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I would get your Iron checked as well. Anemia can be common in the early post-op stages.

I make my own Protein bars so I know what's in it.

I was not trying to insult you. You posted 250 calories and 9 grams of Protein and did not specify what it was for. If that is for a bought bar, I am sorry, but to me, those stats aren't great. Maybe a treat.

OMG people. dont get so defensive..... it is only a banana!!!! I am glad that it works for you but for me personally I would rather not have one... and this is what these boards are about... people's opinions. per my NUT, banana's are a no no and I am planning on doing what my NUT. says.

I debated even responding to you, but the point is that, it is a banana, so why did you feel the need to come on here, tell her how fattening bananas are when she was just sharing a recipe that she enjoys, and post incorrect nutritional information. This particular forum is for recipe sharing, not telling me if you think my recipe is bad or not. Like I said before, what you eat is up to you. Its not on your plan, and that is fine. Just don't go around preaching to other people what they should eat. I am pretty sure that she knew the information about bananas before you told her.

You look amazing, congratulations!

First of all, I know this is so cliche, but try not to stress about it. More stress=weight loss stall. I am 20 months post op and didn't reach goal until 18 months post op. I actually thought I was done losing with like you, less than 5 lbs left. I didn't lose for a couple of months, and all of a sudden I find myself losing again. I have actually dropped below goal by a few pounds and I have not changed anything I was doing.

I know you will roll your eyes at me, but just relax a little and I am sure it will happen!

Could some one tell me a Protein bar they use? I have read a lot of labels in the store and they all seem to have high carbs. Do u guys just eat 1/2 the bar. I was also thinking of making my own. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks

Tara

Sadly, most Protein bars are basically candy bars in disguise. Also, make sure to look at the Fiber count. I don't use protein bars, but I know the Quest ones are high in protein, but extremely high in fibre which changes the net carbs of the bar. Sorry NenaLinda, but that bar is not a good choice, too many calories and low in protein. Like Fluffy said, greek yogurt with fruit is actually a better option, more protein and complex carbs in the fruit...although not as portable as a bar.

Thanks so much for your responses! I am trying hard not to compare myself to some of you out there that are having amazing results. I am still very happy to be in this position and to be on this journey.

I know it is hard not to compare, but everyone is different. The more weight you have to lose, the faster you usually lose it, men lose faster, there are so many variables. I lost around 20-22 lbs I think in the first 4-5 weeks, and I think that is pretty average, so think as yourself above average. I was a slow loser, taking me 18 months to reach goal, but I made it, so don't be discouraged!

I would take a piece of ham, slice some onion. Then, down the middle of the ham, place onion, mozza, and some bottled pizza sauce. Roll up and sear in a non-stick frying pan (or microwave tell the cheese is melted. Tasted like pizza without all the fat. Good quick snack if you are craving the flavor.

You can make Chia seed pudding. I have only made vanilla, but you can make chocolate too! If you google it, you can find recipes. Mine is 1 cup almond milk (you can use any milk though), 2 TBSP chia seeds, vanilla extract and sweetener to taste (torani syrups, splenda, whatever you fancy), let set in the fridge (I usually leave mine overnight). The Chia seeds absorb the liquid and it becomes kind of like tapioca (the seeds still have a little texture though). Very filling snack!

PB2 is delicious! You can get plain or chocolate. You can add it to shakes (chocolate PB shake, mmm). You can also add to almost anything you want a Peanut Butter taste (greek yogurt, Protein pancakes, Protein ice cream, pudding).

I am mad at myself, I cheated & on the 5th day I still have 10 days left before my surgery grrrr. I'm so stupid.

I am 20 months post op, below goal, and have eaten stuff that is not good for me. Beating yourself is the worse thing to do. It gets you into that cycle of shame and guilt, eating more because you are upset, and then feeling even more guilty. Tomorrow is a new day and a chance to start fresh!

If we never had temptations, if we never made mistakes, we would not be human. It does not mean that is ok to eat whatever you want, but it does mean it is ok to forgive yourself and do better next time.

I

My guide says 4ozs 3 times a day, 60 grams of Protein, 64 ozs of liquid. I can only eat about 2-3 ozs at a time but within a couple of hours I am hungry. My doctor and nut say I need to eat only 3 times. Right now I am eating 4-5 times a day, getting my Protein down and usually under 800. I don't have a problem with anything even though I am still sticking to soft solids. Am I doing something wrong? I have lost 29 lbs in 5 Weeks.

You are doing amazing and it sounds like you are doing everything right! Think about the past, did you ever lose almost 30 lbs in 5 weeks before!

In the beginning, calories are very low, around the 500 a day mark. Most of the time it is very difficult to get calories in. As you get a little further out, it is usually between 600-800 calories in weight loss phase. As for carbs, in my honest opinion, I think it is a personal choice. For some people, eating low carbs (30 or less) works well for them. I did not count carbs. I did make changes that cut out simple carbs, so I rarely eat bread, rice, cereals, Pasta, and stuff like that. I will eat fruit, veggies, and complex carbs like oats. Find a balance that works for you. The sleeve is only a tool, so you do have to make changes to be successful, but you also have to do what works the best for you and your body. Did your surgeon give you any kind of post op guide or information??

SS, I think I would have to agree with your husband, the success you have realized simply doesn't happen without sacrifice. Maybe it didn't seem like a lot of work to you because you kept the goal in sight, rather than focusing on the day to day sacrifices you were making. But I bet you a dollar, if I were to have asked you 18 months ago how easy is this, you could have come up with several things you were sacrificing. Now, 20 months out you've become comfortable with your new way of life, and that is a good thing.

All in all I can say that everything is going pretty smooth for me. But I still need to put effort into learning to prepare proper portions(I still throw away a lot of food). I frustrate my wife with "thank you for considering me, but, I just can't eat that" or the occasional "Holy $h!z that plate could feed me for 3days". I'm still in the learning curve on how to make a variety of foods that dont all taste like dried out chicken breast.

I'm sure if you look back some of this will ring a bell. Give credit where it is due. You've come a long way.

I think you said you are 2 months post op?? You are early out and it takes such a long time to adjust and know what you can eat and how much. I still occasionally have over-eaten and the results are not pretty! And seasonings go a long way (the fight against the dried out chicken breast). Some things take a long time to be able to handle. I love pork chops but it took a long time to be able to eat them, they are really hard to digest (we always trim the fat off and bake or BBQ them). You will get there! I am still amazed some days how much restriction I still have...and...how much people really eat...yikes!! But, for the most part, you will get so used to it that it is just second nature and normal for you (PS. I never let my hubby dish out my food...I say "please, I will do it myself"...if there is too much on my plate, it is sometimes tempting to eat it)

Good luck on your journey. I have been a part of this board for a while, but only started posting more now that I feel like I might know a little something. There is lots of great information on here, as well as lots of uninformed information, so be careful what you read. You have to do what works best for you. I was lucky, I was self pay and went through a company that facilitates surgeries. They have regular support groups and I have met a lot of local people that have had the surgery as well. I hope that you have or can find something like that as well, it is a great resource. Because, let's face it, as supportive as our spouses can be, they do not understand what we have been through as an overweight person, and they do not understand what is like to have 80% of your stomach removed.

I'm going to pipe up here. My nutritionist WANTS me eating fruit! Until 3 months post op I could barely get out of bed and literally had to crawl there sometimes at night I was so exhausted. Spoke to my nutritionist at a 3 month follow up, told her what was going on and she said FRUIT! Now I eat 2 servings of fruit a day (a total of 1 cup of fruit) and I feel better. I notice if I got a few days without eating fruit I start to get sluggish again. Fruit is not a bad thing and this recipe is delicious as I'ce tried it several times.

That is great! I think it is all about finding balance. I have taken to approach of everything in moderation. I see so many people on here go to extremes with diet, and it is something you are not going to be able to maintain for the rest of your life. Like I mentioned on another post, I have NEVER tracked anything, no calories, no carbs, not even Protein. I am still losing a little 20 months post op. If I feel like a banana, I eat a banana...it isn't going to make me fat! I eat cherries, I eat apples with some Peanut Butter, and yes, I even eat things like potatoes...gasp! You have to change the way you look at food, and yes, you do have to change your diet, but you have to make it manageable.

Hooray for banana lovers everywhere!!

still not worth the carbs & sugars when you plug it into MFP....

It's everyone's personal choice what they eat. For you, it is not worth it, for her, it is a great treat!

Greek yogurt is really high in Protein and an unprocessed source as opposed to a Protein Bar. I am guessing that is why she suggested it. I eat a lot of greek yogurt sweetened with sugar free syrups and it is rich and creamy (not for everyone though).

I have tried a few Protein bars. The only ones I didn't mind were the Quest ones, and I warmed it up in the microwave. Just make sure your read them because a lot of them are just candy bars in disguise.

This sounds like something I am going to try. I had bacon over the weekend and ate a lot. Was really shocked when I seen the calorie count. It is so addicting. I see that you are below target weight. Great job!

Yeah, I can pack away a lot of bacon too if I want. That is why we only make it once in a while and I don't care how much of it I eat. And once cooked (as long as you don't fry it in its own fat), it is not AS bad as one would think. My lettuce wrap with 4 pieces might have had around 200-250 calories all together, at the most (4 slices bacon=170 calories, lettuce+tomato=almost nothing, 1 tbsp light miracle whip=30 cal, which I did not put a while TBSP on). So it is not that bad when you look at it!

Yes, I am below target. I actually never thought I would get to my target as my weight loss really slowed down. I actually did not reach goal until 18 months post op and the last 2 months I have been losing and have lost around 5 lbs, so it is true that you can continue to lose for the first 2 years! I am proof!

I want to hear more of this from you! This is fabulous, you have worked so hard to get to where you are today that we need to pat ourselves on the back and say good job. Did you try the size 2 life jacket on? Hope so, if not, try it on when you go back.

BTW: It is necessary to give yourself kudos so that your little one can learn to give herself kudos tooooooo!

I did not try it on, there were a whole bunch of other parents standing around and I was a little caught off guard!

And you are right, we really do need to give ourselves credit. I kept saying that I really didn't do anything and that I do not know why I have been successful, and my husband kept saying that I need to really stop that because I have made lots of changes. I have never counted calories, carbs or Protein, but I changed the way I eat and what I eat significantly. I feel like I eat a pretty normal diet now, but didn't recognize the change. When I was big, I always made it a point to not say anything about myself in front of my children. My mom always made fun of herself and put herself down, but turned around and told me I was beautiful. It doesn't really work that way, and I learned from my Mom how to run myself down. I vowed I would not do that to my children!

You had me till Miracle Whip. Ewwwwww

I wonder how turkey bacon would work.

oh, come on, its tasty! Or you could just have mayo. I am sure turkey bacon would be good too, but I am not into that stuff!

SS, This is great. I'm still only about 2 months out so I haven't had the opportunity to experience the self image differential yet.

What I can say is from your avi, you appear to be "model" thin. I look at at your collar bones, neck , & face and I can't even see that you were ever overweight.

You've really come a long way and it shows. I only hope that I'm nearly as successful as you.

Thank you very much.

OK, so I have seen commercials lately for mayo and it is all about a BLT. I love BLT's, but rarely eat them. I eat a lot of lettuce wraps, and decided, hey, wouldn't that make a great BLT. So I got a piece of iceberg lettuce, diced some tomatoes, spread a little low cal miracle whip on the lettuce and added 4 slices of bacon, and, TA-DA a BLT. All the taste without the bread. I cook my bacon in the oven on racks so the fat drips off and then drain on paper towel. One slice of bacon has 42 calories, 3 g of fat and 3 g a Protein.

PS, I am 20 months post op, not for the newly sleeved and not something to eat everyday, but boy oh boy, did it hit the spot!

I don't normally post NSV for myself, but I thought I would post this one today. Especially since I really struggle with recognizing myself and my weight loss and not seeing a fat person staring back at me in the mirror. Today helped me put in perspective that I really do see myself differently than the rest of the world.

I take my daughter to swimming lessons and have to be in the pool with her because she is not yet 3 years old and all the classes are parented. Today was life jacket day and I decided to put one one for my daughter as a good example. The first one I grabbed, the instructor said "Oh, I think that will be too big for you", so I grabbed another one and started to put it on, and she said to me in front of everyone else that I could probably even wear the size 2 life jackets (these are youth size life jackets!). I still wore the bigger one, but was shocked that someone thought I could wear something so small! The instructor is a young woman and I think she has a fabulous figure, and for her to look at me and suggest I need something smaller...I was blown away.

I'll second the syrups, and spices. I get the fat free "honey" yogurt (Oikos organic) and add the smallest pinch of Vietnamese cinnamon, and some Splenda. Tastes reasonably like cinnamon cheesecake. Salted Caramel SF Syrup also goes well in plain Greek yogurt.

Just like Protein, you can doctor this stuff up to taste reasonably like - anything. PB2 and Splenda whizzed into it will make something not completely different from the filling of a PB cookie.

OK, yummy. I am going to have to try a couple of these!

No I haven't tried unflavored Protein. and mmmmm I dont like greek yogurt or cottage cheese. Any ideas on what kind foods I can have that have Protein ???

Greek yogurt plain is gross, so I am not sure if that is why you are saying that you do not like it. I always sweeten it with sugar free syrups (torani) and splenda. Then it is thick and creamy and yummy! You can also use it to make shakes, just add a little milk, strawberries or whatever fruit you like, and splenda to sweeten.

Greek yogurt, has 16-18 grams of Protein per 3/4 cup in most brands. Have you tried unflavored protein mixed in Soup or anything like that?