Hi,

I am 1 month and 2 days post op. Everything went well with my surgeon, but afterwards he had me start going to a nutritionist for her to tell me what I should be eating. Before the surgery my surgeon told me in 6 weeks I should be eating normally.

I went to the nutritionist two days ago hoping to move from Mushies to something more solid and thought in two weeks I would be eating normal food, but small portions.

Instead my nutritionist gave me a weekly menu (as normal). I hate this. I can't still to a weekly menu for every meal I eat. She did add a few more foods and told me to start eating 3 oz. of chicken or fish for lunch and dinner and said she would see me in 6 weeks. 6 weeks! Here I thought I was almost done with the post op diet?

I think I am going to stop going to her. I'm the kind of person that I would prefer to know what I can and cannot have and how many calories or something and I will plan what I eat.

Maybe some of you that are about as far out as me can help me with what you are eating?

Anything I try seems to go down ok for me. I wonder if there is any harm in

just trying different things?

Any advice would be appreciated! THANKS!

I would tell her what you told us. You want to be in charge of your daily meals and are looking for guidelines not a script. She should be able to accommodate that and if she is not--find yourself someone who will listen. My doctor gives us permission to eat solid foods (as tolerated) anytime after 31 days. Let her know that she is being too restrictive and too prescriptive for your needs.

All the post-op diets seem to vary a lot. My program has a staff nutritionist and our diet is as follows: (My surgery was 2 days after yours).

Week 1-2: liquids

Week 3-4: pureed and liquids

Week 5-12: Soft (this includes a lot of different foods - just make them moist - like chicken salad is OK but put a lot of mayo in it)

Then for the next 3 months regular - but don't add carbs yet

After six months you can add two ounces of carbs per day.

They stress that you eat Protein 1st, then produce, then diary and then if you still have room you can have a little bit of carbs later on. I don't have a menu - just serving guidelines.

The guidelines for soft is two protein supplements a day. One to one and a half ounce of protein at meals. Three servings of fruits and vegetables. Two servings of dairy. A little fat. No starchy veggies or carbs other than those included in the supplements etc.

At this point it's impossible to get everything in - but that is the goal to work toward by month three.

Hope this helps.

It would drive me nuts to have someone tell me what to eat. I eat whatever I want.

I am sure you know how to pick from the food groups. Just don't over do it with carbs and you will be fine.

All I do is make sure I get 70 grams of protein a day, and keep it under or around 600 calories....that's all. You'll find that getting the 70 grams of protein will fill you up and not leave room for much else. I drink the Protein Drinks from Costco (white packaging) that have 160 calories and 30 grams of protein....and after that whatever proteins can get me to 70 grams a day. Good luck!

This is sad to hear. There was a whole weight loss program at the hospital where I had the sugery along with follow up calls on a regular basis. I was given a huge binder and I refered to it all the time. It told me exactly what I could eat at any given week. I am 10 months out and I just can't find the binder any more unfortunately. But when I did add regular food, I started with canned tuna and/or canned chicken. I wouldn't add lots of mayo however, but would add the creamy low fat cheese that come in wedges called "Laughing Cow," it makes the tuna creamy but without all the fat from the mayo. Also sliced deli meats like ham, chicken, turkey. Beans and eggs too. Some people swear by refried beans. For breakfast to this day I mix yogurt and cottage cheese and that should go down ok. I avoided breads. And of course drink your protein. After a few weeks of that, add veggies and fruits as you can and then carbs later on. I still eat my protein first and then fit in whatever i can, which of course, is not a lot.

You won't be able to eat a lot, but even a little is satisfying and will make youfeel like a normal person again.

Little by little, as you add more things to your diet your stomach will tell you what it does and does not like.

I hope this helps a bit.

Personally, I've never understood how every doctor has a different dietary plan for their patients?? Mine has a progression to solids and normal food at 8 weeks. Once, you hit the 8 weeks mark you can try what you want. There is no restriction as to carbs, etc. The only thing they say is no ham, beef or pork for 6 months.

This is totally different from mine!!! I am 5 weeks out and eating ham, beef, and pork - but we aren't allowed to add carbs for 6 months.

I eat a lot of salad with chicken breast on top.

Personally, I've never understood how every doctor has a different dietary plan for their patients?? Mine has a progression to solids and normal food at 8 weeks. Once, you hit the 8 weeks mark you can try what you want. There is no restriction as to carbs, etc. The only thing they say is no ham, beef or pork for 6 months.

It is really weird,

Have been eating ham slices from about the third week post-op and have had small pieces of steak tnderloin, and pork tenderloin and had no problems except for eating too much too fast (as they are so good!) but that is a learning process...I just don't do fatty things like bacon or sausages and haven't done ground beef yet, but feel I could if I wanted to, I even have had carbs - but not many. Hate denying myself so many things, and if that makes the weight come off a bit slower so be it. At least it is coming off!

The Cornell Weight Loss Hospital recommends for its sleeve patient that they go on mushies as soon as they get home from the hospital...go figure! So I added some of those ideas into my diet fairly early on. Did not want to be a slave to anyone else's dictates, if my tummy could handle it I was fine with it all. Just had to be sensible and go slowly and use my common sense. Seems to work for me.

I expect doctors figure we lack a lot of common sense (why we got fat in the first place?) and need strict guidelines. But at my age I know myself and I can be very reasonable about my food choices, especially with this restriction.

So the message is do what you think is right and go slowly and try things for yourself. Just make smart choices.

Cheers,

Donna:001_cool:

I think you should follow at least the "spirit" of the guidelines given to you by YOUR surgeon. They have their reasons, and whether we consider them valid or not, if you trusted him/her enough to cut you open...you should also trust their advice on when to start back on real food!

Tracy

I think you should follow at least the "spirit" of the guidelines given to you by YOUR surgeon. They have their reasons, and whether we consider them valid or not, if you trusted him/her enough to cut you open...you should also trust their advice on when to start back on real food!

Tracy

Yes, Tracy,

Our doctors gave us the Cornell list as an option for us to follow but thier own guidelines given were also for liquids the first week and in the second week adding apple sauce, Soup broths (potato, tomato, lentil, vegetable and chicken) and third wk adding chopped fruit (tiny pieces) and whole veg juices. 4th 5th and 6th weeks were menus consisting of a lot of things like canned tuna, ritz crackers, yogurt, blended chicken breast, cheese milk, oatmeal etc. as well as the former Soups liquids etc.

So I do think we followed much of it but I know I did deviate with the addition of the meats I tried out, (only twice with the beef) so now at 8 weeks feel good about my choices for me...like I said... but secretly I have always felt that people who argue with their doctors live longer. (because they take responsibility for their health and are proactive usually)

And I don't mean they literally argue, but that they don't always follow everything doctors recommend due to their own research and knowledge.

Sounds sassy of me, but I have seen too many generations of doctors who have been so very wrong and are so slow to accept paradigm shifts.

I remember doctors touting smoking and thalidimide and countless other drugs that harmed a great deal of the population, and we think today how could they have, well they are human and get caught up in the days notions and go with the flow with pharmaceuticals. Not to say that this operation and diet recommendations are anyway linked to this, but my trust in doctors has been badly damaged over all my 7 decades and I cannot believe they alone have all the answers to our health and our bodies. Yes, I listen, but I also listen to my own inner wisdom and common sense, chalk it up to my thinking doctors are wonderful at fixing broken bodies and finding diseases but for maintaining our own health sometimes we need to shoulder that responsibilty ourselves and we do have that right!

Sorry didn't mean to get on a soap box here, just got off topic somewhat so you can understand where I am coming from.