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The wiring between your stomach and brain is all jacked up right now. This is why measuring your food at this stage is so very, very important. It will vary between individuals, but go into with the mindset that your stomach doesn't know how to tell you it's full yet. In time that will return. Also keep in mind that liquids tend to pass through the system quickly. Unless you are drinking too fast it's not often you'll ever get a full sensation. Same thing for foods like yogurt. If it can become a liquid at room temperature then it you can basically treat it like a liquid. Just remember - measure, measure, measure!

I can only eat about 1/4 cup of meat at a time. Then 10 min later I am dry heaving. But I can eat 1/2 cup of eggs, cottage cheese and yogurt. then I am still hungry 2 hours later. My binder says I should try and eat more protein. but I can only eat a small amount of meat for example, chicken, meat balls, meat loaf, salmon. the binder also says to eat very slowly, take 20 then if you are not still hungry eat more. Should I start that? Any suggestions could help. I am also sleeve 4.5 weeks ago.

I am finishing with day 4 as well and today just plain stunk.... I feel nauseous 24/7, burping like no tomorrow and can't sit for any period of time b/c of the pressure build up. I too feel like I can feel a knot under the skin on my right side and imagine its the band area...lol... but who knows. I drank my shake way too fast this morning and thought I was going to see it again for the rest of the day. I know I need to walk more but I am just plain tired (I have Fibromyalgia) anytime I feel a change I panic thinking somethings has gone wrong. LOL... tonight after I SLOWLY ate my yogurt all of a sudden I realize I don't feel half bad, I should have been relieved but nooooo I instantly think maybe the band has slipped or something. I think its hard dealing with something you can't see or feel except internally. Makes it harder mentally. We are a work in progress..... we have done the physical repair now its time for the hard part....doing the mental repair. If you want to talk I am usually on here late at night and we can compare who is the most miserable..... remember there are many others before us that have all been down this road and have made it and so are we.....

Made this last night & it was HEAVEN! Peanut Brittle Protein shake 1 1/2 C milk + cold Water 1 serving vanilla protein powder 1 1/2 T dry sugarfree butterscotch pudding mix 1 T peanutbutter I threw in a few icecubes & blended away in my NutriBullet. You can't even taste the funk of the protein powder! It is yum! I do not have PB2 yet- but will lighten this up when I get some. I also am going to play with adding a cup of greek yogurt and freeze it. Would be an awesome icecream treat!

Whoever came up with these Greek Yogurt 100 Calorie containers is an outstanding person because this is the ONLY thing getting me through my pre-op diet. I can have one of these a day and it's becoming the highlight of my entire day. So thanks, Yoplait!

I've been adding Isopure unflavored protein to my yogurt, very surprisingly good.

Hi there! I was put on mushies on Day 11 after my surgery and it was a welcome relief. I could eat things that were really soft and mushy and didn't really require much in the way of chewing. . .like refried Beans, soft scrambled egg, Peanut Butter, cottage cheese, yogurt etc. I went home from the hospital (after 3 days) on pureed foods so was only on Clear Liquids just in the hospital. So I was pureeing lots of Soups etc just to get some decent tastes going. It gets so much easier as time goes on. Alot of people told me that but when I was in my first two weeks I thought I would never make it through! But I promise, it really does get better. The most important thing now is to get your liquids in and maybe use some non-flavored Protein powder with everything that you consume to get in the extra protein. One of my favorites now is the Kellogg's K2O drink mix that has 5 grams of protein. I drink 2 of those every day so that takes care of part of my Water intake and also 10 grams of protein. What was the date of your surgery and what diet plan do they have you on? (it seems like every surgeon is a little different with the diet plans)

Does anybody have a recipe w high protein dring mauve with some fat free yogurt ?

These additional items are on my list and I'm less than one week post-op, so they may be ok for you: Greek Yogurt (has more Protein than regular yogurt. Get a flavored one). Grits (thinned with milk or water) oatmeal or Cream of Wheat (sugar free, thinned with milk or water) Sent from my iPhone

Thanks StartingMyJourney! I forgot about the drinkable yogurt! So far I have collected the following by searching the posts: Cheeses - babybel light string cheese cottage cheese shredded cheese cream cheese pimento & cheese spread Proteins: chicken - frozen, raw; frozen pre-cooked, rotisserie Shrimp Meatballs - pre-cooked turkey bacon Canned - tuna, chicken, ham (check sodium), SPAM, salmon Beef/salami sticks lunch meats - turkey, ham, bologna, salami Sugar Free: pudding Popsicles Fudgesicles Drinks: (basically anything DIET - look for carb/sugar content) Crystal Lite Diet snapple Diet Green Tea Eggs- egg beaters, egg substitutes Yogurt - (watch for carb/sugar content) Almonds - highest in Protein from what I am finding Tofu lemons - for Water Lettuce - make wraps with lunch meat and cheese

I really don't like meat or eggs. I never have. After being being sleeved I dislike meat even more. That being said I don't know how to get my protein in. Cottage Cheese and Yogurt are tolerable, but boy that gets boring. I have refried nonfat beans almost everyday, and protein shakes. I am almost 4 weeks out & starting "real" food. Any suggestions? Have any of you tried quinoa after being sleeved?

I'll be 4 weeks out on Tuesday & I haven't tried an egg yet....but I can tell you what I've been able to eat, to see if our eating coincides? I've had chicken nuggets...can only eat 2. I have eaten pieces of cut up grilled chicken breast (bought at costco, already cooked, just need heating), & I can only eat 4 pieces of the cut up chicken & I had a 1/3 cup of over cooked cauliflower. I made a grilled ham & cheese for my son & he couldn't finish his sandwich & since I had nothing prepared for my lunch, I ate the 1/4 remaining of his sandwich & I was stuffed. I can eat 1 whole greek yogurt, or a 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes, 1 package of cream of wheat, or 1 package of oatmeal (& in both I mix in about 3 tablespoons of no sugar added apple sauce for flavor.) So how does that sound in comparison to what you can eat?

@@toasty I hate that there is a discrepancy among doctors when detailing post-op diet. Just like with pre-op dieting. Trying to filter through the information can be confusing, difficult and frustrating. I have known several people who didn't have a pureed food phase. They were given the okay to have deli meats (lean), flaky fish and even shredded chicken breast at two weeks post-op. In fact a couple of the girls I follow on Youtube talk about their diets the first 2-4 weeks and they talked about having grilled chicken and sliced deli meat with soft cheese spread. Ugh, I am so confused! On my sheet is specifically details that at days 8&9 I can have thinned cottage cheese, strained cream Soups, yogurt. Then starting on day ten I begin my Bariatric SOFT Protein diet. Then that is all my diet can consist of for almost three weeks before starting the Bariatric Regular Diet. Which would add fruits, vegetables to the already soft protein diet. Does any of this even make sense? Or am I just hungry?

I ate some rice at 5 weeks, but what helped me was to blenderize it with some sauce (chicken curry, in my case). Eating at work is really hard for me. I bring yogurt or string cheese. It takes me to long to eat, and I don't really want my co-workers asking questions. I also bring a Protein drink--Rockin' Refuel. Hope everything works out when you return to work! Shari

You can try Greek frozen yogurt, it's tasty. http://www.healthychoice.com/products/greek-frozen-yogurt/vanilla-bean-greek-frozen-yogurt

It's easy to make soups. Use unflavored or chicken flavored protein powder, combine with water or broth, and add soft cooked vegetables or lean meats. You can add even more protein with fat free greek yogurt. Spices to taste. The 14 day pre-op diet is to shrink your liver so it isn't in the surgeon's way. So the no fat, no sugar, and no alcohol part is very important.

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.

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

Advice please. Today was my first day home, after 2 nights in hospital, it's bedtime here now. Today I have managed quite a lot of water, a cup of tea, quarter cup of tomato soup and a yogurt. Am I pushing it too much? I'm on full liquids for 2-4 weeks. I feel rubbish but I think that's a combination of migraine, sore incisions and gas. What should I be doing at this stage? Thanks

I am 6 days post op and I decided since tomorrow is a week why not try an oz. of yogurt. I was so scared but I was tired of liquids. I finally had some solid food and it sat well with me!! Thank GOD!

When I student taught 16 years ago, I was quite the health nut and very thin. I'm assuming that you bring your own lunch instead of eating cafeteria food? Are you eating at the teacher's table or with the students? I always brought my own lunch and ate the same thing everyday: an orange, yogurt, and a small sandwich. The other teachers may have made a few comments about my eating the first week of school, but it soon just became "how I ate" and old news.

Sorry to hear about your suffering! I have to agree with the other folks that your first step should be to get in touch with your doctor's office as soon as they re-open after the holidays. I don't think it's a stupid question to ask why you have to stay on the liquids for so darn long. Maybe there's some good reason for torturing you...although I can't imagine what. Try to avoid wrapping your hands around your doctor's neck when you seem him though... :party: The only other thing I can offer is that tomato soup and lowfat, low-sugar yogurt are an acceptable part of my own post-op liquid diet. I've also been having sugar free Jello and sugar free and fat free pudding. I'm just coming up on my first post-op appointment on January 3rd (2 weeks post-op). At that time, the doctor decides if I can move to real "pureed" foods. Again, make sure you're getting in your Protein, which will help keep your hunger at bay, at least for a little while! Hope your clothes are already hanging off of you!

I agree with mgteacher. everything you plan before surgery will go out the window after surgery. I bought a lot of jello, flavor drink packs to add to bottled water, broth, protein powder, baby food, and other crap. after surgery my taste buds changed so much I couldn't tolerate most of what I bought. a lot tasted nasty to me. when I came home I drank water, beef broth with pepper and a looooot of sugar free popsicles. I loved popsicles because they were ice cold and my mouth would get so dry I couldn't talk. even now I keep a bottle of water with me at all times because if I talk a lot my my gets so dry. never happened before surgery. for me all protein shakes are nasty, even now I am 18 months out and cant drink protein shakes without gagging on them. I didn't puree any foods. I just stuck with soft food like yogurt, mashed potatoes with a little bit of gravy. a few times I had sugar free vanilla ice cream. I used to crave anything ice cold. and anything soft I could mush up in my mouth like cheese. you can get as many ideas as you want from people but really you need to find what works for you. they will tell you repeatedly not to drink anything with calories. water only. and sip water alllll day long. for me the problem with that is if I drink all day like youre supposed to I never get hungry and cant eat. so I modified what they told me to do. I will drink things with calories because you need calories for energy. not saying I drink soda and shit. I drink juice by a company called bottlehouse. they are just like naked juices but much cheaper. you can get them at walmart right next to naked. they are only $3.00 or so for a bottle when naked is $5.00. if I drink something with a lot of calories I consider it a meal. sometimes I blend the juice with yogurt. that makes a glass about 300 calories or so. so I consider it breakfast. everybodys story is slightly different. everybody tolerates different foods in different ways. like I had never had dumping. sugar has no effect on me. I was terrified of dumping from everything I have heard people say. then one day about year out, dumping happened I think. what did it for me was cereal and milk. I had eaten dry cereal, I had drank milk, but something about the combo of milk and cereal together made me dump. you should follow doctors orders, but sometimes you have to tweak things. what works for one person may not work for another.

Nana -- I was banded the same day as you and am facing the same boredom. Luckily my doc is a bit more liberal with the full liquids: anything thin enough to go through a straw, but no chunks. You can maybe call your doc and see if he/she can loosen up the restrictions a bit? Yesterday I tried mixing not-fat plain yogurt with fruit juice to make a kind of smoothie. It was much more interesting to drink than the Protein shakes. the mad frog lady.

The stages are a lot of trial and error. I know when I Was going through the stages one day I would LOVE something say yogurt, and the next day the thought of it made me want to puke and I couldn't eat it. If your stomach isn't handling certain foods it's ok to back track a little and stay with something you can handle then try again later and you may end up with a different result. I am over 6 weeks out and some days I can eat good and others I just Want my shakes and little food. Eventually it will all even out just makes sure your getting in your fluids, protein, and vitamins! Take your time with the foods. Are you taking b vitamins to help with energy?