OKay so a very good friend of my wife and myself who is a ex lap band patient, iS going to have their own surgery soon. Unfortunately, they will be in a different state ( Florida) and I'm in Massachusetts so any help i can give has to be long distance. Here is the big dilemma I am having. Now i consider my weight loss to be very successful so far.

My personal weight loss diet plan after surgery was 2 weeks of liquids, then 2 weeks of purees then after the 30-day checkup i was on soft foods.

My friends diet is for pre-op liquid diet ( which i understand) but three days after surgery they are on ground beef and regular vegetables etc. Now I know and maintain that each journey is different, and I know that many doctors have different preferences etc. But has anyone ever heard of or followed such a diet plan?

If so, how have ou done, and what kind of difficulties have you faced?

Doesn't that seem a little...drastic? or even dangerous. I know personally there is no way i would've been able to keep ground beef down at that early point.

Ive looked online and found a few post op plans that i like a lot more. and wil send this person those. If anyone has what they used online, feel free to post it or post a link.

Thanks, im really interested to hear what you all have to say.

Well, I haven't heard of beef and veggies three days after surgery given out by a surgeon as a diet progression plan, but I certainly know of individuals who have done that and have been just fine with no complications.

I, myself, went a bit up-tempo of the prescribed diet progression, going for tuna fish on the 6th day after surgery, grilled chicken and meatballs by week 3, and by a month out, I was already eating everything with no problem and in much smaller amounts. This was somewhat necessitated by a pretty active late summer wedding season in which I was forced to have a lot of non-sleeve friendly meals.

I think that evidence is showing that the very conservative food progression that was standard a few years ago, might be overkill. Even so, I cannot imagine eating those foods so early. My stomach was pretty weirded out those early weeks and I would be afraid of not "feeling" things right. When I did finally get to solid foods, i felt like I was having to learn to eat again. I don't know the right path, but I am glad for the path I followed.

I had minimal vomiting (happened several months post op from wolfing food too fast!), no sliming or whatever people describe and I think my slow and cautiious progression helped with that.

I knew I could have accelerated the post WLS phases, but I rather err on the side of caution and follow my surgeon's recommendations; we are going to be using this stomach for many decades to come.

It is only the difference of waiting a few extra weeks to eat those same foods.

That does sound a bit fast. I've heard of people being transitioned to food quickly, but more along the lines of yogurts and soft foods. My transition was 2 weeks all liquids,>2 weeks purees >2 weeks soft foods. I could probably have done cooked veg that first week. I would encourage your friend to have another conversation with their nutritionist and discuss alternatives to ground beef.

It seems to me if I ate heavy food right after surgery would rip the seams of my sutures. Sounds risky to me....

In your shoes, I'd be careful of getting between your friend and his surgeon's recommendations.

FYI, I just looked back at my My Fitness Pal food records and see that on Day 21 I first ate Wendy's beef chili.

Just sayin'.

@

This is the second time I've heard you say you were 'forced' to eat something off plan.

Did they have a gun to your head or something?

There's all sorts of different plans and different surgeons. If your friend trusts their surgeon, then I don't see an issue. I would keep asking them how they are doing during the food progression just to see how they are handling it, and if it sounds like they aren't very well, then I would advise them to speak to their surgeon. Otherwise, I would just be there to support and share your own successes.

Chili was allowed on my plan at the soft food stage. Not quite immediately but by week 5.

Whatever you do, just try to stay tactful with your suggestions.

I was on clear liquids for the one day in the hospital then purée for the first week then soft foods week two then at one month no restrictions other then volume/size of meals. In the soft food stage I had the ok to eat lean ground meat if I could tolerate it. I'm just over a month out now and the only problem I've had is if I eat too fast. I've had zero complications and never thrown up yet. As of today I've lost 29.5 pounds.

@@Babbs I didn't mean that literally, it was a personal decision to just blend in instead of drawing attention to myself. I didn't feel like being asked if I was dieting or doing P90X or crossfit or something when we were just trying to Celebrate the nuptials, and then being told "oh but this is such a special day just take a break..." by 500 different sixteenth cousins of my old schoolmates' new spouses. And yes, these were receptions at which it would've been quite hard to fly under the radar. I was able to say I quit drinking (and that would be true I guess with the sleeve) so I didn't have to explain to everybody why I wasn't having champagne or commuting every five minutes to the open bar.

@@Babbs I didn't mean that literally, it was a personal decision to just blend in instead of drawing attention to myself. I didn't feel like being asked if I was dieting or doing P90X or crossfit or something when we were just trying to celebrate the nuptials, and then being told "oh but this is such a special day just take a break..." by 500 different sixteenth cousins of my old schoolmates' new spouses. And yes, these were receptions at which it would've been quite hard to fly under the radar. I was able to say I quit drinking (and that would be true I guess with the sleeve) so I didn't have to explain to everybody why I wasn't having champagne or commuting every five minutes to the open bar.

Understood.

OKay so a very good friend of my wife and myself who is a ex lap band patient, iS going to have their own surgery soon. Unfortunately, they will be in a different state ( Florida) and I'm in Massachusetts so any help i can give has to be long distance. Here is the big dilemma I am having. Now i consider my weight loss to be very successful so far.

My personal weight loss diet plan after surgery was 2 weeks of liquids, then 2 weeks of purees then after the 30-day checkup i was on soft foods.

My friends diet is for pre-op liquid diet ( which i understand) but three days after surgery they are on ground beef and regular vegetables etc. Now I know and maintain that each journey is different, and I know that many doctors have different preferences etc. But has anyone ever heard of or followed such a diet plan?

If so, how have ou done, and what kind of difficulties have you faced?

Doesn't that seem a little...drastic? or even dangerous. I know personally there is no way i would've been able to keep ground beef down at that early point.

Ive looked online and found a few post op plans that i like a lot more. and wil send this person those. If anyone has what they used online, feel free to post it or post a link.

Thanks, im really interested to hear what you all have to say.

That sure does sound really aggressive.

I guess all you can do, if asked, is to let 'em know they can always stick to shakes & pureed for longer.

My plan is 2 days liquids, 2 weeks modified liquids (sugar free pudding, low fat yogurt, blended and strained soups, etc), then two months soft foods (tuna salad, scrambled eggs, soft veggies, etc) then regular stuff. And never any protein drinks or bars. Surgeons have different plans...

It does sound too fast to me too. I would just tell the friend that it might be ambitious to expect to eat solid foods like that so soon, and to take it very slow, and know that stepping back and going to soft foods or liquids is definitely an option if her sleeve doesn't like the progression of the recommended diet.