greek yogurt, cheese slices, and apples with PB2 On the weekends I eat more food and only one protein shake/day. Yesterday I had 1/2 pancake and 1/2 piece turkey sausage, 1 Protein Drink, about 1/2 cup split pea Soup, 1 1/2 pork ribs, 1/4 cup acorn squash, 1/3 apple with PB2, 1 liter of water and Sleepytime tea. I could not have eaten this much and still gotten in enough Fluid a month ago. I learned early on to try and kill two birds with one stone by trying to make everything I drank have some protein in it. I also started hating the taste of artificial sweeteners, so I began drinking diluted organic juices instead of flavoring water with crystal light, Mio, etc. No idea what my calorie/carb/fat/protein numbers are. I really just wing it keeping fluids and protein a priority. Good luck! You can do this. Just find something that works into your busy and demanding schedule.

I just want to hear some of everyone's thoughts on this. I'm a little discouraged tonight, because my private mental healthcare provider wouldn't write me a recommendation and said I lacked nutritional insight to have the surgery and keep off the weight afterwards. I know that the surgery will shrink your stomach size, and not do anything to one's metabolism or mind. Without going into great detail--I've basically been on some type of diet and exercise since I was 14, and I'm 36 now. Sometimes it hasn't worked so well (the last couple years) and sometimes it's worked great (I won a trophy in basic military training for coming in first in a marathon and kept the weight off for 8 years). I have been on almost every diet from Weight Watchers to South Beach to juicing, but they're not working for me at this point to the extent that I am still hungry. My goal for surgery is to be able to follow Weight Watchers and maintain dietary/exercise changes without being so hungry and feeling deprived. I want a meal of a small bowl of Cereal or a yogurt + apple to satisfy me without stomach growling. Is this the right frame of mind or is there something else I'm missing?

what does that mean, "nutritional insight?" a bowl of Cereal or yogurt and an apple isnt going to give you the amount of Protein you need post op. but i would call back and ask for him to be more specific... i have found there are a lot people around here who are still poorly educated about basic nutrition post op. maybe that is what he means? do you have an idea of what you would need to eat post op to get 60-80 grams of protein per day?

That's been my big thing too. I attempted a bowl of apple sauce today, and Took 3 big spoonfuls in the span of 15 mins (ate while I was cleaning) and got lightheaded and nausious immediatly. Dannon Activia Yogurt came out with a "lite" version, it's just as delicious as the regular. And I'm doing the string cheese thing now, it's heaven, BUT it keeps getting stuck, even when I leave it out for 10 mins to soften up. here's a tip Singin': Diet Peach Snapple, Odwalla vanilla Al'Mondo Protein shakes, And I got this one from other bandsters: Strained Eggdrop soup- only I added about 2 tablespoons of water to dilute it and make it less salty. Especially if you get the scrambled egg cravings like all of us are getting!!!!! good luck.

I had my surgery July 3rd so I'm on my first day of "full liquids" -- according to my dr's diet plan I can drink soups, protein drinks, yogurt drinks and even watered down cream of wheat! Not really hungry today though. Not like day after surgery or even yesterday. I'm down about 21 pounds since I started my pre-op diet. I'm not really in pain just some minor discomforts -- the big incision is "tight" so I can feel it but I wouldn't call it pain. The shoulder comes and goes. I've done some walking -- the last few days have been perfect for walking. I've had a few hic-ups and was able to burp without too much problem. I'm tired but it could be that I took some codeine in the middle of the night to help me sleep better. I think it's making me drowsy today so I'm going to try and stay off it today and tonight. Good luck to those are getting banded this month! d

I hope mo one thinks I am lucky and maybe my problem is unusual but here it is. I was banded on the 11th of July. I can't eat more than a couple of mouthfulls of food a day, nor can I drink more than a litre of Water. I get too full. I get that Christmas dinner feeling after half a glass of milk and it lasts for hours. I do take a multivitimin but a tablet as the chewable ones make me gag. I am only concerned about malnutrition. I had that happen once before and I cannot go thru my hair falling out in clumps like a cancer patient. I am trying a fruit and yogurt Protein shake in the morning....sips of water as often as I can but then I really have to try and eat at night. I managed half a hotdog. That cannot be good for anyone. I hate that bloated feeling. I have it now after about half a pint of smoothie in around 40 minutes. I am not due for a fill until the second week of August.

I just had a fill today, my 4th, and I can't keep anything down. I keep slimimg! I tried to sip water, jello, ice cream, yogurt, soup, I have finally given up since after about 2-3 sips I bring it back up. I know it is too tight. I just need to know if I should call the on call doctor since I can't even keep my spit down it seems. I am slimimg about every 10 mins. And I haven't tried to drink or eat in 3 hrs! Help!!!

I will be 4mos out on the 13th, and I can eat anything, just not very much of it....I don't have any appetite, and have to force myself to eat. I always do Unjury Chocolate Splendor for breakfast, then a sharp cheddar cheese stick for a mid day snack, yogurt, or a fruit, then on to dinner, which is whatever I fix...always includes a high protein. Then I finish up my day with another Unjury Shake....I am down 80lbs post op. The only issue I find, I am not getting enough calories (per my nut). I tend to only eat about 2oz of regular food, but liquids don't bother me at all...I get restricted, a lot! Its rather annoying. Trying new foods always scares me, because I never know the effect it will have on me.

I stay low carb so I eat a lot of hard-boiled eggs, soups, meats, cheeses, and veggies. Breakfast is usually a hard boiled egg or greek yogurt. Lunch is a salad or soup. Dinner is soup or something easy like chicken or turkey with cucumbers. Throughout the day I may snack on beef jerky or dry almonds and then I drink AT LEAST half a bottle of IsoPure. I try to drink the whole thing but I usually can't get through it.

Yeah i definitely didn't tolerate tuna. Try yogurt, cottage cheese and applesauce with a bit of Splenda, retried beans and some cheese- those are all ones I have tolerated.

Hi jary..i also had gastric bypass on the 26th...stomach still swollen with gas...bu think i saw calve muscles this am...omg!! Lol.. hows your diet going??? I went shopping for soups...yogurts...etc yesterday...90$ lol.. but its nice to know all that food is going to last me weeks!! As i can only eat small portions at a time