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Hi MamaJava, I haven't been banded very long (2 months) so I know I can't give you more helpful advise than someone who has been banded longer. I just want to say I think you should relax. Sit down and think about what you are eating. Be honest with yourself and keep a journal of everything you eat and record your exercise. If you make sure your calories, sugar, and carbs are low I don't see how you can't lose. I know you say you are not eating breads and Pasta but carbs are in a lot of other things as well and in high numbers. I keep my food and exercise journal on my computer. Anytime I pick something up to eat I go straight to my computer and type it in along with the calories, fat, carbs, sugar, and Protein it provides. If you just have to have ice cream try low fat yogurt. I eat the low fat yogurt or no sugar added ice cream but I only eat it maybe two to three times a month. I don't eat it everyday. You could also try sugar free/fat free pudding made with 1/2% milk. I love that, I sometimes mix bananas in it. Other than that just make sure you are doing everything you possibly can to lose the weight. I know I want to lose this weight so bad and I will not sabotage my success by eating things I know I shouldn't eat.

Funny you should mention the CL ... I was the same way post-op. Took me about a year to start drinking it again. Try other flavors - you may be surprised to find things you didn't like before are now YUMMY! Another trick is to add SF flavorings to your Protein shakes. Hydration is the most important things those first few weeks. Try to get in protein, but don't obsess about it if you can't. I was allowed yogurt on day 3, but some surgeons say no-way. You should really call your surgeon to find out. Good luck ... the future is pretty exciting isn't it?

Hi. I just had surgery on Monday and I have some questions. I am finding it hard to get more than 30 Ounces of fluids in me a day. Is this normal 4 days later. And I years for something other than juice and protein shakes and chicken broth. Also my taste buds seemed to have changed. I bought Crystal light lemonade cause it's my favorite and now I can't stand the taste. So weird. Any tips or things you did during liquid diet. Is yogurt allowed? This has been a tough week but I think ok doing well so far. Excited for the future.

.. Yes this is VERY normal. You have to put yourself on a schedule. Drink so many ounces every hour or so. Also, all fluids count to your total. Protein Shakes, jellos, pop sicles, all that. I however did not count yogurts or anything that solid. I've heard some do though, so you'll have to choose yourself, or ask your surgeon what they suggest. Re: Crystal Light, isn't something I have ever really consumed much of. When I do though I dilute it, such as only using half tubes instead of the whole thing, or putting much more Water than the 16.9 oz bottle. I just prefer water myself.

I mix a very small amount of beans with a protein like morningstar patties or soy protein crumbles. Top with cheese and plain yogurt. Lots of protein and minimal carbs. Plus it's good to get some fiber.

Well, puking up around my dogs make clean-up so much easier as they love to recycle fresh puke!! I am a week banded and moving onto fat-free soups and FF yogurts and pudding and Protein Shakes made with FF milk, no fruits. Supposed to do this for two weeks and then I'm not sure what hell he has planned for me for the last two weeks. I am going out of town March 4th to the 8th and need to be eating fairly normal food by that time. No fill in the band, just the band. I have the REALIZE band.

Thank you all of you!! I seem to be going back and forth on the 1lb. Yea I am on regular food but I really watch it. They said I was a fast healer and if I am comfortable eating it then its fine but be mindful about it. I couldn't eat a hamburger but more like salmon and some salad. I eat some crackers and suck on them to get them mooshy. But I also am on soups and yogurt. But I am proud of one thing, NO CAFFEINE or REGULAR POP!!! Good Luck to all of you!! And THANK YOU AGAIN

Here's what my nutritionist wrote when I asked why the liquid diet was necessary and not just a low glycemic diet: "You are to follow the pre-op meal plan that was given to you. I know it's hard because it doesn't consist of a lot of substance, but it is a requirement from Dr. --- in order to have surgery. Every person whom is overweight or obese has an enlarged liver. The liquid diet helps shrink the size of the liver, fat around the abdomen and helps Dr. -- perform the surgery in record time and prevents him from poking your fatty liver with his surgical tools. If your liver is fatty and it gets poked it will bleed and therefore the operation will take longer. Please follow the guidelines and don't have anything that isn't already listed on the pre-op diet. Dr. -- has been known to put his camera in the belly, look at the liver and if it's still too large, a funny color from eating solid foods or if he feels that you cheated, he will cancel your surgery on that very day! So please take full advantage of 2 Protein shakes a day and 3 servings of cottage cheese, milk or yogurt to help fill you up as much as possible. The previous items include protein for satiety! " Guess that puts the fear of God (and Dr.--) in ME! I want my liver the right color, whatever that is!!

Puddings, yogurt, mashed potates and cream soups were on my full liquid week not the pureed week. I think every doctor is a little different.

I'm on full liquids now. Here's what I've had today 4 oz Peach soy baby yogurt- Breakfast fat free sugar free chocolate pudding cup-snack Optima Slim Fast shake (about 1/2's all I could stomach)- lunch full fat full sugar butterscotch pudding cup-snack This part is so much better for me than the broth. If I never have to have any broth for the rest of my life, I will be okay!! I thought I was going to die. I was absolutely starving, in fact I woke up from surgery hungry.

Victor, I am big sushi fan and I eat it all of the time. These days I try to stick with sashimi or a salad with sashimi (like a poke salad) but when I was in the "mushy" phase I didnt eat much sushi. Certainly, you should avoid the fish and rolls until you get a little further along. When I did go back to sushi I think one of the first things I ate was tofu and some roe. Today (im 7 months post-op) I still dont eat the rolls--frankly, just too complicated, too big of a bite, etc. But, I have tried them. Not long ago my girl friend and I went to get sushi and I think I ate 2 rolls and called it a night. I might have been able to have one more bite...but considering that the rolls are a lot to take in, had I had one more roll, I would have been in a lot of pain and gone too far. In the mushy stage I ate a lot of yogurt (dannon lite and fit) and broth-like Soups. I would recommend that you take your time. My first time out to eat where I decided to try a little of this and that was a disaster and I wanted to die...so slow is good. Ps, for any of you wondering about that incident might I recomend that you NOT drink martini's straight up and eat foie gras...it may just end your life! haha good luck!

LOL... mine was the opposite. I never used to drink a lot of Water. NOW I love it and cannot stand juices. I bought a bunch of the small bottles of G2 - they actually made me gag. I ended up giving them away. I've noticed a change in the way foods taste too. I tried a container of yogurt and all I could taste was the artificial sweeteners. I tried different Soup broths and all I could taste was the potato starch in them. I guess it's not a bad thing, but it just makes every bite an adventure. lol. SO SORRY about the water thing!

Debi, I am currently on soft foods until next tuesday when I meet with my nutritionist and surgeon. For the most part I get my protein from Protein shakes, scrambled eggs, chicken, greek yogurt, and cheeses. I'm trying to stay pretty strict with getting in all my protein and fluids but I'm not that good at hitting my goals yet for either of them. I think one of the reasons for me not losing right now is I'm not having enough calories so I'm trying to focus on that for now. I think your medication could definitely be a cause for your slower loss. You should check with your NUT or surgeon for a more solid answer. I hope that helps.

Are you REALLY hungry, or just head hungry? And acid can also feel like hunger. A couple tbls of Maalox would completely cure my early "Hunger pains". Are you still in soft food/puréed stage? If so, try bean Soups or split pea Soup. I found these to be very filling. Concentrate on high protein/very low carb stuff. The ice cream, oatmeal with brown sugar and sweetened yogurt is just feeding your carb monster and making you more hungry. Cottage cheese, plain Greek yogurt, cheese sticks, puréed tuna fish or chicken salad, hummus, etc. would be more filling options that won't spike your blood sugar and make you feel hungry every hour. And the biggest thing to realize is that the liquids and soft foods will not fill you up anyways. It passes through your sleeve very quickly. This is the point you need to be mentally strong and stick with the plan. If you are hungry, commit to a 16-20oz Protein drink before snacking on something else. Once I was on regular food, I got very full and stayed full on dense Proteins (chicken, pork, beef, eggs). And no drinking 30-45 min after you eat since that will just flush out your sleeve and leave you feeling hungry again.

Thank you & that's totally fine as long as i can stalk yours lmao! I was in the hospital for one night, didn't need anything longer than that. I was literally doing laps in the hallway (walking that is) you want to walk as much as possible to alleviate the major gas pains you'll have (from them pumping you with air) I was out of work for two weeks, if i didn't have the issue with constipation i think i would've been fine to come back after the first week but id suggest if you could take the time off take it just because you will be very tired and still healing. Im not sure which line of work your in and if its a physical job or not but me i sit at a desk and get up and down throughout the day to file charts. I couldve taken off a month but i knew that we didnt have anyone in our office that was going to do all my work and the longer i was out the more it piled up lol. Protein shakes....i went with the Premier Protein for a while but i soon became tired of those esp vanilla, you may be different but they were delicious to start off with ( i liked the chocolate one more, it reminds me of chocolate milk) I have since bought the big container of Syntrax nectar fuzzy naval ( fuzzy naval is the flavor) its ok, not too bad its tolerable but i know for the nectar brand you can go on there website and try sample packs ( you do have to pay for them) but that way you dont buy something and not like it. The premier Proteins can come in packs of 4 pre made at like walmart and then they have bulk at like sams club or costco (not sure if you guys have these places where you live but you guys should have something similar) My diet now...Im pretty much back on everything but everything is very minimal. I can make a whole can of tuna (with light tuna of course) and eat on it for days. I have to stay away from raw vegetables right now just because they can get stuck. and i have to make sure that if i do a meat that i chew it super well otherwise that can also get stuck. liquid/puree stage... i didnt really puree anything except for Beans, i lived on beans for awhile along with all my liquid stuff: broth, sugar free Jello, sugar free pudding, yogurt, cream of wheat or cream of rice. YOU WILL GET TIRED OF ALL OF THIS STUFF, but once you start having solid foods again my doc told me to cut all of that stuff out completely except i could still enjoy some yogurt (high in protein) As far as the loose skin thing, were young still so our skin is more elastic compared to if we were to do this down the road so m hoping that with continued exercise that it wont be as bad but im sure its somewhat inevitable just because of the amount of weight were dropping in the period were dropping it. Have you bought all of your Vitamins yet? Do you have any issue with taking pills now? And its no problem about how many questions you ask im just glad i can share some stuff with you to make it hopefully an easier transition. http://www.premierprotein.com/ http://www.vitacost.com/syntrax-nectar-whey-protein-isolate-powder?csrc=GPF-PA-Sports%20%26%20Fitness-893912123536&ci_gpa=pla&ci_kw=&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=893912123536&gclid=CKmOu-OwisUCFVGUfgod0IoAKg ive put links to the proteins, hopefully they work

I mix 1/2 scoop of protein with 1/2 container if Greek yogurt. And I also mix 1/2 scoop of protein win a sugar free fat free chocolate pudding snack.

Thanks!! I thought maybe you meant grams when you were talking about the protein? Someone gave me info about a powder protein that each scoop gives 30 grams of protein. It dissolves well in water. If you like yogurt there are some with high protein - sometimes 12.

Cheese, nuts, deli meat, greek yogurt with or without chia seeds, cucumbers or red bell peppers with tzatziki or just plain, celery with peanut butter or cream cheese and everything but the bagel seasoning, apples and peanut butter... if you tell us what foods you DO like maybe we can give you better suggestions?

For those of you fresh post-ops, I found this an easy way to get a large chunk of my Protein in. 1 pineapple 3 Oranges 1 cup greek yogurt 1 scoop Protein powder First peel and chunk the fruit so you can juice the pieces (no pulp!). Then add yogurt, protein, juice, and ice to texture to blender. Blend and enjoy! Depending on the protein brand, generally there are 23 g per scoop. There is also 23 g per cup of yogurt, so it amounts to 46 g (plus whatever is in the juice). Yay! Made my life a lot easier figuring this out!! Good Luck!

I eat yogurt, cottage cheese, low calorie protein bars at times, nuts, grilled chicken, beans etc. etc

I had an interesting realization the other day. I realized that although I continue to love vanilla Oikos yogurt, I also like other kinds of Greek yogurt that I had been avoiding due to my Oikos vanilla habit. It was actually a bit of a pleasant surprise to consciously recognize my “need” to stock up on that one flavor and brand of yogurt and to realize that other brands and flavors would be fine in a pinch…so I don’t need to waste energy being anxious about running out of my original preference. But still, there are foods I won’t go without, and to make sure I don’t, I stock up on them. I always have yogurt in the fridge, blueberries in the freezer, and tuna in the pantry. Some of us are naturally more inclined to stock up than others, but being on a strict meal plan like you are on after weight loss surgery makes it seem more important than before to insure you have the foods you need in the house. Otherwise, you might find yourself reaching for some regrettable alternatives…like potato chips instead of carrot sticks, or ice cream instead of yogurt. What are the snack foods you need to have around your house (or car or workplace)? How many of them do you feel the need to keep around? Do you stock up whenever they’re on sale?

Wow! Great list girl. I heartily concur! Yogurt by itself for me=total slider. I eat it and look around for more! But if I combine with cottage cheese, walnuts/almonds, blueberries, peanut butter powder (yes I know), and sometimes 6g Fiber One--but at least the stuff before this that's listed...it sticks with me. But I keep quantities to 1/2c of the dairy mix. Salads and veggies (raw and cooked, especially over cooked) = total sliders. Pasta, rice, beans, "complex carbs" = total sliders Crunchy crap: crackers, chips, tortillas, including protein chips = total sliders Candy: sugar free gummy bears and sugar free strawberry twizzlers = total sliders (please don't ask me how I know) Soups/stews/chilis = total sliders Anything (animal/vegetable/mineral) with gravy or butter = total sliders Smoothies/protein drinks that don't have lots of spinach, a few berries, and a crapton of psyllium husks = total sliders ***** So basically here's my recap. Everything goes through me like buttah except dense, very lean protein and separate al dente veggies. Some whole nuts have a "stop" to them. From satiety standpoints: as long as I keep carbs low, keep carbs per meal low, and sugar per meals 5g or less per meal, then I can control my hunger and control my portions (except on salads...I eat 2x as much salad as I do meat + veg). Adding IF also helps me limit my hunger. The more I IF, the less hunger I have.

What a great humorous relief to read today!!! From the commercials to the small boy band playing in my stomach all day, I can totally related to your post! I am amazed at the food commercials from 5:00-10:00 with high levels of calories and fat content. During the day it seems a little better with the yogurt commercials but still. It is everywhere you look. I am not looking forward to having a meeting with my staff and my stomach decides to have a Lady Gaga concert right there in the room!

I’m looking for some breakfast ideas that are NOT sweet (ie. shakes, yogurt). I also have an egg allergy. It’s making it very tough to find anything to eat for breakfast :/ What’s your favorite go to breakfast??

Avocado with a dash of tahin and everything bagel, yogurt with berries, oatmeal with berries, cottage cheese with a dash of balsamic vinegerette, spoonful of fresh ground peanut butter, 1/2 protein shake...depends on the day and how much time I have. I left off all my egg options lol Sent from my SM-N975U using BariatricPal mobile app