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I have Celiac and was sleeved 11 months ago. One of my favorite foods is Subway????. I order a turkey sub without the bread. They put it in a salad bowl for me and I eat it with a knife & fork. Greek yogurt, string cheese and turkey bites are a staple for me. I don't eat bread at all, even gluten free. Doesn't go down or sit well????

Cottage cheese has 11-12 gms of protein per 1/2 cup. I will eat this if I am low on protein. (but I have always liked it..) Maybe worth a shot? Greek yogurt with a packet of sweetener and some cinnamon is good too!!

I've got six weeks of full liquids to look forward to so am pretty familiar with it and will be following this thread for new ideas to avoid it getting too monotonous. My basic full liquid diet prescribed by my surgeon includes: Water, Decaf tea and sugar-free non-carbonated beverages like Crystal Light and Diet Snapple. No sugar added apple, white grape and cranberry juice diluted by 1/2 with water. Sugar-free Jello. Sugar-free popsicles. Sodium-free and fat-free chicken, turkey, beef and vegetable broth. Sodium-free and fat-free cream of tomato and cream of broccoli soups - store bought only. Blended fat-free yogurt. Skim milk. Apple sauce. My nutritionist added: Greek yogurt. Whey Protein powder. Other cream soups including homemade as long as the chunks are either removed or blended completely.

Thank you for the kind words. I don't use a food journal because I make a menu on Sunday and follow that the entire week. In other words..I plan before I put the food in my mouth. My band mom "IndioGirl AKA Janet" does journal everything. I like not having surprises. I want to know exactly what I am going to eat and when I am going to eat it. Either way I think it is important to record what you are eating. That way you can go back and see what you did when you were successful and when you were not. At first I did journal but I got sick of writing "licked fingers while cooking...approx. 12 calories" yes I was that detailed:biggrin: Then I found that if I made a menu I was more likely to have less of those incidents because I am a rule follower and that worked for me. So I think either a menu or a food journal is good. Whatever fits your personality. I always ate 1 cup of food. I had to measure it out because even with the band I have a hard time stopping when I am full. So if I could clean my "very tiny" plate then I felt like I had accomplished something. I am at work now, but on my computer at home I have a bunch of recipes that I will try to post on Thursday. I am going to be out of town this afternoon and all day tomorrow, but I will post them on here when I get back. If you are still hungry and you have eaten your Proteins...eat more veggies. They will fill you up and keep you full...if you eat them after your Protein. It takes the protein a while to make it through the pouch so if you add the veggies on top you will stay fuller longer. Breakfast choices: KashiGo Lean Cereal with Lite and Fit yogurt (I can't do milk) Johnsonville turkey sausage 1 scrambled egg with FF cheese Sausage and egg lean pocket Crustless quiche. lunch (usually was leftovers from dinner) 1 CUP!:biggrin2: Afternoon Snack Pure Protein Bar (that is the brand name. I get them at Wal-mart...stay away from the fruit ones...they are gross!) dinner Spaghetti (with about 6 noodles so I didn't feel left out!) Stir Fry (I can't do rice) Ground chicken Meatloaf (I grind my own chicken with my Kitchen Aide) Tuna Casserole with Beans instead of noodles Lasagna with beans instead of noodles. Chili with ground chicken Chicken cordon bleu (with a yummy low cal sauce) Fish and veggies Hope this is what you are looking for. I bought the gladware 1 cup containers and that is what I used faithfully! Glad you stopped by. Let me know if there is anything else you need!

Here is how I make yogurt more filling. Chobani fruited Greek yogurt (6 oz. other brands are only 5.3 oz). Mix in 1/2 a scoop whey isolate protein powder (vanilla for peach or pinapple, chocolate for cherry or raspberry), splendra to taste, 1 tsp unflavored benefiber. Mix well. Then add in a couple chopped walnuts, Kashi Go Lean high protein cereal (measure out using scoops from protein powder I normally do two.). This is a lot more filling than plain yogurt. I can usually last about 4 hours.

I'm seven days out and lost 8 lbs. Make sure you are drinking fluids and drinking your protein shakes. Are you still on any pain meds? If so, that could be the reason why you are constipated. I am consuming 4 oz of protein for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Between those times, I am drinking water or Propel water zero and eating high protein yogurt. Good luck! Continue to walk around as much as possible as this will make your digestive track kick up again.

So you cheated a little on your post-op diet. When you were supposed to be on liquids, you had a few spoons of mashed potatoes or a swallow of yogurt, both nice and soft. Maybe you ate a few Cheez Doodles, but what’s the big deal? They’re like eating flavored air, aren’t they? And the McNuggets you tried during the puree phase? You chewed them really well, and you could only eat three instead of your pre-op portion of six – isn’t that great? No, it’s not great that you could only eat three McNuggets. And yes,cheating is a big deal, and I’m going to tell you why. You’re not going to get away with this one. Miss Jean has eyes in the back of her head. She sees the cookie crumbs on your face and the neon orange faux cheese film on your guilty fingers. SOME DEFINITIONS OF CHEATING The word “cheat” has two main connotations. One is cheating in the sense of lying and deceiving. It’s intentional dishonesty. You know what you’re doing is wrong, but you do it anyway. The other connotation of “cheat” is unfaithfulness. Unfaithful to a vow or promise you made to another person or to an organization. When someone cheats you, do you just shrug and say, “Oh well, he was having a bad day”? Let’s say you bought a car that you thought was brand new, and later discovered that the dealer had fiddled with the odometer and charged you full sticker price for a car with 1200 miles on it. Would that be okay with you? And what if your spouse, the person you trust with your life, cheated on you by sleeping with your best friend, would you be able to just shrug that off? If your child got a B+ grade by cheating on a test by copying answers from the student at the next desk, would you be proud of him or her? And what if you found out that a coworker betrayed you by using the great idea you confided to him or her and taking credit for it when it worked out splendidly? Would you still be eating lunch with that coworker? Or what if you donated money to a political candidate who you admired, and he or she spent it on a vacation in the Bahamas instead of on re-election expenses. Would that be okay with you? Would you vote for that candidate ever again? I’ll take a guess at your answers to these questions. In none of the situations I’ve described would you be happy or proud. In fact, you’d be disappointed and angry. So just how can you think it’s no big deal to cheat on your post-op diet? EXCUSES, EXCUSES I can hear grumbling in the room. I think I just heard someone saying, “I had to eat that mashed potato. I was so hungry and miserable and cranky from being on liquids for a week, I couldn’t stand it another minute.” I do understand very well how you felt, but in the big picture of world hunger, where babies die because their mothers eat so little that they don’t produce enough milk for nursing, your and my hungry misery is a big So What. And someone else is whispering, “My best friend’s surgeon let her eat mashed potatoes on her third day post-op, so it must be okay for me to do that too, even though my surgeon told me to wait until my 15th day post-op. It’s not my fault that every surgeon has a different post-op eating protocol.” While it’s true that surgeons’ eating instructions vary widely, you signed on with your surgeon, not your best friend’s. Presumably you chose your surgeon because you and/or your insurance company believe that he or she is well-qualified in laparascopic bariatric surgery. During your psych evaluation, you affirmed that you understand what the surgery involves and that you can and will follow instructions. You nodded when the shrink asked if you’re ready to make all the lifestyle changes needed for success. You nodded when the dietitian asked if you understood your pre- and post-op eating instructions. You scribbled your own name on a sheaf of release papers to indicate that you were informed about the risks involved and despite those risks, gave your surgeon permission to perform surgery on you. In addition to all of that, you spent weeks or months jumping through hoops to prove your need for bariatric surgery. Perhaps you suffered through a six-month pre-op diet. You had lots of medical tests and evaluations, most of them not much fun, because you were so eager to get your weight loss show on the road. You had surgery, suffered some degree of discomfort from your incisions and gas, and finally heaved a sigh of relief because all the struggles are over now. But then you discovered that there are still more struggles to survive because of that stupid post-op liquid diet. Yet despite jumping through all those hoops, in less than 60 seconds you blow it by popping a Cheez Doodle in your mouth, and justify that with the aforementioned misery excuse. And man oh man, that must have been some really serious misery, because evidently it drove out of your mind all the very good reasons for faithfully following that post-op diet progression. You forgot that one of the most common causes of band slips is the patient’s failure to follow the post-op diet. You forgot that food can get stuck in the stoma or esophagus and cause an obstruction or vomiting. You forgot that vomiting can disturb the position of the band, especially when you’re a new post-op and your stomach is still healing from surgery. You forgot that in order to move mashed potatoes or Cheez Doodles through your digestive system, your esophagus and stomach must expand and contract, which can disturb the position of your band and cause it to slip. You forgot all the promises you made to your bariatric team and to yourself about healthy eating and weight loss success, because you were so miserable and just a few little cheat bites are no big deal. I’ll try to give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you thought that being able to eat the Cheez Doodles without having any uncomfortable side effects or complications like a stuck episode, a PB, sliming, chest pain, esophageal dilation or spasms means that it’s okay to eat the Cheez Doodles. Well, I’m here to tell you that’s a wrong assumption. Cheating eating can cause problems without you ever knowing it until it’s too late. Cheating eating is just plain foolish. YOU’RE NOT ALONE Now here’s the good news. You’re not alone. Nobody enjoys the post-op diet progression. If any of us were good at following diets, we might not need bariatric surgery in the first place. And only infants enjoy a liquid diet. But in a sense, as a new post-op you’re a bariatric infant who must consume liquids because your body isn’t ready yet to handle anything else. Cheating on your post-op diet is cheating your health in a major way. If you already cheated once or twice or ten times, that’s not a good reason for continuing to cheat, so don’t do it again! I believe we should begin any project as we mean to go on. If you can’t follow your post-op diet, exactly when are you going to begin your healthy post-op lifestyle? Are you going to wait until after your first fill, or your second fill, or at some hazy time in the future? If so, don’t come running to me when your scale stays stuck on a number you hate. NOW is the time to begin your healthy lifestyle. NOW is the time to practice good band eating skills and making good food choices and controlling portion sizes. Doing that may not be easy, but it’s not impossible either. Losing a massive amount of weight is a big, tough project, but if you respect your band, it's going to be easier than any of your past weight loss attempts. Let me clarify that: it's going to be easier if you follow instructions. In addition to that healthy lifestyle, there’s another very good reason to stick to your diet. At some point you’re going to have to face up to your past and acknowledge that food and eating have been a major problem for you. The fact that you’re struggling with your post-op diet is a symptom of that. There’s no shame attached to that struggle. As mentioned above, if we didn’t struggle with eating, we wouldn’t need bariatric surgery at all. So I suggest that you look at the post-op diet (and your pre-op diet too, for that matter) as a rite of passage. During this rite, you’ll be painfully aware of just how many food devils you possess, because without food to shut them up, they’re going to be jumping up and down and screaming for your attention. But their wish is no longer your command. You’re going to send them a clear signal: that you’re not going to submit to their demands any more. From now on, you’re going to follow your surgeon’s and dietitian’s eating instructions no matter how much commotion those devils make. You’re in charge now. As the saying goes, today is the first day of the rest of your life. Do yourself a favor, and make it a day without Cheez Doodles!

Jude Glad to here that it wil be sorted out for your mom. You have had a hell of a go of it. I hope the endorcinologist also is a huge help to you and can get things going so that the weight loss is not so frustrating for you. I think your doc could have gone a little easier on you. I think if I couldn't get anyhting down and my mom was in hosptal, I would have had icecream, WAY more times than three, so you're under stress with too much restriction. It is understandable. I haven't been on her much so hello to all of you. I have gotten my first fil yesterday and only eaten oatmeal since, so sorta scared about what can and can't get in. I also seem to have a whole new outlook which is kind of wild. I went back to school and am now a university student again..lol. I am far from the youngest now! The couses load is huge,my time next to nothing now and the only thing I am doing now is school and gym, that is it and it takes up all of my time. Problem is what the heck can i eat? I am at school ( right now) all day til 10 pm tonight and am starving. My backpack is already packed with books etc and water but sandwiches can get stuck, I can't carry a thermos too to keep stuff cold like yogurt, but I am afraid of something getting stuck and embarrassing myself. I amnot down much more. I am now 294 but i will take it. I feel helthier, more confident and i can now do 45 mins on the treadmill without keeling over. I think of you guys often as you were there for me from the get go and even if I do not write I still read what threads are sent to my email every day. kim

I relied heavily on protein shakes for the first few weeks, but have lately changed to Greek yogurt. The same level of protein but fruity and doesn't taste so much like chemicals (to me shakes just taste artificial). They come in 1/2 cup portions...and you could thin them with a tablespoon of skim milk if you wanted. You can also get shakes that have more calories AND more protein. My choice is usually Atkins Dark Choc Royale...about the best one I have found. A friend likes Muscle Milk. BUT I agree that you will have trouble losing weight on such a low calorie regime. You can't get your metabolism out of park with that. I didn't really lose weight after the band operation until I started eating 1200 calories a day. Then I lost 2-3 lbs a week. Lately it has slowed and I think I have to lower it a bit or settle for a smaller loss or 1-2. As you lose weight you need fewer calories to maintain.

I'm four months out and just started eating cereal with milk on occasion. I try to get at least 10-15 grams of protein at breakfast, and cereal just didn't fit with that plan until now. I eat Kashi Go Lean which has 13 grams of protein per cup (though I usually only have 1/2-2/3 cup at a time with the same amount of skim milk). I let it sit for a few minutes so it is not so crunchy. It is also good when added to non-fat, vanilla or plain greek yogurt.

Different plans seem to have some differences in what’s considered a liquid or a purée. I’ve heard that some plans consider yogurt a liquid, and some people are even allowed to eat yogurt while still in the hospital. I couldn’t have yogurt until purées (1 week post-op). And I couldn’t have eggs until soft foods, but I didn’t even try them until I was almost 3 months out because I’ve read that a lot of people don’t tolerate them early on. Fortunately, I haven’t had any problems with scrambled eggs. I’ve read that adding cottage cheese to scrambled eggs make them more tender, so I add 1/2 ounce cottage cheese to 1 egg.

I just got my 2nd fill last week and I've been having a hard time eating. I know that's kinda the point of the band, but I eat 4 bites and find myself with discomfort in my chest. The food does seem to go down though. I'm eating slowly with small bites, but now I find myself wanting more yogurt or slidey foods to supplement the 4 bites of real food. Is this normal restriction or is the band too tight?

Most greek yogurts have fairly equal protein levels. I eat a 2% fat one, you can also get 0% and you can get higher. The key is to stay away from the flavored ones. Typically, they are sweetened with sugar and higher in calories and carbs. I buy plain and sweeten it myself with sugar free syrups (torani, davinci) and a little liquid stevia. You are early out, take this time to learn new ways of eating. I am a firm believer that if you do not change anything, you will not be successful in the long term. However, you have to make changes you can live with for a lifetime. Good Luck!

Anyone who might know this answer. I am scheduled for the band on 17 Jan. I started on all liquids Monday, and have done pretty well until last night. Hunger has not been as much of an issue as my lactose intollerance. I had no idea it was this bad because I don't use milk or yogurt much. I have been following the 60-80mg of protien shakes, no/low-cal liquids and broths, with about 45 carbs or less per day. Last night I woke up at 1 AM with my stomach in major pain. my reg stomach meds did not work, so ran to get acidophilis and lactaid when the store opened, So far I am a littel better. I am wondering if I cooked eggwhites with 1 egg for the full protien and had broth for the evening if that woudl hurt. It wouid simply give my system a break from the milk based stuff. Does anyone know???

Is anyone else having a problem with dairy? Not the actual eating/getting dairy products down, but the digestion? It almost feels like I am lactose intolerant now!! I had a yogurt, cheese, and some ice cream (not all together!) but in total today and my trips to the bathroom have been more than frequent (to be polite! :kiss ) Anyone else have any input on this?

My favorites were, in no particular order: fat free refried Beans with a little sour cream cottage cheese with chives scrambled eggs (or eggbeaters) eggbeaters omelet with cheese Fage yogurt with a little honey tuna/crab/or salmon mixed with mayo and a little relish crabcakes baked ricotta (ricotta mixed w/a little eggbeaters and parmesan, topped with pizza sauce and mozzarella). The idea of pureeing meat kind of grossed me out...

No, I was on pureed diet one week out. At 12 days, they told me I could have 1.5 oz protein and 1 oz. fruit or veggies per meal (3) with a yogurt for dessert. I have gotten nauseous twice ( not even able to eat 1 oz protein and forget fruit/veggies) I went back to purees. Trouble is, now all the protein powders make me gag.

Amid concerns for artificial sweeteners, more products are coming into the bariatric world that contain either stevia or monk fruit, which are naturally derived sweeteners. Stevia is actually a shrub. Monk fruit is an Asian melon and may be listed as luo han guo on the ingredient list. Several powder and liquid forms of water flavors now use stevia. These are easily available in grocery stores. Stevia can be plain stevia or listed as Truvia, which is a combination of stevia and erythritol. Erythritol is a naturally occurring sugar alcohol and will have a few calories. For powder forms of water flavors, look for the Crystal Light Pure and the Great Value version from Walmart. Crystal Light Pure does have four grams sugar per half-packet, so some patients may not be able to tolerate this product. In the liquid drop form, brands to look for include MIO with stevia, Great Value version, Skinny Girl, Sweet Leaf and Stur. Add enough of these products to taste right for you. Too much can get super sweet in a hurry. For protein powders, look for Jay Robb and Syntrax Nectar Naturals. Even yogurts are joining in the natural sweeteners trend. Look for the Greek style yogurts Chiobani Simply 100 (has stevia and monk fruit) and Oikos Triple Zero (has stevia, look for black label). Experiment with different stevia or monk fruit sweetened products to see what you like.

I asked about carbs because I was higher than most gals here but that's what worked for me. I started out no higher than 40 but once I adjusted to 75 or so a day I was losing at the same pace but felt a million times better. Mentally and also with that desire to graze/binge I get due to a diet that makes me feel deprived. I ask because everyone is different so if your body can handle more carbs without a setback and without it triggering you, I'd eat more. Why restrict more than you need to? This is a huge reason why 1) I track religiously and 2) I give each diet adjustment at least a week or two before declaring it a success or loss. If you know exactly what you're eating and you're weighing regularly you can see how the two work together. I lost no differently on higher carbs. In fact, in maintenance I eat 120-140 a day on normal days. It makes no difference to my body - I still lose at a poky pace if I restrict down to 40 a day, so why go through that if I don't need to? So, when I asked about your carbs, my concern was that your desire to do the sliders might be due to deprivation or that you might be one of those few that needs a different mix to lose effectively. Don't be afraid to experiment. What works for you is probably not what worked for me, or the next person, either. Figure it out and go with that - there is no perfect answer or we'd all get to goal in a flash and stay there forever. Good luck, ~Cheri And for the record? I do the real deal on everything - but I can do that without going ape on junk food (usually!) so my yogurt is the Chobani and it just happens to be fat free but it's definitely got carbs.

I have a few. Fruit skin, such as apple skins. Sometimes it's ok, sometimes not. Tortillas. Greasy food. It's either spaghetti sauce with meat or the Pasta, not sure which. Still can't tolerate much dairy other than hard cheeses and Greek yogurt. Margaritas. I think it's the sweet and sour mix. Lynda

Instead of mashed potatoes, try mashed cauliflower! This will keep your carbs lower. Steam, add a little plain Greek yogurt, a 1/4 tsp of beef concentrate stock (really helps with flavor), salt, pepper and mash! Sooo yummy! Later on post op I'm going to try the mashed cauliflower to top off a shepherd's pie!

I am 7 weeks post op and am having difficulty with vomiting after eating meat or fish. I will chew it for at least 60 seconds and even after a bite or two I will throw up everything and it tends to continue for a few hours. I grill my meat or broil it with no oils and I do not understand why I can't keep it down. I can't even do protein shakes as they make me sick so i'm living off of yogurt and i have oatmeal in the morning. My doctor put me on meds but it's making it worse. I'm not losing a ton of weight. I have to add that my surgery was a revision to 2 previous nissen fundoplications so I also had work on my esophagus . Can anyone recommend anything else I can eat to get my protein? Also, any suggestions on incorporating fish or chicken without getting sick. Ren

Well... I'm supposed to eat high protein, low carb and no sodas or sugar up until I start my pre-op diet, which is 10 days long. I'm doing well but I had a food funeral. I went to cherry berry and had fat free frozen yogurt with fruit and granola. It wasn't sugar free though. I knew it my diet was gonna be hard and that there is the possibility that I mayslip, but I didn't realize the self-loathing and guilt I'd feel after. I keep thinking how I always tend to self-sabotage myself and wonder if I'm the only person who feels something like this if I veer off the straight and narrow

Hello. I hope this might help you. I bought from Amazon (you can find in any drug store), a pill dispenser that is Sunday thru Saturday and has FOUR (4) spots for your daily pills. This allows me to seperate my Vitamins with Iron from my Calcium citrate etc. My boxes have Morning/Noon/Evening/Bed on them.....I normally take things around 9 am/1pm/5pm/8pm ish..........this dispenser is one big one that allows you to POP OUT that daily only and leave the rest at home...so, I have them on the go with me. I do my pills weekly along with my hubbys etc...it's easy, handy and I don't have to open up a zillion bottles each day, all day. For food ideas.....I am 6 weeks post op, gastric bypass. I have no issues with food. Doing a high Protein greek yogurt in am, lots of fish, shrimp, turkey and chicken. Plenty of cheese too. It's all about the protein first! I am doing 1/3 cup per mini-meal. I am doing three meals a day, getting in TONS of Water (all zero calorie) and getting in about 65-80 grams of protein per day. Sometimes, I only get in about 50 grams.......it's tricky, but it's working! I am 37.5 pounds down in exactly six weeks....and I am losing one pound a day right now, (for the past 7 days). I hit a 13 day stall and was so upset! I was eating too many calories. So, I am down to 800 cal's max per day and I am losing like crazy. Good luck to you!!

I was originally considering the sleeve, but my surgeon was concerned about the reflux so we opted for the bypass. I'm so sorry to hear you have to go in for a revision, but I sure hope it brings you some relief. I have a standard two week liquid pre-op diet, nothing special. But I'm modifying my Keto Chow protein to use almond milk instead of heavy cream during that time. Last night I made fluff for the very first time using the SF jello and greek yogurt - it was very good. So experimenting with recipes to see what I like/don't like cause I know I might too tired or need a family member to help