dudeman

Well, I've been eating mashed potatoes no gravy. Porridge (rice boiled in hot water) but don't like the taste. Clear soups not chunky. I should add that when I was in this stage of diet, I added no protein supplements. Those are mostly carbs. Soups have some protein and fat. But I seem to lack energy on mostly carbs and healing power.<br>

@NtvTxn , Hi, I'm wondering -- since you do measure everything you eat and are already at your target weight and maintaining, what is the maximum weight or volume of food, solids + liquids that you can eat at any one sitting. For example, for lunch, do you consume say 1 full cup of foods ? (sorry about the underline, I can't seem to work the editor to get rid of it).

Prolly all of the above. My stomach capacity has been told to me that it is 25% of what was a normal sized stomach and currently able to hold 100cc or 1/2 cup of food un-stretched. I am un-able to stretch the lining becuz it has yet to completely heal. So, I have problems with vomiting currently when dealing with solids. I take about 1/2 hour to eat a 1/2 cup of food of whatever it is. That's a long long time .. for me. I used to be able to do that in may be 2 minutes. So, it's not not chewing, it's not eating to quickly. BUT, it might be eating too much, becuz 1/2 cup of food .. isn't a lot. And unless it's Haagendaz, or pure animal fat, it is NOT going to be enough calories consumed per meal. That's the problem for me .. getting the calories and nutrient in to heal and have energy. The vomiting has me being an involuntary bulimic at the moment. Not fun. Soup for me.

Seems the recommended diets have common themes but can vary quite generously. My doctor's first 2 weeks is basically deprivation of all calories and good taste much as you would expect if you were caught and put into a a prison in a third world country. I believe I could have done better and possibly be ahead of the healing curve had I had more calories and protein in the first week when I lost 16lbs. That's on pace of 64lbs per month ... too fast ye think ?

Yes, I was ready to check-out by the morning after 2nd night, but my mother insisted I stayed an extra day for the hospital's nutrition thinking that would be handled better becuz of their familiarity with pot-op diet. That -- was the wrong reason to stay. I was off drips by the beginning of evening of the second night and did not receive any more medication. The follow-up clinic appointment was 1 week post-op. My doctor expected his patients to be out by the morning after 2nd night.

Before VSG, I used to Yo-Yo on a period of 5 then 10 years. And during the lean years -- before I dropped down to under 10% body fat from 35 to 40+%, I DID NOTICED that there are "weight milestones" -- by my own definition; this means my weight would get stuck on certain specific weight levels and be pegged and not moved for a bit. For example, in 2005 I dropped from a max of 98kg to 92kg. 92 was a peg. Then, once below 92kgs, I had no problems dropping to 88kgs then would get stuck at 88. The next was 85kgs. Then 82kgs. The lowest pre-VSG weight since college is 78kgs. Never been below that since 21 years of age (48 today). I expect to be in the low 70kg range, preferably 70kgs of 155lbs yielding about a 5% body fat percentage at the end of post-VSG weight drop. But at those pegged weight limits, it didn't matter how many miles I ran and how much I cut back calories (sometimes it wasn't possible or felt right to eat less when I was burning up to 1,000 calories per 7 mile run + weight training), the weight was pegged there for up to 1 to 2 weeks. They just could be certain adjustments your body is doing once it starts to sense .. oh, oh, my "host" is facing starvation -- shut down everything. Lower the metabolism rate. Conserve fat. I know it's something along those biological reasons why those mile stones are there.

I'm reading from my handout here, which categorizes your post-op diet into 5 distinct phases: Phase I. Water Only. First 24 hours post-op Phase II. Clear liquid diet, Next 48 hours. Strained Soups w/o fat, strained juices no Fiber, sports drinks diluted 50%. Phase III. Low Residue Liquid Diet. Next 4 days. Baby food. Porridge, blended with bits of veggies, white meats. Phase IV. Semi-Liquid and Soft Foods Diet. Next 2 weeks. Noodle soups. Low fiber veggies, fish and lean meats. Phase V. Calorie Restricted Diet. Soft, easy to digest foods. Milk, meats, eggs, soy Beans, Cereal, veggies, fruits. From my experience 26 days post-op I was supposed to be in Phase V, I reverted back to Phase IV due to vomiting all solids. I'm back to mainly soups. My stomach lining isn't healed. I added a Protein supplement powder which has been added to my mashed potatoes, soups, and eggs. The protein seems to be helping both calm emptiness hunger and seems to be balancing and possibly healing. Phase I~ III .... SUCKS !

The medical name is Omeprazole, type of medicine is "Proton Pump Inhibitor". Trade name best known: "LOSEC". These meds will reduce acid and prevent acid reflux.

Just a word on the pain post-op -- I didn't want to make it sound like it was pain-less. My surgery was at noon. Doctor found a non-maligned bump on my liver and spent an hour extra to wedge that out. Turned out to be something call FHP that occurs 80% in women and very rare in men. He theorized it resulted from synthetic estrogen by-product ingested from heating plastic packaging with too much microwave heated foods. I was guilty of that roughly 10 years ago when single and un-careful about what I ate .. anyhoot, the pain when I woke from general anesthesia -- was about 9 on the scale of 10. So, my button pushing on the morphine drip was about once every 20 minutes or so when I was resting but awake. I could not sleep much during the 3 nights in the hospital (stayed a night extra on my mom's insistence). So, MORPHINE .. it's necessary and NOT OPTIONAL ... you should be informed that morphine causes BP to drop, which is why they weened me off ASAP when I was walking around with the drip stand and not showing too much post-op pain by the next afternoon. Again, if you need lots of gas pumped in as called for by your surgeon, you're going to be experiencing more pain than I did which was slightly over 24 hours post-op. Morphine post-op VSG is your friend. Believe me.

That's the feeling I get too, plus gut wrenching pain depending on the solid. Yes, I think I have not fully healed lining wise. Yes, I have reverted to semi-liquid diet to stop the vomiting which can not be good to loose 50% calories of what I eat per day. I haven't tried Protein supplements yet, just Ensure which isn't pure protein. May be I'll try that to see if the body is looking for protein to heal up.

Me .. I just go with a half serving of frozen strawberry sorbet. Pretty sure its not approved but what the heck .. I still lose 2lbs per week.

I've actually gone and tried pizza by the slice. Twice. Went down (half slice anyways) but didn't stay down. Had gut wrenching pain 5 minutes after eating it and went to the toilet to clear it out. My advise .. don't eat pizza at 24 days post op.

Did you hear that crunches aren't the best workout for abs ? It's the roller wheel with the extended handles for your two hands that you roll out and contract -- that exercise (forget what the term is for that) that works. But if you scars have de-scabbed -- I don't see why it would hurt VSG post-op 7 weeks. I'm cleared to swim 24 days post op and abs are definitely involved in swimming. But sit ups and crunches have been labeled as "ineffective". Also, if you're doing abs to tone or gain definition or cut fat .. doesn't work. Only cutting overall body fat gives you 6 packs abs. I'd know -- look at my Avatar from 11 years ago when my body fat was 7%. As for stretched skin I don't have personal experience there, though I've yo-yo'ed in weight in my 48 years to have stretch marks around the hip thigh region that look just like post-natal women's marks. My understanding is that if it's s stretch mark type of problem there are certain creams in cosmetics sections that are made for treating stretched marks. But if it's a lot of loose skin from great reduction in weight, the only thing I've heard of is surgery. Hope that helps~!<br>

Why would multi-vitamin and mineral supplement drink like Ensure be a no-no ? Haagendaz Green Tea which I also eat would be a no no I understand. Unless you're still in phase I liquid only diet, in which case I don't know why they want you to get protein supplement becuz its too early to worry about that.

I dunno what brand that is but I'm partial to canned Ensure chocolate flavor. It's good stuff and has everything you need.

I'll share my experience about 5 days post-op .. I had to go get a new passport and sneaked into a "no no" restaurant when I was clearly in the phase 1 liquid only diet. I ordered a set meal with bone-less beef short rib, steamed rice with hot curry sauce. Set came with fruit salad (canned) and a scoop of apple cinnamon frozen sorbet .. yum, yum ... and you know what happened ? First, it took me 2.5 hours to get through lunch. Of the foods I mentioned, I cut tiny penny size bites with fork & knife of the boneless short rib, and ate .. 1 and half strips out of 8 strips (total ribs was about 6 oz). And I picked at the fruit salad, and managed to get a small wedge of canned pineapple down. I finished the frozen sorbet but that was about the size of a racket ball so around 2.5 ozs. And I was stuffed to the point that I was ready to vomit, and I think I did about 30 minutes after I left the restaurant. And the next day when I went back to pick-up my passport, all I did was walked around looking at all the food stands at a food center in a shopping complex and smell the aroma .. and I KNEW .. I couldn't stomach anything .. so, what did I wind up eating that was another no no .. yep, another cup of frozen sorbet, this time an apple/pineapple blend which for some reason I was craving at the time. You know the funny thing is .. when the frozen sorbet went down and hit my stomach lining .. it felt good. Kinda like an ice pack does when your forehead is burning with a fever. I have no idea what the heck that meant at the time -- all I know is I made it so far and its been 24 days post op and I'm on phase IV restricted calories diet, but reverting towards phase III semi-liquid diet on account that I can't hold anything too solid down w/o donating it all to the toilet. But the sorbet is still on my menu .. weight loss so far is on target at 2lbs per week. And I'm about to start swimming by the weekend for caloric output. I have no idea why I'm ranting in this thread or whether it is relevant to the thread. But I hope my experience helps somebody here.

I had a morphine drip (which was optional and extra believe it or not) to which I had a button to push for pain post-op. I must say that I was kinda abusing that, as the anesthesia nurses came to check the remaining volume and noticed I had been too button happy .. anyhoot, when they decided to remove my IV when I was clear to drink Water and diluted sports drink, I asked that they keep the morphine in but they refused and took it away. So, my op was at noon on Feb 8th, and I awoke around 4 or 5PM, I had the morphine until the next day around 6PM. After they un-hooked me from the drip stand, I was "weened" from pain medication. the only thing I could feel were my two holes where those rack things went in and the actual larascopic wound around my belly button. But I felt no pain internally by the second day of the op. May be there was some "memory pain" from the gas they pumped in, but for me that was very very minor. But then I'm probably one of your lighter candidates with a pre-op BMI of 36. I figure the heavier you are perhaps the more gas they would have to pump to keep the "ceiling of operation" up and the more pain you would feel post op. The biggest thing I would think for you at this time would be the liquid only diet, which will make you hungry all the time. I know I was for the first week as I average only 500 calories per day and wound up losing nearly 16 lbs in 7 days. Try to drink some un-diluted sports drink which has more calories that might give you a bit more ooomph than I had. I basically did NOT want to move around at all for the first week becuz I knew I had no "go juice" in me from what "they" were giving me (that inluded my mom's strict following of the recommended menu that had zero taste for a whole week before I got strained apple juice and strained clear chicken broth which felt like meals fit for kings at the time compared to the third world prison diet I was getting the first 7 days). Hope that helps!

I haven't taken Norvasc since post-op and I have checked my BP. Pre-op without Norvasc (when I forget to take it in the morning), my BP averages 155/100. Now post op, I've checked it 4 times over the last two weeks during the day, and the BP is within normal range any where from a low of 117/78 to 133/89. So, I have stop taking Norvasc altogether and so far don't see any spikes in my BP to warrant going back on. However, I should mention that I am male age 48 and my BMI pre-op was 36 and now it is 30 and it has been about 24 days post-op. My guess for my case of dropped BP is not the weight loss (which is only around 22lbs), but the low-sodium diet that is forced upon you post-op. <br>

What was explained to me is that data shows a un-ignorable percentage (1 in 100,000 cases) of post-op depression leading to suicide, and that the depression results from a pre-op reliance on food as a mood changer. Since you no longer have the capacity and in many cases foods you could eat pre-op can no longer be tolerated by your new low volume stomach, that you have percentage chances of developing depression and thus one needs to take anti-depression med's for up to 1 year post-op. My prescription, which I had previously taken pre-op, is Celexa (citalopram) which works good for me. It can cause increase appetite, but I can get away with 1/2 of the 10mg pill per indication, and it keeps me from being depress all around, not just from lack of food to put into my mouth as per pre-op occasions that I did use food as a pick-me-up. So, be aware of the statistics for post-op depression and consult with your doctor about proper medication.

To be honest, I just got off the phone with my physician's office, and his main nurse/marketing woman told me "they" recommend eating 3 meals a day. BUT she also told me that when I sit down and try to eat 50g of skin-less chicken breast, 50g of steam rice, 100cc of chicken Soup at 315 calories, that volume exceeds my 25% new stomach which she estimates to hold 100cc's un-stretched. So, that mere amount of food is double the volume I can handle right now. I told her I understand her explanation and math, but what she really just said was that I am limited to about 150 calories per meal. So, there was no way in heck AFA I can figure that I am suppose to eat only 3 meals per day. It's got to be 5 to 6 meals per day at that kind of volume, in order to add up to say 1000 calories minimum per day for me (man, 48 yrs). Sometimes, the medical advise from even your own physician is just plain WRONG! Eat more meals per day according to the new low volume of your reduced stomach.

I was very hungry beginning February 8th, 5PM when I awoke from anesthesia post-op, for the next 3 nights at the hospital, and for the next 3 nights at my mom's house in Taipei where I received my sleeve gast. I was served rice water, becuz in Taiwan, that's a common food waste/bi-product that is thrown away. It has no taste and may be what 10 KCals per 100cc (1/2 cup) ? In addition, I was allowed the equivalent of Gatorade diluted by 1/2 water, again taking away all the taste and reducing the K-Cals once again. I lost 15.4 lbs in 7 days, which I calculate my total intake 3 "meals" per days was around 500 KCal's -- if that. So, I hear your pain. It gets better once you can move on to clear soups. And then you'll really appreciate the weight of the soup and the filled up feeling compared to rice water, which again -- most people Asia dump out. It is NOT a food, really.

I'm only 23 days out from post-op, I'm supposed to be on phase IV low-cal restricted diet, but I vomit just about every solid food I eat. I've tried anything which is allowed. Doesn't matter whether it's been blendered, meats, breads, fiberous veggies and fruits, un-strained fruit juices -- vomit city. I liken myself to a un-volunteering bulimic right now. Whatever I eat, 100~200 cc's (1 cup), barf city. I usually have to follow up with soup of some sort just to put the K-Cals back. I have a diet tracker on my Blackberry that's highly rated and accurate. For the past 5 days I've logged an average of 1400~1600 calories (with a high of 1800 calories on a particular Sunday) eaten, but at least half of that winds up in the toilet. I've gotten so used to vomiting that I'm basically trained and do it automatically as soon as the stuff doesn't want to sit in the new 25% remaining stomach. I'm on track to lose 1 kgs (2.2lbs) per week in any event. I'm so sick of vomiting that I went back to semi-liquid diet today although I'm supposed to be off of it according to my nutritionist's take home hand out. I'm looking forwards to the coming period when I can sit down and eat a 315 calorie lunch of 50g(1/4 cup) of skinless chicken breast cubes, 50g of steam rice, and a 100cc (1/2 cup) of broth, without having to deposit into the toilet within 5 minutes of completing the lunch (took me about 35 minutes to finish, as compared to may be 10 minutes top pre-op on this little food). It's a real problem for me to get calories into my body at this point ever since post-op, the three days post-op was ridiculous so was the first week at home. I averaged I think max 500 K-Cals which is prison quality of life. I lost 7kgs (15.4 lbs) in the first 7 days post-op, the rate of weight loss has slowed to 2 lbs per week, and I'm substituting calories from meals lost through vomiting with 1/2 servings of strawberry sorbet and Haagendaz Green Tea ice cream and still losing weight. Welcome to the nutty post-op world I guess. <br>