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Fantastic! As I said before, I really wouldn't focus so much on calories as long as your sugar and fat intake remain on the lower end and your protein is between 40-60g/day for a female, aiming for 60g but not overeating to achieve it. I know my surgeon told me the #1 goal is to go slowly, space out meals with the no drinking 30 mins before and after, and to stop eating as soon as you begin feeling even a little full with goal during this stage probably being less than 4-6oz/meal between food and any broth/shake/etc, and that sometimes you'll feel full and content at less and that's ok.

I know I really need fiber and I am scared to even do the instant oats because it says strained and I’m not sure if that means I can only have the liquid or what. Decided to make purée cauliflower. I made 1/2 cup and added a scoop of genepro. So my 1/4 cup Has 5.5g protein but more importantly it has some fiber.

Go back to the basics! Prioritize protein, cut out sugar, stick to 140g total carbs, 40g fat. Meal Prep and go for daily walks Its doable!! You got this! This is my diet at 7months post op with an 1hr + of exercise 6x a week (exercise is 30min weight lifting and 30-45min cardio) Wake up: Café latte premier protein and decaf cold brew Breakfast: egg whites, Jennie o turkey sausage, cheese and Pico de Gallo Snack: fruit and mini jerky stick or popcorn (lesserevil brand only 50cal low carb and has some protein) Lunch: usually a salad with pasta, veggies, some crunch (wonton strips, crispy onions, croutons) dressing is homemade (Greek yogurt, hidden valley ranch dry mix, fat free Italian dressing to thin it out) snack: Oikos or Dannon Light and Fit yogurt with granola Dinner: I get fancy- last night I had an Egglife wrap put 2TSP of pest on it, 3oz grilled chicken, 10g of reduced fat mozzarella cheese, 1 tlbs of picked jalapeno, 1 tbls of red onion and 10g of shredded Parmesan cheese Dessert: a couple of yasso popples, or Ill have a few bites of my hubbys ben and jerrys (lol) This is my normal day to day with variations but I usually end up with about 130+ of Protein, under 90g carbs and under 50g of fat. I am not perfect at all but meal prepping really really helps my week be successful. I also track every single thing (bad or good) in Netdiary and I pre-track my day the night before or the morning of, this allows me to see what I have going on and if I decide to eat a piece of sugar free chocolate or make myself an iced coffee with sugar free creamer, I can see if my macros fit it. Lately I have been going over but I am still losing weight. I have surpassed my goal weight and am still losing- lot slower- so I am trying to figure out how to eat a bit more so I can maintain. I love this journey and am having so much fun with it (crazy I know) but I am an open book and am happy to help with meal plans, meal prep and exercises!

My questions were: How long are we looking at for the actual surgery time and time in recovery before getting to the actual room? How long is the recovery and what can I expect during it? How long will I be in the hospital and how soon after the surgery will I be up and walking? Should I use a stomach binder the first 2 weeks to help with the pain after the surgery? What is the recommended time for each stage of eating post surgery, how many calories and carbs should I be getting in, and what are my fluid and protein goals at each stage? When will I be getting follow up blood work (I personally had it at 2 months, 6 months, and 1 year post op)? Is there a list of acceptable exercises to do at each stage of healing until I get my final complete clearance, and at what stage will I get that? What pain meds will I be given and how long will I be able/expected to take them? What, specifically, is dumping and what has been known to trigger it and how do we get through it if it happens? What hormonal changes are to be expected as the weight drops off, especially during the first 3 months? Please tell me EVERYTHING you can about stalls, in as much detail as possible. What medications are affected by the malabsorption that comes with bypass (typically it's extended release, but there could be others). That's all I can remember that I asked, but I hope this at least gives you a good start!!!

Oh yeah -- good thing I only made the one serving of the 'soup' that way lol - I'll stick to just carrots for the next batch! Thanks for the tip! I took a look and my nutritionist didn't exclude the Collagen from my protein count - and the one I got is very detailed on the packaging that the protein comes from like, egg shell, egg white, and a couple types of fish. I'm just winging it on my protein until my Genepro gets here tomorrow, mainly. I'm sure that will help a LOT toward my goals. Also @RRenaeL23 - A mile and a half?? You are rocking it! Also, seeing as how you mentioned the VA - thank you for your service!

@Hiddenroses you may want to double check about the peas. They were specifically mentioned no peas or corn in my book for the purée stage. I think it has to do with the shell. Also, I didn’t ask this time so research may have changed but when I got the sleeve 3.5 Years ago I asked about the collagen and was told it was fine to take it but not to count the protein towards my goal because they really didn’t have enough information to prove that The protein content was accurate.

Hello again everyone! I'll start by saying I'm sorry it takes me so long to post my responses. This is because while I do skim posts from my phone, especially when I see an email that has me tagged I find it so much easier to type and properly respond from my desktop computer. So - If I 'Like' a post' just know I'll likely later mention something in one of my long summarized posts, like this one! Yesterday was exhausting for me; I slept poorly Tuesday night due to heartburn and tenderness on the left hand side. I did get a few things done yesterday, though, including making it to Walmart finally to get my returns processed. I'm not sure why I thought I'd need extra bandages and such after my surgery, but I didn't. That said, after reviewing the cost of canned soups and canned chicken, I decided just to buy a rotisserie chicken! Honestly, that's proven to be easier and more economical because after deboning it there is plenty of flavorful chicken to either puree into chicken salad or puree with chicken broth and some canned peas/carrots as a kind of 'no noodle' soup! I also had a ridiculous epiphany this morning - cooking and straining our fruits BEFORE mixing them with yogurt or ricotta works WAY BETTER! This should have been obvious but in my addled mind I've been either 'peeling' the strawberries, or like this morning I thought I'd put the whole blueberry yogurt smoothie through the metal screen to strain and hey - that worked POORLY! Lol - silly the illogical things we do at times, eh? Or maybe it's just me, idk! Oh - I ALSO realized yesterday evening, when I had basically zero energy nor desire to mess with dinner but still was far short of my protein goal that I hadn't started taking the Collagen yet that I bought to help my hair, skin, and nails. Lo and behold when I scoped it out (I ordered Nature Target Multi-Collagen Peptides from Amazon) that one scoop DOES have 9g of Protein! I truly felt like I was cheating the system when I poured a scoop in about 4oz of Gatorade Zero, Orange and called that my dinner. I'm not sure what caused me to sleep better last night - the fact that I held/hugged a pillow ( Thank you again @draikaina8503 for mentioning the pillow your nursing staff gave you!) against my left side during most movements throughout the day, the fact that I was extremely tired, the relief from hearing from my doctor's office, or just time and healing in general) but I DID sleep well and today has gone more smoothly for me. As of today I'm 17 days post op, about a 1/4 of the way into my two weeks of puree diet. @ShoppGirl - I haven't noticed about white spots on the tongue after different types of protein drinks because I've been really aware of any 'filmy texture' so rinse my mouth after each meal, but I do feel like the Ensure is thicker and takes more effort for me to rinse after drinking. Thanks for mentioning the Protein Water! I'm going to look into that to see if it will help me meet my protein goal of 60g/day. @draikaina8503 - I haven't noticed much as far as skin sensitivity goes although my bruises from where they stuck me have taken an AGE to heal! I've been worried about you and hope that the incident with your doggo didn't leave you with any lasting damage (I may see a post about that later as I read). Are you taking Collagen Peptides by chance? I noticed one of the Youtubers who documented their own surgery journey dealt with breakouts afterward while taking Collagen and wondered if maybe it was impurities being purged from their skin as a result of the Collagen itself. If not I'd definitely mention it to your surgeon and double check (not that I think you'd miss anything since you seem VERY thorough) that some ingredient you're intolerant to hasn't snuck its way into your routine. Update: Oh good, I'm glad you got some reassurance from your physician's office. Wow - congratulations on the return to school! The start date is rolling right up, isn't it?! Yeah, timing - eesh - I feel ya! Best of luck in finding a comfortable position in which to do your course work, and the energy to tackle everything at once! So far though it looks like you're nailing it and no reason to think that success won't keep right on coming! Oh - and yeah, I guess I AM blessed to have been given this little bottle of Hibiclens! I had noticed that there was one of those tubs in my hospital room when I got ready to check out and there was another bottle of it in there as well as a couple of 'No rinse' shampoo caps. I snagged everything out of it - figured if my insurance was paying for it, I was gonna grab it for possible later use! I wish I could hand you this extra bottle, honestly! @Pepper_No_Salt - Wow; goodness! Yeah; honestly it sounds like you're doing way too much! I'm only just now starting to feel up to helping load the dishwasher, and today I managed to slowly sort through the clothing in my chest of drawers for size/quality of condition. Even then, I had to have my fella open the drawers for me because it's older and they stick a bit, plus pulling anything makes me tender, much less bending and pulling at the same time! I can't IMAGINE trying to tackle everything you just listed at this stage. I know we all heal at different rates but my surgeon's office told me yesterday that the pain *I* have been mainly experiencing, a pulling/tugging on my left side, can take up to a month or two to recover from. She said to remember that despite how the surface appears to have healed that there is a LOT of repair and healing happening internally. She also said that as frustrating as it is to just try to be patient with myself because the body is adjusting in a lot of ways between not getting hardly any carbs, learning to get its energy from different sources, i.e. stored fat, processing our intake of protein/water differently, and literally healing multiple organs (for me, SADI, intestines and stomach from the sleeve portion) and that takes a lot out of a person. @Justarwaxx - Oh my goodness, that sounds VERY anxiety inducing! This is your body and your journey, I absolutely suggest contacting your surgeon's office to see if they can send you some kind of guideline on what to be doing at your different stages. Also, I will be honest - that sounds like a lot of calories to be intaking during your liquid diet and I can't help but wonder if you're drinking maybe the wrong particular protein shake? I don't say that because I think you SHOULD worry about calories specifically but you DO need to worry about sugar intake. I got tripped up because my surgeon's team gave me a booklet guide for the whole process and I'm not supposed to drink any protein shakes that have less than 15g of Protein and more than 5g of sugar. The protein shakes are deceptive as heck, though! Example: The off brand Equate ones I got are Max Protein with 30g of Protein and less than 1g of sugar, and one time I accidentally bought their Protein Plus which had 20g of sugar in each one! They tasted great - but at the cost of all that sugar it was a hard pass! Also if you are drinking regular Gatorade or Powerade I could see that being a factor; I'm on Zero Sugar for my non-protein beverages. I can totally see how you'd feel at a loss - I spent 10 months working up to my surgery (because I had to quit smoking, etc) and I still feel like I'm winging it. If your surgeon's team didn't mention it, I will - there is an app called Baritastic that is free on the Google Play Store. You can scan the items you intake or search them on the 'Food Log' and it usually pulls up the correct information and lets you put what percent of the listed serving size you consumed. I do suggest checking at least one time to make sure it's pulling up the correct information that matches the Nutrition Facts listed on the item. After that it will be recorded in your 'Recent' list and you can just choose it easily that way. Baritastic also has a built in Timer for 30 minutes you can use to track when you stop drinking and can start drinking after a meal - once you're past the liquid stage and move on to meals that's pretty important across the board as far as I know. The 'No drinking 30 minutes before, during, or after a meal' is important because due to the adjusted size of your stomach it can only fit a certain amount, and you could get overly full of water before or after a meal otherwise, leading to you being sick to your stomach or feeling miserable overall. Honestly, I've been setting a timer when I sit down at my computer as well so I don't get absorbed in what I'm doing and sit for too long. That's been helpful! Best of healing and well wishes to you all - Oh, finally updated my ticker but bummed I can't put 'SADI' as my surgery type. Oh well! Adding: The Finch App continues to help me navigate these waters, big time. I open my free Finch app (Also on the Google Play App store) more often then I open Facebook or any social media. Taking care of that silly cute cartoon bird and getting rewarded for taking care of MY personal business is such a benefit to someone like me who is almost certainly ADHD/Autistic at some level. I even use it to remind me to log my food/liquid intake in Baritastic. OH and I did make solid contact with the testing center I've been on a wait list with - looks like I'll at least be able to get in to a counselor soon, though I'm still on the wait list for actual Autism testing. Ok - that's all for now!

So glad to hear that the blisters are okay. I’m certain you will love the proffee if you are an iced coffee person. You can do it with any shake if you do better witb another brand. I personally like the caramel and I’ve only seen it in the premiere but you could do fairlife In chocolate or vanilla too if they settle better for you. I really like their core power shakes. You can do it with any type of protein drink honestly. They do have a generic at Walmart in Carmel that’s cheaper and tastes just as good but the macros are not quite as good. For The coffee I got the Folgers instant singles packs.They have them at Walmart for a buck a box. I make a cup of hot water in the Keurig and mix it in and then put it over any big tervis cup full of ice. I use half for one proffee but if you really like coffee you may like it stronger which I would make it the night before and skip the ice. The protein 2.0 With electrolytes is 15g but the one without is 20g. I get the strawberry watermelon on Amazon. I actually was confused about the cause of the low magnesium. We talked about all the changes I had made and I thought she said it was the B-12 that can throw off magnesium but it was actually the electrolytes in them drinks. Anyways I cut back to one of them electrolyte drinks a day and took the magnesium supplement and the cramping is gone so just be careful with those that you don’t do too many. The crochet group went really well. It was so good to see everyone since it’s been 3 weeks. It was also pretty cool to get dressed in normal clothes and be able to see a difference in my body. I have lost 27 pounds and I couldn’t see it in my track pants and athletic shorts but I could see and feel it on my normal clothes which aren’t nearly as uncomfortable as I expected with the binder on. Anyways, they have been such good cheerleaders for me in all of this. And said they can tell that my mood is so much lighter and they are so glad that I am on the other side of it because they knew how stressful the decision to do this was for me. I brought my purée egg salad with me. I could’ve waited and ate it when I got home since I was only gone for 3 hours but I thought they would get a kick of my tiny two ounce container and they did. I told them that many people who got their stomach cut actually eat like 1 ounce at this point and they were amazed by that. They wanted to be sure I was allowed spices at least which I thought was pretty comical. I told them I was missing my Ms. Dash because it’s big chunks and one suggested putting some in the food processor to make it more of a powder which I’m anxious to try. I’m trying to stay away from salt since it’s been a month that I’ve gone without so if it’s ever a good time to kick it now is. Another lady also suggested a product called no salt. But I think salt is pretty sharp so I’m gonna try to just stay away from it at least for now.

DELISH! 1/2C of oats 8oz of unsweetened vanilla Almond milk or FF fairlife 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder 1/2Tbls of Chia sees 1tsp of cinnamon 2tbls of sugar free vanilla bean syrup

I sent a message to my bariatric office along with some pics. They said it looks fine to them and it is possibly my immune system just being in overdrive slightly. I did also send the pic of the blisters around my CGM sensor to my diabetic office to see if there's anything in particular I can do for that one. The response was to spray Flonase on my skin and allow it to try before attaching a sensor. So I guess that means I need to take my sensor off. I'll deal with it in a bit. Too much energy to walk up the stairs at the moment. Next stress on the list - I return to school for my masters degree on the 26th. Timing, y'all. LOL But in good news for me, World of Warcraft's new expansion hits early release for those of us crazy enough to preorder tonight. So I'll have something to keep me entertained hopefully while I'm taking times of rest. (Also time to mute all the people so that no one spoils anything for me.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @ShoppGirl Thank you for the idea about the proffee. I've decided I'm going to test the limits of my lactose intolerance and get some Premier Protein to see if I can handle it, and that sounds like a good way to have it. I need to go buy decaf coffee as I don't currently have any. I've been drinking Protein 2O since before surgery. They're not bad but they leave my mouth feeling super dry. I'm guessing that's the protein in it. But the Protein 2O are only 15g of protein. Which ones are you drinking that are 20g? I'm very curious. I haven't noticed any white chunks on my tongue after drinking any protein drink at this point. Just the dryness from the Protein 2O. If it happens with others and not the Premier, but you're also drinking the Premier with coffee... it may be the coffee that's helping? I'm not sure on this one. I hope your trip to your crochet group went well. If you need to get up and walk around for five minutes during the group, definitely do so. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Hiddenroses I'm going to talk to my husband about ordering that GENEPRO that you mentioned and ShoppGirl mentioned. I need something to help those numbers along lol. Though two of his coworkers had the same procedure done, and they said you never eat for flavor again. You just eat because you have to eat. Which is slightly depressing but if it gets my health back... I'm still going to try to have flavor and such as I go along, but the GENEPRO is probably going to help me out in the puree stage a lot. Right now I'm surviving on protein shakes and protein water. And yay for the pillow working! It's been a lifesaver for me, honestly. I couldn't get up and down in certain chairs without it. Okay, I'm legit jealous that you got a foaming pump style bottle of the stuff. I was literally given 2 packets of the gel and had to use both the last two showers before surgery. So they gave me nothing else for after that. I think I might feel better about showering if I had more of the stuff. Oh, well. Beggars can't be choosers, I guess. lol ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @RRenaeL23 Look at you, go getter! A mile and a half one week post-op? Holy cow! I'm definitely not up to that yet, so congrats on your achievement! I've got a cart started of things that I'm looking at on BariLife.com. Not sure about Clean Simple Eats, but that's another resource you might want to look into for getting smoothies and such. It's where I got my vitamins. This cart is currently things I want to run past the hubby to see if we can get for my puree stage, which should be after Wednesday if I can ever meet my fluid and protein goals beforehand. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Pepper_No_Salt I'm looking into that variety pack on Amazon myself. I'm beyond tired of the mixed berry at this point, since it's the only flavor in town that I can drink currently. lol Definitely take it easy if you are hurting a lot. I know I tend not to take my pain pills unless I'm pushing an 8 on the pain scale, but you also definitely don't want to do more damage to yourself. I have no idea how you have managed to hit your water and protein goals already, my surgery twin, but congrats to you. I'm definitely on the struggle bus with that one. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Justarwaxx Did they not give you any contact information? That's so bizarre. My team gave me the contact information like five times to make sure I had it. Are the calories you are consuming from things on the plan? If so, then I don't think it would be a problem. But definitely make sure you reach out and try to find someone to contact to help alleviate your anxiety. I will also say that calories were not mentioned to me by my bariatric team. They are not concerned with calories as much as protein and carbs overall. Fruit and oats were also not on any of my liquid stages, like ShoppGirl said. But if they are okay with it for you, then it sounds like you are doing everything right by your team. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lots of love to anyone I missed! We got this! Everyone who just had surgery, I hope you are healing well. And everyone waiting, it will be worth it.

My team doesn’t really give specific calorie goals either. But everything on the list is no added sugar and non fat or low fat so with the little portions we are eating it doesn’t add up to a lot. Plus it’s not all about calories anyways. You also have to consider fat and carbs )especially added sugars). What you’re describing sounds well under 1000 calories to me though. Have you really added it up? I mean my ready made protein shakes are 160 or 180 calories. Even three times a day is 540 and then a tiny bit of soup? I mean the fruit and the oats were not on my full liquid stage if that helps. But they are allowed on puréed Which I’m assuming you will be in very soon. But if they are in your list of food that are allowed then I’m guessing they know about how many calories you are getting and it’s okay. I honestly think you are doing fine. It’s so easy to stress over every little detail because we have fail at diets so many times but when you go to your post op appointments take your food log and if they feel Ike you are off track they should tell you what changes to make.

My go-to overnight oats: 1 cup oats 1.5 cups unsweeted almond milk 4 scoops premier chocolate protein 2 tbl sp PB2 a splash of vanilla. Makes 4 servings, a ton of protein. Oats are a complex carb so burn slow and balances the protein. It tastes just like a no bake cookie 😍

@draikaina8503 I got a variety pack from Amazon. I might see if I can get a just Orange-Mango case. Today I met my water and protein goals but my incision pain on the right side has been out of control. I tried to take just Tylenol today but the biggest incision has just been to much. I think I overdid it as well. Two of my adult kids live with me (20, 23) and I thought I’d only need help until Monday but this has been harder than I thought. School restarted for them and so I’ve been home alone trying to manage the dogs, take care of my rabbit and her room, one of our cats keeps escaping and I have to chase him. It’s just been exhausting. Hopefully I feel better by Saturday because I have an event I have to leave the house for and I go back to work (wfh) on Monday.

I was allowed instant oats from purée (traditional oats, so more coarse than the instant, were allowed a couple of months later). I made them with more milk than they advise (extra protein) & ate them hot. Of course it took two or three days to eat a recommended serve of the oats in the beginning and I’d just reheat them & add a little more milk the next days. After a month or so on traditional oats I’d add blueberries. Besides vegetables & fruit, the oats were the other carb I ate but only three or four times a week. Now I add two big spoons of yoghurt, a spoon of mixed seeds, a scoop of collagen (vital proteins dissolves really well), cranberries & blueberries. Still made with lots of milk and still eaten hot. Only use about 1/2 - 2/3 of the recommended serve of the raw oats. I always have leftovers but I eat them for an afternoon snack.

I did the Hello Fresh and it saved a trip to the grocery and they add a little variety to your menu but there is still a lot of prep In my opinion. They send you like one carrot and one small onion, etc. Whatever is needed but you still have to cut it and do all that. I would Rather just do grocery pickup and get exactly what I want if I have to cook. Pre surgery I wanted to see what the post op diet would eventually be like post SADI and I did the factor 75 low carb meals for a while. They are not cheap but they were really good and of course super convenient, cheaper than ordering in and actually healthy. They are fully prepared and refrigerated not frozen so they retain the flavor. For a family they will actually be a little more economical because the bigger the box the cheaper they are. Plus it’s a way for everyone to get something they actually like. Some people don’t like splurging on food but we all have our priorities. I like to think of food as just as important as medicine because eating right now Is preventative medicine. If having those meals will help keep you on track and budget permits then by all means go for it!! I ended up doing a bigger box plan to start and then reduced my plan because you get like 50% off or something like that for the first order. Of course they are perishable so no more than you can eat. I just had them for all three meals a day for the week so I could try several and then cancel if I didn’t like it. Keep in mind that some of them say they are good less than a week so when you get them eat those first. I just set reminders in my calendar for when to order or skip and when to cancel if I wanted to. Because they will send it automatically and you get stuck paying for options you don’t even get to choose.

Ooh I didn’t even think about adding protein. I have some of the GenePro unflavored one I could add. Once you mix in the milk and wait one night is it still good for a few days after or does it get too mushy over time? Even a single serve recipe would last me a few days right now.

I made a batch of overnight oats last night and it was pretty good. I did 1.5 cups rolled oats, 1.5 cups Fairlife skim milk, 3 scoops of Syntrax unflavored protein (30g), 3 Tbsp chia seeds, 1 Tbsp raw honey, 1 Tbsp apple pie spice, 2 navel oranges cut into small pieces, and a pinch of salt. This makes 6 servings.

Does anyone else get white chunks on their tongue from the protein drinks? If I’m out and don’t brush after each one I get this and it’s pretty disgusting. I asked the NP during my appt and made sure it’s not like thrush or anything I really think it had to be the protein. Doesn’t seem to happen with the premiere protein shake i do in the mornings but it does with the core power and the protein 2.0 drinks. Guess I may have to do premiere if I’m out and can’t easily brush even though I don’t love them without coffee mixed in. It’s always something it seems.

I have never really been an oatmeal fan. Did try overnight oats once witb peanut butter and some other stuff and I liked it but i learned that that added up to a lot of carbs so I didn’t stick with it. Anyways it’s an option on this puree diet and I do have the rolled oats left in the pantry so I thought I’d maybe give it a go again. During purée stage or not, how do you take your oats? Hot or cold? And with what add ins?

@Hiddenroses that GENEPRO is the one I was asking about. I have it and mixed it in pudding and I couldn’t taste it but I wasn’t sure how to mix into hot things. You say to mix with water first, huh? It’s a tiny scoop compared to most powdered protein so one scoop is not really as much as your thinking I bet. When we get to more normal portions we may be able to add more than one scoop even but I’m not sure about how much it would change the texture. Has everyone else discovered protein waters yet. They were obviously handy in the liquid stage and full liquids when you get sick of shakes but even now in purée they are good since we are not consuming enough food to get all of our protein. I try to have a drink after each meal and they are 20g protein so that combined witb the 5-10g I get in my 1/4 cup serving is pretty much 30 average per meal (my breakfast shake in my profeee is 30 by itself. My goal is 72-108g so around 90 is good I figured.

Hello everyone - checking in and feeling kind of lousy post morning routine - as I seem to sometimes feel for about an hour after every 'meal'. I'm sure this will get easier with time; I hate this puree stage though and I hate not being able to drink 30 mins before and after meals! Everything wants to stick on its way down. Ugh. So - #1 - Protein powder! My nutritionist suggested an unflavored protein powder called Genepro. It's even lactose, GMO, and gluten free. I ordered it on Amazon this morning. The description states it can even be used in place of flour and that it should be mixed with room temperature fluids before being added to other items. So - I'm going to give it a try. It's only 11g of protein per serving but if coupled with protein rich foods like ricotta, low fat cottage cheese, or zero sugar yogurt I think it just might do the trick to help me meet my protein goals. Here's hoping! @draikaina8503 - Oh my gosh, my heart goes out to you and your sweet, confused furbaby! That sounds absolutely AWFUL. I'm so terribly sorry you ended up in that pain as a result of an overly eager, loving pup. I hope you managed to bring it back down to a tolerable level and that no long term damage was done! I know that I slept terribly last night between two doses of Milk of Magnesia working their way through my system, having heartburn, and the tugging/sharp pain that would shoot up from my left side in a brief flare when I moved wrong. I did some research and I'm pretty sure what I'm experiencing is from the stitch they used to keep my stomach 'in place' and that it will loosen some over time. I'm trying to work on posture and wanted to let you know I got to thinking of what other people have mentioned on here and thought of that pillow you talked about being given! I hugged my own round support pillow against my abdomen at one point finally and *poof* relief. So, thank you, again!! So today is surgery day, I believe, for @Averdra and @caseyash30 - Bidding you both the best of experiences and hopefully minimally painful recoveries! Remember, walk walk walk, ask for ice, and sip SO slowly. Be cautious about laying at any kind of incline until after you've had a good burp or two, or at least 'feel' the fluid trickle down! The posture you're in when you sip can make a HUGE difference - try to put your shoulders back and keep your spine as straight as you can manage - it helps! I strongly suggest staying ahead of your pain, and also staying ahead of constipation! If you get to day TWO with no bowel movement, take a dose of Milk of Magnesia - especially if you're also taking narcotics! (Obviously with doctor's ok! ) Also, your date must be coming up, @Ladygrey, I'm guessing? Sorry if I missed you posting the date! How are you doing, @Justarwaxx ? You're about a week out now, I believe? @Farhad - Also sending you the best and wonder if you're at purees yet? (I may have missed a post!) I also wanted to toss a message out there to @Mandalynne ! Maybe I've missed your posts, but you had your surgery on the 14th, right?? How you doing over there? I hope the Finch is still helping you out! I have my water goals on there and also assigned myself the task 3x day to do my Baritastic app entries, as well as take my vitamins (separate from also taking my Calcium since I can't take the Iron & Calcium together) I would absolutely be at a loss without that app and am SO grateful it's free. Let me know if you want to add me on there - it doesn't share personal information but lets your added 'Friends' send and receive cute little good vibes from your Birb. Only mentioning in case you didn't know, a friend had to tell me and once I started interacting with friends my dopamine boosts went up tremendously because I wanted to be able to dress up my Birb to go visit others. I'm so sorry if I missed responding to you in the chaos - I'm curious how your pain management is going and if you found an alternative to narcotics for your recovery? I'm in a limbo state myself with pain management right now - I have chronic pain conditions that were previously treated with an opioid by my primary care doctor but even though I stretched what was given to me by my surgeon I'm having trouble managing my chronic pain plus recovery. I thought of you and your question as I'm trying to mainly handle things with Tylenol myself right now, and lots of ice packs. It's rough and I agree - this is probably one of the hardest things I've EVER done. Welcome, @RRenaeL23, and congratulations on your surgery! How are you doing now? Are you still on liquids? How goes the pain / protein / fluid goals? Good job on denying yourself the fruit - you might pick up some sugar free popsicles to help when those cravings hit in case you don't always feel up for a walk! Also - I haven't taken the time to update my tag in quite a while, either, and I really need to. Oh well, limited chair time still for me! I'll get to it! That's all from me for now - thinking of you all, whether I tagged you here or not! I tried to do another recap of the thread from top to bottom and apologize for not having taken the time in this post to respond to everyone I've missed along the way. I'm working on it!

@draikaina8503 I’m so sorry to hear about your incidence with your dog. That sounds really painful. I can’t believe you are walking for ten minutes at a time already at 4 well now 5 days out. I suppose I probably could but haven’t been pushing myself to do it. I need to get my butt moving. I totally get you’re wanting to shower with someone there. Since I was at the hospital a little longer I was allowed to shower when I went home. I asked the dr and took my first shower at the hospital before I left. The nurse was totally not happy about it and didn’t try to hide it but I wanted to know I was there if something happened and I wanted the, to put my binder back on because they did it real snug and it felt so much better. Since then I’ve taken a few showers but the first few of them were in the evenings when I’m not alone. I have steri strips on my main incisions but I had a bandaids covering the hole that the drain left and there came open In the shower and the incision was still open and I was glad someone was there. I didn’t want to be bending and twisting and all that while I found another band aide and my anxiety made me freak our that the dirty water got inside it and it was going to be infected so he talked me down from that. Well sorta. I had an appt the next day and I asked the NP to look at it and clean it just in case. 😉 For those of you trying to figure out a morning schedule one thing to consider is having proffee for breakfast. Then you can rehydrate without having to wait and take meds and vitamins whenever. I have a caramel shake with like 1/2 cup coffee over ice. (Decaf for now) and it’s pretty delicious. Play with the measurements if that’s too sweet but it’s an option.

Well, last night was.... bad. My dog came out of nowhere and jumped on me, his paw hitting right over a set of staples. 85lbs of "I just want to love you!" turned into absolute misery. It was 7am before I could finally fall asleep between that and suddenly having diarrhea, which I don't know if they were related or what. I didn't have anything that I wasn't supposed to have, so I'm not sure what caused the latter symptom. Anyway, it's been a day of sleeping on and off to catch up on last night. My cuddlebug of a dog doesn't understand why he can't be on mama currently. I don't know if it's because of the pain or the diarrhea, but I definitely did not feel as good today as I had been. Walking even five minutes at a time felt like I had run a marathon, whereas before I was able to easily walk in ten minute increments. (I probably could have easily gone fifteen minutes, but I didn't want to overdo it.) Tonight, I came up with the idea of thinning my vanilla pudding with half of a premade vanilla protein shake. It worked! I'm still eating on it slowly, but I'm glad to find that my random idea was actually good for something. LOL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @ShoppGirl Glad to hear your adventurous egg salad seems to have gone well! I'm looking forward to having even just plain tuna at this point. 7 more days to go on the liquid diet for me, though I may personally extend it a little longer. I know I'm doing my best, but I am concerned that I'm not already meeting goals. (Yes, I know, I had surgery on Friday and the goal is to build up to it.) I'm really glad the doc doesn't think the cramping is a blood clot. It is definitely something for all of us to keep an eye on and definitely be annoying about. I tend to err on the side of "if it gets worse, I'll call" but I know that won't work with the RYGB recovery. Your potential dumping with teriyaki sauce makes me extremely sad. Oriental foods of all kinds are literally my favorite things ever. I knew I would have to really moderate them a whole lot after surgery, but I was sure hoping they wouldn't cause dumping. Maybe if we make our own teriyaki sauce, we can avoid it? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Hiddenroses I may try to take an actual shower on Thursday after what you said about warm water. I want to make sure my husband is available to help me, just in case. He works as a 911 dispatcher, so he wasn't actually able to take off work to help me at home. But he's being as supportive as he can and helping as much as he can when he is here. So that's just my own personal precaution - waiting for him to be around. I wasn't given a special soap for washing post-op. Just told to let the water and soap run over the incisions and such without actually scrubbing at them. Did they give you another round of hibicleans? I'm sorry the oatmeal sat wrong with your tummy this morning. I hope you got relief over the course of the day. But I definitely feel you on the eyeballing my protein goals. I know my stomach is still recovering, but part of me feels like I have to have those goals met NOW. I am glad that the ice chip thing helped you out! Kudos to you for creating a routine. I should with my autism and ADHD just so I have less things to screw up on lol. But I've really just been trying to relax and take it one day at a time, each day. Your routine sounds really nice and doable. Might have to borrow a few steps of that when I'm feeling less bleh. I do totally agree with what you are saying about remaining upright. I have to stay that way even with water. Any other liquid? I'm fine. Water and food? Yep, no incline for at least fifteen minutes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Pepper_No_Salt I was actually surprised that my doctor didn't send me home with Lovenox injections. I kind of thought that was standard procedure for most post-op situations now. But I guess that is how he emphasizes to make sure I'm moving around. The only flavor of Protein20 in this city is a berry flavor, or a cotton candy with caffeine in it. And my doc is very strict - no caffeine until six months post-op. I didn't realize they had caffeine when I bought them. So I guess I'll just leave them on my pantry shelf until that time rolls around. They seem to have a decently long shelf life. Did you get other flavors from Amazon? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @RRenaeL23 Welcome to the forums and to your new life! I hope you are recovering well from your sleeve surgery. Good on you for choosing a walk instead of falling into temptation. It's been hard on me, but I've managed to not stumble so far. And I know what could happen if I do, so that should be enough to keep me on the straight and narrow.

Yep, I agree with asking your surgeon & then discussing your options to manage your intake with your dietician based upon what the surgeon says as @NickelChip suggested. Not everyone who has their gall removed has issues with eating fat. As i’ve shared before, my aunt does (she describes it as feeling liverish if she eats something too fatty) but my sister-in-law & I don’t have an issue. I think I have an issue processing it in so far it doesn’t make me sick instead it maybe raising my cholesterol. Or the creons I take (which slow the passage of waste through my intestines so more nutrients are absorbed so it takes longer for the excess to be pooped out) is contributing. Maybe the type of fat (good fats vs bad fats) or added fats (like in fried foods) or naturally occurring fats (like in dairy) also play a role or has to be considered. Who knows. I’m just musing.

I think my least favorite part of surgery has to be these Lovenox injections. Twice a day on top of the bruising I already have is rough. I kind of broke down and advanced my diet to full fluids. They had me at clears until Thursday and I just couldn’t do it anymore. I’ve been tolerating everything so far so I had a Fairlife. I was fine. I haven’t been able to find a clear protein that I like. SEEQ is super sweet, Protein20 I only like the orange mango, I bought Isopure and tried mixing it with a flavor packet and it tasted weird. I can’t wait until I can do real food again.