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I haven't been on this web site in almost a month... honestly... because I am ashamed of myself. I researched bariatric surgery for nearly 10 years before I finally had all my kids (5 beautiful red-heads) and the military insurance (Tricare) would cover the lapband instead of only the RNY, which I thought was too invasive for me.....but now... ugh...I had my lap-band on 26 March. It is an 11cc band (that's larger than most). I was 252 and I am honestly scared to death to step on a scale to see if I have lost anything. I know I am eating less than I was before, but I read books about people eating 1/4cup yogurt for breakfast, 1 soft egg for lunch, a protein shake for a snack and a light dinner, maybe 3 oz of shrimp and 2 BITES of sweet potatoe... and I am JEALOUS of these people... I want to feel full after eating almost nothing... but I honestly eat almost anything. I am scared. I bought a couple books with low carb/high protein recipes in it and so far - they are pretty good. It ain't Gramma's Chicken casserole, but it's good food. One book, Before and After, has been very helpful. The author had RNY 6 years ago, so some of the info (the no sugar and dumping info) doesn't apply, but the rest has been at least helpful enough that I don't feel completely alone. I eat too much. My surgeon is in the states (I live in Italy) teaching US doctors how to do the surgery - so I can't have my follow-up with him till at least 1 May. I will beg him to fill the band as much as possible... I didn't go into this surgery lightly and I desperately want it to work. I try to stick to 85 (at least)grams of protein a day and no more than 25 grams of carbs. I drink constantly (except around meals) and track what I eat most days... but the fat jeans still fit well... :rolleyes2:

New discoveries this week since I have been doing the 2 week liquid diet. 1) I don't like GNC's vanilla whey Protein - too much of a weird whey/protein taste/after taste/smell 2) unjury chocolate Power is better but still not my favorite 3) The Nutribullet does wonders to mix the protein better (with ice) better than a shaker bottle 4) The Unjury chicken Soup is barely passable by itself (I never like Chick broth anyway) but I am looking forward to mixing with instant potatoes and fat free refried Beans 5) Cytosport Monster Milk (Chocolate) IS MY MOST FAVORITE WAY TO GET IN PROTEIN (warning: it's wicked expense, most because I buy it premixed in the bottles, which I think also helps dull any protein taste.) 6) I have a new respect for Jello and greek yogurt.

Yes... And no. In this shake I do not taste it at all. You have to put it in things that will mask the flavor. I have put too much in yogurt and it was not good. In this shake, I really do not taste any of it.

My update.. 4 full days post op (surgery 9/23): so far so good. Got out weds late afternoon, worst pain and "suffering" day, ready to hurt someone, sick of 3 & 4 am dracula visits, being stuck w/something all day/night, etc. got oral delaudid after 10 am. Drain removed day of discharge..felt weird. Slept from.7 pm to 7 am....still waking up every 3 hrs tho, lol. Sent home with tiny 1 mg delaudid, antinausea script, and prevacid script. Also had the atrixia (blood thinner) injections. No nausea or cramping in the pouch yet, just from gas. Right on pureed diet..from weds in hospital. Oatmeal, refried beans, yogurt, etc. fortified all with prot powder. Getting 36-48 oz liquids in for last 2 days. Popsicles rock!!! Hot tea goes down well too..."smooth move" tea to help as laxative. Did take miralax this AM, and a stool softner....finally pooped!! Maybe tmi, but thats a big deal...lol. Got 68g protein in today, walked around the block.... Lingering pain @ incision sites, esp if i twist the wrong way...and some gassy pains that go away with moving/walking, etc. still tired, but scheduling naps. drinking from pink sippy cup and using a baby spoon to eat. Best thing today was choc banana super pudding... SF choc pudding, 1/2 banana mashed, 2c skim milk, 1 envelope unjury choc protein pwdr, blended, chilled. 8g prot per 4 oz. Yum. Thank you God this is going pretty well.so far!!!! no idea how much i lost yet, not looking til post op appt with surgeon on 10/7. HW 231.(feb 2013)...DoSW 222. GW 140

Yes, they have me count them. I also can use Jello, popsicles, cream Soups and yogurt as liquid too. Start weight 224, Surgery weight 205, Current weight 199

I was sleeved 6/27 and stomach and diguesting is still pretty loud. I hear it's like that during most the healing process and gets better after week 5. I just started real soft foods last tuesday, but l want allowed yogurt during liquid phase. Living off of scrambled eggs and string cheese at the moment but I still get faint a lot. Eating is annoying because I'm hungry but get burnt out on stuff so quickly.

Still very painful. I'm day 2 post op. Got home yesterday. Can hardly drink only 15 MLS at a time. Full liquids start today, so I'll see how the yogurt and protein shake go. I feel like puking.

I got to add yogurt, cottage cheese, applesauce, and no sugar added rice pudding today!! Of course, I tried them all over the day. The rice pudding was a little hard to eat, probably because I was worried about the rice in it. I get to go straight to soft foods, too, but not 'til next Wednesday. How are you ladies doing?

Hi Michelle. I'm from CA, too, Bay Area! I haven't had any issues with dumping, but my first week choices are very strict. I am only allowed broth, strained cream Soups, sugar free Jello, the usual drinks (water, decaf stuff, Crystal Light, etc.), and of course, the lovely Protein shakes. On week two (Thursday!!), I can add yogurt, cottage cheese, no sugar added applesauce, and no sugar added pudding. I don't get to have hummus or stuff like that until Week 3 and after my first post op appointment. Hey, I read a great tip on here to make Protein shake fudgesicles in ice cube trays. I'm using the little medicine cups they gave me. These go down so much easier than the shakes and I feel like I'm getting a little treat! I'm sure loving the friendship and support here! Have a great day tomorrow, ladies! P.S. I am on leave from work until May 29th and not going back a minute earlier! LOL

Same here cheese is no problem. Neither is yogurt....go figure

well- I am nearly a year out-- 10 months basically..... my day is as follows!!! breakfast: iced vanilla latte (not sugar free and made with 2% milk) 1 cheese stick, and a 6oz yogurt. snack: carrots and dip (not low fat) lunch:about 1/5th of a burrito bowl (3/4-1 cup total) with steak, rice, salsa, Beans, cheese and sour cream from chipotle. a few chips snack: 15 slices of turkey pepperoni Dinner: grilled chicken breast or fish (3oz)and a veggie. Snack: small chunk of cookie dough. :-)

Hi. I got lucky and my surgeon/NUT had me on pureed 2 days after surgery. The 1st in the hospital was oatmeal, and then some formed pureed chicken, peas and mashed taters for lunch. taters were good, mixed em in with the chicken, left the peas alone. I have been eating oatmeal for fiber (helps to regulate the output, lol) -- with some Prot Pwdr mixed in, yogurt, pureed soups (with extra PP mixed in), shakes (but not too many luckily), refried beans with melted cheese, scrambled eggs with melted cheese, and very mushy/pureed chicken, egg and salmon salad. I also pureed some LF Turkey chili... Have also had 'fun' making 'super puddings'... Sugar free pudding with Prot pwdr, milk and and add in if I can think of one. Best one yet-- jello SF choc fudge pudding, unjury choc splendor powder ---chocolatey goodness....and then swirl in a Tbsp of peanut butter when I eat it for an extra 7-8 g of protein. I am not hungry, getting in about 60-70g a day... more like watching the clock and eating on cue. I get the mouth hunger though....haven't been tempted - tempted enough to cheat, but this AM I was thinking "I really would love something crunchy...." and "I want bread"... funny, a friend of mine had this 7 yrs ago...told me she had the mouth hunger/craving for crunchy....shoved a whole handful of doritos in her mounth, chewed it up, then spit them out, just to relieve it. LMAO. I am not there....yet. On another note, I found a company that makes comfort food type stuff, lo fat, lo sugar... out of dried ingredients, so when it arrives, it is in powder form. you add hot or cold water, and they 'say' that it smells and tastes like the 'real food'....even tho it looks like pudding. I ordered a few things, so will let you know.... I ordered the higher protein 'entrees'....like mac& cheese, fiesta tacos, bbq with cornbread. I am both scared and excited to see how these are. LOL. Company is "Pure-a". I have my 2 week check up with surgeon tomorrow .... and 2 more weeks left on pureeds. I think I can make it. :-) HW (Jan 2013) 231 SW (9/23/2013) 222 CW (10/6) 211 I am 5'1". :-) so far, so good.

oh yeh... I also use a stick blender and I put my powder in skim milk and even add Greek non fat yogurt. My clinic approved and I get a huge amt of protein doing this... someone told me though they couldn't handle thickness at a early stage like I can so again ppl are different

Nothing special really, there's nothing I don't eat, but I mainly stay high Protein low carb. For example tonight's dinner is rotisserie chicken (no skin) and a green salad with tomatoes, cucumber, and onions (and ranch dressing) For lunch today I had a homemade Soup made with with chicken and veggies, I had a banana for a snack and yogurt and coffee for Breakfast. I eat between 800-1000 calories a day now, but I was under 700 until 2 months ago. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using the BariatricPal App

Can you eat some yogurt? It does help with the cravings for sweets.....Or Sf pudding or jello. I still drink or eat a protein bar when I want something sweet. Don't give in to your head hunger. Now is the time to tame it.....Distract yourself with something else or call a friend....

Both my kids are high functioning ASD - I know what you mean! We mostly avoid artificial/processed food, but the pre-op diet was tough. I'd already picked up a few Sucralose products during the insurance mandated diet, but went full chemical sugar free for the last few weeks of super low carb. Man, it was *nasty*. But I've seen the pictures from my surgery and my liver looked FABULOUS, so I'm pretending it helped my liver shrink and am moving on. Like elisa5150, I did use sugar free stuff the first month or so - especially the sugar free popsicles - but also Gelatin, Protein powder, and some protein hot chocolate. Now, I use flavored stevia drops for kefir or yogurt (yay live cultures!) and a little xylitol (a sugar alcohol) in my tea. Some of Protein shakes (Orgain) have stevia and erythritol (another sugar alcohol) or monkfruit and inulin (Jamie Eason Lean Body for Her). Personally, I do really well with xylitol and okay with erythritol (though their "naturalness" is highly debatable). And while current research increasingly makes it look like sucralose and other traditional artificial sweeteners are really messing with gut health, there doesn't seem to be any evidence that stevia, monkfruit, xylitol, or erythritol have much effect one way or the other. There are natural(-ish) protein powders out there - as long as you can keep the carbs and protein where they're supposed to be. (My NUT recommended youbars - they make custom Protein Bars with options for natural sweeteners.) We love grass fed butter and cheese, though I'm sticking with olive oil and coconut oil for now. I do have a tub of natural coconut oil based vegan butter spread I use every once in a while, but I wouldn't give up grass fed dairy for margarine if I had a choice. Mostly, though, my new stomach prefers savory moderate to low fat food, so I try to work with that as much as I can. When I was still eating dairy, I discovered I could mix herbs (Penzey's Fox Point seasoning) into low fat Greek yogurt and use it as a dip. Still got my protein, but didn't have to sweeten it. Which is probably for the best. I don't think living on artificially sweet or fatty things is necessarily better than living on real sweet or fatty things. So, good fats when we eat them - grass fed beef; pastured eggs; olive & coconut oil - and all in reasonable amount. If a dish is too fatty, I can't eat enough to meet my protein goal. Sort of a self limiting problem, so I don't see the need to drag margarine into it. As for sweets... research just keeps making it look like artificial sweeteners wreck your gut and make you crave more sweets. Which kind of makes sense since some "bad" gut bacteria has been tied to increased sugar consumption/desire for sugar. And sweets have gotten me into a lot of trouble in general, so I feel like this is the time to develop better habits. Thank heavens I did full on high fat/low carb Keto before surgery - I rarely had sweet things anyway and it still kicked my butt! But it really did kick the sugar cravings and I am so glad I didn't have to deal with that post surgery! It's made it way easier to explore healthy options that don't involve so many chemicals. Now to try and get back on my gut health protocol and try and get my kids onboard. Wow - sorry this is so meandering - it's the middle of the night and we have a small herd of cousins over for the first Christmas break sleepover. Brain. Fried. Let me know if you need product ideas - I feel like I've researched them all . Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

@dreamingsmall - I'm on week 6 and my daily food consist of the following: probiotic shot (Good Belly Shot) early morning - before my workout. Then I drink Water during the workout and for 1 hour after. Breakfast: drinkable yogurt, with protein fruit flavored drink and 8 oz of water Lunch: Meat based soup (like French Onion, or Chicken and Vegetable) or Chicken Taco meat, cheese, sour cream, salsa all about 1/2 cup. Eat Slowly take a min between bites Dinner: Meatloaf with potatoes and steamed veg's or soft grilled pork with veg. I drink about 32 oz of water in between eating. I drink water before bed. Most of the water is flavored with protein powders. So I get 60-80 mg I found by eating slower and stopping when full, I eat less, and I drink more! Today I'm in a pair of pants I haven't worn in 2 years! I know it's working by the clothes not the scale. Hope that helps.

@@talking mountain - I also took effexor ER capsules. I'm not sure which surgery you had. I had the sleeve. I opened the capsule and poured it into my medicine cup shot glass full of vitamin water zero and shot it down the hatch. I would have to take about 2 more shots of vitamin water to get all the little pellets down. It was far from ideal but I had been taking it for years so I think I had a decent level in my system when I started. Not sure if you are pre or post op but I started taking mine right in the hospital. One thing to be aware of though is that one of the side effects of effexor and one of the reasons they put it in a capsule to begin with was because of nausea as a side effect. So I always took the effexor at least 20 minutes after my zofran (anti nausea med) and preferably after I had some protein shake, yogurt or other to coat my stomach. After about 8-9 weeks post op I took everything in its original form (capsule in the case of effexor). I stayed on the zofran for about a month. Once I started mushy foods, I just took it after I ate my cottage cheese breakfast. I hope this helps.

Keep in mind, you may need to verify your meal size with your doc or RD. Because when most people here 4-6oz, they start thinking weight--as in weighing on a scale. But, the reference they gave you still alludes to a volumetric measurement. 1oz by VOLUME (measure) = 2tbsp = 1/8cup by VOLUME = 1/4oz by weight 4oz by VOLUME (measure) = 8tbsp = 1/2cup by VOLUME = 2oz by weight 6oz by VOLUME (measure) = 12tbsp = 3/4cup by VOLUME = 3oz by weight ************** Conversely, most protein in it's pure/fluffy/cooked state, unweighted down by meat lube or other moisture additives like light or fat free mayo and dressings and sauces add up like this: 1oz protein by weight (then flaked, chopped fine, or pulled) = 2oz by VOLUME = 1/4c by VOLUME = 4tbsp 2oz protein by weight (then flaked, chopped fine, or pulled) = 4oz by VOLUME = 1/2c by VOLUME = 8tbsp ************** And then there's the whole "meat salad thing" like tuna salad, etc... 2oz tuna, salmon, canned chicken by weight (flaked, chopped, pulled) + 1tbsp low fat mayo/yogurt + 1/2tsp mustard + 1/2tsp dill relish = 1/4c by VOLUME = 4tbsp. It will weigh more than 2oz by weight because of the addition of the condiments. Fun and intriguing bs isn't it?

Maybe try soft scrambled eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, refried beans. All are recommended during my upcoming puree phase. Good luck!

Having surgery on Tuesday too!! Been on full liquids for 11 days. No veggies or meat allowed. Shakes and broth with a bit of non fat Greek yogurt.

Sweets and high fat don't make every person sick after the surgery, and most of the time it is a short term effect for those that do get sick from them. I couldn't touch high sugar for about 6 months, but guess what? That effect wore off and I could eat anything now with no serious repercussions other than gaining weight. I know that, so I don't eat crap foods all the time. I do eat stuff like a cupcake or a cookie for special occasions, but I plan out my day so I know I have room in my calorie count and I eat healthy 90% of the time, so eating something "bad" occasionally doesn't derail my whole life. Relearning how to eat healthy during the honeymoon period is what the surgery is really all about. You have to throw out everything you used to do and establish good eating habits while the restriction takes care of the portion control. That is what everyone is supposed to learn how to do during the honeymoon phase after surgery. It is really sad that the doctors don't explain this part better to every single patient before they have the surgery. If you don't do this, then the weight loss will happen in the beginning just because you're not able to eat as much, but likely will slow down sooner, and also regain is very likely once your metabolism adjusts in a year or two and all you still eat is crummy foods. Anyway. You definitely need to try doing the 5 day reset. It will help remind you how your stomach feels and feel the restriction again, and should help you detox from the sweets/crap food cravings - eating high carb usually makes you crave more carbs - it is a vicious cycle. You made some mistakes, but the sleeve is still there, ready for you once you're ready to recommit to eating correctly. You lost the best time to make fast and easy changes, but if you put in the work, you can still make it happen. But you have to be willing to do the work. Start tracking every bite of food and sip of drink. Get your Protein and Water goals figured out, keep your carbs low (under 100 definitely but if you can push it down to 50 grams/day that would be even better), and get your calories for the day down to around a 500 calorie less than you burn in a day. Throw out all the junk food in your house. Tell friends and family to not tempt you with foods like that and don't go places where you'll feel weak until you get control of yourself. Think of it like being an alcoholic or trying to quit smoking. You don't go places where you'll feel tempted and you ask friends/family to be supportive of your struggle and not offer you things you shouldn't be having, and do your best to remove the temptations from your path. Exercise - find something you enjoy doing and then do it a minimum of 5 days a week. Even if it's just walking a 2 miles around your neighborhood after dinner, it's something if you're currently doing nothing. What seems to work best food wise is whole foods, that you cook yourself. If it comes in a box or frozen package, it probably isn't a very good choice. Learn to read labels REALLY well, and figure out things like net carbs, sodium levels, etc., and check out both here and bariatric recipe sites like http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/ Proteins should be the main part of each meal and every snack: things like fish, chicken, lean cuts of beef, cheese, yogurt, even Beans and lentils. Healthy vegetables - leafy greens, red peppers, squash, zucchini, avocados, broccoli, cauliflower... watch the ones that are high carb like corn and green peas as even healthy veggies can have high carbs sometimes and you need to be aware when you eat them. Should also be including healthy fats like coconut or olive oils and things like nuts or avocados have fat too, but it's a good fat (just watch the amounts and calories). Watch things like lunchmeat that are usually high sodium (again, read labels!) and be aware of times of day that you might be weak and have healthy Snacks on hand to prevent the quick stop at the drive thru or dropping by the office vending machine. MEASURE everything. You can't rely on eyeballing food amounts. Get a digital scale, and weigh your food so you get accurate calorie counts. It is way too easy to guess and over-estimate your food portions. And you might need to see a counselor that deals with eating disorders if you can't get control of your eating and get your head in the right space to succeed at this. Please don't take this as being mean, but worrying over what others did and comparing your lack of success while eating bad foods isn't helpful or realistic. But here's the thing. You aren't a failure unless you give up completely. Don't give up, and you will succeed.

The reason you can have more now is because the extreme swelling from surgery is starting to go down. Plus, as Creekimp said everything you are eating (liquids, yogurt, etc) is just sliding right through your pouch. Taking an hour to eat yogurt is a long time. My surgeon recommends that we eat our meals in 30 minutes (and at 2 weeks out we were on 4oz of pureed). I think you're fine - but if you do have concerns you can always call your surgeons office to discuss them.

I recently started going to the gym and doing both Cardio and Lifting. I was very concerned about what I should be doing, as it has been at least 18 years since I was in a gym. I found this site. http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/the-ultimate-weight-training-workout-routine/ It is a lot to read, but it made a lot of sense and helped me determine what I should be doing for now, until I get a better feel for working out. You can skip right to the sample beginner work out if you'd like. The rest of it is about the "why" of the workout. It also touches on eating before and after, but I agree with the previous comment that we are different than normal already healthy people. That said, I have about 3.5oz of non fat oikos vanilla yogurt with strawberries or 1/2 banana and about 4oz. of Isopure Protein Drink before my workout. Another 6oz of Isopure right after. Then around 45 min after my workout, an egg and some turkey sausage or something. The stuff before my workout is just to make me feel better about working out while not having an empty stomach. Probably more a placebo to me but it works. The post workout meal is probably much more important.

Before a longer run I usually have overnight oats (1/4 cup oats, 1/3 milk, half a container of yogurt and some peanut butter). That holds me well and gives me good consistent energy