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What I had for dinner Friday night. I put some refried Beans, salsa, 2 pieces of chicken, and 5 tortilla chips in the food processor. When it was done I topped it with a sprinkle of cheese, sour cream and avocado. Tiny tiny portions of course. What did I can this creation? Nachos! For lunch today I had a small potato with milk, sprinkle of cheese & natural yogurt. It was wonderful to have just that and feel full.

I just finished the first week of my 2 week liquid diet. I survived...yay! It actually wasn't AS bad as I had originally anticipated. I have tried to eat things high in protein. I am allowed to have greek yogurt as long as it doesn't have any chunks and that was pretty helpful. Also a lot of Premier protein shakes! I have a "tasteless" protein powder that I have added to my "creamy" soups and that seems to give them a little boost. But I do agree with everyone about the popsicles. I found some that are sugar free tropical flavored that are pretty good. My surgery date is April 19th. Good luck to everyone!

I'm scheduled for 4/19 also and today is my first day of liquids. I appreciate any ideas for what I can have besides the broth, sugar free jello and popsicles. I'm meeting with the dietician in a few hours and will have to ask her about Greek yogurt and steamed veggies. Good luck everyone!!

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I never hear anyone talk about the pain you feel when you eat solid food. I'm wondering I am the only one experiencing this? The pain is excruciating, it'll take me to my knees! I'm unable to function, barely able to handle it at all and it will last for 2-4 hours. When I was able to eat solid food, the first thing I tried was soup with veggies so soft they melted in your mouth. I had two teaspoonfuls and before I took my third I felt this really hard knot forming from my stomach to my throat, my back teeth started ringing and shooting pain. It hurt so bad I could barely get to my bed to lay down! It lasted 3 hrs. I figured I ate to fast. The next day, I tried again, the same thing I figured I ate to much this time. It took me awhile to try again, it really is something I am afraid of now! The next time was on the day of my 1st check up, 10 days later. I had a scrabbled egg, chewed the crap out of, took 20 minutes to eat it and didn't actually eat the whole egg! It didn't hurt but it was alittle uncomfortable. My doc app was fine! So from the time I ate it to the time my doctors appointment was over was 3 hrs. I got into my truck and took a sip of water (first sip since before breakfast) and almost instantly I was doubled over in pain. I sat in the parking lot for about 40 minutes before I could drive, I still wasn't ok but better. When I got home I went right to bed. An hour later I tried water again and same thing, pain. At this point it was 5 hr since breakfast, and by now I'm behind on my water consumption. It was a total of 8 hrs of pain. Thankfully it goes away and I'm able to drink water again! Doctor told me to goto liquids only again for a while. It's about 7 weeks since surgery and I can't do solid food unless it puréed. I've hurt myself a couple more times trying to salmon and spaghetti O's. Now I'm just to afraid to eat. I stick with the protein drinks, yogurt and broth. If it doesn't have protein in it then I don't bother. My family and friend keep telling me that I have to eat at some point but I'm to afraid and plus no appetite. Doctor says that with the supplement and protein drink I can live fine. Does anyone else experience this pain?

Omg, I am so sorry for this. That must be horrible! Sounds like there isn't ANYTHING that you will be able to keep down. I am only 12 days post so I still do liquids only with the exception of Greek yogurt. I haven't thrown up since the hospital for after surgery so unfortunately I have no advice except to call your doctor or nutritionist. You need to get something in you that stays because it's very dangerous otherwise. Good luck and I hope you find the answer. Sent from my SM-N910V using the BariatricPal App

Hi all, On Sunday, I'm two months out from my surgery. It's been quite a ride so far! Post-surgery, I have lost 30 lbs. I lost 32 lbs. on my three-month pre-op diet for a total of 62 lbs. I have met some mini goals on the way: I'm now merely obese, not morbidly obese. And I'm in onderland! My surgery was uneventful except for a small, undiagnosed hiatal hernia that my surgeon repaired. That added about an hour to surgery. Recovery has been pretty smooth too. I did discover in the first few days that I am now lactose-intolerant. I'm hoping that will go away in a few months. I've read here that many people become lactose-intolerant for a few months after surgery. I also had a couple of weeks of diarrhea, but that resolved by itself. So far, I've tried to be very compliant: eating on plan, taking my Vitamins, getting my fluids in, and exercising 5 days per week. I'm following Kaiser Fremont's post-op plan. Currently, I'm downing around 600 calories, mostly low-fat Protein, in three meals and one evening Protein shake per day. I have had a few uncomfortable incidents after eating. Sometimes, food just doesn't sit right. I've had the slimeys twice, spitting up copious amounts of foamy saliva. I got sick and threw up for the first time since surgery this week. I had eaten 1/4 c. fresh peach and 1/4 c. greek yogurt in the morning. I can eat fresh peach later in the day, but first thing in the morning, my sleeve is p-i-c-k-y! One good thing: I had been worried I physically could not throw up because I've felt really sick but hadn't puked since surgery, but I know that is not true now! My energy level is still not 100%, but I feel stronger and better the more time goes by. I'm back to my pre-op exercise routine of five days per week, but I am moving less throughout the day. I've been doing less yardwork and housework and just generally moving less. I hope my energy is back to 100% by the end of this month. In the last couple of weeks, I have eaten some foods I shouldn't, such as salty Snacks and sweets. And last night, I had popcorn, Cookies, and fruit instead of my evening Protein Drink. Not a lot of any of them, but I can see they are the devil. I'm going to try a diet trick I've used before: Cheating one day per week only. So for this week, I've already had my cheat day on Friday. I'm looking forward to being three months out. I expect to be gaining energy this next month and meeting a couple mini-goals: A weight that starts with 18, and A BMI that's merely overweight, not obese. Do I regret the surgery: No I don't. I can see it is just a tool, but it's the best tool I've ever had! Lynda

I keep my carbs under 60 and my calories under 850 unless I've had a big exercise day. Here is what I ate yesterday: early morning snacks: Chike iced protein coffee shake made with 1 scoop Chike + 1 cup Carb Master milk; 3 cups coffee breakfast: sirloin wrap and yogurt. Sirloin wrap was 1.75 oz sirloin wrapped in a romaine lettuce leaf with garlic mustard and sugar free pickle relish. Yogurt was 1/2 container Chobani Simply 100 Pineapple Greek yogurt. Lunch: 2 Trader Joe's turkey meatballs nuked with a little garlic marinara, 3/4 cup broccoli florets oven roasted with garlic, pepper, salt, and shredded parmesan. Mid-afternoon snack: mochaccino protein shake made with 1/2 scoop Champion Whey Stack + 1 cup Carb Master milk Dinner: buffalo shrimp and roasted brussels sprouts. Buffalo shrimp was 3 large frozen shrimp, sauteed and then added to a sauce made of melted blue cheese and hot sauce. About 3/4 c. brussels sprouts. After dinner snacks: 2 tablespoons chili lime roasted garbanzo beans, 10 cherries. I did a fair amount of exercise yesterday so I ended up slightly over on carbs at 62. I count ALL carbs, not net carbs and I do add in carbs for my vitamins, calcium, etc. I track them all. Calories: 841, carbs: 62, protein: 105. If anyone wants to friend me on MFP, my username there is SibylDiane. PS: yes, my favorite food group is garlic. Well, maybe garlic and coffee are tied!

This is quite normal. This early out, your stomach is still numb and you won't be able to feel everything. It's why they recommend that you measure your portions out so as to not accidentally overeat. You also won't feel any restriction to speak of until you start eating solid foods. Everyone can eat a lot more of soft things like yogurt and pudding than you can of say, chicken breast. You're doing fine

I ditto Gamegirl. Once u start eating solids, ull fill up much faster. I could've probly ate an endless supply of pudding/yogurt when I was on full liquids. And ur 1 of the lucky ones to not feel hunger. Mine started on day 10 and I've been hungry ever since (4 mths). It take some people up to a year before they feel hunger. Lucky ducks...

Maybe try it in yogurt? I really don't know what else you could use. After my RNY I was still on Potassium and those pills are HUGE, so the DR put me on liquid Potassium!! YUK Did I just say YUK? Oh my goodness it was so bad that I stopped taking them!!

shedo82773. Thank you. I tried the yogurt and it is sooo much better and even has protein! I can't wait to get off all these medications.

I'm 17 days out from bypass. My surgeon's WOE is very strict so I just moved up to Clear Liquids, Protein drinks, plus yogurt 4 days ago. Incidentally I also have woken up with a headache every day since the diet changed. I'm getting in at least 64 oz of (clear) liquids. Since I can't take ibuprofen and it's got to be something I'm missing in my diet, anyone have any tips? I'm averaging 500 calories a day, 60 g protein.

(I accidentally posted this question to the wrong board--it should have been here, not in the complications board! Derp!) Hi guys. Can you help me brainstorm a medication "hack" please? I need to try to maximize the amount of time in my potential new "tummy." I know when we have RNY our "tummys" are MUCH smaller and we also have shorter duodenums. I'm taking an anti-cancer drug that is highly dissolvable/highly permeable (BCS Class 1) and is very quickly absorbed in the tummy and intestines, but it is a fat soluble drug rather than a Water absorbable drug. I know it isn't dependent on the pH environment for absorption. So my goal would be to get my drug to "hang out" in my stomach as long as possible. So to me, that would mean, I should probably take it with dense Protein, once I've healed to the point of being able to eat dense protein. But in the short term when I'm able to eat things like yogurt, ricotta, and cottage cheese, what do you think is the one food that I could "take a bite of" to get the pill swallowed that will stay in my pouch the longest amount of time (anti-slider food)--which is why I don't want to swallow the pill with water or other liquids? The drug I'm trying to max out on tummy time is letrozole (Femara) and is a tiny orange pill that is not enteric coated nor extended release.

Thank you! I forgot about those egg bites at Starbucks. At the Oakland airport now and just grabbed a Dannon Light and Fit yogurt and a cheese stick. Ho hum.

My surgery is scheduled for Monday morning -- Band to Bypass. I've had explosive diarrhea on the shakes -- both the whey Protein Shakes and the vegan shakes. The only Protein powder that doesn't seem to both my digestive system is Trader Joe's Pea Protein. I ran out of the TJ Pea Protein 3-days ago and started using the vegan protein powder (recommended by the dietician). For 3-days now, I've been feeling really sick -- upset stomach times ten. No fever or nausea -- it's not a virus. It's that something has disagreed with me in a major way. I feel exhausted and my head feels as though it's sitting in cotton -- I feel spacey. It's from having very little in my stomach -- just some Water and a little bit of plain yogurt today. Tomorrow I start the clear liquid diet. I've spoken to the dietician 3X since this started and she's not concerned. She feels if I go back on the TJ Pea Protein, I should be fine. The physician assistant says that as long as I don't have a virus, I'm good to go. I'm concerned. I don't have a virus -- I'm sure of that. But something is disagreeing with me big time and I'm wondering if it's all the protein? Has anyone else experienced this before? I'm hoping that things settle down when I go on the clear liquid diet tomorrow, but I would think the surgeon would want to see me and check me out given what's going on? Should I be concerned?

neenz, uh no I've never heard that and I have done just fine with being on nights, (I could never work days anyways since I HATE getting up early) you just find a way to make it work for you. Here's my meals: 6pm egg with salsa and some refried beans. 1030pm: either chicken and veggies or maybe some soup and almonds or a piece of ezikial bread toasted with almond butter. 5am: greek yogurt, strawberries and kashi. 9am: usually some fruit or beans again, although sometimes I do go for breakfast with my peeps, rarely, then I usually have some kind of egg. My drinks at work are a soy caramel triple shot machitto and lemon water. It's worked well for me: I am currently in a size 10 comfortable and medium scrubs, I can fit in the smalls but would like to lose another 15 or so lbs before I venture out in them. I started out in a really tight 16, I should have been in an 18 or probably 20 and my scrubs were xl's. Maybe my loss rate has been a bit slower than others but part of that is my choice since I do not think it is really healthy to drop loads so quickly, also I prefer to keep my band on the looser end of things, less risk of slippage etc, I don't think it's healthy when people say I ate 3 teensy bites and a french fry and then I was pb'ing, that's not a normal way to eat to sustain life in the long term (don't attack me everyone for saying that) I eat about 1/2cup at a time and I've lost just fine. Hope that helps!

I have to agree with Missy. Mine has gone up. I never was a person who stocked up on crap (I have never kept chips and little debbie in the house). I ate a lot of frozen meals that were loaded with calories and sodium. Now I cook using fresh meats and fresh veggies. Plus grocery prices have gone up since I was banded so where yogurt use to be 50 cent a cup down the yogurt I buy is a buck a cup. How banding effects your food budget is hard to figure out when food prices have gone up and I live in a city where prices were already high enough.

Yep that pain for me is gas pain and constipation.. It's lasted weeks for me and is very frustrating never mind uncomfortable.. Now I make sure I get all my water in , take a fiber powder 3 times a day in my water and yogurt and take duralax every night .. It's getting a little better now

It seems like I have a ton more pain today than I have yet had. I was banded LAST Thursday and thought by now I'd be back on my feet. I have been working all week and I have been tired and a little tender but nothing I couldn't handle. I don't get enough Fluid and I know I'm not getting enough protien. Yesterday was so crazy that I had 2 yogurts, a cup of coffee, and 1 bottle of Water all day! I had to do the "activity sponsor" thing at school last night and so my day began at 7am going to work and I got home at 10:15pm. It was definitely not in my best interest! Obviously food is not the only thing I can't say no to. My port site seems to be swelling and is very tender to the touch. I took off work early and just took some codine to try to knock it (and me) out. I'm assuming that I just overdid last night. I was so crazy all night that there were times that I forgot and bent over to grab something or walked a little too fast. I really don't want to have to drive the 6 hours to my surgeon because I over did when I shouldn't have. I'm going to put my feet up, take a rest, and hope that all is mending when I wake. Word to the wise, take it easy.....don't be an idiot like me. Steph

Hey Chelley, mary s here - I just saw your post...girl are you eating enough calories - yeah i know you can't put it in when you are having a day of pbing But your memu looked really teeny - it looked like 600 calories to me. Do you think you might not be eating enough - maybe your body is in that starvation mode and holding onto your weight? Also, it didn't look like enough Protein - i'm sure dr. miranda can address that better than me... do you like cottage cheese and milk - they are easy to eat and i like mixing yogurt with cottage cheese (approx 28grams of protein/1 cup) - it makes it more substantial. Best of all - good protein sources. Also fish and Beans are good protein sources - i cook black beans until really soft and the blend them - healthier refried beans and pretty easy to get down (though don't go crazy they are still thick). i know others have addressed the hair loss before and I'm sorry abbout that - i'm sure that sucks. I hope you get some good advice/relief with that. lastly my favorite protein shakes are EAS myoplex lite - they ae a bit higher in protein than slimfast and you can mix with milk or Water. The premixed ones are not as good so less convenient than slimfast - you need the blender but the choc and vanilla - killer and tropical flavors really good too. Take care, mary

I got banded by Dr. Benavides on friday dec 16. I'm on day 5 of the clear liquids. Oh my God. I'm so tired of broth and jello, yogurt. Do you have any suggestions??? help me.

Day 5 for me too, I was on clear liquids for day 1 only until my barium swallow and for part of day 2. Since them my routine has included: Optifast shake blended with fruit and yogurt for Breakfast mid morning - my soluble Vitamin and Iron lunch - either another Optifast shake or egg flip blended with fruit throughout the afternoon I fit in a glass of prune juice and a glass or two of V8 dinner - soup blended with skim milk, still working on pumpkin and leek, will make up some vege soup tomorrow, might make up some meat broth today to get some Protein into it. I'll also fit in a cup or two of coffee and plenty of Water - about 1 litre. Its taking a lot of work to get through that but I'm managing, MUCH tighter today though. I've just finished the shake I made at 7.30 am almost 3 and a half hours ago.

I just got my band so maybe my expectations are low, but I can't see me EVER being able to just eat 600 calories a day for the rest of my life. I'd rather lose slowly on something I can do FOREVER than live off yogurt. JMHO.

I just buy the yogurt I like, which is full fat. I have found calories take care of themselves for me with a lapband and lots of running.