Search the Community

So I was sleeved August 9, 2012. 4 weeks ago today. Before I went into surgery I was weighed at 218lbs. Now, 4 weeks post op, I weighed in at 211.8 this morning. 7.2lbs in 4 weeks with an extremely restricted diet. I'm disappointed in the results and have tried so many things to encourage myself (self talk, seeing slow losers board, reminders that it takes time, that its still a loss etc.), but I just feel like the reality has fallen short of my expectations for the sleeve. I had a stall around week 2 which was expected, but even considering that, I feel like my body isn't doing what it is supposed to. So here's the details and suggestions are welcomed: I walk for exercise -- about 20-30 minutes/day, plus chores like mowing grass where I work up a sweat. Sunday is my one month and I plan to start doing more like swimming and beginner work out dvds (biggest loser ones). What I eat: Breakfast is a 100cal EAS Carb Control Protein shake (17g Protein), lunch is usually Soup or left over supper or super steamed veggies from the cafeteria (I work at a hospital) Supper is chicken mushed with dressing/spices (about 2 oz solid food right now)) or Ground Turkey recipes. Snacks (2/day usually, sometimes 1 depending on Fluid intake) cheese, greek yogurt, protein pudding (80 cals, 15g protein). Fluids: I drink 1 Water bottle while at work (it's just shy of 1L), I have for sure one 500ml glass of herbal caffeine free tea in the evening, usually 2, but sometimes I switch this up with ProtiDiet hot chocolate (80 cals, 15g protein) in 500ml water instead of more tea ior a chai tea latte (80cal, 4 carbs, 5g protein). I feel like I'm doing everything right but the results aren't telling me that! Any help would be appreciated!!

Hello all, I had my sleeve surgery Dec 28th and did great until I got home 2 days and then was due for my cycle of the month. My blood pressure shot way, way up. I wound up in a hospital in the town of Wickenburg where we moved. I am finally getting my BP down some and have been eating cream of wheat, premier drinks, egg drop soup, Yogurt, popsicles, baby foods and my favorite Scandal less Vanilla( because it taste great plus has great quality of protein. My Dr is known for a slim sleeve without a pre op diet. So it will take a little to attempt the harder foods for me as some of you are trying. I started 313 and I'm down to 299.5 at 5'8" .

I feel for you. I had it once and was hospitalized for five days. As someone said, that IS some nasty sh%!. I get nervous everytime I get an upset stomach and panic when I have to take an antibiotic, so probiotics and yogurt everyday is a ritual for me.

I am on day 6 and was on clear liquids only until this morning. Now I am on full liquids for 2 weeks - today I had protein shakes, some greek yogurt (the second serving I flavored with guacamole seasoning of all things) and cream soups.

WOW!! That weight loss is amazing!! So inspirational Luv LIfe!! Your meals are small and healthy which our tool helps with but the rest is all YOU!!! Your exercise regimen is impressive and that is what I believe has helped you lose even more. You really did get the best out of this procedure and I hope that your success continues. Have you had any stalls? I'm stalled at the moment. Tomorrow it will be 4 weeks for me post op and I've only lost 12 pounds. I did have a stall before and upping my water intake helped me break through it. I'm going to try that again. If you have any tips for me it would be much appreciated on how to get past the stall. Here's my daily routine and food plan more or less, please help me tweak it to get better results: Breakfast--- green smoothie (protein shake with green veggies and berries added in with water and some almond milk) Lunch-- 3-4 egg whites with broccoli Dinner-- one of the following--- lentil soup, 4 oz, baked salmon, chicken strips with veggies stir fried, chili, or a small portion of the dinner my family had--- has to be soft because I'm still in the puree stage Snacks throughout the day--- nonfat greek yogurt, sugar free jell-o, sugar free popsicle, bone broth, sugar free fudgesicle, occasionally sugar free pudding but not often because it sets off my sweet tooth I only drink Protein premier clear protein drink, water, sometimes crystal light. I do cardio exercise 3-4 times a week for about 35-40 minutes each time. I cheated once with some vanilla creme filled cookies and man did I pay the price for that!! Horrible gas pains, heartburn, and then the dumping came which actually provided relief but I threw out the rest of the box in case I got crazy again. Any suggestions? With love and support always!!!

I think I'm just really uncomfortable with having to move slow and deliberate and the added discomfort of the bloat, gas and pressure on my diaphragm causing pain in my shoulders. I know this will pass (pardon the pun) and by next week I should be doing very well. Anxious!! :wub: I am too getting burned out fast on the protein shakes and yogurt....I think I'm a bit hungry!

Simplysimple its not just me then? What a relief. I have managed two smooth yogurts and some clear soup today and that has perked me up. Now feeling guilty for eating that!!!!!! How screwy is that?

I really hate eggs after surgery, it is a real roll of the dice if they are okay or if they will make me sick. I don't eat them often. I don't like yogurt, people seem crazy for it and it is all people seem to talk about on weight loss forums and it is just nasty to me and the nutritional value seems worthless, but it easy to eat and has Protein so I see why people like it. When I get tired of fish, I eat deli ham. I like fish because I can eat more of it and easily meet protein goals. Now that I am past 6 months, chicken and beef are much easier to eat than they were at 2-3 months. Now that I am further out I am eating a lot of filet mignon and lamb. Going to add bison in soon. A lot meats that were previously expensive become suddenly affordable when you never eat more than 3-4 oz at a time.

That's what I'm eating now. I get at least 70 grams of protein a day, 25gms from unflavored protein powder in my morning shake and the rest from lean meats. No bread, pasta or rice, but I do eat veggies and some fruit with every meal. I snack on yogurt or cottage cheese. My blood sugar is way down even though the doc cut my meds in half. I hope to get off them soon.

May 26th, my surgery date, has come and gone. Along with it, 18 pounds are gone. My pre-op diet seems like it is long gone, and that took 12 pounds along with it. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN....that is a GRAND TOTAL of 30 POUNDS GONE! Wow! That is pretty amazing, and I do feel like I should be standing in the center of a crowded arena, with a microphone in front of me, announcing that to the world. But, instead, I smile shyly and tell anyone who asks, how much I've lost. I am kind of shy about stuff like this. But I digress... So I had my 2 week follow up and there was some fluid built up around the port. The doctor drained that and removed the staples. Thank GOD! They were more than ready to come out. He told me to go forth and eat anything I wantd in pureed form. And to come back in 2 weeks to make sure I am not collecting more fluid. So...in the last 3 weeks, I have been on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. More than 1...ok maybe 3 times I have cried like a baby. I believe I wept for the loss of an old friend, FOOD FOR NUMBING EMOTIONS. Come on, I ate when I was lonely, bored, scared, angry, happy, sad and anything in between. I believe I am formally in mourning. But, having a bit of experience in the loss of loved ones...I know the sadness never truly leaves, but it does lighten up and becomes manageable over time. I believe I am entering that stage. I am managing my mourning. I KNOW I can't use my crutch anymore. Food really did an excellent job of numbing pain. I mean, food has always stood beside me. It always was ready to offer me sustenance, even after my 28 year marriage crashed and burned about 6 years ago! But now I am eating pureed foods and that brings back FLAVOR! I have my protein shake for breakfast, 1/2 cup of oatmeal for a snack. Sometimes I reverse those 2 just to have some variety (hahaha). I have FF yogurt or baby food for lunch. I have SF pudding for a snack. And all day long I have a water bottle with me. That is a very good lifestyle change for me! My boyfriend is a food lover. Yet he does not suffer from obesity. Actually, he is a chef and a food lover...a dangerous combo. Last night he made me pureed chicken and pureed vegetables. Served me 1/4 cup of each for dinner. It tasted fabulous. The texture was a little weird, but the flavor was wonderful!! He sat there and talked with me while I ate....SLOWLY. He had a look of pain on his face. This diet is KILLING HIM! I don't think he can fathom the idea of eating pureed foods. But he is my soulmate, the love of my life. So he fixes me things of great taste and will stay with me while I eat. But he will not eat in front of me. That bothers HIM too much. I assure him it's ok with me, but he just won't do it. He says he will once I can eat regular food again. That should be next week. So it won't be long. I was in pain. But I didn't like the pain medicine. I NEVER like that stuff! It made me whiny and very confused and groggy. I used it for about 8 days, then I took myself off of it. Yesterday was the first day I stood up when I awoke and stretched and didn't cringe. I am HEALING!! I feel no pain!! And although I have lost 30 pounds, I am wearing the same clothes as before I began this journey. Only now, they are looser. Some are MUCH looser!! I am still a little sad at times when I see people gorging on some of my favorite foods (last Saturday was a graduation party for 2 of my nephews and there was a lot of good food there). But mostly I am awaiting the arrival of a different old friend...Happy, Healthy and Strong Mary....I hear she is on her way to stay with me. I can't wait 'til she gets here!! She's close!!! -mary

Ok, great thread! I'll play! Lateral choices are what shore me up all the dang. time! I'm at the point where truly my life is about 90-95% Best and 3-8% Better and about 2% Good. I haven't gone "hog wild" eat the whole candy bar thing since before surgery. Hallelujah. The angels sang. Bad - A whole order or BWW Wings with Fried Cheese Curds and Fried Mushrooms Good - Having 2 wing flats, and 2 curds and 1 mushrrom with celery and blue cheese Better - Air Frying the wings at home and tossing with a zero calorie sauce to keep it lower fat. Air frying broccoli and cauliflower and making Grk Yogurt Ranch Dip. Best - Air Frying chicken breasts with a mustard garlic coating. Making a great salad with a few pumpkin seeds and reduced fat feta with some zero calorie dressing and a little avocado. __________________________________ Bad - Wasting an entire day on YouTube vids and FB and BP (sorry to say wasting, not really wasting...but losing myself in it) Good - I have yet to establish metrics for this parameter Better - Ditto Best - *sniff* Purgatory. Pure. And. Simple.

Take a cup of skim or 1% milk and put it in a shaker cup, add a half a cup of fat free unflavored greek yogurt - add 2 squeezes of Mio - I used Berry Pomegranate flavor. It was delicious. Almost 20 grams of Protein - 19.5 grams of protein

I am 5 months out, and my FAVORITE food is "boiled eggs", chicken... cheese and yogurt... soft foods, because other foods still bother me.. I tried to eat grapes the other day and OH my... nope after one I could tell that was not going to work... take it slow.... drink your Protein... and try to eat what you can. Best of luck to you ♥

I only get like 1-3 shakes (meal replacements) per day. The rest of my "meals" are like cottage cheese (fat free), ricotta cheese (fat free), yogurt (plain would not be sweet, if you wanted to try that - fat free) for my dairy, then its broth, chicnen, beef, vegetable whatever you like. I asked about the sodium, the Nut said not to worry as I wouldn't be getting sodium anywhere else so I'd be fine. I don't know if that helps or not! Nicole

I was having a stall (5weeks out) and my surgeon told me to make sure I was only eating solid protein. I had become too dependent on soft foods like yogurt and refried beans. And was going to the gym everyday. Anyway, I followed his advice and lost five pounds this week. I can only eat 1 or 2 oz of solid proteins. I was eating 3 or more oz of the soft foods. Hope you start losing again soon!!

At 4 days post-op, really focus on getting your Fluid volume in vs Protein grams. You'll be okay for a while with less protein as long as you're getting close to your Water goal. Going forward, I second getting some unflavored Protein powder. There are many brands, I'm a GENEPRO fan but there are other brands that others have had good luck with. Find one, because once you get to pureed/soft foods, that powdered protein will be the key to your success. I put it in cottage cheese, refried Beans, yogurt, pudding...anything soft and moist. I'm over 6 months post-op and I still put a scoop in my coffee every morning. Good luck!

If you can't keep down liquids even hot ones at any point during a day then your over filled. Sometimes in the morning we bandsters are too tight to eat anything but that should pass after a while. If it is dinner time and you still cant eat anything even as simple as yogurt you really need an unfill. Of course after a fill you should take it easy and do atleast 1-2 days of liquids before getting back into eating. However if its been over a few days and your still not able to eat then you need an unfill. The longer you wait the tighter you can get. If youre throwing up a lot that can cause a slip. Trust me being overfilled for a long time isnt fun!

I measure nothing. I can eat so little that I can't imagine I'm even breaking 600 calories a day, on a good day. Some days I'm sure I don't even get that much, but I still do a protein shake every day just to make sure I'm not losing all my muscle. Just taking 2 multi vitamins (liqui-gels), a CoQ10, and iron is as filling as a full meal ! So, for me, it's vitamins and a yogurt for breakfast (12g protein/80 cals), 4-6 bites of shrimp or chicken for lunch, maybe 2 ounces of meat for dinner, and a handful of almonds for a snack. Things just don't go down good or I'm nauseated before I'm even finished eating. Wicked cycle and I'm hoping with a little more time it changes so I can tolerate more just for nutrition sake !

13 days post op still in full liquid stage. B coffee and chocolate premier Protein 1/2 L blended/strained Italian meatball Soup S chocolate premier shake (other 1/2) D instant potatoes, Greek yogurt and beef broth. My Soups are 2 and 4 oz . So ready for purée stage.

What about regular plain yogurt with a bit of splenda/stevia/vanilla/honey? Goat cheese? (Not sure what is allowed as I'm several month prior to surgery, but I like food). Refried beans with cheese? I hit a wall with protein drinks this morning and I'm not a fan of eggs so I'm trying to find ideas for protein heavy breakfasts now, and I get it that trying to get yourself to eat something YOU JUST DON'T LIKE is not going to work!

Grilled shrimp, chicken, steak and veggies. I try to stay away from processed foods in general. Greek yogurt, popcorn, and Popsicles for snacks. Occasional brown rice.

Your hormones are probably going a little crazy right now, not to mention the recent anesthesia. It will get better! Remind your husband how much you will be saving on future grocery bills and get what you need. Fluids and yogurt go down much easier than dense food so don't worry about that. I had a "no chuncks, no chewing rule" for the first two weeks after surgery. If It couldn't go through a strainer I couldn't eat it. I ate yogurt with fruit but always fished the fruit out. Follow your doctors orders, you don't want to hurt your new tummy. There are a lot of people on here that use the ff, sf syrups. I stay away from the artificial sweetners though personally. Watch your sugar with the ice cream this early out...my doc said keep it all under 10 grams sugar, 10 grams fat per serving. Good luck to you! You are allowed a few breakdowns

It is up to you. The sleeve is a tool but the choice of what you will put in your mouth is yours. Were we all perfect no. You have to make up in your mind that you want to live a healthier life period. Will you still be able to have a piece of chocolate from time to time yes eventually-- but hopefully you willing to find your way to chocolate in other ways. A chocolate Protein shake or Protein Bar, a piece of 70% Cacao dark chocolate, chocolate flavored greek yogurt. I felt the same about bread and since surgery I have not had a piece of bread nor do I want to. Does that mean I never will NO, its just right now it does not have any nutritional value to me and I would much rather focus on eating things that give me what I need. My plan allows me at this stage to have bread but in limited amounts. My continued weight loss helps drive it home that I don't really need it. When the time is right (maybe thanksgiving) I will have a 1 inch slice of cheesecake or chocolate cake I will savor and enjoy it, and move on with my life and If I think that might be a trigger food for me I'll steer clear. I never had a issue with sweets but carbs (bread of any kind) is my weakness, So I try not to eat things that I feel might trigger my cravings or desire for these foods like crackers, biscuits, croissants, English muffins and things like that. The sleeve definitely helps with reducing hunger in turn helping you to make healthier choices but some people still complain of having been hungry or dealing with head hunger which is where your willpower to be successful and following your surgeons guidelines is essential. Good Luck to you!

Chad my staples are greek yogurt, morningstar veggie burgers, bagged potatoe wedges i can put in oven(switching to roasting sweet potatoes with spleda mix brown sugar) and 1 egg omlettea with turkey sausage and cheddar cheese. (And an avacado on hard workout days) and those steamer veggie things. I am now really thinking of juicing a veggie shake a day and adding fiber supp to it. I love nuts but can eat so many of them i dont likw to buy them. And ofcourse i dont eat great everyday just when i eat crappy now i cant eat alot. Portion is about 1 veggie patty and 1 cup of cooked veggies over 20 mins then im stuffed. Although today inate about 2 cups mashed potatoes 7 big shrimp and an 8 oz filet in 2.5 sittings lol. And i eat anout 5 times a day

I am not really a French speaker but I studied French in high school and college and am a bit of a Francophile, especially when it comes to movies. I did a quick Google search and found a couple of things that MAY help. Look for the brand Jockey cottage cheese in the yogurt section of a supermarket. Also, "le cottage" may be on a label (http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2011/12/le-cottage-cheese/). I also seem to recall from something I read years ago that there is a completely different name for what we call cottage cheese and that it is more rustic/country in France. I will see if I can find out more.