southernsoul

My NUT recommended both quinoa & farro....and thank goodness for that, since I love them both. Both are high in protein, low in gluten, and are much better for you than many other grain or rice choices.

I'm almost a month out, too, but I can promise you that my man is nowhere near as happy as your man must be! You go, girl!

I was on clears for 2 weeks postop & now I'm in the second week of fulls. I will be at 4 weeks this coming Wednesday & can officially move to purees. However, I'm allowed sugar free pudding on fulls, which is pretty thick, so I've been making some thinner purees already & haven't had any problems.

I can't stand the pre-made shakes. I've been making my own shakes with skim milk, greek yogurt, some instant espresso dissolved in a little warm water, & a scoop of vanilla protein powder. The powder doesn't taste so sweet with the other stuff cutting it & the coffee flavor keeps me happy first thing in the morning. I've also used unflavored protein powder a couple of times with skim milk & yogurt & a little Mio or Crystal Light mix & that gives me an even less sweet drink.

I was on clear liquids for 2 weeks post op & now I'm one week into 2 weeks on full liquids. Full liquids have been better because I can get a little creative with soups and stuff. Hang in there...it's just temporary!

I bought a cookbook called Eating Well After Weight loss Surgery by Patt Levine, plus a couple of paleo diet cookbooks that looked interesting. In addition to the websites listed above, I found one called Protein Pow that focuses on baked goods made with protein powder. High protein breads, cakes, and other yumminess? Yes, please! http://www.proteinpow.com/

NewMommy, this is definitely the place to obsess about all the aspects of our surgeries! My hubs is very supportive, but he definitely doesn't want to hear all my mental ramblings about my food & my incisions & whatever else grabs my focus at the moment. I don't have kids, and I'm not cooking for my hubs right now. I told him from the beginning that he was going to be on his own for the first few weeks until I could eat regular food again. He doesn't mind, and has been making changes to his diet, too, in order to eat healthier right along with me. I have never worried about getting a leak. The nurse at my surgeon's office told me leaks are caused by eating particles of food that are too big for the stage, or pushing ahead with foods I'm not ready for. She said the last time they had a patient who developed a leak, it was because she ate a couple of bites of chicken a few days out. I think as long as I stick with their plan, I should be fine. I have one more week to go on full liquids & then I'll move on to purees on Wed of next week. I have come up with some Soups that are working well for me on full liquids. I was missing meaty flavor really bad, so I figured out something that would work for me to add kind of a ham flavor to things like broccoli cheese Soup, cream of potato soup, & cream of asparagus soup. This may sound weird, but I bought those little cans of Armour Potted meat Product & blended it up with the cream soups, some chicken broth to thin it, and a few dashes of Tabasco. I sprinkle a couple of tsp of grated Parmesan on top & it's a really good soup. When it comes to mushies, I've heard a lot of folks struggle with eggs at first. I love eggs made in all kinds of ways, but I probably won't start off with them. Since I prefer my chicken salad and tuna salad to be smoother anyway (rather than chunky) I will probably start there. I also have a shrimp dip recipe I can make in the blender that will work for both purees and mushies.

My second week postop was SO much better than the first week. The addition of kefir (liquid yogurt) in my diet really helped to bring my diarrhea under control & everything in the whole world looked much better after that! My surgeon had me on 2 full weeks of clear liquids plus skim milk postop. It was definitely tough to go that long on just clear liquids, even with skim milk & the addition of kefir one week in. I was aware that many other docs do not require 2 weeks on clears, but I just figured this was my karmic payback for having a generous pre-op diet that was not just a bunch of shakes. Even though I had heard this might happen, I was still surprised to find myself never experiencing hunger...either physical or head hunger. A couple of times I was in a restaurant or somewhere else around yummy food, but I was barely tempted. The food looked good, smelled great...and still, I only had a tiny ripple of want, and then I forgot about it. Here's what else surprised me, though...the number of pre-op and post-op sleeve peeps who encouraged me to cheat on, or disregard, my surgeon's instructions! Granted, nobody was encouraging me to eat a cookie or something like that, but several folks encouraged me to have some yogurt, or a protein shake, or pudding. Even though I knew it it probably wouldn't hurt me to give in, I chose to stick to the plan as outlined by my surgeon. Maybe it's a small thing, but it seems to me that developing our self-discipline skills is a big part of this journey. I assume that my surgeon has chosen his post-op guidelines because he believes them to be the best way to ensure a successful start. Part of the information we learn on this & other WLS sites is just how much variation there is among surgeons, and their pre- and post-op plans. We know what other folks are being told by their doctors, and sometimes it might be easy to think, "Well, that person's doctor said it wasn't a problem, so why does my surgeon care? It won't really matter if I just....." I know that suggesting that someone have a yogurt is not the end of the world, but rationalization and justification are twin pathways on the slipperiest of slopes. I don't want to get started down that road. I will be the first to admit that my self-discipline skills can certainly use some work, but I am making the best effort I possible can to be successful on this journey.

Quinoa is awesome & I can't wait to have it again. Along the same lines, try farro. It's a very high protein, low gluten grain that my hubs & I both fell in love with. Same idea as quinoa or even rice...cook it in water or chicken or beef broth with whatever spices, herbs, veggies, cheese, etc you want. It can be served hot or cold. Yum!

I am only 49 & had to choose between getting the sleeve & having a double knee replacement. I knew that the longer I could hold off on the knees & the more weight I could lose beforehand, the better the outcome would be. I'm sorry I can't help reassure you about the anesthesia, but I know other folks have had surgeries post-VSG and have come out just fine. Good luck to you!

Wow...congrats!! That's awesome

Are these foods allowed so soon in the guidelines your surgeon gave you? If not, then I totally agree with WorkItOutWoman...just because you can doesn't mean you should. Even though there's a lot of variation among surgeons, I think it's important to follow the rules we are given for postop. If these foods are allowed & you are following the guidelines your surgeon gave you, then OK & more power to you.

Jeez, I'm 15 days out & I'm not allowed any of those things yet! I just got moved from Clear liquids to full liquids yesterday. If your doc allows those foods & you're doing well with it, why question it? There's nothing wrong with having no post-op problems.

That seems weird to me, too. My doc's office sells some vitamins & stuff, but we're not required to use the ones they sell. I'm only 15 days out & on the full liquid stage, but I'm adding Syntrax unflavored to stuff & using a couple of the Unjury powders.

I won't get to purees for 2 more weeks (I just started on full liquids yesterday), but I'm planning already. I miss vegetables right now, so I want to do veg purees like baked sweet potato, carrot, cauliflower "mashed potatoes", maybe butternut squash. My doc isn't worried about carbs from vegetables except for white potatoes and corn. I plan to mix in unflavored protein powder with most of them, plus butter or herbs or whatever seasonings hit me. If I keep the herbs whole while cooking, it's easier to fish them out later. I used to make a pea pesto from Giada de Laurentiis that I loved & I think would work if I thinned it a little & added some protein powder. I also thought of unsweetened pumpkin puree with vanilla protein powder & pumpkin pie spice. And chicken or tuna salad ingredients, pureed smooth, although I would miss the crackers. I guess I should stop now, haha.

I guess I was just completely lucky because I have told everybody...family, friends, my volunteer group, my (mostly young & skinny) classmates, put it on FB, etc. I have not heard one single negative comment from anybody, and I have received a TON of support & loving encouragement. Maybe there have been some negative comments behind my back, but I neither know nor care about that. If there HAD been anything negative directed to my face, I was prepared to do exactly as NtvTxn suggests...including following it up with a "Bless your heart". I'm so sorry you're having to deal with mean sucky people.

I'm only 2 weeks out, so I'm not sure I can offer you any advice. However, losing a job is hard for anybody, sleeve or no sleeve. It's a major blow & it's super frustrating when you have to take a job that is less than what you had. Life blows come along for everyone sooner or later. Sounds like your sleeve journey showed you some strength & determination you didn't know you had. That's not gone...it might be misplaced right at the moment, but it's not gone. It's still in you. Good luck!

Lucky you, being on soft foods! I'm 2 weeks out & was just moved from clears to full liquids today. I had grits for dinner & was able to consume a cup over about an hour. I won't move to purees for 2 more weeks, but I've heard that the denser the food, the less we can consume. Have you tried putting unflavored protein powder in thick purees? When I get to that stage, I have thought of trying sweet potato, carrot, cauliflower (sub for mashed potatoes), pumpkin, even applesauce with either vanilla or unflavored protein mixed in.

Congrats!!

Congrats! Mine was on June 19, so exactly 30 days before you. The next couple of weeks will fly by! Good luck!

Same as me, sleeved on the 19th & have 4 weeks of liquids. Two on clears, and 2 on fulls. My surgeon includes skim milk with clear liquids & ended up OK-ing me to add liquid yogurt since I was having some diarrhea problems. I go tomorrow for my 2 week check-up & I have this fantasy that they'll tell me I can skip right to puree, since I'm doing so well. Haha...probably not a chance in hell!

I have Aetna, and I used Dr. Paul Macik at Northside for my sleeve.

That's awesome weight loss, good for you! I'm in Athens, GA, about an hour outside of ATL. I go for my 2 week check tomorrow, and I'm feeling pretty good. I'm having trouble getting in enough plain water, but then again I'm still on clears, so everything I consume is water-based. I think plain or straight water isn't as important on clears for that reason.