Today was a very gratifying visit with my surgeon today. At 6 weeks, I got my 10# weight restriction removed, got cleared to consume my gall-bladder and prilosec meds in the capsule, and officially progressed to real foods. I was worried because it feels like my weight loss stalled, but the doctor told me I had lost 15 pounds since I saw him last. He also said that at 6 weeks out, people typically lose between 16-25% excess weight. He said I was ahead of that, almost 27%.

But now onto the good stuff. What can I eat? For example, I was thinking about making taco meat with ground turkey and then mixing the meat with salsa. I was also thinking of making the meat (using ground turkey) sauce for lasagna, maybe with some low/no-fat mozzarella cheese in it. I know to stay away from the taco shells and the pasta in the lasagna. I guess my question is, I've heard that many people cannot tolerate ground beef. What about ground turkey? I buy 93% or leaner ground turkey (I think I usually get 97%) so I don't think there will be an appreciable amount of fat.

I've been eating canned chicken (in water) with salsa, hot sauce and liquid smoke. It tastes good to me, and digests completely fine.

Thank you for your thoughts...I'm taking this very slow, I don't want to throw up or dump, or stretch the pouch.

I ate Meatloaf made in my insta pot during the soft stage. I didn’t have any problems at all. The insta pot makes The meatloaf so tender & juicy not at all like when I would make it in the oven.

Everyone is different you have to figure out what your body can handle

Meatloaf does sound like a great idea, thank you. I hadn't hear of an instapot but I've been known to have my head in front of a computer long enough to not notice the world changing

I'm definitely going to look into an instapot!

I agree. You have to find out what you tolerate, and it is a sort of trial and error process.

I made lots of recipes with ground beef and ground chicken and turkey. I made shredded chicken dishes a lot in my slow cooker, and still do. I never had an issue with any of these items.

Just stick to your rules, eat slowly, chew well. You aren’t going to stretch anything.

Everyone's tolerance for regular food is different, and the only way to know is to try a tiny amount and 'wait and see' what it feels like. I am one that could not tolerate beef until now at10 months out but ground turkey was okay. Chicken breast is too stringy, I prefer thighs. I can just now tolerate lettuce as well. Bread unless toasted just gunks up, the same with tortillas, I do not eat pasta. I eat one slice of rye toasted with avocado and an egg for bf. Even a spoon of rice at first just expanded in the sleeve and was uncomfortable, I can tolerate a spoonful now but it hardly seems worth it to me - nutritionally it doesn't add much anyway. I indulge in some triscuits and cheese, deli turkey.

Good luck.

16 hours ago, CyclicalLoser said:

Today was a very gratifying visit with my surgeon today. At 6 weeks, I got my 10# weight restriction removed, got cleared to consume my gall-bladder and prilosec meds in the capsule, and officially progressed to real foods. I was worried because it feels like my weight loss stalled, but the doctor told me I had lost 15 pounds since I saw him last. He also said that at 6 weeks out, people typically lose between 16-25% excess weight. He said I was ahead of that, almost 27%.

But now onto the good stuff. What can I eat? For example, I was thinking about making taco meat with ground turkey and then mixing the meat with salsa. I was also thinking of making the meat (using ground turkey) sauce for lasagna, maybe with some low/no-fat mozzarella cheese in it. I know to stay away from the taco shells and the Pasta in the lasagna. I guess my question is, I've heard that many people cannot tolerate ground beef. What about ground turkey? I buy 93% or leaner ground turkey (I think I usually get 97%) so I don't think there will be an appreciable amount of fat.

I've been eating canned chicken (in water) with salsa, hot sauce and liquid smoke. It tastes good to me, and digests completely fine.

Thank you for your thoughts...I'm taking this very slow, I don't want to throw up or dump, or stretch the pouch.

I have zero issues with beef. I actually have zero issues with fats at all. I've got a higher than expected tolerance to sugars as well. Only real dumping I've had was with a bowl of Tomato soup made with fat free milk (I drink fat free milk because I like it better)
You really just have to roll the dice and test it out. Dumping could happen, but if you test foods at home, it's much better then getting surprised when out and about.

As far as stretching, that's a portion issue more than a type of food thing typically (clearly expansive/absorptive foods are the exception). IE 1 oz of ground beef isn't going to stretch your stomach any more than 1 oz of ground turkey or chicken.

Thank you Matt, I'm seeing this now, but I did decide to try it out. I also decided to try out the bryers carb consious ice cream. The latter is probably bad I know it, but I'm under on my calorie goals, and I can only eat 90 calories at a time. It does have protein as well, but maybe I'm over-justifying it.

They both went down fine. Well, the ice cream still makes my insides rumble, slightly more than a protein drink, but other than the weird sensation of food literally moving around my abdomen, there were no other issues.

I am concerned about the stretch because I think I'm eating more than a 1/4 cup. I still don't know what should be a proper size post-op. Feeling full is a different feeling, but I think I have experienced it a few times, and I did put down whatever I was eating. As far as the portion size, I know that's on me, I just need to get out a measuring cup every time I'm going to eat.

Thank you again for your reply!