Nan CC

Yogurt, cottage cheese and cream soups (as others have suggested) are all good at the pureed food stage, too!

I could not imagine pureed meat, and I'm not a fan of pureed vegetables. I made it through this stage with refried beans, egg salad and tuna salad, which I mashed up enough to not have chunks of egg or tuna. I added flavor to those with a little tiny bit of dijon mustard or pickle juice. I ate mashed sweet potato with cinnamon and some sugar free (ok, fake) maple pancake syrup. I ate applesauce. I also tried some pureed baby food fruits. I didn't find it difficult at all to have enough things to eat. Most bariatric cookbooks include recipes for this stage, too.

I'm a fan. It's a staple breakfast for me post VSG. I like it plain and I often eat it that way. Sometimes I sprinkle black pepper on it (weird, I know.) I like it with fruit, too---the pineapple with tajin sounds awesome so I'll have to try that, but my favorites are with strawberries, or with blueberries and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Yum.

My 3 week stall happened at 2 weeks. I was so discouraged! I lost 10 lbs in 2 weeks, then...crickets. But I found all kinds of information here about the infamous 3 week stall, which apparently can happen from 2 weeks to 4 or 5 weeks post op. It broke after 2 weeks and I have been steadily losing since, although it is slow. My surgeon said that since I didn't have a lot of weight to lose it would progress more slowly. I'm not thrilled with that, but as long as I'm losing (and honestly it seems effortless at this point), I'm happy.

Beautiful every step of the way! Congrats on such an accomplishment! Almost there!

I hear you. I also didn't need pain medication--I took liquid Tylenol once, and that was because I had a headache. The gas pain, though? It was awful. But my experience was that the 2nd day post op was the worst. There was less pain the next day, and by the 4th day post op it was mostly gone. Hang in there. You'll be feeling great soon!

I am 67 years old and just had VSG surgery on 1/24/24. I had a very easy recovery, I think. Obviously my incisions were tender and my left side hurt when I bent over. But other than that I felt pretty good. A little tired (after effects of anesthesia?) on a couple of days during the week after but a quick nap was the solution. I had no need for the pain medication I was sent home with. I took Tylenol once but it was for a headache. I am 6 1/2 weeks out and have lost 15 pounds. I had the "3 week stall" at 2 weeks and it lasted for 2 weeks but I am back to losing slowly. It appears I am going to be a slow loser, but I was that way before the surgery any time i tried to lose weight. I was (and am) most concerned with reducing my risk for diabetes, which is in my family medical history. I would also like to get off of blood pressure and cholesterol medication. I asked my doctor when I first went for my consultation if I was too old...he said "Absolutely not. My oldest VSG patient so far was 80 at the time of surgery." So I stopped worrying about age being a factor. And I feel great and have tons of energy. You'll do fine!!

Also, my surgery went well! I had the expected gas, which was no picnic. But after a couple days it was much better. I didn't need pain meds after the first day post op, although everyone is different. I haven't had any heartburn or nausea. I felt fine except for minor pain at the incision sites and soreness on my left side. I felt pretty good after about a week and still feel great!

Beforehand I was really worried about what it was going to be like in the weeks after the surgery because I couldn't imagine being so limited. I couldn't imagine not caring about what I ate. But actually, I found it easier than I thought it was going to be. At first I wasn't hungry at all so I didn't care whether or not I ate, and sipping liquids was just fine. Natural hunger returned during the pureed food stage for me (it's different for everyone.) And then it was more about getting 2 oz. of something to satisfy the hunger and (far) less about what it was I ate. I guess that is the result of the vertical sleeve gastrectomy reducing the appetite hormones. Here's what I ate: clear liquids are obviously pretty limiting but I did water, protein water (check Amazon-I couldn't find it in the store), flavored water (like Crystal Light) and jello. I didn't care about eating and wasn't hungry. For the full liquid portion, I continued with all of the above and added protein shakes, yogurt, cottage cheese, and milk. At the pureed stage, I couldn't bear the idea of pureeing up meat---so I stuck to all of the previous liquid and full liquid stuff and I added mashed sweet potato, refried beans (recipe in The Gastric Sleeve Cookbook by Sarah Kent but any will do), banana, applesauce. I wasn't into cooking veggies and pureeing them, so I actually had some baby food vegetables with a little salt added for adult tastes. I also made egg salad with olive oil mayo and a little bit of dijon mustard and Tony Chachere's. I finely flaked up tuna fish and made tuna salad with olive oil mayo and a little bit of pickle juice for flavor. I tolerated that very well. I'm on soft food now and I find I can eat just about anything (except seeds or nuts) as long as it's soft. If it isn't something soft, I am chewing it up really well. I thought I'd have a hard time with that--before surgery I couldn't imagine chewing that much. But I'm finding that my body instinctively does it as it seems to have learned my new stomach won't tolerate it unless I do. On the 15th I will progress to a regular diet. A long answer to your short question, but I was so anxious before surgery and I thought if you were too, some detailed information might be reassuring. You can do it!!

Not having surgery in April...I had it Jan 24th. But I'm in the Houston area. Magnolia. Where are you? Good Luck!!

I am 5 1/2 weeks post op and I think I am just beginning to get the sensation of being "full" back. It definitely feels different than before VSG; it's more of a pressure in the area where my chest and abdomen meet than a feeling of fullness where my larger stomach used to be. I also get hiccups. Weird, but common, so it seems.

OMG, I think I love you! Thank you so much for such a thoughtful and comprehensive reply. I'm taking a PPI twice a day. Maybe I need to eat 1/4 cup more often. I'm eating that much about 4 times a day and you've suggested 5-6. Your explanation about swelling and healing is super helpful. I'll try the Millie's broth. I'm about to move on to soft foods and maybe that will help, too. I'm encouraged to hear that even after stalls you can have big drops--I have been so worried that I did this and now I'm just going to lose a pound or so a month again. At that rate it will take me almost 4 years to lose the remaining 40 lbs! You can imagine why I'd be discouraged. It's good to know hunger will return to normal too. I realize I'll have to eat more frequent smaller meals. Thank you again for your supportive and reassuring post. ❤️

I need to rant a little! I have always struggled with excess weight in my adult life. Over the years I tried Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, my own thing, you name it. For the past 8 years I have been struggling to lose 50-60 lbs. It was extremely difficult for me to lose anything at all unless I severely limited calories - like 800, 900 per day - which I could only do with the help of prescription medicines. When I'd stop taking them the weight would come back despite that fact that I was rarely overeating, usually around 1500 calories per day. Over the years I gained and lost the same weight this way. I took Contrave, but it hyped me up so badly I couldn't stand it. I took Belviq, which worked well - I didn't care if I ate or not so it was easy to consume so few calories, but it was taken off the market. I used Qysmia, which also worked the same way. I lost 30 lbs, but I was paying out of pocket and couldn't afford it any more. One of my issues is that I lose weight VERY slowly, and it was frustrating to work so hard and lose a pound or 2 a month. After gaining all the weight back plus 10 more pounds in 2 years, I knew I could lose it again by getting back on Qysmia but I couldn't bear the thought of the "yoyo" again. I'm 67 and have diabetes and heart disease in my family, which I was afraid of developing if I didn't take and keep the weight off. I'm on blood pressure and cholesteroI meds already. I can't play with a yoyo any longer at this point in my life and so I began to consider sleeve gastrectomy. I researched and thought about it for a long time before finally having surgery 1/24/24. Yesterday it was 4 weeks since surgery. In the 1st 2 weeks I lost 10 lbs. While I hoped to lose more, this was a good result because before surgery it would have taken me about 6 months to lose 10 lbs. Victory!! Or so I thought. Since then, however, I haven't lost any weight. I've read about the 3 week stall, which I guess is what I am experiencing. I think I get it. And at the same time I am enormously frustrated and sometimes find myself thinking that I made this drastic and permanent change in my life only to have the same result - consuming very little calorically and the weight just not coming off. Except now I'm consuming even fewer calories (still on purees). And on top of that, I am hungry almost all day. After breakfast, I wait 15 minutes and start on water/fluids again. Fifteen minutes after that, I am hungry again. And yes, it's genuine hunger - with growling and an empty feeling. Eating 1/4 cup of food is not filling me up. I am getting usually around 70g of protein each day in what I'm eating and drinking, so it's not that. I had some wild expectations, I'll admit. My doctor gave me a goal weight that requires me to lose 50 lbs. (60 for a "stretch" goal). I (crazily) thought that it would take about 2 months to lose that much. I've since realized that with relatively little to lose it will go slower, but geez! For who knows what reason, I also thought I would hardly ever be hungry. Five days post op, natural hunger returned. I was mad! And surprised, but I relied on this forum and learned that hunger was still normal. I thought once I could actually eat something it would be more like "normal" hunger - like before surgery - when it was about time to eat. Instead I find that I am often just hungry all day (usually worse at night) and the amount I'm eating isn't enough. I eat the recommended 2 oz of food and I never feel full, but I stop because that is the recommended amount. The instructions I've been given have implied that this should be more than enough to fill me at this point and that I might not even be able to finish that much, but it hasn't been the case for me. In 30 minutes or so, it's like I didn't eat anything and I'm hungry again. Of course I realize that a lot of my problem is my unrealistic expectations. But sometimes I do feel frustrated that I did this drastic thing only to have nothing change - I still can't lost weight. Mostly, reason prevails and I know that sooner or later the weight has got to come off. Reason is reassuring for the mental issue I have here, but reason does nothing to help the hunger. Ok, rant over. Does anyone have experience like this? Very slow loss and constant hunger? Does the weight loss pick up? How long does the 3 week stall last? Does the hunger ever return to normal? Help!!

It appears I'm also experiencing a 3 week stall. At 2 weeks post op (surgery 1/24/24) I had lost 10 lbs. It's now 3 weeks post op and I'm still the same weight. I sure hope this stall doesn't last a month! I have been discouraged a bit, I think, because any time I've tried to lose weight in the past it has been agonizingly slow and not permanent. I had hoped that I'd lose faster after VSG and I found myself thinking this morning that I did this drastic and permanent thing just to have the same result I have always had - no weight loss for weeks at a time despite my best efforts. Reading about this "infamous" stall gives me a little hope, although I don't understand how I'm not losing weight when I'm consuming 500 calories a day or less, mostly protein and no fats/sugar. I appreciate the topic and the comments, and I'm hoping the stall breaks soon!

I'm currently almost 3 weeks post op and am on 2 oz servings of purees, but I don't know how many per day. I find that I'm not very hungry during the day but by around 7pm, I am hungry. By that time I've already had a "breakfast" puree and a "lunch" puree and will have "dinner" but after that, I am just hungry. Continuing to meet my fluid goals with water and Jello don't really do anything to help. I feel like I need more substance but I am unsure how many servings of 2 oz purees in a day I should be consuming.