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I had a type of pain during the 2 week post op period that was only soothed by food. I didn't know if it was hunger or not, but yogurt cured it. Mine happened at night. My stomach would be so empty and would only let me sleep if I ate a spoonful or two of yogurt. I ended up taking a carton of yogrut to bed with me and would eat a spoonful whenever the pain would wake me up. The yogurt would soothe the pain enough to let me sleep a couple of hours and then I'd wake up again. I went through this all night long. I told my nurses about what I was doing, and although it's not really the way bandsters are supposed to eat, it was during the healing phase and they were OK with it. If you haven't talked to your doctor or nurses about this pain and what you're doing for it, may I suggest you do so.. just to be sure that it's ok with them. Hope you feel better soon. And yes, this pain/hunger did go away for me. I don't recall how long it took, but not all that long in the overall scheme of things. Best wishes

Is it a good idea to get a fill at this point? I'm seeing my doctor tomorrow, and of course, I will ask his opinion and follow his orders. That stated, I'd like to hear what banded folks think...sure my doc is the expert, and I respect that, but for now I'd like to hear from you all.... I was banded 1 month ago. I feel like I have restriction. I say that because I can't eat much at one time (1 cup-1.5 cup), get stuck (very painful) if I don't chew very well, stay full for approximately 2-3 hours. I mainly eat yogurt, Protein shakes, tuna, salads...etc, things that go down easily. I have no desire to eat most foods because they will get stuck or because I'm just not hungry. I eat fewer than 1200 calories a day and I am 90% satisfied and do not find it to be much of a struggle. Right now I'm comfortable with my food intake. CONFLICT....I have not lost weight in 2 weeks (since starting soft foods). I'm not terribly bothered by not loosing weight, but I will be if I don't lose soon. Should I be loosing at this point? And should my current lack of weightless lead me to get a fill, even though I don't feel like I need more restriction? So that's it basically: Feel restriction with only slight discomfort, eating a great diet, not loosing weight. Oh, and some additional info: Consuming less than 1200 calories a day. I track every bite of food I eat via My Fitness Pal Less than 90 carbs a day (from fruit, veggies, yogurt, beans), 60-90 grams of protein Around 45 grams of fat (mostly from eggs, mashed Beans, tiny bit of salad dressing, and lite mayo in tuna- must have mayo to get the tuna down due to dryness). I'm eating about half of what I ate pre-band and it's all healthy stuff (and I wasn't even gaining weight at that caloric count pre-band) I'm exercising 30-40 minutes a day 3 tines a week (which is new for me). My bad...I'm only getting in about 1/2 of my Water due to fullness. Please chime in with your thoughts...

Is anyone else having this problem with Milk, Soy milk, Protein drinks (Ive tried tons, with and without dairy) even hemp milk, and almond milk? If I drink a tiny little sip I am ok.... but even one 8 oz glass will get me sweaty and nauseated for about an hour. I would like to add some more protein into my diet but i can't seem to add it with a Protein Drink. At first i thought it was just sensitivity to milk, so i tried soy and non dairy products and still got sick. cheese yogurt, and cottage cheese do not bother me at all. Any suggestions, ideas?? Anyone just having the same problem would be a relief to know. I am 6 months post op and have had this problem since i was able to drink these products.

I had my surgery on 21 July and today I had my first setback. I was placed on puréed foods and I started eating my first meal of cottage cheese and yogurt today. Everything was great. My third meal of cottage cheese and protein felt weird on the way down . I had a uncomfortable pain in my center of my chest that felt like I needed a burp but I couldn't. 20 minutes later I have nowhere I puked uncontrollably for about 10 seconds and it was like fraught. Please somebody tell me I'm not the only one that have this concern or feeling

Hello Everyone, So just a quick improtu chat...... Sleeved 4/9 S/W 239 C/W 221 Ok let's talk fluids......getting more today than probably ever. I have had the hardest time figuring out what is a full liquid what is a clear liquid and so I went to Jason's Deli and got the small cup of cheddar broccoli Soup on day 5. Was it good nope it was delicious, but that is what made me think it was probably not only too early but also not good for me so I had a total of about 8 teaspoons over 2 days. I went back to walmart got more sugar free popsicles, sugar free Jello cups and crystal light packets for my Water and I must say today has been a good day. I did not finish the jello cup, but have been enjoying it and will try it for my nightly snack at around 8:45 pm. For dinner going to try some soup not cream based no cheese just some soup that is mainly broth....boo Reflux......let's just say will be asking doc to call in nexium in the morn. I have tried tums but i have what I have been reading is the vsg version of heartburn constantly whether I eat, drink or do neither. So if you get that chest pain in between your breast bone and it has been confirmed as a gerd condition PLEASE let me know! Incisions.....ok call me cooky but I still have my band aids on! I am scared that if I remove them I am removing my security blannket that ensures all is well. So if you have safely removed all tape and band aids please let me know it is ok. Some get loose in the shower and I act is though they are a wounded soilder I am protecting on the battle field. Starting to feel silly. Activity....drove about 10 miles on day 5 and today day 7 resumed the normal activities of dropping the kids off to daycare and going to the store so business as usual. I can clean the house but too much bending over too far makes my incisions hurt and I still take it easy with my turning. Numbers.....18 pounds gone as of today day 7 aka week 1. Yayyy there is a noticeable difference in appearance and clothes so not complaining but worried that it might be because I was slightly in starvation mode....anywho happy for that tremendous lost and any loss this week will be welcomed, however I realisticly know that not only is it not safe it is not 100% feasible to expect those types of #'s so I would be the overjoyed with 5#'s ecstatic with 9#'s which would be half of what I lost this week! Things I probably should not have done........there are quite a few so I will number them 1. Ate a piece of the individually little snack pieces of low fat cheese ( it was at least 6g of protein) 2. Had a smoothie from burger king (it is supposed to be low in sugar maybe sugar free but it tasted too good) 3. Jason's Deli Cheddar broccoli soup ( nuff said) 4. sucked 3 little cheetos until they were mush ( I really just wanted to test my taste buds ) 5. tried activia yogurt ( it had the fruit pieces that are tiny so while i know i can have the activia and I need it I give this 1 a ?) 6. Tried refried Beans ( not sure about this one either) Ok so I think that is it! I would love to hear from everybody lets share our progress, short comings and achievements all in fun. Oh yeah my ticker is wrong so will create a new one with accurate progress lol

I've never been a huge fan of the Torani or DaVinci syrups but I found these drops that are awesome! They are called Capella flavor drops. You use 1 drop per oz of liquid. They taste awesome and the bottles are tiny so they don't take up much space. I've tried them in my coffee and protein shakes. I plan to try them in my plain greek yogurt. http://capellaflavordrops.com/flavordrops.aspx

I take Vitamins & supplements every day and don't have a problem. I do take the morning doses with a cup of coffee, the warm drink loosens the band just enough that they don't give me problems. Afternoon and evening doses I usually take with Water, but if I'm feeling tight.. I take them with hot tea or hot water & lemon. Some people do have issues and there are chewable or liquid versions of most things. At the beginning, I had trouble getting Calcium tablets down, I tried cutting them and putting in a spoonful of applesauce or yogurt.. even doing that they still hurt going down. I switched to chewables and no more pain. I'm back to whole tablets now, the Citracal Petites and it's clones work ok. You'll have to talk this over with your surgeon and see what they suggest.

Here I am on day 6! So far, I have lost about 9lbs, that is not unusual for me. I retain water so that is what most of it is. BUT!! I will take it! Today has not been too bad. We did some running around and right now I am taking a break from my Saturday chores. I had a pretty big bfast. Eggs and a sausage. I just had some grapes, yogurt and chicken for lunch. Gotta go! I am going to surf the web for a minute and then start cleaning again.

Didn't your surgeon give you post op instructions for what to eat each week? My guess is you definitely can't have food yet. My surgeon is less conservative than some and here's what I had to do: Week 1 - Clear Liquids only: add Protein shake on day 7 Week 2 - full liquids - includes yogurt and strained low fat cream based Soup Week 3 - 4 - mushy or puréed food - no beef or raw veggies You are most at risk for a leak weeks 1-6. Follow your surgeons instructions exactly and don't push the diet. I encourage you to search "leaks" in the forum and read how horrible they are.

Peppercma, I read your blog. Thanks for sharing all your details. Did you say yogurt was considered a clear liquid pre-op? That would be great! What else did you drink? broth, gatorade?

Hello All: I have a few ideas in mind, but for those of you have returned to work - I'd like your advice. When I return to work Monday, I'll be on day 13 and want to make sure I shop for the right items to have at work and on hand. There's a lot of messed up food items in the facility where I work, from co-workers to the cafeteria and I want to be armed and ready! These are the items I'm told I can have and want your help with adding to it or making it easier for travel - I have my own fridge & microwave: Water, sugar free Jell-O, Sugar free popsicles, chicken, beef or vegetable stock broth (low sodium is a better choice) Crystal Light, Minute Maid Lite, Diet Snapple Reduced sugar yogurt, Sugar free pudding, Creamy Soups (cream of potato, cream of broccoli, cream of tomato) STRAIN ALL CHUNKS FROM SOUP; Protein shakes eggs – prepared any way, taking small bites and chew thoroughly. “Soft Cheeses” -cottage cheese. -soft cheddar, -soft mozzarella, Soy, Tofu, Hummus Mashed potatoes regular or sweet- limit your volume to ½-1 cup/day Cream of wheat; Cream of rice; oatmeal – No brown sugar or honey; Grits; Farina;

You should try to have more meat at night. Like a nice piece of chicken and a salad or veggies. I had a taco salad at 7p, I use 0 calorie greek yogurt instead of sour cream and I'm super full.

Meals: B: Chocolate banana peanut butter protein shake (2 scoops metagenics, 1/2 scoop chocolate unjury) L: Cranberry chicken & italian veggies S: SF Strawberry yogurt D: Frozen Lean Cuisine Turkey Dinner S: Healthy Choice fudgesickle About 8 cups water =================================================== Workout: Podfitness.com treadmill workout for 30 minutes & stretching (kicked my butt!) =================================================== Energy: Sort of sick today. I think it was the chili rellano I had last night. A bit too spicy for my system! I'm thinking of trying that Activa yogurt. =================================================== Weight: Scale at gym said 258.75 (which means it's mroe like 255.75)

You can try tofu. It's high in protein as well as Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt is an acquired taste. Tofu is bland. You have to find recipes for it to make it have some taste. It's not bad though.

There are so many things but here are a few I used during the mushies: Avocado, sweet potatoes, yogurt, baby food, bananas, Jello, cottage cheese... Hope this helps...

That is awesome! I'm on 2 weeks of liquids (day 5) then on to 2 weeks of puréed. I'm thinking puréed Soups, not sure what else. Right now I have to purée and strain my soups. Oh, yeah, and I think I can add yogurt during the puréed phase. Sent from my iPad using VST

I'm not quite a week out and still on full liquids. My program calls for full liquids for nearly 3 weeks. I am so sick of the sweetness at this point, I'm about to gag. I've never been a fan of "cream" Soups, and I'm really struggling with the overly sweet taste of the yogurt and pudding all the time. I never thought I'd see a time when chicken broth tasted good. Anyone have any ideas for me to beat the sweets? I'm not much of a sweet eater anyway, and this is pretty much putting me into overload. HELP! *still smiling tho'*

B - 1/2 cup cottage cheese S - Greek yogurt L - chicken salad (1/4 to 1/2 cup) D - grilled chicken breast tenderloin with some kind of sauce to moisten it up S - if I need a snack, I might have some more cottage cheese (i use fatfree)

HAPPY (almost) BIRTHDAY! How about some low fat or fat free, sugar free frozen yogurt? Or maybe you can freeze some SF chocolate pudding? Ive never tried it but it should work. Top it with some fat free cool whip if you want to get fancy Im sure you can find some healthy desert ideas online, bariatriceating.com or allrecipes.com, maybe even weightwatchers.com Good luck!

I am 5 days post-op and also am not into the protein drinks. Today I made a Tuna melt for lunch. I also had blended lunch meat ham and cottage cheese. I just made sweet potato soup to eat for tomorrow. I have been using cottage cheese and greek yogurt as my protein source and adding unsweetened soy milk to thin things. Its been great! Also in the works for tomorrow is some thanksgiving soup with stuffing & turkey lunch meat. Be creative, you can have meat if you want!

Had a great check-up, met my Protein target, went to the gym and walked 2 miles, added Greek yogurt to the menu, and wore a pair of pants I have not worn in a really long time! Wahoo!!!

I do have trouble eating things that are good for me. I've had my band for almost 2 years now, and I've never really progressed out of the mushy phase. meat of any kind makes me throw up about 80% of the time, can't even think of eating things like apples. Bread, Pasta and rice are absolute no-go. What I wouldn't give for a chicken sandwich... I basically live on soup, salad and oatmeal. They can't quite figure out what the problem is with me. The band isn't too tight and my food isn't getting stuck, it just makes me so nauseated that it sends me running to the sink with the first bite. Some days it's so bad that even liquids make me hurl. It's true though, the crap foods generally will stay down somewhat better than the good foods, and you get to a point where you're so hungry, you eat whatever you can. It's not that I live on pizza and burgers, because no way they would stay down, but the less obvious crap foods like crackers, melba toast , mashed potatoes, spaghetti sauce, yogurt, gallons of crystal light and other foods which may not scream badness, but really aren't meant to make up the bulk of a diet either. They're not filling foods so I'm always hungry, but the filling foods won't stay down. Then out of the blue, I'll have a day or two where anything goes down in any quantity. On those days I'm almost normal and try to get some Protein into me in the form of chili, meatballs or fish. I still won't tempt fate with trying larger cuts of meat, breads or crunchy veggies as I'm pretty sure they still wouldn't stay down. Everybody is different and you can't really predict these things before your band goes in. You may luck out and be able to eat anything, or you may end up hypersensitive like me. I will likely end up revising to another WLS, but I'm still glad I went the band route first as the least invasive alternative.

1. Does anyone else have problems with milk products? Im thinking that's what made me sick to my stomach for awhile this morning. - I Haven't had any problems with milk, I've only tried drinking it a couple times, I am sticking to Water though, it seems to be doing better for me for now. Try adding propel flavors to your water if you don't like water. 2. Does anyone eat baby food as part of their post op diet? I'm on my full liquids now until 14th and on my list from my surgeon I have cream soups, yogurt etc. and baby food is more liquid than yogurt so I was wondering if anyone has done this just to change up the taste a little. - I did not have baby food on my list, but that is fine, as long as it is soft and you eat it slowly, you can.. I however I have been on liquids since a week before my surgery, I was banded on Dec 22. I go to my follow up tomorrow, and tomorrow starts week three.. I had cocktail shrimp on thursday and saturday, it was wonderful i only had like three each time. I also had a slice of cheese, as long as you chew it up its fine. Shrimp is soft, and its pretty much fat free, cheese too, low carb. From our doctors our week three is when we can start the mashed potaotes, grits, and things like that. Youre doing great... I read some people who are eating rice on week two so.. just becareful and have soft stuff. baby gerber banana is good, and vanilla custard, but the sugars are whoa. Get sugar free Jello pudding, very good. 3. What Protein drinks do you all find to work the best? - I use Designer Whey, chocolate. It's great! I love it. - Good luck! And congrats.

So, I ended up calling my doctor yesterday as I was so concerned about the 5 days of loose stools - very dramatically loose ones- stomach cramping and all. Yuck. It was certainly the napalm assault of the antibiotics- so I had to recolonize my intestines by breaking open acidopholous capsules and drinking Keffir yogurt- it you can find it, it is the best thing in the world - low fat, but no fake sugars and high in protein and fiber. I think they should tell everyone to drink yogurt drinks along with the protein shakes to recolonize. Did anyone else have this problem?

It depends on what type of "liquid" diet you are following. I have to follow a clear liquid diet (fat free broth, sugary free jello, sugar free popsicles and water/crystal light) for 7 days after surgery, then move to full liquids, which all listed above and milk, yogurt and low-fat creamy strained soup. I bought low-fat tomato soup and cream of potato soup (to be strained) for the next week of the diet.