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Hi Mastiff Mama I to had surgery on monday, I am having some issues, was in the hospital for one night and I think it should have been 2. anyways, I was on major pain meds as I had a hernia repair also, today I am still afraid to drink my costco Protein shakes so my husband went and got me some more clear protein from the docs office. I am taking lora tap, or liquid vicodin, and pantoprazole for acid once a day. today I was feeling a little better but around noon was having major stomach pain so had some loratap and that solved it. I am trying real hard not to get dehydrated, not easy to drink constantly. I am hoping to off meds by this weekend and try yogurt and pudding, I have not vomited once since I have been home but having issues on the other end. Keep in touch. I need to lose 60 pounds. Mary

The greek yogurt does some flavored. Just watch the sugar amount. I just buy the plain and drizzle some honey on top. It is thicker than regular yogurt just fyi. I actually prefer it more.

An Atkins like diet is very doable with the Lapband. My Dr has me on protein shakes, lean proteins & non starchy veggies, so everything is low carb. I probably stay right around 20 carbs a day. During the mushy stage I ate a lot of canned chicken mixed with a little nonfat greek yogurt & Franks red hot sauce, and a very well blended veggie (baby food consistency). Now that I have been eating solid foods for a while I have no problems sticking to a low carb diet, only difference then Atkins is that I also try to stay pretty low fat as well. Good Luck!

my first 2 days i was clear liquid only and only AFTER i had my leak test done at the hospital. now i am full liquids and also having Jello, yogurt, pudding, cream Soups, milk. today i managed to do TWO 21 oz Protein Shakes in the morning, both mixed with extra milk and ice and 2 bottles of Water, so my liquids are met. had yogurt for Breakfast, cream of potato Soup for lunch, sugar free pudding mid-afternoon. tonight it's more soup for dinner and sugar free jello later. i'm getting the hang of it.

What does your surgeon recommend? Mine suggested mashed potatoes and ff gravy, Greek yogurt, refried beans... The potatoes were odd, but she had me use boxed, add protein' powder and I was only allowed 1-3 Tb per day with more gravy than potato.

Two weeks. Two Protein shakes, two servings of dairy such as yogurt or milk, 3 oz of meat or cheese, 1/2 cup veggies, 1 piece of fruit. It was tough but I did it and didn't cheat. Surgeon said my liver looked great. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Doing tht today! eating greek yogurt for Breakfast and a string cheese stick! I'm also making sure i eat every 3-4 hours also!

Hello, I'm Ldyshecat. I just had my surgery on Oct 10th. Thankfully my body has been with me 100% throughout this journey. In order to have my insurance cover the surgery I needed a pysch eval, 3 mo doctor monitored diet and a cert from my regular physician saying I was OK for surgery. When I started my diet I weighed in at 295lbs...after the three months were up I weighed 254lbs. I still chose to do the surgery though, even though I'd proven to myself that I could lose the weight on my own, because I wanted to make sure it stayed off and I think the surgery will help me take my weight to my goal (125) as well as maintain it. So...for my facility (Rocky Mountain Assoc. physicians) they required about three classes prior to surgery and a 1k diet started 10days out from the date of surgery. That was difficult...but I had a few Snacks and things set aside I already knew were low cal as well as that I liked them. The day of surgery was scary as hell since I had never had a surgery before in my adult life, but my husband stayed with me as much as he was allowed. When I woke up the first thing I did, when I was allowed, was to get up and walk...and I normally did this once every few hours...when I was awake. I also tried really hard to drink the 1oz of Water given to me every hour. As a tip for anyone that hasn't done it yet... If you feel a lot of pressure anywhere after surgery (from the air they pump into your abdomen) holding a cold pack of ice against it works great to break it up...same with walking. I had little to know pain during my recovery at the hospital...but I also used the pain pump as often as I remembered and was awake. I didn't want the pain to get a foothold. I was released the day after my surgery and told I had been a star patient and done everything I was supposed (the others that had the surgery the same day had to wait at least another day and were told they would probably go home on oxygen). The liquid diet...was agonizing. My stomach tolerated it fine, but I got bored and didn't have an appetite for the broth or the Jello...it also made me very jealous of everyone else getting to eat normal food. I'm now on the semi-liquid diet (cottage cheese, yogurt, strained soups) and again my stomach has been fantastic in working with me and accepting new foods. I have found that the more gourmet type foods I get the less likely I am to feel deprived. So I got some yummy butternut squash bisque, Progressive Tomato Basil Soup and some Protein rich Greek yogurt that I love (Dannon, if anyone's interested). At this point the hardest thing I'm finding is that my stomach is not very happy with water...I get bloated and gassy feeling after only a few sips no matter the temperature. In the program I'm with they allow herbal tea as a water substitute and I'm getting by on some yummy Blackberry vanilla tea until I can figure out water that works for me. Well, that is where I'm at right now....if anyone having surgery soon has questions about anything I did or didn't do, please ask....and the same goes for anyone else....this is all very fresh in my mind right now for this stage of recovery. ☺ I was released the day after my surgery

The goal of this surgery is not to feel full to the max. It's to relearn how to eat until you are sated, not overstuffed and full. I would look at the dosage & time of day you are taking the prilosec. It may need to be adjusted. When I was first sleeved I was taking my omeprazole (generic prilosec) in the morning since I didn't have any issues with acid. Once I transitioned to soft foods I noticed I would feel full in the early evenings. Occasionally I would get this stuck feeling in my chest. Reading up I realized I needed to take my PPI around 2 -3 ish and eventually I upped the dosage from 20 mgs to 40. That made all the difference in the world. I could eat what I was supposed to and I no longer had that weird full feeling. As for eating and drinking you need to do whatever it is to get in ALL your Protein. Early on I find that a combo of eating and drinking Proteins helps. I started each day with a Protein shake that I would make with FAGE 0% greek yogurt, Protein powder and Water served over ice. This was helpful to get a big does of protein and fluids at the beginning of the day. My shakes came in at 12 - 14 ounce and 31 -38 gms of protein. The rest of the day I could coast. Eat what foods I could tolerate and sip on water. Eventually I was able to work my way up to getting my 64 ounces of fluids and 100gms or more of protein.

So I've learned a few things about snacking lately, six years into my journey. I've always been a 3meals, no Snacks kinda dieter, only becuase once I start to snack, I really have trouble stopping. That's because I snack on snack foods, d'oh. Simple, evil, white carbs that leave you wanting more, so you suddenly decide stuff it, I've had 2 Cookies, now I'm gonna eat the rest of the packet. Recently I had an ileostomy reversal, so that now my colon is doing its job again and after nine months, I'm back to doing number 2's the regular way. This is not an easy surgery and it takes a long long time for the body to recover and adjust, I have no rectum anymore. What I've found is that my insides are just so messed up through chemotherapy, radiation and havign to adjust to working again that I simply cannot even think about eating a regular sized meal - even a regular sized bandster meal. First up, I was forced to live on white carbs - white bread, rice, Pasta, mashed potato, rice bubbles and other cereals were all I could manage, with some chicken, tuna etc and I couldnt even think about fruit and veg and yeah, I actually had trouble keeping my weight stable despite eating hardly anything - those foods pack the fat on faster than you can blink. So now I've managed to transition to healthier foods again, but in order to avoid awful bouts of gas, bloating, flatulence that would fell a horse and diarrhoea/urgency, I need to eat six small mini meals, rather than anything approaching a normal sized meal. What I've found is that it is MUCH easier to not overeat, with this constant input, I'm having trouble reaching 1200 calories a day! I'm a bit gobsmacked, but I guess the moral of the story is that if you're a snacker and want to eat this way - then you need to abandon the idea of "meals". For me, Breakfast, lunch and dinner would be too large to allow the calories for snacks as well even though I mean large by bandster definitions. So, I had a half a cup of greek yogurt with a few teaspoons of muesli for breakfast - a teeny serve of nuts and dried fruit at mid morning - a small tin of tuna, 4 crackers and some sliced cucumber for lunch, I'm planning a puree apple snackpack and babybel cheese for the afternoon and then I have whatever the family's having for dinner, but just the amount that will fit on a saucer. There's not a cookie or traditional "snack" to be seen in that plan, which is how it needs to be for me, nor is there really a "meal" which I define as containing some sort of carbohydrate. If you can do that, snacking's great. If you still want "meals" and simply add snacks, then its not so great.

Mush some ripe banana and mix it with greek yogurt for the extra potasium and it should help.

No worries, full liquid answers pre or post are helpful and I can still apply my doctor's orders. Unfortunately today wasn't much better. I did get down some Greek yogurt but it still tasted gross to me.

Tomorrow marks 2 weeks since my surgery. On Tuesday I get to start soft foods (after 2 weeks liquids). My doctor recommends cottage cheese, yogurt, flaky fish, etc. for this phase. For those of you who have hit this milestone, was was your first soft food? Thanks!

I cheated today too. Haven't cheated once since I started my preop diet and I was banded on April 19th. My kids made me a ice cream sundae (w/fat free frozen yogurt) although the choc. syrup canceled that out. I figure once cheat won't hurt me. Back on track tomorrow.

Hey all. My name is Geri, and this is my story. In 2010 after years of yo yo diets, ups and downs, I decided to do something. My husband was against Gastric By-pass and frankly I was to because I had a GF that had had it and was having all sort of issues. But being new to the bariatric world I didn't know why she was having issues I just thought it was Gastric By-pass in general. (Turns out she was doing all sorts of stuff to sabotage herself) So back then the latest and greatest thing was the Lap-Band. I asked my hubby if he would go to the seminar with me. He replied why would you want to go to a Lap Dance seminar Sweetie? LOL So we went, with Burgerking drinks from our meal that we had just had. We saw Dr Thomas Bass in Fort Myers Florida. He and his wife Tiffany ran the seminar and explained the two main surgeries Lap band and Gastric Bypass. He mentioned that after surgery and Burger King visits would have to stop! I went head first in with the Band. I was 290 at this point and so miserable, My mom has passed away at 63 from Diabetes and liver failure due to the disease. I dont want to have her ending. I literally watched my mom fade away in a hospital bed for a week after they took her IV away and basically starved her to death. Her liver no longer functioned and she quickly went down hill. I was in the room when she passed away. I will never get that image out of my mind. She was a wonderful woman but suffered so much due to this horrible circle of Obesity and poor life choices. If she had gotten the sleeve or the Bypass she'd probally be here still today. I swore to myself I'd NEVER go out like that. So I followed all the requirements, diets, appointments and finally the day came I got approval from my insurance the night before my surgery! I was doing so good. I got down to 212 and had lost 78 pounds. Then.......well, I stoped following the program. My husband told me I was being a pain in the butt because I had to eat small meals several times a day, and I started to eat poorly. I figured out if I drank while I ate, I could eat more. I never really got the hang of the Band. I could never tell if I was "Full". I admit I never measured my food, and I never really stopped drinking while I ate. Then I started eating more, faster, bad foods, and the weight came back on. I got back up to 250+. Then I needed to have a procedure (female related) and the surgeon wouldn't do it unless I was a certain BMI so I started eating the way I was taught with the band, and got down to the 220 I needed to be. Fast forward to last year. I maintained my 220-230 but was having a ton of back issues. I went to a neurologist who discovered I had a birth defect and my lumbar region was almost 3/4 of an inch off, pinching my sciatica on both legs with numbing, I had a spinal fusion in July of 2016. I couldn't work, I had to stay home for a year. Of course I ate all the time, because what was there to do but watch tons of cake boss, cupcake wars and food network! Mother's Day week I started to have chest pains. I was having so many issues with my band. I would drink water and lay down for bed and that water would come right back up. I knew I should go see my Dr. but I was ashamed I had gained that weight back and didnt want to let him down. So I suffered. Then I had such bad chest pains I thought I was having a heart attack. Two emergency visits later and one hospital overnight stay, I realized it was the same chest pain I had experienced right after my La NBand surgery. SO I asked the Drs, could this be band related? And the resident dr said "Oh....yeah I supposed it could be?" This is after tons of testing and a stress test. So I went to Dr. Bass and he said immediately it was the band. So he took out all the fluid and suggested the sleeve. I had been researching it by then anyway secretly wishing I had gotten that done instead. I had to under go another Spinal fusion in June(that went well). So now, I start my new journey for the Sleeve. I had my band taken out 8-16-17. I went this week to the nutrition appointment and tonight I go for my first of three classes required for my insurance in a three month pre trial. I weighed in at 254.4 for a start weight. When I had the band removed I started my own "Pre op" to retrain myself how to eat healthy. I bought some protein, almond milk, coconut milk, tons of yogurt, cottage cheese, and tons of eggs. I weighed in at 247 at the nutrition appt. I already have a surgery date of November 13th. So all thats left to do is wait. And wait. And wait..Can you tell I'm an impatient person? Well I am lol. But I know I can do it! As for my husband. I gave him a piece of my mind concerning the Band. I feel he played a role in my failure with the band. He started making fun of the Band and the whole process, like it was a gimmick and not taking it seriously. I told him about the sleeve and he was not too happy at first. I told him he will not effect me this time and that I will not stray from my goals. He's coming around but only time will tell. This journey is about ME, and MY health. I loved my mom and this world is lonely without her so I will do this in her memory and live a longer life for her and God! Thank you for listening, I will update frequently..........

Personally, I think its a little of both. Or meant to be,anyway. Now that my band is unfilled after five entire years, I can make a bit of a comparison - I am NO hungrier with no fill in my band. I eat more at a sitting, but not much more but the main difference is the variety of foods I can eat - I could always eat anything if I really wanted to but my tastes changed as it was unpleasant or difficult to eat some foods. I've just had breakfast - blackberries and strawberries with yogurt and some muesli sprinkled on top. I would never have chosen to eat that with fill because the coldness of the yogurt would cause me problems, berries were sometimes hard to eat. I am actually eating much healthier now. But my band definitely restricted portions. I eat three smallish (but bigger than bandster) meals a day, I dont snack and the only real hunger I have is just before dinner time. Who knows though, if I had had to unfill four years ago, I may have had a lot more hunger. My body has obviously adapted to its new weight as I've maintained it for about three years and it only wants to eat enough to maintain that weight - it doesnt seem to be striving to get back to 113kg. Early on with my band I certainly had the lack of hunger and appetite, and would forget to eat, but I think the body adapts to that over time. Even the experts dont really know how/why the band works - they cant explain the mechanism that leads to lack of hunger for example. I think just work with it, however it works for you. But I really think ultra tight fills are asking for trouble.

Breakfast - protein shake Lunch - tuna salad (sometimes 1/4 of a sandwich) Snack - yogurt, almonds Dinner - protein, veggie.

I'm pre-op. I had a gigantic lettuce salad with turkey, tomatoes, and cucumbers, and two Greek yogurts. After all that, I am STILL hungry and looking forward to the day when I feel full with "normal" portions of food.

So I was banded i10/21/11 & have lost about 19lbs. And that was what I lost right after surgery. Nothing in the last 4 months. At my last visit, doc suggested a little un-fill but I was stubborn & pleaded my case to keep 5cc in my 10cc band. I was convinced I just needed more practice at slowing down while eating & not relying on "slider foods". But I am beginning to wonder. I seem to have to vomit a lot more often than other folks I know who are banded. For example--I had a busy weekend & I did not have time to even think about what would be a "good choice". I barely ate at all. Couple of spoonfuls of chicken salad, lots of water, some coffee, some cheese/fruit.....no I did not get good protein levels in this weekend but that's not my point. Saturday evening I was so hungry I ate a little bit of deli turkey & a piece of cheese. Ate slowly but immediately felt "stuck"....ended up in bathroom for about an hour vomiting. Today--I had greek yogurt for breakfast & during the a.m. I've had about 50 oz water. For lunch I've tried to get down some grilled chicken w/ broccoli. Very moist--chewing forever--but I'm getting that gurgling sound in my gut/throat & I know it's coming back up. This can't be normal. And yet w/ the little bit I'm eating---no weight loss....guess my body is in that starvation "save everything" mode... Any thoughts?

Hi All, I just got back from Disneyland where I walked what felt like 40 miles a day. And I have lost nothing??? I assume that I didn't lose any weight because I did tend to eat higher fat foods(not much else available at Disneyland) but not in large quantities. Is this all part of the course? Why would I be able to eat a small bowl of frozen yogurt without a problem one day and then a couple days later take a couple bites and not be able to eat any more?? At three and a half weeks, is this still an adjustment phase or is this normal? The other thing that was strange while I was on vacation was that now that I am eating more soft solids, I find I am having a hard time figuring what it is I can eat easily. It seems to change daily. I've read that mornings are often when most are a little tighter but what I find is that the first couple of bites need to be slow or I get that tight feeling and I either can't eat anymore or have to drink something and let those first couple of bites pass before I can eat anymore, no matter what time it is. One afternoon I was starving and decided I would just eat a couple bites of my daughters hot dog instead of buying something I wouldn't be able to eat all of and found out what PB-ing is all about. Wow, how uncomfortably strange. I wasn't sick to my stomach, my stomach just said Nope aint gonna keep that in here and up it came. I ate it on an empty stomach and just assumed there would be room for it and it would be OK - WRONG. I have to admit there were times I wished I could just eat what I wanted when I wanted but the band reminded me constantly of why it was there. Don't get me wrong, I am still loving my band. It helped me to say NO when I really wanted to say yes several times in Disneyland. The hotdog incident was quite an eye opener. I really don't want to go there again. It was a little disappointing not to have lost anymore weight but I lost so much the first week I guess it's too much to ask for to lose a whole lot more this first month. Sorry to ramble on....I must have missed you guys and your words of wisdom!!:eek:

Also, for home, I didn't stock up on much. I had crystal light, yogurt, whey protein isolate, Atkins ready-to-drink shakes, broths and cream soups. I bought enough to get me through one/two weeks. I didn't know what I could tolerate afterwards. Today is my first day home. Liquids are really all I want, broth is delicious! The yogurt I tossed after a few bites.

Lots of people become lactose intolerant after surgery. Use your lactase pills. Yogurt is tolerated by some, since the sugar is already digested. Can you get by with yogurt and lactose free milk? I also think the surgery and dietary changes deal a really big blow to the gut biome environment. Try to re=establish a healthy biome with yogurt, real fermented sauerkraut (in Sprouts), root vegetables, broccoli/cabbage, mushrooms, probiotics. Avoid sugar and processed stuff.

Silk makes a dairy-free yogurt, not sure if it is Almond ( my first guess) or possibly coconut, but I saw it in the yogurt area at my Local Wal-Mart.

oof. Well, I have thrown out all the junk food (several times, in fact) and it just gets replaced; the food I get for myself (cottage cheese, yogurt, lean meats, etc.) get eaten and NOT by me. Conversations with the hubby have been had, but pretty much ignored. I acknowledge I have impulse control issues when it comes to food and I am working on it, but having temptations around all the time makes it difficult. I actually purchased new shorts and shirts online a few days ago so I can be more comfortable (waiting for them to be delivered) as my current clothes are too tight/small for me to comfortably leave my house to walk around the neighborhood. I am also going to talk to my boss about changing my login time so I can try walking in the morning when it is cooler rather than when I get off work when it is the warmest. (This seemed to work well when I had to go into the office. I took an earlier bus so I could get 30 minutes of walking in before work.) I downloaded a calorie tracker so I can start using it tomorrow morning. I literally cried when I got on the scale on Wednesday because my weight was way worse than I thought. It was a slap in the face and a huge reality check. I cannot change everything at once or I will get overwhelmed and quit. I am hoping that making these smaller changes now, losing a little and feeling better, I can make more and more changes. Since I really do not have a lot of support from my husband, I felt that coming here, I could find some POSITIVE support and encouragement to help me make these changes and STICK to them.

Hi Eddie-- Don't worry, I never got close to my fluids or Protein requirement and I still don't. Some if us have a harder time with the Protein drinks. They make me completely ill - so much that now I can't even smell them. I was also dead-tired EXHAUSTED for about 6 weeks. It was depressing because I was in good health before I had the surgery. Your body is going through a major transition and the fatigue is part of it. You should keep focusing on liquids to stay hydrated. Do your best with protein - you should be coming up on your mushy food time. That will really help because you can eat cottage cheese, yogurt, soft cooked meat, etc. That will do wonders for your energy. I was able to eat popsicles early out and also drinkable yogurt (keifer or any type of yogurt smotthie from the store). The calories were a big help to me. I also did have regulr gatorade a few times when I knew I was really low on fluids and calories - anything to help keep me moving. Watch for signs of dehydration and do your best. Something that is hard to eat/drink one week will be easier the next week, you just have to keep trying. Take care---