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Greek yogurt by Fage! You can buy it in stores like Natural Grocers, Wild Oats, and other "health food" stores. One serving has 21 grams of protien--and if you buy the zero fat version, it has zero grams of fat! I like it a lot and I stir it into all sorts of things.

My program gave us a handbook at the first doctor's appointment. It became my bible for those first 6 weeks. I had to take into consideration when choosing a Protein drink as well as vitamins/supplements that I'm I'm vegetarian and I'm allergic to most artificial sweeteners and stevia. In my hand book was 2 page list of some of the more popular brands. unjury for example, was out. It has aspartame aka sweet n low. I would recommend trying a variety in all 2 forms: powder, liquid and premade. Once you find a few you like, buy no more than 2 weeks worth. Some people have reported their taste buds changed post-op. You don't want to get stuck with loads of something you can't tolerate. Then there were vitamins/supplements. My doctor recommends the full regimen of AM/PM Multi, Vit D3, Calcium Citrate+D and B12. The handbook had 3 full pages front & back on that! Here I also had to be on guard for ingredients that could trigger my seafood allergy & artificial dyes. Flintstones were a no go because I can't do artificial dyes/food colorings. I would also stock up on your liquids; herbal teas, milk or non dairy drink of choice and cream Soups or soups that can be pureed & thinned out if necessary, hummus and yogurt. Hope this helps. Congrats on your surgery date!

Cooking, Baking and recipes - LAP-BAND There's some good ideas in there. I think with weightloss most of the time comes with preparation of food though - eating pre-packaged non-fresh foods can lead you to trouble. I personally eat a lot of oranges, and 'For me' yogurt, which contains only 70 calories for a 175g tub. Baby food is good too! Just don't get the savoury ones - they're pretty gross.

For slider calories you can try adding a teaspoon of olive oil to a scrambled egg. To get more calories and protein you can try Premier protein water. It is gross to me cold but over ice so it's really cold is much better. When I was losing too quick I would have a tablespoon of peanut butter and lick the spoon so it would take 10-15 minutes. Slider foods will not make you feel as full so you can consume more calories. I changed from eating low calorie yogurt to high calorie/high fat yogurt with some nuts or granola mixed in. I was able to eat a graham cracker square with peanut butter and half hour later eat another. I would dip carrots in high calorie/high fat ranch dressing. Just go slow and try a little at a time to make sure you feel ok before eating a lot of something. If eating something dense like refried beans try and mix in some water so it slides down easier. I had to consciously eat every 30-60 minutes to try and up my calories from 500-1000 over 2 months. Others will warn it is a slippery slope and it's against everything you learn and it will make you feel like you are creating bad habits. All of that is true. However, if you are determined and set a goal that once you gain "x" pounds I will stop eating after 8pm or not snack between lunch and dinner then you can later reduce calories and go back to good habits to stay at a maintenance level.

Put in blender 1 cup almond milk 1 cup Greek yogurt 2 tbs pb2 or peanut butter ( increases fat and cals) 1 med banana then fill blender with 2 cups or more if you like at 12 cals a cup of fresh baby spinach. Blend to liquid. Cals are 350ish 21 grams protein over 100 0/0 of vit A rich in iron , calcium , potassium and so much more. This really taste good great meal replacement If you like green Naked juice you'll love this even more

In the beginning it is helpful to rely on protein shakes/ drinks to get to your protein goal. You may also have to add protein powder to soups, cereal, yogurt. As your tummy adjusts you will be able to acheive your goals more easily. I think I was at about 10 weeks before I could finish a whole protein drink without diluting it.

Greek yogurt with a few fresh berries on top. Occasionally I'll add a half a scoop of Protein powder to my yogurt to bump up the protein even more

Im still new to the band but there is a few things I notice and would like to share. . My stats and story. I started this journey Feb 16 2011 .I was on a 1 month preop diet nothing but Optifast, at the time I was like he has loss his damn mind,lol.. I stuck to that as close as possible and loss 30 lbs in 1 month , Now I wish I wouldve followed it to a tee because I could ve loss more, but YES I cheated on my pre op. I had my surgery 3-17 all went well no pain besides getting up and down out the bed . No gas issues. Had my first fill 4-17 weight loss was slow to me a 7 lb loss . NOW my first fill I did not feel ANY difference in fact I felt hungrier . I gained 10 lbs in 3 weeks and was devastated, then a week before I was scheduled for a 2nd fill I begun to get full quicker . I lost 9 lbs in the week before my fill. My dr did nt want to give me a fill but told him my story and how before last week I could eat more then I could before the band. So I got a small fill. And I am proud to say I have loss about a pound a day since then sometimes a lil more. I cant say im one of the people who actually feel restriction, but I can say I know when I am no longer hungry , at that point I usually stop eating , its also best to fix a smaller plate if ur like me and want to eat until ur plate is clean. I usually fix meat the size of my palm 4tbl spoons of veggies and fruit. I tried many plans with the band .. Atkins.... That did not work for me at all I stayed the same weight for 2 weeks. What I do now and it is working well for me is low carb which I dont count carb onl calories. No Pasta rice potatoes or white bread, I try to eat whole wheat , but I limit that also because I noticed a smaller drop in weight loss when I eat any type of bread. Ex of a menu dinner go lean Kashi Cereal or i egg chopped ham and chopped turkey and cheese all scramble and a piece of fruit some morning I can eat all of that some times I cant ...lunch 2 chicken selects or 5 piece nugget and a yogurt parfait or fruit and walnut salad from Mickey Ds... Dinner tuna or seafood salad with a few special K chips or salad or some type of meat a veggies and fruit. Now this is what I do. I am not saying yeah keep eating fried foods and go to mcdonalds this is just me and whats working at the moment. I can tell you not eating enough is a NO NO after surgery for a week or 2 I was barely eating and I just knew I would loose weight, lol not a pound did I drop. As for exercise I love weight lifting and I walk some times but I definitely move and I have started dancing, and just a lil extra moving while sitting in a chair will help, Im far from a exercise guru but seeing the weight drop quickly has me more motivated to move more. The reason for this topic is to let anyone that is feeling bad and has slow weight loss know its okay , try different think no carb is not for everyone weight watchhers , low carb etc... test the waters but tr ur best to limit calories but dont go to low on calories.. With what ever u try do YOUR best and dont worry about the next person u may lose no weight for 3 weeks straight like myself and the next week u could lose 9 lbs. Good luck everyone Starting weight 366 2-16-2011 Surgery day 330 3-16-2011 1st fill 321 i think 4-16-2011 2nd fill 314 5-16-2011 Today 5-21-2011 307.2 Forgive me for all GRAMMAR AND SPELLING errors.lol

I had surgery on Jan 27th and have lose 55 lbs. I always had alot burping with gas pain but it has been more significatnt since I had the stomach flu last week (with vomiting). now I cant hold anything down except soft things like yogurt & icecream. I am so hungry, but get painfully sick when I eat solids. what's going on?:cool2:

So, I have not officially started my pre-op diet yet. That will start on Dec. 28 with surgery on Jan 7th. But here is my question... I have been trying REALLY hard to lose some weight prior to surgery with no success. I have been doing basically the slim fast plan... a shake for breakfast, another for lunch and sensible dinner plus 2 snacks (I usually do a yogurt or a piece of fruit) Is Slim Fast too high in sugar or something? I am not losing anything! Now I'm starting to get nervous! What if I go through with this whole surgery for no reason? It seems like I should be loosing some weight doing this. It has been 2 weeks! What do you all think? Maybe I should just follow the pre-op liver shrinking diet starting now, or would 3 weeks be too much?

First, put yourself on a clear liquid diet for at least two days. Then try some protein drinks, or Carnation Instant Breakfast. Drink these slowly, do not push it AT ALL. After that, very easy and mild mushies, like applesauce, yogurt, oatmeal, some soup. No messing around with this. This can be the difference in your health and the life of your band. I know it is frustrating and you are scared...but you need to take control of this situation, and understand that surgeons are surgeons...and each person is different and responds differently...so your body is giving you some strong messages. Listen. Please post and let us know if you are responding well to clear liquids, and we'll know how to advise from there...it is hard, but it will be worth it to let your stomach heal. I'm sorry you are having to go through this....((hug))

Boil some eggs the night before. It doesnt take long. I eat boild eggs, lunchmeat, greek yogurt, your hungry because cereal is too much carbs in the morning. You need protein. Eat some weight control oatmeal by quaker it has 7 grams of protein and takes less then a minute in the microwave. You can always make stuff the night before for breakfast.

Have you tried Isopure? It is a drink found at CVS or GNC and it tastes good. Not a shake. I get the Grape Frost a little sweet but good. It has 15g protein in 8 0z fluid. Or have you tried any of the protein powders that you add to your yogurts, etc.? They are good too. I was banded on Feb 8th and I too am having a hard time getting the right amount of protein and fluid in to my body. I wish you the best of luck. I dont know what to say about the fill as I have not had one yet either! Let me know. Good luck.

Hi everybody! My name is Susan. I am today four days post op. I have a lot of fears and concerns. I am scared that the surgery didn't work. I am not feeling the full feeling that I have read other people talk about. Is it normal to be hungry frequently after the surgery? The hunger is really frightening me. I am on the full liquids now. I am able to eat soups and yogurt, etc. Please tell me that others out there felt the hunger initially and didn't feel the fullness that others speak of. :lol0: I am worried that it didn't work. Thanks forr any advice!

Greek Yogurt has a great Protein bang for calories. Fage 0 has 23 grams of protein and 130 calories in a cup. Lowfat cheese sticks are good too. 3 sticks have 24 grams of protein for 180 calories. For meat, chicken and turkey breast have the highest levels of protein per ounce. Lynda

I started some soft foods about day 11 instead of day 14. I've had ground turkey, canned chicken and tuna. As well as continuing my protein drinks and some chobani yogurt. Tonite I had a full meal for dinner. Some canned chicken, a small bit of yams, sppon of peas, 1/4 cup of cottage cheese and 1/4 of avocado. My daughter got me some small plates for Mothers Day. So it looks like lots of food. I wasn't able to finish my chicken tonite, I'm kind of tired of it I think. I also didnt have a protein drink this morning. I scrambled me an egg with Velveta cheese in it. I'm tired of the protein drinks. My daily protein has ranged from 41-72. I don't know when I will reach 80-90g of protein the dr recommended. I will try to get a protein drink down before bed.

Initially I lost weight prior to banding on the 4 week medifast liquid diet about 20+ pounds. Then I had surgery and lost a bit after that and then when I started to eat normal food I chewed and chewed until one day I discovered I didn't need to because they never really put anything in the first 3 fills, the fill nurse thought I had the smaller band. So I finally got the surgeon to do the next fill and he got me up to about 3.5, not that the number really matters it just made me super tight, this was about 3 months after my surgery. So I was basically too tight at that point but I didn't know any better. So I started eating around the band, mainly yogurts and Jello and Cereal or if it was salad or meat it had to have a lot of dressing or mayo to get it down. I did my fair share of PBing, it was almost normal at this point. Since that fill every time I went to the office after that I was slowly putting back the weight I lost in the beginning and because I was "gaining" the fill tech put in more fill so I kept getting worse and gaining until finally she put in too much as she had written in the wrong amount and I was puking in a church parking lot a block from their office. I didn't know if this was abnormal either, hadn't come to the LBT forum yet. I ended up calling the on-call surgeon and my husband drove me to their office at midnight where a different surgerion discovered the mistake and took out enough to go back to the old amount where I was still too tight but could swallow my own saliva again. This went on for a year of trying and failing getting fills and unfills and never getting to that sweet spot until my surgeon finally unfilled me and then you know the rest. After my stay in the hospital my surgeon sent me for an upper GI which they saw the acid reflux and a small hiatal hernia and that's when they scheduled my removal within the next two weeks. I chose to see a specialist aftewards to make sure there was no damage done to my insides. I still had the pains after my band was removed another reason why I went for an endoscopy because my protonix script had run out I believe that was helping me. I'm on it now and have not had any pains in a long time. I'm not a soda drinker, have to watch the chocolate though, I know there are a lot of things that can aggravate it. I was surprised when they told me that I couldn't drink Water when I went to bed though and still have a hard time stopping that as I like to have my water. Watch "The Quiet Man" if you haven't yet, my favorite Irish flick. Take care Nancy.

Before surgery is pre op diet. Some diet for weeks. For me it was stop eating 24 hours before and no Water morning of - even if brushing teeth they said don't swallow. I even delayed my medication until after recovery. Post surgery - you will be on a liquid diet - water, Jello, broth for two weeks. Then mushie diet - yogurt, cottage cheese, blended food, apple sauce. Pain was minor, no medications needed for me though others had taken some. After surgery while in hospital I took the pain meds through the IV portal. But once released I was fine. Had to sleep in recliner for a week because stretching out with the staples pulled the skin and hurt. Main incision where they removed the stomach was a little annoyingly painful and felt like a large knot for several weeks. I went in on Thursday and was planned to be released Saturday but was not drinking water so they took me off IV for a day and felt better. Left on Sunday and was driving on Monday. Once you get past the first four weeks of post op diets and back to real foods you are skating downhill.

So I started working out on Monday. I feel sore but amazing. I havent worked out since I lost about 100 lbs so its amazing how much more I am able to do. I don't eat a lot of food. Basically three half cup meals which I sometimes do not finish and a nut/seed/fruit (very healthy) snack after dinner. I have come to accept I need to ad a shake and for those who know me know I hate drinking calories. My question is do I drink shake before or after workout? My trainer said to eat something an hour before which sometimes works with my meal time. If not I have a greek yogurt. I can not afford to see a nutritionist so was wondering what kind of ideas you all have and what do you do? Thank you in advance. Hoping to fly past 100 at next weigh in on Tuesday.

Hi Elle; Thanks for the post! The skim milk powder I am adding to tomatoe juice (heated to make myself believe it is cream of tomatoe soup), I add it to my oatmeal, peanut butter, and soy milk shakes, I also add it to my yogurt and everything else that has or could have a creamy texture! I was a little skeptical at first about throwing it in to everything but it works for me. The protien really does keep me full and I even have a hard time finding room to add extras in the diet if I may be hungry later. Lots of protien and lots of water seems to be working for me! I knwo this wont work for everyone but I appreciate the sharing so that I am exposed to new ideas and in turn thought someone may be interested in my experiences too!

I suffer from heartburn now, as well. I don't like takeing pills, even asprin, so I sought holistic remedies such as drinking a glass of milk, or eating greek yogurt right when the heartburn symptoms came. (This only gave momentary help.) However, after about 2 months of this Ifinally went to see my doctor (also banded) and he recommending OTC Prolisec 14 day treatment. I tried it and on the first day, the heartburn went away. Sometimes it pops up again if I eat late at night or if I eat foods that are harder to digest or spicy. For this, I take Tums and eat yogurt and drink cold water to relieve it.

Thank you for your response. Like you I am sure I will begin to learn what each pain or sensation is. I know that I definitely do not have an appetite as of right now just feeling kind of gassy. I have to eat Clear liquids and juices for a weak and then onto cream Soups etc. then onto week 3-4 soft foods such as mashies, yogurt, and pudding. Good luck on our weight loss journey!

Hi, I have been reading every single post on this site. I am 50 yrs old, 270 pounds, 33 BMI, 6'4". I have been overweight my entire life - with the usual yoyo in weight. I am scheduled for a sleeve in July with Dr. Aceves, but I am very scared. I am not worried about the surgery itself, as I think I will be in good hands. I am worried about the aftermath. 1) The pain of liquid diet in the first month 2) How soon after surgery can i go to work. 3) but most importantly - does it mean that my social life will be over. We love going out to restaurants- does it mean that it's game over? will I ever be able to eat more than a spoon of yogurt? I would love to hear from other sleevers about their life after the surgery - months after the surgery, not the first few weeks. Can you go out, can you drink alcohol (one glass of wine is enough), what do you do in family BBQ events, etc? Thanks

That was the response I got at Olive Garden today when I said "no thankyou" to the complimentary garlic bread. pat pat pat myself on the back. Seems like small potatoes, but it was a HUGE triumph for me. I love breads, rice, pastas...oh and the delicious mashed potatoes made with cream cheese!!! I am a not just a food addict, I am addicted to starch. So, I orded the soup (pasta fagioli) and salad...yes with the dressing. But I did not order anything carb loaded. I thought about asking the waitress to remove the bread, but my friend was enjoying it sooo much, I just didn't have the heart. ooh ooh ooh....and you know that little mint they give you at the end, I gave it to my friend. New plan, I am going to feed all of my friends so they get fatter to make me look skinnier. Just joking. The will power is getting easier....but no bueno on the shakes 2 times day. It's too much sweetness. I bought some jerky, string cheese and yogurt to get the full amount of protein needed per day. I also eat fish or chicken and green veggies or salad for dinner. I am only down 2 lbs for the first week of preop diet, but I am still limited on my excercise with my broken toes. Note to self....stop falling down stairs. Tomorrow starts week 2 of preop. Phew....can't wait for this week to be over with. I am so excited to get banded next week.

At the end of day 3 I am just transitioning into full liquids. Had a frozen yogurt this afternoon because I was surprisingly hungry after work. And, oh utter joy, more than two hours later I am actually still feeling FULL from that.