For comparison, here's what Dr. Spivak said....The procedure is 1 hour, then 1 hour recovery and 1 hour of testing, etc. and then home. Other than typical post-op instructions, he said to take a Flintstones chewable Vitamin with Iron.

liquid Diet for 1-2 days. Go slow and stop when full. coffee, tea, diluted fruit juice. broth, blender Soup, skim milk, Jello, popsicles, yogurt, sugar free pudding, cottage cheese, applesauce, oatmeal, grits, cream of wheat, V*, protien drinks

Soft Diet for 4 weeks. Add: soft fruit, cooked veges and fish, eggs, anything with the consistency of baby food. No liquids with or 30 min after eating.

Regular diet afterwards: Eat only at meal times. Avoid cheap calories. Chew well.

The Burning Theory of Food:

NEWSPAPER: Foods the body can use quickly, best fo losing weight. Fruits and vegetables.

KINDLING; Food high in protien, moderate to low in carbs and fats. Skinless chicken, fish, legumes.

LOGS: Slow burning foods. To burn these you must a very active, like a marathoner: Pasta, breads, whole grains rice cereals.

WET LOGS: Fats that take a long time for your body to use: Oils, butter, ice cream, whole milk, nuts, chocolate.

Betsyjane,

I like your analogy, Well said! I am getting banded in November, I'm so excited. What I dont get is why so many doctors recommend so many different things? I have been looking at posts all around and it seems the diets pre op are different and post op, kinda sort of consistant. It just seems funny to me. Dont you agree?

I am bewildered... My Dr., whose analogy that is, mostly just shrugs, but he does say there are different ways to place the band, and different methods and timing of fills. He also, of course, thinks his way is the right way. He also says that people who were banded even a year ago didn't ahve the advantage of the latest tehchniques. He says there is just getting to be enough of a body of research to begin to develop best practices. Let's all sing! I enjooooy being a guinea pig!

First off, refrigerate the liquid Tylenol; goes down much easier cold.

Clear liquid stage: Jello, SF popsicles, broth or clear Soups. Think Protein, protein, protein. Consider strained egg-drop soup as an alternative to broth.. Hummus is also high in protein.

Thicker liquids: Campbell's Select soups or Imagine organic soups.

By all means, get a Magic Bullet blender (eBay and other online merchants). Once you get to the mushies stage, you can pulverize chicken, tuna or egg salad to whatever consistency you like. You can also blend Protein drinks.

Once you're past the mushies stage, the South Beach Diet frozen dinner have lots of protein with very modest calories and they taste great.

Best of luck to you. Tell your husband he won't regret one cent of what you're spending on the surgery. It will be the best money you ever spent.

Betsyjane,

I like your analogy, Well said! I am getting banded in November, I'm so excited. What I dont get is why so many doctors recommend so many different things? I have been looking at posts all around and it seems the diets pre op are different and post op, kinda sort of consistant. It just seems funny to me. Dont you agree?

It makes perfect sense to me that per-op diets would be different and post-op diets pretty much the same. Before surgery, we are all different with different health issues. Some people may have fatty livers or high blood pressure, others may have diabetes or heart issues, others may have no health issues at all beyond being morbidly obese.

Pre-op diets are about preparing a specific patient for surgery, and are based on that particular person's situation as well as the surgeon's specific requirements.

After surgery we ALL have one thing in common: we're healing from surgery! All band doctors prescribe some version of the post-op regimen of liquids, mushy foods, soft foods, and then solids at a few weeks out. This postop program is about HEALING, not about losing weight. These instructions are designed to give the band the best possible foundation in the body so it will be with us for a good long time to help us lose weight.