Swanton_Bomb

Ask your surgeon of course, but I was allowed blended bean and pea soups, cottage cheese, ricotta and greek yogurt.

So I sort of thought soup would be a good meal choice, and I chose a soup with mini chicken meatballs for protein, and I strained out the pasta. Dumb move. I guess it is sort of why you can't wat and drink at the same time. I got filled up far too fast, before I was satisfied and before I could consume enough protein. So I guess blended soups like split pea are probably a better choice. Oh well. I do love that Italian wedding soup though!

Quest Protein Chips aren't half bad, although I liked them more before surgery. Shrewd Food puffs are decent, but have more of a whey aftertaste. Moon Cheese is pretty good, the best of the "just cheese" snacks IMO.

You already look younger! Way to go!

You had major surgery a mere 2 days ago. Of course, you feel like you were hit by a truck, and the anesthesia really messes with you. You will get steadily better. I had a major turn on day 6 in regards to pain, and as each stage of my diet advanced I felt better. It is not easy, not by a long shot, but IMO, the benefits far outweigh the downsides.

Night one and two in the hospital I was given Dilaudid, then transitioned to Percoset the next morning. I left the hospital with Percoset and I needed it for night three, four and five, but I only needed it once a day, at night.

I never tasted evaporated milk but this was less nasty than Premier, Atkins or Muscle Milk, IMO.

Ensure and Boost are normally forbidden for us because of the carbs and sugar, but the new Ensure Max has 30 grams of protein and only 1 gram of sugar. The flavors are limited, only chocolate and mocha, but I have tried the mocha and it is more palatable than a lot of other shakes I have tried. It does contain caffeine, so depending on your plan you might not be able to have that one. It is a little thinner and has less of an aftertaste to me than the other shakes, and I like that I don't have to order it online because they have it in the pharmacy. I have really struggled with protein, the shakes make me gag, so this has been a godsend. I don't like it, but I can handle it a lot better than the others I have tried (omg, Atkins tastes like sour milk and saccharine). I add a tiny bit of bitter unsweetened cocoa powder to further temper the sweetness. If you are struggling with shakes, maybe give this one a try. It also is low fat, so it only has 150 calories, which is really good for that much protein. Incidentally, I noticed that it has calcium caseinate along with milk protein concentrate (a no-no for some surgeons but not mine), and I noticed that my Bariatric hot cocoa, which is also thin and palatable, has calcium caseinate as well. I have found casein protein, but I have heard it is thick and awful, but I can't find calcium caseinate as a powder, only as an ingredient in other products. If you hate thick drinks, you might like drinks with calcium caseinate as a main ingredient.

How could we not be getting fatter? I have been so conscious about food since having the surgery and it is just EVERYWHERE. I stopped in a pharmacy the other day and was overwhelmed. At least 1/3 of the store was candy and other crap food. Food advertising is constant and in your face. People are always bringing junk food into work, and every minor celebration involves food. It's so frustrating. I am a teacher and yesterday kids kept bringing me cookies, brownies, candy for the holidays and the sight and smells were killing me.

So far, what has been tougher than you thought it would be, and what has been easier? Hunger and resisting sweets has been easier than I thought it would be. I also had less pain and fatigue than I thought. What is harder than I thought is drinking water, not eating and drinking at the same time and getting enough protein. How about you?

I am also 5ft., and it is exceptionally hard to stay at a healthy weight at that height. We really can only handle small amounts of calories. This surgery is not easy. I am 6 weeks out and it has been tough, but I already feel like it is the best decision I've ever made. I had a really, really, really bad week, with something truly awful happening each day. Pre-surgery I would have consumed 3000-4000 calories on each one of those terrible days in an attempt to soothe myself. This time around I only had one of those days when I really wanted to cheat, and I couldn't really do any serious damage even if I tried. I wanted to overeat, but as soon as I started eating my dinner I realized I didn't want to overeat anymore. It has been extremely helpful for me and I hope it continues to do so.

7 days of post op clears is pretty strict. Packaged broth is pretty awful to me now, but the broth from wonton soup went down pretty easily, maybe try that?

I'm actually a little worried that I seem to be tolerating almost everything well. The only time I almost threw up was when I tried to switch from chewable vitamins to the big pills. Tonight (6 weeks out) I tried broiled shrimp, and while it filled me up quickly, it went down fine. I can only eat a tiny bit but most foods feel just fine, and I worry that I may be able to eat too many things too soon.

I felt that the cold feeling was excruciating during weeks 2-4 (I would get out from under the blankets and my teeth would chatter, my toes and fingers got numb in the grocery store dairy aisle), but now during 4-6 it seems to be less. I kind of hoped it would last until summer, but I hope this means my body is no longer going to fight my effort to lose fat.

I am not very far out, sleeved on 11/8, but I think that what you are feeling is normal. When people notice it opens you up to scrutiny and questions. For me, it also forces me to confront the uncomfortable reality of how big I am, and how I was even bigger.

The ground turkey sounds good, I think I have to go non traditional for breakfast. I might go back to cottage cheese after reading the suggestions. I only did it during the purée stage. Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

I don’t think I could tolerate it that soon, but steak is not an unhealthy food, it has tons of protein and if he is getting a doggie bag, he seems to be following the plan, no? He’s not taking down a buffet or eating even eating a piece of cake, just a piece of protein in a small portion. I think the “how” is a reasonable question, but not the “why”.

Eggs are good, but a pain to make on a weekday morning. I can't stomach a protein shake or yogurt that early in the day. I tried high protein oatmeal, but it is so filling that I can barely have any, and that just isn't enough protein. I have been doing a thin slice of Dave's Killer 21 grains and seeds bread (bread is ok on my plan) with a tablespoon of natural peanut butter. That goes down well, but it is only 7 grams of protein, leaving me a lot of make-up later in the day. So what do you eat for breakfast?

It might have been the fault of the celery, not the dip.

I have lost about 1/3 of the weight I need to lose and some people are starting to notice. Oddly enough, as desperate as I was for this sort of attention prior to weight loss, it makes me uncomfortable now. I am still so large and the compliments just remind me of how obese I am and how I was even fatter. I guess I never really wanted people to notice me losing, I just sort of wanted to be normal and unnoticed...not noticed for being obese, or for losing. It's weird.

Honestly, I tried to be a good little patient and do the same, but my tastes changed so drastically after surgery that it was a waste to have stocked up. The Atkins tastes like sour milk and straight old-school Sweet n Low now. I add decaf powder and bitter unsweetened cocoa to shakes to cut the taste or I think them with Fairlife milk. Ensure Max has been the most palatable to me post surgery. Premier is second best but has to be doctored a lot, I can't drink it straight.

Mix sugar-free pudding mix into plain yogurt. It gives it a cheesecake texture and you can control the amount of sweetness by adding small amounts. Smoosh up berries or other fruits and add to plain. My NUT told me foods had to have 10 grams of sugar or less, so I use Chobani Hint, they use a tiny amount of real sugar and fruit. It does have more sugar than something like Triple Zero, but I have remained in ketosis with it and it hasn't encouraged cravings. The artificially sweetened yogurt literally makes me want to vomit. I wonder if you could mix half plain and half artificially sweetened to create not-to-sweet, not-too-sour.

I haven't experimented with it because clearly it isn't a trustworthy company, plus also, if it sounds too good to be true, it is. If every other protein on the planet is vile and this one is practically undetectable, something is fishy. What concerns me is that they might start finding out about shady claims from more companies. Even Premier has less protein than advertised. Not much, but still, it is important when you are really dependant on every gram.

I am worried about this too. These days doctors pretty much refuse to give you narcotic pain relief except in very extreme circumstances, and Tylenol doesn't cut it for extreme pain. I had a terrible toothache and they refused to give me anything even knowing I had surgery and could not take NSAIDs. I was happy that I had leftover meds from my surgery (I really didn't need much for that) and took one when my tooth pain became unbearable.

I hate the artificially sweetened drinks too. Water was extremely hard for two weeks because it both hurt going down and tasted terrible. Now it tastes more normal but it still hurts a little going down. I am 5 weeks out and it is getting easier. Crystal Lite and other things with aspartame (Nutrasweet) taste slightly better to me than sucralose (Splenda) and stevia, which are positively nauseating now, but I still prefer plain water. Diet cranberry is not as bad as other artificially sweetened drinks because the cranberry flavor itself is bitter and offsets some of the ultra sweetness.