Three days post-surgery, the journey so far

[Tufflaw 463]

Glad everything is going well, 22 lbs is great congrats!!

None of these recipes are mine by the way, I've never been a very good cook, I just find stuff online and try it out and I've been lucky so far.

Lucky you get to eat mashed potatoes, I was told no way by the PA. I ate some corned beef hash a few times and they told me to stop because of the potatoes. I suppose I can eat it if I really want to, but they said the starch would affect weight loss. I'm so low on my calories per day I don't think it would be a really big deal though.

I found a new recipe on a Facebook group I'm on, it's REALLY good. It's basically supposed to be a White Castle Hamburger pie, although I made some substitutions. I used ground turkey instead of beef, and onion powder and minced onion instead of onion Soup mix. Still delicious, and for a 5 oz serving (with my substitutions) it's only 294 calories, 2.1 carbs, 20.8 fat, and 22.4 Protein. Here's the original recipe pre-substitution, it's from a page called Linda's Low Carb Menus and Recipes:

WHITE CASTLE HAMBURGER PIE
1 pound ground beef
1 packet onion Soup mix or seasoning mixture (see recipe below)
2 eggs
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup heavy cream
8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
Salt and pepper, to taste

Brown the hamburger with about half of the onion soup mix or seasoning mixture below *; drain the fat and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in the remaining soup mix or seasoning mixture and put the meat in a greased 9-10 inch pie plate. Stir in half of the cheese, then top with the remaining cheese. Whisk the eggs, Mayonnaise, cream and a dash of pepper well; pour evenly over the meat. Bake at 350º for 30-35 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 6-8 servings
Can be frozen

* If you're wondering why I only mix half of the soup mix with the meat while cooking, then stir the rest in later, that's so it will flavor it a bit, but you won't lose most of the flavoring with the grease that's drained off.

Serving Suggestion: For a true White Castle experience, top each serving with dill pickles and mustard. Or, make a sauce of dill pickle relish and mustard.

Per 1/6 Pie: 490 Calories; 41g Fat; 25g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 4g Net Carbs
Per 1/8 Pie: 368 Calories; 31g Fat; 19g Protein; 4g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 3g Net Carbs

SEASONING MIXTURE:
If you'd like to save a few carbs, you can use onion powder and dry minced onions in place of the onion soup mix, which has 16 carbs per packet. I used a mixture of 2 teaspoons toasted onion powder (available from Penzeys, or use regular onion powder) and 1 tablespoon dry minced onion. I also sprinkled a little onion powder in with the egg/mayonnaise mixture. The carb count for the recipe made this way is:

Per 1/6 Pie: 476 Calories; 41g Fat; 24g Protein; 3g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 2.5g Net Carbs
Per 1/8 Pie: 357 Calories; 31g Fat; 18g Protein; 2g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 1.5g Net Carbs

UPDATE: Someone named Julie sent me an email to let me know that she successfully made this recipe in her crockpot. She lined the crock with foil, to save on cleanup, and cooked it on HIGH for 2 hours and then on LOW for another hour. She suggests spraying the foil with nonstick cooking spray. Her one complaint was that the topping was a little skimpy because of the size of her oval-shaped crockpot. She suggests either to use a round crockpot or increase the amount of topping that's called for. Thanks for sharing your idea, Julie!

[LIA-70 136]

Ok, im going to have to try that. I'm going to roll with you on the potatoes. Had them like 4 times in last 2 weeks. I never ate them too much b4 WLS anyway n now im all potatoed out. Im done. Like u im on Google looking for recipes but im trying to increase my Protein intake. I see diff now. The more Protein i drink, less hungry i am. Ahhh, if only they had protein DORITOS.

Slim n sexy... woohoo WLS

Summer 2017 here we come

Edited January 29, 2017 by LIA-70

[Tufflaw 463]

Ha, Protein doritos would be nice. I've heard of an ice cream on a Facebook bariatric group I'm on, it's called Halo ice cream, and it's high Protein, low carb and low cal. I might have to give it a shot!

[LIA-70 136]

Let me know how that goes. Think im making guacamole tonight with chicken. Cant have the taco but i can have the filling :-)

CW 218

VSG 1/6/2017

SW 242 GW 140

Woohoo

...summer 2017 here we come ????

Edited January 30, 2017 by LIA-70

[KendraLynne 38]

I'm so jealous! I had surgery on the 20th. I am counting the days to I can have soft foods like tuna. I have never been so excited to eat tuna in my life. LoL!!! Hopefully I will be able to have them in 10 more days...

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

This is exactly me!! Tuna sounds sooo good!! I had surgery the 23rd!

Sent from my LG-H918 using the BariatricPal App

[Tufflaw 463]

Tried some new food recently. Yesterday I went to Whole Foods and got a container of fresh made salmon salad. $6.48, was able to get two meals out of it. I divided it in half and it was 4.72 oz each which was perfect. I felt full afterwards but not stuffed. And the nutritional info is ridiculous: 107 calories (!), 6 carbs, 5 fat, 11 Protein.

That was dinner last night and tonight. For lunch today I was at the mall with my wife and we decided to get something to eat out for the first time since surgery. There used to be a turkish place there that I was gong to get some lamb and chicken at, BUT they were closed! So my wife wanted to get something from the Chinese place there. She ordered a single entree, and for an extra dollar you could get a double, so I asked for the roast pork, it was like barbecue pork strips. There were actually really good, didn't bother my stomach at all, and when I looked up the nutritional info, actually not bad at all! Just didn't have any rice or noodles or anything else. I think it was about 4-5 oz total.

And finally I'd been reading about this Halo ice cream that everyone loves, it's sugar-free, low calorie, high Protein. So I went to Whole Foods to get some for me and my wife. While I was there, I saw a brand of ice cream called Wink ice cream, which was less than half the calories carbs and fat of the Halo, so I decided to get that for myself. My wife loved the Halo ice cream, and the Wink SUCKED. I had a 2 oz. serving and could barely finish it. I tried a little taste of the Halo and it was delicious, so I'm tossing the Wink and getting some Halo next time I hit Whole Foods.

Let me know how that goes. Think im making guacamole tonight with chicken. Cant have the taco but i can have the filling :-)

CW 218
VSG 1/6/2017
SW 242 GW 140

Woohoo
...summer 2017 here we come

Let me know how the chicken and guac are, I might have to try some of that myself!

[vsg_dan 45]

So I've been following this thread for weeks now. It's the best. My surgery is on 2/14 and reading your experience and tips has definitely helped.

Once the surgery is way down your rear view are you considering keeping a low carb/keto diet? This is my intention so all of your food suggestions are hitting the spot.

[Tufflaw 463]

Hey Dan glad this has been useful for you!

I definitely PLAN on keeping this type of diet, I think it will be that most helpful for me long-term. My friend who inspired me to do this is about 11 months post surgery and still eats very healthy so that's good.

I just don't have the urge to eat the stuff I used to, and I'm hopeful that will remain as I go forward. I'm learning that I really like making my own meals and I'm actually eating with a lot more variety than I used to. Before surgery I would always default to fast food, usually the same crap over and over again.

I bought an instant pot (non brand name) a few days ago and it's fantastic. Already made a few great meals in it, I highly recommend you check it out to help with your food preparation.

Good luck!

Sent from my LG-H811 using the BariatricPal App

[LIA-70 136]

Hey@Tufflaw. Hope all is well.

So the chicken n guac was a hit, also sauteed chicken w onions n peppers and chicken marsala. Im about to grow wings n fly with all this chicken, lol. Ive been experimenting with foods. Hit n miss. tuna, cod fish, lettuce, broccoli - all a miss. Maybe next month. But i learned to do reset once i get a miss cause dang u feel like crap. I do broth n Proteins for next 24 hrs. Tomm im making ricotta bake again, this time with ground turkey. :-) keep those recipes coming

CW 214

VSG 1/6/2017

SW 242 GW 140

Woohoo

...summer 2017 here we come

[Tufflaw 463]

Awesome, I definitely want to try that chicken and guac. So tonight I purchased a Nuwave oven instead of an air fryer, I used to have one of these years ago and used it all the time. This one has air fryer capabilities in it, but does a bunch of other stuff. Cooks food fresh or frozen, so it's handy. For my inaugural meal with it I decided to start having veggies again for the first time since my liquid diet started over 2 months ago. I made a sausage link in it, and also some roasted brussels sprouts! I got a bag of brussels sprouts from Target, cut them in half, put them in some oil, some salt and pepper and cooed them in the Nuwave on the bottom at the same time I cooked the sausage. 15 minutes total and they were delicious! Still plenty left over for meals for the next few days. I got my Nuwave at BJ's, it's on sale now for $80. This was the infomercial I found that inspired me to get one again -

Tomorrow me and my wife are going to make a cauliflower pizza crust and try some pizza for the first time in two months!

[LIA-70 136]

I always wanted one of those. May have to pay a visit to bjs.
Good luck with the veggies.
Today s turkey meatballs parm w carrots day. :-)

[Tufflaw 463]

Been away for too long! Everything is going great, hit some milestones. One I hit today - I'm down over 66 lbs in two and a half months. When I did Weight Watchers about 9 years ago, it took me about 9 or 10 months to lose the same amount - and then I put it all back on and then some No chance of that happening now though!

Also some non-scale victories. The big one - I can wear my wedding ring again! I had to stop wearing it for a long time, it just got too tight! Started wearing it again a few days ago, feels good.

Also cool - i have about 8 suits I rotate through for work. Before surgery, I was down to three I could wear, the rest were too small. And the three were getting a little tight too. Now, I wear all of them. The original three are way too big and I had to get them tailored. The other five are starting to get loose, going to need tailoring soon. That's a welcome expense, especially with what I'm saving on food.

Tonight I saw a recipe on Facebook I had to try, and I made a GRILLED cheese SANDWICH with cauliflower toast for bread, and turkey bacon. The toast wasn't as crunchy as I would have like, but not bad at all! I could actually only eat half, saving the rest for tomorrow. I'm attaching a pic for your enjoyment. Hope everyone is well!

Edited February 24, 2017 by Tufflaw

[Sullie06 1,013]

I was looking at that recipe last night when it popped up on my news feed and was wondering how it tasted. We don't have any cauliflower on hand but I might need to get some. Do you think if you cooked the "bread" a little longer it would have gotten crispier?

[Tufflaw 463]

I think I didn't drain it enough. The first few times I made cauliflower pizza crust I didn't drain it at all and the crust wasn't great. Yesterday I drained it a little and it held together better than the crust. Next time I'm going to put it in cheesecloth or a towel and really squeeze the hell out of it to see, apparently getting it as dry as possible is the real key.

[Sullie06 1,013]

Thanks for that tip. I've been wanting pizza badly lately so I might have to try this method. My local bariatric group has a pizza recipe that you use chicken as the crust but I'm not a fan.