joatsaint

Here's what I lived on for several months. I like it A LOT! One of my favorite Mexican foods. I've been eating this stuff for about 4 weeks straight. I got all the ingredients at Walmart. It cost about $4 for 2 days worth of meals (4 - 6 meals in my case). It's very filling and sticks with me. 1 lb of chicken breast. 1 pkg of Taco Bell Taco seasoning. (I tried other name brand taco mixes and the store brands, Taco Bell tastes the best and is just as cheap. There is a Taco Bell chipolte version as well, but I liked the regular version the best. ) 1 can of gebhardt refried Beans w/fat. (I tried the non-fat version and I like the fat version better. It only has 2grams of fat per serving.) Salsa or Picante or Taco sauce to taste 1 pkg of your favorite shredded cheese. I grill the chicken breast and run it through my food processor. Mix the taco seasoning with about 1/2 cup of Water and mix it thoroughly. I mix it in my Protein shake shaker. Toss the chicken into a pot or pan and add the taco seasoning. Bring it up to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Mix the chicken and beans in a bowl. Add some salsa if it's too thick for your taste. Spoon some of the mixture into a bowl and top with cheese and salsa.

Sorry to hear you're having a tough time. I went through it too. I started hiccuping the day after surgery and stretched my staples. I was hurting for 5 days and then the pain started fading. I didn't take any meds, the liquid pain killer made me want to retch. :-P

I had to learn to get in enough fiber. I add a tablespoon of flaxseed to my meals if I can mix it into my Soup or refried Beans. Or I will just add it into the pot as I'm cooking. When I am desperate, I take Milk of Magnesia - 3 shots! ;-P

I was off for 9 days and needed every minute of it. :-) But I was in a lot of pain. I've seen people post that their recovery was so easy they were back at work in 3 days. So with no complications, it's normal to take between 3 days and 2 weeks off from work for recovery post-op.

Don't forget to subtract the indigestible carbs in the flaxseed. And I would switch over to one of the low carb premade shakes from Premier Protein or EAS carb control. They are pretty cheap at $1.25 to $1.75 each. at Sams Club or Wal-Mart. When I was doing the low-carb diet, I pretty much only ate beef, chicken, eggs, and cheese. It is way too easy over do it on the carbs eating anything else.

I prefer gebhardt - regular, I don't like the fat free version. .

I noticed I could start eating more at about 2 months, I went from eating 1 or 2 tablespoons every 15 minutes to eating 1/2 cup in 15 minutes. Then agian at month 9 I could eat 3/4 to 1 1/2 cups per meal depending on the density of the food.

I tried to get in enough fluids... that's it. I was in a lot of pain and just spent my time going from my chair to the bed. I didn't worry about eating or anything else.

This may sound silly, but to get past my anxiety about surgery (I had never had surgery before VSG or really ever visited a doctor) I pretended it wasn't going to happen. I guess you could call it the "Scarlet Ohara" method. Anytime I started to think about the surgery, I'd tell myself that I'd think that another day. Worked for me! :-)

At 5 weeks, my diet revolved around refried beans/salsa mixed browned turkey hamburger cooked with onions and beef bullion - boiled eggs and protein drinks. My diet is pretty boring. The upside is it doesn't encourage overeating. :-P

Here's a video I made discussing what I went through when I took the psy eval. It may ease your concerns.

Here's my youtube channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/Frankensleeve/videos I really enjoyed the videos both of you have put up. I wish I had started my videos from the start of my VSG journey, but I really didn't want any pictures, much less video of my old fat self. Then after surgery, it took months before I had the energy levels to do much more than motivate myself to go back and forth to work. So I'm kinda late on the whole vlogging thing. :-)

I only eat out once per week. I usually go to a buffet restaurant where I have lots of healthy choices, like Golden Corral. I usually eat a little of the following: steak, cauliflower, brussell sprouts, salad and I allow myself a little not so healthy stuff - a little square of meatloaf, 1 chicken strip or 1 piece of fried fish.

I subscribed to your channel, really like your videos. What model camera are you using? The video looks amazing.

I have never tried her recipes, but many recommend eggface's site: http://theworldaccor...reed-foods.html Here's the google search I used to find puree recipes: https://www.google.c....41.IyRvgdGtZOU During my puree stage, I basically ate cream of mushroom Soup or refried Beans with pureed turkey hamburger or pureed egg salad. But I was only able to eat a few ounces per day of any of it. I stick to what I know and I didn't want to go to a lot of trouble looking up recipes that I might not like.

I ate some once I was allowed full foods again (about week 4). I didn't have any problems with it. And I found the best jerky EVER! Oberto Bacon jerky :-P

I have no cravings post-op. I was amazed at the whole change in my thoughts about food. I still deal with wanting to eat when I'm bored, but it isn't a craving for any particular flavor. I can be just as satisfied with a boiled egg or my Beans and turkey meat combo as I would have been pre-op when I wanted a burger and fries. But you can eat sugar post-op. I don't think there is any food I can't eat - it did take months before my stomach stopped complaining about some foods like pineapple, but processed foods like Pasta and sugar went down with ease. So it's not that you can't have sugar, but that you will be eating so few calories that each food choice has to have as much nutrition in it as possible. And sugar is definitely an empty calorie.

Six weeks out I was down about 50 lbs. I was only eating cream of mushroom Soup - about 3/4 can a day and drinking my Protein shakes. I wasn't able to tolerate any other foods except sugar free popsicles and sugar free jell-o. I could nibble on boiled eggs, but it was less than a teaspoon full every once in a while. I had a 1/2 cup container filled with my egg salad mix and it took about 2 days to get it all down. I was deliriously happy I was eating so little.

VSGKirk, you are such a mantraitor! Hopping into bed with all those women! For Shame!

I would try shutting down your browser and reopening it. That may solve the problem.

I think there are 2 ways to close the chat room. 1. look for the little square in the lower right had corner of the brower and click on it to hide the chat room or 2. with the chat window open, click on the little gear in the upper right hand corner, uncheck the "keep room open"

I didn't eat out till week 8 or 10, but I eat out every Sat night now. I can pretty much tolerate any food, so I allow myself Sat nights as my cheat meal, then go back to my normal diet the rest of the week.

I don't mind being #2. :-P Surgery 12/27/2012 Down 95lbs (+ or - a pound depending on the day) 30 more lbs to go to goal. My energy is finally ramping up. The closer I get to goal, the more I want to exercise and eat right.