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I pretty much tried anything that could be puréed, but only did a couple bites of new things to see if I could tolerate it. I puréed chicken in broth and added it to almost every liquid soup My main food sorce was puréed chicken in blk bean soup, tortilla soup, potato soup etc., Greek yogurt, protein shakes, baby food pouches ( yes, seriously,) I couldn't eat more than a few bites for the longest time so taste wasn't a big factor until I got to mushies. Oh, I stayed away from smoothies because they tend to be loaded with refined or natural sugar and I felt best not to defeat the purpose of things

yogurt, applesauce, cottage cheese, pureed chicken salad, pudding and baby food are what my team suggests. i've also got recipes for shrimp spread, pinto bean dip, white beans with rosemary and garlic, greek style egg salad and pureed cauliflower I can email to you if you want.

@[member="Deb Hass I am 48 and a very finicky eater. Texture is my biggest problem with gagging on food. I have a very small variety of foods that I eat now and worry about that after surgery. My go to is always "chicken ". But that won't help me for presurgery diet and weeks after. I'll do what I have to, but it is concerning. I don't like any fruit or vegetables, yogurt, cream soups. ... my husband stated last night that he's concerned about me finding things to eat. On the other hand if I get hungry enough I will eat. Good luck! and keep in touch and maybe we can give each other ideas.

And the Unjury unflavored can be added to anything (not boiling hot stuff), like yogurt, tuna salad, chicken salad, egg salad, and any liquid. I put it in my decaf iced coffee a lot. It dissolves completely & has no flavor. Yesterday I mixed it in a little homemade guacamole.

This question is for pre and post op- do fresh/frozen fruit with a low fat yogurt smoothie and protein powder count as a protein "shake"?

So I had my surgery on September 30th and I'm happy to say that things went relatively well. I only had three things I struggled with after surgery. 1. Immediately waking up I was miserable. They gave me everything they legally could and I still thought I was going to die for like 4 hours. 2. My heart rate. At "resting" it was at 115. When I wasn't feeling good it would get over 140. So they watched my heart really close. I think a lot of it was hospital anxiety. They finally got it to calm down with Valium at like 3 in the morning but by calm I mean 110. 3. Peeing. I know tmi but honestly it was the hardest part. My sips were fine. Swallowing was easy. But when it came to going to the bathroom I couldn't go. On surgery day I had to have a catheter because my bladder reached 800cc (catheter requirement is 500cc). I had the catheter over night and when they took it out the next morning I couldn't go on my own. Eventually my bladder got over 500cc again so they used a straight catheter. I didn't go on my own until late that night. THEN I got to go home. I still struggle now. I have to have Water running and use a wet cloth to get me to go. It's weird but it works. In the hospital they tried peppermint oils, showers, everything. It was so frustrating. Now I'm home and I weighed myself. I've lost five pounds already which is odd. Not complaining but I was expecting a weight gain from fluids and swelling. I struggle with Protein. Yogurt feels good in my pouch. The hardest part about being home is my family honestly. All I hear is: walk faster, walk more, you don't need your pain pills, how's that baby food taste?, don't you wish you could have a pop tart. They actually went grocery shopping specifically for junk food because they know I can't eat it and then ordered pizza. When I said something about it "I wasn't being compassionate" and "I knew what I was getting into".... Mk so let's send an alcoholic to a 12 step program just for them to come home and be like "look at all the booze we bought". I literally just cried. This whole process they were supportive saying we "are all making changes together" and I come home to this. I feel alone. I feel like it's not fair. I've worked really hard to change my life and I feel like I'm being punished because I chose wls. can anyone else relate?

I'm so excited.. July 10th will be the first day of the rest of my life and I so look forward to it.. I'm having trouble with the pre-op diet.. My NUT told me to drink 3 Protein shakes a day and 2 fruits.. :-/ That's impossible honestly, I'm so hungry... She did tell me I could drink an additional shake or have some extra fruits or a yogurt, Jello or broth, etc... does anyone have any suggestions? Will I be okay if I do eat additional fruit?

Has anyone tried the Greek yogurt frozen bars ?

Wow - I haven't had cereal since i was banded cuz I usually go crazy on it and can eat a whole box - however, I tried Dr. Sears High protein low carb cereal mixed with a lowfat yogurt yesterday and it went down ok (i ate really slow and 'chewed it" and while I felt it going down - it felt kinda hard - i ate about 1/2 cup. I have to say i was 'sore' yesterday and ended up on liquids through dinner = not a pb but sore. I think it was too crunchy/hard but I've never experienced it before. needless to say i will be more careful in the future - maybe try softened in milk or not at all. Just curious if anyone else has had this with cereal or other foods.

Don't be alarmed...this is quite often. Some doctors do rigorous pre-op diets. In my case, I tell patients to go on a yogurt and veggie diet 5 days before the diet in order to 'reduce' the size of the liver. This allows us to have a clearer field of vision when performing the surgery. Don't sweat it...you'll be ok. Best, Dr. JSA

I've heard this is very common... nurse told me to get unflavored whey isolate to mix in broth, yogurt, etc..have to cool down the broth before u put it in ... the nausea will likely get better so I've read

Congrats. I've tried some Greek yogurt thinned down with milk.

I was able to get down egg drop soup very easily. Greek yogurt has helped me with the protein. I am 3 weeks out and never want to see another popsicle again.

Yester day, August 30th I went to the surgeons office. When I was weighed I had lost 24 pounds. The nurse was very excited about that. When the Doctor came in he started to look at my chart and said do you know how much you have lost? I told him yes, but that I did lose some of the weight prior to surgery as I had cut back on my carbs and had been walking 2 miles on my treadmill. I probably had lost 10 pounds from May until my August 17th surgery. While I was there he took off my steri strips that had been covering my incisions. He said I was healing very well. I am happy anyway for the 24# loss. I am scheduled to go back to him on Sept. 12. He told me I could eat anything you would feed a baby. So I had a cup of clam chowder last evening. Yogurt fro breakfast as usual.

My sleeve story? It hasn't quite been written yet. I started working with staff from UT Southwestern in Dallas back in March of 2013. I am male, 45 years old and weighed in at 455 lbs, which was my all time high. I was starting to get lots of little signals that my physical condition could not continue much longer. Shortness of breaths from walking across the street, stairs were just impossible, high blood pressure. There were more bad health signs, but you all know what they are. My wife had sleeve surgery about 13 months ago and she has lost over 105 lbs since then. She is down to about 170 lbs or so and is within 15 lbs of her ultimate goal weight. Having observed the process she went through, I felt confident that embracing this sleeve surgery was a big opportunity. Plus having her support and coaching from experience is invaluable. She admits to having some tough moments immediately after surgery, but now says this was the best decision she ever made. UTSW had me go through a 3 month weight management process for insurance purposes. I just finished this process and had my meeting with the surgeon. Now we are waiting on insurance approval and I hope to have the surgery scheduled within a few weeks. I have read a lot of concern being voiced by many of you about the pre operative diets. I share your pain and understand your desire to figure out the best way to prep for your surgery. Despite a lifetime of failure dieting, I have somehow been blessed to have some success losing weight during this 3 month period. From March 1 to June 5 I have lost 53 lbs! For those of you who may be struggling with this, I would like to briefly share my approach. Everyone has to chart their own path, but maybe sharing my experience will help someone. A person of my weight (455 lbs) and my height (5' 7") burns about 3300 calories daily even with a sedentary lifestyle. I set a goal of 1500 calories, with hopes that the extra 1500 to 1800 calories burned per day would be the right approach. I also set a goal of at least 90 to 100 grams of Protein per day. I have used myfitnesspal throughout, and have found the most useful feature of the app is your ability to schedule future days food information. I plan each days approach to eating the day before using the app. This has allowed me to just "work the plan" and not have any surprises or emotional eating surprises each day. My diet has not been textbook, but I will provide a typical day so you see what worked for me: Breakfast: 4 very thin slices of HEB microwave bacon (80 cal), 1 Yoplait light yogurt (90 cal) Morning snack at 10 am: Power crunch bar (210 cal), 12 cherry tomatoes (25 cal) Lunch: 0.5 cup cottage cheese (110 cal), power crunch bar (210 cal), leftover corn on the cob (118 cal, but not a great food choice) Afternoon snack at 2:30: 12 to 14 white grapes (50 cal), 0.5 cup of sugar free lemon pudding (70 cal) Dinner: Small baked salmon fillet (110 cal), 2 slices toasted low calorie multi-grain bread (45 cal each slice), 12 cherry tomatoes (25 cal), one peeled cucumber (45 cal) Other Snacks through the day: 2 clear Protein drinks (80 cal each). This doesn't add up to 1500 cal, but sometimes your dinner or lunch will vary by a couple hundred cals depending on the situation. A couple of weeks ago I started walking daily. My goal is there is not so much weight loss as building some stamina to help me during recovery after surgery. Well, nothing earth shattering in my post! But I have spent so many hours reading what all of you folks are experiencing, I felt obligated to share my own story instead of lurking. I will post updates as I move along on this journey and am always willing to correspond with anyone who wants to exchange info about the sleeve.

I didn't have a puree phase, but I ate (and still eat) a lot of geek yogurt, cottage cheese, tuna, refried Beans, chili, Protein pudding, etc. Everything tastes better with melted cheese on top (except maybe the Greek yogurt). A lot of folks like The World According to Eggface's ricotta bake. It wasn't one of my favorites. What does your NUT suggest?

I went for my final nutrition appointment today. We went over my pre-op diet and I will be on a 10 day full liquid diet which is way better than the two week clear liquid diet my sister has to do. I will be able to drink crystal light, water, Gatorade 2, broth, protein shakes, sugar free jello, sugar free pudding, sugar free fudgesicles and yogurt, milk or cottage cheese. Too bad I don't like yogurt, milk and cottage cheese! Darn it! I am waiting on the psychiatrist to submit her report to my surgeon so they can then send everything to my insurance for approval. I have met all the requirements so hopefully the approval process will be quick and painless. Wish me luck!

Protein is the number 1 way to prevent hair loss . And 50-60 g isn't bad. Can you tolerate Protein shakes? Do you add unflavored protein to Soups, broths, etc? 1 cup plain Fage Greek yogurt flavored with 1/2 scoop vanilla Protein powder = 33g. that plus 1 Premier Protein and you're already over 60g. Tried Quest bars? 20g in 1 bar. But really, if you're going to lose your going to lose and nothing you can go about it. It's your body's reaction to the stress of surgery and change in nutrition. Protein, Biotin and some shampoos and treatments like rogain can MAYBE help speed up regrowth, but nothing can stop the loss itself.

Hello everyone! So today is day number two of my liquid diet. Last night i was nearly in tears, because i felt soooo nauseous. I had a hard time sleeping and getting comfortable. My doctor told me the first three days would be the worst, and if i needed to, i could eat up to 15 crackers a day if i had to. I was trying very hard not to have to eat the crackers, but around 5am i couldn't take it anymore i had four crackers. That nauseous hunger feeling went away but than sure enough came back after 20 min. I didn't want to eat anymore so i forced myself to go to sleep again. When i woke up this morning, i didn't find myself all that hungry. I ate a yogurt and in about an hour and a half i am going to have a shake! I will check back in later tonight or maybe tomorrow! I also have a youtube account where i posted videos on there every few days, so if you want to check it out the link is..... http://www.youtube.com/user/caitkamerBANDINGIT

Hi MissK, I don't think it will be a problem, plus after you use the cream it usually clears up really quickly. :biggrin: Just make sure to keep it really clean, and use a hair dryer to dry under your breasts to help healing along and prevention for future. Also.. take a probiotic supplement or eat yogurt with lots of live cultures in it, that will help! Some of us are more prone to them than others. I tend to have "skin" issues of all types.. You'll be fine.. I am so excited for you.. your surgery is in just a few days!!!

Gas pains are much more likely than you experiencing actual physical hunger, either gas pains or head hunger. My head hunger came back pretty quickly but realistically I knew it wasn't physical hunger. Every doctor is different, but for the first two weeks I could have Protein shakes, smooth yogurts, broths and sugar free Popsicles. I just got approved for puréed foods, which with my doctor is something I'll be on for the next 3 weeks, then soft foods for 3 weeks and finally introducing normal foods at 8 weeks out. If your doctor has said no, it's not worth the risk in my opinion. I know it's hard but as much as I wish it was, this surgery is definitely not the easy way out, it's going to be a lot of hard work and going without the things you want most. Best of luck!

I'm experiencing a month long stall! I am going up and down to the tune of 3-7 pounds!! I was sleeved on Feb 1st. 2016. Being honest with myself now, earlier in recovery I ate organic raw yogurt, and some of it was sweetened "naturally" and others like the Maple Pecan, of course had maple syrup. Well, even though I ate these things I still lost weight rapidly. NOW. I am still eating the same things, and I am SOOOOOO stalled and fluctuating and I am exercising! I am going nuts! And as fate would have it, I checked in my monthly visit with my surgeon while I was on my period. I'm a big girl who weighs 305 pounds. When I am IN my period, I will gain up to ten pounds, I do not like telling men this. He decided to schedule me for a two week follow up to see if I had gone back on track, I will follow up with a PA. Three days ago I had lost what I thought was "officially" six pounds in one week. Today I jump pn the scale and I am back up three pounds! Freaking out! What if I go in, in one week and I am right back at 310?!?! OK. So, it seems I have to cut ALL carbs no matter what form. But I truly do not want to give up my limited amount of Raw Milk that I add to my cold brewed coffee each morning. I lost so much weight before when drinking raw milk. I can cut out the flavored yogurts. I really can't describe here just how delicious they were. Look up Mother Culture out of San Antonio Texas. She makes yogurt that is more delicious than I ever thought even existed in reality. BUT I will give it up and stick with plain. Artificial sweeteners give me a headache. You know I'll never take an NSAID again, and that's the only thing that helps my headaches. My Muscle Milk has artificial sweetner in it. Sigh. So reality is hitting me hard now. As before this surgery, in order to lose the weight, I have to give up more carbs than I initially thought. PS I did make a raw shake right before bed last night, that's something I never do. And I am experiencing real hunger sensations. They go away with Water, but they are exactly like they were before surgery. That HANGRY that you see in commercials. I'm a bit lost. This is me, reaching out! =( Is the only way to END a stall, is to cut carbs and amounts back to early post surgical menus?

ok today i woke up and felt blessed. i cleaned the house and took a walk at the part and now im getting ready to go 2 the y and go swim. and my eating was good so far. b-coffee,2sugars,1cream, granola bar w/fiber(90cals) s-1 pj cheese stix(100cals) l-1c mini ravioli, .6oz yogurt(300cals) i do however have to start adding in more water. working on that. so how is everyone 1 else doing.

Hi Stacy! I had the sleeve gastrectomy on August 9th 2016 (this past Tuesday). Today is the first day I have begin having full liquids like yogurt (only 2 tablespoons at a time) and I also am not fond of the Protein shakes already. I'm looking forward to having Greek Yogurt, eggs, etc. in the future to take care of my protein intake. But until then, I remind myself that my stomach is healing, and I need to take care of it the best ways I can! And that means being a good, cooperative patient and doing what the professionals tell me. Emotionally, I have had a lot of ups and down. One minute I'm questioning if this surgery was the right decision, and the next minute I'm excited to see the number change on the scale. I'm a recovering binge eater, and I used to use food to feed my emotions all the time. So, now post-op, I'm experiencing all kinds of emotions and I can't go back to my old habits the way I want to. I know its going to take a long time to re-train my brain in terms of emotions and food. Right now I'm trying to focus on fueling my body so it can heal as fast and well as possible. I made this decision and went through with the surgery. There's no turning back. So no matter what emotions you may be feeling, that will not change the fact that you gotta do what you gotta do now for yourself and your tummy. I look forward to the day when I will be able to experience some enjoyment with food, but at the same time, I don't want my life to revolve around food the way it used to be. I gotta keep telling myself that there is NO way that a life of binge eating and obesity could possibly be better than a life of health and self-care. I think what you are feeling is NORMAL and expected, so try and find some comfort in that. I truly believe that each day will get better, and we are still in the early stages of post-op, so this is definitely expected to be the hardest time of all. If we can get through this, we can get through anything this surgery throws at us down the line. Thank you for posting your comment because it gave me a reason to express my own thoughts and experience so far for the first time on this app. I think this is a great tool and I'm happy to have it. I hope you find some peace today. ~S

Hi Nicky pudding and yogurt are not cheats, not at 3 weeks out as far as I know. So you are doing fine. Those are considered full liquids. Are you on any kind of acid reducer? This might be the reason your stomach feels hungry. I take Omeprazole daily, even this far out from surgery. I have tried to stop taking it but my acid is still there. It is what it is! I just deal with it, it sure is a lot better than still being close to 300 Lbs. One last thing, perhaps give your surgeon's office a phone call and ask if he has an alternate eating plan. Some people really do heal faster than others and usually the dietician or the surgeon will allow patients to move through the stages a little faster. Good luck!!