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I have been purreeing my son's food for almost seven years now. literaly everything you can eat you can puree. the only real callenges are high bread based items. they turn gummy in the blender just as they do in our stomach. For my son, i make some favorites like cambels bean with bacon Soup. To enhance texture and vegis I do it 50 non diluted soup, about 30 percent pureed carrots and 20 percent ground ham. To ground ham appropriately you can add eiter sugar free syrup or the Water from the carrots. I add water (and for him syrup because i need to enhance calories signiicantly) to whatever texture im shooting for, which for him is aboiut mashed potatoes. Warm each item first. It will gound in a food processer easier (i prefer that a blender) Beef with aujus and potatoes woks well too. He loves that. bananas with vanilla yoghurt. i have blended whole pies...just add suga free yogurt.

I am allowed 4-5 shakes a day, up to 900 calories. The shakes are through Bariatric Advantage and I can mix in fruit, yogurt, oatmeal, and skim milk but cannot eat any of those foods alone - strictly shakes

I too pureed everything. Being a vegetarian it was a bit of a challenge. I found that CVS whey powder had 26 grams of Protein. So every morning I started with a shake made with unsweetened almond milk and a scoop of almond butter. It was a nice boost to start the day, clocking on at 31 grams of protein. I also used prosource noncarb Liquid Protein. I'd but the neutral flavor and add it to herbal tea. Moving onto food, I made a soft scrambled egg with a tiny bit of shredded cheese and a tsp of 0% plain greek yogurt. Once a week I made Soups using Beans or root veg like squash or sweet potato, spinach and corresponding protein powders. I mixed salsa with greek yogurt, or mashed a bit of fresh fruit and had that with greek yogurt. I also had plain veg broth at night as a treat if I made my protein goal throughout the day. Even now I prefer to start my day with a Protein Shake. I usually woke out in the mornings and the big protein boost give me enough energy to work out but isn't too heavy on my stomach that I get sick.

I had surgery on May 29th. I was on broth and Jello for 4 days. I am a week and a day out. Currently I can eat soup including cream soups, no chunks, cottage cheese, yogurt, string cheese (which I thought was odd and have not done). I was hungry on the broth and jello but since transitioning to the 5-14 day phase I haven't been hungry. Can you not have any food until June 17th?

Ooh... I haven't tried yogurt yet I ate about 3 tbsp of broccoli cheese soup and that was awesome. I feel like I get that tight in throat feeling really quick.

OMgoodness! I agree with you on the food commercials. I have a 16 month old, so most of the TV I watch comes from DVR after he is in bed. So I fast forward through those babies! :laugh: Ya know what else I notice.....food billboards. I don't know if I paid that much attention to them before. We don't or hadn't been eating out much anyway, but now I see them and think grrrr. :cool2: Ha! Not to mention that everything looks and smells better now too! How funny huh! When I hit the drinkable yogurt phase I was like YUM!

I tried ricotta bake today. I think I could only manage 1.5 Oz it felt heavy. I did eat a soft scrambled egg for breakfast very very slowly but I didn’t really like the texture. It felt odd. Finished my day out with Greek yogurt and protein shakes

Just a suggestion but may be worth a try..Before you go to bed tonight have a little extra something. Maybe a piece of cheese or yogurt or something. I know eating before bed is a no-no. But if you are experiencing low blood sugar in the a.m., perhaps it will help. Best advice though, see your doctor.

It's been a few days since I've been here to post. I havent been strong enough to lift myself to the desk nevermind type a coherent sentence. I made it thru thursday... I even drove myself home from work. Friday, I went to work. I am on the mashed tater stage so thats what I have for lunch. Now, I work for a doctors office, we get drug rep lunches weekly. I get to the break room and its Boston Market. Out of laziness I decide to eat those mashed taters instead of my own.. I figure instant is instant. Yeah, not so much. Those taters were heaven. By 12:30, I wanted to die. Now I'm already not feeling well and I go and eat catered fast food taters. Brilliant idea. NOT. I go out to my car to relax.. aka not puke. I get back to my desk at 1pm and silently wait for my boss to return at 1:30. I wussed out and went home. Now I dont know if the taters made me feel worse but something did me in. I get home and have my period 2 weeks early.. that may also play a small factor in my all-around ickiness. So it's Friday night... hubby is out again with Tony, I am up from my nap flipping thru the tv for something to watch. Wouldnt ya know it.. I get caught up watching some food network show that may have been diners, drive-ins and dives... something to that effect. The first show is all BBQ. Not a fan so I watch cuz its interesting and I'm tired of channel surfing. The next show (kill me now) is all burgers. I like burgers but I dont LOVE burgers. Watching this show made me drool so bad. I'm the girl who goes to Red Robin or Texas Roadhouse and gets a salad. I could have killed for a burger after that show. I had some water. I got up saturday, had b-fast then a cup of tea. Suprise suprise, I went back to bed. I got up had lunch and got dressed again. Went to the parental units with the husband and Spooky (he needed to get out of the house). My Mother is not the most lucid/coherent people on the planet. I told her that I'd lost 13 pounds so far and she said that my tummy was all wrinkley all ready. Okay, sure. When Mom started to cook dinner I vacated... she was making burgers. (see above). Hubby and I took a trip to the local Wal-Mart.. got our shit and got out. Went back to Moms to get the cat and then went to Big Y. I got some yogurt and hubby got some junk food for himself. I must confess. I got cheese. Anyone who knows me knows that I have been DYING for cheese. I couldnt find what I really wanted so I got one of those bricks of mozzerella. Got home and had me 1oz of that for dinner. 30 minutes later, I cracked open a diet snapple raspberry iced tea and have been wide awake since. I forgot about the caffiene involved. My diet sheet says I can have diet snapple so I did. Damn it. lol. Now, I cant sleep. Thank good tomorrow is technically Sunday. I can sleep in once I can sleep. I have decided that I truly have no support system. The support system that I thought I would have posted trash talk about me on another blog/lap band forum and I found it. Now I dont have use for that in my life but since she had the procedure done a few months ago, I have a zillion questions and would love to ask but I have no need to talk to her. The other person I know is the office manager for the physician side of work but only I know that she had it done and when she talks to me it's about her "friend". She is 2 years out and eats nothing but crap. Thats not much of an inspiration to me. When I asked if the tired icky feeling would get better she said "eventually." Yeah, no help. So I am on my own. My husband, who say his own nutritionist this week, went all day today without eating then polished off some chicken fingers and mac n cheese and something else. I think he knows better than to do that but he claims he doesnt want to eat infront of me. I think thats why he has been hanging out with tony so much. Speaking of food and the hubby... he wakes up this morning, looks at me and says, "I'm sorry but I want the buffet." So I respond, "I'm sorry but so do I." I really think this is going to be a big issue in the upcoming months. I do not blame him for my fatness but he doesnt like to eat at home. If I cant/wont go out to eat all the time, it may cause problems. Everything we have ever done together has in some way revolved around food. We'd go run errands and the first question once in the car was where are we going to eat? Food has been the center point of everything for us. I hope he understands that I'm not playing that game any longer. I cant kill myself one cheese fry at a time. Under all this pale white fatness is a petite girl dying to get out. I have shut her up with chocolate for far too long. Okay, I have rambled for far too long and I need water....

Cute Lunch! Mine was Half a cup of Yogurt and 1/4 cup Tuna mixed with a tablespoon of greek. It honestly wasn't very photogenic. I'll have to take a picture of dinner. Dinner always looks better!

For 2 weeks preop and 6 weeks postop, I was limited to 3 protein drinks and 2 yogurts. I'm at 8 weeks now and I still use the drinks to get in the required amount of protein. I'm struggling with getting most foods down so I like having the drinks around. I never used the dr. recommended drinks because 1- they were disgusting and 2- they averaged about $75 a week. I use EAS Carb Control in chocolate. Not too chalky or gross.

Had a great weekend, including Friday. Friday I tried to not write down what I ate and just concentrated on how much I was eating, and to be honest I had a really hard time with it. It's definetly mind over matter which sucks and I'm hoping I can work on that eventually. Anyway, Friday night went to the dbf house for dinner, he ordered Chinese, I had crabmeat rangoon and a small thing of pork fried rice and that filled me up. Saturday I was cleaning like crazy all day, I had eggbeaters with cheese and some sausage in the morning, a chobani with some granola and yogurt raisins for lunch and had corned beef, cabbage and carrots for dinner (corned beef is disgusting! Never tried it before, not my favorite cut of meat, dbf loved it!). On Sunday my parents called me early in the morning and wanted to meet up in Newburgh, NY for brunch (Newburgh is halfway between the two of us, they live in NY I live in CT). So much fun I don't know why we didn't think of doing this sooner. It's an inconvenience for me to drive 3 hours back and forth, and I usually have to take a half day off on Friday, this worked out perfect. I had a mushroom and cheese omlette some hashbrowns and rye toast, and that's all I ate for the day, except for a handful of trail mix. Today I'm back at work, I'm hoping the week goes by quick, I took next Monday off, to recover from Super Bowl (go pats!). I have an appointment at my surgeon today at 4pm, I'm nervous to see how much I lose/don't lose in the past two weeks, my last appointment was on January 16th and I was down 21 pounds from my weight on my surgery date. I'm hoping they bump me up to 2 ccs in my band and see if that helps, if not it's only 4 weeks and I go back again for another fill. NOT GIVING UP THIS TIME!

Okay with some minor setbacks (however major at the time, and dang it, it hurt!) I got banded and hernia repaired on May 9th. Didn't do so bad the first couple of days. Was able to pee which is very necessary to help the hospital staff believe you are back from the living dead. Didn't feel extreme pain. Hospital stay was not most pleasant, too isolate, too old, too behind the times, so I was anxious to get out. Maybe a little too anxious. I left the next day after surgery. Unfortunately, I had some set backs with a reaction to the pain medication (was hurting me more than helping) fixed that and got a new pain medication, also my intestinal works just stopped on me. After a night in the emergency center we got that under control also. I came back home still struggling with pain in the shoulder and neck due to the air pumped in my body during surgery. My doctor says this should subside substantially in about 3 weeks time. I sure hope so. My stiches were never a problem. Minimal pain in the abdomen, had a few issues with sleeping, nausea and couldn't keep anything down for couple of days, day of stomach bloating and shut down of intestinal issues, got it all fixed… now moving around fairly easy and things are appearing to be on the way up. Saw my doctor, lost 13.5 pounds the first week. Today my husband and I went to a movie (May 18) and I even got a small non-fat/non-sugar yummy peach and vanilla yogurt. Life is looking good and I hope I will be looking better with each day. I have hope, something I thought I lost!:clap2: :kiss

I've been adding 1/4 C kefir to my breakfast smoothies plus eat 1 C plain Greek yogurt daily, but am not currently taking any in pill form.

I’m 6 months post op mini bypass. I’ve noticed in the last month or so that I feel restriction still in the mornings and can eat very little (ex. 1/2 cup yogurt and some berries). But in the evenings, I can easily eat 2-3 times as much as in the morning before I feel the restriction. Is this common? Is it because I haven’t eaten at night so my stomach is less “stretched” in the morning? It just seems very odd. I find that if I’m not portioning out my meal properly in the evening, it can be easy to over eat, or at least eat more than I plan to eat.

I had my surgery on 21 July and today I had my first setback. I was placed on puréed foods and I started eating my first meal of cottage cheese and yogurt today. Everything was great. My third meal of cottage cheese and protein felt weird on the way down . I had a uncomfortable pain in my center of my chest that felt like I needed a burp but I couldn't. 20 minutes later I have nowhere I puked uncontrollably for about 10 seconds and it was like fraught. Please somebody tell me I'm not the only one that have this concern or feeling

I made Greek yogurt, banana and a little peanut butter drink. So good!! How often can I sip on it. I really don't want to over do it. Thanks

A common concern for weight loss surgery patients is that healthy foods have the reputation of being expensive. You might fear that the commitment to years of healthy eating will be outside of your budget, especially if you paid for weight loss surgery out of pocket. But, you can eat healthy on a budget. Junk Food May Seem Cheaper at First Your pre-surgery eating habits may seem cheap. For $1, you can order a burger, taco, burrito, sandwich or fries from at value menu at most fast food places. Candy bars, chips, crackers, snack cakes and sodas from vending machines also cost about $1 each. For $5, you can get an entire pizza, a fast food value meal with a burger, fries, and a drink, or the workplace cafeteria’s daily lunch special with a fried chicken sandwich, onion rings or fries and a drink. Almost everywhere, ordering larger portion sizes and extra side dishes gives you bigger discounts. These options seem inexpensive at first glance. For example, if you compare the cost of a pizza to an alternative of ordering grilled chicken and a salad for lunch at a sit-down restaurant, the pizza is cheaper. Similarly, a doughnut from a convenience store is far cheaper than a fresh fruit salad from the same convenience store. However, you can make better use of your food dollar. Convert Your Pre-WLS Food Dollar into Post-WLS Nutrition Most of the foods on your diet before weight loss surgery may have been relatively inexpensive, but the total cost may have been more than you think. Consider this sample day to see how your post-surgery diet can continue to fit within your budget. Breakfast: Before WLS ($5): coffee and a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon. After WLS: 2 hard-boiled eggs, a cup of cantaloupe and a slice of turkey ham ($2). Save $3. Morning Snack: Before WLS ($3): a muffin and a coffee. After WLS ($1): string cheese and a half an apple. Save $2. Lunch: Before WLS ($7): a sub sandwich, chips, and a drink. After WLS: tuna, whole-wheat crackers and a cup of cooked cauliflower ($3). Save $4. Afternoon Snack: Before WLS ($2): a soda and a bag of cookies. After WLS: peanut butter and carrot sticks ($1). Save $1. Dinner: Before WLS ($4): steak, mashed potatoes, a dinner roll with butter, a green salad, and cheesecake. After WLS: ground turkey, green beans, almonds and a half a banana ($3). Save $1. Eat In More Often Save money by preparing more of your own food and eating less often at restaurants or fast food chains. Another benefit is that you have more control over what you eat when you prepare it yourself. You can keep your homemade food simple and still have a nourishing diet. Consider these restaurant meals and home-made alternatives to try. Each of the suggested alternatives is simple to make and it is more nourishing and less costly than the restaurant choice. A sugar-sweetened, flavored coffee beverage plus a cinnamon roll versus fat-free yogurt and fresh or frozen fruit. A burger, fries, and drink versus a salad with lettuce, grilled chicken breast and pecans. Breadsticks and a dip, soup, and fettuccine Alfredo versus broiled salmon with steamed spinach. Soda, an alcoholic beverage, or another beverage versus water. Shopping Strategies to Cut Costs and Improve Nutrition Without caution, you can spend a lot and leave the supermarket with plenty of unhealthy foods. On the other hand, a plan and some practice can help you stretch your food dollar while you stock up on healthy foods from the grocery store. Use a list. This helps you avoid impulse purchases of high-calorie, high-cost foods. It also ensures that you remember key ingredients so that you do not have to get them at the last minute from an expensive convenience store. Watch the sales. Staples in your kitchen might include tuna, peanut butter, whole-wheat pasta, beans, frozen fruits and vegetables, frozen chicken and lean beef and spices. Stock up on these non-perishables when they are on sale. Buy in bulk. Purchase larger packages, since they are usually cheaper than single-serving packages. Measure out single-portion servings when you are ready to use them. This is an especially good strategy for family-sized packs of chicken and fish, for snack products such as nuts and whole-grain crackers, and for yogurt. Buy store brands. They usually taste the same as the national brands and are far less costly. Dairy products, cereals and frozen and canned goods are good candidates. Check out your neighborhood. Discount stores and ethnic stores often have certain high-quality products for far cheaper than the chain supermarkets. Check for fresh produce, spices, and condiments at ethnic and discount stores. Buy in season. Out-of-season fruits and vegetables can be prohibitively expensive, but in-season ones can be on sale and higher quality. Some fruits and vegetables that are relatively consistent year-round are apples, cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, lettuce, onions, and celery. Your new diet after weight loss surgery requires major adjustments to your eating habits. Practice and also planning are necessary so you can get the protein and other nutrients you need, avoid the foods that are bad for you, and lose the weight you want. With so much to worry about after WLS, you do not want to have to worry about the cost of the healthy foods you need. These tips can help put you on the path to healthy eating within a reasonable budget.

Cleone, good to hear that all is well with you! Congrats on the 5lbs. Yes, I do believe that the tapping worked. I can only attribute me flying like a frequent flyer to the tap. I almost panicked when I first walked onto our first flight, but then I took a deep breath and sat down. I am so proud of myself Also for the panic. I didn't panic one time or even feel like it. I have been using the method over and over and it seems to have really helped. As a matter of fact I ordered the book you suggested just today that's how much I believe it works! I am slowly on the mend. I have been a bit of a quandry as to what of my medicines I can take? I called my PCP this morning and she has me on 2 diff. blood pressure medicines. She told me to dissolve the one I take in the morning but to leave off the one I take at night. She has given me some chewable previcid which is a relief, but I take two small bitter pills at night that I had to take with butter to get to go down the old gullet and its a pill you are never suppose to stop suddenly. Well I haven't taken it since Thursday night and now I'm wondering if that's why I feel so funky in the head?? I'm going to try and take them tonight, I don't know about the butter method though, what do you think? Maybe with a yogurt smoothie. Anyway, I'm just glad that part of it's over and we both did well. Now it's time to work the band and that first fill.

Get some good Protein from Slim fast low carb. It is 20 grams and does not taste too bad. You are about to be under the big 200. How exciting. when I get there yall will hear a victory shout!! I also ordered unjury powdered protein so I could make smoothies ( I am sill on liquids). it has twenty grams for 60 calories. I got the flavored kind (a few more calories) and put it in the blender with yogurt and fresh fruit. Hope this helps. Cleone

Hi shordee, when you're as early out as you are I don't think it's as critical, as you're struggling to get enough calories in. As you recover and the swelling goes down you'll be able to get a lot more and yogurt is a slider food, so low sugar is a better choice (not everyone on here does low fat - it depends if you've allowed enough calories in your plan for full fat).

Today I was nervous about starting the purée food stage. I dumped in the hospital from drinking too fast and I was afraid of trying something besides full liquids. I had 3 Oz of very thin grits for breakfast. I ate slow... I use a baby spoon to eat. For lunch I had a 5 Oz Greek yogurt. Then I had 3 Oz of unsweetened applesauce. I felt kinda hungry an hour later. So I reviewed my eating plan. I forgot to drink my 2 protein shakes for the day. Ooops. So now that I’ve had that. (Only one shake) I feel like I’ve eaten a full course meal on a holiday. Geesh I don’t want anything else.

Well, I got my happy butt out of bed this morning at 5:00 am and headed to the gym. I'm on a roll. lol. I did 35 min on the elliptical. I knew that tonight was going to be busy and I needed to do my exercise in the am if I was going to get it done, and I did it! Yay for me! I'm patting myself on the back right now....pat, pat, pat. Okay, enough of my bragging. Today's menu: Bfast - Matabolism is going crazy because I am STARVING! fresh tomatoes and carrots, dipped in hummus. yum yum Snack Ww yogurt - 1 WW point Lunch - the rest of my lunch from Applebees from yesterday. Talapia & broccoli. yum. Only 7 WW points for the entire meal. Dinner - Low fat chick tortillia soup - 4 ww pts Snack - Skinny cow ice cream sandwhich (2 WW points) Exercise - 35 min on Elliptical

I loved it..i was so happy to taste food again! I ways been a yogurt freak and i lived on greek yogurt for days! haha

Yes, puree was after full liquids for me, but some surgeons skip puree stage. For puree I could eat the types of food listed above but they had to be pureed to the consistency of applesauce. Exceptions: refried beans, cottage cheese, yogurt, and poached or scrambled eggs could be eaten without being pureed. Soft foods came next, that's what I'm on now. Soft foods for my program is high Protein foods (meat, fish, dairy, soy, beans, lentils), cooked non-starchy veggies, and soft fruits -- as long as I can cut them with a fork. So I could have ground beef but not a steak, for example. And even though I could cut a potato with a fork, I can't have it because it is a starchy veggie. My program is very strict and very detailed!