Hi,

My name is Jo and I had my surgery was a week ago tomorrow. I am supposed to be on Clear liquids and 6 oz of Boost, Ensure or any other of those nasty shakes a day. I hate sweets (yes, you read it right... I got this way by eating salty stuff...), so every time I drink these shakes I want to puke. AND -- I'm starving!!! I don't want to "cheat", but I read on the website that people have different diets and I don't understand why doctors give such contradictory information across the board.

Why I can't have light Soups or purred low fat stuff or even anything milk based? I'm not asking for anything crazy, am I? I feel like my doctor is being overly strict, and that being hungry all the time and having hunger pain and growling on top of the recovery process isn't helping. Right now I'm on the liquids described above. On Sept. 9 I can start some mushy stuff for a week, then a week later some fish, then a week later chicken, then a week later beef. Then I'm basically on Atkins until I loose all the weight. And it will be mid-october by the time I can most foods, and mid-november before I can have a salad!!! I would kill for a salad right now...

I didn't have this surgery to be on the Atkins for the rest of my life. I want to loose weight but by eating small portions of healthy, well-balanced foods. I'm very upset right now since it's hard to see the positives at this point. Obviously I know I will loose more weight if I do Atkins, but that's a given since I did it before so why would I go throw the surgery to do a diet that you can do without it.

Anyway, I was wondering if people had ideas for low or non-fat, non-sweet things to drink that at this phase, and whether you had problems if you did that.

Your ideas, thoughts and experiences would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Starving Jo

At day 8 I was able to move to smooth soups like squash or tomato; plus a protein shake per meal. I would have the soup and then an hour or so later have the protein shake. Spreading your food out helps a lot with the head hunger. I did not move to mushies until week 3 and that considted of smooth yoghurt and low fat ricotta or cottage cheese.

I was on liquids for two weeks, but they could be anything as long as it fit through a straw. Maybe you can try that version of liquids to help. Then you can eat soups/ bisques, and pureed food.