Denise73

fROM WHAT i UNDERSTAND, SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO EAT A FEW HUNDRED MORE CALORIES FOR A BI TO BREAK YOUR STALL. SORRY FOR CAPS, TYPING IN DARK!

I am 13 months out from my VSG almost to the day. I have lost OVER 150lbs. I weighed 319 and now I am at about 165. Your doctor will tell you that because statistically that is true. Problem is many people have this surgery and do not change their life style that much. My recomendation is that at about 4 or 5 months if you really want to lose you need to start increasing your physical activity. I would not worry about stopping losing weight...I was panicked about that all year but i am STILL losing weight (another issue for another thread). The point is, dont worry...usually people lose for about a year. I would be shocked if you did not lose way more than what your doc said. ...I did.
Good luck!

I started with the band at 270, the day of my revision I was 263, my initial goal weight was 150lbs, and I hit goal in 6.5 months weighing 148lbs. I continued to lose for another 4 months and my body has settled at around 125lbs. My total loss with the sleeve alone is 138lbs in 10.5 months.

I lost all my weight and then some so the "norm" is not always the case. I followed the rules to get to goal quickly and wanted to worry about maintenance when I got there. I've been easily maintaining my current for over 6 months with the sleeve.

Is she taking a ppi? Many have excess acid that mimics hunger.

I'm a little over a year out and I eat all of my favorite foods, just in moderation. Bad feelings usually only come if I go overboard, or if I drink too soon after eating.

I struggle eating talapia, cod, and salmon. I can eat shrimp and tuna but not much of it. I also have a challenge with chicken even if it's baked or crocked potted. The grease from the chicken don't work and the texture/strands is hard for me. Chicken has to be a part of Soups or stews for me to be able to eat it. I can eat beef if it is ribs - no bbq AND if I eat it with ketchup, sauce, or mustard. Also, 1-2 eggs over medium works, but scrambled or poached eggs do not. Anything, absolutely anything that has fat or grease in, on, or around it, will make me sick.

I have noticed I don't crave sweet stuff anymore. What I do like is salty foods such as crackers & chips. Go figure.

We are into 8 months of hiccuping which signal time to stop eating. Love the reminder!

I'm 7 months out now and this started for me 2 months ago. It happens only if I eat just a bite or two too much. They're the most painful hiccups I've ever experienced!

I really hate that happening and so hope for a new leaf on life. to take what you already know and loved about cooking and making it healthier and delicious.
And then posting the recipes on here for us to get..
Please relook at cooking..Find new things to try and new ways of fixing them..Explore and become a master at this game of true healthy eating....
Take your time to shop and buy the best....you can do it so you won't get tired or bored.... Come on just keep swimming!

It depends on how far you are out from surgery. Initially, I wasn't able to eat more than 1/4 c. when I tried. Remember, just because you CAN eat it doesn't mean you SHOULD. If you are eating small cups of yogurt, use that as a measurement. Allow yourself time before you drink so the food doesn't just wash through you. You want yourself to be nourished from the food you eat.

You can check out the nutritional info here....
http://media.olivegarden.com/en_us/pdf/olive_garden_nutrition.pdf
But pretty sure all of their Soups have chunks in them. You could ask them to strain them for you, otherwise you'd have to carefully sip off the liquid part only.
Personally I diluted and strained every cream Soup I could find and added powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury unflavored Protein powder during my full liquid stage. I ran them through a blender during mushies.....cream of asparagus, cream of chicken, cream of shrimp, potato leek, Tomato, cream of mushroom, lobster bisque' wonton Soup broth, hot and sour broth, etc..... I never paid any attention to the fat content. You can eat so little at that stage, and our bodies still need fat for proper cell function and growth.

I was sleeved jan 7, 2006 and I've been through all the phases.. For me, I got a chicken Soup base that is made by mc cormick. It's a White container with a red lid. It's moist 1 spoon to 1 cup and added slices of avocado and used scissors to cut very thin pieces of green onion. Also I drank avant edge chocolate shakes over ice. They were good. When I could eat more substantially my favorite foods were Jerky, Protein and rather easy to digest and stringsters string cheese. Cottage cheese with pineapple juice adds a change or soft mandarin oranges from a can. one thing that is hard to realize is that these all will pass and your life will go back to normal. Watch protein and Biotin for a year. I did not and my hair fell out in clumps because of the lack of Vitamins etc they tell you to take. It was new back then and there wasn't as much information. I also started to eat whatever I wanted even drinking and eating at the same time but I paid for it for years with 30 min of a stomach ache. It took me forever to realize take a little wait 10 min and then take more because by the time u realize your stomach is hurting it's too late. The first 3 months is hard, just try to be creative with your foods most anything white will fill you up fast. oatmeal is nice when you are ready, juice from meat with grits??? Take one day at a time and revel in the fact that you will soon be feeling so proud to be in public and pick whatever clothes you want and whichever store you choose and don't forget to get some exercise. It sux but it's important to keep your muscle mass and that requires exercise and protein, eggs whatever it takes. As far as shakes though again Adant Edge silver container. They are good... Good luck you will be fine!!

Please don't chew food and spit it out, this is not a harmless practice . . . link to a post from Laura-Ven explaining the reasons you definitely don't want to do this!
http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/252757-chewing-food-and-spitting-it-out/

Not good, not good at all.... Please people don't do it, and please stop suggesting for other people to do it.
First, this behavior is the first steps of bulemia and getting into the habit of chewing food and spitting it out can lead to a very serious eating disorder. After WLS we are already dealing with changing the way we relate to food, so we want to instill good habits all along the way and avoid the bad ones as much as possible.
Second, there's a biological reason not to do this too. When you smell food and when it enters your mouth and you begin to chew, the body goes into Prep Mode to receive food. Your salivary glands produce saliva, your pancreas produces insulin, your liver produces gastric acid and your brain begins to calculate how much nutrition you're about to receive from the food you eat so it can keep track of it's daily needs/calories --- the body is a well tuned machine and it knows how to deal with food when it knows it's coming. But then you spit out the food. Your body still has excess saliva, insulin, gastric acid and it can't figure out why it didn't get the nutrition it thought it was going to get so the brain accountants go nuts.
Excess insulin in your body causes your appetite to increase so you'll eat more food to soak up all that extra hormone. Excess gastric acid in the stomach -- now released at the Y of your common channel -- can cause indigestion or heartburn or ulcers. And those brain accountants are now doing some creative math to recalculate the nutritional value of food because it thought it was going to get a certain number of calories, but none came, so next time you try to eat that same food the brain thinks you need twice as much to get the same nutrition as it thought it should have gotten last time.
So not only is the whole "chew and spit" habit a training ground for bulemia, it's also a way to tease your body into thinking it's getting food when it really isn't. Bulemia is a very serious illness and not something you want to play around with.
From the unknown sleever.

You are doing great. I don't know where you are seeing "all these posts" about people losing 60 lbs in 2 months, that sounds crazy to me. And you are right on track for the infamous "third week stall" after surgery - virtually everyone experiences it. Keep following your program and you will do fine.
Head hunger is when your mind is telling you that you want something but your body doesn't really need it. If you think you are hungry, ask yourself, would I be happy to eat some plain, skinless, roasted chicken breast right now? (or, a plain vanilla Protein shake/glass of milk?) -- if not, you are not really hungry. "Head hunger" is your mind telling you "I want a bagel" "I want some pizza" "I want a cookie" -- NOT - I am hungry, feed me something nutritious.
If you are not on a PPI such as Nexium or omeprazole, you may want to ask your doctor or surgeon about that. Many sleevers have stomach acid post-op and you will experience that as "hunger."

I would eat at McDonalds before surgery - not a lot (I'd prefer a good cheeseburger from a great bar here in town).
Now - I really don't want one. In fact, I was in a McDonalds this afternoon and the greasy smell made me a little sick to my stomach. I didn't order anything and to be quite honest, I didn't want anything.
I have found that those foods that I used to crave, want, binge on, just don't appeal to me anymore. I used to love bread - good crusty artisan bread. I rarely eat bread now and I don't miss it. The other night at Olive Garden I had 1/2 a breadstick....pre-surgery, I would eat 3-4 breadsticks plus all that Pasta. I used to love pizza - I know will eat the toppings and a couple of bites of the crust.
I think once I de-toxed my body, I realized all that I didn't want all that processed food anymore. I'm not saying I never eat carbs or bad stuff. I've been known to sneak a fry from my son's plate or a Dorito here and there, but for the most part, I don't want that stuff.
I know you're worried about what your diet will be like post-op....I did too. I mourned food. I had my food funerals. In reality, I didn't need to. Food just doesn't have it's clutches in me any more - I'm finally free.

Impressive!! But can I urge caution without being a wet blanket? I did the same thing pre op...but I froze them in ice cube trays in One ounce portions and then moved to ziplock bags. Now almost 8 months later I still have most of those cubes in my freezer bc my tastes changes so much. Plus I froze WAY more than I could eat during my purée phase even if my tastes didn't change.
So just don't get too far ahead of yourself! And don't spend too much $$ stockpiling. A little bit is plenty, you won't be feeling too bad for too long, especially by the time you are at purées!

Show-off time

tuna with yogurt in instead of FF mayo. Interesting. I just put FF mayo on my shopping list. I have tuna and low carb plain yogurt so I might just add the yogut to the tuna fish. Thanks for sharing. I just purchased a few cookbooks. I'm waiting for them to arrive. I'll share some ideas as well. All ideas help.

I didn't have pureed foods until 2 weeks post op. Then, I could eat 1/2 veggie sausage (or 1/2 oz) or 1 oz yogurt. It depended on the food density.

There are so many variables with different ages, weights, body size, doctors, etc. that it can boggle the mind. If you focus on what your doctor tells you, and listen to your body (such as burps post op signal hello, I am full, lol), then magically we all end up at the same place = weight loss! My husband and I eat differently, different foods and meal times. I would say I eat more than him, but he has lost more weight. Great journey, and good luck everyone!

Wow. I had only Clear Liquids at that immediately post-op stage.

Hello,
Thanks for your post. I have very very fine hair. So much so, barretts fall out my hair. For years I've been using all kinds of products to thicken my hair but everything I use doesn't work. The product sounds interesting. Do you know if this product is good for African Americans? Thanks in advance.