Hi,

I was banded on May 20th and this last week has been sooo hard. I am a single mom and the only parent in my family (no support $ or otherwise). This week hit me hard (I wrote about it here: straining). While this board really helped with making me feel like my struggles with hunger and shoulder pain were more common and not just happening to me. I am still somewhat concerned.

My weight bounce up and down really hard in the weeks before surgery but on the day I weighted in a 243 (5 lbs under goal weight) and then last week it bounced up to 246... now I am 242. Which is only 1 lbs. lost since surgery. Is anyone else experiencing the same thing?

I know that the program the at Kaiser Richmond has me on full liquids but only 1/4th of a cup three times a day. Which is almost no calories (260) a day... and I was feeling really shaky and just plain bad. Really awful. And in no shape to think clearly let alone work out. And I was gaining weight. So I am trying to find a balance of what full liquids (soups) I can eat that will get me enough Protein to function and work out and not throw my body into starving mode where it doesn't drop weight. Does anyone have an suggestions? What kinds of things did you eat at this stage?

Thanks

I just posted these Soup recipes somewhere else, but I will post them here too. Do they have you on Protein drinks? Cause you need to be on them right now. For healing purposes you need to be at least at 500-700 calories. You body will shut down and that is why you are not losing weight. In fact weight that you will lose is muscle if you do not have enough protein.

You will have to blend/puree these Soups to the consistancy that your doctor allows.

So it is important that you get in your protein and soup can be tricky to get that in so my trick is to add "silken tofu" as the cream part of any soup. I don't use a lot of recipes as I just love to mix things up in the kitchen, but here are 3 soups that are a staple for me right after a fill. I wish I had discovered these during my post op.

Soup recipes

Roasted Tomato with Roasted Garlic

This recipe yielded about 1 cup.

Ingredients:

½ container of grape tomatoes

4-6 cloves of garlic (depends on size and strength of garlic desired)

4 oz of silken tofu

2 TBSP of fresh basil (2-3 tsp of dried basil)

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Peal the garlic and wrap in a small piece of aluminum foil.

2. Place the tomatoes on a cookie sheet and spray with PAM, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3. Put the tomatoes and garlic in a 350 degree oven until done.

a. Tomatoes will burst and shrivel a bit

b. Garlic will be soft and mash easily with a fork

c. Tomatoes will probably finish before the garlic

4. Place the tomatoes and garlic in a food processor (or blender)

5. Add the tofu and blend until almost smooth.

6. Heat through and add the finely chopped basil at the end.

7. Simmer for a few minutes to let the flavors blend.

8. If necessary thin out with FF evaporated milk.

Grilled Asparagus Soup

Ingredients:

¼ pound or more of asparagus

2-3 cloves of garlic (depends on size and strength of garlic desired)

4 oz of silken tofu

¼ small onion (more or less depending on taste)

¼ -1/3 cup of LF shredded cheese.

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Either boil grill on BBQ (much better!) the asparagus until just undercooked.

a. To grill on BBQ spray with PAM and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in aluminum foil if you do not have a flat grill on BBQ.

2. Sautee garlic, onions and cooked asparagus

3. Place veggies in a food processor (or blender)

4. Add the tofu and blend until smooth.

5. Add FF evaporated milk until correct texture.

6. Heat to desired temperature

Sautéed Mushroom and Tuna Soup

(This was my way of eating tuna noodle casserole…soup style!)

Ingredients:

½ pound or more of mushrooms (any kind will work)

2-3 cloves of garlic (depends on size and strength of garlic desired)

4 oz of silken tofu or white Beans

¼ small onion (more or less depending on taste)

1 can of tuna fish

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Sautee mushrooms, garlic and onions until desired texture.

2. Add to food processor or blender.

3. Add 4oz of silken tofu or ½ can of white beans (depending on your taste!)

4. Add drained tuna fish (or any other canned fish)

5. Puree to desired texture.

6. Heat and add FF evaporated milk to thin if needed

So as you can see, the base for these soups is pretty much the same. If you don’t like tofu I would assume that white canned beans would work just as well. Experiment with different spices, add a little parmesan cheese, or different veggies. Right now you shouldn’t be worrying as much about calories, but rather about healing. If you would like add meat to any of these it would work just fine. Ground chicken, hamburger, and ground turkey all pulverize very well. You will most likely just have to thin it out with the FF evaporated milk. That one ingredient has changed my way of cooking. Once you graduate to real foods you can have chicken Alfredo for VERY few calories by using this one ingredient.

Another soup that has good flavor is to just take some refried beans and beef stock. It has a lot of flavor and a lot of protein to keep you fuller longer. Also take some spaghetti sauce and add some pulverized veggies to it and it makes it better. Adding some pureed white beans also helps it feel like more food.

Go to your Vitamin store and see if they have New-whey Protein drinks. Get the ones with 0 carbs/sugar. They have about 170 calories. You can drink them like a shot or mix them with your Water. They have 42 grams of protein in them and taste like Kool-aide. I have tried the berry flavors, grape, and orange. They were really great. I mixed them with my water and sipped on them throughout the day. I'm not sure why Richmond has you restricting your intake so much. Kaiser SSF mainly said for us to make sure we got our fluids and protein.

Also, you can go on smartbandsters.com and they have a file section that has a whole list of stuff you can have on each phase of your eating program. This has been complied by not only a bariactric nurse who was banded back in 1998 but also by a bunch of people who have had their bands forever.

Good luck and PM me if you need me.

Vicki

I followed your advice and got a high quality whey Protein from the natural health food store.

It has helped so so much. I am no longer holding at just a lb. I am down by 3 now and best of all I am not miserable and sleepless!

I double asked the folks at kaiser richmond but they were very strict and clear. But as I would like to function and go back to my regular once a day workouts asap I am going with the extra protein anyhow.

Just be EXTREMELY careful on your workouts. I was not released to go back to Curves for 6 weeks. The reason behind this is because your port needs to get scaring around it to hold it into place. The stitches are not strong enough to do the job without the scaring. Your port will end up flipping and then that's another minor surgery. Walking, treadmill and anything that doesn't involve working that area or lifting over the recommended amount (20 lbs) would probably be ok. Just be careful.

I'm glad that the Protein helped. I learned of it when a friend of mine who had WLS found me at my desk the week I returned to work looking like death warmed over. She picked up on the protein deficency right away and gave me some.

Let me know if I can help in anyother way. Congratulations on your journey.

funny you should ask. When I came HOME from the hospital & stepped on the scale--I WAS 5 LBS up for weigh in BEFORE surgery. Well, I was MORTIFIED!!! How was this possible. not like i ate anything & my only source of hydration was IV for the first 24 hrs POST OP.

Fluid RETENTION both from the anesthesia & pain meds. I bet you have fluid retention, sweetie. Keep your chin up (or CHINS) if your like me. ha ha ha LOL. YOU'LL BE back on your feet in no time flat. My surgery date was 4/23 & I am about 10 lbs. DOWN from my surgery weight. However, I lost 15 lbs during the PREOP diet. You know, the one EVERYBODY despises!!!

All the best

coltorismom

During these stages I would drink the Protein slammers you can find in GNC. They look like little vials and they have about 43g of protein, but they do have about 200 calories.

They're not the greatest tasting, but you can guzzle it down quick and eat a mint or something after to get rid of the taste.

So it is important that you get in your Protein and soup can be tricky to get that in so my trick is to add "silken tofu" as the cream part of any soup. I don't use a lot of recipes as I just love to mix things up in the kitchen, but here are 3 soups that are a staple for me right after a fill. I wish I had discovered these during my post op.

I cook soups on the fly all the time, so I didn't need a recipe per se, but just yesterday i was trying to figure out how I was going to add protein to my soups (I assumed Protein powder, bleh). I didn't even THINK of silken tofu, that's an awesome idea.

I'm getting banded next week, and I'm trying to do a little plan ahead for some of the soups. I figured I'd make a few up and individual serving freeze them now. Any idea how the tofu works for that, or would I be better off doing what I was going to do before, which is make the stock/veggie/etc part to finish off with the tofu (or milk, which was what I planned on) when I'm ready to eat it?

- Jen

Band date 6/13/08

I cook soups on the fly all the time, so I didn't need a recipe per se, but just yesterday i was trying to figure out how I was going to add Protein to my soups (I assumed protein powder, bleh). I didn't even THINK of silken tofu, that's an awesome idea.

I'm getting banded next week, and I'm trying to do a little plan ahead for some of the soups. I figured I'd make a few up and individual serving freeze them now. Any idea how the tofu works for that, or would I be better off doing what I was going to do before, which is make the stock/veggie/etc part to finish off with the tofu (or milk, which was what I planned on) when I'm ready to eat it?

- Jen

Band date 6/13/08

I am not sure how tofu freezes. I would make the stock and finish off with the tofu if it were me.

I've frozen tofu when I wouldn't be using it all before the expiration date....when i needed it again, I took it out of the freezer and made soup with it again and it was fine. Good luck.

I am new to site. I had my surgery April 24, 2008 and only lost 12 pounds. Should I have lost more? In two weeks, I lost 6 pounds.