It's almost 3 weeks since my surgery (October 4) and it doesn't take much food for me to feel full. (I'm still on mushies at this stage) Honestly I have to force myself to eat. I do not have any restriction (my surgeon prefers to wait & see if it is needed) However, I'm confused about the volume of food, when I was told by the nutritionist no more than 1 cup of food, does that mean if you are having a vegetable and a Protein, or if you have 3 items should the volume of all items total 1 cup? Or should I have 1 cup of each item three times a day.

The other problem is trying to get in 6-8 glasses of Water during the day between my meals and Snacks especially having to wait 1 hour after each meal? Last but not least, if I drink a Protein shake for Breakfast, should I have to wait 1 hour after that to drink water as well? Does the Protein Drink count toward the water intake?

Some clarity and/or suggestions would be appreciated.

The one cup means all the food at that meal should equal one cup, not a cup of each thing. And yes, any liquid counts so your protein shake will count towards your liquids. Find something that works for you with drinking the water. I find that if I drink it out of the half liter bottles, I do better than if I try to drink it out of a cup. I wash and refill my bottles with tap water for a bit so I am not being too wasteful with the plastic they come in. I can easily drink 4 of those a day just by sipping on them along all day and that gets in my 64 oz of water. Perhaps you can try different things til you can figure out what will work for you. Good luck to you.

The 1 cup thing is one cup TOTAL! Just make sure most of that is protien. As far as the protien shakes, that counts as a liquid so you can add that to your 64 oz needed of water

Erin your one cup total is confusing. It should be 1 cup of food three times a day and dont worry about snacking its not necessary to snack. Dont worry about snacking. If you read the lap band diet it says 3 meals a day and no snacking. Of course since you are newly banded you are not going to want to snack. As far as drinking goes I get 4 sixteen ounce bottles and use the MIO in them it helps get them down better.

Thank you all for your responses.. I have been having a yogurt or sugar free Jello or applesauce in between my meals.. I was doing that to try to get in the 1000 calories I was told to try to shoot for by the nutritionist. I can't seem to get that amount of calories in. I can't see how it's possible when all we can eat is 1 cup of food 3 times a day.

I'm still a teeny bit confused.. That would mean each 1 cup of food (meal) would have to consist of at least 350+ calories each. Hopefully I'll find something that works for me

LBT, can you tell me what MIO in your Water bottles means??

Three meals a day does not work for everyone. I have 3 healthy meals and a healthy snack to try to get in my calories. Which I have a hard time sometimes getting enough calories. While you are on mushies, try not to worry too much about calories. Just eat what you can and be sure and try to get in your protein which helps with healing. Good luck.

MIO is a water flavor aid like crystal light but its liquid and you can get it in the isle they sell that kind of stuff. I have to put something in my water in order to get it in. Dont worry right now about getting all your calories just worry about healing. You may never reach 1000 calories.

You bring up some good questions.

I haven't heard about the 1 cup rule. The rule my nutritionist has is 10-15 minutes from when you start to eat and when you finish and put your fork down between bites and wait 30 seconds before you pick your fork back up.

As for liquids, 30 -60 minutes after eating. Try to do 20 ozs between breakfast and lunch and 20 ozs between lunch and dinner and 20 0zs after dinner (but not too close to bed time.

I'm struggling with the 60 ozs myself. But after talking to the nutritionist, I have made sure I get 40 ozs in by dinner and then whatever I drink after dinner is what I do and not worry so much about it.

It's almost 3 weeks since my surgery (October 4) and it doesn't take much food for me to feel full. (I'm still on mushies at this stage) Honestly I have to force myself to eat. I do not have any restriction (my surgeon prefers to wait & see if it is needed) However, I'm confused about the volume of food, when I was told by the nutritionist no more than 1 cup of food, does that mean if you are having a vegetable and a Protein, or if you have 3 items should the volume of all items total 1 cup? Or should I have 1 cup of each item three times a day.

The other problem is trying to get in 6-8 glasses of Water during the day between my meals and Snacks especially having to wait 1 hour after each meal? Last but not least, if I drink a protein shake for breakfast, should I have to wait 1 hour after that to drink water as well? Does the protein drink count toward the water intake?

Some clarity and/or suggestions would be appreciated.

I truly appreciate anyone that takes the time to reply to my posts. My summation after reading all the replies is there is really no "hard & fast" rules for everyone, with the exception of getting in the protein. I will just take this time to focus on healing and getting the protein in. Now I know if I have a (healthy) snack in between my meal times, it will not hurt or harm my goals with the band I will also have to "tune" in and listen to my body. Y

If you mash a Burger King bacon cheeseburger into a cup, you'd have about 3500 calories,

I'm sure nobody meant for us to do that, but it is possible to get enough calories in a cupful.

You are correct, Corrigan. Having just begun this journey of trying to eat healthy vs. the daily whopper and fries, I just am trying to make good choices, eat a fairly balanced diet that is lower in calories, fats and carbs and high in protein. Learning to eat properly and staying within the guidelines from my doctor's office is definitely a learning curve.