Tomorrow is Day 22 since my surgery and I start my sugeon's Phase III diet. This consists of 3 meals a day of 1.5 - 2 oz. meat plus 1 oz. fruit or veggies and then one snack of 6-8 oz yogurt plus 1 oz fruit and then 2 Protein shakes to help boost protein intake. I am not allowed to have carbs other than fruit or veggies until I'm six months out. Of course I'm also required to drink 100 oz of fluids which I have not been having a problem with since Day 4 post-op.

Thankfully my Lapband experience is helpful when it comes to this as I recall how much I just loved noodless lasagna. I just bought a new crockpot last night

and intend to make real good use of that.

The key thing I am interested in seeing is how well I will tolerate real food and how much I will even be able to eat. I have been so thrilled that on my current

full liquid diet I have easily gone 4-5 hours between meals without hunger and have not had any cravings whatsoever. I feel the first real test of my sleeve begins tomorrow.

So my plan for tomorrow is:

Breakfast - 1 scrambled egg with a little cheese

a.m. snack - Protein shake

lunch - 1/4c part skim ricotta with 1 T spaghetti sauce and 1 t. parm cheese

p.m. snack - 6 oz light yogurt and 1 oz fruit

dinner - making Pepsi Pork in my crockpot - made with pork loin, cream of chicken Soup, onion soup mix and a can of diet pepsi (leaves no carbonation).

Evening - protein shake

I'm also planning on making salsa chicken in the crockpot this week as well as meatballs (recipes appreciated I realize that with the volume of food

we can eat I may have leftovers for weeks so will do some freezing.

Just wondering how others did at this stage and I welcome any other meal ideas. I have always hated fish; actually was OK with tuna salad when I was young

but at age 17 was on Weight Watchers where I ate tuna fish every day for 6 months and have never eaten it since - and that's over 30+ years ago.

I am hoping that my tastebuds have changed so I am open to trying different foods again - my husband grills a lot.

I appreciate any input or ideas you have to share.

On a very positive note - I am now down 25 lbs since my pre-op diet; my wedding rings and clothes are definitely looser and I can see my face slimming

down - WooHoo! Excited to start this new chapter....

Thanks.

Susie 2.0

omg ur foods sound great

Congrats on your weight loss! I am at 19lbs so far since surgery. My ticker is overall since my WLS journey began.

I too was on 21 days of liquids and followed it and was very happy. I did kinda miss chewing some food but knew it wasn't forever. If you followed your liquids and didn't have any troubles getting them in you will probably do okay on the foods.

Yes you will have some leftovers!!

I have done well and haven't really rejected anything I have tried yet. I made some spaghetti and meatballs today and was able to eat 1 meatball (1oz - 93% lean) and 1/4 cup of the sauce (didn't eat any of the whole wheat noodles) along with 1 oz of cheese.

I am definitely going to try your pork recipe, sounds good and I hear that pork seems to be easier to get down then chicken in the early days!

I think your plan is a little ambitious tomorrow and doubt you will be able to intake all of that at this point, but you never know. Each of us is so different! Good luck and keep us posted!

I wonder why you can't have bread or pasta til 6 months out? My doctor added those at 10 weeks.

Well since the day is almost done, I figured I would report back on how it went. Overall it went great.

Scrambled eggs with cheese went down fine - I eat everything with a baby spoon or fork and try to chew for 20 times. That's a little hard

with eggs and those small bites but you get the idea.

Noodleless lasagna also was fine - yummy!

Cooked the Pepsi pork in the crockpot - the aromas were wonderful all day long so I was really looking forward to it.

Measured out my 2 oz of meat and added 1/4c of the juice. Cut real small and chewed well. Had no issues with eating it.

In fact started wondering if I had a sleeve if I could already eat this much.

Proceeded to work on my 2T of applesauce as my 1 oz fruit. Ate about 1T. of that and that's when the signal really

kicked in.

Unfortunately I must have taken that 'one too many bite" that I've read about from others because after that I wasn't so good.

I was really trying not to throw up. I also quickly realized the major difference in living with the sleeve vs. the Lapband. When I

had the Band if things got stuck I basically just had to get them through my pouch and I would be fine. To do that meant a variety

of actions that I learned over time - like jumping up and down, swinging my arms overhead - excusing myself to the rest room so I

could do these things in a bathroom stall as well as danging my arms down and bending at my waist. I do not miss that at all.

With the sleeve I quickly realized the food had nowhere to go but back out of my stomach. That was a bit of an eye opener of my new

reality. In any case it built up to the point where I just had to vomit but when I did it was just one time and only applesauce came out

which I was glad to see and I felt immediate relief.

I think that this happened for one of a few reasons - I may have eaten too fast - I spent about 10-15 minutes total eating; it could be that the

broth with the pork acted the same way as drinking after eating would have. My nutritionist pointed out that people eat soup with meat

and veggies all the time and have problems. They forget that it is having liquid after food and that the right way to eat that is to have

all the liquid first and then have the meat and veggies.

I still have one Protein drink to go on my plan for the night but I think I am going to skip it. I already managed 74g of protein and that's plenty.

As far as why my nutrition plan calls for avoiding Pasta, bread, etc. for the six months, my take is that it is based on their experience with

many patients to help them focus on protein first as well as maximize their weight loss in the first six months after surgery. I know they

make adjustments based on their patients results - in fact they had only just adjusted their plan to staying in full liquids for 3 weeks after surgery; previously it had been only two weeks and I've read where the risk of leaks is greatest in the first few weeks.

Anyway - I'm very pleased with how my day went. I felt a little hungry here and there - very minor. I take Pepcid daily but I don't take it until

just before bed.

Susie 2.0

If you eat too fast, you get that stuck feeling and you're right has no place to go but come back out! You usually get the slimes too for a few minutes (runny saliva) and then the throw it up is easy out and then immediate relief! It's weird how it works.