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You know that I adore you, but it's NOT the best option. That was my point along, and somehow this entire thread got blown out of proportion. Gatorade has sugar, PLUS electrolytes. Greek yogurt has calories, carbs and Protein. I drank regular gatorade because I needed the calories as well.. The point is that you can eat it. Should you, not really, or are there better options out there that can give you sustained energy along with nutrients, YES!

FOR ME,,, this surgery was about changing former bad habits as well as eating less. Lets not pick each other apart, lets us best support one another to do what is right for each of is. Truth is you can cheat the sleeve by putting down high calorie, high carb, high fat food. Did any of go through this surgery to fail?????? The sleeve is not a miracle, it is a tool. We still have a life time of better food choices ahead of us. As my surgeon put it, sweets are slippery slope! I personally had my fist piece of ice cream b day cake in a over year, and well because I restricted myself the first 8 months it was not even appealing any more, Give me some fresh fruit and Greek Yogurt!

You need to be extremely careful! Ice cream, is on my no way list. My surgeon said it was a slider food & could impede my weight loss. Plus, the magical period of the sleeve will not last forever...use this time to retrain yourself to enjoy healthy foods! I'm amazed that I actually like yogurt & veggies!

Hey Marchers! How's everyone doing today? Today I move forward to full liquids (protein shakes, SF Jello, NF Yogurt, really thin oatmeal, thin cream of wheat, etc.). I think I will focus on my shake and take "baby sips" all day. If I can get down just 1 shake, then that's 42g of protein. Also taking tiny sips of water pretty much all day. I haven't tried to reach that "full" stage yet, still a little scared to try and push it yet. I have a follow up Wednesday with Surgeon and he will remove my drain. I'll ask him more then. Feeling much more normal now . . . . if only I could get back my good posture (LOL). Everytime I get up to walk somewhere I find myself walking like my grandmother (haha).

Hey Wheetsin - thanks for the update! Sorry to hear you're still having some discomfort though. I don't know where you are on your food -- although it sounds like you're in the soft/mushy phase, but for me, I eat 1-2 greek yogurts in a day (12g-14g each), and get the rest of my protein through tuna, chicken, pork and eggs. However, if there's a day where I just can't get it all in, I have the "protein shots" - they're 3.5 ounces and you can either drink them alone (although they taste really icky), or like me, I put mix them in 20oz of water, and it's palatable (barely), but still 42g of protein. And by the way, 53lbs!!! Way to go!!

I seem to be more hungry in the evening as well. I can also eat about 1/2 cup of food. I can do six ounces of yogurt but it takes me awhile.

Surgery was a week ago tomorrow. My last sore incision felt significantly better today, it had really been pinching until then (it's deeply puckered, I call it my button tuft incision). I'm able to eat between 3 & 5 tbls of food a day, depending on thickness. 2 - 3 tbls of broth, or a tbl of yogurt, pudding, or cottage cheese. About 2 tbls of a thick, strained soup. I'm not really ever feeling hungry yet, but I do feel a bit gurgly once or twice a day. The pain with drinking has almost subsided. Today I was able to take 3 very small sips with only a few seconds in between. This is the first day I've been able to drink more than one small sip at a time. I stop before there's pain, but there's still pressure. I'm still having a hard time getting more than about 25 oz of any fluid in per day - hopefully it will start getting easier soon. My first post-op is Wed. I'll know scale change then. I'm not expecting much since I'm still taking predisone (allergic reaction to meds from surgery). The meds I have to take are definitely still an obstacle to eating/drinking more. I have to take sucralfate (4x daily) to keep the predisone (2x daily) from irritating my stomach too much, plus the omeprazole (2x daily). Just my meds keep me stuffed for several hours. How is everyone else doing?

I don't have any different recommendations for soft foods. I pretty much stuck to the basics, egg whites, Greek yogurt, LF cottage cheese. I did eat Fat free refried Beans with low fat cheese which tasted pretty good. As for the belly button, miserable isn't it?! I had a complication and a second surgery that made a question mark around mine. The pressure from that was one of the worst things. Still bothers me from time to time. It helps to support the weight of your stomach with your hand when you move around or with a pillow when you are trying to sleep. They also make an abdominal brace that does that, but I couldn't find one that fit right. Best to you!

Thanks, Nonsense. I first tried them in Greek yogurt, which someone suggested earlier, but that was disgusting. Right now I'm just pouring the powder into mouth and chasing it with water. Still disgusting, but bearable. I'll try them in water next time!

I went in today to see my dr for a regular monthly visit, I'm 10 1/2 mos post op and was expecting a fill but he decided not to do one. He thought since I'm staying satisfied for 4 to 4.5 hrs between meals and an occasional snack of yogurt or low fat string cheese, he thought I was good to go. Although my weight loss has been slow, it's been steady, 2-4 lbs a month. Just now have been able to introduce walking into my journey in the last couple of weeks so hopefully I will see a difference in toning. I totally forgot to mention hair loss to him, sheesh. My hair is thinning, I take Biotin but the last 3 weeks I've noticed it really is thinning out. Had blood work done by my PCP this week and all was normal except Vit D, he increased that. I'm wondering if I'm not getting enough protein. I'm not good at tracking, especially if I cook or make something homemade I'm totally lost on MFP. Now eating out like Wendy's chili (small) or Chick-fil-A grilled nuggets I can pull nutrition facts off internet. Tues I got stuck really bad on a DEVIL food choice, don't judge, i was craving a burger, so I got a Wendy's Jr cheeseburger and brought it home, well, like an idiot took too big of a bite and got stuck BIG time and ended up puking my stomach up it felt like, needless to say I don't want another burger for a long time. Surgeon today said to me and laughed "bet you don't want a burger anytime soon do ya" lol, and I replied NOPE! He seems to think I'm really close to being in the green zone or maybe in it, hope so. If I can increase my activity and exercise I'm praying I will see more weight come off than 2 to 4 lbs a month.

My nutritionist has similar guidelines. Too lazy to look for my handbook, but I think the rules were 20 gms Protein, low carbs and sugar under 8 gms per serving. It also had to be isolates and not concentrates. My own issues were allergies to food dyes, artificial sugars and stevia. Sucrolose was okay for a bit but eventually started irritating me as well. I also can't eat processed foods, so they needed to have minimal ingredients. I finally settled on Isopure unflavored whey isolate. I then make my own in the nutra bullet with FAGE 0% greek yogurt. I added fresh fruit, almond butter or cacao powder to flavor them. Premade I like Orgain Organics.

mainly for changing up the flavor of your protein shakes. but I've also seen some people mix a little into plain greek yogurt to give it some flavor (haven't tried it yet, but plan to). amazon has tons of flavors but I found them cheapest (and good price on shipping too) on a restaurant supply site called webstaurant.com . While the site is intended for restaurant supply they will ship to a residential address.

Hello, All! I hope you are each having a beautiful Sunday where ever you are in the world. I am being sleeved on Thursday, April 27 (Four days from now! Wow!) and my doctor's instructions say on the last three days of my pre-op diet I can have clear liquids and yogurt only. Have any of you been allowed yogurt on your diet? Professionally I am a nurse and I understand that yogurt is good before surgery because of the probiotics which help ward off c-diff. However, with this being a surgery on my stomach I was a little thrown back by the addition of yogurt being on the list. I was hoping some of you have had this experience or may be able to offer some insight that I missed. Thanks!

I am now one week out and I feel hunger often, too. I am taking omeprazole. i find that I need to eat every few hours, but I am fine with a yogurt or half a protein shake or some sugar free jello (that's about all I'm allowed on my plan as I'm still only allowed liquids for another week). It also helps to drink a lot, in small sips (so it doesn't hurt). It's hard when you see other people eat "real" food too, but that' not what causes the hunger - to me, that's just wishing I could have what they're having. The hunger is just hunger, unrelated to cravings (i'm having cravings for cheese, but I'm also having true hunger).

My two cents....for what it is worth. Remember that you are worth this and you are not a failure because your weight loss journey is different from those around you. In my three years I have come to realize that everyone is different even with the band. For example, I have great restriction, but I can eat bread. I always have been able to and waiting around for bread to get stuck to let me know that I have restriction or can't eat anymore is not going to help me at all. I lost 10 -15 lbs in the first month and basically hit a plateau that lasted nearly a year. Then I gave up, was depressed avoided my doctor and gained a lot of that weight back. My doctor wanted me to have a gastric bypass, even encouraged me to run the new testing and thankfully my insurance company denied it. He basically wrote me off as a patient. New doctor gave me very different support and aftercare. Some things I have now learned: (1) I need a low-carb diet. I eat 45-55 gms of carbs a day. Thats it, and a lot of that comes from fruits and veggies. The funny thing is that with carbs, they are either slider foods (potatoes) foods that get stuck, (doughy foods, rice) or sweets/nuts (high calorie, high sugar, high fat) and they often trigger cravings for more carbs! (2) I eat at regular intervals, every 3 hrs. Some people say they don't get hungry for 4-5 hrs. Not me. I'm hungry. If I rely on just hunger, I eat too much, if I to wait for 4-5 hrs I am starving and again I eat too much, too fast or make bad choices. Seriously figure out how long it takes you to get hungry and set your meals around that. I had an alarm on my cell the first week to remind me to eat because I am not starving at that point and sometimes miss the hunger signals, but I know if I go past the 3 hrs pt bad things happen. I also know if I am hungry between then it is probably dehydration and I'm not getting my fluids in. 3. Eat slowly. If I eat my 3/4 cup to 1 cup of food in less than 15 or 20 minutes I am eating way too fast and likely to eat way too much. You'll find if you are only eating softer foods you eat them faster because they don't get stuck. I have to force myself to eat Proteins like chicken or steak and fresh veggies because I am afraid they will get stuck and they require me to be very careful with the chewing. The other day I ate carrots too fast and they were stuck! Ugh. The old me would have stopped eating raw carrots. The new me knows I ate them too fast, and didn't chew well enough. Also know that I will get full on a smaller amount of carrots than I will lunch meat, or yogurt. If I can eat it that fast it is probably not that good for me!! Time yourself. I've done it and having that external cue to keep you on pace helps. Note: If you follow this guideline with portion size, small chews and length it takes to finish a meal and are still getting food stuck you are too tight!!! I know it sounds counterproductive, but being too tight means your body thinks it is starving and you WILL NOT LOSE ANY WEIGHT!! Get the unfill, let your pouch heal and go back to the basics. My dr. does not like people relying solely upon Protein supplements for regular maintenance...so in his opinion you need to be able to eat lean meats without getting stuck.You can also be too tight and go over your calories because you tend to rely on soft mushy foods that are not going to keep you full and that are higher calorie for the volume. 4. Track your calories very very carefully. The've said it before and it is true. One of my biggest issues for me with this surgery was my slow metabolism. My body adjusts very quickly to a reduced caloric intake. You are not losing any weight because your body is adjusted to the amount of calories you are taking in. If i ate the amount of calories the calculators say I should to maintain weight (even without exercise I would be gaining 2-3 lbs a week! Trust me! I have tried.) I have to stay on a strict 1000-1200 calorie diet. If I am around 1400 or 1600 I gain. And when you break it down that is not a ton of calories and one pudding cup, cookie, or yogurt can quickly throw me over my daily goal. I may be eating what I would call a healthy diet but now post lap band for me healthy means getting lots of protein, paying strict attention to carbs, and focusing on non-starchy veggies. Very different from my BFF. If the scale is not moving I have to take a very serious look at what I am eating, own what I ate and make adjustments. My guess, if you haven't lost weight you are probably taking in the same amount of calories you were before the surgery just in a decreased volume. Again, doesn't mean you're eating ice cream all the time, but you would be amazed at how many calories you can take in even with the band. Someone said he does 3000 calories on a calorie cycling regimine for his high cal day. I know its hard and I know you may feel like people assume you aren't following the rules or are doing something to sabotage your success. Please don't give up!! I have run into plenty of guys and gals who struggle and this journey is a mental and physical one! Don't judge yourself or your success based on what others have done on the boards it will only make you feel more depressed. Set your own goals and Celebrate them, no matter how small. I celebrate tracking all my calories (especially if I have missed a day or two!) Adjusting behavior patterns and breaking internal cues and triggers can be hard. Your body does not want to lose weight, it thinks of that as starvation. You've got to outsmart your body and for some of us it takes more work than others! Good luck!

These are a nice treat to have if you have kids in the house ( my husband loves them too) only 35 calories. If your really trying to have healthy treats in the house for your family, this is a good one. Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Cookies 1 cup granulated sugar 1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt 1 large egg, beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup fresh blueberries 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon zest 1. Make the cookies: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease several baking (spray with PAM) sheets, or line them with silicone baking mats, and set aside. 2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the sugar and yogurt, then blend in the egg and vanilla. 3. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together, then blend it into the wet yogurt mixture. Gently fold in the blueberries. 4. Drop tablespoonfuls of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between each cookie. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the cookies start to barely brown at the edges. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for two minutes, and then move the cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Some of the blueberries will burst during baking—this is to be expected and will not affect the taste!

Thank you all for the support and great suggestions. I will call my doctor today to find a support group. I also will start to track my food. I am down 27 pounds in 5 weeks but when I ate those foods like the slice of pizza or ate the Nutella, I fear old habits. I have never learned moderation so it reminds me of the past when I would diet and then go off plan. I eat well during the week. Usually, I'll have a GNC Total Lean shake for Breakfast, a yogurt or sliced deli chicken for lunch, and turkey chili or rotisserie chicken for dinner. But, I had a small ice cream cone and I feel like a failure because I have always been all or nothing. I need to seek help ASAP to adjust. Thanks to you all.

Not much but my surgeon said to concentrate mainly on protein! 6 months out and I only eat 500 calories a day and some days less! Try to only look for Protein i.e., Greek yogurt, almond milk Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Try eating less. Maybe a tablespoon is all your body can handle right now. Believe me any less and I would be eating air. I have found that some of the foods I loved and could tolerate before DO NOT agree with my body. I have to stick with water and lowfat, no fruit yogurts for now. The sugar content in most of those Greek yogurts are ridiculous. I haven't touched those. My sugar intake should be less than 10g. I ate a small amount of butternut squash Soup and I can already feel that's not gonna work for me either. By the time I'm done with this pre-op diet I will be on a whole different diet. Not complaining, actually excited to see where this will go. I will find a whole knew way of eating....goodness knows I don't need to go back into old eating habits.

ooo i love greek yogurt, my surgeons nurse suggested mixing the plain vanilla with crystal light. i eat 8oz at a time (on the pre op diet) im allowed it once a day so that has helped as well

I made a greek yogurt dessert and I'm loving it. I mix vanilla greek yogurt, honey (or splenda if you're out of carbs for the day) and cinnamon. Then I half way freeze it. OR you can get Greek Yogurt and mix pumpkin pie spice in it, and then eat it, also delicious and great for thanksgiving when everyone else is eating the real thing!

So the idea of eating liquids and things without texture or grain is that they don't want to stimulate the gut to start "churning" and scrunching like it does when solid or semi-solid foods are introduced. When I was on full liquids I was allowed: clear fluids without sugar or caffeine, protein drinks, and yogurt that was low carb/low sugar and free of any fruit that was thinned down to pourable consistency (think soup texture). I was also allowed ice pops (sf) and sf jello. The problem with eating pureed soups thinned down at this stage is that even pureeing chicken will leave a sludgish texture that has grit or grain to it. And it will cause your stomach to grind too much. So don't try to game the system. If it doesn't appear on your plan, don't do it. LOL. You CAN make up cream soups with Fairlife FF Milk. Strain it and slowly add in a scoop of unflavored protein in order to up your protein content of the meal. That would add smooth consistency, absence of texture and should help satiety by upping your protein. And FYI, 1 pint should take you about 8 hours or more to consume at your stage. Each meal 2 hours apart and 4oz per meal approximately.

Chicken breast Chop the chicken add mayo and make a chicken salad Turkey burgers or ground turkey Yogurt Cheese sticks Salad

Have you considered replacing the ice cream with frozen yogurt? It has only a fraction of the saturated fat. I can't tell the difference but a few people don't think it taste as good as ice cream.

I'm 4 weeks out now and things are getting better. I can drink fresh, cold water now instead of lukewarm flavored water. I don't have to sip, I can gulpgulpgulp (but only 3x, if I go for a 4th gulp it will be uncomfortable for a few minutes). I'm having a LOT of trouble getting all of my water and protein in. I think the best I've done so far is to get 30G of protein and maybe 40oz of water. I really really need to work on that. But I can eat pretty much anything! My surgeon and NUT ok'ed me to move onto regular foods as long as I chew chew chew and they don't bother me. So I've gotten to eat all sorts of foods and am feeling less and less deprived each day. Over the weekend I had a "Protein Taco" which was basically 1/4th of a low carb wrap with refried beans, ground beef, cheddar cheese, greek yogurt in place of sour cream, and a tiny dribble of mild salsa. I'm pretty sure it was the most incredible thing I have ever eaten. Granted it took me nearly an hour to eat most of it and I ended up giving the last bit to my daughter it was still so incredible. All of the flavors and textures totally thrilled me- and I'm guessing there was at least 15-20g of protein.