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Holla fellow bandsters! Hope you all had a fabulous Independence Day! I sat here and tried not to watch myself and boys have simultaneous combustion from the heat- alas we were all saved that scene. It was a strange holiday in that there was no BBQ to attend, here or otherwise, I didn't even go watch fireworks! I can't decide whether it was just too hot, or I'm just getting freaking too old to "OOOHH and AWWWW" about fire in the sky. Boys weren't interested either so I just listened to the neighbors pop it like it was hot til around midnight. My dogs didn't even seem to care. So the boys had Subway and I had the normal protein shake and cream of chicken soup but as an added bonus, I put strawberries and bananas with some Greek yogurt, 1 pkg Carnation sugar free instant breakfast and skim milk in the blender! Boys had smoothies I froze mine and had strawberry banana "ice cream" around 10 last night. Delish. So as you know, I have been thinking today I was scheduled to have my first fill. Thanks to this forum, I now know that the receptionist misspoke when she said "fill", what she meant to say was "Post-Op" visit. Regardless, I was excited to go pretty much anywhere at this point. I scrubbed up, brushed up and put on a comfy sundress to wear, good choice because I didn't have to worry about buttoning and or zipping anything, I'm still slightly swollen and all I had to do was put it over my head and Voila! I really had no clue what was going to happen at this 1st appointment and lucky me, I got a nurse who was clueless as well. The regular Nurse that takes care of such appointments was on vacation this week (HOW DARE SHE) so I don't know if she was brought up from another unit of the clinic/hospital or if she was an agency person, or if (Lord I hope not) she works there and I just never seen nor heard of her before. So kids this is how it went down. I was ushered into the examination room and sat on one of the chairs. The nurse says "Ok, so what have you been eating, and sorry, but I have to look at your incisions." Umm, Ok, I hope you're going to look at my incisions (DUH) and I told her protein shakes, yogurt, chicken soup, yada, yada, and then I said "Um, am I going to see the Dr today or what's happening here?" she said "Oh no honey, you won't see your Dr until after your 1 month check-up with the regular nurse who's on vacation, then 1 or 2 weeks after that appointment you will have 1 with the nutritionist, then the week after that you will have a fill" My head was spinning off my neck at that point. I decided it was best maybe not to ask not too many questions to this particular person at that particular time, besides, I have this forum if I want to know something right? Well you guessed it, I couldn't resist, I started asking because you know, I brought a small list. (Well I didn't want to forget anything ya know?) I looked at my little list and immediately mentally crossed off things that I assumed only the Dr would know, or I only personally wanted the Dr to answer. So I asked about vitamins I think, something along those lines and she excused herself and brought in a booklet and said "Did you get one of these?" Uh, I don't think so, it doesn't look familiar. So she handed it to me and then said she needed to look at my incisions, I said Ok, and she basically lifted my dress up and said those have to go and RRRIIIPPP off came the first one! HEY, I said. I don't know if I'm- RRRIIIPPP- well screw it guess I'm ready to release my surgi-strips. Look I know it sounds like a nightmare and it pretty much was, I could go on and on, but my point is I went to my post-op appointment and basically expected Ashton K. to jump out of somewhere telling me I've just been "Punked" although that didn't happen, I did get a a wink/half eye roll from the receptionist when the nurse was explaining to her the upcoming appointments I needed, especially when she called her Stephanie and she said "My name's Ashley" (insert half wink & eye roll) giggle. I guess I was pretty calm about the entire thing because when she took my blood pressure it was only 107/62. My temperature a chilly 97.3, and guess what? She never weighed me, and I didn't ask. I guess what I'm trying to say is that none of that really mattered. I already knew I wasn't going to be getting a fill today. I pretty much assumed that they were just going to check on me after surgery. I've survived the ripped off strips and now that I think of it, I'm glad she did it because I babied them so much and would have worn them as a badge as long as I could have and I need to move on. The receptionist, Ashley, and I agreed she would just call me on Monday and we would go from there, sounded great to me! On the way home I thought to myself, I'm not restricted at all. I could eat whatever I want right now and it would be fine with my twisty and my stomach. Maybe I'll just have a salad, that's not such a big deal. I thought like this for about 10 miles until I snapped out of it. Girl you better check yourself, for Christ's sake this is exactly why you had this done, if you don't start using it now, instead of thinking like a food addict, your road shall be even longer. I came home had a yogurt and a Crystal Light, I still wasn't even hungry, not really. I picked up the red booklet she gave me and it was "All you need to know about your upcoming gastric bypass surgery" I just laid it on my chest and laughed hysterically. As always, onward and upward and Lo & Behold....Velvet

I was banded on Saturday and I'm also very, very hungry at times. I make protein smoothies and I also have diet Jell-O, juice, water, yogurt and soup. Yogurt is the most filling, so if I'm really hungry, I have yogurt. I just had some pureed soup and feel pretty full from that, but I have been hearing my stomach growl a lot.

I'm scheduled for the end of next week for the band and I am scared to death. I just have this huge fear that i will wake up with the band and be hugely unhappy - I've ruined my life and I can't go back. Has anyone else had this fear? I'm sure intellectually that this is the right thing to do, and reading people's stories I know that it won't be that bad - but it still doesn't stop me from waking up in the middle of the night in a panic. I've got mixed feelings where my emotion wants to cancel but my mind wants to move forward. Can anyone tell me - I've read that "overeating" is very uncomfortable for those banded - but no one has said what that means - nausea - heart attack like chest pain - vomiting - etc. I don't fear so much overeating as forgetting myself for a moment on a hot day and starting to gulp Water or whatever. I'm today easily able to down a glass or two in one action. Heck I fear being thirsty. What about hunger? Does the band make you feel deprived - or simply satiated on much less? i'm on the fifth day of the liquid diet pre-op. I have to say the first 2-3 days were terrible (caffeine withdrawal?) - but now I feel much better - this almost seems normal. I've actually skipped some of the meals or Snacks because I haven't needed them. (pre bed snack of 6 oz yogurt I haven't needed the last two days.- and morning snack of sugar free pudding) While the Protein Shakes are awful, I found one that isn't so bad. I only wish my doctor gave me a meal plan with a little variety. Its the same thing everyday. Thanks for listening

Can't wait to have a scrambled egg and some yogurt tomorrow. Feeling pretty good though.

I also had my gall bladder removed and a hiatal hernia repaired at the same time I had my revision done. It was a piece of cake - sorry - I mean it went as smooth as a cup of low-fat yogurt - ha! It was really no worse at all than when I had my band done. I'm sure you'll do great. Congrats on your surgery date!

JustWatchMe, I'm terribly sorry that you're going through all of this! My thought as to the two main questions you asked: "Was my band tighter-feeling all month because of the constant stress level every day?" Yes, definitely! I know when I'm stressed even just slightly over a bad day the amount I'm able to eat is drastically reduced. I have no appetite and so when eating something as small as yogurt can make it feel like the old days of hitting a buffet and eating until I was about to pop. The amount of stress your under right now is definitely the cause of the band tightness and in my opinion also the culpret of the cold sores and arthritis flare-ups! You are SOOOO strong and you've come so far! You can and will make it through this. In the same way your weight isn't gong to come off overnight, the stress can't be gone in a day so give yourself a llttle break and try to just take time for yourself. To tell you not to stress isn't going to happen, it's a process in life (or atleast in mind) get it all out so that you aren't hanging on to anything and then when it's over it's over!!!! Regarding another fill, if this were me I would definitely hold off! With that said though I would still keep your appointment at the end of this month just to check in but I'm just afraid that if you were to get another fill at this point and the stress spikes back up you won't be able to eat anything and then you'll have to schedule an additional appointment to have some taken ut, probably causing even more stress. Don't worry about the 3lbs that found you, they're likely just Water weight or just another side effect of all the stress! Just try to keep yourself as busy as possible! it will help you keep your mind off things and off of eating and as silly as this sounds drink alot of Fluid. Again, I'm sorry that you're going through this stressful time but you are strong, look at how far you've come there's nothing or no one that can stop you! Keep your head up lady!!

We had surgery around the same time. I relied on refried beans with a bit of shredded parm on top. That was a staple until I could tolerate more dense foods. Little by little, one food at a time. Also ate cottage cheese regularly. Still do. I find that in the morning I still can't stomach anything too solid, so usually have yogurt (plain Greek) or cottage cheese. Later on, you can add some peach or pear to those. Learning new proper portion sizes takes time. You are on the right track using smaller dishes and utensils. I have to measure everything because I have no sense of what 3-4 ounces of food looks like. I can usually eat about 3 ounces at a time. Like you, I was raised to believe that wasting food is a sin. I try very hard to make only what I can eat. It does get easier.

Outside of cottage cheese, protein shakes, SF popcicles, the only other thing i tried was pureed chicken and tuna as it was soft enough but only if mixed with a mayo/greek yogurt almost like a patee. I also blended a few soups, but not many.

There are plenty of other ways to get protein than throiugh shakes. My NUT stopped my shakes after the second week and insisted I get it through natural food, Eat cheese, cottage cheese, eggs, chicken, fish, tuna, greek yogurt.

I like Kellogg's Special K Red Berries or Cascadian Farm's (any flavor) I really like the Great Value Greek yogurt. At this stage, I would get your Nut's approval before trying anything new.

Dorian, it's good but when I mix it into yogurt it gets soggy too quickly. You could probably snack on it dry. It had a subtle sweet taste to it. :-)

I did a lot of cottage cheese and yogurt. I wasn’t allowed oatmeal or other carb heavy things

I had a hard time with this too. What helped was getting it to a texture I could manage like @summerseeker mentioned. I added taco meat made with turkey (very finely minced while cooking) to refried beans with some cheese. If it was too thick or dry, I added a little sour cream. The other winner was pot roast and veggies. I ran it through the food processor with the carrots, onions, celery and broth. The meat was fine enough to add texture but not so fine as to be paste. I made sure there was more meat per serving than veggies, but the veggies and broth helped keep it soft enough to be easy on my tummy. Since each of these made me a few days of meals, I was out of the purée stage before I knew it. I had yogurts and cottage cheese as snacks. Some people like hummus. I just couldn’t eat hummus by the spoonful. I need pretzels or something lol Hang in there! 😊🤞

2013SleeveGirl - For almost a month after my surgery I didn't really "eat" anything. . It was just drinking liquid protien shakes and broth. I dropped about 30 pounds. But of course my stomach was healing. When I moved to pureed foods I ate mashed potatoes with gravy and creamed Soups. My family and friends called me the mashed potato queen. I really only ate like that for about 3 weeks. For months 3-4 I could eat basically anything I wanted (my stomach healed VERY quickly according to my doctor). BUT. I found myself drifting back to old bad habits. I found myself grazing constantly. I found I was eating all the time, however, it was such tiny amounts. Like 1-2 saltine crackers, or a handful of parmesan goldfish, or 1/2 slice of sandwich bread. Maybe a bite or two of Pasta. I would get "full" and then not eat again for a couple of hours and then eat again. When I actually started to tally how much food I was eating, I was shocked. I was barely eating 200-300 calories in an entire day. ONE Protein shake should have had that many calories. My hair began "shedding" (to put it nicely) and believe it or not, my weightloss SLOWED. My nutritionist explained that I was "normal" and that most patients experiment with different ways of eating while they are adjusting to their sleeve. But she said that, of course in the long run, I was doing more harm than good to my body by not giving me the nutrients it needs to stay healthy. She encouraged me to try low-carb (higher protein & fat) diet for 2 weeks to see if it would speed up my weight loss and stop my hair shedding and other problems I was having. I bought the Dr. Atkins book and tried it out. That was about 4 weeks ago. I am losing 1/2 pound per day. I am literally shrinking. I am up to about 600-800 calories per day, but of wholesome, nutritious, unprocessed foods. Here is a typical day: Breakfast - 1 harboiled egg and 1/4 cup cottage cheese or greek yogurt or 1 slice lean turkey w/ 1 slice lean cheese (Even now it takes me about 1 hour to eat this. I chew slowly so not to overill my sleeve and get chest pains) lunch - a slice or two of lean ham w/ a few olives and roated peppers (think antipasto platter), or my current favorite a 3/4 - 1 cup of chicken caesar salad. dinner - is usually a couple of homemade meatballs or small (about 2oz.) hamburger patty, or 1 roasted chicken leg topped with ranch or guacamole (for added fat), sauteed cabbage or mashed cauliflower (instead of potatoes). I enjoy 2-3 Snacks per day: 1 teaspon of Peanut Butter (it takes me a long time to eat... ) or 2-3 olives, about 5 pistachios or cashews, or 1/2 ounce of cheese. These foods fill up my sleeve just as effectively as the crackers or pasta or bread did, but they are so much more calorically nutriently dense now. And I am adding much needed healthy fats. I feel like my body has become a furnace now. :wub: Sorry if this post is somewhat long winded.... I am hoping this helps anyone who may be struggling or stalling in their journeys and can find it helpful to see if it might work for them too.

I'm on the full liquid post -OP as of yesterday I was told basically What I was eating on clear liquid Plus Yogurt, Greek or fat free...no fruit in it pudding, but to make sure it was watery Pourable consistency cream of wheat (gross) Skim or 1% milk Puréed Soups Creamy soups, make sure any chunks are strained out I tried to eat a yogurt, a 100 calorie one, and couldn't even finish half I found some soups that aren't bad...found some potato lentil soup that I added unjury Protein powder to. But I couldn't imagine trying to eat something like chf boyardee right now I am pretty much sticking with various Protein shakes right now, with a soup....I can't get the protein or calories I need from the yogurts or such

The Healthy Choice Greek Frozen yogurt is my favorite :-)

2 weeks. The crunchies are tiny and NUT said as long as I chew enough that they disappear it's ok. The yogurt is yummy without em too though.

Do you know the serving size? I can have only 6grams of sugar per 1/4 cup serving, which is close to this if it's a half cup cup of yogurt...I am clear for all foods just have certain healthy guidelines I need to follow. Sounds delish!

Me too. Strained yogurt was considered a liquid.

Mine was also smooth sailing i'm very lucky just you basic gas pains. I've had no vomiting or nausea, feeling great walking, I was doing so good I got to start the soft food 10 days out. I have been very carful though to. see my doctor tomorrow so hopefully i can add more soft foods, so fa I'm doing scrambled egg, can in water tuna and had salmon tonight and a mashed well avocado. Still doing yogurt and some soup , not loving the protein shakes anymore but have had some. Just seeing what the future will hold with my weight loss journey . Soi far so good!

Ice tea, coffee, pickles, coleslaw, salad, fruit salad, deconstructed burgers/sandwiches, lettuce bun burgers/sandwiches yogurt, cottage cheese, chili, etc...

i usually bring cold cut rollups, meatballs in sauce, grilled chicken breast, hard boiled egg with salt and pepper, mini babybel cheese or a cheese stick/string cheese, a greek yogurt with a teaspoon of sf chocolate chips to add some "dessert like quality" - could add almonds or nuts too, i'm just not cleared for those yet). so long as you have a fridge available, of course!

I just figured it was because I was full. Still on liquids only, yogurt is the closest thing to being food I get! And I eat vanilla, orange or lime so no lumps. But good to know, thanks for the advise!

Im hoping some seasoned sleevers can help me. I feel badly posting this when I read some of the difficulties people are having. I'm a little over a week post op- started purée today and am having no issues. With anything. I can see where getting your fluids in can be tough in the beginning balancing food and hydration, but I ate just about a little less than measured for each: 1/4 cup egg at Breakfast, 1/4 cup refried Beans at lunch and 1/4 cup Greek yogurt and chicken purée. I still have to have one Protein shake. I didn't feel too uncomfortable, it didn't hurt and then I worried that my sleeve isn't working. I know this is dumb because I shouldn't have to have issues ( and don't want them!!) and know that I'm still so early on--- what do I know!? I'm most terrified that it is not working and I won't lose. I am trying to really watch my sugars and carbs and only incorporate them where I really want (said refried beans). Has anyone further along and successful felt like this? My calorie count today after my last Protein Shake will be about 550. All last week on liquids I was around 300. Now I know this is ridiculous because no one is going to gain weight with that count!!

Ditto to all these suggestions. Bean soups have tons of protein and you can purée them to fit your "mushy food" phase if you want to. Drink skim milk (1g protein per oz) Have you tried plain Greek Yogurt with SF syrup or water flavor drops? I'm on soft foods and still can't even come close to getting enough protein without my shakes. Maybe get unflavored protein powder and add it to EVERYTHING. I even add mine to my mashed potatoes (but I still eat no more than 1/4 cup/day) But it definitely seems you need to decrease carbs and really up the protein.