Hello all, this is my first post. I’m having a hard time wanting to drink my protein shakes. I have craaaavings for pasta and pizza. 2 of the worst things for me right now lol! I had the VSG SW: 231 05/27/20 CW: 204.7 06/26/20. I’ve been on pureed diet for about 1 1/2 weeks now. Some days I’ll go just drinking water with my tea packets in it all day and not really feel hungry cause I know I can’t eat certain foods. I’m Italian, giving up pizza and pasta has been my worst nightmare. Anyone have any tips?? Anyone cheated on their diets?? What can I do??

20 minutes ago, Sandra Nuelken said:

You need to have a serious talk with yourself. This is not a diet, it is your new reality. You will eat like this for the remainder of your life. I ate none of my trigger foods for almost 8 months, with no alcohol for over 8 months. Just stage 4 eating. Then as the success was happening I realized food was not my friend, health was and food was not my joy in life. When I want something now it is after the 4 oz of Protein. Every day it is the same, Protein Drink Breakfast, cottage cheese for lunch, then some meat for dinner. If I want a bite of cornbread or a bite of Pasta, savor it. But that is it. I wanted to lose the weight I've worked hard to lose weight and getting smaller clothes is far more exciting than food. I now have my one drink on Saturday and enjoy it. No more mindless drinking. You must become the power, and not let the food be your power.

^^^^^ this ^^^^^

I totally understand what your going through. I am almost 1 year out and to be honest I cheated and craved stuff early post op. I am almost at my goal weight and I am doing great. Everyone’s journey is different. I personally don’t drink protein shakes. I hate them. My labs are perfect and my surgeon is ok with it. I would rather eat food then drink shakes. The weird thing with me is in the beginning of my journey I didn’t do so great. Now, I eat so healthy, my cravings are almost non existent. I eat to be healthy. Now I see it as a lifestyle. I guess when I had surgery I wasn’t ready for the shock of not eating things I used to, especially to cope. It really took me some time. By no means am I saying to cheat. I just want you to know you are not alone. A recipe I love is using a low carb mission tortilla, pizza sauce and what ever toppings you want for pizza. Put in oven and it’s delicious. Just try and be creative. Good luck!

11 hours ago, Jay19 said:

I totally understand what your going through. I am almost 1 year out and to be honest I cheated and craved stuff early post op. I am almost at my goal weight and I am doing great. Everyone’s journey is different. I personally don’t drink Protein Shakes. I hate them. My labs are perfect and my surgeon is ok with it. I would rather eat food then drink shakes. The weird thing with me is in the beginning of my journey I didn’t do so great. Now, I eat so healthy, my cravings are almost non existent. I eat to be healthy. Now I see it as a lifestyle. I guess when I had surgery I wasn’t ready for the shock of not eating things I used to, especially to cope. It really took me some time. By no means am I saying to cheat. I just want you to know you are not alone. A recipe I love is using a low carb mission tortilla, pizza sauce and what ever toppings you want for pizza. Put in oven and it’s delicious. Just try and be creative. Good luck!

This is nice to read. I am on post op day 35 and I have had a handful of chocolate covered almonds every evening since week 3. Knowing I can have it at the end of the day if I've reached my 60 protein helps me. And I love them. But I feel guilty. My weight loss is slower than most (18 pounds in those 35 days) and I of course attribute it to the chocolate. Sometimes I feel like it's reasonable and other times I wonder why I can't just not have it. Just stop eating sweets. Am I hopeless? Reading your post reminds me this is a process. I can get to the place where I don't need the evening treat. I'm just... not there yet I guess. Thanks for sharing. I'm not sure I've heard anyone say, "Not so great in the beginning but doing great now." It's always seemed like people are rock solid in the beginning and falter later. So thanks again.

On 07/14/2020 at 14:56, MaybeMeow said:

This is nice to read. I am on post op day 35 and I have had a handful of chocolate covered almonds every evening since week 3. Knowing I can have it at the end of the day if I've reached my 60 Protein helps me. And I love them. But I feel guilty. My weight loss is slower than most (18 pounds in those 35 days) and I of course attribute it to the chocolate. Sometimes I feel like it's reasonable and other times I wonder why I can't just not have it. Just stop eating sweets. Am I hopeless? Reading your post reminds me this is a process. I can get to the place where I don't need the evening treat. I'm just... not there yet I guess. Thanks for sharing. I'm not sure I've heard anyone say, "Not so great in the beginning but doing great now." It's always seemed like people are rock solid in the beginning and falter later. So thanks again.

I hear ya, chocolate is my weakness. That and Dr Pepper. I’ve been trying hard to find keto or sugar free chocolate candies so I won’t feel so bad but here and there I’m tempted with a bite of real chocolate. I will say that I found some keto ice cream bars called enlightenment that I would never have guessed were keto. They were dark chocolate caramel peanut or something but they were delicious.
My point is, everyone has their weakness so don’t feel bad. You’re definitely not alone here.

From the very beginning I knew I was going to follow plan as closely as possible during losing stage. My surgeon said window to maximize your loss is 12 months possibly 18. After that much harder. I’m 9 months out with about 20-25 lbs to my personal goal. I love chocolate too. I like Atkins protein bars. But realized having some chocolate every night is too much for me. So started to reduce to every other nite then every 3 nights. Better & looked forward to that night. Would it help to reduce from every night but still have?
I think totally denying yourself as this is for rest of your life can do more harm.