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Did anyone stay in liquid diet long term post-op?

Chrysalis77

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Chrysalis77    66

Chrysalis77
Posted

Hi! I am scheduled for surgery on July 18 and I am planning to stay on a liquid / Protein shake diet for several weeks if not months after surgery. I have cleared this with my doctors and NUT. My thinking is the more time, space, changes I can put between me and my old relationship with food, the better. I want to take full advantage of the honeymoon period and since I have done a medically supervised liquid diet for several months before I know I can handle it.

Has anyone else tried this? What was your experience? Not looking for naysayers, just wondering how many people have tried staying liquid for longer than usual.

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KristenLe    5,980

KristenLe
Posted

I think you should reconsider. Post-op is the best time to develop a better relationship with food. Use this "honeymoon" period to learn to eat in a way that's sustainable. If you're just going to have shakes/liquids - why bother with surgery?

I'm not trying to be rude - I just think it's best to eat real food as soon as you can.

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VSGAnn2014    12,992

VSGAnn2014
Posted

I know you don't want "nay-saying," but I've had some experience with what you are thinking of doing that I'd like to share with you.

Twice in my lifetime I did long (4-6 months long) Optifast diets. Those are diets during which you drink Protein shakes 3 times a day, while eating no solid food at all.

I lost a lot of weight both times (50-70 pounds).

And when I started eating food again I gained weight faster than you could believe it was possible to regain weight.

For me, there was something about there being no transition between the two kinds of eating plans that spun me out of control within 24 hours each time.

In contrast, one aspect I loved about the WLS post-op weight loss eating transitions was that I went gradually from liquid to purees to soft to chewing food. Those transitions back into "real live eating" were just perfect for me. I didn't feel deprived during any of those phases.

My two cents' worth.

Good luck to you. :)

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Tssiemer1    549

Tssiemer1
Posted

I was on liquid diet for 6 weeks post op because I was so sick.

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erp    2,016

erp
Posted

I was on liquids post op for 3 weeks as part of my program. It was a learning curve to reintroduce food so going slow is fine but no food for months doesn't sound optimal for health. You potentially miss a lot of micronutrients that come from eating a well rounded diet if all you consume are Protein Shakes.

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Chrysalis77    66

Chrysalis77
Posted (edited)

Thank you for your feedback. In talking with my NUT she said the key to this is A: using prescribed Meal Replacement shakes- not just any Protein shake so I can get all my nutritional needs met and B: I will still have to follow the same reintroduction to food - purée, soft, full diet. I would just start that on week 12 instead of week 2.

Good point around using more of the honeymoon period to develop better eating habits though. Perhaps mentally I am still stuck in what has worked for me in the past. I am great at losing weigh. My plan was to use the WLS tool to help keep it off.

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Edited by Chrysalis77

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Shrinkinqtpi    202

Shrinkinqtpi
Posted

@ Chrysalis77

Thank you for asking this question and posting your Nut's answer. I have thought this question many times as I will be going back to work as a teacher very fast after surgery. 1/2 time at first... shakes would make the transition much easier.

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bini120    163

bini120
Posted

Thank you for your feedback. In talking with my NUT she said the key to this is A: using prescribed Meal Replacement shakes- not just any Protein shake so I can get all my nutritional needs met and B: I will still have to follow the same reintroduction to food - purée, soft, full diet. I would just start that on week 12 instead of week 2.

Good point around using more of the honeymoon period to develop better eating habits though. Perhaps mentally I am still stuck in what has worked for me in the past. I am great at losing weigh. My plan was to use the WLS tool to help keep it off.

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

One thought: you might want to provide some room for your tastes changing after surgery and discuss a contingency for that with your nutritionist. Many people have discussed this here and it happened to me, where I enjoyed shakes just fine before the operation but find I'm barely able to stand their taste post-op: they are suddenly and almost universally too cloying and sickly. I've spent a lot of money trying different types and cannot wait to get them out of my diet entirely.

Just something you may want to consider.

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composed    26

composed
Posted

I'd think again. I did Alizonne diet for 7 months and lost masses of weight. Got a crazy sweet tooth on all the aspartame / sweetneres. And up I went yet again. I believe that it's much healthier to work towards a new, well proportioned use of healthy foods and get all the enzymes etc that are missing from 'cardboard compounds.' They have their place but for me it's going to be short term.

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Go To Topic Listing Gastric Sleeve Surgery Forums

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    • Alisa_S

      Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
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