I am a week away from my surgery and am looking for some help as far as to what foods you have had and liked in your mushy stage and thereafter.

I think this would also be a good place for any other advice for us pre-surgical people!

Thank you in advance!

=)

After surgery your taste buds change. I went out and bought a lot of different types of food for after surgery. Most of it, I never used. After surgery, I lost my appetite. I was not hungry. That is a very strange feeling because hunger use to be always present, always drove me like an obsession. And then it was gone. This does not happen to everyone but it happens to many individuals that undergo bariatric surgery.

After surgery, it is a struggle. You struggle with making sure you take the correct Vitamins with the right time spacing between them. After surgery, you can no longer swallow. Large Calcium pills must be crushed to powder to take. I remember the Lovenox injections that I had to give myself each day to prevent blood clots. Then there is the exercise routine. Food was another issue but the quantity allowed at the beginning is so small that it doesn't really matter. You are living off your stored fat, your vitamins and your Protein supplements.

I guess if I was going to give a recommendation, I would say try experimenting with Protein shakes (from the approved lists) and try and find one that you can tolerate. Also buy a blender, such as a Ninja for mixing the protein shakes.

The entire journey after surgery is one of transition. The volumes of allowed food changes, the types of food changes, the levels of protein supplements change and the types of protein supplements change. So it is best to go with the flow. It was 6 months after surgery before I reached my happy state and I have been there ever since. Taking account of all the hassle after surgery, in my opinion the operation was well worth it.

Well right now the Protein drinks I had to get from my surgeon are atrocious so I am drinking premiere protein, which I was drinking before.

Att he point you are now, can you swallow pills at all?

I am a little over 2 weeks postop and I'm still on clears and Protein shakes per my docs plan. I will be advanced to a soft diet at week 3. So for now I find it easy for me to digest Jello, broth, sf popsicles are awesome because I can actually "chew", and believe it or not V8. I am on nectar protein shakes, I've had good luck with that one.

My tastes did change to a certain degree. I'm lucky so far, I can tolerate eating my limited menu but I really don't like flavors that I once did. Plus I have no desire for sweet "foods". I would suggest buying a variety of foods to try but don't go overboard unless there are others in your house that will eat them.

I think also what has helped me do so well so early on is walking. I was walking for 30 min a day since the day I got home. I wasn't getting far distance wise in the beginning, but now I'm up to just under 2 miles in 30 minutes. You don't have to go crazy, just move, you're body will tell you if you're pushing yourself too much.

The first couple of days in the hospital were rough, and I wondered for days what the heck did I do to myself. Even at this point in my journey I feel great, and I'm glad I made the decision to do this. But don't get discouraged, I think feelings of regret are normal. Good luck with you're upcoming surgery!

At 3 months after surgery, my nutritionist recommended that I try and swallow the calcium pill. I tried and it worked. That was one of the steps that made the process work easier.

I wrote a short article about my experience with Bariatric Surgery. If you care to read it, you can see it at

http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

I absolutely hated the mushy stage. Couldn't stand yogurt or cottage cheese nor oatmeal. That pretty much left me to alternate between cheesy mashed potatos and canned chili.

I did discover though that hot sauce was my best friend. I could alter the taste enough with different sauces that not every meal tasted exactly the same. I think I went through half a jar of cayenne pepper during this phase.

As for the pills - I was able to handle them 1 week out, but I think that really depends on the person, whether you typically use liquid as a chaser or to help swallow them, etc...

But the number one thing I'd recommend is not to stock up on anything until after you've tried it a time or two after your surgery. I made the mistake of stocking up on a few things (Isopure Protein drinks, SF popsicles, greek yogurt etc...) and after surgery couldn't choke them down if you paid me.

At 3 months after surgery, my nutritionist recommended that I try and swallow the calcium pill. I tried and it worked. That was one of the steps that made the process work easier.

I wrote a short article about my experience with Bariatric Surgery. If you care to read it, you can see it at

http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

Thanks for posting. I read through yourlink but I do have to ask about the berry smoothie. It sounds really good butseems like a lot of sugar with the banana, berries, and juice.

Do you have any idea how many sugars it is? I think they told me I should have no more that 6g of sugar per meal.

I absolutely hated the mushy stage. Couldn't stand yogurt or cottage cheese nor oatmeal. That pretty much left me to alternate between cheesy mashed potatos and canned chili.

I did discover though that hot sauce was my best friend. I could alter the taste enough with different sauces that not every meal tasted exactly the same. I think I went through half a jar of cayenne pepper during this phase.

As for the pills - I was able to handle them 1 week out, but I think that really depends on the person, whether you typically use liquid as a chaser or to help swallow them, etc...

But the number one thing I'd recommend is not to stock up on anything until after you've tried it a time or two after your surgery. I made the mistake of stocking up on a few things (Isopure Protein drinks, SF popsicles, greek yogurt etc...) and after surgery couldn't choke them down if you paid me.

I like all of those foods now, but I don't know if I will after surgery. I am very worried about being able to takep ills because I have Epilepsy and Rheumatoid Arthritis amongst other things that I absolutely have to take pills for.

Thanks for posting. I read through yourlink but I do have to ask about the berry smoothie. It sounds really good butseems like a lot of sugar with the banana, berries, and juice.

At 3 months after surgery, my nutritionist recommended that I try and swallow the calcium pill. I tried and it worked. That was one of the steps that made the process work easier.

I wrote a short article about my experience with Bariatric Surgery. If you care to read it, you can see it at

http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

Do you have any idea how many sugars it is? I think they told me I should have no more that 6g of sugar per meal.

There are many different types of sweeteners and not all are bad.

Those that should be avoided are processed cane sugar, any food ending in -ose (sucrose or table sugar, fructose or honey, dextrose), corn syrup, corn solids, high fructose corn syrup, cane juice.

On the other hand natural sugar found in fruit and milk are O.K. as are artificial sweeteners.

So even though the ingredients that go into making these smoothies contain natural sugar, they do not contain any type of sugar that needs to be avoided.

It took me awhile to understand the difference between the various types of sweeteners, so I can understand the subject is somewhat confusing. You may want to have a discussion with your nutritionist to clarify this subject. Also I would not opt for the smoothies until you reach around 6 months post-op.

Another subject that is probably worth discussing is the Protein requirement. The protein supplements are a totally separate element than the meal plan. There is no volume limitation on the protein supplements. Generally speaking you can have as much as you want. For example, you can blend a whole banana into your Protein shake and the banana will not count against your volume limit in your meal plan. It is part of the protein shake. There is no crossover. [My plan recommends protein supplements that provides at least 20 grams of protein and less than 5 grams of process sugar per serving.] So during the beginning you will probably rely on something called a protein shake which in my opinion taste terrible. Later, Protein Bars, such as the QuestBar will become an option which comes in handy when you are away from home. The protein requirement is a minimum of 75-90 grams of protein per day. In the beginning, this will generally be obtained from protein supplements because the meal allotment is so small. But as you progress many months after surgery, it will become possible to obtain around 60 grams of protein from the meals alone which means that you can transition off the protein shakes and replace it with berry smoothies.

I agree about not stocking up. For the mushy stage, refried Beans were allowed, so I bought several cans of fat free ones. Of course, one can makes about 2-3 meals for me, so I don't go through a can that quickly. I stayed completely away from carbs, so no mashed or soft potatoes for me. I pureed chili, ate refried beans, had lots of greek yogurt (you can add in some sugar free Jello and it tastes like it's fruity without the fruit sugars). Added melted cheese into chili and beans... scrambled eggs.

Still -- you don't have to stock up because one container of Better than Eggs will last for a LONG time even if you're eating a scrambled egg every day!

If tuna is allowed on your mushy stage, you can make tuna salad with that and some FF mayo. I also chopped grilled chicken to death and mixed with mayo for chicken salad.

I don't agree with the part about adding a banana into shakes and not counting that. I count everything that goes in my mouth using My Fitness Pal. I struggle some with getting enough Fluid (I don't count shakes towards my fluid for the day) but my urine is staying pretty light, so I think I'm getting enough between shakes and the extra liquids I drink.

My doctor and NUT want me to have 60 grams of Protein a day and I struggle a little getting that much even without adding in carbs. If I ONLY eat protein, I may hit 60 but it means I didn't eat anything else. I just met with my NUT today and she suggested I add in a little more carbs (fruits and veggies) with Snacks when I am hitting 60 grams of protein because my calorie count is so low (300-350 a day usually).

I met with my surgeon and nutritionist today and they went over something like a sample day of a meal plan with many options.

I grabbed some things at the store this evening. Not a lot, but some. We actually don't keep much food at the house. I should have 60 gr Protein a day and the nutritionist actually counts those ounces as part of my Fluid intake.