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I am the same way if I don't track my food every day. I have to log everything I eat every meal, every day. I find I tend to really underestimate my calories and Protein consumption if I don't track it. I was reluctant to have to weigh, measure, and log every bite I eat because I don't want to be on a diet the rest of my life. However, right now, while I have the most potential to lose most of my excess weight, I need to make the most of it. I made myself a deal that once I get to maintenance then I can let some of the tracking slide as long as I maintain my weight. Right now tracking every time, every day is going to be the best way for you to take control. As far as not eating until late in the day and being hungry or needing to eat quickly, plan and set yourself up to succeed. Buy a big bag of nuts, Jerky, or whatever else you like for protein Snacks. Take the time to take the big package And empty the bag by weighing out individual servings and pack them in snack size containers or ziplock bags. Also the "bites" recipes on the world according to eggface blog are GREAT for this type of situation. Each recipe makes 24 mini muffin quiches and they freeze really well. Every week I make 2 varieties. Once they are cooked and cooled, I wrap 2 "bites" together at a time in waxed paper. I take all 12 of the wax paper bundles and store them in a gallon freezer bag labelled with which flavor they are and the date I made them. They taste great, reheat easily, have so many different flavors and combinations so you don't get burnt out, and keep well in the freezer. By cooking 2 batches every week I usually have 6-8 different flavors in the freezer on any given day to choose from. Another option is getting a large container of Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, or ricotta cheese and portioning it out into single size servings when you get home with it. Then it is ready to go when you need or want it. One of my favorite quick snacks on the go is the single serving packages of apple slices with my Peanut Butter dip. I have found a bag with 12 single serving packages of apple slices inside. They are ready to grab and go and I find them in the refrigerated produce section of my local grocery store. I make a dip for the apples using plain no fat Greek yogurt, PB2, and sugar free Torani vanilla syrup. You mix equal parts PB2 and the syrup together until smooth and then mix that into the yogurt. Now you have a protein packed peanut butter dip that tastes like it should be bad for you. I use the 16 oz container of yogurt with 3 TBS each of the syrup and PB2. Once it is mixed I put 1/4 cup of dip into individual bowls with kids and store it in the fridge next to the apples. You may want to play with how much PB2 & syrup you put in to make it taste good to you. You can use either myfitnesspal or sparks people recipe nutrition calculator to figure out the calorie, protein, fat, carbs,etc per serving based on the brands and quantities you used. It is a great tool for anything you make so you know exactly what you are getting. Another thing I find helpful is keeping a few individually packaged servings of Protein powder in my purse for when I am caught or delayed unexpectedly or I forgot to bring food with me. This works best with the fruit or juice flavored powders (ie: grape, lemonade, fuzzy navel, cherry, etc). You can easily scoop servings from your large canister at home into snack sized ziplocks and seal them up yourself instead of spending the extra $ to buy the single serving pouches. The individual servings are great for dumping in a bottle of Water. Just cut or rip the corner off the ziplock bag and it becomes the funnel for the bottle. I always have a few bottles of water stashed in my car if I don't happen to already be carrying one. The Syntrax Roadside Lemonade is my go to for this. It mixes and dissolves easily by just shaking the water bottle around. It doesn't require a Blender Bottle to get the lumps out. Use what works for you. That is all I have right off the top of my head. I hope it helps you! It all comes down to taking an hour or 2 to get things prepped and ready to grab when you need it. You can even break the tasks up and do one a day so you only have to squeeze 15 minutes of prep in on any given day. Please ask me if something I said didn't make sense or wasn't explained well.

Hi all, I start my pre op diet on the 25th of july and my surgery day is 8/7/2009, i can have diet soda on mine so i hope that helps me get through it, it is crazy how different drs have different views and ideas on pre op diets. I don't go to my preop app. till July 15th.I think this diet seems pretty easy compared to some of the diet others are on. but according to the book i got here is my pre op diet, Breakfast 10-15 gr of carb less than 200 calorie Low carby Protein supplement Shake/drink Morning Snack 6oz glass V8 or 6 oz of diet OJ lunch 10-15 gr. carbs less then 200 calorie Protein supplement shake/drink dinner 20-25 gram carb 300-350 calories, Frozen meal(Lean cuisine, smart ones) Snack Low carb Protein shake Or 6 oz of light/no added sugar yogurt and 1 oz of mixed nuts or 3 cups unbuttered popcorn or 1 oz cheese and Medium-sized apple,orange or banana can drink unlimited amounts of sugar-free beverages, including reg or decaf coffee, tea , and diet soda. and no more then 2 8 ounce cups of skim milk.

Living the rest of your life as an obese person because you don't want to give up pizza is pretty sad. Yes, I know you have other reasons for wanting the band removed, but they don't sound like very good ones to me. For example, if you had a slight unfill, you COULD eat solid foods like steak and fruit. But you first need to step away from the mac and cheese, chips and crackers, soup, and ranch dressing. Even IF you can't eat solids very well, you could be making MUCH better choices in your soft food. Cottage cheese, yogurt, soft fish, refried Beans...they're all soft foods and go down easily but they're high in Protein and low in carbs. Saying that you can't afford the groceries is an excuse, too...because, again, you *could* buy better soft foods. If it's your port that has busted stitches, that's often done as an office procedure. It's not a major surgery to stitch the port back down and as long as you can get the fills, you don't have to do it at all. I understand that not having insurance to cover fills can be a financial problem. But it makes me wonder why you got the band in the first place then? The fills are a lifelong commitment...at some point, you knew you'd be on your own. But look at it this way. You DO have the band. You already have a tool in place to help you lose weight. If you have it removed, you're most likely NOT going to lose weight on your own. Sorry, but only about 3-5% of people take the weight off and KEEP it off. So what kind of expense are you looking at down the road? Being obese can be very expensive in it's own way. I think it simply sounds like you're not ready to do what is necessary to let the band help you lose weight. If that's the case, get a complete unfill. For most people, an empty band feels like the band isn't even there. So you can try to lose weight on your own, not worry about fills, etc. If, at some point, you decide to use the band, then you can start getting fills again.

Are you on a clear liquid diet or a full liquid diet? My surgery was Monday and I am on a full liquid diet so I can have cream soups, fat free yogurt, thinned out cream of wheat, sugar free pudding. We have a September Bandsters group for people that were banded in Sept so we are all in the same stages for the most part. Good luck!

Hang in there. Things for me got way better around day 10. I still had shoulder and neck pain until a few days ago. Take your pain meds and it will pass with time. Drinking or eating too much or too fast may make it worse, as will certain sitting or laying positions. It does get better and quickly. Yogurt already is good I wasn't even close to water or protein goals until day 8, a few days out and even tiny pills stuck in my throat.

Maude is right - I tend to add liquids (such as a Campbell's Select soup) or a little milk, or bouillon to get the right consistency. I have even added a little watered down unflavored yogurt from time to time - adds a little zip to the meat. Best of luck to you!

Hi Podna! I am almost two weeks out now. Here's my diet: Week 1: *Clear liquids including Water, SF Kool-aid, crystal lite, SF/decaf tea, broth, SF popsicles, SF Jello, etc. *Skim milk, 1 percent milk, or soymilk *Protein supplements *SF Carnation instant Breakfast or other meal supplement drink Week 2: *Everything from week one and foods of a pureed consistency. (Baby food, yogurt, pudding, creamy Soups (strained or blended), oatmeal, cream of wheat, etc. Week 3: *Soft foods including tuna salad, cottage cheese, ground meats, Pasta, bread, etc. Week 4: Regular diet Hope this helps! Good luck. Shauna

I was banded the same day and have been really freakin hungry for 2 days now. In fact I've been posting about this miserable post op diet and how there's no way I can adhere for another week. Everything else seems to be settling out so I cheated a little tonite and had 3oz of low fat yogurt and a little diluted fruit juice and it made all the difference. I feel so much better! Not recommending you cheat but I'm having the exact same experience. My doc's diet has me on way less than 100 calories per day and zero Protein. I've lost 8 pounds in 3 days and 27lbs in about 3 weeks. That seems extreme to me.

I agree…this experience and others in the past when I’ve done MediFast, day 3 seems easier than the first 2 days. I think that is partly because carbohydrates make one want MORE carbohydrates. Eliminate the carbs, and I find that much if not all of my hunger goes away. Today is day 3 for me. 2 shakes and a small leafy green salad with some protein. A Greek yogurt if I need a snack. I’m way under 1000 calories. And I’m fine. I’ve dropped 1/2 lb…I know I am a slow loser. But my students today were telling me that I look like I am losing weight. 🤷🏻‍♀️ what can I say?

A little about me: lapband 2007 and really had no issues but couldn't eat alot of healthy foods, meats, some veggies, yogurt, eggs. I did lose weight but resorted to slider foods as easier to eat as you know you get tired of one day could eat chicken the next day you couldn't. Anyway I knew the lapband was not forever, at some point I would have to have it removed and like you did not want to gain weight back. So on LBT I found out about VST in July and the rest is history. I had my revision in Sept 10th and I could not be happier! Because I had learned rules with the lapband it has been an easy road so to speak: eating small bites, small amounts, small plates, no drinking and eating, waiting to drink after meals did all of this for 5 years. I have had no issues, no vomiting, no food intolerances so far. I have lost 43 pounds to date and can't be more thrilled!! Would I do it again, absolutely!!

Yogurt goes down a little slower because of the thickness. I eat it a lot, but it does go down slowly for me too.

:help: I was banded 9-13-06. I have the 11cm VG band. I've had several fills. I had little restriction until 2 fills ago and then I could tell there was some restriction there. I had my last fill Monday 8-27-07. I now have 9cc's in my band. Since that time, I have been extremely tight. On Monday afternoon/night I was not able to take in and keep down anything, not even liquids. On Tuesday, I drank 8oz. fat-free milk with Carnation Instant Breakfast mixed in it and a 3.3oz DanActive yogurt drink. I tried Crystal Light - tiny sips - and it hurt so bad then came back up. On Wednesday, I drank just enough fat-free milk to take my blood pressure pill and again the pressure was almost unbearable. It felt like my chest was going to explode! :phanvan For lunch I brough a Campbell's Soup To Go (tomato with nothing solid in in) - I finally got it down although it took almost 2 hours! I was able to drink a 3.3 oz DanActive yesterday afternoon. Then after that nothing would go down without severe pressure, then it would come back up. Even room temperature tap Water would not stay down. This morning I mixed up a CIB with fat-free milk and managed to take my blood pressure pill - again with tons of pressure. I am worried about becoming dehydrated. I want the restriction to be there because I'm tired of losing only 3 or 4 pounds every 6 weeks, but I don't want this to go on and on either. I've lost 7 pounds since they weighed me on Monday but it's been a rough road. SO...my question is this: do you guys think I'm too tight and need to have a tiny bit removed or suck it up and wait this out? Thanks for the help!! Susan

i tend to go towards my protein shakes. My staples tend to be some sort of greek yogurt, steak, and salmon.

Jane--I had a very tight fill about 6 weeks ago. I stuck it out and lost a lot of weight in a very short amount of time--close to 30 pounds. Just now I am able to eat between 1/2 and 3/4 cup of soft food at a time and drink the required amount of fluids. I think I have reached the point now where the band has "loosened up" enough to give me the proper amount of restirction. My feeling was that as long as I could eat sometimes and keep it down, I could make it another day. Some days were worse than others. Yogurt was and still is one thing I can't get down--no matter what. McDonalds milkshakes, on the other hand, went down really well. (I know, Protein shakes would have been much better, and I did plenty of them too). I agree with MLM (the previous poster), you need to give it a rest from all the vomiting, just drink sips of liquids now, and then slowly add small amounts of mushy foods. Listen to your signals about when to stop (belching, hiccupping, or that lumpish feeling) and stop. Enjoy the fact that you're not hungry. It WILL work out.

Seems like every Dr has their own protocol. I was banded on 11/16/10 and I am currently on mushies. I have been eating low fat small curd cottage cheese, fat free yogurt, instant mash potatoes, Soup, eggs….plus Protein shakes and I have been feeling great and losing weight! Maybe check with the nutritionist and ask for specific examples of products >5 carbs. My nutritionist never mentioned that restriction. I was just told to keep I low fat/low cal, make sure sugar is listed as one of the first 3 ingredients on the nutrition label and the other standard list of “no-no’s” Good luck with your surgery!!

I found these crunchy edamame in the back of TJ Maxx . They totally help when I'm craving salty/crunchy. For sweet, I like to eat 3 tbs of trail mix...the raisins and yogurt chips satisfy that craving. The only thing is, I limit myself to two snack portions a day. I don't like the feeling of grazing all day. I also make quite a few recipes from World According to Eggface and freeze them into small portions. Definitely makes packing my work lunch easy. ETA: another idea for sweet, Lenny & Larrys Complete Protein cookie. But, only like 1/4 portion because while vegan, have a good amount of calories. My favorites are pumpkin spice and Peanut Butter and I gett them at Vitamin shoppe.

I'm on 30grams of Protein shakes and 64fl oz everyday for 2 weeks. Haven't managed any of it yet! LOL! Have gotten about 24fl oz down so far, which includes about a 3rd of my shake, today. Doc actually specifically said NO gatorade/g2 stuff! I don't know why, didn't think to ask. Hmmmm. Anyway, that's it for me for 2 weeks, then I can start progressing w/yogurts, applesauce, etc. I have to read my paperwork again b/c I can't remember much of it.

if you can't find my contact info check these things: 1. are you getting enough protein? 60 - 80 grams per day? 2. are you getting enough fluids (water) - 64 ounces per day? 3. Is there sugar in some of the things you are eating? That can make you hungry an hour after you eat? (yogurt is a big culprit int he sugar area) 4. Are you waiting 1/2 hour before and 1/2 hour after you eat to drink any liquids? Also, your surgical site where the band is has probably healed, all of the swelling is probably gone and you just don't have any restriction yet. Your first fill will help with that.. It is not unusual to be feeling hunger a month or so after surgery before your first fill.

You are not alone!!! I feel like a slow loser, but I have realized that I haven't been following the program just right. I eat M&M's at least three times a week and not just the small bag, but the the king size that has two servings. I love homemade vanilla frozen yogurt. It only has 90 cal for one serving, but I eat two servings at a time. I must start making better choices and eating more protein. I got this way because of poor choices and if I don't change I will not be successful with or without the band! I joined this site and sparkpeople hoping that the support and advice will help me. I hope that you will be successful also. I will make a goal starting right now to not eat any candy or icecream for 7 days! Will you join me? I need somebody working with me!

Hi Everyone, This is for the Newbies who have had or are going to have "sleeve" WLS. I have posted these before & have had people ask me to repost them. I know that different doctors have different requirements for what you should eat the 1st month after surgery. Please follow YOUR doctors directions for what you have. I am posting what my doctor wanted me to do. VOL # 1 Hi Everyone, I decided that I would make a list of things for new people who are thinking about having WLS that might be helpful to them. This is long so please PRINT THIS OUT TO READ if you don’t want to read it all at one time. First thing is to start asking people on the board is all kinds of questions—make of list of things you want to ask and keep coming back and ask more questions as time goes on. The more questions that ask the more you educate yourself about WLS and the process and what doctor they liked. Don’t rely on just one source of information. It is really normal to have all kind of feeling and emotions when trying to decide if you want to have Weight Loss Surgery. I must have talked myself in and out of doing this at least 50 times during my 6 months of research. My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. This is a big step. But if diet and exercise worked for us then we still wouldn’t be fat and would have lost the weight a long time ago and never regained it. It takes a lot of courage to have Weight Loss Surgery. I am very proud of you for looking into this. Don’t give any more days of your life being overweight, and your body hurting along with being unhealthy. WLS really is your answer. How do you select your surgeon? First of all this is NOT a time to price shop for the cheapest doctor to do your WLS—that is just the wrong way to go at this. There are a lot of doctors who advertise on the Internet doing sleeve surgery for a lot less than some other doctors. I found one posting from a person who had the following concerns after having surgery in Tijuana, Mexico. (a) They put NO name band on her to be able to ID her when giving medications or anything else. ( NO one asked if she had any allergies to foods or medications—thank goodness this person didn’t have any. ( The lab did NOT label tubes of blood with the person’s name on it—very dangerous. © Day after surgery they gave this person ice chips, tea and apple juice. The next day (day 2) they gave this person NOTHING so this person asked why and the nurse said this person wasn’t allowed to eat anything. Well, this person then said I had Clear liquids the day before and they wanted to know WHO gave it to this person?? (d) This person was told that they would get a copy of the operative report on their discharge to take home with them—This person has not received it yet and that was about 2 weeks ago. So make sure have positive feedback about the Surgeon and Staff and Hospital that you choose who is best for you. I can only speak about my experience and my research that I did before I made him my choice for a surgeon. I know that there are other good doctors out there too. Do you research and be careful. Take your time and be comfortable with your choice. Pack lightly for your WLS. So many of us have gone to Mexico, so you want a small suitcase with wheels, a laptop & a cell phone. The clothing that you wear to Mexico are the same ones you can wear home—slip on shoes work great too. Make sure that the clothing is loose fitting. Something just comfortable for your ride home. While in Mexico—that is if you go to Mexico for WLS make sure you take GAS-X. They have nothing in Mexico that they give your for gas, and the use gas in your abdominal area during surgery. It is painful after the surgery, so GAS-X STRIPS are easy to use by just placing them on your tongue. Take a couple of boxes with you—you will be glad you did. If you are going to use a credit card make sure you tell your credit card company and your Bank if you use your debit card or credit card. Sometimes if you DO NOT let these companies know you are outside of the US they block your charges. Use a credit card or debit card vs. cash. The debit card or credit card is much easier to use. Take small amounts of cash for tips—I took $65.00 in 1’s for tip money for various things. If you go to any hospital anywhere leave ALL jewelry at home –just a watch and no rings or other jewelry. I never had any problems at all leaving my purse and computer& cell phone in my room while I was in surgery, but they recommend that you leave all jewelry at home. If you are a lady please remove all nail polish—they need it removed to see your nail beds during surgery. The first month you do after surgery is the HARDEST month you will ever have to do. You do 10 days of nothing but clear liquids to start with—that means you have to be able to see through the liquid. Do not panic if you can not get the Protein they want you to have the 1st 10 days—I couldn’t find anything I liked that was clear during the 1st 10 days. They want you to try to drink 64 oz. each day, and it is difficult—it is like a job because you will need to be sipping Water ALL day long. I want you to give it your very best effort to drink as much as you can. Getting your liquids in each day is so very important to your recovery. You DO NOT want to get dehydrated; you could end up in the hospital. Your new stomach has just had major surgery and it is swollen and will only hold something about the size of your thumb. The next 10 days gets much better—you are now on creamy liquids for these 10 days—don’t forget to drink you water. You can now have some creamy Soups, yogurt, and pudding—sugar free and find a Protein Drink that you like. For me it is Premier Protein Drink and I get mine at costco. When looking for a protein drink, make sure they are low in calories, high in Protein—Premier has 30 grams of protein in each drink box and make sure you have low carbs too. I know there are a lot of other Protein drinks out there that people like. When it comes to carbs I tried to keep mine at no more than 20 carbs per day. Ask others what kind of Protein drinks they liked and where they get them. The last 10 days are mushy foods—Don’t forget to drink your water. Mushy foods are a bit of a challenge. How many foods can I make mushy? I even considered using some baby foods. Start thinking about what will work as mushy foods for you. Starting the 2nd month is quite an adventure. You can eat regular food. Here is where the relearning process takes place. You now will take tiny BABY BITES of food and chew each bit about 30 times or until it is like a liquid. From here on out you will need to take small bites of food and chew and chew and chew. I found out that chicken and fish were a lot easier to chew up. I don’t eat much red meat—your tastes will change and things you didn’t like a lot might taste good and something that you used to love don’t taste that great anymore. Keep track of what you are eating and keep your calories at about 800 calories per day and no more than 20 carbs per day—whole grain carbs are the best to have—NO white or refined carbs. I highly suggest that you keep track by writing them down or using some of the Internet sites that offers you this. I suggest this site it works great there are other sites to use this is just a suggestion. hair 3 or 4 months after having WLS. I would find a lot of hair in the shower after washing my hair. That is pretty normal for a lot of us—this does not happen to everyone. There is no magical cure for hair loss—some people use different shampoo’s or take Biotin. It happens and you live with it. YES, it will grow back. For me I had pencil straight hair and mine grew back natural curly and I love it now. I already had thin hair so for me, I got some cute wigs and wore them for about 9 months until my hair looked a lot better. It was worth the hair loss to lose 105 pounds. Because we eat a lot of protein we suffer from constipation. You need to have at least 70 grams of protein EACH day. So I mix my protein drink each morning with MIRALAX. It is NOT habit forming and is tasteless and it is just a good way to start off the day. I put the protein and a cap full of Miralax in the blender with about 5 small ice cubes and that is my Breakfast. 3 years later I still have this for breakfast and nothing else, it just works for me. You may have periods where you have what we call STALLS. You may be doing everything right and eating and exercising and you have NO weight loss for a week or more. This is normal—mine lasted 9 days. Don’t panic the weight loss will start up again, just keep doing what you are doing. Our heads play games with us sometimes it is ugly what our brain tried to convince us of—We call these “Head Games” and they really are tough times to work though, but you can do it. Your head is still thinking with your old brain and way of thinking that you have been doing for most of your life. You now are eating VERY small amount of food, but your head is used to you eating LARGE amounts of food and that is what your brain wants—so it tries to tell you the you should be eating more—NOT true at all. So you need to have a talk with yourself. Do I just WAN T to eat or do I really NEED to eat? You are not on a diet, but you are making a LIFESTYLE change and that is good because you can do this for the rest of your life. You will NEVER be able to eat like you used to. That is good because that is how we got fat. You will morn the loss of food—you will look around and see others inhaling all this food and you think to yourself—I used to eat like that. You will notice how fast people eat and inhale their food and talk and hardly chew what they are eating. That is pretty normal feeling to have—because you are now eating such small amounts of food and chewing and chewing. You will never be able to guzzle a bottle of water again—that is OK too. These are all good things. In time you will look at all the food people are eating and thinking to yourself oh my gosh I could never eat that much again—it is way too much food. When you have issues or problems come back to the board and ask others who have already done this. We are here to help and support you. Give or exchange all your fat clothes away. You will never need them again after they become too big for you. This weight loss is something you will be able to maintain for the rest of your life. You have earned the right to have new clothes. Make sure you have the VERY best doctor that has had a lot of experience with sleeve surgery and check his success rates out. Check the doctor for HIGH patient reviews from the people who have gone to him or her. I can NOT STRESSS this enough. Make sure that your surgery is being done in a hospital NOT a Clinic. Ask where you recovery will be. YOU are worth the extra money that it cost to have this WLS in a Hospital and by the best Doctor you can have. You want to have a happy and GREAT life and having the RIGHT Doctor and Hospital are the key to this. Sorry if this is long, but it is intended to have as a reference and answer a lot of your questions that you might have. For some of you, you are very lucky because your health insurance is now starting to pay for Weight Loss Surgery. For many of us, we did not have your luck, so we are self pay patients. There are companies that loan money for this surgery—be aware that their interest rate is high. Once you pick your doctor ask them about these companies that give loans for surgery if you are a self pay patient. You know we never think twice about making car payments. If you have to borrow the money for this surgery just look at this as “body payment.” It will be the best money you have ever borrowed. Please PRINT this out to read later. If you have any questions for me please feel free to contact me. I had surgery almost 3 ½ years ago, so I do have quite a bit of experience. I really am here to help you along your journey. It took me 14 months to lose this weight and I was 63 when I had the surgery, so it is NEVER too late in life to do this. *********************************************************** VOL # 2 Here are some more things I want you to know about if you are thinking about having WLS and you are having the “Sleeve.” 1. We have talked a little or a lot about “slimming or phlegming” In case you missed it, when you first start eating regular food you have to re-learn how to eat again and chew. With your new stomach you will need to take small tiny bites and chew until the food in your mouth is almost liquid like. This is nothing like what you had been doing your entire life. In the past you eat and talk and put big bite in your mouth along with a few chews and then swallowing—this will NO LONGER WORK FOR YOU. This is a very difficult thing to change. So with your new stomach and just having surgery you may experience slimming or phlegming. First you will feel like the food is stuck, then it comes back up in a clear liquid –your saliva. It isn’t vomit, so that is why it is called slimming or Fleming. It’s a wakeup call to slow down you eating and chew, and chew and chew some more. Just go to the bathroom or have a napkin ready for the slimming or phlegming if you are eating out. If you try to overeat—which is bad you may experience this too sometimes. For me it was always about not chewing enough. 2. What are some signs that you are full? At first I wasn’t sure, but sometimes I just got tired of all the chewing, so I stopped eating. I now get the hiccups or my noise will start to run when I am full. I know that other people have said they experienced this too. 3. It does take some time to retrain yourself on how to eating and I know that the first month it is such a process just trying to get all the food & liquid in that you need to get in because of your new restrictions. In time it does get a lot easier. Some people actually mourn the loss of food, because you will NEVER EAT the quantity of food that we used to eat---YEAH that is how we are going to lose the fat and maintain that goal weight that we want to have for the rest of our lives. 4. If you think you are hungry and you are positive that you are having physical symptoms of hunger this is YOUR OLD thinking brain playing those tricks we have talked about. You now have to start learning to educate this OLD brain into being your NEW thinking brain. Ask yourself do you just "want to eat" or do you really "need to eat" because it has been 3 or 4 hours since you have eaten anything. It is amazing what our brains can and will do to sabotage our way of thinking. You may be challenged by this OLD brains way of thinking for many years. For me I just have to have some self-talks with myself. We have an addiction to food. There is no way around avoiding food, so we need to find the set of skills that will allow us to change our lifestyle. I eat to live, I NO LONGER live to eat! Food is not my main focus in life. 5. I have seen so many times where people are going along and doing great with their weight loss. Then all of a sudden they are NOT losing anything—they panic—I did when it happened to me. We call these “Stalls.” We have stalled and are not losing anything. Most of the time you are eating all the same and correct things that you have in the past when you were losing weight. Our body just does this naturally--stalls. Mine lasted 9 days one time. This is really normal. I have a few suggestions. Use this site or something like it to track everything you are putting in your mouth.http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/ you might be surprised at what you are eating—that is why I say track it. Remember keep your total calories at 800 per day—if you exercise then you can eat more. This site will help you figure that out how much more you can it by what kind of exercise you did. You also need to make sure that you are not eating more than 20 carbs per day. No white or refined carbs. They should ONLY be whole grain carbs—not whole wheat, BUT Whole Grain carbs—do the best you can when it comes to carbs. If you are having problems with the weight loss you can kick up the amount of exercise you are doing too. The weight loss will start back up again, so don’t panic. 6. We all stumble and fall along the way, don’t beat yourself up over it. Move on and have a better day the next day. 7. Be aware that your friends and family may not be supportive of you having WLS. For your family, first they really may NOT understand it and they are scared for you. This is pretty normal. You have been on the Internet, and been educating yourself and doing a lot of reading—you know much more than they do about weight loss surgery and your choice is the sleeve. They have only heard the horror stories that the media puts out there or one of their uneducated family or friends have told them. Your friends are scared they may lose you as a friend because you are going to lose the weight and they will remain fat—yes I call it fat. I know there are a lot of politically correct terms to use, but if I can say I was fat you will one day too. Some of your friends will be jealous. My suggestion is that you can try to educate them some, but take your time and effort right now and use it for yourself. After you have had WLS and they see you are becoming healthy and you are alive and well they may come around. I want you to put yourself FIRST, for the very first time. If they are truly your friends they will be there when you are skinny. 8. The first month will be the hardest month you will have to do. You are changing everything about how you eat. I want you to keep saying to yourself that it is ONLY 30 days and I can do ANYTHING for 30 days. Once you start the 2nd month and can have regular food, it gets easier. 9. What do you do about getting smaller clothes? One of my adventures used to be to go to Resale clothing places and sell or trade my larger clothing to them, and then finding some smaller sizes. Just buy what you need to get by for a while until you need a smaller size. It was like a treasure hunt or an adventure for me. I found some places like Goodwill that had brand name label NEW clothing that the local stores gave them. I found some great deals at these places. So consider doing something like this or getting together with some of your friends and trading clothing. I also donated a lot of mine for a tax deduction to nonprofit organizations that give tax receipts—it is really great when it is tax time rolls around and I had all these deductions. I would make a list of everything I was going to donate and how much weight I had lost. I kept that all together in case the IRS asked why I gave away 20 some dress and 10 pair of pants, and 30 tops! 10.Make sure that you go see your Primary Care Doctor when you have had WLS if you have gone outside of the US for your surgery. I went to see my PCP before I went to let her know what I was doing—I wanted a doctor who would support me in my efforts. I had to do a bit of education and after she had time to read all of the information I left her, she was behind me all the way. She said come back in to see her after being home for 2 weeks and she would check me over and run a blood panel to see how I was doing. She did this every month for a while and started taking me of meds that I no longer needed. I did need to start taking potassium—mine was low after having WLS and I knew this when I left Dr. Aceves—they had run a blood panel after I had my “Sleeve surgery.” I loved the fact that my PCP took me off 4 of my other medications within 3months of me having WLS. 11. Exercise is important for you in a lot of ways. Walking and swimming are the ones that work best for me. I know that there have been a few people who said they did nothing. Walking helped me lose a little faster and was good cardio too. I try to walk at least 4 or 5 times a week. When I can I try to swim on the days I don’t walk. I know at first it is difficult to start to exercise, but walk around your home then, down the block a little. When the weather is bad—I live in Oregon and we have a lot of rain, we walk inside the Mall during those times. They open up the Mall at 6:00 am where I live, so you can start early. Buy a used treadmill and see if you like walking on it. My last words of wisdom are the following 1. Saying yes means you will do something new, meet someone new most likely and make a difference in your life. 2. Be true to yourself. It is you, your authentic self, the one you were in the first grade, before you leaned to massage your personality into a form that would suit others. 3. Sometimes it is hard to hear the message because of all the external voices and they are so loud. 4. Voices that are loud are always meant to bully. DO NOT BE BULLIED. 5. So carry your courage in an easily accessible place. Be your OWN authentic person when it comes to Weight Loss Surgery. This is ALL about you and NO one else. 6. Last you don’t need the approval of the Bully. You know what is right for you, follow your heart and go for it. I am always here if you want to ask me more questions, or I didn’t cover something that you are thinking about. I read my E-mail daily. I know it is a BIG step to take and there are a lot of things to think about, you can and will be success. My last bit of knowledge is making sure you keep drinking your water each day. It is so VERY important that you do this. Hugs, Suzanne

I felt the same way. I had surgery on the 17th and I am hungry. On the full liquid phase, you have more to chose from. I have been buying any kind of campbells soups and putting them in the blender to liquify and drinking that. soo good. I also have sugar-free chocolate pudding, yogurt, popsicles, sugar-free fudgesicles. Try some new stuff and maybe you won't feel deprived. I also wasn't getting enough protein and water and I think that is why I was feeling so hungry.

I just had my surgery with Dr. Ortiz in Mexico, TJ and it was above and beyond what I could have ever expected. I know everyone told me great things about getting banded in Mexico, but experiencing it myself, it exceeded all my expectations. I am day 4 post op and feel very good. I feel a little swelling and have restriction. One 4 oz. yogurt is enough to fill me to the limit. They have been doing banding longer over there than here. I know Dr. Ortiz has done over 4000. I give it a 10+ Audree

My work day starts at 6:30 am. I start with a 8 oz glass of skim milk first thing when I get up. I then have 16 oz of coffee (Black)on the 35 minute drive to work. Once I hit my desk I have a protein shake, about 10:00 I have a yopliat greek yogurt and eat lunch at noon. I am thinking of adding some cream of wheat or oatmeal in there somewhere, because I need more calories.

Beware.....scolding in progress. Here's the thing, you just had major surgery on your stomach. No matter how bad the head hunger is, do you really think eating chocolate at all is wise a few days after surgery? I am guessing your answer is no or you would not be on here in scared mode. Honestly you should be scared. You should pick up the phone and immediately call your therapist. Having WLS is 90% head, 10% if that surgery. You can eat around your surgery from day one. and if you do, why bother going through all the pre work and pain? That is called self destruction and you need to get a handle on it now. For me, sugars cravings have never gone away. I have had to learn to deal with this. Sometimes you give in and have something but never ever just when you get home from the hospital. Lastly I would say that baby food does not have the nutrition that homemade prepared purees have. Not to mention they taste like crap unless you are eating all the fruits which have carbs in them. Why not simply make some of your own purees, eat greek yogurt, cottage cheese, Protein shakes, ricotta bake. There are a ton of bariatric friendly pureed stage options available on pinterest. I really wish you the best but you are definately going to need some help to get your head hunger under control. When those cravings come up the best thing you can do is try to get your mind off of it. Firstly, you cannot possibly be feeling real hunger at this stage. Dehydration mimics hunger for us. So if you feel it keep sipping your approved liquids until that feeling goes away. If you have met your liquid goals and still feel that way, you are likely feeling some reflux if you are a sleeve patient. If not those two things it is definately head hunger and you need some coping mechanisms. I use distraction techniques....go wash dishes, do some laundry, take a shower, do something with your hands like crafts - knitting, crocheting....etc. get your mind off of food. Lastly do NOT watch food porn shows or commercials, they can make head hunger terrible. Go see a therapist they will provide lost of techniques and get at the bottom of why you are already self sabotaging.

Hi cher (and hi again faybie!) - I am not much of a meat eater either, so he're is how I get my Protein. Egg whites contain the protein, not so much the yolks. The egg yolks are filled with fat, and if I'm not mistaken, the whites are fat free. Eat the whites. You can also use Egg Beaters, which don't have fat and have lots of protein. That's actually what I do because I don't like the goopy egg white innards. While I don't eat beef, pork, lamb, etc., I don't mind salmon, turkey and chicken, so that is what I eat to get my protein. I buy the Amish (no steroids, hormones, injected) boneless, skinless chicken breast and usually grill it on my George Foreman grill. I buy the canned Swanson chicken. I also use the pre-packaged Chicken of the Sea Salmon (boneless, skinless). I think 3oz of each has about 15g protein. I'm still on the soft food stage, so I'm making what I call "Whips." I take the chicken or salmon and mix it with cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, yogurt (all FF of course) and add various seasonings. I can change the entire texture of the meal by adding cream cheese (especially good with the salmon). I've used Greek seasoning, Italian seasoning, hot sauce, bbq sauce, lemon pepper to flavor the whip. Each one of the whips has about 25g protein. I'm also drinking Isopure zero carb drinks. They are fruit flavored, not the milky protein shakes. 40g protein each and only 160 calories. You can also go to your surgeon's office and have them order Bariatrix products for you. You can't order them yourself, but a MD can order them. Each one has 70 - 100c and 15g protein. My surgeon had me on those for my pre-op and post-op diet, and I still use them as necessary. (I'm on self-imposed liquids this weekend, matter of fact. 5 drinks = 75g protein.) GNC is having a sale of Muscle Milk - 34g protein per drink. I only drink them on days I work out because it's got 360 calories. I also got some other high Protein Drinks, but I haven't tried them so I don't know how they will taste. Oh, I also bought some Stallone Protein pudding, too. We'll see how that goes. I don't care for pudding, so I don't know why I bought it. Oh yeah, 20g protein! There are also some IGN (?) protein bullets. The new ones are 3oz and have 42g protein. ReneBean mentioned them earlier, and if you're interested I can dig up a link for you. I've not tried those either, but plan to. Those are all of my secrets. Hope they helped! Sorry it took so long to reply, I just saw this thread. Good Luck! Nathalie