Search the Community

Hi, on LRD and wanted to check that it’s ok to have slim fast for breakfast and lunch and a low carb high protein meal in the evening? still counting calories etc. also, supplements and vitamins what and when I should start taking them? thanks

I don't know where my other post went - I swore I typed one up earlier. Oh well - Here we go again! So, I'm at 3 weeks out exactly today from my SADI (Sleeve + Intestinal shortening) surgery and I'm definitely starting to feel less pulling and pinching with movements. I'm beginning week two of my puree diet, and I feel like it's going pretty well. During the Protein shake / liquid post diet for two weeks I did deal with constipation. It's still leveling out, but as I eat more 'regular' food (Even as a puree) that seems to be lifting a bit. I did still take some milk of magnesia yesterday out of caution because I hadn't 'gone' in two days, and didn't want to worry about it worsening. I'd say the hardest part for me continues to be the 'No drinking 30 mins before/after meals' but I use the Baritastic app to set a timer. I also use the timer to make sure my 'meals' take at least 30 minutes. Want to make sure I don't rush and end up feeling poorly afterward. Things that have worked well for me during my puree stage include egg drop soup, chicken/tuna salad made with puree chicken or tuna, light mayo, and sometimes a bit of relish, and for added protein a boiled egg or two, with or without the yolks per preference. (Dill relish is healthier than sweet relish). I did allow myself 2-3 saltines with those, usually about 3.5 oz of the tuna or chicken salad makes me feel sated. Other recipes that have worked include the ricotta bake and unstuffed cabbage rolls, pureed low fat/0 sugar yogurt or cottage cheese with Genepro powder and cooked, strained strawberries or blueberries (I added a bit of 0% Milk to make it more of a smoothie), Riccotta pureed with either a bit of fruit or avocado, small serving of oatmeal pureed with fruit (test yourself with an ounce or two less than you normally eat for oatmeal because it sits heavy and often swells - add some zero or skim milk to make it thinner if needed. Other recipes include homemade no-noodle chicken soup of sorts with rotisserie chicken, chicken broth, and pureed carrots w/a little bit of onion powder or diced onion. I also made a homemade 'philly cheese steak' filling of sorts with some sautéed bell peppers and a bit of diced onion, some roast beef lunch meat, and cream cheese. Others speak highly of pureed refried beans with a bit of seasoning to taste more like taco meat, adding either a bit of mild salsa or a combination of onion powder and perhaps a bit of cumin. That's a personal choice, and definitely suggest going slow with your seasoning due to possible heartburn. You could add a bit of shredded low-fat/skim mozzarella or even low fat sour cream to round it out. Today I made 'chicken pot pie w/no crust' which was basically just cooked carrots and finely diced celery and onions with finely diced rotisserie chicken with a can each of 98% fat free cream of celery and 98% fat free cream of chicken. I haven't had any yet because I'm a little unsure about the celery, even cooked, but pureed and in a small serving I'm sure it would treat me fine. The Ricotta Bake I made was super simple and I know there are a lot of variations to the recipe online. I made my own marinara sauce by peeling about 5 smallish tomatoes, dicing them, and simmering them with a little less than equal parts water, Italian seasoning, and a bit of diced onion. The ricotta mixture was easy; just used 8oz ricotta cheese, 1 egg, 1/2 cup of grated parmesan (I used the shaker but fresh is better) and 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese. I put a layer of half the mix on the bottom of a buttered baking dish, topped it with 1/2 lb cooked and seasoned ground beef, then put the rest of the mixture on top. Poured about 3/4 of the homemade marinara over it then covered the dish with aluminum foil and baked at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. It's basically a no-noodle lasagna. The Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls I made were equally easy - I used a rotary grinder (Works SO well, bought on Amazon for around twenty bucks) to grate half a head of lettuce. Instead of canned diced tomatoes I once I again peeled about 5 small/medium tomatoes and diced them, adding to the skillet along with maybe 1/8 cup diced onion and another 1/2 lb of the ground beef. For seasoning the recipe I used just had me add a packet of Italian Dressing Seasoning mix. The family enjoyed it and after pureeing the ground beef a bit I found it fine to eat, although slowly and very well chewed (same with the ground beef in my ricotta bake). Both it and the Ricotta bake probably make about eight 1/3 cup servings with about 22g of Protein each. I want to respond more to folks - @Pepper_No_Salt I hate that you're dealing with so much nausea! I absolutely second talking to your care team about that. There are some nausea pills that dissolve under the tongue and work more quickly for me than the Zofran, they'd probably be willing to call you in some. Things that made me feel queasy were taking meds or vitamins before my meal had hit bottom, drinking too quickly, not walking around after I ate, and taking calcium and my multivitamin with iron too close to my Calcium. Not sure if any of that helps - I am also taking Prilosec for heartburn in the mornings and they had me add Magnesium Citrate at bedtime to help with constipation. Sometimes when I'm due to pass gas or have a bowel movement working its way through my system I'd start to feel a little icky and not really nauseous but more anxiety / feelings of fullness. I found that for whatever reason putting an ice pack on my chest or low back helped. I hope you find some relief! Oh, I also found that as soon as my thirty minutes post-meal is up it helps me to sip on REALLY cold water or Gatorade zero, especially if I do it while standing and moving around a little bit. I equate it to the need to get the burps out after eating, just like I had to do post-surgery. @ShoppGirl - Thanks for all of your support and input. I continue to read your posts and while I'm low energy on responding right now I hope the details of my recipe for the unstuffed cabbage bake is helpful! @draikaina8503 - Congratulations on your walk! I still wear out quickly even at three weeks out, but I knew the first month or two would be a slog and do feel my energy is rebounding. @Onemealplan - Sounds like you're doing great and I hope you enjoy the heck out of your vacation! I second what you said to @ShoppGirl about trying the crab, and hope the meals you do get to taste on vacation treat you well. I think her advice to just explain you're recovery from stomach surgery should more than reassure any staff concerned about your small portions. @AndreaJD I'm so glad your sister has been supportive! My 'chosen' brother and best friend has likewise done the same. He's been on a Keto journey for about two years with great results and I worried at first that he would think I was taking the 'easy way out' and now that he's heard more he's been great in reassuring me that he does NOT think that is the case at all, and in fact believes I chose a great option for myself that moves things along quicker but certainly with a lot of sacrifice and hard work. I also completely agree with you on the 'mind hunger' vs 'body hunger'. I'm lucky that I do feel a bit of pressure in my chest that I now identify as a feeling of 'fullness' as opposed to anxiety and I'm less worried about my protein goals now that I have the Genepro protein powder. I love that it isn't gritty when I mix it in with things as long as I mix it with something room temperature FIRST. That's on the instructions, actually, as is the fact that for your macros to count it as like 30-ish grams of protein per scoop rather than the 'weight' listed in Nutrition facts of 11g/scoop. Just wanted to make sur eI mentioned that! Oh - in regards to weighing - I get on the scale every day or so to kind of 'reinforce' what I'm doing, but remember that sometimes you see more from your measuring tape at the waist, hips, etc than the scale will show. Also head's up, a lot of folks plateau for a handful of days around week three and it will happen on and off moving forward, so don't be discouraged by that! @RRenaeL23 - I hope these recipes and suggestions for your puree diet work well! I'm still finding myself comfortable eating no more than about 3-4 oz at a meal, and certainly am following the no drinking 30 mins before/after meals. It's absolutely easier for me to do if I make sure my meal is on the moist side, even if it means adding a little extra water. It's better to add protein powder (Can't speak highly enough of the unflavored Genepro) to hit your protein goal than to overeat to make it, that's for sure! I'm always eager for my 30 minutes to be up so I can sip on icy cold water or Gatorade Zero. @Meme Campbell - Best of luck to you on your surgery tomorrow! Don't hesitate to ask for ice packs and pain relief and take advantage of the pain relief to get some walking in, especially the first couple of days. The pain lessons as you walk because it works the gas out. I also strongly suggest sipping your shakes / water / propel sitting as upright as is possible and not laying back until about ten minutes has passed or you've burped a few times! Keep us updated! Most of us in this thread have already had our surgeries but if you read through the first 3-7 pages you'll get a pretty good idea of what to expect if you don't already feel prepared. It's a bit of a process but the pain WILL start to lessen in the coming weeks! Don't be surprised when you get tired super quickly and be gentle on your body. Across the board surgeons seem to agree that your #1 priority fresh out of surgery will be walking as tolerated, focusing on your hydration, and getting as much protein as you comfortably can. Don't let yourself go more than three days without a bowel movement - Milk of Magnesia works wonders for that. I let myself go 5 days post surgery and that was a somewhat painful and unpleasant process to reverse. Colace makes your bowel movements 'smoother' but is NOT a laxative. If you deal with heartburn talk to your team - they put me on Prilosec for now. We're rooting for you! Sorry for anyone I missed; not sure what happened to my other post. Wishing you all the best in surgeries and recoveries!

What is Taking? I have the I can’t believe it’s not butter light in a tub and the fat is a lot better than butter and actually better than their original but I just want to cut it further if I can because of my gallbladder removal. I’m supposed to introduce fat very slowly to see what my body can handle. I guess I can just measure and use less of the light one so I will have a way of knowing how much fat is in there exactly. I did find a recipe for skinny shrimp scampi too that’s juice is almost what I was speaking of that I had earlier. It has shallots and garlic and uses only one tablespoon of butter and one of olive oil. The rest is broth and wine (which I will just do more broth). I’m gonna try that out but have the other option as well and see which way is better. Thanks for your suggestions everyone.

You will be really happy that you got the food processor for the purée stage. For my sleeve I didn’t get one and just thought puree food that wasn’t supposed to be purred sounded so gross. This time around this stage is sooooo much easier because I can have more variety. You can add some foods witb fiber too which helps with the constipation. I still don’t really like purée meat but I add unflavored protein powder to everything else and supplement with shakes. I know you didn’t get as much time as expected to wrap your mind around all this as expected but you are ready and you’ve got this!!

So as I’m looking at these healthy recipes I am thinking that my food choices will be more quality over quantity In the future. I know that some generic products are exactly the same but for those that aren’t I am splurging on the better brands and thinking of using fresh products more often. Instead of grated Parmesan cheese in a shaker I plan to get the chunk of Parmesan and grate it fresh for instance. I know that for my broccoli cheese soup I use fresh grated cheddar and it makes a huge difference so im hoping that’s the same with Parmesan. I’m going to try the cheese grater I already have to see if that works but if not the rotary ones are pretty inexpensive. I’m also going to do fresh vegetables and herbs. I may even experiment with making my own sauces and dressings eventually. Hopefully that will infuse better flavor to the healthy stuff. I also have a store near me that has a lot more healthy options and really good produce but I never go because it hasn’t been important enough to me in the past. I am like 10 minutes away once a week for my crochet group though so I figured I can at least go that often to start and more often if necessary. It’s ironic because I don’t want to go because it’s “too far” yet I wouldn’t think twice about driving that far for an unhealthy restaurant or just about anything else to be honest. My plan is to prioritize my health and that begins with the food I am putting into my body. Now I just have to figure out a plan for the exercise and actually follow through on all of it. . Anyone else have any ideas to get us on the right track?

I eat oats once in awhile. Yes they're carb-heavy, but they're also whole grains, so they're good for you. I just eat about 1/2 cup of them at a time, though. I add some protein powder and usually some vanilla and cinnamon. I alway top them with a dollop of plain or vanilla Greek yogurt and a few berries - and I'll sometimes put some sugar free maple syrup over that, too.

The unstuffed cabbage rolls sound good. Believe it or not I’ve never made any type of cabbage roll. I have however been using deli roast beef for my cheese steak for a while. I just get the really rare meat and then heat it for a few Seconds in a skillet. I’ve never tried mixing cream cheese in it though. That sounds interesting. I like to make Philly cheesesteak stuffed peppers when I trying to be good. I bet the cream cheese would sorta hold the mixture down into the pepper better. I wish I could try it now. I suppose I could make it for my hubby and puree mine. My AC miraculously came back on last nigjt after two hours of flashing an error code and not working. It just started back up- so weird. We don’t dare touch it because we don’t believe it’s fixed but it’s cheaper to have someone come check it during the week. My husband is going to tell them the error code it was giving tomorrow and just see if there is anything they need to do. Maybe it is fine. That would be a nice break since it’s just barely out of warranty now plus I won’t habe to deal with the workers being here. I’m still thinking about them cabbage rolls. After the purée tuna was gross to me I kinda thought purée meat was gonna be a no go. Was it good? I’m sure iit helped that it was in the sauce and all that too. I was looking at another ricotta recipe that had chicken and spinach that was a casserole with cheese as well I was considering for my early soft food stage. I think it had artichoke hearts too. It was on Pinterest. They actually have a-lot of recipes under high protein low fat and high protein bariatric recipes. One thimg I forgot about is adding to the plain Greek yogurt. The ranch or French onion soup mix or PB2 to make dips. I added that and some peeled apples and a seedless cucumber to my shopping list for soft foods with the ranch and the PB dip in mind. I think the dry onions should wait for regular foods but it is really good so I mentioned it.

Hello! Short update from my phone -- @draikaina8503 - 60g of Protein is what they told me to aim for once I'm active, and yes - the more the better, but they said during this stage it's better to not push my stomach and to still focus #1 on hydration. Since I got the Genepro it's been a lot easier to hit between 50-60/day, for sure. Mind that it states on the back that for macros you should treat it as 30 (or 35, not looking ATM - per scoop) even though Nutrition Facts read as 11. Oh, and the 1-2 month timeline - Yeah she said it would lessen between 3 wks and 1 months but the fatigue and occasional tenderness with certain movements does last up to another month for some. @ShoppGirl - That recipe sounds great, thanks for sharing! I may try that in the morning. I've also had luck with egg drop soup (added a half scoop of Genepro to bulk the protein), I did add a little bit of crumbled ground beef to my ricotta bake for more protein (made my own marinara out of garden tomatoes from a recipe I found) and today made Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls, which was basically shredded cabbage, diced tomatoes, diced onion, and ground beef simmered together, seasoned with salt and pepper. Oh, and I had success as well with pureed roast beef lunch meat, cream cheese, and sauteed bell peppers and onions as a sort of pureed Philly cheese steak filling. Wish I'd had mushrooms to add! So sorry about your A/C!! I hope it gets fixed swiftly!

Did you see the idea for the ricotta bake? I have posted it a couple of times but it’s really good. I will add though that with the purée stage I was eating a lot of cheese and barely any fiber and between that and the shakes the constipation was pretty bad. I ended up adding some purée oats with the NP permission and some purée veggies with Genepro unflavored protein powder mixed in and I added a teaspoon of soluble fiber to my daily proffee and all that seems to have helped. The other thing that is pretty good is puree egg salad. I just made it like normal then put it in the food processor. Well I did use less of the yolks and subbed some Greek yogurt for half the low fat Mayo to cut some fat. I thought it was gonna be really gross honestly but it pretty much tastes the same. The other thing I did was to purée a whole container of salsa and I add that to my scrambled egg beaters and my purée refried beans for some flavor.

I think when you go on vacation if you just tell them you had stomach surgery they will understand. Don’t have to get into what it was specifically. Just says special diet prescribed by doctor. Or even it’s delicious but I already ate. All they really care about is knowing that it’s not because you are dissatisfied with the food. I was a savory person before my sleeve too. I had kind of a unique change to where I craved sweets which was another of the things that contributed to my regain. It’s pretty uncommon according to my dr. Post SADI I don’t feel like I am craving sweet as much. Perhaps because I know I can’t have the sweets I really would want but hopefully because that reversed itself again. We shall see. I know that I have been craving fish tacos which is really weird for me. I barely even ate fish pre surgery or post sleeve. Just made myself like once a month because I know its good for me. I don’t think the caffeine restriction is really about how you will feel when you have it. It’s more about affecting your healing and I think I also heard something about it causing irritation or GERD.

Hey everyone! I’m reading though all the post and it’s interesting how similar and different our experiences are. Can’t thank you all enough for sharing because sometimes I feel like it’s just me lol. This is my second week of puree foods and I can now move into soft. However I can only hold 2oz of food every 3 hrs and I drink nothing but water with electrolytes in between. I’m thinking soft foods might be too heavy for me. How much is everyone having of foods? I tried 30z of scrambled eggs yesterday took me 1 hr to finish lol. I accidentally had matcha 🍵 tea the other day because I forgot it had caffeine, silly me but my stomach did just fine. Granted it was the tip of a teaspoon with some milk. So this week I’ll be slowly adding dry decafe coffee to my morning warm cup of milk here and there. Oh homemade blended and straining apple, carrots, ginger is wonderful! I have about 4oz of it a day. I do feel “full” it’s a heaviness in my chest. I’m also still feeling discomfort here and there with purée foods as they go down my esophagus . Anyone else? That mental hunger hasn’t gone away and I know it will be a while before it does but I’m such a foodie that all I want is to “taste” food on my pallet that not the same everyday. I’m not doing artificial sugars, I’ve never liked them. My new stomach still doesn’t and nor does my pallet. I’m just going to keep sugar low as I always have. Savory foods is my achilles heal lol. I think because I’m not focused heavy on extra protein in between foods I’ve not had issues with consipation. Take care of yourselves and just try one medication at a time. My stool is “lose” but not watery. I go every other day. I’ve started vitamins but very slow and they are so sweet I have to force myself to like it. They are the Berimelts. I have a vacation coming up in two weeks, which I’m excited for! Mentally preparing myself for only having 1 taste of the food my husband and I decided to get. We have the same taste and always share or split plates so I’m not too worried about deciding on what to eat. I’m nervous about restaurants pushing food on me or asking if I didn’t like something or why we are ordering for one. If anyone lives in the UK please let me know if that’s uncommon. I know in the states when I said no water with my meal post surgery they looked at me crazy. I’m bummed that I won’t be able to enjoy beer or pub food in the UK but that’s just the way it is. Hope everyone is having a good recovery! ❤️‍🩹 I will say I’m so happy to be out of the liquid phase that was the worst for me. Also I didn’t drop any weight during the liquid phase that was my stall, funny enough because they say week 3, but not for me it was week 1 and 2. Now I’m dropping weight and down 20 pounds. (Yay) they said you’ll lose about half of your ideal weight within the 6 months so I’m on a good track. I do weigh myself daily and the scale is dijital so it records everything. I highly recommend those. Take care everyone!!

Hey everyone! I’m reading though all the post and it’s interesting how similar and different our experiences are. Can’t thank you all enough for sharing because sometimes I feel like it’s just me lol. This is my second week of puree foods and I can now move into soft. However I can only hold 2oz of food every 3 hrs and I drink nothing but water with electrolytes in between. I’m thinking soft foods might be too heavy for me. How much is everyone having of foods? I tried 30z of scrambled eggs yesterday took me 1 hr to finish lol. I accidentally had matcha 🍵 tea the other day because I forgot it had caffeine, silly me but my stomach did just fine. Granted it was the tip of a teaspoon with some milk. So this week I’ll be slowly adding dry decafe coffee to my morning warm cup of milk here and there. Oh homemade blended and straining apple, carrots, ginger is wonderful! I have about 4oz of it a day. I do feel “full” it’s a heaviness in my chest. I’m also still feeling discomfort here and there with purée foods as they go down my esophagus . Anyone else? That mental hunger hasn’t gone away and I know it will be a while before it does but I’m such a foodie that all I want is to “taste” food on my pallet that not the same everyday. I’m not doing artificial sugars, I’ve never liked them. My new stomach still doesn’t and nor does my pallet. I’m just going to keep sugar low as I always have. Savory foods is my achilles heal lol. I think because I’m not focused heavy on extra protein in between foods I’ve not had issues with consipation. Take care of yourselves and just try one medication at a time. My stool is “lose” but not watery. I go every other day. I’ve started vitamins but very slow and they are so sweet I have to force myself to like it. They are the Berimelts. I have a vacation coming up in two weeks, which I’m excited for! Mentally preparing myself for only having 1 taste of the food my husband and I decided to get. We have the same taste and always share or split plates so I’m not too worried about deciding on what to eat. I’m nervous about restaurants pushing food on me or asking if I didn’t like something or why we are ordering for one. If anyone lives in the UK please let me know if that’s uncommon. I know in the states when I said no water with my meal post surgery they looked at me crazy. I’m bummed that I won’t be able to enjoy beer or pub food in the UK but that’s just the way it is. Hope everyone is having a good recovery! ❤️‍🩹 I will say I’m so happy to be out of the liquid phase that was the worst for me. Also I didn’t drop any weight during the liquid phase that was my stall, funny enough because they say week 3, but not for me it was week 1 and 2. Now I’m dropping weight and down 20 pounds. (Yay) they said you’ll lose about half of your ideal weight within the 6 months so I’m on a good track. I do weigh myself daily and the scale is dijital so it records everything. I highly recommend those. Take care everyone!!

Ok what??? HOW??? I was staying between 177-179 for the last few weeks so I thought I was FINALLY at the place my body was setting at. Apparently not!!! I've even increased how often I eat. But it seems like the more I eat, the more I lose. The less I eat, that's when my weight stays pretty much the same. And that seems pretty messed up to me. So I have to starve myself to STOP losing weight but if I eat well I'll keep going lower??? What??? I don't WANT to go lower. I was supposed to stop at 190!! Make it make sense, cuz the math ain't mathin. Just had blood work done. Other than being anemic (thanks lupus!!) everything was normal, including my thyroid. My nutritionist and I got my calories up to 1600 per day when not working out and 1800 when I am. Protein up to 90g on non work out days and 120g on work out days. Carbs are trickier since I'm super sensitive to them, but we got them up to 35g on non work out days (up from 20-25) and 45g on work out days (up from 35). Healthy fats we upped to 70g on non work out days and 100g on work out days. My fluids are always good. Normally I drink around 80 fl oz on non work out days and 100+ on work out days, which 20 of those being an electrolyte drink like Prime hydration, Propel, or Gatorade zero. Being that I'm 2 years and 4 months removed from my 1st surgery and 1 year and 2 months removed from my revision, she's really surprised that I'm still losing. I said "You and me both, lady. Now how do I make it stop?" She said to just keep doing what I'm doing and hopefully my body will eventually hit it's set point and stop on its own. Um...what?? I'm now 15 pounds below my goal. I understand the whole "bounce back weight gain" or whatever it is, but that can't happen until my body finally picks a weight to settle at. I really don't like how I look at this point, and it's frustrating that nothing fits...again. I know it seems crazy to complain about this kind of thing, and believe me, I never EVER thought I would be the one doing it. But something's gotta give, you know? I'm really starting to look sickly, and in my line of work, that's not a good thing at all.

Well I had some circumstances (some out of my control but some that ultimately were) that all added up to my regain but it boiled down to unhealthy choices and increased portion sizes. Just don’t do that and you should be fine. Sticking with the support groups should be a huge help. I stopped posting here and going to my my appointments when I started gaining too much because they couldn’t offer much for me in terms of options and I was embarrassed. It was a bad decision since that was when I needed support most.

@draikaina8503 I was just thinking that if you’re allowed if you may want to use fat free milk or almond milk instead of water to add to your shakes. It will add more protein and probably taste better.

I had sleeve 3.5 years ago and I gained all my weight back because I was too embarrassed to ask for help before it was too late. You already taken a big step in reaching out here for help. I would also reccomend that you make an appointment with your team for further support. I thought for sure mine was going to chastise me for messing up but that couldn’t have been further from what happened when i finally did. All they wanted to do is help. I ended up doing a revision but my preop diet was pretty doable and detoxed me from sugar and carbs. Mine was two shakes a day and then low carb dinner of 3oz lean protein with a cup to a cup And a half of lower carb veggies. Something like that may be a Reset of sorts but you shouldn’t do it without consulting a doctor. Anyways, doing that I noticed that each day it got easier and easier as my body stopped cravings the sugar and carbs so I didn’t feel like I was starving myself anymore. For me, that’s the biggest obstacle. If I’m not starving I can make the better choices. You may also reach out to your dietician. Be honest about what you are eating as ask for help to make small changes to get you back on track. Keep posting and let us know your progress of struggles.

Find a tracker that you can work with and be honest with it. Try and make your own food from scratch. Eat protein and vegetables/salads, try and leave the carbs alone. You still have your restriction, so use it, good luck

I found a “recipe” where you mix 1/4 Cup of low fat or non fat (if you can find it) cottage cheese in with two scramble eggs and it comes out to 18g protein. It made almost 3 1/4 cup servings so 6g per serving. To me the cottage cheese tastes kinda salty so it adds a bit of salt and creaminess to the eggs. I’m not sure how soft the eggs will be leftover though (may be too dry for us right now)! so I think next time I may just make one egg at a time. I am curious to try it with just egg whites to reduce the fat and up the protein even more because I can probably use 3 egg whites for the 3 servings.

Just had my first milestone walk - completed the entire block at a decent pace in 15 minutes! I was worried I wouldn't even make it to the end of the street, but I got there and felt like I could keep going... so I did. I can't wait for these weight restrictions for lifting/pulling/all that jazz to be lifted so I can actually take my dog out. But he's so hyper all the time that he would do more harm than good right now. I'm trying a plan today to hopefully reach my fluid and protein goals (like adding more water to a premade shake and things like that). We'll see. Those of you who have had your first post-op appointment already, could you tell you were losing weight prior to the appointment? I can't and I'm terrified I'm doing things wrong. But I guess since I actually made it around the block in a decent time, maybe something is working. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @ShoppGirl I'm definitely going to be looking into making the proffee. Iced coffee is my fave (though honestly, I just love coffee). I foresee me making it the night before, just so that I don't have to get up even earlier when I return to work. At least until I get a rhythm going lol. Huh, I didn't even know there were different ones, other than the Protein 2o with caffeine and without. So that is good information. I've been having one of the electrolyte ones a day, because honestly it was just so much for me to drink at once. I know I really need to focus on those goals, but man... I can't even finish a premade protein shake in 30 minutes right now. I'm glad you got to enjoy your crochet group, and kudos on feeling better in your normal clothes! 27lbs is no joke, so another grats to you for sticking to it and seeing it through to the other side. And congrats as well on your NSV with the car seat! It's nice to have cheerleaders. I haven't really told many people about my surgery - my husband (obviously), a few best friends, and my in-laws. My in-laws were... probably the most negative of everyone, telling me how they knew people who had the surgery and it ended up not working for them. But I knew they were just offering their perspective. Those suggestions from your crochet group are amazing! I love Ms. Dash flavors myself, and the food processor idea is amazing. Responding to a later post - I'm glad it worked!!! Makes me look forward to that puree stage even more. I think putting a band aid over the incision under your breast is a good idea for a while. I know I'm just as nervous about my incisions (though I can't wait for these staples to be out, holy crap). So I too would be erring on the side of caution, just to make sure I didn't open them up again or anything. Ohhhhh, good information about the peas, corn and collagen. I'll have to double check my book when I get to the pureed stage. (Though someone's idea about getting baby food some time ago in this forum is still like... the best idea ever to me.) You have soft foods coming up already? That's awesome! Although, you did have surgery a bit before me, so that makes sense lol. I am nervous about doing anything beyond the full liquids currently, just because I'm not sure what to expect with my new stomach. But at the same time, I can't wait to move it right along. I'm sorry to hear about your dog. ❤️ I've never boiled chicken before. How do you know when it's ready? I'm sure as I progress, I'll definitely have more questions. Right now, I'm just focusing on my fluid and protein goals. And not overdoing it with the pain. I took myself off the narcotics because I am terrified of taking them more than necessary, but I'm not sure Tylenol is cutting it either. Maybe I'll break down and take one tonight so I can hopefully get some sleep since I've been struggling getting comfortable. Thank you for the website recommendation! I'm trying to do all the reading and stuff to make sure I can stay on top of everything. I too am a 'by the rules' person if I know the rules, and I really need this to work for me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @RRenaeL23 You are very welcome! I hope that helps you out some, and you definitely deserve all the encouragement. Everyone here does. We are all each other's cheerleaders because we know what we are going through, and we're going through it together. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Hiddenroses I know what you mean about being easier to type from a desktop computer. I have to have a separate word document open to help me organize my thoughts as I'm responding to each post. That's another reason why it takes me like... a couple of days between posts. (My ADHD is also responsible for that, but shhhhhhhh.) I'm sorry that Wednesday was exhausting for you. I've had a couple of nights now where I'm just not sleeping. I can't get comfortable. I'm not in pain, but it just seems that since I took myself off my pain meds that I have been extremely tender in the abdomen lately. I do like your idea of the 'no noodle' soup, and will definitely keep that in mind for when I make it to the puree stage. I have so much stuff to get for that point, but I'm waiting until I'm actually at that point. I am looking forward to the ricotta bake that ShoppGirl has mentioned a few times. Though, admittedly, I'm just looking forward to different flavors. You are welcome again for the pillow idea. My pillow is my best friend right now, literally lol. It protects me from the overzealous dogs I have as well as just provides relief. My left side is also where most of my tenderness/pain is at this point, so being able to apply pressure there has been really helpful. And... a month or two to recover??? My husband might lose his mind lol. He still forgets I just had surgery and is like, "Will you cook dinner?" No, no I will not. You are an adult, figure it out. I am not taking any kind of collagen. The only thigns I got were what the doctor told me to get, which was my multivitiman with iron and the calcium supplements. They did not recommend anything else, so I went out of my way to make sure I didn't get anything else lol. I did not want to screw up anything regarding this surgery. I'm still using an antibacterial body wash, so I guess that's the biggest thing. So enjoy your Hibiclens while you have it! (And absolutely, if insurance paid for it - TAKE IT ALL. lol) Baritastic has been great, so I also highly recommend. It's what my bariatric team wanted me to use, and I've been using it faithfully. I have noticed a few things that had the wrong information, but it is easy enough to correct. I'm glad you got in contact with your testing center and will be meeting with a counselor soon. Honestly, getting tested was the best thing I've ever done and told me so much about myself. Finch sounds kind of like Habitica, which is what I have been using to help me set routines and habits and such. 40-60g of protein for a female? My bariatric team says a minimum of 60g of protein a day, and the more the merrier. I'm still amazed at how different offices handle things. Pre-surgery, I was averaging 90-100g of protein a day, and they were ecstatic about that. They did say the more protein I could handle before and after surgery, the less likely I would be to lose my hair and things like that. I'm still not quite up to that 60g mark post-op, but I'm hoping I might be able to hit it today. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Pepper_No_Salt Welcome to full liquids! Sounds like your first post-op appointment went well! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Greekmom4 The refried beans with salsa and a little bit of mozzarella sounds yummy. I'm used to eating medium salsa, but I'm pretty sure that's a no go for a while lol. Those are also good tips for starting the soft stages of food. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @AndreaJD (I'm not sure why it suddenly won't let me tag you?) My incisions can't make up their mind if they want to hurt or if they want to itch. They seem to alternate between both, though the ones on my left side tend to hurt more than the others. I do absolutely have those moments of "I want...." though mine are more like, "I want a slice of cheese, just to have something different than liquids." There are a few times that I want things I used to have, like Cheez-Its. But I know those aren't on the table, so I am able to push those away fairly quickly. But as someone who loves a variety of food, I'm really struggling with just "I want ANYTHING different than my current liquids." I'm glad your sister is showing her support. I've been on Pinterest myself, pinning recipes for Future Me to be able to have. As for weighing, I literally do not weight myself. Only at the doctor's office. Because I DO get hyperfixated on those numbers and will absolutely derail myself mentally. Maybe I'll go to weighing myself once a month at home after a few post-op visits, but for now I'm just doing it strictly at the doctor's office.

Yes, @ShoppGirl, I had a similar experience with Miralax. I was at home, so no emergency, but I learned that lesson. My team didn't recommend stool softeners but I think I'm going to start one because this full liquids with protein powder is quite constipating. Monday I start pureed, and I am more than ready. I blendered some lentil soup with protein powder and extra water for dinner, and while it tasted good and satisfied my craving for something kind of hearty, it became this kind of brownish thin sludge and I was like, "This is what I eat now?" I know it's only day 11 and I'm still on liquids. I just want to be sure I don't give up the joy of good food. I'm not a cook at ALL but my husband and I decided we are on a mission to become foodies of healthy, clean, whole foods. Thank God my incisions are done itching. That was terrible. I mean, not a crisis in the grand scheme of things, but it was annoying. They're just about to the stage where I can start taking bubble baths again. I LOVE bubble baths and take a lot of them. That'll be really nice. I really feel everyone on trying to get it all right and balance things to get enough protein and keep the sugar and carbs low, and keep the quantities right. I'm still struggling with having zero feeling of fullness. I definitely do not feel hungry, which is crazy on less than 500 calories a day (I'm supposed to aim for 300 - 600 with no more than 1000). That's a total blessing and I hope I never get hunger back. That would help so much long term. But I do hope that once I advance my diet I will have fullness cues. I measure, so I guess I don't 'need' them, but I would be less afraid of overeating. Every once in a while, I have these sort of "mind echoes" of, "Oh, I want [insert high calorie comfort food here]". It's fleeting and it's not physical, it's totally a mind want, but it's interesting. I kind of shrug and say, "I don't do that anymore." I'm having an interesting thing happen with my one sister who was very against my having surgery but was being as supportive as she could of my decision. She's now sending me things like a mug warmer for my soups and an immersion blender, and links to Pinterest recipes for amazing soups. It's really cool. I am appreciating it a lot. I hope you all have supportive people around you. What is everyone doing regarding weighing? I kind of intend to weigh myself each morning when I get up, which will be more structured when I go back to work on Monday, but then I also don't want to get fixated on the scale and then get discouraged when I plateau, which I know will happen. On the third hand (LOL), it's exciting and reinforcing when I'm making these hard changes to see the scale move. I got a pill organizer and filled it with all my vitamins that I have to take starting Monday for the rest of my life. It's a LOT! I have to take pills 4X a day. Luckily, I haven't hated any of the bariatric chews and melts so far. And like @shoppgirl, I love the Bariatric Advantage calcium chews. They're basically Starburst candy!

🤔 Definitely food for thought. You brought up some very good points. I just am leery of adding fruit and or veggies since I am extremely carb sensitive. Perhaps I'll slowly introduce a few more. Its just difficult to add something without removing protein since I'm restricted to 800 calories and fruit adds a lot more calories. Tbh, I don't know why I'm hung up on reaching my goal, perhaps its because I'm very goal-centric, if I don't reach my goal to me I'll feel as if I've failed, even when I haven't. I've always up until the last ten years weighed 105-108, so I felt 120 was reasonable for my small frame and height. Plus, I'm still classified as over weight! I am still heavy for my height. Lastly, I still have quite a bit of fat on my small frame (its not All just skin) so, if I'm being honest I do need to lose the rolls on my stomach and arms. I know the difference between skin excess and skin with fat. Perhaps 140 would be a better goal..I don't know. I do understand I'll never be what I was, but I feel perhaps it was the doctors and dietician's jobs to tell me 120 wouldn't work based on my starting BMI, my age etc, and explain reasonable surgical expectations - they didn't which is why I assumed it was obtainable. Thank you for giving me lots to think about, either way I still have 6 months before I am put on maintenance or my weight loss is set as I was told by the doctor. I appreciate your insights. Oh and no, I've never had a DEXA scan. I've never heard of it. Also, its about time that gymnast got off my back - no more freeloading!

Yea. I was Just trying to get In some fiber by eating veggies puréed with protein powder mixed in because I am early out and am having issues with constipation. I need fiber. I talked to the NP today and she told me to get benefiber but I am also allowed puréed oats and I double checked that I can have the rolled ones so long as I purée them. I was super excited because I really like the MUSH overnight oats although I just realized that they do have added sugar so we shall see how they go.

I'm with a lot of folks here - overnight oats are a go since it's so easy to prep ahead and have them on hand at the ready. Usually for a single serve I mix 1/4 cup oats (you can likely also put them in a food processor or blender to make it slightly smaller but not process enough to make oat flour) 1/4 cup non fat plain greek yogurt 1/4-1/2 cup milk of your choice or even a premade vanilla protein shake. 1 tsp chia seeds (agree it doesn't have a taste, just a texture and adds fiber and a lil more protein) 2 tbsp of pbfit splash of vanilla sprinkle of cinnamon you can also add a sweetener of your choice depending on how sweet you like it after the other ingredients are mixed. and depending on my mood - i'll add in a little bit of banana and or sugar free mini choc chips. It's very customizable after the base.

Yeah, the warm face flush is another sign I’m dumping. I can get it from one bite of something. I had 5 almonds for a snack yesterday and it set me off. I’m going to ask my WLS doctor more about it. It’s just more reason to eat protein first and stick to proper meals.

I wanted to remind you of what I posted - somewhere lol - that my Nutritionist suggested I use Magnesium Citrate before beg to help with the protein induced constipation. This is exactly what mine told me, in fact: "Yes, the Genepro will definitely help increase your protein intake. If you are having constipation from the shakes, you may consider taking Magnesium Citrate(better absorption) or Magnesium Oxide, start at 500 mg and increase to 1000 mg, as needed, before bed. Magnesium relaxes the colon and may help you sleep good." I hope that helps!