I NEED HELP

hey.. how y'all doin?

Okay.. here's the thing... I need.. NEED help.. I'm suppose to be getting in 700-900 callories a day (so my dietician says).. here's the thing... I can barely get in 400cls.

I get full and sometimes I get bored.. i don't know what I can eat....  I thought I had this whole thing down packed... but I guess i was wrong.. I have a lot of low fat yogurt.  and I just recently started to eat sun chips.. ( those go down soo well)  I tried chicken.. and it doesn't go down well at all...  I can tollerate  the frozen chicken meat balls...  I tried Chilli and that dang near gave mea heart attack.. i had gas beyond I don't know what!!!!!!   I need help.  Am I gonna have to eat like this forever?   I'm a tad bit concerned.  I havn't had a regular meal in like FOREVER..    and I had my surgery April 26th.

I know each hospital tells patients different things. But in the beginning I did a lot of protien drinks. I was lucky that they went down and stayed down. For foods early on I would eat. Scrambled eggs, tuna and crackers, cottage cheese. They are all high protien foods and for me they stayed down. Good Luck

You might try some tuna salad made with mustard and maybe just a bit of Miracle Whip Free.  I also do the Aunt MIllies 5 grain bread which is full of protein, very low carb and almost fat free.  This will add some variety to your diet and still be full of protein.  Also, you might add some whey protein to cottage cheese, this will double the protein and add 70 extra calories without you knowing it. Also, check out your profile I bet there's several people knocking on your door to be your friend.  I'd love to have you add me.

Glad to hear you are feeling well.  You are keeping things down and that is good.  It takes a while to find "your" foods.   I am 3 years out and JUST now can eat eggs.  So everybody is different.   try a chicken/feta burger.   Ground Chicken with crumbled feta cheese , and little bit of garlic powder, and make patties and grill or cook in a pan.  I found the ground chicken easier to digest and with the feta cheese (i use the fat free feta) it is less dense and very tasty.   A good variation if you like would be to add salsa to the ground mixture.  I put grape nuts in my yogurt, it adds calories and good flavor.  Yes, you do have to eat like this forever.  Remember, you just need food to live.  It is not your life.   Define what a regular meal is to you.  You are doing great, and things will get more  "normal" and than that brings on a new challenge.   The farther you get out from surgery, the easier it is to eat, and then it is easy to get into hold habits again.  Good Luck, and keep up the good work.    Carol

Protein shakes will give you 200 calories a serving. Eat slower and chew more and the chicken and chili and other stuff will make it. Eat too fast and you will yack it up and if you don't chew enough it will give you gas. Slow down to a crawl. You don't eat to enjoy anymore. Food is fuel and you need to get it in anyway you can. kp

Well first I must ask what you consider a "regular" meal to consist of?  I mean, I am a little over 6 years out and I don't consider what I eat to be a regular meal, lol.   First throw out the sun chips at this point.  Have you tried eggs.  Some people can tolerate eggs, others cannot.  Another high protein thing for you to try would be shrimp.  The beauty of shrimp is that you can eat a small amount and get a lot of protein from them.  Someone else suggested tuna, another good thing for you to try.   I will tell you that you are going to feel like you are not eating enough.  In the beginning it's a trial and error period.  You eat something one day and cannot tolerate it, but try it again a week later and it goes down fine.  You are not going to eat like this forever.  It eventually does get easier. 

Hey Beep What are you doing? STAY AWAY FROM THE CHIPS!!!!  You know I say that because I care :0) At 19 months out I can't eat meat, eggs, pasta, lettuce, a few assorted veggies or sugar. What we used to eat were not normal meals. We all ate way to much thats how we got to be super morbidly obese. Give it time ~lots of time. Someday you will be able to eat foods that most people can eat. that doesn't mean you should eat everything just because you can. Yogurt, cottage cheese, any cheese, Fat free refried beans topped with ff sour cream and cheese (no chips at least for me), I use Garden Burger products. They don't contain meat, and go down nicely. My favorite right now is their spicy black bean burger, tomato basil burgar, mushroom lovers burger, and their 'chickn pattie. These are foind in the frozen food section of most grocery stores. Over in the produce area you can find veggie patch products (also contain no meat), I like the chicken nuggets and meatballs,  for a treat mix your yogurt with your cottage cheese ~I know it may sound gross, but its not, thats how I learned to eat cottage cheese, I used to gag just looking at it. Remember eat protein first.  Protein shakes count as a meal this early out. A friend turned me on to Atkins Advantage Double Crunch Chocolate Carmel Protein Bars. I freeze them for a really tasty high protein treat. Remember you do know what you can eat. Sometimes it gets hard to recall what we can have because we just don't feel like eating it. Hang in there Beep you can do this, I know you can.  Take care. God bless you, Annette

Annette, I read alot of the posts in here - I am waiting for a surgery date.  You always give really good advise.  I have written down the suggestions you gave BC....... Thanks for always sharing...... Cindy

Cindy: I know how you feel.  Everytime I come across one of these great posts like this, I copy and paste the text into a file on my computer that just keeps getting longer and longer.  Lots of great advice from the people who are paving the way for us newbies. Pam

I also had a hard time eating early on and I also got very bored.  KP was wonderful with his suggestions and I have listed some of them for you. Tuna Salad Fish Sticks 1/2 or 1/4 of a grilled cheese Refried Beans Salmon Patties (I have listed the recipe) Cheese and Crackers (I lived on cheese and crackers for a while!) S/F Pudding..you can add your protein shake to it and get in more protein!! Salmon Patties 1 pack of boneless, skinless salmon 1/2 cup bread crumbs 1/2 cup hellman's mayonaisse mix all together.  spray pan with pam or use extra virgin olive oil. Brown on each side and enjoy!  I lived on these for a few weeks.   I know it's frustrating but it will all come in due time.  Stay away from the chips and try to focus on food high in protein.  Keep Your Head Up! Stacey B