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Are you allowed snacks? Some plans don’t allow them or advise when you can add an additional snack. For example I could snack once a day from about 8 weeks but was limited on what I could snack: yoghurt or a yoghurt drink (snack not as a meal as I was eating them initially), soft cheese (string or jarlsburg were my favourites), or fruit (only serve I was allowed & certain ones only). I was encouraged to snack more when I reached my goal because I was still losing. But again I given guidelines as to what I could snack. I still snack now 4 years out to get the calories in I need to maintain, reach my protein goals & get additional nutrients in. Again I’m very careful with what I snack on, when I snack & how often. For example protein bar, multigrain cracker with labneh (make my own) & tomato, cheese, nuts, fruit, peanut paste. The only more traditional style snack food I have is roasted fava beans/chick peas for travelling or holidays but honestly I often throw them out without eating them because they’ve expired. Check with your team first for recommendations & guidance to best suit yiu & your needs. Snacks can quickly increase your calorie intake & can reintroduce bad habits. And many traditional style snacks are sliders even the so called low carb, high protein, no added sugar, lite, versions.

Calories are always going to fluctuate a little anyway simply because you don’t eat the exact same foods every day. It’s why I focussed more on appropriate portions for what I ate & number & frequency of meals & snacks. I believe it always averages out. Like there’ll be days when you eat more protein & others when you’ll eat less. Same with fluids. Remember too though, your portions & calories are going to slowly increase as you progress until your weight stabilises & you’re in maintenance. I was told I would eat 1/4-1/3 cup from purée increasing to a cup at 6 months. You can always check with your team for additional guidance about what it appropriate for you at this stage. There are still days I can eat more than my appropriate portion or want an additional snacks. I tell myself I’m eating enough to meet my needs & if I want to eat more something else is going on (hormones, boredom, emotions, stress, etc.) & it’s not real hunger. Of course it took time to learn this. At times I still can’t eat all of my appropriate portion too. I’m simply not hungry, my tummy is being a bit odd or fussy, what I ate is sitting more heavily or is more dense, etc. I always believed it’s fine because I’m listening to my body which is more important.

Hi everyone! Brand new here and my first post. It's been about five weeks since my surgery and I am struggling to meet my protein goals during the soft food phase especially with breakfast. I seem to have developed some sort of issue with eggs and dealing with gas, bloating, cramping despite being on gas and acidity meds. Feeling a bit lost and definitely feeling food fatigue as I am still navigating and trying to figure out what works for my new stomach. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

For me it depends on the type of food I've eaten, as well as the amount of liquid in my stomach. I don't think it's a huge deal. But my theory is: if I'm grazing too much, I'm probably making poor choices at meal time. (Eg not enough protein) Sent from my SM-G981U1 using Tapatalk

My first real food was a baked chicken wing. Yummy

First Question: How do you get your info on the left side of screen to show? I can't get it to let me edit my screen to put that stuff in.... PeggyAnne: You are NOT alone! I see a HUGE difference in the various drs and care that we all seem to get. Some of us get all the hand holding and people who are there every step of the way, others get a handout and a call if you have questions kind of experience. My dr suggested ground sausage and so I got some Jimmy Dean ground breakfast sausage, cooked in air fryer then diced it on a cutting board until it was finely minced and kept part to put in my scrambled eggs and took the rest and made a sizeable skillet of sausage gravy to go over those scrambled eggs. Honestly, it has been the least painful of foods. I got brave again and tried the mashed potatoes and gravy for lunch and am now regretting it!! It seems to create a suction/vacuum feeling in my stomach, weird and uncomfortable. I have enough gravy and eggs to last through September so I may just stick to that Beans work okay too as long as I have enough broth with them, I have had red beans and then lima beans but the Limas with a lot of broth and picked out the ham and sausage that was initially cooked with them before I froze them into containers. Dry foods seem incompatible at this point, no matter how soft. My dr SPECIFICALLY TOLD ME NOT TO EVEN TRY CHICKEN IN ANY FORM AT THIS POINT BC HE SAID IT IS ENTIRELY TOO DRY and I'm thinking he's right. I may try the same thing with some ground beef at some point and a brown gravy. Everyone seems to jump up and down when you mention this food or that food but what he basically said is that the goal at this point is just to find things that will actually go/stay down without making you sick or stuffed and in pain. I am seriously a very slow eater but it hasn't helped me here bc even eating slowly, putting utensil down between bites, chewing slowly, etc. some things are just making me feel like I ate a whole slab of beef! The eggs may work well bc they're scrambled? maybe the gravy makes it mushy enough? I don't know but I can't do 'pureed' and he said not to try chicken bc I was asking if I could make a chicken salad (NO) and so I'm just like you WTH can I eat? LOL my list says eggs, pureed veg, yogurt & pudding. at the end of week tomorrow that's 4 weeks and I guess I could move to the next stage but frankly not comfortable moving forward after another mashed potato fiasco today. I have a cake "frosting" recipe made of SF cool whip, dry pkg of sf jello and crushed pineapple and I'm very tempted to make it. I've only had one chocolate protein drink/shake and I mixed w/ice in blender and put sf whipped topping and it was like a milkshake but I'm not much into sweets so I may just have to make myself drink them.

I know the feeling well. I was so hungry the 5 days before I was given the OK to eat pureed food, then I made egg salad, eggs mayo mustard, it was ok but gave me terrible bloating. Never touched it again. Been eating instant mashed potatoes and protein drinks. I'm so hungry for real food. Wish I had a good understanding of what exactly I'm to do to make pureed chicken. Sounds very dry and ick to me.

Had mine on Aug 14th. Was on my "liquid" diet which was anything but liquid for 4 weeks. They called it the liver shrink and was basically 500 calories worth of salt free canned green beans, 6 oz canned chicken, 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese and 1/2 cup beef gelatin jello. I dropped 25 lbs on it. Now I'm 12 days post op and started the puree diet 4 days ago. I've mainly been drinking protein drinks and eating instant mashed potatoes 1/4 cup at a time for a daily total of 3/4 cups. I know that's not right but eggs made me sick and I've not been to the store yet for chicken. Not sure what I'm supposed to be doing really but I've dropped another 6 lbs since surgery. I think I'll get some baby food if I can find it without sugar or natural sugar. I've no clue how to puree chicken or turkey. I'm pretty lost in all of this. Looking forward to getting brain function (I made myself a cup of tea with monk sugar, drank nearly all of it and when I went to wash the thermos I realized I forget to add the tea bag) SMH, and energy back. Tummy feels fine now, swelling is mostly gone. How are you doing now? You're just a day behind me.

losing your appetite is common - chronic nausea is not. There's a chance you could have a stricture developing - I had two of them during the first three months post-op (when they almost always occur, if they're going to occur). It started with nausea after eating - then vomiting after eating. As it progresses, you can't even keep fluids down. Check with a doctor - that may not be what it is, but if it is, you need to get that fixed (and it's a very easy fix). You can live for awhile without food, but not without fluids.

Anyone having food dreams? I had my bypass on the 15th and I’m not hungry and don’t really care about food. But today I had this funny dream about my husband bringing me nachos and we both just forgot all the limitations. I ate some and then I freaked out because I thought it was going to cause some sort of catastrophe. I woke up laughing about it.

I did. Liquid through soft food phases were easier for me. When I started regular solid food at 5 weeks, I felt heavy restriction. I was relieved because I wanted that. Didn't think the surgery worked during those early times. Soft food passes through easier and nerves were cut during your WLS. Until they regenerate, you will have an easier time eating certain foods. Sounds to me like that has happened. Regeneration.

Hello, had my gastric bypass on the 18th! Thankful to find a group of buddies who are on a similar timeline as me. So far so good for me, just not liking the "full feeling" that I get in my chest/sternum. But still on full liquid/puree diet at this point. Weird thing is I am craving toast and not sure why that is. Of course not allowed at this stage, so will have to avoid that and find a way to work through that.

Different times of the year I do different things. Like above said, I plan leftovers to take for lunch or snack. Early on I would drink some protein shake. Later I had one oz of chicken or a hard boiled egg. Eggs stay better in the cooler months. This summer I put 1oz of fresh walnuts into a toddler sized food container with whatever blueberries I could get in too. It was my perfect anti-hangry fix. The venison and turkey jerky from Trader Joe’s held hunger off, but also were too salty (for me). Other post surgery folks smoke their own meat (popular in New England where I’m from).

Do you mean snacks to take to work or something? You can prepare those in advance. If you're home you can just stock up your fridge with variations on the suggestions. My go-to snacks are still deli meat (or, better still, meat leftover from last night's dinner) raw nuts and cheese. They will get you through almost every situation. Honestly I haven't had a bar since my surgery - they just don't seem like proper food any more and most are laced with sugar. As you get further out veg (like celery sticks and some sort of hummus or dip or soft cheese) or berries are also good and you can get those at short notice almost everywhere. High protein yoghurts are also great.

I don't think that its likely to be a stricture because with a stricture you can not swallow anything, food or water. What you are describing is different. Many of us really find foods that we loved pre surgery are totally off the menu now. It has taken me almost two years to eat cooked salmon again. Raw salmon, gravadlax or smoked was delicious to me. Chicken took me 18 months. I have just started eating avocado but its not my 1st choice. The nausea could be because your diet is mainly liquid or you may need a anti nausea medication. Our stomachs are tiny now but have the same amount of acid as before, when you have little to nothing inside you then it has nothing to work on. I found tiny pieces of hard cheese put on my tongue and allowed to dissolve very beneficial. They helped with the nausea and the awful taste in my mouth for a while The lack of appetite is a thing. You really need to power through and make yourself eat something. I found six tiny meals suited me better. My team were very ok with this.

My journey til surgery was 5 months I didn’t see my surgeon until I had completed all requirements of Medicare. started March 31st had 4 weight ins at my pcp office, a psych eval, a dietitian eval. An orientation at the local hospital. And 2 support meetings. Within 30 days I needed full blood panel, and 2 years of medical history provided by my pcp and a letter of medical clearance. Met with Doctors team leader 1st.. then 5 days later meet with the Doctor on a Tues Aug 8th Asked if fast track was ok … why yes it is. Scheduled me for the following Thursday, August 17. started my liquid diet the next day. I was his last for the day because Medicare required me to stay overnight, everything went great. I’m a week out and started soft food today. Hw 219.5 / Sw 202 / Cw 195.5 / Gw 140 I’m almost 67 and 5’ 2.5”

I had my surgery on July 25th, RNY. I'm in Europe and we have very loose guidelines around eating afterwards (pureed and soft for several days, and then solids as we feel we can handle them). For the first month, nothing - and I mean NOTHING - upset my stomach or made me feel sick. I bounced right back from surgery and worried that my appetite was too healthy. Now, suddenly at the 1 month mark, I've lost my appetite completely and I feel quite nauseous when I eat anything at all. Has anyone else ever had a change in their reactions to food like that? From good to bad?

Hello from the Netherlands! I had my surgery on July 25th, and it sounds like our programs are nearly identical. Soft foods for a few days, and then we're allowed to progress to normal when we feel we are ready. I had the same concerns that you have, and I talked to my nutritionist. She assured me that ~1000 calories a day is fine, that I shouldn't even be counting calories (yeah, right) and everyone responds differently to different kinds of foods - we can't compare ourselves to others.

Protein bars that are low in sugar. Some are like candy bars so read the labels! I like Pure Protein bars that I get at Walmart. Amazon too. Great flavors. Only problem is long list of artificial ingredients. RX bars have more sugar, but better ingredients I also like certain low sugar yogurts such as Oikos Triple Zero, Ratio with 25 grams of protein and Skyyr Icelandic yogurt made by a couple different brands. Also, boiled eggs, cottage cheese and cheese sticks are good. Sent from my SM-G981U1 using Tapatalk

Yeah I've found cooking anything in chicken bone broth and adding a jar of the chicken puree to things really amps up the protein and if I'm struggling with getting my food in, I'll mix my unflavored protein powder in to make it less to eat to get all my protein for the day. Last night I made kraft mac and cheese because I was craving it majorly and i made it liquidy with extra milk and then added a full scoop of protein powder so the serving I made up was half of my protein for the day. (unfortunately my stomach wasn't a fan of the noodles despite them being overcooked.)

Cereals were never that popular in my generation as it seems (late Gen X). I dunno, we ate some of that stuff as children, yes, but for most of us it was more some kind of... play food or something like that. Something we wailed long enough about so our parents rolled their eyes and finally caved. Like with any other snack food. Not necessarily because of "sugar content" (that wasn't a thing back then) but because of how expensive that stuff was in my country. The late Gen X now seems to enjoy their muesli now and then but most of us seem to be like 🤢 when it comes to something like fruit loops etc. - same with porridge. I know only a few people who actually enjoy this stuff.

I missed pumpkin pie and all the pumpkin pie flavored things when I lived in New Zealand. They have pumpkin in everything but it is all savory foods, not sweet. Boggled my mind because their pumpkins are sooooo good and make amazing pies! But no one eats sweet pumpkin stuff. LOL I keep thinking maybe one day it'll catch on with the American food trend (they have actual bbq places there now!). But that's probably wishful thinking. 😂

So one thing I do is I calculate my protein goal for the day divided by what I want to eat for the day. I make it up and then it can take me a couple of hours to finish it but I get it in me, take a break for a few hours then have my second meal which also takes hours to finish. I'm almost 3 months post op and am still having a hard time with textures, so I make eggs with greek yogurt, cheese, unflavored protein powder, and ranch powder for breakfast and then my evening meal is cream of rice prepared with chicken bone broth instead of water, with at least one jar of chicken or turkey baby food puree and some parmesan cheese (high in protein!) for snacks if I'm feeling a bit like picking at something and I've already reached my protein goal, I'll have a couple of baby animal crackers or a single Simple Mills nut butter sandwich cookie. (basically anything that crunches up into a soft paste when chewed like Simple Mills' cheese crackers) But textures like Pasta or Rice are no good for me.

For me, I do 1 part sugar free blue or yellow Powerade/Gatorade and 2 parts water. Or use true lemon powder packets with the stevia sweetener. So long as my water has SOMETHING in it, I can drink it but it's too "thin" that I gag trying to swallow it. Warm chicken bone broth with some garlic powder was my go to for the first few weeks because it soothed my stomach, but the salt made my feet and legs get all swollen. Even with being able to drink.. I still struggle getting enough but that is getting better! It's still hard for me to not drink anything when I eat. Food gets stuck in the back of my throat, so I usually take the tiniest sip just to get it down without choking me but I have to be super careful that I don't sip too much.

All the above, and you can add unflavored protein powder to your meals for extra protein. I enjoyed foods that were already a pureed texture. You may still want to supplement your protein until you're on regular foods and eating a bit more.