Indymom

Every doc/nutritionist is different but I was told after surgery to avoid any pills larger than an aspirin for the first few months, but capsules/softgels were OK. My ulcerative colitis meds are capsules and I've been taking 8 per day starting 4 days post-op.

If you don't like the chewables, my nutritionist allows me to take a softgel multivitamin that I swallow (made by Nature Made). It's a complete multi that includes iron, so I also take my calcium separately from my multi (I take 2 multi a day and 1000 mg of calcium citrate - 500 in a.m. and 500 at bedtime - I take my one multi at lunch and one in evening).

I track my carbs because my food tracker calculates them along with everything else, but I don't stress over it too much. By default I'm not eating too many carbs (because there's not room for them after the protein and veggies!) but there are days when I am hitting 60-75 grams of carbs. In general I'm probably at 50 or below, though, which I am OK with. I have continued to steadily lose so I am not going to worry about it unless I stall.

2 lbs this week . . . slow & steady wins the race! I may not hit my goal, but as long as the scale keeps moving down and not up, I'm not complaining. Indymom ~ 263 SW . . . . . 190 CW . . . . . 175 GW . . . LBS to GOAL: 15 January 9 ~ 195 (-3 lbs) January 16 ~ 192 (-6 lbs) January 23 ~ 190 (-8 lbs)

I am 5'4" and started out at about 260-265. I wore a 24 pants and a 3x in shirts. I'm 5 1/2 months post-op and at about 192 lbs. I'm wearing a size 14-16 in pants (still women's sizes though, I tried on size 14 regular jeans today and WAY too tight!!) and shirts are L or XL. I'm hoping to be at about 150 lbs at goal and I hope that equates to about a size 8.

Christin, it is SO hard. I was miserable for the first 6-8 weeks . . . I had multiple crying breakdowns to my husband, and wondered if I had made a bad decision. I even did the "chew & spit" thing with a few bites of different food just to get a different taste/texture in my mouth.

How far out from surgery are you? I am almost 6 months out and typically I am between 800-1000 calories a day. I get at least 75 grams of protein, and I try to keep my carbs and fat below 50 grams.

I wanted to add to my post regarding "clean eating." I believe I read this in Cooking Light magazine (or somewhere similar) - but it had to do with shopping at the grocery store. The directive was to stay to the outside walls of the store for the majority of your shopping - think about your store, the outside walls have fruits/veggies, meats and seafood, and dairy. If you are getting the majority of your groceries from those areas you're avoiding TONS of processed, pre-packaged foods.

Please understand, I'm not condemning anyone or talking about 'cheating' in the normal sense (like not tracking my food very well and splurging on Christmas treats during the holidays, when I was 4 months out, and stalling for a month!). I am concerned when people are less than 4 weeks out and eating nachos or as the other poster said, popcorn. I think one of the best things about the sleeve is that truly, most foods aren't off limits once you are at a full, normal diet post-op. I like that if someone brings treats into work, I can have a bite or two without worrying about dumping or discomfort. Do I always eat those things? Nope. But I can if I want to. I just had to keep reminding myself when I was newly post-op and struggling with the blandness and monotony of the pureed/mushy foods diet - I would be able to eat normal things again, and enjoy many of the things I did pre-op (just in more appropriate quantities). I eat very little fast food anymore because it makes me feel icky and the fat/calories isn't worth it, but it's not truly "off-limits" to me, just not the best choice.

I'm not Lissa, but I'm almost 6 months and typically have about 4-6 oz per meal (depending on what I'm eating). I usually have about 3 oz of meat (chicken, beef, etc.), a very small salad or serving of veggies, and sometimes a small serving of carbs.

I agree with what you said for the most part, in particular the comments on fast food. I've found that when I've tried a cheeseburger from McD's (for example) in a pinch, it really didn't taste good nor did it settle well in my sleeve. Having to eat at a fast food place is just a reality for me because of the extent I travel for work, but I've started to develop some good choices at those places when in the past I wouldn't have done well at all. That said, even before I had my surgery we were very "clean" eaters. Very little processed food, minimal sweets (no candy, no sugary Cereal, etc.), lots of good fruits and vegetables, etc. However, one of the biggest reasons I had the sleeve (among many) was the fact that I wouldn't likely have issues with dumping. Do I eat sweets regularly? Nope, I didn't have much of a taste for them before surgery and still don't post-op. Do I sometimes want a few tortilla chips with my salsa rather than carrot sticks or celery? You bet your ass. Do I steal a handful of my daughter's Cheetos when I let her have a bag occasionally? Yep. I track my food and stay within my calorie/fat/protein guidelines 99% of the time, but every once in a while I do have a little splurge. I've continued to have good consistent weight loss (well, other than the horrific T-giving to Xmas stretch!!) and feel like I'm making very good choices in general.

Maybe I'm overstepping boundaries here or being a little too deep, but I always get concerned when I see newly post-op people talking about "cheating" on their food/meal plan. We've had major, invasive surgery, people - the term "cheating" to me makes me think of being on Weight Watchers and deciding to eat a medium pizza by myself with breadsticks and a 2-liter of Pepsi, and not count the points. "Cheating" after VSG surgery means the possibility of causing infection to the newly-made staple line, which is a good-sized healing incision inside your body. The same "cheating" can also cause leaks. If I can give a short piece of advice . . . . the first couple months just plain SUCK. Eating applesauce, refried Beans and string cheese every day for 2 months is terrible. I had more than one breakdown. However, I also kept reminding myself over and over again that these foods were needed, required even, to allow my body time to heal. Sorry if I've offended anyone, I just feel like sometimes people take this surgery too lightly from the standpoint of the healing that needs to take place both inside and outside the body before you can be 100%.

Make sure you're walking a bunch - that really helps with the gas. I didn't need to take anything for it but a lot of people say the Gas-X strips are extremely helpful.

My meal plan right after surgery (5 days out) was full liquids, so I was only supposed to have 2 oz of the "full liquids" 3 times daily (cottage cheese, soft cheese, applesauce, SF pudding, etc.). I was allowed to have SF popsicles and SF non-caffeinated beverages during the day and between meals.

I have had a few sips while eating (generally when I'm eating something spicy and need a cool-down). In most cases I don't feel like it helps my food go down - it actually feels unpleasant, like the liquids are sitting on top of whatever I just ate. So I'm not really inclined to want to drink while eating. My nutritionist doesn't care if I drink right up to the point that I begin eating, just advises to not drink during or 30 mins after.

I've been lucky in that I've not had any significant discomfort or intolerance at any stage. However, if you're having issues it could be too much too soon, or you're eating too fast. LIke the others said, take a step back for a day or two and see how it goes - once you try the mushies/purees again, make sure you are eating VERY slowly. That may help a lot.

There's a local store by me where I bought a lot of my protein, and they sell the Syntrax Nectar sampler packs for $14.95 (you get 11 packets and you can pick your flavors). The website is http://www.bjsbariatrics.com/. He sells a wide variety of things, thought I'd share it for those of you trying to find a protein you like!

You'll be surprised at how few people will really notice. If you have to go out with people soon after surgery (in the full liquids/mushies phases), just order some kind of Soup and stick to just the broth. French onion is a good one (even though it's got a lot of sodium) - if you can have the cheese it's good Protein, just try to avoid the crouton or order without. You can always make a comment that you had a late Breakfast or haven't been feeling well. What I often do is order an entree salad with grilled chicken (or just a side salad with a piece of grilled chicken) - eat most of the chicken which is usually my 3-4 oz portion of food . . . then take a few bites of the veggies, etc. then call it a day.

GREAT JOB!! I love NSVs related to my butt size!! We have an overstuffed chair in our living room and me and my husband (he's got a skinny, bony butt!) can now sit comfortably in it together and snuggle.

My really low-fat healthy buffalo chicken dip recipe has the plain greek yogurt in it (the fat-free). It's posted on the recipe forum if anyone is interested, but basically it's FF cream cheese, FF ranch (I just use my daughter's bolthouse yogurt ranch), FF greek yogurt, part-skim shredded mozz cheese, canned chicken breast, and frank's red hot. YUM!!! I did make my last batch with LF cream cheese instead of FF. I did a recipe builder on it and with LF cream cheese and the yogurt ranch dressing, it has about 100 calories, 5 grams of fat, less than 2 grams of carbs and 12.5 grams of Protein in a 1/4 cup serving. WOOT! It rocks with celery sticks or a few reduced fat wheat thins.

I had 4 days of clear liquids, 4 weeks of full liquids (my full liquids included cottage cheese, yogurt, applesauce, etc.). Then I had 4 weeks of purees/mushies (including canned tuna/chicken, soft cheeses, etc.). Then I progressed to normal soft foods for another month. My liquids target is 72 oz/day and Protein 75-90 grams/day.

My surgeon will do bloodwork to check my levels but he doesn't do it until a year after surgery (unless there's suspicion of any deficiencies or other issues).

Oh, if you're craving chicken wings post-op (during the purees/mushy phases, for example) check out the buffalo chicken dip recipe on this forum that I posted - it is seriously delicious, I have a pan of it in my fridge and often have a 1/4 cup of it with a few reduced-fat wheat thins as a snack that is pretty high in protein.

I have BW3 occasionally - they are higher in fat/calories than I would like on my food plan, but it's an OK splurge every once in a while. They are high in Protein, which is a plus. I would agree with the previous posters that a better choice might be to buy fresh wings and bake or grill them rather than eat them fried. Some of the bottled sauces may be a little high in carbs but otherwise probably not too bad. A lot of fried foods do make my stomach pretty upset (like onion rings, etc.) so I have avoided them for the most part. Not a bad problem to have given that most fried foods are really not friendly on a sleeve diet anyway!

My mushy stage included canned tuna and chicken, so I would make tuna or chicken salad with a bit of dill relish (check if this is OK with your nutritionist). Tuna in particular is packed with protein. I also ate greek yogurt, cottage cheese, and lots and lots of 2% cheese (again, this isn't always allowed in the mushy stage so check with your nutritionist or your food plan from your surgeon).