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I love food, I mean really love food (which is why I hit 247). I have always been a foodie. While sweets were never a huge pull for me, I find myself wanting them more now, but I have managed to stay away from them except special occassions. I am and always have been a protein / carb girl. I am mildly adventurous, willing to try new foods and such. Since being banded I have found I like: Greek Yogurt, couscous, beans. I eat a lot more fish (talapia, salmon, mackeral). Being that I love to cook I am always researching new things and new ways of cooking. I still, however, do enjoy going out to eat. What I like best is having someone else clean the kitchen! Last night, Valentines, the hub wanted to go to the 1st resturant we ever went to. That resturant is On the Border, which serves southwest style food. I love southwest/mexi, but it is loaded with salt and calories. I downloaded the nutrition and was shocked the my southwest chicken taco's were 1200 calories- ouch. I found that the fajita mix was a better choice, I was able to order the chicken with grilled onion, pepper, zuchini, with no sides (beans, rice, tortillas). I ate just the meat and veggie and ask for sauce on the side (which I only used a bit of). Since I hadn't been there since surgery this really showed how my eating has changes. Before surgery I would eat the meat, veggies, rice, beans, tortillas and a dessert. Last night I wasn't even able to get down all of the meat and veggies. Wow, what a change. My husband said he was so proud of me. I went home feeling good and not over stuffed. Yes, this morning my weight was up by a pound, the salt really worked on me. So today I am drinking my water like a made woman and cutting the salt back. I guess this is what life should be like, not giving up the food we love, just cutting back on the amount and making adjustment for the bad stuff. What in the heck did I learn this years ago??

A low gi diet is foods that are basically labeled, red, yellow and green. Red foods, dont eat, yellow watch it, moderation once in a while and green means you can have them. 100 = sugar, its a measure of how fast you can digest foods I believe. berries, stonefruits, good, figs are high gi. whole grains are better than instant rice. Instant rice is the worst rice, like 87, but it also depends on how its cooked and how long. If you boil whole grain rice 20 minutes its lower gi, most of the starch is removed. the only potatoes semi ok, are new potatoes, very small, boiled, no baked potatoes which have much more starch. the lowest gi food is yogurt, that is artifically sweetened or unsweetened believe it or not, high Protein, about 57 value gi, the lower the better for you. I got the books on how to eat low gi free from my library. It works better for me than low calorie or low fat.

Had my pre-op appointment yesterday. Everything went well. Still scheduled for Wed, Feb 3rd. I recieved the doctors "book" on what to expect and what to eat after. For three weeks after surgery I can only have; protein shakes, yogurt, milk, pureed fruits, and liquids. All low-fat/low sugar. Then I get to add softer-solid foods after that. I guess that is about the norm from what I have seen on here. I already have my post-op appoinment and another appoinment after that for 3/3 check up but not necessarily a fill. The problem I am finding with my docs office is that the majority of his patients use the Realize band and once they get the band the go to that website and never post here. I have a hard time finding people from his office on here.

I still love the ricotta bake at a year out, but ricotta and greek yogurt are both high protein ingredients to use in shakes.

I would guess you are not consuming enough calories. My body shuts down and wont drop weight. For that reason I have been making my protein shakes with Nf milk & adding a little Greek yogurt for more protein & a little fat. Maybe ask your Dr if you can add strained cream soups or mushies Hang in there:)

6 months out Breakfast: Protein shake (4oz Water and 4oz of skim milk) Snack: 9 pieces pork rinds Lunch: 3 oz of lean ground beef, 2 cheese slices and 14 small tostitos Snack: greek yogurt w/nuts Dinner: tuna (pouch) w/ 1tbsp olive oil mayo and 1tsp of mustard. I slice whole wheat bread. Pushing fluids still...average 48oz a day:-\ highest weight 224#<br />sx weight 213# (11/20/12)<br />current weight 156.2#(6/1)

Breakfast Scrambled egg with 2 oz ground turkey and1 slice Swiss cheese lunch 4 oz turkey 2 slices Swiss dinner 6 turkey meatballs and spinach salad. Snack Yogurt

I never crushed, though I know of others who have and then mixed the bits into sugar-free applesauce, Greek yogurt, or mashed potatoes. I cut my larger Vitamins (multi, calcium). Post-op meds were liquid (Vicodin) and very small tablets (Pepcid). For what it's worth, a too-large pill that gets "stuck" is uncomfortable, but with time and drinking fluids it WILL go down.

Regular Food Stage: I've pretty much continued eating like I did several months BEFORE surgery (low carb/no sugar) only less. Breakfast: scrambled egg & 1 turkey sausage patty OR a one egg omelet w/cheese and/or veggies OR a turkey sausage, egg and cheese on a whole wheat Thomas' English Muffin (can only eat like half to 3 quarters of it) Lunch: tuna (with just light mayo, salt and pepper) along with 6 whole wheat crackers and a few cubes of cheese OR a few pieces of lunchmeat and cheese OR left over protein from the night before OR natural PB with some sugar free jelly on whole wheat bread. Dinner: When it comes to meat/protein it's almost always chicken (baked/cooked various ways)/shrimp/salmon/fish, etc. I TRY to also get in veggies but am usually barely able to fit them in once I eat my protein but veggies will be anything from broccoli, green beans & mushrooms, spinach, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, etc. Snacks: I don't usually snack at all during day. But if I still feel hungry after my meals I will take that opportunity to eat some sort of fruit or yogurt or cottage cheese. I usually make it a point of getting in at least two servings of fruit a day anyway. My meals don't typically include starches (hell, if I barely have room for veggies then I almost never have room for a starch) but once in a while they do and it will be something like brown rice, protein pasta, veggie pasta, potatoes, or the whole wheat/grain bread, whole wheat/grain English muffins, whole wheat/grain crackers. Stuff along those lines.

I tried this once and it wasn't bad-- I mixed vanilla Greek yogurt with sugar free chocolate pudding. I pretended the yogurt was whipped cream, LOL It was OK, and SUPER filling!

Morning all B-frozen berries/4oz skim milk/4oz strawberry yogurt and 1 scoop unjury s-yogurt L-wheat Pasta and sf spaghetti sauce s-lite Protein Milk S- Fiber Cereal w/scoop of unjury surgery date: 12-13-2011 down 58lbs

Oh you are a hero to be back at work!! I have been more tired in the last few days than ever. I know it is because I am lucky if I get in 100 calories a day and I too am having protein issues. I have found that beneprotein mixes well with diet hot chocolate so have been trying that. Greek yogurt is great too if I can eat it - seems like anything I eat takes away from my fluid time and it is so hard to get it in. I can start eggs/chicken/tuna and soft cheese tomorrow - looking forward to those calories!! Hoping I can get my fluids in! I can take a pretty big swallow now so it can be easier but I feel like I need to have an uncapped bottle in my hand the whole time!!

I have tried yoplait Greek yogurt and it is pretty good? Anyone else try other brands? What's the best?

Chobani and now I am in love with Noosa, its a Australian yogurt, I add a scoop of unflavored protein to it as well as 1/4C of fresh fruit.....its great!

B - Fage strawberry yogurt L - Melba toast with salsa chicken, cream cheese and artichoke antipasto D - fried cheese, 2oz fajita chicken with tiny bit of guacamole, sour cream and cheese (dinner at chili's with my hubby!) S - box of goobers at the movies! Calories - 1176 Protein - 64 So enjoyed going out with my hubby and enjoyed everything I ate.....even the goobers! And I only went 176 calories over my calorie count! WooHoo!!

I wanted to thank all of you who posted. I got some great ideas, and it also forced me to look at the protein content of what I was eating. One thing that amazes me about this surgery is how quickly things change post-op. Day 2 you can barely drink, day 5 you're getting in all your proteins and liquids! Last week I couldn't get in all my protein through food, now I'm down to only one shake a day. I realized that eggs were really filling me up but each only had 6 gms of protein. In contrast, I can eat 4 oz of cottage cheese or a small container of Greek yogurt for between 10-14 gms of protein, and so I added one each of those a day. I now drink my coffee shake in the morning, but the rest of the protein is coming from real food. So thank you all for taking the time to help me!

Greek style yogurt with honey dribbled on top! Yummy!! and high in protein and low in calories and sugar! cream of Wheat is good too. Best wishes!

The baby food fruit was fine - I liked the squeezy pouches. The meat was gross. DON'T BUY ANY BABY FOOD MEAT! Even if you doctor it up and season it, its gross gross gross. I ended up eating a lot of cheese and yogurt.

I have been asked so many times on this board about what Protein drinks are good and some sample meals that I used during the first month and things I did after the 1st month. These are very valid questions and I know when I first started out I had all the same questions. Again this is long so please print this out if you would like. Protein Drinks. My all-time favorite is: Premier Protein Drink. It comes in 11 oz. drink boxes already mixed. There are 30 grams of protein in each box, 160 calories per box, 1 gram of sugar and 5 grams of carbs. The flavor I buy is Chocolate—that is all I can find at costco. I get mine at Costco and I understand that you can get them at Sam’s Club too. You can order these on line at Costco and Sam’s club. They are also available at this Web Site. http://www.premiernutrition.com/product.html I pay about $25.00 for a carton of 18 drink boxes at Costco in the city where I live. I drink one of these every morning for my Breakfast and nothing else and it has been almost 3 years since my “sleeve surgery.” The next Protein Drink that I have tried is called: Matrix 2.0 Mint Cookies made by Syntrax. You can check this out on this Web Site. http://www26.netrition.com/syntrax_matrix_page.html The cost for 2.16 lbs. is $22.99 plus postage. Item # 39-0963 My next Protein Drink that I have tried and like is: nectar, variety pack, you get 13 single servings in a variety pack. The cost is $22.95. This is the Web Site and they are made by Syntrax also. http://www6.netrition.com/syntrax_nectar_page.html There is one other Protein Drink that I found on Obesity Help.com that was rated really high by 188 people. I have never had it, but you might want to check it out. The name of the protein drink is: Carb Solution High Protein Power—it comes in more than one flavor. They also have cans of it already mixed. The Protein Powers cost $12.99. It has 110 calories, 1 gram of sugar, 4 carbs, and 20 grams of protein. This is the Web Site for Carb Solution at Wal-Mart. http://www.buycheapr.com/us/result.jsp?q=Carb+Solution&qs=ti&ga=us7&ts=go On www.ObesityHelp.com they have a lot of different information about Protein Drinks and they list so many different brands and people have rated the ones they really like check this site out. It has a lot of information about almost all the protein drinks that we find out there. http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/nutrition/a,prodsearch/searchtype,1/criteria,11/ I hate Isopure. It does NOT taste good to me—I know that some people like it. I call it Isopuke, and it reminds me of pond scum. I have been told if you buy it at a GNC and don’t like it and still have your receipt they will refund your money if it hasn’t been more than 30 days since you purchased it from them. I guess they will do that with protein powers too—ask before you buy what their policy is about returning something if you don’t like it. So if you want to try it remember this. There always seems to be a GNC in most Malls. This 1st month after weight loss surgery is going to be the hardest one to do. You just get tired of what they want you to do. It is for a reason—the doctors know what they are doing. You need to let your new stomach heal from a major surgery, so that is why you have to do these things the 1st month. You should try to keep your calories at 800 per day and no more than 20 carbs a day if you want to lose weight. The 1st month you really don’t eat a lot. So in the following months keep track of everything you are putting in your mouth. You can track what you eat on this site. I found it to be very helpful to write down EVERYTHING I was putting into my body. If I didn’t write it down I was going over 800 calories per day and would not know I was. It does take time to keep track of it—you are worth the effort, but once you get the hang of it you will know what 800 calories really are. When you exercise this site helps you figure out the number of calories you have burned and that allows you to eat more than 800 calories. It is an easy site to use and it if FREE. http://www.livestrong.com/ The 1st 10 days for me had to be clear liquids—you had to be able to see through them. broth. I used and love “Better Than Bouillon.” It comes in a jar and it is like a paste. I like it because it tastes great and you can make single servings. It is located with bouillon cubes and Soups in the grocery store. I had chicken and beef. I also made some home chicken Soup and strained everything out of it and just had the chicken broth. I would try to have ¼ of a cup of it for part of my meal, but sometimes it was just too much for me. Remember you have a new smaller stomach and it is swollen and can only hold about as much as the size of your thumb. Jello-- sugar free. I might have 2 tablespoons of Jello. That was something I had fixed and ready when I got home from the hospital. I tried to drink 64 oz. of Water and sometimes I could get it in and sometimes I couldn’t. Do the best you can, and just sip it all day long. I would add Crystal Light to the water—it made water taste a whole lot better. Apple juice, white grape juice, sugar free sports drinks, decaf hot tea, also decaf ice tea. Veggie broth or the broth from French Onion soup. Sugar Free Popsicles if my stomach was upset this really seemed to help. The 2nd 10 days. This was much easier to do. If I didn’t mention it, it was difficult for me to swallow my medication so I would crush the medication up and mix it with about 1 tablespoon of applesauce and some Equal and mix my meds in the applesauce and take my medication that way. You will have creamy foods the next 10 days I loved so many of the creamy soups. I used regular Campbell’s creamy soups that they had. I was only having about ¼ cup or maybe a few tablespoons of soup. Jello was still good for me. Sugar Free pudding, maybe 2 tablespoons full. Yogurt a few tablespoons of it. Frozen yogurt. Applesauce a couple tablespoons. A little cream cheese. Sugar Free Fudge Cycles. Premier Protein chocolate Drink mixed in blender with about 4 ice cubes and 1 cap full of Miralax. When you have a lot of protein you get constipated and Miralax works for that. It is tasteless and blends really great in the blender with the protein drink. I use the Miralx daily and it is NOT habit forming. Soft boiled eggs or soft scrambled eggs—eggs didn’t work that well for me. Low fat Chocolate milk. Cottage Cheese. Sugar Free Popsicles Creamy Peanut Butter. The 3rd 10 days and final part of the first month. Yeah the 1st month is almost over. I could eat mushy food. This was more of a challenge than I thought it would be. Mashed sweet potato or mashed yams with a small amount of butter on it. Mashed up chicken noodle soup. Mashed up homemade veggie soup. Eggs that were soft boiled or soft scrambled. Applesauce. Cottage cheese. Premier Protein Drink with miralax blended in the blender with 4 ice cubes. Mashed up steamed carrots Mashed up and blended a little tuna with a small amount of mayo. Blended chicken breast with no skin on it. Ham blended with a small amount of mayo. Water with Crystal Light Jello with fat free cool whip. Yogurt and frozen yogurt. Sugar free pudding. Protein Bars chewed up really well—I could never eat a whole one—just a few bites. Mashed potatoes and cream cheese mixed in with them. Mashed black Beans they have a lot of protein in them. I would have about 1/4 the a cup and that is about 9 grams of protein Sugar Free Popsicles Hard Boiled eggs made into egg salad. If I went out to eat I found that a cup of soup was about the best thing I found that I could eat. I also felt like I was on display sometimes because family and friends would watch me eat. It used to bother me, but not anymore. I watched them eat and I thought to myself. “Oh my gosh they inhale their food and they hardly chew it.” I was always the last one to finish eating. That is OK too. At first I actually mourned the loss of food. Later on I was thrilled that I had the restriction of a sleeve because I was losing weight. I found that chicken and fish were easier to chew and I liked them a lot more than red meat. I said that chicken was one of the main sources of protein for me. I found Kirkland (Costco brand) grilled Chicken breast strips. It is already cooked and I would put one bag (1 pound) in the freezer and use the other (1 pound bag later.) It is really handy to have around and a quick meal to fix if the chicken is already cooked. We also ate more fish. I would buy Halibut or Sole—a mild fish. I would marinate it in OJ or crushed strawberries or blueberries all day. I would also marinate it in law calories Italian Salad Dressing all day. I would cook it in a pan with Pam spray and put garlic or rosemary in the pan when I was cooking it. I don’t eat a lot of red meat and I used to be a real red meat lover. For me it took too much chewing and it just didn’t taste as good as it used to. I will now have a small hamburger and only eat 1/3 to ½ because it just is too much food for me. Ham was something that worked well for me too. I found I could get a large think slice of from the grocery story deli and I would have it for a protein—I would slice off about 2 oz. of the ham. I also enjoy a Taco Salad and I make mine with chicken instead of beef. I love Shrimp and lobster too, so those are my treats that I reward myself with. A typical meal I ate starting the 2nd month after WLS. Breakfast: Premier Protein Drink with Miralax and 4 ice cubes in the blender. Lunch: 2 oz. of chicken or ham with a small amount of cheese melted over it. I would have a bean salad—it has 4 different beans in it. Snack: I would have about 10 dry roasted almonds and maybe 10 dried cherries Dinner: 2 oz. of Chicken or Fish, steamed veggies of some kind. Sometimes my husband and I would split a small baked potato I put a teaspoon of butter and sour cream on it. Snack: Some type of fresh fruit or a Protein Bar. Carbs and what to eat and what NOT to eat About the 3rd month after WLS I would add a little bread in my diet—I could only eat about ½ a slice of bread or ½ of a hamburger bun and they are the “thin” buns that they have out now. They also make a thin bagel. You just have to look when you are shopping in your local grocery store for these things. Try to find Whole Grain carb products and if you can’t the do the whole wheat. Try to stay away from WHITE carbs. They are white refined carbs and that is how we got fat eating a lot of them. Rice should be brown rice and only a small amount—NO white rice. Pasta comes is Spinach or Whole Wheat and you can have only small amounts of it. banana – Medium size has 27 Grams of carbs—I stay away from the banana, and I love them, but I just don’t want to spend all my carbs for the day on a banana. I use a Mexican soft flour shell made of spinach or sun dried tomatoes for making a small sandwich too—you know they call them wraps. Beverage: They do not want you to drink something when you eat—you need the room for the food so that you can get your protein in firsts. During the day I would have water or decaf tea for my liquid after I ate or all during the day. As I said the Crystal Light Individual packs and different flavors worked well in a bottle of water. It seems like it took me forever to eat and drink all the things I was supposed to be eating and drinking. I was always sipping on the protein drink and water. supplements you should take. It is important that you take a multi-Vitamin. I had a difficult time trying to swallowing large pills. Look for an Adult Chewable multi-vitamin. I also have the Chocolate Chewable Calcium that I buy at Costco. As time goes on it will get easier to swallow larger pills. Do NOT take the multi-vitamin on an empty stomach, it may make you sick. My Primary Care doctor was very helpful and after I had been home 2 weeks from WLS, she had me come into for an office visit. She ran a full blood panel and made sure all my levels were ok. I knew my potassium was low when I left Dr. Aceves in Mexicali—they ran my blood test before I left and gave me a very detailed report about my surgery to give to my doctor here in the US. Dr. Aceves told me to have it watched when I got home. I now take a potassium tablet prescribed by my doctor and work on eating food high in potassium. Starting the 3rd month I started to eat more salads about here. I had a favorite and still eat it. It is Fresh Spinach, with slices of almonds, feta cheese, dried cherries, or fresh strawberries, a tablespoon of bacon and Paul Newman’s Light Raspberry & Walnut dressing on it. I sometimes add some of my Kirkland (Costco) Grilled Chicken breast strips to it and then it is an entire meal in one bowl. Chef’s Salad is a great one meal in a bowl thing to have and I just use any kind of dressing I want on it. This salad has lettuce, tomatoes, olives, sliced hard boiled eggs, turkey or chicken, and some ham sliced on it with some cheese. REMEMBER make this in a much smaller bowl than the normal Chef’s salad comes in. Sometimes I will add a small amount of Whole Grain dinner roll or some bread with it. Stir Fry is a great way to get meat and veggies all in one meal too. I have a pan that works great on the BBQ grill and I do a stir fry on the BBQ in the summer time. Have a sense of adventure and take some of your old recipes and see if you can convert them into a healthier recipe. Use veggies that you have never tried. Try some “rubs” on you meat located in the spice section or the grocery store and try to marinate some of your meats all day before cooking them—it really changes the taste of them. Desert I don’t want you to feel deprived. I learned that sometime just a bite or two of a desert really satisfied my need for it. Instead of the WHOLE piece of cake or pie, just a sliver of it worked for me to satisfy my need for it. When you want a cookie have just one small cookie and not the entire bag OK. Sugar free pudding with a small amount of Fat Free Cool Whip is good too. Use Splendia to make a desert that you like. So everything in moderation works. Exercise I was never a fan of exercise until I started to walk and I found out how much I benefited from it. Now I try to exercise 5 days a week. Find some form of exercise that works for you and do it. Start slow and then add more until you are comfortable with it. I am sure I have missed a few things, and I will write those down as I think of them and make a Vol. 2 if I needed too. These are just my suggestions, spice them up and make your food interesting and don’t get in a rut. This is not a diet, you will learn to adapt it and find things that work for you and that you like eating. This is a LIFESTYLE change. Make it work for you. You have the tool of restriction now use your new tool to your advantage. The fat doesn’t just melt off of you. It does require work and effort on your part. Stalls—No weight loss for a period of days. Be prepared you may have periods where you lose NO weight. We call those “Stalls.” You will panic and think for sure that you are the “one person this is NOT going to work on.” I know I was sure that was me. NOT true at all. Our bodies just do this. Mine lasted for 9 days—no weight loss at all. Just keep doing what you are doing and the weight will start coming off again I promise you. I can tell you not to panic but most of you will anyway—that is pretty normal too. Hugs, Suzanne Sleeved 10/21/2008 Lost 105 pounds.

Hi all, I am 5 months out and have lost 88lbs which is AWESOME. The whole time though I have been constipated, trying EVERYTHING just to be able to "go" every other day or so but nothing has worked. So I have been using laxatives every weekend to "clean myself out" as I work Monday thru Friday and can''t take them during the week.So unfortunately I can go like 6 days without a BM which is not good. An issue I'm having is the past few weeks, I am not losing like I was the first 5 months and I'm going out of my mind! Example: I weigh myself in the morning when I get up and say my weight is 177.4lb.s. OKay, fine. So I eat a 6oz. yogurt and a few mini rice cakes.And weigh myself say a half hour later (just for this purpose) and my weight goes up to 178.2lb.s!!! This is NOT normal for me! Usually after eating that, my weight wouldn't move at all, or go up maybe an ounce. But now it goes way up, even if I drink a Protein shake or water! What's the deal??? Is it because of the constipation and being "FOS" literally?? (I also walk 2 miles a day on top of a very active 8 hour job.) Another example is yesterday, I weighed 177.6lbs in the morning. I had 2 Protein shakes,Water and 8oz. oatmeal throughout the whole day. I weighed myself that night around 10pm and my weight was 179.2lbs! Now I know weight fluctuates during the day and that's fine, but this is NOT NORMAL for me. Can someone PLEASE help me figure this out?? I'm losing faith in myself and having any more weight loss and I have 47lbs still to lose! PLEASE HELP! DESPERATE! thank you

Called the dr. Said to eat some plain Greek yogurt to increase probiotics. If I still have tomorrow to go in due to dehydration issues. He said it is not normal and is not dumping.

So protein tricks that help me.. I start almost every morning with a protein shake mixed with half a cup of coffee and some ice (most of them are way too sweet for me to drink on their own) this knocks out 30grams of protein right off the bat. I usually also have either a light and fit Greek yogurt or Oikos Zero (both around 100 ish calories and 15 grams of protein) once a day. As other mentioned I also enjoy hummus which obviously isn’t as high protein as other things but it is low in fat/calories comparatively. I usually enjoy it with either sliced cucumbers or carrots (one thing a lot of people forget about is the importance of fiber that doesn’t come from grains/starch) I know you enjoy your English muffin and I’m ALL for enjoying the things that work for you but perhaps you could amp up the proteins and cut some carbs calories by only eating a half of an English muffin with cream cheese and then layer a little deli meat on top for extra protein? (Sliced turkey or ham would both be good with a little cream cheese or even smoked salmon/lox) When I’m working (super active Job as a bartender) I do drink a Fairlife chocolate protein shake at some point in the evening so that’s another 30 grams of protein. I do usually meal prep one actually cooked meal, this week I’m having 2.5 oz taco seasoned catfish, 2 tablespoons sautéed mixed veggies, and 2 tablespoons refried beans- I think that meals comes in at around 150 calories. If you need more protein snacks a lot of people like Quest products I think their chips are …okay… I don’t love them. I did find a brand on Amazon called IWON that is made out of brown rice, quionoa, and pea protein- they have a bunch of flavors and I like them better but they are a touch pricier and 180 calories a bag so I use those as a meal slot- but sometimes it’s good for on the go. Anyway I hope some of this is useful but either way I wish you the best of luck!

You and your husband look great! You've done so well! Be sure to take time to realize how much you have accomplished. My only question is how are you doing on drinking your Water? Are you getting in at least 64 ounces a day? It can help you feel full, and your body needs the water/fluid to lose weight. I started off losing quickly, but I am now a slow loser (9 pounds lost since February), but I am still losing. I find that I need to constantly reevaluate my eating choices. I have recently been eating a lot of Oikos Greek yogurt, and then I read a thread on here about the yogurt and someone mentioned the sugar content. I realized I hadn't even looked at the sugar content on the label. It was a reminder to myself that I needed to make sure I wasn't eating anything with more than 6 grams of sugar in a serving. I will have to go back to a different flavor of Greek yogurt. Looking back, I realized that I made the choice to buy the Oikos brand not based on the food label but based on the price. It was on sale for $1 per container (5.3 ounces), so I grabbed it. This experience made me reevaluate what I was doing, and I ended up losing a couple of pounds. I realized I needed to stay aware of what I was eating and doing even when I think I know.

I’ve found a breakfast that I stick with every day. 1/4 cup part skim ricotta mixed with a packet of Splenda and a few drops of vanilla. I eat that with 1/4 cup of berries or sliced peach. I make a lot of cold cucumber yogurt soup and have that for lunch with a couple slices of turkey breast. When the weather changes, I’ll have to find a hot option. I love Asian style dumplings, so I’ll eat a few of those for dinner, along with spinach or zucchini cooked in some chicken broth. I’m looking for good ideas too. I’m 8 weeks out.

I had a really bad day yesterday. Crying. I could not stop. Very emotional with the liquild diet. Did not get enough protein. It hurt everytime I sipped. Finally fiqured out I quit taking pain med too early. Every time I toook the pain med I just fell asleep. I Discovered need to take a little pain med to tolerate food. :thumbup: New goals today. Walk more, drink more water and get my protein in at least 60 gms. Nutrional told me about greek yogurt has 23 gms protein. will try smoothie today with it. Did sleep better last night. Fell like a new women today. Worried about the new philsophy of lean and mean. So far just mean. I'm leaving a wake of dead people in my path. If you want to know where, I at just look for the dead or dispondant. I'm always the fun one, no one needs to be around me right now. My children are looking at me as if i grew two horns and a tail. My husbands looks like he wants to cry everytime he looks at me.He has been very supportive. You really need support thru this process.