Okay, so today is my one week post op and tomorrow I have an appointment to see my surgeon. He is going to be allowing me to go into my mushie phase yay. However, I'm so confused.

First off, this week has been challenging. I have been on Clear liquids and Dr Taller M.D. told me to get in 64 oz. of fluids, 40 of those oz must be Protein, and that has been somewhat difficult for me, mostly because I cannot find a drink I can bear, They are all horrible to me. Blah. Also, I'm confused about me stomach, I'm not sure when I'm full or hungry or anything. I just keep sipping and sipping trying to get those oz in. Very frustrating I'm wondering if this is going to happen to me when I start my next phase..? I'm also missing food! Not because I want to eat everything that is unhealthy, simply because I think since I'm not eating ANYTHING that EVERYTHING looks good. SO VERY HARD. I'm realy looking forward to mushies, is this normal?!

BIG QUESTION: I know that I will eventually be having 3 meals a day and that those meals will be small portions since my stomach is so small now. However, tomorrow when i start mushie phase I am not sure if I will be eating small things throughout the day since my stomach is still healing, or if I'm going to be having 3 meals and fit in fluids somewhere in between. Also, Is this when I start couting my protein, calories, carbs, etc. I need some guidelines i'm so confused.!?

:biggrin0:

Didn't your doc give you nutritional guidelines? Call and ask for some. If you want to see what I ate during mushies, see my blog (link below). Look in the archives for recipes. They are quick and easy, I wasn't in the mood for heavy duty cooking. Try IsoPure Zero protein powder and mix it with water and flavored sugar free syrups to flavor it. Good luck.

My Doc. gave me a schedule to follow, like a little meal plan (though I was allowed to pick my own food and didn't have to stick to his) but basically it was:

8am-cream of wheat

10am-Protein shake

12pm-scrambled egg

2pm Protein Shake

4pm-refried Beans with cheese

so, basically you are eating and taking your protein shake in between meals. You def. will still need the shakes though because you will barely be able to eat at first!

First off, I had to slowly build to get in my Protein and liquids. It wasn't until about 2 weeks out that I could get in both almost every day. It gets a lot easier with mushies.

Follow your own doc's guidelines if you have them. If not, there are several generic VSG guidelines posted on this board.

My doc wants me between 600-800 calories a day, 60+ grams of protein (I shoot for 90-100), less than 30 grams of carbs and keeping an eye on my fat intake.

I found that while it might not be the best habit in the long run, I have to eat four times a day in order to get all of my calories and protein in for the day. Those meals sometimes take more than an hour, too. Some days I supplement with a protein shake to make it easier to hit my goals, but those Protein shakes have a lot of carbs if you make them with milk, so I try to only do that every few days.

I'm transitioning onto soft foods - I've been doing a mix of mushies and softs for a few days now. I'm allowed pureed meats as of today. It's very easy to get your protein in with just food once you can have tuna or chicken salad, eggbeaters with some cheese, etc.

My recommendation is to sign up with a calorie tracker. I use myfitnesspal, some folks use thedailyplate, and there are other sites out there. Plan your menu for the day in the morning and see how it fits into your nutritional needs and your ability to actually eat all of that food. Once you get into the habit of doing this, you'll always know what you're eating and you won't have to guess. I didn't realize it until I stalled out but I was hardly hitting 600 calories a day. Once I started tracking and upped that number, I lost three pounds in four days.

Good luck. Always ask questions if you have them, the folks here are very helpful and there are vets here that know way more about this than me, that's for sure.

~Cheri