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No soft food until week 4-5 - yikes. Did she/he provide any recommendations on how to get there other than siping on protein shakes all day? And by soft, can you have yogurt, cottage cheese, and oatmeal now? Adding another protein shake would add some calories and plenty of protein until you hit week 4 later this week. Even then, an egg is only about 6 gas of protein compared to the 20-30 in 11oz of protein shake.

Looks like your post was cut little short, but glad to see you are acclimating to the new life and getting around. I have three more days of liquid and can't wait to jump into the next phase. Hopefully the addition of some yogurt will help with the "black tongue" issue I've noticed of late.

Wow I didn't know this. I thought after surgury you drink protein drinks which are dairy based? I guess yogurt will not be a soft food either. I need to find out what everyone is eating after surgury?? Any input for me? Susan - that is terrible for you. I hope it all works out very soon.

I eat much of the same thing most days of the week. Morning snack is a serving of roasted pumpkin seeds, afternoon is Dannon Light-n-Fit yogurt.

Hello! Wow it's hard to believe we have all been banded for SOOOOOOOO long now! I'd LOVE to get the sleeve. I have lost a lot of weight but not "all" of it. Unfortunately there is no way I would qualify to get the sleeve unless I paid for it all as my BMI is actually not that bad now! Go figure! Anyhoooooooo so that wont be happening. I would love to just to eat again, I get stuck on everything and I eat like a bird. My problem is that the bad foods that dont get stuck still are super high in calories and just zip right on through. Amylynns I drink my breakfast EVERY morning, my blender is my very best friend. I drink yogurt/protien/fruit smoothies for breakfast every day and I also do a lot of green juicing. I worry because I know I do not get all of the nutrition in I need every day, but the only way would be to take a bit out of my band and I dont want to do that because I am scared I will gain. Today I had a banana/mango/cherry & yogurt smoothie for breakfast and a stick of cheese and a few crackers for lunch. Id love to eat more right now, in fact I am hungry however I know one more bite and it will be too much and I'll wind up drowning in my phlem. Lovely eh?

There are tons of other sources for Protein. 0% Greek yogurt is my personal fav. If you are not used to it, mixing it with some fruit or a bit of honey might help. Here's a helpful chart of other sources of protein.

Hello Bandsters, I was banded on Monday November 3, 2008, so it’s been a full week. I can report that I had serous gas pains since Wednesday, but today I feel a lot better, and both ends are working. I still have a little tenderness at the surgery wounds, but no pain. I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but we picked a bad time of the year to get banded. My Birthday is tomorrow, the 11th, and Thanksgiving is right around the corner, good grief. I’ve been on liquids for good month, and I am praying that my Doc puts me on mushy foods this Wednesday. Does anyone have any great ideas for Birthday treat; I can have puddings, Jell-O’s, and yogurts. Oh yes, other question. I see tickers and other info on the blogs, how do you install them? Thanks, and good luck to everyone. RBK.

Hi cher (and hi again faybie!) - I am not much of a meat eater either, so he're is how I get my Protein. Egg whites contain the protein, not so much the yolks. The egg yolks are filled with fat, and if I'm not mistaken, the whites are fat free. Eat the whites. You can also use Egg Beaters, which don't have fat and have lots of protein. That's actually what I do because I don't like the goopy egg white innards. While I don't eat beef, pork, lamb, etc., I don't mind salmon, turkey and chicken, so that is what I eat to get my protein. I buy the Amish (no steroids, hormones, injected) boneless, skinless chicken breast and usually grill it on my George Foreman grill. I buy the canned Swanson chicken. I also use the pre-packaged Chicken of the Sea Salmon (boneless, skinless). I think 3oz of each has about 15g protein. I'm still on the soft food stage, so I'm making what I call "Whips." I take the chicken or salmon and mix it with cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, yogurt (all FF of course) and add various seasonings. I can change the entire texture of the meal by adding cream cheese (especially good with the salmon). I've used Greek seasoning, Italian seasoning, hot sauce, bbq sauce, lemon pepper to flavor the whip. Each one of the whips has about 25g protein. I'm also drinking Isopure zero carb drinks. They are fruit flavored, not the milky protein shakes. 40g protein each and only 160 calories. You can also go to your surgeon's office and have them order Bariatrix products for you. You can't order them yourself, but a MD can order them. Each one has 70 - 100c and 15g protein. My surgeon had me on those for my pre-op and post-op diet, and I still use them as necessary. (I'm on self-imposed liquids this weekend, matter of fact. 5 drinks = 75g protein.) GNC is having a sale of Muscle Milk - 34g protein per drink. I only drink them on days I work out because it's got 360 calories. I also got some other high Protein Drinks, but I haven't tried them so I don't know how they will taste. Oh, I also bought some Stallone Protein pudding, too. We'll see how that goes. I don't care for pudding, so I don't know why I bought it. Oh yeah, 20g protein! There are also some IGN (?) protein bullets. The new ones are 3oz and have 42g protein. ReneBean mentioned them earlier, and if you're interested I can dig up a link for you. I've not tried those either, but plan to. Those are all of my secrets. Hope they helped! Sorry it took so long to reply, I just saw this thread. Good Luck! Nathalie

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones... only one day of clear liquids pre-op, and on solid food in week 3, but find myself preferring soups and yogurt still. My doc puts a fill in the band when he puts it in, so I don't think I've had quite the hell everyone describes. Stupidly, I don't know my band's capacity or how much he started with... will ask when I go see him in 3 more weeks. Congrats to all on your progress to date! What fun we will all have as we learn to live with our bands and watch the pounds peel off!

I was also banded on 8.29! A little frustrated that I lost 11 pounds in the first 6 days and only one after that, but otherwise doing well. I feel comforted to hear that others are having issues with sleeping as well. It is all I can do to get up in the morning, get to work and get home. I started soft foods this week and go for my first fill tomorrow (9.14). I don't remember the name of the protein powder I'm using but my husband found it at GNC. It is chocolate flavored. I mix it with a little skim milk and some non-fat frozen yogurt which makes it taste like a milk shake! I couldn't do the other drinks they suggested (diabetic ensure, etc.). They all smelled like baby formula to me! Good luck to all of you!

I make minimal use of shakes, because I also find them cloyingly sweet. One alternative with a good protein count is to take one cup of Chobani Less Sugar Greek yogurt (any flavor, 12g) and mix it with 8oz Fairlife 1% milk (13g). I put it in an insulated shaker cup (with a whisk ball to blend it smooth) and enjoy it while it's still cold/cool. If you let it get warm it is not as pleasant to drink. For me, tepid and thick does not want to go down.

Ok, I'll play! I'm gonna pretend that I'm post WLS by 3 weeks. At 3 weeks I'm at the soft solids. My daily protein goal is 74g for my height. My portion size is 2oz Protein/meal; 1oz Protein/snack. I'm to have 3 meals and 1-2 Snacks daily, but since I'm still so newly after surgery it's really 5-6 mini meals of the same size. Meal size by volume is about 1/4-1/2cup. (Because I'm so close to surgery, I'm sure I will be relying very heavily still on protein supplements and will also probably need 3 meals + 3 snacks per day...) B: 1/4c 2% Daisy cottage cheese + 2tbs Walden Farm strawberry syrup (7g P) MS: 1/4c 0% Fat HEB Greek yogurt + 2tbsp Walden Farm blueberry syrup (6g P) L: 1/4c salmon salad (1oz canned, drained, skinned pink salmon; 1/2 hb lg egg; 1 tbsp 2% Daisy cottage cheese; 1 tsp country dijon; 1 tbsp Walden Farm Amazin Chipotle Mayo; TJ EBBS) (8g P) AS: Same as lunch (8g P) D: 2oz blackened tilapia + 1 tbsp avocado + 1 tbsp mild salsa (9g P) BS: 1/2c PBC protein pudding (homemade) (11g P) Daily Total Before Supplementing with Protein Drinks: 401cals; 49g Protein; 12g F; 20g Carbs; 3g Fiber; 17g Net Carbs (*Note: I will need about 9fl oz of Premier Protein Vanilla to hit my protein goal for the day. I'll probably just use those in my morning decaff coffee as a coffee creamer. (Daily Total After Supplementing with the Protein Drinks: 532 cals; 74g Protein; 14g Fat; 24g Carbs; 5g Fiber; 19g Net Carbs)

My two cents....for what it is worth. Remember that you are worth this and you are not a failure because your weight loss journey is different from those around you. In my three years I have come to realize that everyone is different even with the band. For example, I have great restriction, but I can eat bread. I always have been able to and waiting around for bread to get stuck to let me know that I have restriction or can't eat anymore is not going to help me at all. I lost 10 -15 lbs in the first month and basically hit a plateau that lasted nearly a year. Then I gave up, was depressed avoided my doctor and gained a lot of that weight back. My doctor wanted me to have a gastric bypass, even encouraged me to run the new testing and thankfully my insurance company denied it. He basically wrote me off as a patient. New doctor gave me very different support and aftercare. Some things I have now learned: (1) I need a low-carb diet. I eat 45-55 gms of carbs a day. Thats it, and a lot of that comes from fruits and veggies. The funny thing is that with carbs, they are either slider foods (potatoes) foods that get stuck, (doughy foods, rice) or sweets/nuts (high calorie, high sugar, high fat) and they often trigger cravings for more carbs! (2) I eat at regular intervals, every 3 hrs. Some people say they don't get hungry for 4-5 hrs. Not me. I'm hungry. If I rely on just hunger, I eat too much, if I to wait for 4-5 hrs I am starving and again I eat too much, too fast or make bad choices. Seriously figure out how long it takes you to get hungry and set your meals around that. I had an alarm on my cell the first week to remind me to eat because I am not starving at that point and sometimes miss the hunger signals, but I know if I go past the 3 hrs pt bad things happen. I also know if I am hungry between then it is probably dehydration and I'm not getting my fluids in. 3. Eat slowly. If I eat my 3/4 cup to 1 cup of food in less than 15 or 20 minutes I am eating way too fast and likely to eat way too much. You'll find if you are only eating softer foods you eat them faster because they don't get stuck. I have to force myself to eat Proteins like chicken or steak and fresh veggies because I am afraid they will get stuck and they require me to be very careful with the chewing. The other day I ate carrots too fast and they were stuck! Ugh. The old me would have stopped eating raw carrots. The new me knows I ate them too fast, and didn't chew well enough. Also know that I will get full on a smaller amount of carrots than I will lunch meat, or yogurt. If I can eat it that fast it is probably not that good for me!! Time yourself. I've done it and having that external cue to keep you on pace helps. Note: If you follow this guideline with portion size, small chews and length it takes to finish a meal and are still getting food stuck you are too tight!!! I know it sounds counterproductive, but being too tight means your body thinks it is starving and you WILL NOT LOSE ANY WEIGHT!! Get the unfill, let your pouch heal and go back to the basics. My dr. does not like people relying solely upon Protein supplements for regular maintenance...so in his opinion you need to be able to eat lean meats without getting stuck.You can also be too tight and go over your calories because you tend to rely on soft mushy foods that are not going to keep you full and that are higher calorie for the volume. 4. Track your calories very very carefully. The've said it before and it is true. One of my biggest issues for me with this surgery was my slow metabolism. My body adjusts very quickly to a reduced caloric intake. You are not losing any weight because your body is adjusted to the amount of calories you are taking in. If i ate the amount of calories the calculators say I should to maintain weight (even without exercise I would be gaining 2-3 lbs a week! Trust me! I have tried.) I have to stay on a strict 1000-1200 calorie diet. If I am around 1400 or 1600 I gain. And when you break it down that is not a ton of calories and one pudding cup, cookie, or yogurt can quickly throw me over my daily goal. I may be eating what I would call a healthy diet but now post lap band for me healthy means getting lots of protein, paying strict attention to carbs, and focusing on non-starchy veggies. Very different from my BFF. If the scale is not moving I have to take a very serious look at what I am eating, own what I ate and make adjustments. My guess, if you haven't lost weight you are probably taking in the same amount of calories you were before the surgery just in a decreased volume. Again, doesn't mean you're eating ice cream all the time, but you would be amazed at how many calories you can take in even with the band. Someone said he does 3000 calories on a calorie cycling regimine for his high cal day. I know its hard and I know you may feel like people assume you aren't following the rules or are doing something to sabotage your success. Please don't give up!! I have run into plenty of guys and gals who struggle and this journey is a mental and physical one! Don't judge yourself or your success based on what others have done on the boards it will only make you feel more depressed. Set your own goals and Celebrate them, no matter how small. I celebrate tracking all my calories (especially if I have missed a day or two!) Adjusting behavior patterns and breaking internal cues and triggers can be hard. Your body does not want to lose weight, it thinks of that as starvation. You've got to outsmart your body and for some of us it takes more work than others! Good luck!

My dr did the first fill at 4 weeks and then scheduled every month. I am now at 6.5 cc and I have great restriction. I did skip a couple of months and have not been in for the last two months. I am still fairly tight in the morning, so I have yogurt or oatmeal for breakfast and can eat harder foods for lunch and dinner.

Week 1: clear liquids, almost no protein except a little broth. Water, g2, herbal tea, apple juice, sugar free jello. Week 2: Milk, protein kefir, broth (and clears from week 1). Week 3: all of the above plus yogurt and cottage cheese. Week 4: purees.. all of the above plus blended tuna salad and refried beans Week 5: I don't remember as well, but still relied HEAVILY on cottage cheese and yogurt and beans and introduced eggs (sulfur, yum! Sounds like I'm joking but I'm not. I really liked that..I must have needed it). Weeks 6-8: I really started eating. Meats without blending, cashews, smoothies, eggs, cooked veggies, a little fruit. Chili, potato soup. Week 9 to present: cottage cheese, yogurt, milk, eggs, beans, nuts, meat, fish, fruit, veggies, potatoes (white and sweet). Coconut water and V8. Rarely cheese. Grains and sweets are reserved for special occasions. Everything I buy is single-ingredient. So fish is just fish, not breaded. (I occasionally splurge and get it pre-marinaded). I hate mayo now, but like chik fil a sauce. I put that into tuna salad. Salsa is great with beans and eggs and potatoes. My goal is 70g protein, and have been able to reach it most of the time since week 2. No protein shakes or bars. I used to count carbs, but stopped. I'm pretty much always under 100g. The most important things to measure are added oil/fat, and nuts/seeds. You could eat 2 whole potatoes for the calories in an extra handful of almonds. (I know that sounds like I load up on potatoes, but I don't. I eat 3.5oz about once or twice a week).

How do you get your Dr to work with you to find the right thyroid meds for you? My GP handles my thyroid and he’s lousy. I told him I need to go to a specialist imo but he isn’t referring me. I don’t have a functioning thyroid. I took the radio active pill to kill it years ago. I’m 10 months po and have not lost anything for 3 mo [emoji24]. My gp lowered my levothyroxine from 150 mcg to 125 mcg 3 mo ago. My #’s haven’t been right since I started taking thyroid meds. I started adding genpro to my daily diet to boost my protein hoping the extra protein would restart the losing. Not helping. AM - genpro in 2-3 oz premier protein chocolate. 30 G protein am snack- 2 oz pistachios 12 G protein Lunch - 3 oz tuna 25 G protein Dinner- 2 oz filet 15 G protein 1/2 c low-fat cottage cheese 13 G protein Pm snack- yogurt 12 G protein 107 G protein total

hi marisa,rose You are lucky that you are only 31 - as you've noted above many people, including myself wish they had this surgery years ago. at your age i hope you don't have any health issues yet, or only a couple. The past few months before surgery, before i was having my food funeral, it was amazing how weight just piled on in such a short time. If i had kept eating, going like this - would now weigh............ As far as mourning food - i'm 3+ months out and i am usually ok without "wanting" the bad food stuff.. But i'd be lying if i didn't say i sometimes think about lasagna instead of yogurt. oh well. But just "thinking" about it. the truth is i could have 2-3 bites of lasagna, but to me thats a tease, so i would rather not eat it all. It is hard realizing for the rest of your life you'll be eating smaller portions, but healthier, other good stuff, but it is so worth it. I can tell, you are smart enough to know that. i am so happy i had this surgery, it is a life saver. i'm glad you are coming aboard too feeling better about the surgery too. welcome aboard newbie. continued good luck kathy

Im still on my post op liquid diet too, i feel fuller when I have drinkable yogurt, and when i take fresh fruit and throw it in the juicer... It doesnt make me feel completely full but it keeps me content

Someone that has as many allergies as me! So far scuralose hasn't bothered me. But it's splenda so I don't want to push it. I also can't have articial dyes and food colorings, particularly red dyes. I balanced it out with Greek yogurt which I happen to love. FAGE 0 %. 4 ounces is 12grams of Protein and you could add honey to it to sweeten it or add a bit of milk and blend it to thin it out. It doesn't cook up well though. I was sent home on full liquids though so I made Soups with Beans and yogurt. I cooked them together, then pureed them, then put them back on the stove to reheat and thinned it out with low sodium veg broth. I went from full liquids to puree to soft so I was able to work around it. I also used Orgain organics. It's sweetened with brown rice syrup premade shakes. I liked adding this to my morning coffee. I even made a Soup with the vanilla flavor, but I added a load of garlic to mask the vanilla taste.

I had the greatest idea for opening a new chain of fast food restaurants this morning. It would be a post bariatric surgery patients dream come true. The only thing on the menu would be high protein meats and fish, cottage cheese and Greek yogurt, sugar-free Jell-O and putting, some fancy flavored ricotta cheese desserts, veggies and low carb fruits. We would make our own delicious protein smoothies. There would be absolutely no bread, pasta, chips or even liquids of any kind served. The salad bar would offer customers a scale for their use so they could measure their own portions.,Every day would also feature a couple of high-protein low-carb hot meals. I would call it The Pro Shop. That should read *pudding! Damn autocorrect

Btw not sure how to just reply to a single post and if I am doing it right! I had grits today ( didn't really like cream of wheat)and tonight had ricotta with Parmesan cheese and marianara sauce which was very good. Yogurt of course,,,,

Hang in there.My surgery is December 28.What is different is my doctor prescribed a soft foods ( no sugar kind of pre op diet.I can have cottage cheese,yogurt,protein drinks and one protein with salad for dinner.Now since my surgery is on December 28 ... Countdown 2 days away.I am going to flush my system out starting this evening.2 to 3 bottles of citrate of magnesia ,Miralax and lemon tea to ensure my bowels are flushed out and clean for surgery.I am also going to get " Hibiclens "antiseptic wash and bathe/shower with it and use in hospital.Too many bacteria in hospitals....germaphobe here.The day before is all liquids...this is important...very important...We are both on our journey...,yahoo!!!

WOW! That IS restrictive!!! In my program, they wouldn't even let you leave the hospital until you could tolerate mushies... oatmeal, to be exact. When you get home, for three weeks you eat mushies, which include pureed food... cottage cheese, oatmeal, Greek yogurt, soft boiled egg, pureed tuna salad OR chicken salad, anything mushy. However, they specify really TINY quantities... like 1/8-C pureed tuna salad and 1/4 Cup chicken broth is lunch. Liquids DO feel best, however... lol. Maybe I'll dial it back a bit and cleve to the power shakes for the rest of the week. Thanks for the good advice!

Yes, more restriction DOES help. I just basically looked at my lunch today and got full. I just hope it sticks with me this time. I seem to be hungrier though at night and have to resist the urge to go and munch. I've been eating key lime pie yogurt from yoplait. It is a pretty good dessert.

Hey Diamond, I am praying right now for God to keep His arms around you as you continue through the process. And, we all know if He is for you, who can be against you? I'm noticing a difference now in my weight. I stayed stuck for a while there, but now I am seeing the scales go down! I'm also seeing a big difference in what I'm eating. I'm not doing too well with meats, I force them down, but they are not always comfortable. I'm eating more yogurt and spinach and taco bell's pintos and cheese. Can still handle salad ok. Drinking protien shakes and eating Protein bars for my snack. I'm having to remind myself its snack time, don't feel hungry that much either. I'm trying to eat five small times a day to boost my metabolism. I surely can tell a big difference since my last fill. When I go back at the end of this month, I am sure that I will tell the doctor I don't need any more fills for now. I am happy where I am. It is a little dissapointing not to be able to eat meat like I used to, but this is what I asked for, and I am so thankful to finally be seeing the results I wanted. Now if I could just make myself start excercising!!! That's what I need prayer for! thanks everyone. Hope you all have a good day and a good weekend!