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So I realized it has been a while since I checked in with you all. I am a full time student and the semester is in full swing now so I am buried!! Whew. Okay my surgery was Jan 10th with Dr.Abril in Mexicali and my patient coordinator was Omar Dipp and I was at the Hospital Santa Catalina. All that was a very positive experience. I am eating whatever I want but only like 4 oz's (if that) at a time. I prefer soup and soft food still. I am very careful about the quality of the food I eat and stay clear of pasta and bread. I notice that pooping is less regular than it used to be. I also am colder now than before. My blood sugar and blood pressure are normal and stable. I am on half of the dose for my diabetes than I was before and no blood pressure meds. I was 272lbs before my pre op diet and now I am 241lbs. I was a size 24 and now am a 16 (in stretchy jeans) I feel super. I exercise daily, walking and spinning. I never ever had any pain and still don't. So far so good. Oh, I am soooo sick of protien shakes, thanks to genepha I will be trying some new ones! Thanks girl for that fabulous post!! I have found a bar call KIND, it is fruit and nuts, so frickin good and healthy. I also eat Kashi bars and greek yogurt. I am at about 800 calories, maybe. Well if you want to know more you can email me. melaniemorisoli@yahoo.com I am not on here everyday and I don't want anyone to think I am ignoring them. Peace!

I am going to get some carnation instant breakfast. My kids liked it when I bought it before. I also like the hot chocolate idea too. I ordered some unflavored unjury protein in hopes I can hide it in my decaf coffee. I use sf hazlenut creamer and so I think I could tolerate it. I love peanut butter to and I can lick the spoon! lol. What a novel idea. I like the idea of granola/almonds mixed in the greek yogurt. I am going to try that too. I have some premium mixed nuts but I am not supposed to have those for another week. I think we are sleeve sisters! August 8th right? I will also try to bacon and carnation instant breakfast. I could drink that on my way to work. A quick note: My doctor prescribes me generic zofran for nausea. It works wonders! It is a tiny pill and I take one every morning because my sleeve doesnt like Water or anything really on an empty sleeve. This enables me to drink milk in the morning without the discomfort. I dont have to worry about nausea at all. Its soooooo much better than phenergan. Phenergan puts me to sleep but zofran doesnt. I like that its generic and free with my insurance. Maybe you should check into it with your doctor. Hope that helps some with discomfort with milk, or alternatively you could take a lactose pill over the counter.

Yes, I can relate to that. I can eat almost all foods, but many dont appeal to me much anymore, although for the sake of a balanced diet, I still eat them. I no longer enjoy the meat and 3 veg type meal - even a good roast dinner like on Christmas day. I make them still as its a family staple, and a good way to get in your Protein and vegies. But I'd be happy with Soup every single night. I went years and years without eating yogurt - although I liked it. Its a staple now. I dont eat a lot of bread. I can eat it - even most of a sandwich but I just plain dont fancy it much. Thankfully I never ever crave McDonalds or pizza or similar. I cant eat in food courts, I stand there staring round in despair for half an hour before giving up and buying coffee. I dont want ANY of it (although I could have a healthy sandwich made up). I can easily go into McDonalds with my kids and not even be remotely tempted to eat anything. Sadly Cookies are more appealing than ever. All the difficult "solid" foods that are a bit harder to eat basically no longer appeal like they did. But you know, I think its dangerous to give into that or you end up with soft foods that are easy and then up goes your calories. If I want to be sure I'll go from lunch to dinner without snacking, then I *MAKE* myself take the time and effort to eat a sandwich. Because yes, I can eat a yogurt in five minutes, but I'll be looking for Snacks an hour later.

So I lost 2 lbs in 1 day on the liquid diet. I think it was mostly fluid . . . seeing as how that's all I'm taking in (LOL). Wasn't too bad yesterday, and this morning I've had coffee with ff creamer. Will eat some oatmeal soon. That's the strange thing on this pre-surgery liquid diet . . . I'm allowed oatmeal, cream of wheat, cottage cheese and yogurt too. The Post-surgery liquid diet (which I'll do for the day 4-8), doesn't allow for the oatmeal, etc. Today I have a ton of errands to run and I'm a little worried that I will get too hungry along the way. I plan on taking a protein shake with me, but frankly I have a hard time drinking them unless they're super cold, so I guess I'll have to find one of the small coolers and take it with me. I have my sleep study tonight, and I've been warned that it will be unpleasant. Apparently they put a lot of goop in your hair. In the morning, after the study, I get my pre-op bloodwork done. These are the last 2 things that I need to do prior to my surgery. I'm still looking forward to getting the surgery done and over with, and moving forward to new things!

Echoing what others said, I have hot tea first thing in the morning. I don't think I could eat real food within hours of waking up if I didn't. The hot tea feels like it opens me up, and allows me to swallow my meds that I can't get in chewable form (and hate the taste of crushed). I like to do greek yogurt for breakfast because it goes down easily. Good luck to you!

Plateau at 12 days PO. I expected this at some point, but not so soon. Also feeling hungry between meals. Adding extra Protein (oz or 2 of yogurt or turkey), but not reaching any level of discomfort. Anyone experience this? Water and exercise as directed. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I'm in the last few days of my first two weeks and I'm so sick of protein drinks I could scream. I arranged something with an Indian restaurant near my house. They will be making me puréed dishes with no seeds, high protein low carb and fats for the next few weeks. I just picked up some cheesecloth for making paneer (yogurt cheese) and plan to stop at Trader Joe's for some Thai and Indian sauces and tofu. No puréed chicken breast for me!!!! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Why not ask your doctor? It's better to follow their instructions rather than an unknown person on the web. Ask him if you can use a pill splitter to make them smaller and take those with water rather than crushing them. The reasoning for it is likely due to 2 things - (a) not wanting you to take too large of a drink of water and (b) fear of the pill getting stuck depending on its size. I have no idea where you're at post-op, but one thing I tried was to put a pill in something like my greek yogurt.

I haven't been banded yet. Scheduled for 10/9 however, I have been in with the units nutritionist she suggests along with eggs & meat (which is hard to swallow at times unless, as BOH mentioned, you put it in a crockpot) Lowfat/nonfat cheeses, cottage cheese and yogurt. If you're struggling with these things then the Protein shakes is a definate plus! Good luck!

Honestly, yes. I was 15 days post op and still doing premier protein or broth. I have a physical job nd was feeling sick not getting something solid. I started to add 4 oz of puréed soups with a tbsp. Of Greek yogurt. I tolerated it well and if anything noticed that I need to slow down when I eat. I stayed full longer and had more energy. Today I’m 18 days post op and I have introduced Cottage cheese and egg.

I found a recipe I am going to try. I want to mix this into my yogurt! I may use mixed berries because that's what I have in my freezer. http://rabbitfoodformybunnyteeth.com/cherry-chia-jam/ Cherry Chia Jam Makes about 1 cup of jam 1 cup black cherries (I used frozen pitted) 1 Tbsp chia seeds 1 Tbsp water Defrost the cherries under warm water until thawed and remove pits if necessary. Place the cherries and 1 Tbsp of water in a blender and pulse until cherries are mashed, but not completely pureéd. Transfer the mashed cherries to a jar and stir in the chia seeds. Refrigerate for about 60 minutes until chia seeds expand and turn the content into a thick jam.

I love them, especially in my yogurt! Not sure when you can start eating them bc I just started eating them a few months ago and I am 15 months out.

Jack: I failed at the Protein thing. Have had a rough week. Did fine on Monday with no carbs, Tuesday could not eat anything until I tried mashed potatoes, and then today I went off the deep end because I was wide open. I really don't think I am overfilled, my band is just fickle. Here is how my week went... tell me what you think... Monday: B: Protein shake L: 5 Meatballs (.5 oz each) and 1/4 cup broccoli and cheese D: 1/2 cup chili (My receipe: 3 lbs ground meat, 2 cans Beans, 1 pack williams chili seasoning, and cheese to top) S: Druggie pudding (SF Jello Pudding with crushed up meds) Tuesday: B: Protein Shake L: 1/4 Meatball and 1 bite broccoli... then PB D: 2 bites tapalia filet and 2 bites avacado... then threw up...actual hurl S: 1/2 cup mashed potatoes and druggie pudding... I was hungry. Wednesday: B: 1 chocolate cake donut L: 1/2 Subway Sandwich (meat and veggies only), 4 cheetoes, and 3 Cookies D: 1/2 cup leftover chili with cheese, 6 yogurt covered pretzels. And I still need to eat my druggie pudding... I REALLY don't think I am overfilled, because some days I can eat regular "bandster meals". I just don't understand...

I am only out 4 weeks but one of the things i noticed is that if i eat to fast i get that air that causes me to belch.. So one of the things that you may want to try is bite chew chew chew and while doing that put you spoon down and then go on to the next bite. It takes me about 15 to 20 min to eat a 3 oz yogurt in the morning. So that is the ony thing i can recomend. I can not eat eggs they made me sick. I can do yogurt cottage cheesse and chillie and things such as that. Good luck i hope things get better for you.

I am two weeks out, on soft foods, fish, eggs, cheeses and yogurts. Plus of course soups and protein drinks. My doctor wants me to eat 2 medicine cups of food 4-6 times a day. I am having a heck of a time.

Hi Everybody, I'm back again with another update. Well I am sort of at a plateau at the moment. But just to update you on my current status post-surgery, I was 325 at my highest weight and I'm now at 220. I was down to 215 but, per doctor's orders I was told to drink more water in preparation for laser fat reduction. So what do you know I gained weight. I was probably dehydrated anyway. I don't know if the laser will work, but I was offered the services at a discount so I thought, why not? Not much to lose but fat! It's been 1 week of treatments and no noticeable results yet. I have only lost 4lbs since my last post two months ago. That's why it's good to keep this diary because you can actually see your progress. I think it's time for a fill but I am kind of worried about the next fill. I don't want to go overboard and be too tight. But ofcourse looking back on my posts, I was worried the last time too. I get hungry pretty fast now. It seems my food is moving through the band faster and I'm eating about 4 meals a day plus snacks. If I lay down after eating and go to sleep I will wake up coughing up food (bad idea, I know), so I do have good restriction. Maybe being slightly tighter will allow the food to move down more slowly (while I'm awake ofcourse). As far as exercise, I have slowed down on going out dancing and have been doing some hip hop abs lately. I think it's low impact aerobics and I probably need to sweat more for better results. So I am going to have to find a better alternative. My eating has been a little crappy lately, I must say. I try to stay away from the sweets. I've recently gotten back to drinking my EAS shakes and eating greek yogurt for snack. I've mostly stuck to drinking crystal light or something similar. I mostly still bring lean cuisine and weight watchers for lunch, but sometimes I'm hungry after a couple of hours so end up having an early lunch and a late lunch. Also, I suffered a bad break-up so I kinda ate what made me feel better for a few days. Although, my cheating is not as bad as it used to be. I may eat an odd candy bar or go get some chicken from KFC, but I cannot eat huge quantities of anything. The snacking really gets me...things like chips. I think I just slow myself down from losing weight moreso than cause myself to gain. I can't stand to eat foods that are extremely sugary anymore. Since I have limited them for so long, my tolerance has gone way down. Right now, I need to make better food choices, eat less, increase the exercise, and drink more water. But I honestly feel more hungry lately and making better choices is harder, so it may be time for a fill. I'm scheduled for one on 12/8/10. I need to lose 50lbs to get to my goal. I hope to get there by my 2nd year surgiversary in June. My short term goal is to lose 20lbs by January 24th. Wish me luck!! It's time to put in some serious work. Good luck to all on their weight loss journey. Kia AKA W8tygirl

3 oz of yogurt is a LOT of yogurt so early out. I'd say about triple what you should try and eat at one time. Take it easy, eat 'UNDER' your sleeve.

At your stage, best thing to do is measure your portions. Never eyeball, or you might find your portions creep up which can slow your losses. 3 Tablespoons at the absolute max for your stage of purees, or up to 4 ounces of more liquidy foods like yogurt or soup. Hope this helps!

@@ssflbelle Hi ladies! I had my sleeve on Monday the 19th, with Dr. Shillingford. He is s super guy, as well as the hospital staff! I was worried for the usual pre surgical reasons. But I am very happy I finally did this for me. I have been taking it slow, walking, and eating. I have to say, from what I have read Dr. Shillingford's pt have a more liberal eating schedule post op- I have been eating yogurt, cottage cheese, Soup ( I bought the unjury Protein to add to everything) very thinly sliced chicken breast,(chew , chew chew) and Protein drinks. Sipping is hard but you only forget ONCE. Eating slower is a new one for me as well. I ws planning to go back to work on Monday , but Im thinking I was being way to ambitious thinking that .....maybe Wednesday.

I started my day as usual.. running like a loon cuz I cant scrape myself from the warm, cozy bed but thats besides the point... I made my 2 scambled eggs w/my hunk of mozzarella cheese on the side. Thank god for the dog.. I could NOT finish my eggs :eek:. I had my beloved protein shake at my 930 break. It hit me like a ton of bricks.. I was FULL. Lunch was half of a turkey on wheat wrap... I made it with more lettuce than anything. I also had a yogurt. can we say FULL. At my 230 break I had my other protein shake and felt... whats the word I am looking for... FULL. I came home from work and finished my salad (leftover from yesterday) and I am FULL.:biggrin2: Full is not something I have felt before. Not without a lot of food being involved. I am so flippin excited about this whole fill thing. It almost motivated me to get off my ass and use my treadmill. I said ALMOST. Instead I am being a mouse-potato and comtemplating a long hot bath since I now have clearance to take one. I do have one side effect of the fill though. :wink2: I'm burping like a mo-fo. In the fat-club meetings, they said gas and burping repeatedly but in my first 5 weeks, I had nearly none of that stuff. Today..BURP. Every few minutes... BURP. While it doesnt bother me so much, I have very stuffy coworkers that are not so amused (BURP). Hell, atleast I wasnt farting. I am FINALLY starting to feel as if this has all been worth it and my mood is obviously improving a bit. I still hate my coworkers (most of them) but now I am starting to like myself just a smidge anyway.:thumbup: I am going to take the long awaited HOT bath and I am going to stay in there til I run out of hot water and wrinkle like a prune. OOOOOO. I almost forgot to mention that I went down a size in undies. I can almost buy hanes-her-way in a color other than white. Whoo-freakin-whooo. I have been so looking forward to the day I get to buy some pink panties!!!! Hell, in a few more months, I might be back to wearing thongs. I gave up thongs years ago after my enormous weight gain. While they were still comfy.. I couldnt bear to see the fat girl in thongs. Not attractive. Walmart has/had tummy control thongs. SERIOUSLY. why bother controlling the tummy when the booty is jiggling uncontrollably???

I find I am rarely ever hungry, too.....but I make sure to get some protein at least 4 times a day....even if it is string cheese and a yogurt for lunch, I know I am getting what I need. We have to be careful as if we don't eat anything then our bodies will go into starvation mode and that will counteract our weight loss! Hang in there - you will find a good balance!

Sweet I had the same problem I used milk of magnesia but my dr suggested doing a fiber supplement she said because we can become dependent on the laxative and it will make our job of going harder! I personally make sure that I have at least a couple grams of fiber per day and that has helped a lot also I'm kinda lactose intolerant so I try to eat a yogurt every other day!

From smoothie Girl Eats Too Blog http://www.smoothiegirleatstoo.com/2010/11/moist-low-calorie-microwave-protein-fudge-muffins/ This is seriously AMAZING! I use the applesauce instead of the pumpkin and use 1 TBSP of coconut flour and 1 TBSP of Protein powder. I also have added a TBSP of sugar free pudding. I have made the chocolate below, vanilla using vanilla Protein Powder and SF vanilla pudding (adds 25 calories), and cheesecake using vanilla protein powder and cheesecake SF pudding. With the coconut flour, they are so light and delicious! I also just use a whole egg instead of egg whites (70 cal vs 30 cal), but that is just me. With my changes the stats are a little higher: Per Serving: 194Cal 23g Carbs 9g fat 15g protein 5g Fiber 6g sugar Note that I am 2.5 years post op. I can eat one of these, but it is VERY filling. Newer post ops might be able to do half if lucky! Ingredients: 2 Egg whites (**If using liquid egg whites use 1/2 cup and add 20 calories) 1/4 cup pumpkin (3 T applesauce or other starchy carb works well too!) 2 T coconut flour* (1 T also works, and results in 40 fewer calories) 1/2 tsp baking powder stevia or other granular sweetener to taste 1 T. cocoa powder (Hershey’s Special dark cocoa is best!) *(Edited to add: Hallie asked if whole wheat or peanut flours could sub for the coconut flour. I decided to do a test for those two and they both work. The whole wheat is not quite as moist; it’s a bit more chewy, but the peanut flour is very moist. All taste great. My fave is still coconut flour, but obviously you can use whatever you have on hand!). Also, some other subs for pumpkin or applesauce are bananas or yogurt which are quite good too. I love all the reader feedback! Method: Spray a Soup bowl with a very light layer of oil to prevent sticking (not even necessary but makes cleaning up a bit easier). Mix ingredients well with fork, whisk or spatula Microwave for 2:30-4+ min on High (depends on your microwave, altitude and the whim of the cupcake gods.)

I bet if you bring something health-ish your friends will thank you! What about doing fruit skewers with strawberries, watermelon and grapes. You could make a sugar free (sweeten with Stevia) yogurt dip and add a little food color to make it pink. There are tons of ideas on pinterest. A good old fashion veggie tray always seems to be a hit! Pink or not! If you don't want to drink alcohol but want to feel like you are celebrating, bring some pink crystal light! Stick to your plan and try to focus on the companionship versus the food! Good luck and have a great day!

My PCOS has been in remission since month 3 post-op. My PCOS doc now treats me like a regular patient, and I only have to go in for annuals. I cried at that news. I keep track of my food, exercise, and weight daily (minus a month+ "vacation' from it..), and I definitely stay on plan better when I'm writing it all down. I'm 6 lbs from my goal, and these are the biggies that helped me get to where I am now: supportive and encouraging spouse that is completely on board with keeping temptations out of the house (he's lost 70+ lbs "second-hand") my gym (I go at least 4 times a week, which includes working with a personal trainer and boot camp classes) Couch to 5K app (also known as "C25K". This got me in touch with my goal driven side and now jogging is therapeutic, and I look forward to running events that I register for well in advance. I'm training for a mini-marathon (4 mi.) now.) local support group (luckily mine meets weekly just 20 mins away, has about 10+ regulars, and is led by a social worker) keeping calories between 600-800/day (this works for me... My intake is actually a little higher, because I don't count my chewable Vitamins, mints or tums. If this was "too" low, I'd feel bad, but my energy is pretty good. I don't get headaches or blurred vision anymore. I know what blood sugar issues feel like. Also, the lighter and more fit you are, the lower your BMR (basal metabolic rate, i.e. calorie need) is. I'm still working to get these last 6 lbs off, and I'll probably switch to the 5:2 plan for maintenance.) various food/recipe blogs (I honestly love food more than ever. There are so many creative options, and I generally have fun with cooking dinner. Mini hamburger meatloaves, "cupcake" meals like lasagna and chicken enchiladas, philly cheese steak stuffed bell pepper, etc. I also have a raging sweet tooth, and I find "skinny" deserts.) Diet wise, for Breakfast and lunch, I eat like a little kid. I had a cup of Protein hot chocolate for breakfast, and I have a bento lunch box in the fridge today. It has 4 almond crackers, 1/2 serving of tuna salad (1 pack low-sodium tuna, 2 tablespoons plain yogurt - no mayo, a diced hard boiled egg, and seasoning), and 4 small strawberries. All that will put me at 203 calories. I'm contemplating half a gladiator smoothie before boot camp for the extra protein. Dinner will be 4 oz of butternut squash quinoa salad and two slices of deli honey ham rolled up. Probably followed by a serving of Arctic Zero.