Day 13, First Meal, Not A Good Day

[VACookey 111]

So help me out here, what am I doing wrong? I had a Protein Shake for Breakfast (160 calories) and then had my doctor appointment where she cleared me for mushies. Ok fine, I go to the grocery store (I wanted everything!) but got a few things for today and tomorrow. I was hungry and thirsty when I got home, so I wanted something quick and easy so that I could hurry up and get to a point where I could drink again.

I make 2 TBSPs of canned chicken with a touch of olive oil mayo and 2 TBSPs of avocado. I figured that was pretty mushy and I even mushed it up a lot more. I spent an hour chewing little bites and didn't even finish all of it. You know why? Because it was sitting in my chest. I can't possibly eat any slower and I can't possibly take smaller bites. But if every meal is going to feel like this, I'd rather just go back to eating Soup every day.

Also, my meal was probably around 100 calories. By the end of today, I should consume about 520 calories. Are we really supposed to survive on that little bit of food? And how am I supposed to exercise and burn calories when I'm barely consuming any to begin with?

I feel like I'm doing something wrong or I'm thinking about this wrong but god, I just can't seem to shake the feeling that I made a huge mistake.

[Seannie 42]

Hey Debby - I have another 9 days to go before I get to the mushies phase - but what about trying to puree the chicken and avocado? I'm not certain, but isn't the mushie phase supposed to be more like the consistency of mashed potaotes? I bought one of those long handled blenders for pureeing food from Target ($17) in anticipation of the mushie phase.

Not sure about the calories piece of this - I think that as long as you get in enough Protein and Water, you should be okay with the exercise.

Seannie

[Ms skinniness 3,003]

Hey, you are doing great. It would be very helpful if you keep everything you eat moist. the dryness will make it bulk up in your throat and it feels weird. This will past with time. I'm always hungry when in the grocery store and that's my head hunger. I'm learning to deal with it now. So it's much easier for me.

[Joni 94]

I'm still preop but I was told in preop nutrition class that chicken can be one of the hardest things to get down. Postop, I will have to be on full liquids for 2 weeks, pureed for 2 weeks (like baby food stage 1 and 2), and then soft foods for 2 weeks before trying a regular diet. I don't know much but maybe you chose the wrong things to try and eat at first? Hope this might help. Hang in there!

[emily_0192010 168]

There is a chance that you just aren't ready for it. Your doctor may have said "yes" but your sleeve is saying "no".

Try a different Protein. chicken, even canned is one of the most difficult to handle. Try egg salad or something similar. Maybe wait another few days before you try meats. It is definitely a learning curve. If you do a search for "mushies" or "soft foods" you should be able to find many posts with various ideas. I kinda skipped this phase... I hated mushies so my surgeon said it was fine if I stuck to liquids an extra week, then I was able to eat very soft meat. My favorite (both taste and how well it went down) was slow cooked pork, especially dark meat, because it just fell apart and sat really well for me.

Good luck and take it easy!

[Amanda 3.0 140]

Canned chicken still is not my best friend, and I am three months out. And guess what? I cannot handle avocado AT ALL and I don't care if I never see another avocado. Before the sleeve I was really enjoying avocado.

You have to try different things, and you may have to try things at intervals. Like maybe canned chicken next month, but not this month.

Many people have a good experience with refried Beans. Those were heavenly first foods. You can add cheese as well. If you need to, you can thin them with chicken broth.

If you must have canned chicken, you may wish to break it up and add it to Soup. I like the Tomato basil bisque from costco (has Kirkland and Campbell's on the label) with my canned chicken.

[VACookey 111]

I'm not married to canned chicken. It just seemed the quickest and easiest at the time. So I'll try something different for dinner, something softer, maybe a scrambled egg or something. I'm just so disappointed that my first meal was such a disaster. And it didn't even taste that good. If every meal is like this, I'm going to learn to hate food pretty quickly. Maybe that's the whole point.

Thanks everyone. I'm just having a really bad, whining, crying hysterically, day.

[emily_0192010 168]

I'm not married to canned chicken. It just seemed the quickest and easiest at the time. So I'll try something different for dinner, something softer, maybe a scrambled egg or something. I'm just so disappointed that my first meal was such a disaster. And it didn't even taste that good. If every meal is like this, I'm going to learn to hate food pretty quickly. Maybe that's the whole point.

Thanks everyone. I'm just having a really bad, whining, crying hysterically, day.

Don't worry about it! It happens, and you are only 13 days out... I was still on full liquids at that point. May I suggest something for the egg? For some reason with me, the scrambled egg was difficult to get down but a fried egg (I say fried... I used spray oil and basic seasoning so nothing bad was added) went down pretty well. It was good for me because I could focus on eating the egg whites (where all the Protein is) without the thickness of the yolk. So maybe make one of each... and only expect to be able to eat 1/4 to 1/2 at this point!!! It was shocking to me.

You can do it

[kayte819 95]

((Hugs)) I was just like you. I couldn't eat anything really until about 5 weeks, I cried & thought I'd made a huge mistake. I threw up everything because it got stuck no matter how slow I ate or how long I chewed. I'm 7.5 weeks now & it is soooo much better!!

I don't know if you're a fish eater, but I eat a lot of fish. The easiest for me is ahi tuna. I go to costco & but the reddest, freshest they have then I season it & sear it on all sides so its very rare in the middle. It's so soft you hardly even have.to chew it & it has tons of Protein & if you like sushi it will def be something you'd like. I practically drown it in a low cal seseme ginger dressing & it's delish! I also.eat moist white.fish that you can bake or pan sear....it cooks really fast.

I've tried steak but it has to be really tender - like tenderloin & it cannot be anything over medium rare. eggs, ground beef & chicken are not my friends!! Refried Beans go down easy too. Give yourself time! 13 days was waaaay to early for me! I swear it will get better!!!!!

[MyVSG2012 15]

Moisture and a hand blender will be your best friends. You can try to puree the chicken with chicken broth to thin it out. I'm loving eggs scrambled with refried Beans, but the thought of eggs any other way make me want to gag. I used to love poached eggs, but I just can't stomach the idea right now. It gets better, I'm 18 days post op (omg already??). So far I can eat eggs, refried Beans, chili, Soups of all kinds, cottage cheese, and tried a bite of crabcake, flounder and roasted chicken from my husband's plate. So far the stolen bites went ok, but they were really small.

oh and the cottage cheese, I pureed it with the hand blender.

[VACookey 111]

Ok, here's the dinner: one small meatball with a touch of Tomato sauce and a few pieces of reduced fat shredded cheese, heated and Ninja'd (yes, I broke out the Ninja food processor). Plus I have a spinach and cheese stuffed mushroom, blended as well.

Oh so delicious and I think it's sitting ok.

[imanokie 3]

youre supposed to puree that canned chicken. with chicken broth and make it mushy. its not mushy enough out of the can.