I'm on to full liquids today (YAY!!). My question, what constitutes a full liquid? If I blend up a soup and it's totally liquid--not thick, not chunky, is that a liquid? What have other Dr. Aceves patients eaten during the full liquid stage? I'm hoping to find some non-sweet options--everything is SWEET!

Email Nina and she will give you some great ideas. I can't remember what I ate during that stage but I know I would strain a bunch of soups.

Anne, i had some greek yogurt yesterday and the had the runs ALL NITE LONG!!! BAD GIRL!!!!! just thought Id share!

Also, I tried to go back to work yesterday and I was NOT READY. I took a few more days off. Im so bored at home tho.

How have you been feeling?

You can have egg flower soup or any other soup that is well blended with no chunks.

Full liquids is anything you can get through a straw with no chunks.

Sorry, I'm no help. I'm already eating mushies.

Ooh... I haven't tried yogurt yet I ate about 3 tbsp of broccoli cheese soup and that was awesome. I feel like I get that tight in throat feeling really quick.

Hi,

This may help you. It is a little long, so print it out and read it.

I have been asked so many times on this board about what Protein drinks are good and some sample meals that I used during the first month and things I did after the 1^st month. These are very valid questions and I know when I first started out I had all the same questions. Again this is long so please print this out if you would like.

Protein Drinks.

My all-time favorite is:

Premier Protein Drink. It comes in 11 oz. drink boxes already mixed. There are 30 grams of protein in each box, 160 calories per box, 1 gram of sugar and 5 grams of carbs. The flavor I buy is Chocolate—that is all I can find at costco. I get mine at Costco and I understand that you can get them at Sam’s Club too. You can order these on line at Costco and Sam’s club. They are also available at this Web Site. http://www.premiernutrition.com/product.html

I pay about $25.00 for a carton of 18 drink boxes at Costco in the city where I live. I drink one of these every morning for my Breakfast and nothing else and it has been almost 3 years since my “sleeve surgery.”

The next Protein Drink that I have tried is called:

Matrix 2.0 Mint Cookies made by Syntrax. You can check this out on this Web Site.

http://www26.netrition.com/syntrax_matrix_page.html

The cost for 2.16 lbs. is $22.99 plus postage. Item # 39-0963

My next Protein Drink that I have tried and like is:

nectar, variety pack, you get 13 single servings in a variety pack.

The cost is $22.95. This is the Web Site and they are made by Syntrax also.

http://www6.netrition.com/syntrax_nectar_page.html

There is one other Protein Drink that I found on Obesity Help.com that was rated really high by 188 people. I have never had it, but you might want to check it out. The name of the protein drink is: Carb Solution High Protein Power—it comes in more than one flavor. They also have cans of it already mixed. The Protein Powers cost $12.99. It has 110 calories, 1 gram of sugar, 4 carbs, and 20 grams of protein. This is the Web Site for Carb Solution at Wal-Mart.

http://www.buycheapr.com/us/result.jsp?q=Carb+Solution&qs=ti&ga=us7&ts=go

On www.ObesityHelp.com they have a lot of different information about Protein Drinks and they list so many different brands and people have rated the ones they really like check this site out. It has a lot of information about almost all the protein drinks that we find out there.

http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/nutrition/a,prodsearch/searchtype,1/criteria,11/

I hate Isopure. It does NOT taste good to me—I know that some people like it. I call it Isopuke, and it reminds me of pond scum. I have been told if you buy it at a GNC and don’t like it and still have your receipt they will refund your money if it hasn’t been more than 30 days since you purchased it from them. I guess they will do that with protein powers too—ask before you buy what their policy is about returning something if you don’t like it. So if you want to try it remember this. There always seems to be a GNC in most Malls.

This 1^st month after weight loss surgery is going to be the hardest one to do. You just get tired of what they want you to do. It is for a reason—the doctors know what they are doing. You need to let your new stomach heal from a major surgery, so that is why you have to do these things the 1^st month.

You should try to keep your calories at 800 per day and no more than 20 carbs a day if you want to lose weight. The 1^st month you really don’t eat a lot. So in the following months keep track of everything you are putting in your mouth.

You can track what you eat on this site. I found it to be very helpful to write down EVERYTHING I was putting into my body. If I didn’t write it down I was going over 800 calories per day and would not know I was. It does take time to keep track of it—you are worth the effort, but once you get the hang of it you will know what 800 calories really are. When you exercise this site helps you figure out the number of calories you have burned and that allows you to eat more than 800 calories. It is an easy site to use and it if FREE. http://www.livestrong.com/

The 1^st 10 days for me had to be clear liquids—you had to be able to see through them.

1. broth. I used and love “Better Than Bouillon.” It comes in a jar and it is like a paste. I like it because it tastes great and you can make single servings. It is located with bouillon cubes and soups in the grocery store. I had chicken and beef. I also made some home chicken soup and strained everything out of it and just had the chicken broth. I would try to have ¼ of a cup of it for part of my meal, but sometimes it was just too much for me. Remember you have a new smaller stomach and it is swollen and can only hold about as much as the size of your thumb.

2. Jello-- sugar free. I might have 2 tablespoons of Jello. That was something I had fixed and ready when I got home from the hospital.

3. I tried to drink 64 oz. of Water and sometimes I could get it in and sometimes I couldn’t. Do the best you can, and just sip it all day long. I would add Crystal Light to the water—it made water taste a whole lot better.

4. Apple juice, white grape juice, sugar free sports drinks, decaf hot tea, also decaf ice tea.

5. Veggie broth or the broth from French Onion soup.

6. Sugar Free Popsicles if my stomach was upset this really seemed to help.

The 2^nd 10 days.

This was much easier to do. If I didn’t mention it, it was difficult for me to swallow my medication so I would crush the medication up and mix it with about 1 tablespoon of applesauce and some Equal and mix my meds in the applesauce and take my medication that way. You will have creamy foods the next 10 days

1. I loved so many of the creamy soups. I used regular Campbell’s creamy soups that they had. I was only having about ¼ cup or maybe a few tablespoons of soup.

2. Jello was still good for me.

3. Sugar Free pudding, maybe 2 tablespoons full.

4. Yogurt a few tablespoons of it.

5. Frozen yogurt.

6. Applesauce a couple tablespoons.

7. A little cream cheese.

8. Sugar Free Fudge Cycles.

9. Premier Protein chocolate Drink mixed in blender with about 4 ice cubes and 1 cap full of Miralax. When you have a lot of protein you get constipated and Miralax works for that. It is tasteless and blends really great in the blender with the protein drink. I use the Miralx daily and it is NOT habit forming.

10. Soft boiled eggs or soft scrambled eggs—eggs didn’t work that well for me.

11. Low fat Chocolate milk.

12. Cottage Cheese.

13. Sugar Free Popsicles

14. Creamy Peanut Butter.

The 3^rd 10 days and final part of the first month. Yeah the 1^st month is almost over.

I could eat mushy food. This was more of a challenge than I thought it would be.

1. Mashed sweet potato or mashed yams with a small amount of butter on it.

2. Mashed up chicken noodle soup.

3. Mashed up homemade veggie soup.

4. Eggs that were soft boiled or soft scrambled.

5. Applesauce.

6. Cottage cheese.

7. Premier Protein Drink with miralax blended in the blender with 4 ice cubes.

8. Mashed up steamed carrots

9. Mashed up and blended a little tuna with a small amount of mayo.

10. Blended chicken breast with no skin on it.

11. Ham blended with a small amount of mayo.

12. Water with Crystal Light

13. Jello with fat free cool whip.

14. Yogurt and frozen yogurt.

15. Sugar free pudding.

16. Protein Bars chewed up really well—I could never eat a whole one—just a few bites.

17. Mashed potatoes and cream cheese mixed in with them.

18. Mashed black Beans they have a lot of protein in them. I would have about 1/4 the a cup and that is about 9 grams of protein

19. Sugar Free Popsicles

20. Hard Boiled eggs made into egg salad.

If I went out to eat I found that a cup of soup was about the best thing I found that I could eat. I also felt like I was on display sometimes because family and friends would watch me eat. It used to bother me, but not anymore. I watched them eat and I thought to myself. “Oh my gosh they inhale their food and they hardly chew it.” I was always the last one to finish eating. That is OK too. At first I actually mourned the loss of food. Later on I was thrilled that I had the restriction of a sleeve because I was losing weight.

I found that chicken and fish were easier to chew and I liked them a lot more than red meat.

I said that chicken was one of the main sources of protein for me. I found Kirkland (Costco brand) grilled Chicken breast strips. It is already cooked and I would put one bag (1 pound) in the freezer and use the other (1 pound bag later.) It is really handy to have around and a quick meal to fix if the chicken is already cooked. We also ate more fish. I would buy Halibut or Sole—a mild fish. I would marinate it in OJ or crushed strawberries or blueberries all day. I would also marinate it in law calories Italian Salad Dressing all day. I would cook it in a pan with Pam spray and put garlic or rosemary in the pan when I was cooking it. I don’t eat a lot of red meat and I used to be a real red meat lover. For me it took too much chewing and it just didn’t taste as good as it used to. I will now have a small hamburger and only eat 1/3 to ½ because it just is too much food for me. Ham was something that worked well for me too. I found I could get a large think slice of from the grocery story deli and I would have it for a protein—I would slice off about 2 oz. of the ham. I also enjoy a Taco Salad and I make mine with chicken instead of beef. I love Shrimp and lobster too, so those are my treats that I reward myself with.

A typical meal I ate starting the 2^nd month after WLS.

Breakfast: Premier Protein Drink with Miralax and 4 ice cubes in the blender.

Lunch: 2 oz. of chicken or ham with a small amount of cheese melted over it. I would have a bean salad—it has 4 different beans in it.

Snack: I would have about 10 dry roasted almonds and maybe 10 dried cherries

Dinner: 2 oz. of Chicken or Fish, steamed veggies of some kind.

Sometimes my husband and I would split a small baked potato

I put a teaspoon of butter and sour cream on it.

Snack: Some type of fresh fruit or a Protein Bar.

Carbs and what to eat and what NOT to eat

About the 3^rd month after WLS I would add a little bread in my diet—I could only eat about ½ a slice of bread or ½ of a hamburger bun and they are the “thin” buns that they have out now. They also make a thin bagel. You just have to look when you are shopping in your local grocery store for these things. Try to find Whole Grain carb products and if you can’t the do the whole wheat. Try to stay away from WHITE carbs. They are white refined carbs and that is how we got fat eating a lot of them.

Rice should be brown rice and only a small amount—NO white rice. Pasta comes is Spinach or Whole Wheat and you can have only small amounts of it.

banana – Medium size has 27 Grams of carbs—I stay away from the banana, and I love them, but I just don’t want to spend all my carbs for the day on a banana. I use a Mexican soft flour shell made of spinach or sun dried tomatoes for making a small sandwich too—you know they call them wraps.

Beverage: They do not want you to drink something when you eat—you need the room for the food so that you can get your protein in firsts. During the day I would have water or decaf tea for my liquid after I ate or all during the day. As I said the Crystal Light Individual packs and different flavors worked well in a bottle of water. It seems like it took me forever to eat and drink all the things I was supposed to be eating and drinking. I was always sipping on the protein drink and water.

supplements you should take.

It is important that you take a multi-Vitamin. I had a difficult time trying to swallowing large pills. Look for an Adult Chewable multi-vitamin. I also have the Chocolate Chewable Calcium that I buy at Costco. As time goes on it will get easier to swallow larger pills. Do NOT take the multi-vitamin on an empty stomach, it may make you sick.

My Primary Care doctor was very helpful and after I had been home 2 weeks from WLS, she had me come into for an office visit. She ran a full blood panel and made sure all my levels were ok. I knew my potassium was low when I left Dr. Aceves in Mexicali—they ran my blood test before I left and gave me a very detailed report about my surgery to give to my doctor here in the US. Dr. Aceves told me to have it watched when I got home. I now take a potassium tablet prescribed by my doctor and work on eating food high in potassium.

Starting the 3^rd month

I started to eat more salads about here. I had a favorite and still eat it. It is Fresh Spinach, with slices of almonds, feta cheese, dried cherries, or fresh strawberries, a tablespoon of bacon and Paul Newman’s Light Raspberry & Walnut dressing on it. I sometimes add some of my Kirkland (Costco)

Grilled Chicken breast strips to it and then it is an entire meal in one bowl.

Chef’s Salad is a great one meal in a bowl thing to have and I just use any kind of dressing I want on it. This salad has lettuce, tomatoes, olives, sliced hard boiled eggs, turkey or chicken, and some ham sliced on it with some cheese. REMEMBER make this in a much smaller bowl than the normal Chef’s salad comes in. Sometimes I will add a small amount of Whole Grain dinner roll or some bread with it.

Stir Fry is a great way to get meat and veggies all in one meal too. I have a pan that works great on the BBQ grill and I do a stir fry on the BBQ in the summer time.

Have a sense of adventure and take some of your old recipes and see if you can convert them into a healthier recipe. Use veggies that you have never tried. Try some “rubs” on you meat located in the spice section or the grocery store and try to marinate some of your meats all day before cooking them—it really changes the taste of them.

Desert

I don’t want you to feel deprived. I learned that sometime just a bite or two of a desert really satisfied my need for it. Instead of the WHOLE piece of cake or pie, just a sliver of it worked for me to satisfy my need for it. When you want a cookie have just one small cookie and not the entire bag OK. Sugar free pudding with a small amount of Fat Free Cool Whip is good too. Use Splendia to make a desert that you like. So everything in moderation works.

Exercise

I was never a fan of exercise until I started to walk and I found out how much I benefited from it. Now I try to exercise 5 days a week. Find some form of exercise that works for you and do it. Start slow and then add more until you are comfortable with it.

I am sure I have missed a few things, and I will write those down as I think of them and make a Vol. 2 if I needed too.

These are just my suggestions, spice them up and make your food interesting and don’t get in a rut. This is not a diet, you will learn to adapt it and find things that work for you and that you like eating. This is a LIFESTYLE change. Make it work for you. You have the tool of restriction now use your new tool to your advantage. The fat doesn’t just melt off of you. It does require work and effort on your part.

Stalls—No weight loss for a period of days.

Be prepared you may have periods where you lose NO weight. We call those “Stalls.” You will panic and think for sure that you are the “one person this is NOT going to work on.” I know I was sure that was me. NOT true at all. Our bodies just do this. Mine lasted for 9 days—no weight loss at all. Just keep doing what you are doing and the weight will start coming off again I promise you. I can tell you not to panic but most of you will anyway—that is pretty normal too.

Hugs,

Suzanne

What an awesome post! Thank You!!!!

Fantastic post. I've read it several times now. At only 3 weeks out it is reassuring and also full of ideas. Thanks!

Hi, I am always out here if you have any questions. I have written quite a bit and I realize there is always a lot of new people just starting out. I had my surgery 3 years ago, so I try to answer as many question as you might have. I know how hard the 1st month is for you.

Hugs,

Suzanne

Suzanne u r awesome...thxs so much. I see u everywhere on this site.

this is so amazing and helpfull, it is all i can ask and more, thank's!

i'm going to have my surgery with him!

i just had my labs done and we just have to pick a date

i'm so happy!

he is by far the nicest dr. i have went to, he even wanted me to re-think it

and i was like hell no! i want this haha

that goes to show you he is no in this just for the money