I'm reading forums, and books and clinic pamphlets and handouts. I will have my surgery in the next couple of months. I bought a new table and chairs to encourage my sitting and eating properly. (I hated my table and chair hand me downs).I am working my food diary and am trying to up my water intake. Now I am trying to develop a list of things I need to do and buy- things to have in place. Can you help develop this list? And thanks☺

Besides the usual lists they had out.....I bought way too many kinds and too much of the Protein drinks. I tried them pre-surgery and liked them. BUT then post-op everything tasted different and things I liked before didn't taste so good post-op.

Also, I bought way too much food. Like 10 boxes of sugar free Jello. If you only eat a few spoonfuls a day, that can last a long time. I still buy way too much food.

My suggesting, get enough of the Clear liquids items and a few Soups and a limited supply of Protein Drinks cuz they may just not taste the same after surgery. At least that was my experience.

Oh goodness, I prepared for every conceivable thing. Came home, opened the fridge and it hit me "how will ever I eat all this?" It's hard to judge because your tastes change following surgery.

Just the basics, strained cream soups, protein drinks, broth sf jello.

Thank you you are clearly both saying the same thing.

The following aren't necessities by any means but I bought myself tiny plates, bowls, cups, Water bottles and storage containers. You may also need a good shaker bottle or two for mixing up your Protein shakes, I have two and that is enough. I cleared out one cupboard that is just for my things and supplies, also one of the crisper drawers in our fridge is for my items. My kitchen is black white and red so I bought cute red wire baskets for an area of my counter tops, to keep the supplies on hand that I will use a lot. Again, MY area only

I am still on clear liquids and I got sf Jello & popsicles, sf Italian ice, organic broths, Decaf tea bags, several flavors of crystal light, my favorite is the decaf lemon iced tea. powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury protein in all the flavors including the chicken Soup. lucky for me I still love them after surgery!! I use organic skim milk for my Protein Shakes but your instructions immediately following surgery may be different.

I bought flavored drops for water, and multiple protein powders. Unjury-Chicken Soup (tastes like top ramen broth), Chocolate, and unflavored. I have used all but unflavored. I have BA banana. Isopure zero carb grape frost, I do 1/2 a bottle a day mixed with powerade zero or crystal light. I have Syntrax cappuccino and cookies n cream powders, and Black Tea Lemon Isopure (waaay better than grape) on the way. I haven't had any weird taste issues. I alternate all of them.

Ooh, sugar free jello, and pudding. They were amazing when I got home. I would eat 2-3 bites, and give the rest to my husband. I also bought snall containers to portion out my food.

Edited March 1, 201511 yr by jenbaby75

a gym membership!!!!!!!!!!! (if you don't already have one) lots of other good items already mentioned above. good luck!!!

I bought way to much stuff pre-op as well. I've got stuff left over. I'm 3 weeks post op.but I figured it was better to be prepared than under prepared. I agree with everything mentioned above...sugar Popsicles, broth, protein, milk, jello. I bought jello but never ate anyone of it. The Popsicles where my favorite thing,

Thank you!

I did the same thing the others mentioned - I WAY overstocked on Protein shakes and powders. You need so little at first and things do taste a little different. If I had it to do again, I would have just bought a little bit and waited to buy more until later.

Something else I would do differently was that I had tons of sweet stuff in my fridge and pantry (lots of chocolate and vanilla flavors) and wished I had bought some salty flavors of things too. broth will taste divine after you've been on a steady diet of chocolate shakes. There are also some really good smooth Soups out there. My favorite was Imagine Creamy Broccoli Soup.

Finally, the thing that totally saved me in those early days was Gatorade G series. I had what they call "Water nausea" where water made me extremely nauseated to the point that I would throw it up immediately. The only liquid I could keep down was Gatorade G-series orange. Obviously you don't want to be on it forever, but it saved me from dehydration. I tried other zero-calorie sports drinks but they all tasted WAY too sweet after surgery. The Gatorade, however, tasted just right; not too sweet to be cloying. Anyway, you might want to get a bottle or two of that to keep in the fridge in case you experience the same thing and need hydration.

I totally concur with the earlier posts about buying too much stuff. I have so much Protein powder and so many containers of various soups...it's nuts. It's really hard to grasp just how little you'll be able to get down!

I second the flavored drops for water--I never drank anything but Water pre-surgery, but I'm just now at 6 weeks out getting so I can tolerate plain water after. It made my stomach lurch terribly up until now (and sometimes still does).

Get warm-drink stuff: decaf instant coffee if you're a coffee drinker (my doc Ok'ed coffee but I avoided caffeine for a couple of weeks), tea, etc.

Coconut water was one of my salvations in the early days--getting those electrolytes with a minimum of sugar and no acidity was great.

One thing I still lean on: TINY SPOONS. Like, the teenie baby spoons you can find at baby stores or discount stores. They are all I use to eat at home, just to be sure my bites are the right size. I also got tiny bowls--ramekin size.

A digital food scale so you can measure your food by the ounce.

A hot-water bottle to keep on your tummy post-op, it really helped my gas pains.

Good luck!!