I am 6 days away from my surgery date and was really cool till I went to my pre op visit where they gave me the post op diet. Im looking at 1 to 2 oz servings of liquid at a time and thinking, "how am I supposed to survive on that?"...The one thing that scares me about this process and I know its silly, is not being able to eat larger portions of food, I feel as if Im going to wither away after surgery...I guess thats the idea, duh..

How long does it take before you feel "normal" again and can eat regular foods just smaller portions? And how much does the first 4 to 6 weeks really suck??

Sorry you didn't have a reply to this.

Good luck during your procedure! You'll be fine!

On 2/21/2017 at 10:35 AM, JerseyJules said:

I am 6 days away from my surgery date and was really cool till I went to my pre op visit where they gave me the post op diet. Im looking at 1 to 2 oz servings of liquid at a time and thinking, "how am I supposed to survive on that?"...The one thing that scares me about this process and I know its silly, is not being able to eat larger portions of food, I feel as if Im going to wither away after surgery...I guess thats the idea, duh..

How long does it take before you feel "normal" again and can eat regular foods just smaller portions? And how much does the first 4 to 6 weeks really suck??

I had a really hard time trying to imagine being "full" on like 2 oz of a Protein drink after surgery. While it is different for everyone the days 1-3 can be pretty rough right after surgery. For myself I had absolutely no desire to eat anything. Hunger was non-existent and several weeks out that's still the case.

What complicates matters is that every doctor is different when it comes to a post-op diet. For me personally the first few days were clear fluids only and my protein supplements. That was followed by 2 weeks of full liquids, then 2 weeks of soft foods/pureed stage. Last Wednesday was my 4 week follow-up visit and was cleared to eat about 90% of regular foods (some things like nuts, heavy meats like steak, etc. are still off limits).

On average I'm only getting in about 500-600 calories a day, but it's all about your protein intake and I aim for 70g a day. It takes some time to realize that (eventually) 1/2 a cup of food is going to make you feel stuffed and that it make take you 20-30 minutes to get it all down. Honestly I think you'll adjust to it fairly quickly. It can seem daunting having to do this for a few weeks but after a lifetime of punishing my body I figured I owed it this...lol.

I kind of freaked on the portion thing as well, but not having portion control is what got me overweight to begin with. I was never a candy/sugar junkie. I'd take an extra plate of Pasta over a candy bar any day of the week. That part is mental and it is something that you need to come to terms with. What helps me is that in time I'll be able to enjoy some foods that I used to but now I get to stretch it out for 2-3 meals.

In the end I wouldn't stress to much about it. You just have to focus on getting your protein and fluids in after surgery. There will be times when you do have some food mourning, but you'll be so focused on following plan and healing that you won't be as preoccupied about it as you might think.

Good luck!