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Yogurt and Chia parfait (blueberries hidden at the bottom)

Oh wow, French onion dip is my downfall. That sounds so delicious. I had some big reusable parfait cups in my cupboard with two sections to them, where you could do your yogurt and berries in the big section and then keep your granola or nuts in the other to keep them crisp until the last minute. I used 4 of these to portion out the blended container of cottage cheese dip into 4 servings with about 8oz of carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, red peppers, and tomatoes. Turns out that for an evening snack, I actually can only eat half. Which is fine. That gives me a week's worth of veg already prepped. Once the ranch dip is used up, I'm doing French onion! And I'm going to try those pepperoni chips. I also want to make some kale chips. Those are so tasty. I need an air fryer. I think I want to replace my toaster oven with one that has the air fryer built in, but I keep waffling on which brand to get.

Ohhhhh, totally gonna try this. I’ve made it with Greek yogurt but going to try this version. And with French onion soup mix also like @LisaCaryl. Yummy! If you guys like chip like things, if you take hormel turkey pepperoni and microwave them for like 1 to 1 1/2 min the microwave they get crunchy like chips and are salty. I eat a serving of them with tzatziki (cedars brand in only like 35 cal per serving) or now will try the cottage cheese dip. Gives you a salty chips and dip like snack and if you do the turkey pepperoni (I’ve used both turkey and regular and they taste the same once you microwave them) it’s only 70calories and 9 gm of protein for 17 “chips” . then you could still do some veg for healthier food but get another bump of protein in. 😉

I'll have to give this a try as well. When I have a sweet potato I usually get some Greek yogurt add some pepper and ranch seasoning. Never thought about blending cottage cheese.

I added it to my Subscribe and Save, so I won't get it for a few more days, but I can't wait to try them! In the meantime, I have a new obsession: whipped cottage cheese ranch dip! You take regular cottage cheese and put it in your food processor or blender and blend until it's super creamy, like a thick sour cream or almost a cream cheese. Add ranch seasoning powder (or probably any favorite dip seasoning) and eat with raw veg. I've made the dip with Greek yogurt before, but I like this even better. It doesn't have that yogurt taste so it feels more like "real" dip. I love that it has 14g protein when made with 1/2 c cottage cheese, compared to only 2g in a comparable amount of hummus. It also takes a long time to chew all the veg, so it makes a great snack in the evening, especially if you like something when watching TV.

The minimum liquid intake was 48oz, and now, a week later, they tell me to try to go for 64oz. lol But they say half the liquid can be from protein shake, the rest clear liquid. I tried yogurt and it’s ok, it’s hard to eat. It supposed to be 1-2 oz of “food.” I get full with 2 spoons of yogurt. I tried cheese today and that’s a no go. I feel like I’m going to choke. Cream of wheat has been good because it’s liquidy, but then it’s high in carbs, so idk if it’s worth eating lol I too could not sleep at the hospital. Every angle hurt, and the machines kept beeping, and the nurses kept coming in to check my sugar, blood pressure etc.

All programs are different. My program allows cream soups and other blended soups(fat free lower sodium) , strained and thinned out with water so that there are no chunks. I can also have yogurt not fruit or added stuff in it. Do not use the isopure unflavored. It tastes very flavored! And its gross. I can not mask the flavor at all with anything!!!! I cant wait for my follow up on Thursday, hopefully I get to move on to what my program calls “soft and mushy” foods

So I'm home! I'm 72.5kg (159lbs) this morning so I've made it halfway to my goal like a true @NickelChip twin. I'm home until Thursday when I fly off again but It's going to be a hectic few days ( and I don't even want to think of all the laundry I have to do!). Thats means that in the last ten days since I was home I lost 1.7kg or 3.74lbs which is less bad than I thought. @NickelChip The travelling is hard, I'm usually in hotels with client meetings and lunch and dinners most evenings - I tend to tell them I'm intermittent fasting so manage to skip one meal. I'm not against eating in my room in the evening but do prefer to be out because I just hate the amount of time I spend shut in hotel rooms and prefer to profit from the ambiance of wherever I'm staying. It's just such a massive change for me because I've always been a social butterfly out and about where ever I go ... I went to an international school ( well multiple international schools - I was an "Expat Brat / Third culture Kid") growing up so tend to have acquaintance to visit most places too, or have a random packet to give someones cousin/friend/old neighbor and food and alcohol have always played in a big part in that for me. Eating alone inside isn't really my thing. I've actually got an airbnb for Athens because it's a longer stay so should be able to cook in the kitchen there, and I reckon there will be better salads, but it's a good idea to keep a tub of hummus and crudités in the fridge, I'm not a great fan of yogurt berry combos, but might try... I have perfected my smile and head tilt for when people I meet say "oh my god thats so lucky you get to travel so much" 🙂 @gracesmommy2 I'm not a fan of chips but could go for edamame! I come from a family of tall thin women with massive boobs - I'm the shortest ( and fattest) by quite a bit, I'm 5 ft 6 and my sisters, aunts etc are between 5ft8 and 6ft and probably have BMI's round 20.... So even when I was skinny I've always had massive boobs, I was a already a double F at 14 when I was 110lbs. When I was up at 200lbs and over they got to ridiculous proportions and I'd have deep dents on my shoulders from my bra straps digging in the whole time. I'm happy they're getting a bit smaller but hope I don't loose too much and that they don't head too far south .. but if they do ..that's what good bras are for. That said I am lucky because they've never caused back pain! Do take pictures if you feel up to it - they are good to look back at to see progress, you too @LisaCaryl ... I'm sure one day you'll like to look back at them! @Briss72 @Noelle74 @Eighmmie How are you getting on?

Today marks 1 month since my surgery. Little back history for me, my start weight in March during diet for surgery: 280#. My surgery day: 269#. Today, I'm at 256#. I started and am currently still at at class 3 obesity. Posting before and after pictures. I read and hear so many positive stories on how others lost 30+ pounds their first month. I should be happy with the fact I am losing weight but super slowly. I'm considered a "slow loser" apparently. I'm down 13 pounds in 1 month. I go 5-6 days plateaued same weight before I drop another pound. It's quite annoying. I've been drinking/drinking protein shakes, yogurt, cottage cheese and when I'm not working, I drink between 64-96 oz of water. When I'm working (I work as a warehouse worker and does get to heavy lifting at times), I can hardly down 16 oz of water. When I work, I get excited thinking, "I'm burning so many calories, I'm bound to finally lose that pound!" Just to be disappointed. I weigh daily, I have a separate nutritionist outside of the place I got my surgery as the nutritionist there hasn't helped much, doesn't respond or pay much attention when I try talking to them. So, I found a different one. I tried not weighing in each day, went a week, only to still be disappointed with the same weight. I do occasionally lick unhealthy items or chew and spit out just to get some flavor again. It's not often. Something different about me is I have a lot of muscle naturally. I also have PCOS. I've read PCOS can stall weight loss. I do for sure see changes in my stomach, not so much in my face or my arms...but why can't I be happy about this? Is this like a depression thing others have gone through? I'd love some others opinions, stories, how you're feeling right now.

I have found a love for PB2 and chocolate PB2 in my Greek yogurt thanks to @NickelChip. It’s wonderful when I “need” a dessert! Oh and @RonHall908 again you look awesome! Keep up the great work!

Yes exactly this. This is so very tiring. Your brain is going a mile a minute and must be burning so many calories. I get B12 shots every 3 months at my doctors. If you have bariatric surgery here it seems to be the norm. These are like liquid energy and I don't need to check my calendar when they are due for renewal. The last two weeks are hell, I drag myself around. I had similar issues to you in my first year. I really struggled to eat and my calories were so low. I tired easily too. My team and I decided that it would be best for me to eat tiny meals, 6 times a day. My menu would be, meal 1, protein yogurt 2, homemade lentil and veg soup 3, scrambled egg 4, Fish in a sauce 5, Some jerky or cheese 6, a latte or some watermelon. This, in my mind gave me everything, I nutritionally needed but my calories were about 500 a day. I started to do full fat everything and upped my calories to 800 slowly. You will feel regret, its a lot to deal with. Every week gets easier. Once you master drinking enough you will leap forward.

It does sound amazing, I may try to make one this weekend. I use PBfit chocolate every time I eat greek yogurt. Surprised I haven't burned out on it yet.

Sorry, I realized that probably didn't come across as well meaning as I intended. Now I don't have a big craving for sugar. If I do I just add monk fruit sweetener to Greek yogurt. I had a keto sugar free cheesecake recipe that used monk fruit sweetener. Also used almond flour for the crust. I'm not the best baker, but It was pretty good. I thought about making one and putting PBfit chocolate in it to make a PB chocolate cheesecake. 😃

Its frustrating as i dont eat that much during day, i have a slim fast bar for breakfast & a coffee, protein shake for lunch & usually some grapes or strawberries, dinner is usually a calorie controlled ready meal or meat or chicken. Followed by a fat free yogurt x

Love the term onederland 😂 @NickelChip @BlueParis don’t get discouraged, you’re so much smaller than a lot of us and I would expect it to take longer or for you to have more prolonged stalls than when you weighed more. I know it can be frustrating but you’re doing great! 😘 Weightloss always slows way down when you’re closer to a “normal” weight. Whatever that may be. Oh and WTG on the no drinking! Maybe you can try high protein snacks like quest protein chips or roasted edamame to up your protein? @RonHall908 you look great! hope ev1 is still doing well, I can’t stop myself from weighing everyday, even when I try not too, I end up on the scale anyway. But that’s ok, I go up and down also but I know intellectually that it’s most likely water weight. I stop losing or gain briefly every time I do any exercise and I’m pretty sure it’s water weight. I also agree with @NickelChip that I do think the “stalls” are often related to not enough calories ( also over carbing it, I don’t really exercise much and have PCOS so I don’t metabolize carbs well and try to avoid simple carbs as much as possible) Your body going into starvation mode is truly a real thing and does happen. I seem to notice my most steady weight loss when I follow my diet 95% of the time and then have a cheat meal/day and eat crap I’ve avoided all week like fattening restaurant yummy food like chips and queso or chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes. I might stay the same or gain a pound right after then drop several pounds. Plus for me it keeps me from craving all the unhealthy food ALL the time, bc I LOVE food and know that eating only healthy food 100% of the time is unattainable for me. I’ll eventually cheat and fall off the wagon hard! Oh and for anyone feeling disappointed in the slow losses take @LisaCaryl’s advice and go by how your clothes feel or better yet,take measurements if you can. My hubby helps me take my measurements and I log them on the Baritastic app. Even when my scales not moving I’ve lost lots of inches and my clothes are big. Plus I’m back into my small “fat” pants lol 😁 oh and @NickelChip, I feel you on the sweets, I use light and fit Greek yogurt and Russel Stovers sugar free chocolates for desserts! My hubby even likes the Russel Stovers chocolates and can’t tell they’re sugar free. Keep on keepin on guys! 😘

Traveling is hard. I used to travel a lot for work and by the end of a week of restaurant meals, I would be craving fruit and veg so much because I could never seem to get enough of that. I have found ordering simple chicken dishes in restaurants with a veg side and skipping the starch has been the best way to get something well-balanced when away from home, and that won't upset my stomach. Can you stop at a grocery store to get Greek or Icelandic yogurt and fresh berries when on the road? I'm not sure how common it is to have a small refrigerator in your hotel room in the places you're going, but a serving of unsweetened yogurt with fruit and a sprinkle of sliced almonds is a great start to the day that requires no cooking or blending. You could also try raw veg and hummus (if you are able to tolerate raw veg). Does your job require going out to dinner with clients? If not, you might see if you can travel with a small electric hot pot to heat your own meals in your hotel room. Maybe bring small containers of your favorite spices to make simple go-to meals on the road. A few times I recall staying in hotels that had true kitchens and being able to buy groceries when I arrived. That was such a relief. It's funny that when you start traveling for work, you think it will be such a treat to go out to eat all the time, and after you do it for a while, it's not fun at all. Congratulations on making it 12 weeks with no alcohol! That's a great accomplishment. I had a single sip of a friend's cocktail this weekend and I have to say, it didn't taste good to me anymore. Maybe it was just a bad cocktail, but hopefully my tastebuds have changed for that. Sadly, I was not cured of my sweet tooth from the surgery. It was such a disappointment when chocolate was just as delicious as before.

If i remember correctly, i took my multi and one of my calciums in the morning with a tbsp of greek yogurt (if i didn't i'd get nauseous because i don't eat in the mornings...never did, even pre-surgery, and still don't). then 2 more calciums with Vit Ds later in the day/evening. i only had to take iron for 1 week, and during that time i didn't take the calcium cuz they were sooooo humongous and i didn't yet learn the greek yogurt trick. i remember sometime around month 2 post op i started taking those chewable calciums (chocolate flavoured, yum!). did this for a couple months then went back to the ginormous horse tablets. now i am in no way endorsing the following (without talking to your doc first), but full disclosure, i stopped taking any/all vitamins/supplements around the 1.5 year mark. my doc/team knew this and had no concerns because my labs always came back satisfactorily....and continued to do so until my last followup with my surgeon at the 5 year mark last fall. going forward i suppose this will need to be monitored at my annuals with my primary care doc. oh, i should mention i'm also a sleeve....

I need to get back into the swing of taking my vitamins and I’m thinking it was easiest to remember at mealtimes. Exactly how many hours do we need to wait between calcium and the iron in the multivitamin for it to absorb properly? What about calcium and calcium? I’m thinking calcium at breakfast and lunch and multivitamin at dinner but I don’t ALWAYS wake up super early so there may be less time between the two calcium’s on occasion. I used to do the multivitamin with breakfast and calcium at dinner and bedtime BUT now I make my protein shake into a Proffee (protein shake and iced coffee) and my tummy doesn’t like the vitamin with it diluted that way.i suppose I could try taking the multi with my evening snack which is a Greek yogurt? What do you guys do??

Has anyone tried the gardencup meal delivery service? Everything is in a cup to take to go they have soups, salads, power cups, produce cups, and dip cups as well as snack cups. They are $10-12 each so kinda pricey but I’m justifying it for myself since my husband doesn’t eat what I eat and produce tends to go bad on me before I can use it all as do all the different cheeses and stuff to make a variety of salads. That plus the convenience factor are making them enticing. I am looking at the protein and the mini cup salads have less than the regular sized ones which is unfortunate since post surgery the mini one will probably be the better portion size. The minis are around 15-20g protein. I’m Just curious if anyone has tried these or has any thoughts on them. I’m thinking I may have to switch out the dressing for a lower fat option or have no dressing but that’s with premade salad from anywhere. I usually get the southwest or market salad at chick fila with an extra chicken filet on the side. I take it home pull off the toppings and a little of the lettuce and that’s plenty for one day then the next I can make a chicken ceaser salad with the extra chicken, the leftover lettuce and my own yogurt dressing but that’s only when I’m in town anyways. I don’t like to make a special trip just for salad plus those aren’t prepared to grab And go like these cups are. They would fit perfect in a cooler to take with me when I’m out for the day

One of the therapeutic approaches they use for eating disorders is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. CBT is obviously more complex but one component is replacing an undesired behavior with a new healthy behavior. This sounds so simple and like it couldn’t possibly work (to me anyways) but believe it or not this helped with my self diagnosed Nightime Eating Disorder. NES is a disorder that is characterized by waking up feeling like you can’t fall back to sleep without eating and eating more than 25% of your calories at night after dinner. I believe this is just a form of head hunger. My therapist who uses a different approach said that CBT would suggest that when I wake up wanting to eat that I do something like my crochet instead. Well. It hasn’t been easy but this has worked for five nights thus far. Not one snack and I used to have around 4-6 snacks every night after doing so well with my diet all day. Basically I have a protein yogurt before bed so I know I am not actually hungry and when I feel hungry through the night I just tell myself that I am not hungry and that I can get up and crochet instead if I can’t sleep. I haven’t even had to actually crochet many times. Apparently just knowing that there is a replacement option is enough to help me go back to sleep. That or I’m just too lazy But hey whatever works 😂 Anyways, I found it kinda absurd that the solution was that simple to just do something else like I am dealing with a kid but I’m serious. It worked. There are also CBT workbooks for disordered eating (Amazon has several) which probably get more in depth and journaling about what you are feeling at the time to get to the root of why you feel hungry helps for some. But try doing something else as well Like I said it’s been five nights for me and it’s worked. Each night it has gotten a little easier too. I put a towel through the handles of the fridge in case I forget and I have woken up and walked to the kitchen less and less each night. After the first night I realized that the yogurt was enough to get me through the night and each night after just reinforces that. My friend said it makes sense to her because It’s like when people quit smoking and everytime they want a cigarette they chew gum instead. I did lollipops but it’s true, that did work for me as well. It’s Still not easy, but it works. If your at work I guess your limited on alternate options but maybe having a glass of tea or taking a short walk (depending on your job). You said you are already drinking your water but maybe try a whole new behavior. I hope I don’t sound too crazy and you try this. I hope it helps you as well.

A good way to remember the difference is to ask yourself "Is this processed? If so, how much?" For instance, white flour is a simple carb, it has had the fiber and such stripped from it, which causes the carbohydrate in it to hit the system faster and spike blood sugar rapidly. Stone ground whole wheat flour is more of a complex carb, because it has the fiber intact along with all the nutrients that come with it and spikes the blood sugar less rapidly because of that fiber slowing the release. Eating it with protein and fat will slow the spike of blood sugar even further. Potato chips? Simple carb--they are white, starchy, and fried. A baked sweet potato? Technically a complex carb, though it does have a lot of sugar in it. Still, much better choice nutritionally than potato chips! Most fruits and vegetables are complex carbs, as their fiber and nutrients are intact. But some can be higher in sugar than others, so it is good to be mindful of their glycemic load as well. Whole grains like quinoa or brown rice and beans are complex carbs, though due to their high carb content they are best eaten in moderation. Most white, starchy, processed things you buy in boxes or bags are simple carbs. Cakes, cookies, white rice, sugar, semolina pasta, ice cream, all simple carbs. Most SADI and DS patients have issues with simple carbs causing gas, or large amounts of complex carbs. So, a big slice of cake may cause gas. A large fruit salad could also cause gas. Their sugar sources are different, but the digestive system sees sugar as sugar and reacts in kind. Apples in chicken salad? Probably fine once you are far enough out to digest fruit. A wedge of watermelon with a bunless hamburger? Also fine once you are far enough out to digest fruit. A few bites of cake or fruit salad? That may also be fine if you are able to practice restraint! Personally, at 6 months out, I have never had any issues with onions like I used to. But I cannot eat beans in any form, not even pureed on the soft food diet, they immediately went through me and caused gas! I can eat small amounts of a cooked fruit, like blueberry muffins, or frozen blueberries microwaved and stirred into yogurt. But I cannot yet eat fresh/frozen fruit. The nutritionist suspects it is because berries are really fiber dense. This is likely to change in the next year. But that first 18 months is prime weight loss time and prime weight loss is boosted by being in ketosis, which means I have to keep my fruit portions small anyways for now. Once I'm at maintenance I'll worry about adding fruit and complex carbs in. Right now I focus on protein, then low starch veggies, then a bit of starch if I have room, like a bite or two of potatoes (I'm Irish, I can't cut them out forever), or a few bites of quinoa.

Even though I was cleared of any eating disorders by the psychiatrist prior to my sleeve surgery I am fairly confident that I meet the criteria for NES. According to my research the treatments are antidepressants which I am already on and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. I asked my therapist who uses a different therapy approach what that means and she said CBT is about changing behaviors and she suggested that when I wake up wanting to eat that I crochet instead (replacing an undesired behavior with a healthier one). Well the other day I had to fast for blood work and I usually put a towel or something through the handles on the fridge to remind me not to eat or drink anything other than water and I thought to myself if this works for fasting why couldn’t I just do it every night. So I made sure to eat a high protein yogurt before bed so I know it’s not actual hunger then combined the visual reminder with the alternate behavior and I made it through the last two nights without eating any snacks but it wasn’t easy. I woke up and walked to the fridge several times and had a number of arguments with myself and even tried to rationalize that it was okay to just have one snack because it’s still less than normal. My husband said the good voice triumphed over evil for now. 😂 Anyways, I am curious to know if it’s that “simple” of a fix for lack of better word. Has anyone else had experience with NES? I am curious to know if this substitute behavior thing really works and if so how long it will take until the alternate behavior becomes my new habit. (How many more late night arguments am I going to have with myself)?

I’m trying my best to mimic what I will be eating post surgery and today I logged my food and just mostly paid attention to carbs and protein. I logged but otherwise ignored the fat for now since I thought she was wrong. In the morning I had a protein shake with coffee. For lunch I had two scrambled eggs with Turkey sausage, morning Snack was a dannon light and fit yogurt, dinner was taco salad with pepper, onion, 1/3 cup cheese, 1/4 avacado and 4 oz lean taco meat. Then a chobani flip yogurt for snack which is the worst thing of the day because of that little bit of chocolate and peanut butter I guess. Anyways i added that to be 61g carbs (23 was that yogurt), 54.4g fat, and 105.5g protein. I am thinking I was close. Maybe adding a little more healthy fat such as more avocado or cheese or cooking with olive oil instead of pam spray and then switching out that evening yogurt with a lower carb one and I would’ve been pretty close to you. I realize as I’m going over this that I’m going to have to tweak this quite a bit for a smaller pouch if my surgeon re-sleeves me which I hope he does. This is going to take some time to figure out. Thank you so much for all of your help.

Okay so I am still so terrible with this stuff but my dietician makes it seem so much more confusing and I really need to understand this so I can get it right this time. I asked her what my requirements would be post SADI surgery and she said 1000-1200 calories 90g protein 90 carbs (45 fruit and veggies and 45 from starch), and 15g fat. I am trying to eat similar to that now to see what it’s like and I am logging my food. I figured my portions will be a little larger so I won’t be able to hit the exact goals but wanted to see where I am. This morning I did great with my protein iced coffee which is just a caramel shake with some coffee mixed in. Low calorie and carb and high protein. This afternoon however I thought I would have 2 scrambled eggs and one Turkey sausage Patty. The calories and carbs are fine but it seems like Either that fat goal is unrealistic or the protein goal is from normal food if there is really 15g of fat in two scrambled eggs and only like 13 grams of protein? Even if I forget the 7g of fat leaving out the Turkey sausage just two eggs is too much fat for one meal and reduces the protein. I hate egg whites but assumed two scrambled eggs would be okay. I know post surgery I will not eat two whole eggs which will reduce the fat some but also the protein. Could i add protein powder to the egg or something? Maybe an egg and a yogurt would be a better option? Or Do I have to just suck it up and eat the egg whites. She also said something about three teaspoons of “healthy fat” and I’m not sure if that’s in addition to the 15g of mono and polyunsaturated fat or if 15 is the total which may be where I’m getting confused. I just emailed her asking for clarification but last time it took her like two weeks to get back to me so I figured I’d see if anyone else can make sense of this.

One of the biggest adjustments I had to make post op was to eat because I needed to, not because I was hungry. I actually never lost my hunger post op, but in those first few weeks when all you can consume is liquid, it is a struggle to get everything in. As soon as I moved to purees I started eating something every 3 hours when I was awake. Everyone's interval is different. Some can do just 3 times a day, but for me if I got over the 3 hour mark I'd start to get shaky and irritable and completely crash, it was clear I needed food, even if food was just a shake or a protein yogurt. I'm 6 months post op now and this has eased and I can go a little longer, so I follow my hunger cues more now and mostly eat at normal mealtimes with snacks if I'm up late or up early. But in the early months I just couldn't do that.