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This has been a concern of mine as well. I don't have many business lunches, but I know when I do go out for lunch or dinner with friends, they can't seem to grasp the idea that I can't eat meat, (I've gotten around this by simply stating I'm vegetarian) and I eat a very small amount. I hate giving a 30 minute explanation to people in what I eat and why I do. I've also found it easier to just say I ate before I left home, or I have dinner waiting for me at home.

Has anyone gone vegan or vegetarian after surgery?

Just had the sleeve surgery done 6 days ago.. I've been vegetarian for 22 years without any problems with dairy. I've been using Premier Protein and am having the worst G.I. reaction to it ( like within 10 min of drinking it) Anyone else get the cha-chas from this brand? I'm going to see about switching to Syntrax nectar tomorrow with almond or soy milk. Oh.. I'm so afraid of being lactose intolerant. Any suggestions/advice is greatly appreciated!

you should always follow what YOUR doctor says. with that being said..EVERY doctor has a different plan! i'm a vegetarian and tried to do low carb at first, but i couldn't stick to it. now i just make good whole food-type decisions. yogurt (even the kind with sugar!), cheese, whole wheat Pasta, eggs, cottage cheese, lentil Soup, bran Cereal, milk, veggies, fruit, sf popsicles....those are the things i don't think i could live without. i was always a healthy eater, i just ate too much. my sleeve allows me to stop before i go crazy. i'm eating whole grain crackers with brie cheese right now!!! anyways. i think if i went with a low carb diet i might lose more...faster....but if i could live on a low carb diet i would have never needed the sleeve! i have lost 67 lbs in 4 months, and i have 45 to go. the last month has slowed down a lot. but i'm confident i will reach goal!

There are some quinoa recipes in the Regular Foods and the Vegetarian section of the Recipe Sharing section of this very forum. You can also use the search feature of the app or website to find more.

Look up the user BLERDgirl (you can use the search function). She is a vegetarian with strong vegan leanings, and she is making incredible progress on her weight goal.

I have tried everything - liquid, chews etc. I don't east gummy Vitamins because I am vegetarian and they have Gelatin in them but I see lots of people here use them. I use Centrum Chewables. I can't do it on an empty stomach but can tolerate it just fine after a few sips of coffee. I tried that Celebrate bariatric ones but they turned to powder too fast while still in my mouth and that made them torture. Good luck. Does your surgeon have any samples for you to try?

I totally concur! As someone who mostly stays away from animal protein, I always thought I got off pretty lucky in that department, but since surgery there has been a major change! I'm still vegetarian (almost fully vegan), but things are... different.

Sweetie, you can do it. Breathe. Take a moment and make a plan. If you've been okayed for Protein bars, you're going to do just fine. I couldn't tolerate the shakes, either (still can't). Suggestions from me: 1. Put 1/2 c. milk, a couple of tablespoons of dry milk powder, some sweetener of your choice, and flavoring of your choice (vanilla, cocoa powder for chocolate, sugar-free chocolate syrup, sugar-free syrup of any kind), and zap it in your blender or Magic Bullet with some ice. Instant and delicious shake higher in protein than regular milk. If you can tolerate eggs, get a pack of the egg-white egg substitute (in the dairy section) and put 1/4 c. of that in there--it's pasteurized, so no germs, and you won't taste it at all. Again, higher protein. You can put all of that in the blender and end up with about 1 c. of seriously protein packed yumminess, because you can flavor it to your liking, and no icky Protein Powder taste or smell (I SO understand what you mean about that--smells like feet!). 2. Get some unflavored protein powder and add to the above--careful, unflavored does not mean there's no flavor, so be prepared to experiment a bit until you find a combination of flavors that hides that protein powder taste/smell--orange extract and chocolate are great together, and they seem to cover it. You can also try the sugar-free raspberry syrup and chocolate or my favorite, coffee and chocolate, for a good combination that helps hide added ingredients. 3. Get some unjury chicken protein powder and add it to some chicken broth. If you're allowed, add a can of chicken meat and some seasonings (I like cilantro for this, but I like Tex-Mex flavors) and zap it in the blender/Magic Bullet and heat it up before you stir in the protein powder. 4. Experiment with Protein Bars. Get a few of different brands (LOTS of advice about them on this board) and experiment. Even if you taste two or three a day, you're picking up quite a bit of protein in the tasting. 5. Get some cheese, cottage cheese, whatever you like the flavor of, and keep it with you. Cheese will dissolve almost completely if you smush it around in your mouth--if you're allowed dairy and/or protein bars, seems like cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese would also all work. I think you can do it. If you absolutely don't want to use any kind of protein powder product, figure out ways to sneak "real food" into your shakes and soups--doubling up the milk powder or egg substitute or whatever. I really know where you're at--been there, too! At this point, most of my protein comes from dairy and nuts, as my sleeve is still really picky and hates eggs, beef, and most methods of cooking chicken. So I'm an unintentional "sleeve vegetarian," almost--sleevie does like shrimp, I have to say, and the occasional bite of hamburger meat in Wendy's chili (wink--another great source of protein, BTW!). Just get it going for now with the liquids/cheeses and see how you do. Your diet will advance soon, and the choices expand. I also ate Peanut Butter from the spoon when I was first sleeved--plus yogurt!! Best wishes--keep us posted!

I feel i have eaten really bad today, give me the reasons, tell me i have been bad need to be remotivated, i had a slice of fruit loaf for breckie, a muslie fruit bar for morning tea, a large large flavoured skinny latte afternoon break, dinner was a tablespoon of fish from my baked dinner last night,tablespoon of peanut paste, and two slices of thin vegetarian pizza minus the crust from dominos - you could see the grease on it, and 30 grams of nuts, now a skinny latte.:ohmy:

Thought it might be interesting to hear what others are eating... and get some ideas for myself Here's what I'm having today: Breakfast was an over-easy egg and cottage cheese Lunch- vegetarian chili Dinner- white fish and sweet potato ** I'm still on boring mushy foods for now haha! Happy Saturday Everyone!!

I've become mostly a vegetarian- not really by choice it just kind of turned out that way after I had surgery. I'm not a vegan, but I can completely understand that way of life. I do occasionally eat meat, but it's very rare that I do. I used to eat red meat a lot before surgery - I was so unhealthy! I'm going to try your receipt! I love it when people share their receipts because I can't think of new things sometimes

Hug's I hope you are at a healthy BMI and not underweight. 13 months out, It must be hard to go into maintenance diet when you have an aversion to meat. Food can be a challenge. Have you tried any bariatric recipes to mix things up? Are you drinking shakes to get protein in? Links to the vegan bariatric forum and the maintenance thread below. It may help with food ideas and to stop weight loss, https://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/1101-vegetarian-or-vegan-eating/ https://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/425802-the-maintenance-thread/?tab=comments#comment-4782396

Hello all: So it's day 24. I went back to work 2 weeks after surgery, I wish I had stayed out a couple more days, still had a little port pain. As of today I am down 24 lbs. I can eat anything that I ate before, so far. ( I am a fish eating vegetarian) I am reconizing the signs my body gives me when it's full. One more bite and it feels like I swallowed a shoe box. No vomitting or PBing. I just got done shoveling the sidewalk, a feat that would have left me gasping and feeling light headed, it was a breeze today. The people at work are saying something looks different, most say I look younger. Most of them are unaware of the surgery. Because everything I own has elastic it all fits loosely, but, no change of size yet. So far I LOVE MY BAND!!!!! I can also see it's a work in progress that requires work on my part. Meaning that the treats I love can come back to haunt me if I indulge. I bought some sugar free peanut butter cups and one is the last thing I eat (it's my little reward ). I'm still having trouble getting in all the protein and water, but, Rome wasn't built in a day. I am so thankful for this second chance, somehow I could justify cheating on any diet, because I felt so deprived, it's so different now, I have no desire to sabotage myself. I am going to have a fill soon (2 1/2 weeks). I can't wait for summer........I've started to look at bathing suits and do alittle dreaming, not that Sport's Illustrated is gonna call me anytime soon. It's just that now it's about fitting in......not standing out. Good luck to all.........may God bless .....Gabby

I had a similar issue. I was banded October 2007 and did really well the first two years. I learned to eat very healthy, even became a vegetarian, and exercised regularly. I had lost over a hundred pounds and went from a size 28 to 14! And was on the right path to reaching my goal. I didn't go back to school, instead I entered into (and ended) an unhealthy relationship and lost my routine. I still was a vegetarian but got into a very bad habit of eating slider foods and quick and easy junk foods. I also, turned to food again as an emotional support and quit exercising. I ended up gaining over 20 pounds and one size! To help get back on the right path I'm doing a couple of days of liquids then soft foods, per doctor's recommendations. And I started journaling my exercise and daily food intake again like I did when I was first starting this journey. I think the main points to remember in success is holding oneself responsable for what you eat, how much you exercise, and why you are eating. Having a routine/schedule helps me so much more! Maybe you should look back at what was working for you in the beggining and get back into doing that again. Good luck!

Ok... I'm a little stressed out, so I'm posting here to gather thoughts and maybe a little motivation. I was banded 8/20/08 and my weight loss process has been SLOW at best. I admit that I didn't do a lot of research into the surgery and when I had the surgery, I was preoccupied with a huge family crisis (child with brain cancer) and didn't spend a lot of time to focus on myself. I'm down about 60lbs, but I keep fluctuating, gaining, losing, until I finally hit another plateau... In comparison to others on this board, it doesn't seem like much! I feel like a total underachiever! My life is very stressful (chaotic is a better word) with a full time job, and school at night, plus a home life that sometimes, and especially now (also going through a messy breakup) and I feel like I've lost my support system. Every time I look at myself, I feel like I should have done more and what I've done isn't good enough. Maybe I'm having strange body issues? Everyone close to me always tells me how great I look, but I just don't feel it. I don't want to go down like this... so what do I do next? The pros of surgery is that I am a lot more physically active- I ran a 5k a few weeks ago, I now go on daily hour long walks and bike rides with my dogs, and I am now looking for an "activity" buddy that will want to go hiking with me. It's been a great change of pace! Also, I've been making healthier eating choices, and for ethical reasons, went vegetarian a few months ago... which was a hard decision to make, but I did so proudly. I was having some trouble getting in the right amount of Protein, so I recently started eating fish again and I still drink whey Protein shakes and eat eggs, cheese, etc. I do eat a lot of Beans, tofu, and oatmeal. Isn your opinion, is this detrimental to weight loss for a lap band patient? The icing on the cake is that I feel a lot of pressure from my surgeon, to the point that I get anxious whenever I go to see him, feeling like I have lost an unacceptable amount of weight. I know I shouldn't feel this way, but I do, and since I had my 3rd fill in November, I have avoided going back to see him like the plague. My restriction is still good. I believe he put me up to 8cc's (or maybe 6) last time I saw him. I'd really love to hear your honest thoughts, because right now, I'm having a really hard time seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, especially with my 1 year bandiversary being right around the corner!!

Your weight loss seems to be right on target, we are all going to lose at slightly varying rates, but you are in the right neighborhood. I have some friends who are vegetarian/vegan and find enough protien at the health food store to make it work for them, if your concerned your not hitting the protien goal or that your carb content is too high talk to someone at the health food store I'm sure they can point you in a good direction. Lastly, if you have been able to do this without getting a fill since November - YOU ARE DOING SPECTACULAR! It's unfortunate that you don't have a good relationship with your doctor, but it is also important that you continue getting fills until you find your sweet spot and then continuing to meet with your physician even after that as the Fluid in the band can sometimes slowly leak out over long periods of time, requiring a lifetime of care and fills from time to time. If your doctor isn't working for you perhaps you can find someone else who can do your followup care.