Greetings,

I know many of you are just starting out on this journey and may want to know what to do after approval ?. Here are some tips that are helping me:

1) Stock up on your Protein shakes. During your visits to the doctor, you should have been trying to find a shake that you like. For me, it was difficult since I am lactose intolerant. Even a small amount of lactose makes my stomach hurt. I spent 3 months testing Protein Shakes. The following two are great for me:

Premier Shakes
Orgain Shakes

You can get these from target, Vitamin Shoppe and Premier is sold at BJ's.

2) Stock up on your vitamins. If you're like me and cannot take pills, try this brand sold a Target called Olly. This brand comes in a chewable form and consist of the following you will need:

Calcium (Bones)
Multivitamin (Men and Women)
B12 (Energy)
Vitamin D (Sunshine)

3) Find a food Processor (Not a chopper. They look similar but are different apparently)

4) You can purchase glass baby jars (??) for your puréed stage or you can purchase condiment holders. They both will work with holding your puréed food and helping you measure it out.

5) Gatorade will help with the electrolytes loss. Make sure it is sugar free. It may taste nasty but hey sugar is what got us to where we are now.

6) I created a Pre-op diet schedule and Post-op diet schedule. For those whom need to have an idea of when to eat based on their schedules, this can help.

7) Practice your eating and drinking schedule?. Don't drink 30 minutes before and wait 30 minutes after eating to drink. Slip slowly. Chew your food slowly. There is an App which can help you time yourself.

8) Incorporate more vegetables. Limit your fruit intake because that is still sugar.

9) Continue reading and learning.

10) If you are surrounded by people whom are not supportive, try to not discuss this process with them as they will not be understanding of it. This will stress you out and you may have second thoughts.

11) If you are surrounded by people whom are supportive, try not to overwhelm them. It's a catch 22...I know but show them what you are doing or going to be doing. They may not understand the process but they will see how important it is to you. Try not to talk too much about it, when they have questions, they will ask.

As a reminder, this is not a medical opinion but tips that I use to help with the process. There are days in which I want my comfort foods. Sometimes I indulge but most times I ignore the cravings. We are not only changing our bodies but we are also changing our minds. Use this time wisely. Be prepared. Good luck and you can succeed.


Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Thank you for the advice, sounds great.

mizzzrenee

Agreed! This is a great list of things to work on in the meantime!