fourmonthspreop

My program doesn't allow raw vegetables (no salads) until 5 months post op, no bread products for 6 months (but other carbs are okay), and no alcohol for a year. Curious to learn A)when did you start eating/drinking these things post op and how did you handle it? B)what advice your program gave you about them? C) experience with your first salad?

I did but then I started taking them close to a meal and if I take it after a meal, I eat a teaspoon of very strong tasting hummus with it to get the taste out of my mouth then wash and brush because they are that awful. But really, food seemed to do the trick. If I take it on an empty stomach, not fun.

Yes! I totally agree also! I think the chaffles taste so gross because of the yolk AND they're usually overcooked. Overcooked yolk= fishy taste. The whites just give it a neutral base so when you add other stuff to it you really only get the eggs texture but none of that funk. That's why I like this recipe in particular. No egg taste.

Not dense at all. If you can handle eggs then its prob fine, it's just egg whites and a tiny amount of cheese. 1 cup of egg whites, 3 tablespoons of shredded white cheddar, Finley diced cooked spinach (I do no more than 1/2 a cup), 1/4 cup cooked diced bell pepper. Salt and pepper to taste. Pour into a 12 count Mini doughnut pan and bake at 350 for 6-8 min depending on your oven. Let them cool completely if you want to slice them in half like a bagel. I'm eating another now for dinner lol they're small and tasty. This is a toddler plate for reference. I'm having some sautéed squash, carrot and onion in tomato sauce on the side. (I know weird food combo but I am trying to get through leftovers before I leave for a trip)!

Okay this is one of my fave post op meals so far. It's not pretty but if you love bagels, cream cheese and jelly it does the trick quite nicely. I make mini "bagels" from egg whites, cheddar. diced spinach and peppers. I cut one down the middle to make a lil Bagel. Spread a serving of fat free cream cheese and sugar free preserves. It tastes sooooo fricken good. 2 "bagels" are 180 calories without the spreads and 14 grams of protein. This is one "bagel" cut in half.

I'm glad you were able to get away from it! I understand. I'm hoping to move out of state in the next couple of months and really start my life up.

Trigger Warning: ..............................Yes. My dad is a food pusher. We have a very strained relationship now but growing up he would make 3 different dinners at once and have me eat a bit of all of it and then call me fat and bully me. He use to buy packs and packs of ramen noodles and hide them in my things like my desk/book bag/purse as I started becoming overweight as a child. I still can't eat ramen to this day because it brings me back to those moments. Hed tell me how ugly and fat I was but then push huge amounts of food on me. He's from a country where food is unstable and grew up incredibly poor so when he came to the US and saw how abundant food was he constantly buys food and cooks. He's a big reason why I had a bad relationship to food for so long/why im still working through it and why I still have self esteem issues. He's thin and in shape but has a serious problem with alcohol. I didn't tell him about my surgery because a) he wouldn't understand given a language barrier and he's treated me horribly over the years because I'm fat and the last thing I want is to hear those words but about my surgery. He's picked up on the fact that I had a weight loss procedure done. He tries to mend our relationship but still offers food because he doesn't know how else to show love. He offers me healthy stuff now but I simply just decline because I'm not ready to explain anything to him or become closer.

Yeah, it's not clear yet and it was a new guideline from my dietician post-op. She switched me to eating every 2 hours to avoid nausea. Initially, I tried to eat my meals just the 3 times a day and found I'd get sick at night. She thinks I need to take in less amount of food more frequently instead of more less frequently. It's worked so far, I'm not getting sick from eating but it's hard to get my water in too. The meals I have, I usually eat them in parts. Like I'll have half of it and then the other half later so I am taking in small amounts of food all day. They also want me to cool it on the protein shakes because they think it's causing my a lot of constipation. I started making my own because I couldn't do all the milk products so now I just have one a day and get the rest through food. I def think you're right though... I need to drink more water and hopefully, some of the painful movements will get better. Water is soooo difficult though but I'm determined. Still trying to figure out the right balance for me.

I had mine on Feb 14th so I'm 5 weeks and 3 days out. I felt pretty good about fluids and protein until like 2 weeks ago drinking water and feeling pain/restriction, especially when it's room temp. Using a straw and having ice water seems to help me get it down better. I actually gulp in a lot of air when I don't use a straw. Most teams tell you not to, even mine but I feel gas pain in my chest without the straw. I'm doing really well with protein though and get 70-80 grams a day through about 700-800 calories. Rarely do I get to 800 cals though. I noticed on days when I have eaten up to 800 cals I feel nauseated at night so I try to not go over 750. It's a small difference but weird enough I can really feel it. I eat 3 small meals a day, one snack and a protein shake. My dietician has me eat 2 oz of protein every 2 hours during the daytime. I'm taking vitamins well, no hair loss...yet? I do need to take nausea medicine in the morning because maybe 4 times a week I wake up with the instinct to dry heave. I don't know why but I've always felt nauseous in the mornings, even pre op. I find that I can either focus on food or water but not both. When I drink 64 oz of fluids, I eat less and miss my protein goal. When I reach my protein goal, I drink less fluids. I find that balance to be really difficult to deal with and get right. I wonder when that'll be easier? It's also tough with the 2-hour eating rule and then the 10 min before 30 after drinking rule. I'd basically always have to have food or fluid in my mouth all day which isn't realistic for me. I've lost 29 lbs in 5 weeks. I don't really feel it yet/still feel like a big out-of-shape lump LOL. I think I'll feel the weight loss when I hit the 240's. I have my one-month post-op tomorrow with my nurse practitioner. Looking forward to it. P.S. Is anyone still dealing with constipation and ROCK HARD stool? I am on prune juice, Metamucil, colace and occasional senna tea. I go almost every day but it's incredibly forced, usually bleeding occurs or I need to slap on a pair of gloves and take it out (I know TMI I'm sorry ) . I'm going to talk to my team about it tomorrow but I'm so done with it. It also causes me a great deal of nausea. Wondering if anyone else is dealing with this and what you're doing to make it better?

Any February 14th surgery twins? How are you doing now we're over a month post op? I get back to normal foods on March 28..also happens to be my birthday.

Spices usually go down easy. It might be different with VSG but I got the gastric bypass and still have my hot sauce and red pepper flakes.

Very true Thank you so much for your kind words. It's a bit difficult since my mom helped me pay for surgery and I live with my mom and brother at the moment so it's hard to hide We're also a close knit family so not many secrets get kept. I just realize how toxic their habits are and how they'd never be strong enough to ask for help. I pray that they do and will become better versions of themselves but im through not being able to change people. I'm losing weight quickly and making the right choices ultimately. I take my Psych meds and do regular therapy. I'm as close as I've ever felt to having a neutral relationship to food which is all I've ever strived for. It doesn't taunt me and I don't obsess over it. I'm hoping they just see how well I do and keep their mouths shut. Im moving out of this house in a month or two. I'll miss them but the distance will help me focus on myself 100% of the time.

Just posting another meal here, currently waiting 10 minutes to eat since I just had 8 oz of water. Shakshuka! It's one of my favorite breakfasts. I cooked the hell out of the vegetables since I'm on soft foods right now. Great way to utilize leftover marinara sauce too. I can't get through a whole jar and keep wasting it. My family eats this too but I just made it for me today since I'm home alone. If you eat both eggs you get 20 grams of protein! Not sure if I can manage both eggs so we'll see. Vegetables in here: yellow squash, onion, shredded carrots. Very spicy and flavorful...just what I need.

How many months post op are you? I like tteokbokki and use to make it a lot for my family. How do you tolerate it?

Thanks! I didn't realize how easy I have it with pureed foods. You really don't feel it (at least I dont)don't. I've since moved to soft foods. I eat about 700-800 cals a day right now and in between 70-80 grams of protein. I'm getting ready to go back to all foods (except raw vegetables, refined sugar and bread products) starting March 28th. Very excited! But tbh I feel pretty much like I'm eating normal food on soft foods with eggs, cooked vegetables, tofu, vegetarian Meatballs, marinara sauce, cheese and yogurts. So far so good.

Here's another vegetarian post op meal: 1.5 oz of cauliflower mac n cheese, 1.5 oz of beyond beef, 1 teaspoon sugar free ketchup and chipotle hot sauce on the Mac n cheese (I like spicy food). Total 3 oz of food about, 150 calories and 12 grams of protein, 2.5 grams of carbs. I know it looks super ugly lol but it tastes great! I actually had the burger patty leftover from a restaurant. I had to go to a work dinner and I didn't want to deal with telling people why I wasn't eating so I ordered a beyond burger and ate a quarter of it (just the patty) and told everyone I was Low carb LOL anyway, the patty lasted me 3 days worth of meals so I stretched my dollar far too!

Ugh that's terrible, I'm sorry [emoji20] I know what you mean though. My brother said to me the other day "wow, now I'm going to be the fat sibling" because I've always been bigger than him even though he's overweight but now I'm losing. I was just like "YEAH YOU WILL BE. TOO BAD". [emoji1787]

Woops I looked up the wrong term. Hanbok is traditional Korean dress. I am thinking the modernized version mixed with street style. Korean fashion tends to be baggier/oversized look **** hope to rock it completely one day!

This is odd because I feel like a lot of people prefer more showy clothes after losing weight but my weird NSV is that I can actually do the baggy look now and not look like it was my only option or I'm a big ball hahaha. I love the Korean Hanbok clothing style (google it) and am so excited to be down more lbs to REALLY rock it! Here's my first Hanbok inspired outfit.

I like that a lot. My family would be really surprised if I did. Maybe just enough for them to stop! I'm working on talking less about my surgery/eating/symptoms to them. I think it just doesn't go well about 40% of the time so I'm learning to keep it to myself and my friends who support me and cheer me on.

Anybody here had knee pain that got better after surgery? When that happens for me, it'll be a HUGE nsv. It's gotten a lot better 57 lbs later but still have pain when going up the stairs.

Thats great! I hope youve been able to work on eating behaviors with the. You could consider how important this is to you. Really visualize how weight loss surgery will help your life. Find a big reason and keep it in the forefront of your mind. It's not easy and takes will power but having a "because" can really push you along. It's not inherently bad that you've eaten certain foods but really you only know if you're being reckless through food. If the food is triggering for you and keeps you from sticking to a plan, it could be reckless. It's good you find better alternative food items but also think of alternatives that aren't related to food. My therapist always said put distance between you and food. I know your appointment isn't right away but it's coming up! Keep thinking about why you're doing this and put the work in to eat and live in a way that makes you a good candidate for bariatric surgery. The work is up to you at the end of the day. If you make a mistake get back on the horse. You have the rest of your life to enjoy all kinds of food in moderation. The time before your surgery and while you're healing after is a time to take a step back and relearn everything about nutrition and eating down to the core.

Have you tried counseling? I'm a big fan of it. It's got me through the journey and my bad eating patterns. I'm over a month post op and having that counseling allows you to see why you do something and what to do instead. My urges to overeat were greatly reduced pre op and now that I'm post op, I have no urges to overeat. I've been with my psychologist for 10 months now. She's the best! I still eat food I like (that I can tolerate and is part of my plan) and I don't believe in moralizing food. It's people's bad behavior around food that's an issue, not the food. Moderation is key and learning to eat more protein over carbs is a good idea pre op. An easy way to do that is having a daily protein and calorie goal so you can get the right food in and not overdo it. Don't beat yourself up for eating things that aren't right for you in the moment either. Part of successful weight loss is believing in yourself and not giving up or beating yourself down so much because of a mistake. I still have my moody days trust me but any good dietician will tell you progress, not perfection. Especially if eating is emotional for you. Just make sure you're honest with your team and set clear goals and boundaries with food and weight. They're there to help you. Build a treatment team if you feel like you don't have control over what you're eating. And im sure lots other who comment on this thread will have good advice! Welcome to the community.

Oh wow, I'm sorry to hear! I'm going to wait until June to try any Low carb tortillas or bread. I hear chicken can give people problems too. I'm a vegetarian so I haven't found my protein sources to cause any issues. I eat tofu, eggs, cheese, plant based burger meat, chickpea pasta and I'm 34 days post op about. I got really sick eating zuchinnni because they weren't cooked enough and I didn't chew the skins properly. I get being annoyed by the pain. I'm so scared of dumping. Will keep you posted.

I finally broke it! Down to 283 lbs. Thank goodness! 63 more lbs to go until I reach the goal zone.