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SO FRUSTRATED

K

Kcuster83

Member
I was doing so great. Liquids, pureed, no problem with anything I tried. No problem hitting my liquid and protein goals.
Now, soft foods is so frustrating. I can't eat enough to hit my protein goals so I still have to drink one shake a day. I really want to get from them everyday and use when in a pinch.
More importantly, I can't find anything to eat except the same few things over and over which is getting old FAST!
I made slow roasted chicken for dinner, I figured it was safe because I have already had chicken salad both pureed and normal without issues. I was wrong, it was not safe. It hurt my stomach (1 oz) and I had cramps all night and still feel sick this morning. (No vomiting this time). The chicken was SO moist and juicy so I know it wasn't a dry thing. On the days I eat something that doesn't agree it ruins the entire day. I can't eat or drink anything without massive cramping so I don't hit my protein OR fluid goals which makes me mad.
I am basically living off of chicken salad, tuna, turkey pepperoni, eggs, cheese and lunch meat and ground meat like taco meat. I barely get in 500 calories a day, I am supposed to be at 800 calories a day now.
I am started to be scared to try anything new just because I don't want to feel like crap and revert back to the few safe foods I have.
AND I AM NOT LOOSING WEIGHT.. AT ALL!
Really the only good thing here is I am rarely hungry so I am fine not eating.
 
Grrrr I'd be so frustrated too. I have no answers for you except to say I'm soooo sorry youre going through this. I have heard of the 3 week stall and I know you're at 4 weeks but that's probably what it is. And for protein maybe consider tofu - I know it can be weird to think about if you haven't had it but it really is good.
Sorry you're struggling! I know there will be a light at the end of the tunnel but the tunnel sure feels long when you're going through it!
 
Time will make this better. I know that is not any help right now. I had a hard time with some foods for about 9 months. Keep doing th protein drinks until you can eat more food. (kinds)

I also wanted to get off the protein drinks and tried to do it too soon (as I know now it was too soon but not at the time)

I found chicken was very hard for me to eat for a long time. I stopped even trying chicken for a bit of time I had such a hard time with it.

Take is slow do not put so much pressure on yourself. The weight will come off it just will stop at times.
 
Nymiria said:
Grrrr I'd be so frustrated too. I have no answers for you except to say I'm soooo sorry youre going through this. I have heard of the 3 week stall and I know you're at 4 weeks but that's probably what it is. And for protein maybe consider tofu - I know it can be weird to think about if you haven't had it but it really is good.
Sorry you're struggling! I know there will be a light at the end of the tunnel but the tunnel sure feels long when you're going through it!
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I tried tofu years ago and couldn't get past the texture. Maybe if I try it a different way or something, I don't know how to cook it though.
 
I understand you wanting to ditch the protein shakes but I think leaving at least one in a day could really be helpful in getting to those protein goals and since it is liquid, keep you hydrated as well. If you can't stand to drink a whole shake, break it up. If you drink something like a Premier Protein at 30g of protein, half of that is a 15g boost. Also try putting in some unflavored protein powder into things.

It will get easier once you are on regular foods to supplement the protein as their are so many high protein foods to chose from. Missy posted a recipe here for ground chicken parm which is very good and easy on the stomach. Try to search out other recipes that will help broaden your choices.

In the beginning I was pretty sick due to post surgery complications and I had to rely on some frozen entres but they were very easy on my stomach. I could only eat half of a meal but saved the other have for the next day. I skipped the diet entres and had Stouffers which were less heavy on pasta and chose the ones with a decent amount of protein. Maybe adding those to your regular go-to's might give you some variety.

I know it is frustrating to know what to eat, but it will get better. Hang in there!
 
I can totally relate to being tired of drinking shakes. On Saturday I decided that I just wanted ONE day without drinking a f-ing shake. My protein total for the day was only 18g. I get frustrated because I feel like I’m going to be married to shakes the rest of my life!

I can’t figure out why the roasted chicken caused a reaction when you’ve been eating chicken in different forms. I’ve heard people say that what works one week can change and not agree with you the next week (and vice versa). It really sucks that you finally graduated to a new stage and it’s so painful. It should be fun and exciting and happy times. You are doing a great job and it will get better.
 
Kcuster83 said:
I tried tofu years ago and couldn't get past the texture. Maybe if I try it a different way or something, I don't know how to cook it though.
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Girl I know - in the beginning when you don't do anything to it it can be a little bit like scrambled eggs which can be a gross texture for sure!!!!!! IF interested - best thing to do is take it out and wrap it in paper towels for about 30 minutes to soak up all the water - cut it into strips about 1/4 inch thick - then coat it in cornstarch, garlic, ginger, salt and pepper - maybe some sesame oil or sesame seeds and then bake those suckers till they are dry on parchment paper - serve it with soy sauce - yum. Or do all the same coating but instead of sesame stuff put chopped peanuts as the coating and serve with siracha sauce or a thai peanut sauce. Super tasty I promise haha. I mean- if you like Asian inspired cuisine!
 
I still drink shakes and I'm over 2 years post-op. I also eat at least 1 triple zero oikos yogurt with 15g of protein. In my pureed/soft stages I ate a lot of egg salad, tuna salad, yogurt. I say eat or drink whatever it takes to get your protein goal in. With 1 shake and 1 oikos yogurt that's 45g of protein. It does get easier when you can add other foods and so forth. Just take it one day at a time. You'll get there!!!
 
Kcuster83 said:
I was doing so great. Liquids, pureed, no problem with anything I tried. No problem hitting my liquid and protein goals.
Now, soft foods is so frustrating. I can't eat enough to hit my protein goals so I still have to drink one shake a day. I really want to get from them everyday and use when in a pinch.
More importantly, I can't find anything to eat except the same few things over and over which is getting old FAST!
I made slow roasted chicken for dinner, I figured it was safe because I have already had chicken salad both pureed and normal without issues. I was wrong, it was not safe. It hurt my stomach (1 oz) and I had cramps all night and still feel sick this morning. (No vomiting this time). The chicken was SO moist and juicy so I know it wasn't a dry thing. On the days I eat something that doesn't agree it ruins the entire day. I can't eat or drink anything without massive cramping so I don't hit my protein OR fluid goals which makes me mad.
I am basically living off of chicken salad, tuna, turkey pepperoni, eggs, cheese and lunch meat and ground meat like taco meat. I barely get in 500 calories a day, I am supposed to be at 800 calories a day now.
I am started to be scared to try anything new just because I don't want to feel like crap and revert back to the few safe foods I have.
AND I AM NOT LOOSING WEIGHT.. AT ALL!
Really the only good thing here is I am rarely hungry so I am fine not eating.
Click to expand...
Can you tolerate beans (Navy, black, lentils etc)? I make bean soup and add Unjury chicken soup to it. The Unjury is quite salty so I make the chicken soup in a cup separately and add it to my beans (that I cook with no salt). One cup of that soup I split into fours to add to my 1 cup container of beans. I just ended soft foods and that worked.

Do you like salmon? A salmon filet seasoned was soft and yum. Also have you tried impossible burger, make it like ground beef instead of the patty. I made kind of a deconstructed fajita. About 1/2 cup of the impossible burger, 1/4 c sautéed bell peppers and 1/4c grilled onion..oh and a I had slice of avocado. Oh, what about hummus? Do you like that? Chickpeas are another option.

Just cooking a “normal serving” is now three containers in my fridge. I still chuckle looking at my containers with a scoop of this and that. The volume is surely something I need to get used to. Anyway, try beans…high protein and fiber. I still drink the protein shakes too.

Good luck
 
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Aww, K and things were going so well. I'm sorry you're having issues.

First things first: there's an infamous stall, usually right around 3 weeks where your body stops losing weight b-cuz it thinks your starving. There's a nice post from Ryan about it., if you're interested in the science, You can search 3-week stall and it should pop up. It's scary and awful. And it passes.

Second thing second: It's not the chicken, it's the density of it. Chicken salad is soft and mushy. Roasted chicken is a solid food, moist and juicy or not. I always suggest using a slow cooker for meat for the first little bit. It's about how far the meat gets broken down while cooking. They tell you you can eat anything once you're on "solid food" but it can take quite a while longer to be able to eat roasted meats. Hang in there, it just takes time. There are a million food in the world. Take some time to find a few new recipes .. or a few new dishes in restaurants if you don't cook.

3rd, thing 3rd. You will not have to drink protein shakes for the rest of your life. But you may need to use them, or a protein water as a supplement to food until you can manage to eat 3 solid meals or 4-6 small ones every day. It took a few months for me to be able to actually eat all my protein. I lost the shakes and gained the ability to eat by doing it step by step. 2 shakes, 1 meal. 1 shake 2 meals .. like that.

It's a process. Which I know doesn't help when you are frustrated and trying to figure out what to do to get some semblance of normal. You are doing great. And You will eat chicken again .. one day lol
 
Kcuster83 said:
I was doing so great. Liquids, pureed, no problem with anything I tried. No problem hitting my liquid and protein goals.
Now, soft foods is so frustrating. I can't eat enough to hit my protein goals so I still have to drink one shake a day. I really want to get from them everyday and use when in a pinch.
More importantly, I can't find anything to eat except the same few things over and over which is getting old FAST!
I made slow roasted chicken for dinner, I figured it was safe because I have already had chicken salad both pureed and normal without issues. I was wrong, it was not safe. It hurt my stomach (1 oz) and I had cramps all night and still feel sick this morning. (No vomiting this time). The chicken was SO moist and juicy so I know it wasn't a dry thing. On the days I eat something that doesn't agree it ruins the entire day. I can't eat or drink anything without massive cramping so I don't hit my protein OR fluid goals which makes me mad.
I am basically living off of chicken salad, tuna, turkey pepperoni, eggs, cheese and lunch meat and ground meat like taco meat. I barely get in 500 calories a day, I am supposed to be at 800 calories a day now.
I am started to be scared to try anything new just because I don't want to feel like crap and revert back to the few safe foods I have.
AND I AM NOT LOOSING WEIGHT.. AT ALL!
Really the only good thing here is I am rarely hungry so I am fine not eating.
Click to expand...
I 'm sorry you're frustrated. The weight will come off. It absolutely will. You've been a trooper so far, and you'll take it all the way. But yeah, even for someone who really really liked having the same foods every day with little variation, suddenly the same foods are...tiring.
 
Thanks everyone, I haven't been on here in a while so I am catching up.
The piece of chicken is literally the only thing I have had an issue with since surgery. I even had a baked chicken breast the next day with a little sugar free BBQ sauce and had no issues.
It may have been the chicken itself, or I started thinking that I had just went on a bike ride and came right home and ate dinner. I wonder if I didn't give my body time to relax before eating or something like that?
I don't know, I can live without chicken legs so it is not a huge deal I guess. I will try again another time and see what happens.

I still drink 1 shake a day for breakfast and then 3 tiny meals a day too. I get between 60-90g protein daily with the shake, so until I can actually eat more I will continue the shake. I just don't want it to be life long but I am ok for a while with it.

I have also noticed, that left overs hit me kinda heavy. I had 2oz of pork and buffalo cauliflower for dinner 1 night and had the exact amount for left overs the next day and could only eat half of the left overs. I have noticed this on all left overs, they are like heavier or something and I can't eat as much of it.

Thanks for the support.

PS: I think my stall is over, or at least I HOPE SO. I lost 4 lbs last week.
 
This is great news! I wonder if the chicken was too dry? I was surprised to learn from my MD that lack of moisture could be a problem (though it makes sense once I think it through), and he advised me to take chicken with some sort of sauce (unless it was chicken in water).

Maybe you can think of this as a model for future setbacks/stalls. A zen-like awareness that "this too will pass" carries me through my frustrations, which get littler and littler as time goes on.
 
rjbj said:
This is great news! I wonder if the chicken was too dry? I was surprised to learn from my MD that lack of moisture could be a problem (though it makes sense once I think it through), and he advised me to take chicken with some sort of sauce (unless it was chicken in water).

Maybe you can think of this as a model for future setbacks/stalls. A zen-like awareness that "this too will pass" carries me through my frustrations, which get littler and littler as time goes on.
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I have that saying tattooed on my arm with shooting stars!

It was so juicy, it is so hard to think it was dry. But no sauce, so who knows. I have had pork without sauce either though, which seems more dry than the chicken. I had no issues with the pork.
Who knows,??
 
It's so strange reintroducing foods to your body. Sometimes your body reacts with, hey nice to see you again. Other times, it goes, no way are you coming in here, go away! Lol!

Oh what a wonderful feeling it is to get past a stall or plateau. It probably will happen again, but now you know it doesn't last forever.

Glad to see your positivity returning. Welcome back lol ❤❤
 
Kcuster83 said:
I was doing so great. Liquids, pureed, no problem with anything I tried. No problem hitting my liquid and protein goals.
Now, soft foods is so frustrating. I can't eat enough to hit my protein goals so I still have to drink one shake a day. I really want to get from them everyday and use when in a pinch.
More importantly, I can't find anything to eat except the same few things over and over which is getting old FAST!
I made slow roasted chicken for dinner, I figured it was safe because I have already had chicken salad both pureed and normal without issues. I was wrong, it was not safe. It hurt my stomach (1 oz) and I had cramps all night and still feel sick this morning. (No vomiting this time). The chicken was SO moist and juicy so I know it wasn't a dry thing. On the days I eat something that doesn't agree it ruins the entire day. I can't eat or drink anything without massive cramping so I don't hit my protein OR fluid goals which makes me mad.
I am basically living off of chicken salad, tuna, turkey pepperoni, eggs, cheese and lunch meat and ground meat like taco meat. I barely get in 500 calories a day, I am supposed to be at 800 calories a day now.
I am started to be scared to try anything new just because I don't want to feel like crap and revert back to the few safe foods I have.
AND I AM NOT LOOSING WEIGHT.. AT ALL!
Really the only good thing here is I am rarely hungry so I am fine not eating.
Click to expand...
Have you tried eating soups? I bought an immersion blender to use for anything that had chunks in it so it's smooth. Have you tried eating cream of wheat, oats,refried beans with cheese. I buy Body Fortress whey protein powder at Walmart, 1 scoop is 60g of protein with only 3 g of sugar. So 1 glass of this protein drink will give you all of the protein you need daily
 
K. Leavy said:
Have you tried eating soups? I bought an immersion blender to use for anything that had chunks in it so it's smooth. Have you tried eating cream of wheat, oats,refried beans with cheese. I buy Body Fortress whey protein powder at Walmart, 1 scoop is 60g of protein with only 3 g of sugar. So 1 glass of this protein drink will give you all of the protein you need daily
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This is kind of old. I am onto a regular diet now. At that time though, I was on soft foods so I didn't need to puree any more.
I haven't had any issues with anything I have eaten since this episode and I have eaten the same chicken again and it was fine.
Thank you for your suggestions though!
 
K. Leavy said:
Have you tried eating soups? I bought an immersion blender to use for anything that had chunks in it so it's smooth. Have you tried eating cream of wheat, oats,refried beans with cheese. I buy Body Fortress whey protein powder at Walmart, 1 scoop is 60g of protein with only 3 g of sugar. So 1 glass of this protein drink will give you all of the protein you need daily
Click to expand...
I mentioned in another post that 60gs of protein probably can't be absorbed at 1 time, so you might want to split the scoopful into 2 30g servings.
 
I will share that I struggled and struggled early on trying to get my protein in. Especially where the bariatric staff are telling me I need 100 gr. Per day. They are still encouraging 100 gr per day afte 1 yr appt in February. The protein water and pure protein bars/snacks at 20 gr are what get me through. Even now.
 
Roni said:
I will share that I struggled and struggled early on trying to get my protein in. Especially where the bariatric staff are telling me I need 100 gr. Per day. They are still encouraging 100 gr per day afte 1 yr appt in February. The protein water and pure protein bars/snacks at 20 gr are what get me through. Even now.
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100 g a day of protein sounds bananas! I know we all have our own surgeon's advice but I've never heard of needing that much protein in my life!
 
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