But, since we are all around (about) the same time frame and stage, I thought I would ask... what you all are eating everyday? I am having a hard time figuring out some new ideas/foods to bring in to my diet at this stage. The posting on the food board has so many different stages, that it's hard to decipher--here it would be much easier. Anyway, if you don't mind sharing--I need food/menu ideas!

Thank you all!

But, since we are all around (about) the same time frame and stage, I thought I would ask... what you all are eating everyday? I am having a hard time figuring out some new ideas/foods to bring in to my diet at this stage. The posting on the food board has so many different stages, that it's hard to decipher--here it would be much easier. Anyway, if you don't mind sharing--I need food/menu ideas!

Thank you all!

Hi Mehean,

Today:

Breakfast: 1 banana, 1 pkt. oatmeal, 1 cup skim milk

Lunch: 1/2 c. tunafish, 1/2 c. canned sf peaches

Dinner: 1/2 c. skim milk, 1 c. Soup, 1/2 cup mashed potatoes

Snack: 1 low sodium V8 juice

I am still on the pureed/mushy stage until next Monday.

shelli:ranger:

Thank you!

Thank you!

Here is today's!

Breakfast: 1 Protein shake, 1/4 cup eggbeaters.

Lunch: 1/2 c. squash casserole made with lowfat ricotta, 1/4 cup applesauce, 1 c. skim milk

Dinner: 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1 cup beef noodle soup, 1/2 cup cooked carrots

Snack: 1 lowfat yogurt

It was a good day!

Anyway you can point me to where that recipe is? It sounds delicious! (the squash casserole)

Hi all.....Now that I'm back at work, the days can get very busy. So, like everyone else, it's always nice to have some ideas handy for some quick things......I hope this gives you some ideas.....

SUNDAY

Breakfast: 2 egg omlet with feta cheese

Snack: 1/2 Chai Protein shake

Lunch: Lean turkey breast & provolone cheese rolled--filled with hummus

Dinner: Fresh Tuna Tacos---I'll post the recipe in my "Let's Get Excited About Food" post.....these were EXCELLENT!!!!!

MONDAY

Breakfast: Chai Protein Shake

Lunch: 1/2 container Campbell's Handfull Broccoli Cheese Soup

Lemon Lite & Creamy Yogurt

Dinner: 1/4 cup salad greens & veggies topped with 3 oz seasoned tuna, sprinkle of feta, parm & romano cheeses

Snack: 1/2 cup of applesauce, 2 slices cheddar cheese

YESTERDAY

Breakfast: Chair Protein Shake

Snack: String Cheese

Lunch: 1/4 cup purchased chicken salad, 1/2 cup applesauce

Dinner: 4 pesto ravioli (frozen) sauced with a little butter, a little purchased pesto sauce, chicken broth---sprinkled parm, romano and feta cheese on top, 1 Weight Watchers Carrot Snack Cake

Snack: 1/2 cup applesauce, 2 slices of cheddar cheese

TODAY

Breakfast: Chai Protein Shake

Lunch: 1/4 cup purchased chicken salad, 1/2 cup SF Jello pudding

Planned dinner: 3 oz hamburger with cheese, very small salad with shredded cheese & Low fat dressing

Hello everyone, here is what I eat. Let me first say that after the mushie/soft food stage, I cannot eat or even think of SOUP or TUNA, so what I have been eating for the last two weeks is Protein shake in the mornings when I work and eggs when I dont. Lunch is usually left overs or avacado w/ cottage cheese and dinner is always steam veggies of some sort and fish three days a week, and have advanced to finally trying whole pieces of chicken (thigh). I do not measure what I eat, but I know that it isnt much. Got my first fill last night, so not sure how much this will change, but doc said I could eat anyhthing I wanted (as he snickered) stating that he knows whatever it is, IT WONT be much! LOL, anyhow, knowing this, I will at least make sure I get the protein needed first, and if I get lucky enough to not be FULL, I might try a little piece of chocolate... GOOD thoughts for all us bandsters!!

Hi all.....

My planned dinner was a hamburger.....very low fat, cooked on the grill, mushed up very well. About 3 oz. Feeling like I want to vomit.....don't want to and it doesn't seem to be happening. But, I feel like I need to.....

I guess I am not going to be eating ground beef for awhile....

A really awful feeling!

Anyone experience this with ground beef?

The nausea is overwhelming......:cry:cry:cry

Anyway you can point me to where that recipe is? It sounds delicious! (the squash casserole)

Hi Mehean,

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. The recipe for the casserole is as follows:

1 medium sized spaghetti squash, baked, and then scraped out of the shell

1 container low fat ricotta cheese

1 small jar Paul Newman Spaghetti Sauce(can use homemade too)

2 T. grated parmesan cheese

Spread a little red sauce in bottom of 8 x 8 casserole.

Press in cooked spaghetti squash in bottom of casserole.

Spread a little more red sauce over squash.

Spread the ricotta cheese over the squash

Top with more red sauce.

Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Enjoy.

1/2 cup equals about 70 calories. Very cheesy and very satisfying!

shelli:ranger:

Hi all.....

My planned dinner was a hamburger.....very low fat, cooked on the grill, mushed up very well. About 3 oz. Feeling like I want to vomit.....don't want to and it doesn't seem to be happening. But, I feel like I need to.....

I guess I am not going to be eating ground beef for awhile....

A really awful feeling!

Anyone experience this with ground beef?

The nausea is overwhelming......:cry:cry:cry

Hi Judy,

Last night I got something stuck and I thought I was going to die. I got this severe pain in my back, then got nauseous, then broke out in sweats, then dizzy. I remembered reading on the site to drink pineapple juice so I ran to the pantry, drained a can of pineapple juice and drank a couple of sips. I then vomited up the pinapple juice and immediately felt better. I then had to lay down and today my abdomen is very tender and I am only drinking liquids until I feel better. I hope this never happens again. I was all alone and felt like I was going to pass out. I am going to stock up on those little cans of pinapple juice and pray I never eat too fast or too much again. How long did your episode last? i hope you feel better today.

shelli:ranger:

But, since we are all around (about) the same time frame and stage, I thought I would ask... what you all are eating everyday? I am having a hard time figuring out some new ideas/foods to bring in to my diet at this stage. The posting on the food board has so many different stages, that it's hard to decipher--here it would be much easier. Anyway, if you don't mind sharing--I need food/menu ideas!

Thank you all!

23 pounds? Congratulations! you must be doing something right. Tell me what you eat!

Shelli - sorry to hear about the stuck episode!!! I've heard papaya enzyme tablets help too. I bought some to have on hand at the Health food Store.

Can you tell me more about spaghetti squash? I keep seeing that mentioned but I don't know anything about them. When you bake it and the insides are soft, then you scrape it and it comes out looking like spaghetti noodles?

Shelli - sorry to hear about the stuck episode!!! I've heard papaya enzyme tablets help too. I bought some to have on hand at the Health food Store.

Can you tell me more about spaghetti squash? I keep seeing that mentioned but I don't know anything about them. When you bake it and the insides are soft, then you scrape it and it comes out looking like spaghetti noodles?

Hi Candle,

So good to hear from you! I have been on another adventure. On October 1 I had to have emergency surgery to remove my gallbladder. My lapband surgeon did the procedure and things are going a little better but I might have to go and have another procedure in a couple of weeks. That being said How are you doing?

Now about Spaghetti Squash. It is pretty good. To bake it you slice it in half and put it inside down in a baking pan. Put Water in the bottom about half an inch and bake until tender. I think I baked it for about an hour and a half. When done scrape from shell with a fork and it will come out like noodles. Top with your favorite sauce and lowfat cheese and it will taste pretty good.

Let me know how you are doing Candle - I miss hearing from you.

shelli:ranger:

Thanks for the info. What temp do you bake it on? 350-400?

I was just thinking about you the other day and noticed you hadn't posted in awhile. What happened that it was "emergency" surgery? I see a lot of people mention gallbladder issues but I was under the impression that was something that took a little time to present symptoms.

How are you doing now?

I'm doing really well, thanks. We're going on vacation to FL in two weeks, so a lot of prep and planning has been going into that. We're also trying to get all those last minute home/yard projects done before the weather changes (although it's feeling like that's never going to happen! lol) I can't believe the holidays are right around the corner!! Does your son come home?

Everything with my band has been fine. I have my 6 week check up on Tues. I have 6 more lbs to get to my first mini-goal before vacation!! It's going to be a nail bitter - lol. That will put me at 44.5lbs lost! I'm very happy with the way things have been going. I know I need to kick it up with the exercise soon. (walking alone won’t cut it) Just thinking about joining a gym makes my stomach hurt - lol!

Thanks for the info. What temp do you bake it on? 350-400?

I was just thinking about you the other day and noticed you hadn't posted in awhile. What happened that it was "emergency" surgery? I see a lot of people mention gallbladder issues but I was under the impression that was something that took a little time to present symptoms.

How are you doing now?

I'm doing really well, thanks. We're going on vacation to FL in two weeks, so a lot of prep and planning has been going into that. We're also trying to get all those last minute home/yard projects done before the weather changes (although it's feeling like that's never going to happen!

lol) I can't believe the holidays are right around the corner!! Does your son come home?

Everything with my band has been fine. I have my 6 week check up on Tues. I have 6 more lbs to get to my first mini-goal before vacation!! It's going to be a nail bitter - lol. That will put me at 44.5lbs lost! I'm very happy with the way things have been going. I know I need to kick it up with the exercise soon. (walking alone won’t cut it) Just thinking about joining a gym makes my stomach hurt - lol!

Hi Candle,

You should bake the squash at about 350 or 375 degrees. Check to see if it is done in about an hour. I can't remember if I cover it with foil or not.

About the gallbladder - I had my first attack on a Wednesday. I actually threw up some bile and thought that my symptoms were that maybe the band had slipped. I suffered all day and nite Thursday and Friday. I even took my lap band Lortabs that I had leftover. Saturday I was still having severe pain so I decided to call my doctor and he was on call and told me to get right into the ER and they would do an upper GI. Well our hospital does not do upper GI's on the weekend. So they did a Cat Scan and Blood Work. My liver enzymes were triple what they should be and I had lots of little stones and the gallbladder was inflamed so they admited me Saturday, put me on IV antibiotics Sunday and surgery was scheduled for Monday morning. Sunday they ran all sorts of tests - sonogram, cardiac enzyme blood work to see if I had a heart attack, hepatitis B blood tests, chest xray, I was in tears and very very scared. My lap surgeon removed the gallbladder and then I had a complication and was in surgery for 5 hours. He did laparascopically but had to make the decision to switch to an open procedure but he didn't he just tried to clean out the bile duct with his scope etc. Well now my liver enzymes are still elevated and in two weeks I have to go have an endoscopic procedure to remove any remaining stones that are stuck in the bile duct. My surgeon wants me to be healed inside from the gallbladder surgery before they shoot die into the area again. I am so scared but I know I will get thru this and just have to be patient.

I am so glad to hear that you are doing so well. Are you on soft foods now or solids? Keep on going and have a great time in sunny Floriday.

Take care,

shelli:ranger:

Wow! That's crazy! Keep me posted!

Yes, I've been on solids for a little over a week. I haven't been very brave yet though - I haven't tried bread, Pasta, rice, junk food. (which is a good thing!! Carbs are my problem!)

How about you? How did all this effect your eating and weight loss?