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Awesome! I am 17 days out and have finally started getting some energy back because I'm now able to eat yogurt, thinned refried beans, hummus, and tuna.

Awesome! I am 17 days out and have finally started getting some energy back because I'm now able to eat yogurt, thinned refried beans, hummus, and tuna.

I'm looking on the BariatricPal shopping site now and on Sam's and Amazon. Sweets have never been my thing much so a protein bar seems like a candy bar, which is awesome for some folks. I like savory snacks like Cheetos, Potato Chips and Popcorn, etc. (which is why my fat arse needed surgery to begin with) and was looking at the Protein Chips options and saw a big tub of cheetoh type cheese balls on Sams for around $20 and some things that look like Doritos from various companies. Obviously, I don't want to sit around eating chips and snacks all day bc even the healthy snacks add up pretty quick calorie wise but I'd like to find some snacks as well that are "light" versions but satisfying. I will say MsTeeTee that if you want a simple protein snack, I purchased a 10 pack of boneless, skinless pre-cooked, seasoned diced chicken breasts which was in 3.5 oz individual portion vacuum sealed packs. It was $14.99 which isn't a great bargain but for just one person, convenient. I'm retired but if I were working a regular job I think I'd buy some meats up, marinate/season them and cook them and freeze them up in Rubbermaid small containers. I've already done that with several varieties of beans (red beans, Lima beans, 15 bean soup mix and cream peas) and it makes it an easy lunch or dinner. I'm not sure when(if) we get to eat things like pork, burgers, steak, etc. but things like chicken, pork, steak fajita mix thrown in a small container with a low carb tortilla would make a quick snack. I saw a cute idea at a convenience store where they had taken hamburger meat and shaped it into the shape of a hot dog. I was thinking of doing that and tossing in the air fryer, again, using lc tortilla. If you wanted to make 10 or 20 of the hamburger dogs and toss them in zippy bags for a lunch bag when you leave home, it could make things very convenient later in the day. IF you aren't into cooking Tyson and Springer Mountain both make bags of 8 oz pre-cooked chicken you could buy already made. I'm looking forward to getting to the stage where I can eat something besides soft bc I'm not doing so well on it so far, I'm only tolerating eggs w/sausage gravy, some beans, cream of chicken soup, yogurt. Good luck with finding snacks!

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.

Deli meat, jerky, nuts, peanut butter with a peeled apple, cheese and grapes. I always have a Amfit bar from Amazon in my bag for emergencies. We can buy tinned fish like tuna salads and sardines in tomato sauce. Protein yogurts are everywhere now, find a brand you like.

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

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.

I don’t see cereal as a good option for me since surgery. I’m post sleeve -5 years. You have to be careful with cereals bc alot of brands claim to be “healthy” but they have hidden sugars etc-and tons of carbs w little or no protien in them aside from the milk. I feel like for me cereal would be more of a slider food. Like it wouldn’t fill you up. Not a lot of protein in it. Also, I’m not a breakfast person so that’s prob easier for me to say too. Bc I’m not. My go to is Ratio Coconut Yogurt w fresh blueberries. Ratio is low in sugar 3, 25g protein and 170 calories, 8 carbs

I could not do the puree stage. Pureed meat just was not for me. I had soft cheese, squashed cottage cheese, soups with lentils in for extra protein [squashed with a fork]] Potatoes mashed with grated cheese with gravy, protein yogurts. As you can see I like dairy produce. Milk blended with peanut butter and banana

I went to my nutrition thing today and they told us no blending things into our protein drinks for several months because of indigestible fiber bits? I don't know. I was bummed out, I like adding things to shakes! But every program is different so you might ask your dietician about it? They also said it is really important to progress the stages even if you have food aversion. To keep trying because the body needs more nutrition than you are getting in those shakes and the stomach needs to progress gradually towards normal foods. I thought that was really interesting. I hate pureed things so I figured I'd just keep doing liquids but after that I've spent the rest of the day thinking about things I can eat that don't have weird pureed textures. Like yogurt, protein puddings, sugar free puddings, blended soups and stews, instant oatmeal, more yogurt, etc... I think I can handle a week of that! Especially after all those liquids... I've also found a lot of good pureed recipes in bariatric cookbooks too! Things I never thought of like sugar free custard, blended lentil soups, eating hummus by the spoonful, cold soups like cucumber soup (the cooked kind) and the ever famous ricotta bake!

Milk is full of protein and low in calories if you use full skimmed milk. Buy protein yogurts if you can find ones you can eat or Greek yogurt has lots of protein in it. Soups with lentils are usually mushy and have plenty of protein. I ate all the soft cheeses too. I could not eat eggs for nearly 1 and a 1/2 years after surgery. I tried them monthly. So nasty. I still have foods that disagree with me. I am a similar age and a similar starting size to you so I understand your sleepiness. I slept all the time whilst recovering. it was like nana naps on steroids. I think the anaesthetic makes you have brain fog. All these symptoms pass when you manage to hit all your liquid and food goals. Now I have so much energy, it makes me smile every day

I'm almost 4 months out (September 1 will be 4 months). I don't like eating breakfast, so I still do a protein supplement then. I like the Bariatric Pal protein shots which have 25g protein. You can find them in the Bariatric pal store, and i think Amazon, if you're interested. They are 3 oz shots, but i add them to 4 or more oz of water because they are tart on their own. I asked my nutritionist about them vs the other protein supplements out there and he was okay with them. I normally get 60-80g of protein per day, sometimes more dependingon the day and how hungry i am that day. I usually have high protein yogurt, a variety of lean animal protein, reduced fat cheese, hummus or vegetable proteins throughout the day. I mix this up each day for variety. If I'm going to be short my goal, I'll do another protein shot. For you, if your program allows, you can have strained soups and add unflavored protein powder to them to get a variety of flavor besides primer protein. And once you're on puree, you can add protein powder to those meals as well. I needed variety and most protein supplements tasted awful to me. Are you working to get your fluid goals in too? In the early days, and even now, I feel like I am drinking ALL day. At 5 days, don't feel pressured to hit all your goals each day because you're still pretty swollen from surgery at this point, just work on getting there. You protein drinks count towards this and it's great you're able to get two in. Hydration, protein, and your vitamins and supplements are so important. If I remember you had the sleeve, so I'm not sure what long term vitamins and supplements look like for you, but for now, make sure you're taking them each day as your doctor or nutritionist suggests. For RNY folks, those are for life. How are you feeling?

I am averaging about 80g protein per day and I am as of today 19 weeks post-op. I still have a protein shake most days, but it's in the form of a Proffee. I will either use a Core Power or Nutrition Plan shake as my milk mixed with espresso or have a Chike iced protein coffee packet and mix with part water, part Fairlife skim milk. I also like to add a scoop of collagen. So it's 30g+ of protein to start the day. Midday there is usually some version of eggs and/or cheese somewhere in the 12g of protein range or an Oikos Triple Zero or Oikos Pro yogurt which is 15-20g. Lately I have been adding some blueberries and Catalina Crunch cereal in yogurt for texture which adds another few grams of protein. Dinner is almost always some form of protein and veggie. Grilled chicken, ground turkey/chicken/extra lean ground beef, tuna pouch, chicken burger. I like to make cottage cheese bowls, so maybe some turkey taco meat and mix w cottage cheese and some low fat mexican cheese blend, lettuce, tomatoes and some salsa. I even mix my tuna with cottage cheese and have it with sliced cucumber and tomatoes. The portion of meat can range depending on the way it's cooked and what else I'm mixing in, but I can manage 3.5 ozs or up to 4oz of a protein. I can't seem to manage 5 small meals so it usually lands around 3-4 small meals/snacks. Depending on the day my restriction doesn't leave me wanting to have a lot of solid food. If I'm coming up a little short and don't want to eat more, I will drink some Protein2O protein water. I do also love the Quest Protein Chips - my #1 is now the Spicy Sweet Chili flavor. I keep them around for days I either don't want to eat something heavier or when I'm with friends and they are having the regular chips. They pack 19g protein a bag.

I'm down 50lbs from right before my pre-op diet but, I've been struggling with textures still, but I found some solutions for the meantime until I can tolerate more. I can't do the protein shakes anymore but I add unflavored protein powder to anything I can. Cream of wheat/rice cooked in chicken bone broth with a bit of cheese is a great high protein base for things. To increase the protein I started adding a jar of baby food chicken or turkey. I occasionally add a jar of the veggie blends to it if I want to change things up. I also am really liking greek yogurt- ranch powder for savory cravings and sugar free jelly or fruit baby food jar mixed in. Going to make some frozen bars with that. But I can eat the ranch blend with a spoon straight out of the tub. The other thing I've been doing is using liquid egg substitute, mixing that with the ranch yogurt and cheese and cooking it up that way to make nice fluffy eggs with flavor and lots of protein. Gotta have my sugar free ketchup though! Another thing that helps me with the nausea feelings is baby animal crackers. I've found I'm having heavy cycles since surgery so I'm craving carbs around that time, and those have iron in them. Not trying to become anemic and these are lower carb and break down pretty easily without textures. For fluids, I cannot drink plain water. I gag and can't tolerate it at all. It has to have some sort of flavor and "thickness" or "body" to it. So I do 1/3 of a bottle of sugar free powerade and fill the rest of the bottle up with water. The true lemon powdered drinks with stevia are good too! But I'm trying really hard to get my fluids in.. it's a hard task every day. All of my bloodwork is fantastic thankfully... but hydration is holding me back. I've had both legs swelling up daily from dehydrated water retention. Minimal hair falling out but some.

Okay. But by eating mashed potatoes, you’re eating both vegetables and carbs. I’m with you on the fish, unless you’re making something like salmon mousse. There are websites that sell low carb versions of some of our favorite foods, including Bariatric Pal, Bariatric Eating, and Diet Direct. My post-surgery regimen went: liquid (broth, shakes), soft foods (yogurt, ricotta, cottage cheese, eggs), soft cheeses, soft fish, hard cheeses, flaky fish, chicken and low carb veggies, the rest of the meat group.

My list of soft foods from dr is mashed Potatoes eggs pureed fish (I can’t even) puréed veg yogurt/pudding after the initial soft food week 3 (4 for me) I am supposed to switch to proteins @50% then veg or carb last im planning on mashed beans, mashed potatoes and eggs and yogurt for a week or two

I had mine 8/1/23 and last food I had was 7/31 so 3 weeks today of clears, I asked about protein shakes and they said I could get the Ensure clear protein drink but no shakes! I can’t drink it because it’s so sweet it gags me so I’ve lived on broth and a lot of water and snowcones w/ sf syrup and popsicles. Three days ago I had cooked/frozen several large batches of Lima, Red beans, cream peas and bean soup. I had some of the bean broth bc it had a bit of substance and it seemed to be all that kept me going. I ran out and went back to broth with seasoning but finally started using 1 small can cream of chicken soup to a quart of chicken broth plus 2 cups water and cooked down with a bunch of Cajun spice. I go back to surgeon tomorrow and am supposed to be put on soft puréed food, eggs, mashed potatoes and yogurts per their instructions and I am certain that if I don’t gnaw my arm off by then I will come home and eat the best eggs and potatoes of my life 🤣 I have been starving for the last 10 days and I’m pretty sure my stomach has healed bc it growls and gives hunger pains about 90-120 post broth meals.

Thanks it’s saying 60-80 so if you’re not absorbing 30-40 percent makes sense. But you had me at reducing the sagging skin! That’s been one of my biggest fears is that I will look much older after I lose weight. I remember a lady I knew who lost weight and her face looked so different and just dropped 😢. Unless I have issues I don’t think I’ll have a problem with getting that much, 3 servings of Greek yogurt is good 👍

When my doctor told me to change my eating habits within that first year or 2 of major restriction, I took it seriously. I learned how to make better choices 80% of the time. Don’t get me wrong, I eat chips, dips, pizza, cake & all the other bad stuff. I even drink beer. However, I eat and drink in moderation and I do it occasionally. I stay away from sugary drinks and those extra calories that add up quickly—most of the time. I  do indulge occasionally. I also learned easy swaps when cooking to help reduce calories. For example, I cook with cooking spay, not oil. I use lean ground turkey meat, chicken breast, and other lean meats. I still wake and go with a Greek yogurt for Breakfast, and I will add Protein Powder in the mix & top with fresh fruit. I love eggs in so many combinations, and if I want eggs with bacon or cheese (or other high calorie toppings/sides, I’ll use egg whites instead of the whole egg. I do zucchini noodles instead of pasta…all these little things that have become habitual are what make a BIG difference in the long run. I literally changed my eating lifestyle. The 2nd component was body composition. I started lifting weights. Heavy weights…for me. The heavy lifting helped me add muscle and lean out at the same time. I don’t do cardio…or, I hardly EVER do cardio. I hate it. My fitness is purely from heavy weightlifting. It became another aspect of my lifestyle. I have lifted 4-6 days a week…Consistently…Year round…Since I was sleeved & released for physical activity. If I’m on vacation, I’m on vacation. If there’s an emergency, there’s an emergency. However! Tired. Not tired. I go to the gym. I think of it as my job. Whether I want up go or not, I have to work. And yes, I still have restriction 10 years out! But sliders are definitely still a thing, and if I stick to my Protein, veggies, and complex carbs, I don’t really crave or care to indulge in those sliders too often! Bottom line. It’s a lifestyle change. Change your habits. Be consistent.

The Dr or dietician didn't layout a post op plan? That's unfortunate . Yes , I was on soft foods like scrambled eggs at about 2 weeks. Sugar free pudding/jello/yogurt as well. Sent from my SM-G981U1 using Tapatalk

The Dr or dietician didn't layout a post op plan? That's unfortunate . Yes , I was on soft foods like scrambled eggs at about 2 weeks. Sugar free pudding/jello/yogurt as well. Sent from my SM-G981U1 using Tapatalk

Lipman, you are killing it! Great job! Lindsay, under 200 is incredible and you're not that far-off your goal. Amazing! I'm still consistently losing weekly and haven't had a stall since the dreaded 2 week PO one. This week I lost 1.5 kilos (3.3 pounds), I had a similar loss the week before too. Usually they're less so it's been nice! So I'm 28.7 kilograms (63 pounds) down since the pre op diet. I've lost 18.5% of my total weight. They estimate you lose around 30% on average the first year, I'm well on the way there at 14 weeks PO. I'm eating really well and had been getting over 70 grams of protein a day consistently but that's dropped the past week. Some of it was due to little hunger and feeling more restriction. Need to make sure my main meals are a bit higher in protein. I really need to do better with fluids, it's always been an issue. And exercise needs to become a habit, I bought an exercise bike so no excuses now! Overall though I'm doing great. A bit low energy this week and for some reason I've thrown up my dinner 2 nights in a row? Eating too fast perhaps or my tummy rejected potato that was airfried? First time I'd been sick since surgery. Lindsay I highly recommend the Ninja Creami if you love your ice cream as you can make your own healthier versions. I've had mine about a month and love it. I have a bowl every day of homemade frozen yoghurt. Last night was vanilla sprinkled with raspberry and coconut granola, 20 grams protein. I made a strawberry one earlier this week using strawberry yogurt and fresh strawberries that was soooo good, hubby and 19yo loved it too, definitely making it again. I hope everyone here is doing well, especially @Synlee.

I think we are all eating the same stuff. I’ve had way more cherries this summer than ever before. And my BF just had smoked salmon. A scratch made Belgian waffle! I made it with Greek yogurt and collagen powder. Anyone else taking collagen? How do you hide/incorporate it? I usually add it to a Chai latte or London fog.

I think you are smart to wait. I would get a few things to have at the ready, but don’t go crazy. Like with protein shakes, if you have the option of getting single ones or a 4 pack of different brands to see what you might tolerate after. Broth is good and mostly won’t go to waste. I mistakenly bought a case of Recovery Water and I can’t stand the taste. I would just say to just be sure to have your vitamins and calcium ready and the foods you can sort out later. I know every program is different and some people start vitamins at different times. I started the day after I came home from the hospital. I also wasn’t on a liquid diet after surgery, but went straight to puréed stage. So mostly cottage cheese, yogurt, puréed soups and the shakes. Best of luck!