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So I follow the food before and after thread and I’m always amazed by all the yummy looking things they come up with but I am more of the five ingredients or less kind of cook so I lurke and admire but rarely post anything. I really struggle with variety and I am always looking for new ideas. Today I bought lean beef, mahi mahi and chicken breasts and now I’m sitting here trying to think of what to make for dinner but nothing sounds good. Does anyone have any tasty, yet somewhat easy, recipes or suggestions. I am trying to start eating close to how I will be eventually eating post revision surgery that is scheduled for early august. What your plan for dinner tonight??

Is this ok? I have this recipe for brownies with cornstarch monkfruit as coco powder wonder if that’s doable In soft food stage

Hi everyone, I had my lap band inserted in Nov 2016 and after the first 6 months really hated it. Felt like it ruined my social life and my relationship with food. Eventually, acid reflux became so apparent I was taking Omeprazole every day, constantly vomiting and just feeling really awful. Some days could not even drink water. Had chest pain, back pain. I was miserable. So I had the band removed last week (I’m 6 days post op) and just wondered how long it took most people to feel better? Surgery went well - the band hadn’t slipped but there was scar tissue. My acid reflux went away immediately (yay!) but am still having constant cramping in the stomach area. This moves into my back quite a bit too. Was on clear fluid diet for the first 3 days and felt pretty awful, and have now graduated to mashed/puree foods, which seems to be causing diarrhoea. Just wanted to know others experiences

Make yourself down a protein shake, even if it's half in the am and half in the pm -- just until you're more able to get the protein from food sources. (Or even then, if it suits your needs). It doesn't have to be delicious, it just has to be nutritious -- at least while your body is still recovering (6-8 months?) and trying to establish a new regime of what it can eat. A protein shake, a bar, sip some bone broth -- whatever you need to do to get that protein up. ❤️

Me and hubby have had this food conversation recently. On my list is Pizza Hut, a fillet steak dinner and a chippy tea. Other than that, I can’t really think of anything else that I would want, maybe a burger at some point but I think everything else can wait and be adapted post-op or shared with hubby (though not chippy tea as he hates it 😳) We are off to London soon, staying in a posh hotel for 3 nights so I know that I will probably lose the run of myself come breakfast time! I’ve already scoured food places around where we’re staying and around Covent Garden. Greek is on the list and booked as I like chicken souvlaki, which I know is a relatively good choice. Other than that I will just play by ear. I know it’s our last break away for a long time so yes, there will be some indulgences but I will still try and keep some form of control!

Back from vacation last night and had a great time. We spent 2 days at the waterpark at Great Wolf Lodge, then drove to Hershey, Pennsylvania to visit the amusement park, followed by a trip through Lancaster County (where many Amish people live). I did what I could to meet protein goals and make healthy choices at restaurants, but I also allowed myself some sweets and tried not to stress about it too much. Weighed myself this morning and was down one pound since last week. Overall feeling good and looking forward to getting back to a more normal schedule, although I have a bit of a break from work until next week. A few random travel tips: Always make sure you are getting your food prepared the way you want it when you order. I saw a photo of a salad with grilled chicken on the menu, but I didn't realize it could also come fried until that was what the server brought me. She didn't ask which I wanted (she was new), and I just assumed it was grilled. A simple, "That's with grilled chicken, right?" would have saved me having to try to peel away all of the fried breading. If you must order fast food when on the road, a small cup of chili from Wendy's has 16g protein and 240 calories. I believe it's 22g carb (6g of which is fiber). They also have some nice salads. For a long car trip, bring a gallon-size thermal jug of ice water and keep it in the back to refill your smaller water bottle. Individual packs of edamame, beef jerky, and nuts made great portable snacks to get in some extra protein, and Quest protein chips are delicious! I also found protein pretzels in a gas station convenience store and they were good, although not as high in protein as Quest (which they also sold there).

I think I’m entering my ‘stall’ period now. Having had numerous attempts at weight loss in the past, I know my body sulks between week 3 and week 7. I’m just beginning week 5 so the timing is bang on. My weight has gone up 1.5lbs from my lowest weight this week but it happens so I will just keep on keeping on. Once my body has got over its sulk the weight should start coming off once again. A couple of NSV this week. I don’t know about anyone else but my clothing sizes can be a bit all over the place. One size of clothing can have 3 meanings for me, depending on what it’s made of. So, for example, there’s the ‘I’m kidding myself’ sizing - plenty of give, elasticated, stretchy material. It may say 22 but I know it’s really a 24+. There’s then the ‘huh, it’s not too bad’ sizing - some give, not that stretchy, a definitely generous 22, and then there’s the ‘unforgiving’ sizing - no give, no stretch, no elasticated waist etc, a definite 22. For long enough I’ve been at the ‘I’m kidding myself’ stage but I went shopping in my wardrobe and found a couple of tops with no give, a definite 22. Tried both on - they fit!! And they didn’t look like sausage skin!! Very happy dance around the bedroom! I also went out of my comfort zone at the weekend and bought myself a size 22 no-stretch denim maxi skirt. I can fasten it, just, but don’t rate my chances of sitting down and/or breathing in it 😮‍💨 However, I’m keeping it as I know I will fit in to it comfortably at some point. We’re off to London for a few nights in 3 weeks or so, so fingers crossed it may fit a little better by then 🤞🤞 Meds have finally been sorted and delivered, had my Oximetry test last week so hopefully that’s gone well. No Bariatric appointments this week but I have my endoscopy next week plus knee X-rays for my arthritis. Food wise things are going OK. My new favourite thing is Lindhals Stracciatella Kvarg protein yoghurt - oh, I could eat barrels of the stuff! I’ve also tried the Warburtons Protein Power bread as a change to the whole meal. It’s definitely nice as a change but doesn’t want to make me eat lots and lots of it, which is a definite plus! Hope everyone has a great week… Onwards and Downwards!

I’m exactly one week post-op today! 6/24 I had gastric bypass and, despite all the info I’ve been given, I’m feeling completely lost! 😅 My friend who’s had gastric sleeve surgery a few years ago told me about this site so here I am! Anyone else miss chewing food like I do?? 😂

Thanks for the reminder. My tastes didn’t drastically change last time but I guess they could this time. What did change was My cravings and preferences. I used to reach for salty food pre surgery aa a snack and post surgery I still love my food salty but I crave sweets most of the time as a snack. I’m hoping that changes back with the revision. Especially since when I do want something salty I’m not satisfied with just that. I have to finish it off work something sweet right after. I have learned to kist do a small portion of the salty thing and try to do a small portion of the sweet thing but most of those are single serve like yogurt and yasso bars so I usually finish it. I still think that is the oddest change. Especially since the one question my surgeon kept asking was if I eat alot of sweets before he steered me to the sleeve. Prior to surgery i had sweets maybe a handful of times a year (usually on holidays when someone really pushed them). Now I have them daily. 🤷🏼‍♀️

But that's only at the beginning. It's definitely not like that forever. It has to be that way at first because your stomach has to heal and your body needs time to get use to food again.

Problem with ignoring is the pressure that comes from realising you are getting majority of your protein from protein water in my case - can’t bear the PP post op and not real food

That's how you learn your new limits, though. Your mind will tell you it's not enough food. Ignore that hater. We don't know her anymore. She a bish that wanna cause drama and chaos. She got us into this mess to begin with. Listen to your body. THAT'S what will lead you to the Promised Land.

Don’t buy too much @ShoppGirl. I found it very salty & couldn’t eat it thanks to the change to my taste buds. You may be fine with it but if you can’t tolerate it, freeze it if it’s fresh or opened & use it as a soup base instead of stock in puree or later stages.

Temporary hair loss is very common after surgery. Your body is going through a lot is stress: the surgery, reduced food intake, weight loss, anaesthetic, hormonal flushes & changes, etc. The result is a temporary acceleration of your natural hair loss cycle. It actually can occur after child birth, periods of extreme stress, other more major surgeries, etc. The hair you are losing is dead & you were going to lose it anyway just not as quickly. You can’t stop it. Or slow it down. Some people will suggest adding additional supplements but this period of hair loss still lasts about 4 month -/+ regardless of taking the additional supplements or not. Those supplements won’t help hair that is already dead. As long as you’re taking the vitamins your team recommends & are meeting your protein & other nutritional goals, you don’t need to do anything else. Your new hair is still growing just at its usual rate & it is only this new growth that may benefit from the supplements. How much you’ll lose is very individual & you can’t predict it. You may lose more if it’s summer (when we usually shed more hair) or if you are in your 7 year hair shedding cycle (just went through mine again & was losing a lot more than usual). Try cutting off some of your length if you have longer hair. Many of us do this so the new growth reaches the length of the old growth more quickly. And shorter hair is always bouncier & looks fuller than long. I decided some temporary hair loss is a small price to pay for the benefits of your weight loss. Oh, and try not to stress too much - it only adds to the stress your body is already under which influences the hair loss. PS: You can update your weight by scrolling to near the bottom of this page. You’ll see a section titled Together we have lost… Add your current weight & click Update Your Weight. It will display the next time you start a thread or respond to a post.

My surgery was june 4 and my appetite is returning. I’ve been going through the feeling of wanting to keep losing weight but also curious as to what foods will stay down and satisfy me. I think ill be eating soft foods soon. Tuna is all i eat. Im HUNGRY LOL. I know i have a long way to go but sheesh

I am 4 months out. I had sleeve into bypass. I can’t figure had to change weight yet on this site. I lost 50 pounds. I can’t believe the hair I am losing. I’m freaking going bald. Taking vitamins but 65 grams of protein a bit difficult for me. I get around 55. I can’t force the food. I talked with doc and they said it’s common to lose hair but he said it’s a lot. Try more protein. Ugh! So frustrated!

Relieved to hear that. Any tips for meeting nutritional guidelines - I am not very good at cooking. So my post op soft food day looks like protein water chicken mince (2-3oz) hummus or some Greek yogurt and a bite or canned peach so far

Ohhh I hear you. Even at my lowest and highest weight, heat has always drained me. All I want is ice water and to munch cold grapes and for everything else to recede. My boss is the sweetest older Korean man. I speak a little Korean, he speaks a bit more English -- so we have language barriers but over the years we've found ways to understand each other pretty well. But the week I came back to work, I ended up having to take a sick day near the end of the week. I had eaten something that caused my first bout of dumping syndrome and it caused my healing body a fair amount of muscle / tissue / inner pain for the next couple days. When I came back I made the mistake of telling him that I'd eaten something that didn't agree with m, whether because it was to dry or I ate too much too fast. Well he heard "ate too much" and now everytime I'm not feeling my best / looking high-energied -- or he catches me having a shake for lunch because I'm feeling nauseated at the idea of food -- he starts questioning me if I've been eating too much. In his case I know he means it from a place of caring and concern, but it roughs up the ragged edges of my old eating-disorders in my psyche. I immediately feel judged for being overweight to begin with, and like I'm being watched/judged now, etc. And I know they're my issues, but I could certainly do with not being reminded of them so often.

I had gastric sleeve 3.5 years ago and It went really smoothly. I remember being so super anxious but the best thing I did was to just tell the staff so they were all patient with me and did an excellent job of distracting me throughout the process of getting me prepped. When I got there the first thing they asked me to do was a pregnancy test (urine sample). Turns out I couldn’t pee so they rushed a blood test so no big deal. Then they had me change into a gown and hospital socks and put an iv into my hand. They asked me a bunch of questions about allergies and when I last ate and drank and all that stuff and the anesthesiologist came in and asked some questions about medical history. The surgeon popped in to say hi and then I was off to the operating room. Last thing I remember is them saying to take a couple deep breaths and then I woke up in recovery. I did freak out a bit then because no one told me I would have a nerve block in my stomach which makes it feel impossible to sit up and I wasn’t expecting that when I woke up. Of course the nurses are sitting right there and one explained what was going on right away and I was fine. They had to wait for a room for me so I was in recovery a little longer than normal so they had me up walking while I was still in there. After that I drifted off to sleep again and woke up in my room. Honestly I felt fine. Other than my stomach felt like I had done a bunch of crunches. Not pain, just sore when I tried to sit up. I didn’t have any of the gas pain that some people describe. They were a little concerned that my bladder didn’t wake up quite as quick as they expected so they put a basin in the toilet to measure it and when I did go and said they may have to put in a catheter if I didn’t go soon but I went shortly after and my output was normal So that wasn’t an issue. They gave me little medicine cups to drink water out of and again I was lucky and had no issues drinking small amounts. Then I think it was dinner time they brought a tray with broth and jello if I remember correctly. And crystal light. They brought in my daily meds and I asked them to take me off the pain meds because I didn’t feel I needed them. My husband showed up after work and we took a couple walks and then I went back to sleep. The next day I went home shortly after lunch. The whole time I was there they were pumping me full of fluids via IV. as far as the liver shrink diet mine was pretty lenient. Basically low carb it was a shake for breakfast and lunch and then lean meat and veggies for dinner. One thing I did to make it a little easier was to stop all carbs the week before so I could go through all them carb cravings while I could at least have as much of the other stuff as I wanted. I was also allowed some “free foods” like pickles, lettuce and jello which helped me feel like I was getting something. The dr did tell me afterwards that he could tell that I did a really good job on the liver shrink diet so I guess it really does make a difference for them to make the surgery safer.

Not exactly the same but yesterday I was told by my (well intentioned I guess) boss that he was concerned I wasn't eating enough as I looked a bit unwell and didn't seem to have much energy yesterday! Sorry but it was 30c / 86f in our office, no air con, no air circulating and I HATE the heat so I felt exhausted plus I hadn't had great sleeps the last few nights. I wasn't the only one struggling in the office yet he seemed to put my struggle down to the fact that he said he didn't think I was getting in enough calories and he had been watching how little I eat! I just said I was suffering from the heat and he had nothing to worry about on the food/calorie intake side of things as I am eating the right portion amounts, was hitting my protein goals most days, had good blood results and if anything I was probably snacking a bit too much on nuts! Then when I repeated this conversation to my Mum last night she then became concerned I wasn't eating enough and that I should look at maybe starting to try to maintain now or even put on a lb or two. Seriously, I have not even got to the goal weight my surgeon set for me (70kg , well it had been 75kg but then when I reached that he brought it to 70kg) and I am still off what I want (66kg). For my Mum though I know her concern comes from me living overseas and not seeing me a lot so she based her comments on the fear (to her) of what my boss said.

Mashed potatoes and pepper salmon I was super busy all day and didn’t get to eat until 6pm plusI had to cook (at least the food was good)

TW: mental health issues, suicide, infertility I've gotten those comments already (only 3 months in, and nowhere near my goal weight), and in the past during other diet-based weight loss. I used to try to convince myself that these people mean well, that they're trying to show they care, or trying to give backhanded compliments. 2024 me? Nah. They're being petty, they're being bullies, they're jealous, they feel like your success highlights any issues they fault with their own body, etc. The only time I successfully lost weight 'on my own' through diet and exercise, I ended up gaining it all back and more -- and while I logically know it was my own choices that led to it, there was also my 'best friend' telling me that I looked like I was dying, that I looked like a cancer patient, etc, and then inviting me over and peer pressuring me into the most unhealthy foods. I was young and I had always been easily intimated / manipulated by her; I had always had **** self esteem and found my own value only through what others said they valued of me, etc. I know I was in a bad mental place to begin with. But it was absolutely brutal. But nobody, nobody, should be saying these kinds of things to another. Whether you're close to each other or barely know each other. Whether they're 'teasing' or not. It would be absolutely awesome if the world / society could normalize not making un-asked for comments about other people's looks. How about we apply 'consent' when it comes to these sorts of conversations? FFS. I'm sure I'm not the only one whom has had comments made while they were overweight. People, strangers, asking if you're pregnant, if you're female presenting. ((Afterwards, I always wished I could go back in time and cause a scene -- cause no, asshat, I'm actually unable to have children and it ruined several relationships and led to depression and suicidal ideation. But thanks for giving me that extra scoop of pasta sauce since it looks like I'm "eating for two.")) So many people have body issues, weight related or otherwise. Body dysmorphia. Mental health issues. Triggers. And what right does any person have to comment on someone else's appearance? If someone wants to go to the grocery store in their pjs, what's it to you? If someone got a new hair cut and you really don't like it, stfu. If someone lost over half their body weight, why do you feel entitled to question them about it or tell them you liked them better with a little more meat on their bones? (Not... you. You know. Societal 'You'.) There's a big difference between saying "Wow, you're looking good today" or "Is that a new shirt? It looks great on you" and letting the compliment receiver decide if they want to open the conversation up from there, and saying things like "Oh god, you're losing so much you're gonna disappear" or "ugh, you're losing so much weight, enough already." ... anyway. I'll end my venting-vomit with: I'm trying so hard these days to have the confidence in setting my own boundaries and actually enforcing them. I'm starting to figure out lines I can say when people cross them. I'm trying not to let my inner rage at a world full of entitled bullies make me someone who bullies back, but yeah, maybe next time someone seems fit to complain about my looks I'll find something they probably don't want to talk about either. If I'm fair game, so are they. Eat some karma. 😈

According to my post of instructions, we weren’t allowed to eat regular foods until 8 weeks post op. Maybe try to go back on pureed/soft. Then once you get to 8 weeks introduce regular food.

I was allowed regular coffee afterwards, not restricted to decacf, so once I could have it I made a frappe version with cold brewed coffee, dark chocolate almond milk, a scoop of protein powder and ice cubes. Sometimes I include a syrup - Da Vinci Caramel Syrup Light. For the soft food stage I had a lot of bolognese or lentil curry/dahl - good amounts of protein and flavour for the small portions.