I am still pre-op but wanted some advice on meal prep. I admit I am not the best at planning ahead and I know this has to change. I am a drive thru junkie and known to have nothing but potato chips throughout the day. I would like to be prepared and start making changes now.

What tips do you have for planning food/liquids? It seems like with the small portions it might make sense to plan a week or at least several days at a time? Do you use a form/spreadsheet?

Looking forward to your advice from the other side of this adventure.

Planning is key! And I am horrible at it. I know what to do but it is hard to do. However, it is the biggest part that will help you succeed so I applaud you asking this question now.

A couple of things. YOu know your food log that you are supposed to keep? If you fill it out on Sunday for the entire week, you will know what you are going to eat for the week and can get everything prepped early. Fill out what you will eat/drink for every meal and snack for the entire week. You can even cook it all on one day and just reheat it throughout the week.

I think I am more successful when I fill all this out on paper but I also tend to not do it on paper so that isn't good. So I used an Excel spreadsheet . Just keep going down the spreadsheet for the next days.

Oh, it wouldn't let me post it!!

******Note that I am a year and a half out so my food list will be different from yours!!!!!*****

Basically, it should be kind of like this (though things probably won't line up here.

Aug 3 Breakfast 2 eggs scrambled 12 g

coffee black 0 g

Snack Greek nonfat yogurt 12 g

Lunch 2 oz chicken 14 g

raw veggies 0 g

balsamic vinegar 0 g

Snack Greek nonfat yogurt 12 g

Dinner chicken marsala 14 g

Total 64 g

But WHAT to make?! That is where I fall short. I have my dishes that I know how to make but I'm not a very good cook and don't have a wide variety of things to make. I'm still a work in progress! I would love to also hear what other people do.

Edited August 8, 201510 yr by esskay77

Immediately after surgery, the most important requirements are Vitamins, fluids and Protein. Your meal allotment is less important and microscopically small. Your body will get its energy from converting your stored fat. Thus you lose weigh!. So even though you may struggle with foods, you have to get the vitamins, fluids and protein right. Another problem you may encounter is that your taste buds may change. Foods that you might enjoy before surgery may have no flavor after surgery. So too much preplanning may be a wasted effort. Be open to experimentation after the operation.

As my meal allotment increased after surgery and my list of acceptable foods increased, I found that high protein chili and Soups went down the easiest. I have included a few recipes in the attached article. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

It's a good idea to take a before picture. If you are like me, you do not really look in a mirror at yourself. Truly look. So when we lose the weight we tend not to see the change. If you take your own photo and retake it after you lose the weight, replicating the exact same pose, it will show what you have accomplished. Here is mine. That will give you an idea of the value of these photographs. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Operation.jpg

Great information! Thank you everyone!