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my first time posting on this particular thread - it came highly recommended! this is my breakfast - a grilled peach topped with vanilla Greek yogurt and sprinkled with cinnamon (a food photographer I am not, obviously!). I love this dish in the summer during peach season, but I usually have it for dessert or a snack. But I woke up this morning wanting it for breakfast. So...here it is!

Question, i was sleeved 6/29 and am 5 days post getting up to about 70 grams protein/day now (2 mixed proteinshakes and 2 Greek yogurts) anyways my question is how long before you were sleeping comfortably at night and how long before you stood all the way upright? I’m not able to yet and have developed HORRIBLE sciatic/lower back pain on my right side from not being able to sleep like normal or walk like normal. HELP! The lower back pain is now making it harder for me to get around than just my incision. Any ideas or insight

... but not for the reasons you might think. I questioned whether I should make this post in the preop section or here, but since it's my first post on the forum, it might as well serve as an introduction as well. My apologies in advance for the verbosity, as I have a tendency to ramble. At age 54, I've been morbidly obese since I was a teen. I have no personal frame of reference as to what it means to be fit or eat healthily. Sure, there's the cognitive recognition of what those concepts are and what they should mean, but nothing in my own life experiences that are relatable. I'm 6'1" and at my heaviest weighed 410. Five years ago I was diagnosed with high blood pressure, which medication has fortunately kept under control. In June of 2019, when I weighed 385, I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. It was at this point, that I realized I actually needed to do something about losing weight beyond paying lip service. I've been feeling it more in my knees and ankles the last few years, and the notion that should I ever need a knee replacement or other major joint surgery, that I would likely be denied due to my weight wasn't an enticing prospect. I've made token efforts at points in my life to dieting and exercise, but nothing consistent; nothing that "stuck". So I spoke with my primary physician about bariatric surgery options and started down this road. After consultations and doing my own research, I decided on the sleeve gastrectomy. Over the several month "trial period" (not sure what the technical term is), meeting with dieticians, the surgeon, the psychologist, etc., my surgery was approved and scheduled for mid April of this year... well, you can guess what happened. Thanks to COVID-19 everything was put on hold. I freaked out a bit at that point. My work schedule is such that certain times of the year are no-go as far as being away for extended periods. What if my recovery takes longer than expected? What if due to the quarantine and stress eating (believe me, it's a thing), I gain weight again and they kick me out of the program? Having all this uncertainty on top of all the uncertainty going on in the world... being in a high-risk group for COVID, the business I work for having to completely retool how it does business, the financial market crash (at the time), the civil unrest in an election year, etc.,put my head in a not very happy place. I'm also stressed by the fact that I have no immediate support structure in the event things go wrong (either medically or if I slip with respect to eating habits). I have no family, no significant other, and I live alone. Under normal circumstances, I'm perfectly fine and dandy with all three of those things, but for the first time in my life, I'm faced with the prospect of not having support when I might need it. I've never head surgery in my life, outside of two colonoscopies, which all things considered, I've been blessed in that regard, but again I have no frame of reference of what to expect and what to do in the event things don't proceed as planned. I've avoided reading many of the threads here simply because I don't want to read about worst-case scenarios, as I know that my mind will tend to drift there, and I don't want the negatives of what *might* happen to dominate my thoughts right now. So back to the present... at the beginning of June things started to open back up in the state, at least as far as allowing elective surgeries to be back on the docket. I'm scheduled for surgery on July 13. The 14-day preop diet (which I started on June 29) that my hospital prescribes is more restrictive than many others. No meat in addition to no carbs or fats. It's a 1000-1150 calorie per day diet. As someone who normally would eat 3000-5000 calories per day, that's effectively a snack. So I'm in the middle of day 6... and everything is fine. And I have no idea why. I *SHOULD* be frothing at the mouth, hangry, threatening to eat the neighbor's cats, etc., but for some reason I'm not hungry at all, and this cognitively makes no sense to me based upon my "normal" eating habits. I've been actually eating less than 800 calories per day, not even up to the recommended 1000-1150 calories. Breakfast: protein shake (30g protein, 140-160 calories depending on brand) Morning snack: Yoplait light yogurt (90 calories) Lunch: 12-oz pouch of steamed vegetables with garlic and pepper (80-140 calories depending on what mix I use) Afternoon snack: apple slices (50-80 calories) Dinner: Another protein shake (140-160 calories) Evening snack: another yogurt (90 calories) I'll mix in sugar-free jello (5 calories) throughout the day or some celery sticks as needed, and if feeling peckish will do an extra pouch of steamed vegetables. What's freaking me out is why I'm not freaking out... if that makes any sense. It shouldn't be this easy, and I worrying that I ma be lulling myself into a false sense of security/complacency. Or is my brain somehow making this easier on me, as somewhere deep down in the depths of my subconscious I fundamentally realize that I *have* to make this work? I don't know; it's hard to convey. I was at 351 on Sunday prior to starting the diet (and yes, I pigged out on Saturday and Sunday knowing what was ahead) and am now down to 339 as of this morning, which is a good thing. Just trying to get a handle on why my brain is operating the way it is... At any rate, good to be aboard.

Hey Meow and everybody! Hard to believe I'm 18 days post-op now, it feels like longer! I'm still not getting quite enough protein or water, but I'm trying. It's easier now that I can have soft foods. I'm taking my vitamins and my calcium chews. I rarely feel hungry, and when I do, I'm quickly satisfied with a very small amount of food. What a revelation! Also I'm sleeping better (hubby says I have stopped snoring) and, strangely enough, I've stopped having hot flashes without going back on black cohosh etc. In fact, I'm kind of cold all the time! I feel a million percent better than I did that first two weeks. I still nap regularly but I'm not exhausted like I was. I walk the dog as often as I can. Working up to using my stationary bike again. I've been eating cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, scrambled eggs, cream of wheat, and applesauce. Tried some tuna, but even with mayo it still seemed too dry. Tonight hubs grilled me a chicken thigh on the grill, I ate half and it was delicious but half was PLENTY. I still drink a protein shake most days, or some milk with Chocolate PBFit in it. But after the liquid phase, I was pretty burnt out on protein drinks, so it's nice to cut back on those. I've had fresh blueberries in my yogurt and cream of wheat and that was fine as long as I chewed them thoroughly. I've also had watermelon several times and it was HEAVENLY. I can only eat about 1/2 cup but I enjoy the hell out of it. Pain almost completely gone. Occasionally one of the incisions is painful if there's some kind of pressure on it. I've lost 21.2 pounds total and some of my pants are looser. Yessss! ===TMI (pooping) starts here=== I pooped four days after surgery, and then six days after surgery, and then not again until today! Lucky for me, I didn't really feel uncomfortable until a few days ago. Been using about a teaspoon of Miralax in a drink every day but it didn't do much. Last night I took a Colace and that obviously helped. Might have to take them regularly until my system figures itself out again.

ovo-lacto should be fine. Vegan would be more of a challenge. I do eat meat, but maybe only twice a week. I get a lot of my protein from Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, eggs, protein shakes..

i Haven't been in here for a long time but wanted to respond to this post. Firstly, I am no angel in the eating department but have found that the more fat I eat, the more I fart and they stink. When I keep the fat in my day lower, it is 100% more controlled. Fat also has a tremendous effect on poo. It tends to pass right thru so the more fat you eat, the more runny and stinky the poo. Don't get me wrong. The poo smell is revolting but I find the better I eat, say with a lot of vegetables in the day, I'm in a much better position. I eat dairy but too much makes me extremely gassy. So if I want an ice cream or frozen yogurt, I'll follow the first spoon with a chaser of lactaid tablet!

Surgeons seem to have big differences in their recommended post-op diet. I was one week clear liquids, one week full liquids, one week purees, one week soft, then normal. I really enjoyed adding yogurt and cottage cheese at the puree stage. Egg drop soup is a good way to eat an egg before you get to the soft stage. Not a whole lot of high protein foods out there to choose from!

Update for me: I’m 14 days post op and finally graduated to full liquid. That means yogurts, pudding, blended soups, and shakes I can make myself. 7 more days and then mushies. The most exciting thing, however, was I just took my last shot. 2 weeks of shots 2x a day in the stomach was awful. I haven’t weighed myself. I know I’ve lost some, but I won’t weigh myself until my 1st post op next week. Trying not to obsess over #s which I know I will do. The last 2 weeks have been very hard. Finally started to be more regular, getting some strength up; and being able to eat a few more things is pretty awesome. My program seems to be one of the very strict ones, which I’m told is because the surgeon makes things smaller and tighter than others (I guess). And he uses what seems like a ton of preventative meds. On the good side - I’ve had very little pain. Constipation was OMG for the 1st week - like epically awful, but I’ve had no trouble drinking water, getting my 64+ oz in plus 75g protein so I’m thankful for that. I’ve started to get more burpy in the last few days - hoping that subsided at some point. But overall, I’m in so much better Spirits today then I was even a few days ago. For anyone else struggling; it gets better 7 more days until the next progress point

After 10 days post OP I went from liquids to puree. Liquids: shakes, sugar free or fat free versions of pudding, Jello, popsicles, Soup broth, gatorade, yogurt, milk. Puree: eggs, melted cheese or string cheese, mashed potatoes, bananas, peanut butter, applesauce, lean ground meats like turkey, and cooked carrots. Cheese and potatoes are not foods you want to plan to eat everyday in your future diet plan. The Puree stage is short so I had one string cheese stick everyday. I only had mashed potatoes once.

Just had surgery on June 29th... 1 day post op. Feeling a little discomfort. Drank 4 oz of protein shake! Then they brought me some broth and a yogurt ! I could barely drink the shake!!!! Aughhhh

Sometimes it is difficult to find foods you enjoy eating at this stage. Your changed taste buds & the texture of some purées make eating unpleasant. Some things are just plain disgusting. I ate a lot of soups during this stage with shakes - usually a 1/2 cup of soup & a shake each day - sipping slowly over the day. My doctor & dietician wasn’t concerned about minimum protein levels at this stage. That changed once I got into the soft food stage. Try to purée a poached chicken breast with chicken stock & gravy. I also puréed mince & vegetables (cooked for ages). Scrambled eggs, mashed boiled egg, very mushy rolled oats & yogurts also worked for me. Good luck.

Hi everyone! I hope that you all are staying safe and doing well. Since I'm taking some days off, I thought that I would catch up and touch base. I think I was among the last of the people whose surgery went as scheduled before everything shut down due the Coronavirus. What a different world we live in today. I do hope that those individuals who were scheduled in late March and in April had their surgeries re-scheduled -- don't give up! I'm here to tell you that it IS worth it in the end! I'm well on my journey to a transformed life and I would like to share my experiences to date. So far, I'm down 63 lbs. from when I started this journey and 70 lbs. from my highest weight. When I look in the mirror, sometimes I can hardly believe that I'm even doing this, but I am! My blood pressure has improved to near normal most days and my BMI has gone from 43 to 35. Also, I'm coming up on the halfway point of my journey! Because I see these questions asked often (and believe me, I had many of same questions myself), I will give my account from my personal experience. Pre-Op Following the instructions of your doctor does make a difference. I managed to lose about 20 pounds from October 2019 - March 2020 -- the more you lose, the better for your surgery. Strictly adhere to your 2 week liquid phrase and drink your water! Surgery My surgery was scheduled for March 17th and then it got pushed back to March 18th (I think my surgeon had scheduled a long weekend because he does his surgeries on Tuesdays). However because elective surgeries was due to be shut down during that week due to COVID-19, it was returned to the original date and my surgery was the first of the day. In addition to the by-pass, I had a hiatal hernia repair. The surgery took longer than normal because I was a bleeder (whatever that means) and scar tissue from when I had my gallbladder removed many years ago. But the Dr. and his team did their thing and it was a success. Post-ops was a bit disorientating and I was in a bit of discomfort, but by the time I was wheeled to my room, I was fully alert. What I didn't like: Not having anything to drink for 24 hours! That sucked. When I was able to drink, I could only have a few sips at a time. I had to do breathing exercises (in a little breathing tube thingy which was not a bad idea given COVID-19 was starting to get out there) and hours later, I got myself up and walked. I was determined to get up and walk! What you must do: You must get out of the bed and WALK! I stress that because when I had my gallbladder surgery, I stayed in the bed (it was done the old fashioned way where they hack you in 2 to get it out and I was in the hospital for a week) and did not get up until it was time for me to go home. Talk about the gas and the pain! Whew! I was not trying to feel all that again, so I got up and walked. Basically, post-op, I was fine and did well. 2 Weeks Post-op (Liquid/Strained food Phase) I didn't have much of an appetite and I did struggle getting in the protein. I mostly tried to get in the fluids first and foremost. My sis made me a LOT of ginger tea and that helped and I walked around the apartment and did a little walk outside. Soft Food Phase So for me, once I started eating food again -- my appetite came ROARING BACK! I mean roaring back and that caused some problems when I got into the regular food phase. I'm not a dairy person, so it was a struggle for me to eat eggs, cheese -- I just couldn't do the plain yogurt (yuck). I did manage to have some chili and beans, but I don't like beans either! Somehow, I got thru it though. Regular Food Phase You want to test drive your pouch? So here is what NOT to do: DO.NOT.OVEREAT. Because I wasn't one of those people who had to force themselves to eat due to a lack of appetite, I had to do a LOT of trial and error before my brain clicked. What I wish I had done: I asked my bari-nutritionist if I should get any special tools and she said no -- yet if I had to do it all over again, I would have purchased the bariatric plates and flatware. Even though I was using small plates, the servings were still not small enough -- typically out of prior habits -- and I would go to eat, then suddenly I felt food stuck in my throat and I wanted to throw up (but I couldn't). After that happened more than a few times, my brain finally got itself together and realized what was going on. I also was not used to leaving food on my plate -- like EVER. I was forcing myself to finish eating even though my body was giving me clear signals that I was DONE. Also, you learn very quickly which foods you can eat fine and others that you can't (Of course it's all of things that I like to eat...); those foods you have to eat in little portions. Suddenly I found myself (GASP!) throwing food in the trash! Who knew! Me! Being full and leaving fricking food on the plate and throwing it away! What!?!?!?! Yep, that's what Bari-by pass will do to you! Now I make smaller portions up front and I make sure that I eat the protein before I get full. I tend to eat only when I get hungry and when I'm full, I'm DONE. That is a big change from before when I kept right on eating and eating and eating and -- well, you get the drift. Continuing Challenge: Getting the water in. At best, I get 1 liter in/day. Between my heavy work load and knowing that I can't eat and drink at the same time anymore and I can only drink so much at one time! -- I have to choose on most days whether I'm concentrating on getting the water in or getting the protein in. That is a work in progress. I finally was able to get in a long walk today - 5 mi. I just have to go early in the morning to avoid the folk who don't wear masks, but it was great and I hope to re-start my walking routine (it will be a long moment before I return to a gym). So, if you have any questions, ask away!

my surgeon's office seems to semi-promote halo top, but I am thinking I will stay away since it gave me upset stomach before surgery, so I can't imagine it would go down well post-op. also, most of the flavors taste like crap, and it never really satisfied my ice cream craving anyway. that said, it seems like it the least of all evils if you are desperately craving ice cream and are far out enough. my nutritionist guidelines also recommended Yasso bars as early as second week post-op. They are frozen greek yogurt bars and have 6g of protein. I was able to find this at the grocery store, and I really like them.

I can eat the yogurt, cheese, applesauce, & mashed potatoes. I haven’t really ventured out with trying different foods yet. I made a mango sorbet yesterday with just chopped frozen mangos & a little splash of almond milk. I ate the entire thing, probably like 6oz. I’m getting tired of yogurt so I have to think of other things to make. I’m also vegetarian so I definitely have to think of foods to eat.

Your getting close to the end of the puree diet. Right now, check if these are OK: soft scrambled eggs, non-fat yogurt, banana, applesauce, string cheese, low-fat ricotta cheese, peanut butter, mashed potatoes. You'll be able to eat soft foods soon such as meatballs and chili. These can be prepared with turkey. I am on the soft food diet now. I'll admit I had a couple of small slices of homemade from scratch pizza. Crust was prepared with whole wheat flour. It was a special occasion (Father's Day) but I don't plan to have pizza more than once every three months. We're making fish, chicken noodle soup, beef barley soup, and stir fry beef and broccoli. This is a good time to reevaluate meal planning for your weight loss journey.

Ice tea, coffee, pickles, coleslaw, salad, fruit salad, deconstructed burgers/sandwiches, lettuce bun burgers/sandwiches yogurt, cottage cheese, chili, etc...

I like mixing oikos triple zero yogurt with PEScience protein powder and putting it in the freezer 30 minutes, mix it again (freeze more if you want it more ice cream like) and this gets you a nice amount of protein for low calories. I use half scoop but you could use one scoop and thin it with a little milk (I like using unsweetened ripple milk some use fair life) I like using either peanut butter banana yogurt or banana yogurt an peanut butter cookie protein powder. I use a little sola low carb granola. Skinny girl jelly and sugar free land o lakes whipped cream. The way I make it it’s 35 grams protein. 1oikos triple zero + 1 scoop would = 220 calories, 39 grams protein also Remember calculate your base protein 0.36 grams protein per 1lb body weight. Minimum. Unless you are exercising heavily that’s fine. I had gotten this interesting article about drinking water https://www.realsimple.com/health/drinking-too-much-water Also I’ve read fair life skim milk helps you stay hydrated with the added benefit of protein ... Link for PEScience http://rwrd.io/c6uus2e

@Starflower i am the same. I fought my carb and sugar addiction for so long and even that didn’t prove enough until I had gastric bypass surgery. So I am terrified of falling backwards. I was in hospital for surgery and they kept wanting to serve me carbs laden foods! I had a small bowl of oatmeal when I had no choice and it was the only soft food I could stomach. But for me I feel carbs fuel my metabolic disorders and the addiction as well. You need to listen to yourself. Nutrition doesn’t need to come from traditional carbs. ive allowed myself a little low carb granola on my yogurt, a manzano banana, sometimes a pear. There’s ways to get nutrition and not lose more weight without adding carbs. I can’t add much you got great answers but I do understand how you feel.

Here's the version that I'm really enjoying right now: 2/3 cup silken tofu (or 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt) 3 - 5 chipotles in adobo sauce, to taste 1 tbsp adobo sauce (from the jar of chipotles) 1/2 cup chunky red salsa 1 - 2 tbsp tahini or cashew butter, optional (for creaminess) 1/4 red onion, roughly chopped 2 cloves garlic, peeled 1/2 lime, juiced 1/2 tsp cumin 1/2 tsp ancho chili powder pinch of stevia, maple syrup, or other sweetener, to taste pinch of salt, optional black pepper to taste, optional Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until smooth-ish (start with 3 chipotles and add more as needed, to taste). Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. If the sauce is too thick, thin it out with more lime juice. If it’s too thin, add more silken tofu/yogurt. Great on tacos, burritos, bowls, casseroles, and over salads. Stores in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days. Makes about 2/3 cup.

Fairlife milk and 2 scoops of PB Fit . I only use 1 scoop of PB Fit but I think a serving is 2 ? Greek yogurt some brands have 15 grams of protein. Have you ever tried protein water ? Hope you are getting to move forward now with all that you have been through.

As noted, diets, pre- and post-op vary significantly. We were on purees and soft foods in the hospital, while others will have to wait some weeks for that. The prospect of the pureed lettuce that they served there kinda turned me off to the thought of pureed anything (lol) so, with the flexibility of our program, I never did, but just danced around the issue between the various liquids, mushies and soft things that we could eat. Yogurts, oatmeal, cream of wheat, puddings (made with protein powder) eggs and soft cheeses should do the trick. For specifics on what exactly is allowed for you, that's specific to your doctor's program and they should provide you with guidance as to what exactly they consider "pureed" and what they expect at this time.

My program is no fluids 10 minutes before meals and 30 minutes after and I can definitely tell if I drink too soon. It hurts and backs up on me. However, during the liquid stage I didn't have "meals" per se but fluid goals to meet, so I drank whatever went down that got me to my goals. Within 6 hours of surgery I could drink 1 ounce of protein fluid and 1 ounce of water, at the same time, every 15 minutes. I always took my meds with protein fluids to "coat" my stomach. Now in purees (started 2 weeks out), I follow 3 meals and 2 snacks with water all day between. Protein shake for breakfast and a lot of cottage cheese, greek yogurt, hummus, eggs, and pureed meats and pureed steamed veggies. I can eat way more volume than predicted in a sitting, though, and can drink 20 ounces of water in 45 minutes. I drink 70 to 90 ounces of water a day and get around 80 grams of protein. I have atypical GERD where it only flares with my asthma, but also mild gastritis so I'm on omeprazole for 3 months. I feel "hungry" a lot but often find that I am actually thirsty (or its head hunger and habit/boredom). I also bought some antacid chews and find 1-2 of those a day really cut down on the sharp feeling in my stomach. My doc says that the hunger and larger volume per meal will steadily decrease the more I move away from puree to soft to regular as solid food is more filling per volume. I've had a breakfast shake for years, so I will keep that to help with my protein goal but really hope to stop wanting to eat because I feel hungry soon. Plus it will be easier to make fewer separate meals when cooking for the family.

Are you taking a cooler? I'd probably go the yogurt/jello/pudding type route for beach food at 3 weeks out. You can buy those in small containers that you can easily throw in a cooler. Also, I see little single serve applesauce packs at the store - those would work if you don't have a cooler. Take some cheese or cottage cheese or a boiled egg for some protein - yogurt can also be good for that.

So I was sleeved exactly 2 weeks ago and many of the things I bought in preparation have gone untouched or I just dont like them anymore. You'll read that many peoples taste preferences change, that may not happen to you, but there is no point in buying a heap of stuff until you know you can tolerate it or like. There are of course a few staples that most people do ok with aside from a protein shake, a good quality bone broth would be next on my list for the first week or so. Yogurt is another, cottage cheese... then eggs as we progress... I skipped the whole jello/pudding fiasco since I'm not a fan of encouraging a sweet tooth (thats not to say it wont work for you.) Brisk walking was not a problem for me even 3 or 4 days out. Jogging on the other hand is not on the horizon for me anytime soon. I suspect this is going to be dictated more by the incisions rather than the sleeve since those are felt with any movement far more than your sleeve is. Biggest problem for me has been getting a good nights sleep, I have insomnia at the best of times and always sleep on my side. Some can do that very early on, for me I get a weird pulling sensation when on my side. Best of luck.

Bone broth, protein shakes, tuna fish, eggs, fat free greek yogurt.