I have seen a few threads on similar topics, but maybe this could help us get through this.

I was banded a little over 2 weeks ago, and am feeling no restriction. I lost 18 pounds since surgery, and then once I started on the soft stage foods, the scale hasn't moved. My doctor doesn't do any fills until 6 weeks post-op.

What would be a good 'sample menu' to eat during this stage, to continue a moderate weight loss? I can do light exercise, but have not been given the OK for solids. I can do eggs, Soups, tuna salad, hummus, mushed up Beans...basically anything pureed. Any meal or menu ideas that have worked for others during this post-op time would be helpful. Thanks!

This might sound gross, but I have to tell you it sure tasted good! When I was on the mushie stage, I'd put just about anything into a blender or grinder. One of my favs were hotdogs. Yup, I'd grind up a few hotdogs along with the onion, relish, mustard. No bun, but I'd mash the baked beans on the side and eat that for dinner. Sometimes even the saurkraut went in. It was yummy.

Hi citygirl. Thanks for asking this. I was banded on 12/21 and lost 20 pounds. The scale also stopped for me when I introduced mushies. I even emailed my nutritionist to make sure I wasn't taking in too many carbs but he said as long as I keep them under 100 gr per day, I will be fine. Some of the things I have made are egg salad with one egg and low fat mayo, ricotta cheese with 2 tbs tomato sauce in the microwave, and mushy chili with no Beans. I'm counting on experience of others that the scale will start moving after I start getting fills. My doc won't do fills either until 6 wks after surgery.

Stay on the forums - there's a lot of encouragement here.

Hi citygirl. Thanks for asking this. I was banded on 12/21 and lost 20 pounds. The scale also stopped for me when I introduced mushies. I even emailed my nutritionist to make sure I wasn't taking in too many carbs but he said as long as I keep them under 100 gr per day, I will be fine. Some of the things I have made are egg salad with one egg and low fat mayo, ricotta cheese with 2 tbs tomato sauce in the microwave, and mushy chili with no Beans. I'm counting on experience of others that the scale will start moving after I start getting fills. My doc won't do fills either until 6 wks after surgery.

Stay on the forums - there's a lot of encouragement here.

100 carbs a day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh man I wish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

My pre-op AND post-op diet require me to eat no more than 30!!

I'll tell you what though. I am losing weight like crazy. So may try reducing the carbs and see if it helps?

I'm going in for the surgery in 3 weeks, my doctor has not advised me about a special diet. So I'm wondering, do you start the diet before surgery? Also, how difficult is it to go through the liquid and mushy stage without the help of being banded? I only ask because I haven't been very successful in the past at diets and the thought of going weeks without solids and not having any help (band) is a bit freightning. Can someone that is going through this right now explain how you stick to the liquids?

From what I've read, it's not so much the mushies as the timing of the plateau. Most people report that they hit this wall where they slow down or regain a few pounds, within a couple of weeks of surgery. I've heard people say it when they've gone from clears to full liquids, from liquids to mushies, or from mushies to solids. It happened to me when I was on liquids and eating <400 cal a day!

I think you just need to be prepared for the likelihood of hitting this plateau about 3-5 weeks after starting your diet, so if that includes a pre-op diet, about 2 weeks post-op is smack in the middle of the time. It is frustrating and annoying but it usually only lasts about 2 weeks and then, provided you stick to the band rules, things start moving again after that.

Wow 400 Cal how do you do it?

On the liquids? I fell in love with the Campbells and Heinz chunky fat free soups and read every label. Quite a few of them are only 100-150 cal per serve and I blended the chunky ones early on and then just chewed the chunks to absolute mush as I got towards the end of that phase. In my liquid phase, a typical day's eating for me was:

Breakfast: Optifast 150 cal

Lunch: 1 cup Cream of chicken Soup 80 cal

Dinner: 1 cup Lamb Rogan Josh soup 170 cal

Total: 400 cal

If I was extra hungry, I would have another bowl of soup late at night, bringing it up to 500-550 for the day. I just had to be careful not to pick the full fat soups, which can get up to 2-300 cal a bowl and not to have seconds of the Lamb Rogan Josh soup (which is delicious!!)

I don't do that now - I'm probably averaging around 7-800 but I have occasional bust outs where I go up to 1500 a day. My loss is fairly slow but I'm ok with that - I want it slow so my skin has time to recover. I don't know how true it is, but I'm working on the assumption that the faster the loss, the worse the sagging, so I want to move carefully. As long as it doesn't stop altogether or start going up again, I'm cool... Mind you, I freaked out when I GAINED 3lb on that liquid diet!!