Losing slow-ish, what were you eating early on?

Only 3 weeks out but I have a lot to lose so I know that people with more to lose usually lose a lot early on. That's not the case with me. I know everyone is different so I'm not freaking out - and I'm not able to do a lot yet as in moving and walking or exercising because of the pain which is a different topic and one I started a different post on lol. But I was wondering what people were eating early on. I don't have a lot of clear instructions from my NUT at all so I've been kind of on my own.

I've been concentrating solely on protein and water intake right now. I've been getting close to my 70 grams of protein every day. And close to or more than my water that I need every day plus all my vitamins.

I'm on soft foods so I'm eating yogurt, string cheese, eggs, ground chicken, tuna, baked potatoes- regular and sweet. And that's about it. 

Any advice on what else I should be eating? Advice welcome! 

Lose the potatoes, especially the regular ones! They are carbs with next to no nutritional value And they take up valuable pouch space.

I was also eating things like fat free retried beans, cottage cheese, and flaky white fish (e.g., cod).

Lora

Skip the potatoes. They aren't doing anything for you except adding carbs to your diet. I have been eating Greek yogurt with PB2, cottage cheese, part skim mozzarella (I prefer block cheeses to string cheese), light Havarti cheese slices, Swiss cheese (light has more protein), homemade turkey quinoa meatballs, maple chicken breakfast sausages and frozen turkey burgers (half of one with cheese on top) from trader joe's, chicken salad, mini protein muffins and savory riccotta pancakes from eggface's recipes, and eggs (but sometimes they bother me). I starting eat deli ham yesterday, and that seems to be going ok. I also had chicken kabobs from a Mediterranean restaurant and chipotle once. Both went well and lasted me several meals. I've tried a couple of protein bars, but the did not sit well with me. I have not had room to eat veggies really. I had a little bit of broccoli once. I've also had a little bit of apple and pear with no skin, but I wouldn't advise eating those very often because of the carbs. Rarely do I go over 30 carbs in a day right now, and I am ok with that. These things are all allowed in my soft foods stage, but yours may be different.

I second Lora's suggestion - lose both types of potatoes this soon after surgery.  I was also eating low fat ricotta cheese with Italian spices, flaky fish, crab, lots of tuna fish and egg salad this soon out.  Some yogurts have a TON of carbs and sugar - I have found the best choice for me (both stats and flavor-wise) are Dannon Light and Fit Greek Yogurt.  I use ground turkey for a lot of recipes (then and now) with taco seasoning and mexican cheese, or with Italian seasoning and ricotta cheese.

Good luck!

Right now I'm not really eating anything that requires a recipe, just individual things. I've been eating the potatoes because without them it seemed I would be eating yogurt twice a day at this point and I don't think I can handle that much yogurt ugh lol! But I can skip the potatoes. I'll start that today. The ricotta cheese is something I hadn't really considered, plus the other suggestions, so thanks! I don't have any Trader Joe's anywhere close so I can't get anything good that is only there unfortunately! I have Wal-Mart and Kroger's but will see what i can do. 

I've been handling everything I've tried very well so that's a plus! I will definitely try the other suggestions. Thanks everyone!

Are you measuring things? At three weeks I was only eating about an ounce at a time, very slowly. I wasn't really hungry though; had just been released after a few days in the hospital. You could try a baked custard also, like egg + milk baked in a water bath. I add sweetener as needed after bc a lot of the artificial ones don't bake well.

No, I'm not measuring anything. My NUT said (and I'm not saying she's right) to concentrate on when I'm full. Which right now is really soon. I'm not eating that much of anything. Some yogurt is a meal for me, string cheese is a meal, egg whites is a meal, half a pack of tuna is a meal, etc, etc....

I still measure everything -- at 15 months out -- at first because my nerves were cut and I could not rely on feeling full.  Secondly, if I had been good at stopping at full -- well, I wouldn't have needed surgery in the first place.    I have had to teach myself all about portion sizing because I had very skewed ideas about what is serving of anything...

I use a food scale for all solid food.  I measured out 2 oz of protein for the first 2 to 3 months ... moved to 3 oz for a long time after that.  Recently, I have moved up to 4 oz.  If you are eating solid protein at these levels, you should not really have room for other things right now.  That's a good thing.  I have yet to eat a potato in 15 months...

I use measuring cups for all "slider" semi solid foods and liquids -- like yogurt, cottage cheese, etc.  We can eat a lot more of these things -- therefore, I try very hard not to combine them in a meal with solids.  Otherwise, it's like eating and drinking. I try to limit these to under 1/2 cup (exception is protein shakes).    

Melinda,

You are doing great! Keep us posted on your progress.

Robin

Have you tried mashed cauliflower?  It's a great substitute for potatoes and much healthier.