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Talk to your nutritionist on how to plan for this trip. They will be most helpful in figuring out what you should bring with you and what you can eat of local foods. There are different types of vegetarians and you don't specify what type you are because that could make a difference of what you can eat. Nuts have protein and easy to carry but you have to ask your nutritionist if you'll able to eat them. Now I'm not a vegetarian but I do buy Kay's Natural protein snacks and cereals. They have 12g of protein in them and some in individual packages. Ask again if your nutritionist says it's okay to use. Quest Protein Bars are great and they are made with Stevia. They have 20 or 21 grams of protein in them. These are okay with my nutritionist but again check with yours. These are just a few ideas but I suggest you find out what the foods are there and go from there to help you plan out a strategy. Have enjoyable trip.

Two months post-op might be too soon for protein bars and nuts, but every clinic has a different plan, so as others have said, it would be best to talk with your team. I think the protein powders to mix with water might be your best bet.

Hi Yaya! Congrats on your surgery date! I managed the diet very well, actually. I only had to do it for one week, but it was still pretty easy. Make sure you drink about 3 protein shakes a day with no more than 15g of carbs and no more than 5g of fat, unless your doctor says otherwise. You can also have yogurt and soups. I recommend tomato soup and broth. Also, strained and watered down cream of chicken soup (make sure to not swallow any chicken bits). Are they requiring you to do clear liquids at any time?

Ugh that's rough. Have you tried the pouch reset diet? You do a test to see how much cottage cheese your pouch allows then measure what you took out of the container with Water. Based on the amount of water in there, you can determine if your pouch has stretched or not. Then you go on the re-set diet. I've heard this mentioned a lot for people in your shoes. http://www.bariatricfoodie.com/the-5-day-pouch-test-cottage-cheese/ Like everyone says, back to basics. Protein first, Vitamins and water. It's really hard to do this without the support of the people closest to you and it's so easy to be tempted. I've been depressed as well, and what's lifting my spirits is controlling my diet using this tool and seeing the pounds go down. Do you have the time to plan your meals for the next day? It sounds like you're not the one controlling your diet, and I bet if you meal planned for the next day, you wouldn't get stuck with only bad choices. Preparation is the key to success. I know it can be hard to find the motivation to meal prep or exercise, but i think a big source of relieving depression is finding control of your life. Can you talk to your husband/parents about how their behavior is affecting you? I'm so sorry you're going through this. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Hello! I'm about 2.5 months out from band to sleeve revision. I'm down 13 pounds since surgery. I'm very pleased!! I'm exercising daily - mainly walking/hiking outside with my dog or on the elliptical at the gym. I'm starting a "personal fitness quest" at the gym tomorrow (once a week butt kicking by a PT basically lol). Most days I have to remind myself to eat. I just went from liquids to puréed a couple weeks ago. I still drink at least one Protein shake per day most days - some days I just can't choke one down. This week I feel like I'm starving all day long. I just started my cycle. Wondering if that has something to do with my feeling so hungry. Nothing else is new or different really. Is my exercising catching up to me? I generally get up to 800 calories when I'm using my skim milk and fruit in my shakes and sometimes close to 900. Since I started puréed foods I've made puréed tuna (with spicy mustard) and chicken (buffalo chicken) and eat maybe half a cup of food in a meal. I like cream of whet but not really much protein there...if I have it I have it with the fairlife skim milk which has 13g of protein per cup. But sometimes diary makes me feel nauseous. So any advice? I think I'm eating the right amount of food. I'm eating my protein first. I'm constantly sipping Water. I just find it so strange to be feeling this hungry! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

@@her1981 Mine stays pretty low fat because unlike a regular low carb diet that says eat whatever meats you want I stick to the lean meats, chicken, turkey, Seafood ect... Once I eat a lower fat protein and a couple bites of a vegetable (green) I'm done. That keeps the fat content on the lower side. I also still drink a ready made shake for one of my meals at least once a day. Usually breakfast. I'd say the most fat I ever get in a day is from nuts or avocado and they are both healthy fats.

December 28 was my sleeve surgery date. Had to be at the hospital at 7:00 am, for pre-op. I was in a private room after surgery, by about noon, my wife tells me.I woke up to the worst pain I have ever been in, but it honestly did not last too long. The nursing staff had me up and walking a few hours later. I did a lot of walking on my own, after that. I used the morphine pump pretty sparingly on the first day. The fist night in the hospital was terrible. I was exhausted from not getting any real meaningful sleep in the days prior to surgery. Well, the nursing staff woke me every hour and a half or so, for meds and vitals. Day 2, Very little pain, most of which was gas pain. They took my morphine pump because I had not used it since the prior evening. I walked several times during the day, and I began to have serious shin and calf pain in both legs. I hadn't thought about it, but I was walking sock footed, instead of putting on shoes, which was hell on my legs. I got a little bit of sleep last night, more than the night before. Day 3, My surgeon came in early this morning, and said that he ordered an ultrasound of my legs, to be sure I did not have clotting. He said if I ate my liquids Breakfast, and kept it down, and my legs were free of clots, that I would be going home by lunch today. I was discharged around 11 am today.I can honestly say that the pain overall, was manageable, and on a scale of 1-10, probably a 2. Since I have been home, I have drank most of a Protein shake, and some Water. This gas pain is unreal at times, coming in waves. The pain lasts no more than 10 or 15 seconds, then goes away. Again, manageable pain. I got on my home scale (it is a very accurate, old style doctors office scale, with the slide weights), before leaving home Monday morning, and my weight was 329. When I got home today, I was at 319. When I started this process, my weight was 349. I lost 20 pounds during the pre-surgery diet (I was on it for 3 weeks instead of 2). Anyone wanting to know more about my surgery, who has surgery coming up, I'd be glad to tell you my experience.

I will be there August 9 with DrLopez as well. I am doing the pre op diet now. I found these Protein drinks that have30 grams of protein. They even taste good. How are you doing with yours?

Hi, I have been out of surgery for about 2 months now & I've been stalled at a certain weight (down 30 lbs or so)...my issue is that I can't get in my Protein. It hurts my stomach and makes me feel like crap after I try to drink the shakes. Anyone experience this? I've tried premier Protein Shakes and optimum nutrition whey protein and they're too hard to drink. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

whole foods has a whey Protein shake mix that has stevia. chocolate and vanilla. so pop in there if you have one close by. I think it was the 365 brand.

I wanted to add a positive account of my 2 weeks post-op, to give pre-op folks some comfort. After minor episodes of mild incision pain and occasional bouts of nausea as my new stomach got used to digestion again over the last 2 weeks, my body is feeling almost completely normal again. I am in awe of its ability to heal itself. - My incisions are 4 very small cuts (belly-button, sternum, left and ride side of torso) which do not hurt at all anymore. I have some itching occasionally, but I understand that this signals healing. - I can drink Water in normal larger sips now (and even if I forget and take a larger gulp, there is no discomfort) - I have almost completely gone off the taste of Protein shakes (can only manage Core Power banana milkshakes even though, as one user pointed out, these are higher in carbs, so I don't drink more than 1 a day). I get most of my protein through my vegetarian puree diet (Beans, tofu, cottage cheese, (no eggs)) and through adding GENEPRO to my 3-daily cups of tea. - I feel fullness/restriction much better now that I'm on purees (compared to when I was on full liquids - I have to guess if I'd had enough Soup as that flows through rather quickly). A couple of times I've eaten my pureed dinner a bit too quickly and have felt nauseous for 15-20 minutes. That's something to remember with the VSG surgery - your body can feel so normal after a while that you 'forget' about the limitations of your new stomach. - I've lost 14 lbs since surgery and 20 lbs since my highest weight. But mentally, I want to focus on healing rather than weight loss at this stage. I know the weight loss will come - it can't not! I see and feel slight changes in my shape already. - I took 4 weeks off work (because luckily, I could) but could have easily gone back to my office job this week. - I walk 2 miles every evening and while I'm not allowed anything more strenuous for another 4 weeks, I did help pack and unpack furniture and other bits while our home was being decorated these last 2 weeks. I also flew to the Caribbean and back (for a convalescing vacation) without any issues. Take comfort from no-complication stories like mine - as miserable as you might feel a day or two after surgery, your body is designed to snap back quicker than you think.

*Scrambled eggs with a bit of cottage cheese mixed in to make them super moist *Refried beans with melted cheese and green chili sauce *Hummus *Guacamole *Pureed tuna fish (yes, this was good with a dab of mustard) *Plain Greek yogurt flavored with protein powder and/or Torani syrups *Any kind of soup I could find that didn't contain rice or noodles....pureed with unflavored protein powder added *I also continued with my protein drinks thoughout all stages as they are an easy way to help meet protein and fluid goals.

My favorite pureed food was........two scoops of Protein powder over ice and Water.......shake, stir and enjoy. Sorry....I didn't do pureed food stage. I was scared of it. I needed the extra time on shakes to get me further away from food, in general. I need those extra weeks to simply stay the course and redefine my thoughts and responses to foods. I had to approach it this way for my own well being. Glad I did.

Thank you all for the suggestions! I really hate fake sugars. Aspartame and Splenda taste like bitter poison to me. Finding Protein shakes that are low in sugar but don't use either of those sweeteners is a challenge! I'm preop and trying to find options that will work post surgery. I suspect I'll need to figure out ways to use the unflavored whey powders. I've been using Calnutrale "Svelte" shakes. They have stevia and taste pretty good but they only have about 11g of protein.

Howdy fellow sleevers Cindy and Elode, pleasure to meet you ! I have to say.. this site has been a heaven send and has helped me during the times when I felt like no one else knew how I was feeling !! Hows the recovery so far gals ? any hints tips for the liquid phase ? my NUT and practise manager are both quite strict on the things we can and cannot do, but I am also finding that a lot of great products are hard to come by "down unda" I would love to be able to sip on a Protein ice!! the closest thing I have found to this is the Isopure, which isnt too bad at all, but the flavours of the protein ice sound spectacular !

How have you guys been doing who have toddlers? I have a 18 month old and was recently sleeved 8/25. I'm beginning to feel like my old self again. My toddler is constantly clinging to me and will cry ridiculously for my protein shakes...lol It's hard to adjust family life and my new sleeve but we're getting there steadily.

You are averaging about 10 pounds per month, I think that's great! You have not failed. Like most have said, you may just need to tweek your eating plan to make sure you are getting enough calories, Protein and Water. Let your Bariatric team know what's going on...call them. I have noticed that sometimes family is the last to see our weight loss. In my case it seems to be people I see randomly, like the cashier at the grocery store or the dog groomer. Hang in there and be proud of what you have already accomplished!

Surgery in May. Doing well. Lost 55 pounds so far!!! Been at a stall for a couple weeks- so I tried extra hard to get in my Protein and fluids and I've gained almost 3 pounds. I trying not to flip out. Curious if anyone can relate? Thank you Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I'm concerned because I'm almost 1 week post op (surgery 9/12/16)and haven't lost any weight. I even think I may have gained a pound. Has anyone else had this issue, is it normal for this to happen, and/or how do you fix this? I don't consume anything that isn't allowed. Just liquids...protein shakes, broths, sf popsicles and jello, and sf apple juice. Please help me get back on track. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using the BariatricPal App

Be sure to meet your Protein and Fluid amounts and take Vitamins. If you're on meds for your blood pressure - they may need adjusting too. You've been through major surgery - you'll be exhausted for a while.

Okay new recipe that whole family will love. You might need to serve it to them over rice, for carbs, but I eat it as is, or over spaghetti squash, or miracle noodles (actually I ordered some, I have not tried them yet, but they have zero calories and carbs, I ordered some) Ok, bored with Protein and 600 calorie stage 3 and 4 diet so I have used my cooking skills, over 30 years in the restaurant industry, to come up with a tasty good for US Chinese dish! This makes a lot, it freezes pretty well, adjust for your desired amount. I like to cook ahead and freeze. 2 24oz packages of turkey tenderloin (I got them as buy one get one free) 1 can chicken broth 1 large can Chinese lo mein veggies 2 cans sliced Water chestnuts 2 cans bamboo slices 1 lb fresh snow peas 1 packaged sliced Portobello mushrooms 1 zucchini, diced 2 bunches green onions 6 garlic gloves diced 1 cinnamon stick 1 tablespoon pumpkin spice ( I didn't have all spice or 5 spice, it is really close, plus every cook has some) 2 table spoons red pepper flakes 2 tablespoons Cajun spice 2 tablespoons squeeze bottle fresh ginger, or diced fresh 5 tablespoons amino acid, which you will find has zero calories, and is a perfect substitute for soy sauce 2 packages of mushroom gravy mix, store brand, usually 25 calories for serving, 4 to a packet, this makes a lot 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 3 tablespoons black pepper Okay, in a pressure cooker put turkey (pork tenderloin is an acceptable substitute) broth and all the spices. cook on high pressure for 45 minutes dice veggies like onions and zucchini and open cans, drain all but the lo mein veggies (drain and save for later), while this is cooking you might want to cook a spaghetti squash, cut in half width wise, put in oven safe pan and put in over, then turn on, no need to preheat, to 460 degrees and back for 50 minutes, remove seeds after, it is easy, and don't add water, that destroys the texture and taste. Simply shred with a fork, flesh will come out like angel hair. Store in refrigerator for 5 days, reheats great in microwave. basically calorie free. okay, remove turkey to a plate to cool, slice into smaller pieces it will cool faster. Get cinnamon stick out and throw away. Add gravy packets to juice, and bring to a boil, as you stir, won't take long, then add zucchini, first, then all the rest of veggies, put lid on to just cover, and turn heat off for 10 minutes, everything will be a perfect doneness.as you are doing this tear turkey into shreds with fingers or 2 forks, you might need to allow it to cool a bit more. If so, turn rest of dish back on low, or simmer. mix in shredded turkey in Now if it is too thick for your liking add the lo mein juice to thin as you like. If you will be serving to your family over rice, they wil probably like about half the can added. I personally like a thick dish, but depending on your stage, adding the whole can of juice still makes a nice beyond thick Soup. Enjoy over spaghetti squash, or straight. I do not know the actual calories, but they are very low, I would say less than 80 for 3 oz. Almost zero carbs, and lots of protein from the turkey. The cinnamon and ginger really make this special. I prefer it to restaurant dishes.

Hi all! I am going to London and Wales for a 2 week vacation with family members and 70 lb thinner. I have been trying to come up with good protein snacks/meal replacements since I am thinking there may not be too much on the menu for me to eat since I am only 4months out. I also don't want to pay for meals that I can only take a few bites of. hubby is all for splitting meals. I have decided to make snack baggies of one Ounce nuts for after noon snacks, and looking at the Pure Protein bars to take along as a breakfast or lunch meal replacement. they are low in sugar and have about 20 grams of protein and the calorie count is about 200. Has anyone had these bars and if so did you like them? if anyone has any suggestion on what to take I would appreciate any suggestions! thank you!

I am two and a half weeks out. Doing absolutely great with weight loss. I've lost 20 pounds so far. Tracking my food and my protein and my water intake, everything is good. What I'm having is severe muscle spasms/pain on the left side of my abdomen from where they dilate those muscles and remove the stomach. Sometimes the pain is debilitating. I'm still taking my lortab and I take diazepam for muscle spasms. I also use a heating pad at night. I mostly just need to hear from others who have this pain that it will eventually go away and it's not something I should be too scared of. I had back surgery last year that turned into an infection in my spine. This led to a week in the hospital and 8 weeks of disability over an outpatient surgery so I am over worried about this pain lasting so long. Any information that anyone can provide is very much appreciated. I mostly just need to hear that I am not alone and that this will pass. If anyone can provide their personal experience of how long it took to get past this point I think it will help me. Thank you in advance.

So I just got out of my psych eval. I had to talk with the psychologist for about 30 minutes. He asked me about my family life, my support system, health history, and I volunteered up all I had researched regarding the sleeve. He didn't go too far in depth on any subject, but I offered up things I've done to prepare (gave up caffeine, soda, increased daily Protein, exercise, etc). He seemed impressed with the preparation and knowledge. So, I was then sat down with 400 True/False questions. Some were quite interesting. (I took pics of a couple of pages an will post them I can figure out how). I did notice some repetitiveness of the line of questioning with rewording or phrasing. About halfway through my questions he came in to check on me. Before he left, I asked him when I would know whether he gave me clearance. He said about a week or so, but didn't envision any problems with me passing. Whew!

So I'm just about one month in to my six month weight loss program. HA! HA HA HA! I'm still not sure where this is all going to go. My employer is changing my insurance options so drastically that this might get taken off the table. My husband's employer is releasing next years options sometime this week or next and so we will see what that offers. If we switch to his insurance - it might actually make this "quicker" meaning only that I'd only have to do a three month program instead of a six month program. His employer, though, may very well be switching to something drastic like my own employer is. And the common sentiment is that this is all "designed" to force us into a public option. Yay. Thanks. Politics aside, yes, something DOES need to happen with our insurance companies. Politics aside, I WAS happy with my insurance policy - and yes, I was lucky to have coverage! Anywho... The next week or so will tell a lot. But there is also a chance that my husband and I will go with one of the two crappy options I'm being given and this will STILL work out, too. There's a chance. But with only chances to be embracing - it's hard to stay "motivated". And by "motivated" I mean - to keep going to all the goll-derned appointments I have all over the place. Last week I had two. This week, I have one. Next week I have three. The following week I have one...that I know of so far. I think my supervisor is getting tired of this! I certainly am! And as I sit here, at my desk, begging (internally) for work - but why SHOULD they give it to me? - I wonder WHY I'm going to all these appointments if there's only a sliver of a chance? Because even if the insurance works out - doesn't mean they will ACCEPT me. On the other hand, if the insurance WILL work out - better to get these appointments taken care of while I still have the coverage I do. Less out of pocket and all that. So, like I said, hard to stay "motivated". Now, I'm parenthesizing that because I AM motivated to lose weight. I don't know that I am "motivated" to pursue this procedure anymore, though. I am STILL not drinking soda. I did have one on Saturday after a long day volunteering at a children's Halloween nature festival thingy. Had a blast doing it but man oh man my feet were killing me after all was said and done. So drank a soda. It DID taste good - but I DID NOT want another one. YAY! That's huge progress. Prior to Saturday - hadn't had one since Monday and I couldn't even drink that one because it DID NOT taste good. YAY! That's progress. One soda in a week? I'd call that good! When I got on the scale on Sunday I was DOWN four pounds. YAY! When I got on the scale today I was UP four pounds. BOO! Such is life. Such is the journey I have been on for years. Haven't changed a thing and yet.... Interestingly, with not drinking sodas anymore - as that's the single-handed biggest change I've made so far - my FACE looks better. It's not puffy. And I hadn't even realized THAT was what the problem was. It's interesting to see my jaw coming back out. My cheeks. Still more work to be done, but it's progress. I LIKE PROGRESS. Maybe tomorrow I will wake up and have magically lost those four pounds again. Maybe. But the general gist of my almost entire month of "supervised" weight loss is that...I STILL weigh the same as I did the day I checked in for the first time. I guess I can say "at least I'm not gaining...." And so the journey continues....