I know there are a lot of new and soon-to-be sleevers out there and many are wondering if they are ever going to be able to enjoy a Christmas dinner like days gone by. I know it was a concern of mine. So, I though I would post about it.

I am nearly 19 months post sleeve.

Yesterday, I made a turkey with stuffing ... gravy, mashed potatoes, green Beans ... you know the drill. I had about 4 bites of turky (first) then about 4 green beans, 2 bites of stuffing and 2 bites of potatoes. Gravy slathered across everything. I put it on a salad plate and it was about half full. I was one of the last ones to finish eating (guy across from me had 3 platefulls) and I was stuffed. Had ice cream and peanut brittle and a sliver of apple pie about an hour later.

I ate about one fourth of the meal I would have had 2 years ago and didn't attack the refridgerator 4 hours later like I used to do. Didn't even think about it, to be honest with you. Crazy, huh? THAT'S a new behavior.

Oh, I almost forgot ... Breakfast ... I made French toast, sausage and bacon and a double batch of carmel sticky buns. I ate a sausage and some bacon and half a sticky bun with butter. I sent half the sticky buns over to my sisters home, a quarter of the batch to a neighbors home and the rest to my in-laws (Merry Christmas!) I did keep one big one for the kids for today (I'm sure I'll have a bite), but I am better off having those kinds of things out of the house.

It was a great Christmas and no food hangover. I love being sleeved and how it helps me to be accountable for what I put into my mouth.

I'm 4 weeks out.

For the past few years, my family has been going to Outback on Christmas Eve. I'd been planning on having a few bites of filet mignon, but found a seared Ahi appetizer that they do in full or half orders. Had the half - 4 thin slices - and a couple bites of spinach/artichoke dip.

Christmas Breakfast, had about 3 oz. of a breakfast casserole (eggs, cheese, crumbled sausage and hash browns). Also stole a sip of hubby's orange juice. So good, but oh-so-sweet!

dinner is always lasagna in my family, so my mother made me a ramekin of baked ricotta. Also had half of a meatball.

For dessert, had about 2 TBS of vanilla ice cream with a tiny piece of baked pear and a cookie.

All was delicious, went down fine and best of all, was down two pounds this morning after a 4-day stall.

I don't measure anything except Cereal. I usually just put a teaspoon of what I am going to eat on my plate. I had turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, green Beans and whole wheat mac and cheese. I had about a teaspoon of each and only ate about half. I made a buffalo chicken ball and had some of it at dinner with a 3 small whole wheat crackers. I made a pumpkin cheesecake...made with stevia..it was awesome. I had about 3 teaspoons of it for desert. I also gave the leftovers to my kids to take home. I made a chocolate pie with real sugar (my kids favorite). I had a bite of it and sent it home with them.

I love going out to eat and feeling full, taking the leftovers home and eating the for the next 2 meals! That my favorite thing about the sleeve is feeling satisfied after a few bites.

Great topic

I'm in charge of cooking so I got to plan everything out and make it VSG friendly

Christmas Eve I made a noodlesless lasagna. Used eggplant for the layers and layered with sauce' date=' ricotta, cheese and ground turkey. It was great and was a cross between eggplant parm and lasagna. I made shrimp scampi with it (didn't use real butter- margarine instead, lemon, a splash of wine. I only had a tiny bit of both. For dessert I made pumpkin yogurt panna cotta. Awesome, healthy and good amounts of Protein. And no sugar in it (made with stevia)

Christmas Day we had Turkey, I made a small think of stuffing (I didn't really want it but my mother did) so I made it from scratch, used whole wheat bread and added ground turkey. I made a Rachael Ray version of 'stuffin muffins'. She basically put the stuffing in a cupcake pan. Perfect serving size! (I only had a tiny tiny taste of it, but still perfect servings for my guests- maybe they won't overeat if I portion it out for them too lol) also made roasted sweet potatoes and brussle sprouts with balsamic vinegar. I only ate a few sprout halves. And For dessert- skinny cheesecake with strawberries. Low carb, no crust and made in a cupcake pan so perfect portions.

The food was well received also, healthy and great. Ill attach a few pics of my Christmas Eve dinner. I forgot to take pics of the Christmas Day stuff lol.[/quote']

Sounds awesome!

Six months sleeved, and I wind up out of town, in the hospital having a Cholecystectomy " Gallbladder removed," My Christmas dinner was 1 bite of potatoes, 1 bite of roast beef and 2 bites of macaroni and cheese. That was it for the entire day. I still can't eat, Back to protein shakes for me.

1/2 of a pork and beef tamale, 1-2 oz of ham, a small scoop of homemade au gratin potatoes, 1/4 Italian sausage, 1 tiny scoop of my aunt's macaroni salad (she uses olive oil), 1/2 of a manicotti, a sliver of pecan pie and a snowball cookie.

I had a little bit of everything and was very happy. I am 1 year out.

Great topic

I'm in charge of cooking so I got to plan everything out and make it VSG friendly

Christmas Eve I made a noodlesless lasagna. Used eggplant for the layers and layered with sauce, ricotta, cheese and ground turkey. It was great and was a cross between eggplant parm and lasagna. I made shrimp scampi with it (didn't use real butter- margarine instead, lemon, a splash of wine. I only had a tiny bit of both. For dessert I made pumpkin yogurt panna cotta. Awesome, healthy and good amounts of Protein. And no sugar in it (made with stevia)

Christmas Day we had Turkey, I made a small think of stuffing (I didn't really want it but my mother did) so I made it from scratch, used whole wheat bread and added ground turkey. I made a Rachael Ray version of 'stuffin muffins'. She basically put the stuffing in a cupcake pan. Perfect serving size! (I only had a tiny tiny taste of it, but still perfect servings for my guests- maybe they won't overeat if I portion it out for them too lol) also made roasted sweet potatoes and brussle sprouts with balsamic vinegar. I only ate a few sprout halves. And For dessert- skinny cheesecake with strawberries. Low carb, no crust and made in a cupcake pan so perfect portions.

The food was well received also, healthy and great. Ill attach a few pics of my Christmas Eve dinner. I forgot to take pics of the Christmas Day stuff lol.

Your menu and recipes sound so wonderful. I just wanted to say that you are far better off health wise to use butter instead of margarine. Margarine is full of hydrogenated oils to make it solid. The oils I use the most are Olive, coconut and butter. I also use lard and even duck fat.

Animal and saturated fats are not the enemy. Transfats, cheap vegetable oils, margarine and white refined flours are.

I know it sounds like I'm lecturing and I don't mean to. It's just that this was such a revelation to me.

Italian Christmas at my in-laws involves LOTS of homemade ravioli, or ravis, as they call them!!

I ate 2 small meatballs, 1 ravi, 3 bites of salad and about an hour later I had 4 spritzer Cookies for dessert!! I probably ate a little too much but I wasn't stuffed to the point of feeling sick.

So happy with my sleeve and what it does for me!! Last year, at 7 weeks out, I was only able to eat 1 meatball!! 2 years ago, I ate more food than I can even imagine eating now!!!

Great topic

I'm in charge of cooking so I got to plan everything out and make it VSG friendly

Christmas Eve I made a noodlesless lasagna. Used eggplant for the layers and layered with sauce, ricotta, cheese and ground turkey. It was great and was a cross between eggplant parm and lasagna. I made shrimp scampi with it (didn't use real butter- margarine instead, lemon, a splash of wine. I only had a tiny bit of both. For dessert I made pumpkin yogurt panna cotta. Awesome, healthy and good amounts of Protein. And no sugar in it (made with stevia)

Christmas Day we had Turkey, I made a small think of stuffing (I didn't really want it but my mother did) so I made it from scratch, used whole wheat bread and added ground turkey. I made a Rachael Ray version of 'stuffin muffins'. She basically put the stuffing in a cupcake pan. Perfect serving size! (I only had a tiny tiny taste of it, but still perfect servings for my guests- maybe they won't overeat if I portion it out for them too lol) also made roasted sweet potatoes and brussle sprouts with balsamic vinegar. I only ate a few sprout halves. And For dessert- skinny cheesecake with strawberries. Low carb, no crust and made in a cupcake pan so perfect portions.

The food was well received also, healthy and great. Ill attach a few pics of my Christmas Eve dinner. I forgot to take pics of the Christmas Day stuff lol.

Your menu looks Great! I think I will steal that Eggplant/Lasagna creation for my New Years' gathering. Hope you don't mind, Thank you!

We had a couple of dinners because...ok we like having parties LOL Saturday we had a huge group over and DH made chicken. We had folks bring side dishes so I had a little chicken, some artichoke dip on rye toast and half of a cravory cookie (chocolate and cyan pepper). A couple of glasses of wine, and still I stayed below my calorie goals because I can't seem to eat above them LOL

Christmas Eve we had filet mignon. I had the steak and some cauliflower mashed potatoes (we rarely have real potatoes anymore because we love these). DH made a sauce so I had a bit of that on it. We had several tarts as options for dessert. I had a few bites of a pumpkin puree tart. Very good but that's all I can handle.

Christmas morning my mom made me bread pudding, which is a breakfast on christmas since I was a child. I had a small serving and she did make it with less sugar than normal because she knows that bothers my tummy. I ate it slowly, about 1/4 a cup and must admit it was yummy. Then we had traditional dinner (for us...what's with you lasagna eaters? LOL). Ham (we buy a naturally made product which does not have a bunch of additives in it) sweet potatoes (which are my specialty...made with brown sugar, butter, cognac and whiskey) brussel sprouts (made with garlic and bacon), red cabbage, and pumpkin pie. Oh and dh made a lovely spinach salad, which I had a bite of (my first since surgery and it was yummy). I had ham and sweet potatoes as well as a little pumpkin pie. Whipped cream was not comfy to eat so I just had the puree...it was a lovely dinner and I didn't feel I was missing out on a thing

Christmas was special because I had such a bad medical year. I've never been totally focused on the food, more enjoying the company and the family, but I still used to eat more than I did this season. I bathed myself in the joy of my family, who were almost lost to me, instead of the nectar of whiskey soaked potatoes LOL It was heaven

I bought two hams this year because it keeps well and I can use every last bit of it. I get off all the non fatty meat I can reach and then toss the rest with the bone, some navy Beans, chicken stock, celery, carrots, onion and garlic into a stock pot. The fat renders out into the soup and the rest of the meat falls off the bone.

Good stuff!

I HATE lima, kidney and garbanzo beans. It's great northern, navy beans, lentils, pintos or nothin'

I bought two hams this year because it keeps well and I can use every last bit of it. I get off all the non fatty meat I can reach and then toss the rest with the bone' date=' some navy Beans, chicken stock, celery, carrots, onion and garlic into a stock pot. The fat renders out into the Soup and the rest of the meat falls off the bone.

Good stuff!

I HATE lima, kidney and garbanzo beans. It's great northern, navy beans, lentils, pintos or nothin'[/quote']

DH made navy bean soup last night. I was just about to go down and get some. I have to agree with you on the beans...Navy beans = yum yum LOL