Two weeks out - looking for meal suggestions

Well, tomorrow is two weeks since surgery and I've lost 12.6lbs since my surgery date and a total of 20.6lbs since the start of my two week pre-op diet.  After my post-op check yesterday my surgeon said I'm basically cleared to eat anything.  I'm obviously going to stay away from red meat and other tough to chew things for awhile.  But I'm already very bored with what I'm eating so far and would love to hear what everyone else eats on a daily basis at this stage to get thier protein in.  I had a pretty bad stomach reaction to most of the protein shakes I tried after surgery so I REALLY want to get my 60-75 grams of protein with food.  Plus, I go back to work next Tuesday so I'm hoping to be able to prep and freeze some meals ahead of time that will be easy to grab and take to work....

What has worked well for you? Thanks for the input!

At two weeks out I wasn't eating meals of any sort, I was still on full liquids! And when I was cleared to move to purees, it was only a few tablespoons at a time, no prepping and freezing of an entire meal. When I was eating more "real" foods (after about two months), I did a lot of:

• Greek yogurt
• Cottage cheese with salad dressing, salsa, or peanut butter stirred in
• Small amount of refried beans with salsa & cheese
• Tuna salad (made with light mayo, hummus, mustard -- something other than full fat mayo)
• Scrambled eggs
• Flavored tuna or salmon (from the little pouches)
• Chicken salad
• Egg salad (again, made with light mayo, hummus, or guacamole - no full fat mayo)
• Turkey sausage
• Sardines

Good luck to you!

Thanks for the input.  I may have overstated a little. Basically the doc said "anything that can be smushed with a fork."  So still soft, still chewing like crazy and no more than 1/4 cup at a time.  I've just gotten tired of yogurt and the protein shakes actually made me sick.  I guess I'm just trying to figure out how to make those things on your list more interesting! Thanks for the list, it really helps . . . For some reason, I'd completely forgotten about things like chicken salad and egg salad.  I think it's because I've gotten a little sick of all the cold foods, I'm just looking for a couple yummy hot ideas! :)

You can heat up a lot of these things. One my favorite meals is tuna, salmon, or sardine salad baked in the oven with an egg on top, then sprinkle some cheese in the last minute or so to melt over it.

Turkey burgers were another favorite of mine early out. The local food coop sells these pre-cooked turkey burgers with spinach and feta, and all I had to was heat up my portion in the microwave a little bit. Trader Joe's has a really good variety of turkey, chicken, and fish burgers that are already frozen, so all you have to do is thaw and heat.

I'm 6 weeks post op and at 2 weeks was still on liquids too.  However at soft stage I've been eating lots of tuna from the pouches, tons Greek yogurt, scrambled eggs, some soft cheeses.  Someone recommended getting some fish filets and bake them and they are soft and flaky but I haven't tried that yet.  Worried about them being too dry.  Believe me you'll know if it's not the right thing!  Retried beans and some cheese have been great too.

Wow, at 2 weeks I was still on liquids. Be very careful, your stomach is still in the healing process. If you've been blessed with any foods, I'd start off very slowly. I was eating puree soups at 2 weeks and living off popsicles. I was just able to get all my protein shakes in by 2 weeks and catching up with my water.

Thanks.  I know, I was a little surprised but basically the doc said "anything that can be smushed with a fork" and still chewing like crazy and only eating about 1/4 cup at a time.  I haven't been tolerating the protein shakes, they make me sick. So that may be part of the reason he's wanting me to try to get protein in with real food.  I'm definitely going to go slow, I'm just sick of cold yogurt and whatnot. Trying to make it a little more interesting! :)

Try and find a good protein powder that you like. It took me several tries before getting the one that I really like. Try adding 1/2 banana and some cocoa powder. So really you should be eating puree. That sounds about right. Yes, take it very slow. Your stomach needs to heal before adding certain foods. Think about your staple line on your new stomach. You don't want to cause any issues with it. I went out and bought my favorite Progresso soup and just put it in my bullet and it tasted wonderful! I was eating mashed sweet potatoes, Trader Joe's refried beans with cheese, cottage cheese and soft cheese. I hate yogurt, so I couldn't bare to eat that. Hang-in-there. It does get better. Christine

I was released to soft food and anything that agreed with me at 10 days.  I was never so happy in my life.  I ate a lot of soft foods, eggs, salmon, tuna, tilapia, and packets of chicken, oysters, sardines, etc.  Those are all high protein and pretty easy on the stomach.  Good luck going forward.

This blog has lots of great ideas. Try her baked ricotta. I LIVED off of that as an early postop and it was great to take to work in those tiny ziploc containers.

http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html