What is the best way to meal plan. I don't even know where to start

Help

Prior to surgery, I kept a food journal. It was a real eye opener. I could see where my daily diet was getting me in trouble and what to avoid.

Before surgery, I had constant hunger. When I was eating a meal, my mind was thinking what I would have for my next meal. It was incessant. Now the interesting thing that occurred after my RNY surgery was that I completely lost my hunger. It was not difficult to plan my minuscule meals because I wasn't really hungry. This condition does not last forever but for about a year and then the hunger returns. It just isn't as strong as before.

The three most important elements after RNY gastric bypass surgery are to meet your daily protein, fluid and vitamin requirements. Food is secondary because your body is converting your stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight.

Weight loss is achieved after surgery through meal volume control. You begin at 2 ounces (1/4 cup) per meal and gradually over the next year and a half increase the volume to 1 cup per meal. With this minuscule amount of food, it is next to impossible to meet your protein daily requirements by food alone, so therefore you need to rely on supplements such as protein shakes.

So after surgery, it is extremely important to follow the surgeon's guidelines on meal volume and acceptable foods. This changes the further you are post-op. But meal planning is less important because you meal volume will be very small. Your taste buds may change after surgery. Protein shakes may be not taste good after surgery. So be willing to experiment until you find one that works for you. You do not have to like the protein shake you select but you must be able to tolerate it. There are many different formulations available. So in answer to your question on meal planning post surgery, the focus should rather be selection of a protein shake that will work for you.

I don't know if you are single, married or have a family - so here's my take from the person who is married with two teen daughters and is primarily responsible for the cooking and shopping in the house. Even pre-op, I would make a plan for the week of what protein would be served every night and how it would be prepared -- it avoided the 6 pm - oh crap what am I going to do with those pork chops issues. Once I was on to solids, we all ate the same protein every evening, I just ate it in way smaller portions.

So I take a day on the weekend, look at the schedule and figure out what's going to be for dinner every night. I tend to keep my breakfasts and lunches simple and repetitive. For breakfast I ususally have a smoothie with about a cup of fruit, coconut milk or Fairlife Skim and protein powder.

For lunch today, I did a small salad with 3 ounces of chicken breast left over from last night. I had a Sargento Balanced Break as an afternoon snack and about a cup of red grapes for a morning snack. I fence on Monday nights so I had a protein bar before fencing.

Yesterday - shake for breakfast. Lunch was at Ikea - 6 Swedish meatballs. About 1 ounce of manchego cheese for a snack in the afternoon and a BBQ chicken thigh for dinner with some cucumber and onion salad.

Pinterest is an amazing resource for bariatric meal planning. But a word of advice - if you are keeping your surgery on the QT, make your bariatric related boards private and not public or your cover will be blown.

Start with protein. That is your focus forever after surgery.

Make a list of every food that contains significant protein.

Meat/fish/dairy/eggs/tofu/beans/nuts/seeds

Then you make a list of nonstarchy veggies (this one is longer, might want to google a list)

These two things are the backbone of your meals. Aim for 20-25g protein at each meal (preop or a year postop).

A single piece of fruit each day gets you some nice vitamins and fiber without excessive carbs.

Nuts and seeds are high calorie, but they are also a great source of nutrients. An ounce a day is good.

Grains and starchy veggies should be reserved for maintenance, as a way of increasing calories/energy.

Refined sugar is for birthday parties and Christmas, period.

Add a smidge of oil to your nonstarchy veggies to help you absorb vitamins.

That's it!

I'm a foodie, trying to be a reformed foodie! I used to keep a low carb keto food blog and even with low carb eating, I wanted to still be able to immerse myself in food and meals and eating. Damn! I spent a crap ton of time thinking about food, shopping, preparing, then talking about it! Then a light bulb went off for me!

Now I seek to MINIMIZE the amount of time I have to think about food, shop for it, prepare it, etc. I'm happy eating the same 2-4 things for breakfast and lunch, day in and day out. I do still appreciate variety for dinner, but instead of thinking in terms of "how much" of xy or z I can have for that meal, I think of how "little" I can eat to satisfy my immediate hunger. I also used to want complex, multilayered meals packed with yumminess. Now I want to KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). I focus on bare naked lean meats/proteins and some low glycemic veggies (maybe a salad too), and only TINY amounts of low glycemic berries and fruits in very limited quantities. It's a total paradigm shift that makes meal planning a piece of cake.

I basically use a garanimals system for food ingredients. That way you can mix and match your dinner. I keep our most favorite veggies on hand--some of them prepped. If you don't like chopping things, you can buy bags of frozen chopped onions, peppers, and chopped/sliced frozen veggies that will allow you to pull out a few ounces at a time for each meal. At the beginning of the week I will decide what proteins we will focus on for dinners that week and then will cook them: grilled chicken breasts or George Forman chicken breasts, grilled sirloin or flank steak, venison, ground turkey/onion/spices, turkey or chicken meatloaf muffins, etc. I will usually pick 1 meat, 1 fish/seafood, and 1 ground meat to cook for the week. I also keep some low calorie/low carb/low fat sauces on hand (cuz I stay at a specific caloric level each day, so I've found some low/no sugar prepared sauces that add variety without breaking the bank and with "fairly" innocuous ingredients).

By doing it this way, using pre-prepared ingredients I can quickly "customize" a meal on the fly that only takes about 5-10 minutes to prepare. The most I do on any day for dinner is cook a veggie, make a salad or cut up an avocado and tomatoes, and warm up a meat (some days I do a tiny bit of sauce and cheese on it--other days I just keep it simple with plain meat). I feed 2 adults this way. And because of this, my exposure to food and temptation and food thoughts has gone down so much--so has my appetite! I struggle to get in 1000cals per day pre-op per my surgeon. I'm actually now working to get to 1200cals/day pre-op and it's rough! Because I don't eat any junk (the biggest junk I might have is pork rinds with something), and concentrate on very small 3oz portions of cooked lean protein and low glycemic veggies--it takes a LOT of food to get to 1000cals!

I wouldn't say the pre-op weight is flying off of me, but I've now lost 50+ lbs since May3 and am having my 2nd appointment with the surgeon on Monday. I will have lost about 19 of the 25 lbs she wants me to lose before surgery in 6 weeks. So planning and prepping works and really helps meet goals. Hope this helps. Sorry for being long-winded!!

I'm a foodie, trying to be a reformed foodie! I used to keep a low carb keto food blog and even with low carb eating, I wanted to still be able to immerse myself in food and meals and eating. Damn! I spent a crap ton of time thinking about food, shopping, preparing, then talking about it! Then a light bulb went off for me!
Now I seek to MINIMIZE the amount of time I have to think about food, shop for it, prepare it, etc. I'm happy eating the same 2-4 things for breakfast and lunch, day in and day out. I do still appreciate variety for dinner, but instead of thinking in terms of "how much" of xy or z I can have for that meal, I think of how "little" I can eat to satisfy my immediate hunger. I also used to want complex, multilayered meals packed with yumminess. Now I want to KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). I focus on bare naked lean meats/proteins and some low glycemic veggies (maybe a salad too), and only TINY amounts of low glycemic berries and fruits in very limited quantities. It's a total paradigm shift that makes meal planning a piece of cake.
I basically use a garanimals system for food ingredients. That way you can mix and match your dinner. I keep our most favorite veggies on hand--some of them prepped. If you don't like chopping things, you can buy bags of frozen chopped onions, peppers, and chopped/sliced frozen veggies that will allow you to pull out a few ounces at a time for each meal. At the beginning of the week I will decide what proteins we will focus on for dinners that week and then will cook them: grilled chicken breasts or George Forman chicken breasts, grilled sirloin or flank steak, venison, ground turkey/onion/spices, turkey or chicken meatloaf muffins, etc. I will usually pick 1 meat, 1 fish/seafood, and 1 ground meat to cook for the week. I also keep some low calorie/low carb/low fat sauces on hand (cuz I stay at a specific caloric level each day, so I've found some low/no sugar prepared sauces that add variety without breaking the bank and with "fairly" innocuous ingredients).
By doing it this way, using pre-prepared ingredients I can quickly "customize" a meal on the fly that only takes about 5-10 minutes to prepare. The most I do on any day for dinner is cook a veggie, make a salad or cut up an avocado and tomatoes, and warm up a meat (some days I do a tiny bit of sauce and cheese on it--other days I just keep it simple with plain meat). I feed 2 adults this way. And because of this, my exposure to food and temptation and food thoughts has gone down so much--so has my appetite! I struggle to get in 1000cals per day pre-op per my surgeon. I'm actually now working to get to 1200cals/day pre-op and it's rough! Because I don't eat any junk (the biggest junk I might have is pork rinds with something), and concentrate on very small 3oz portions of cooked lean protein and low glycemic veggies--it takes a LOT of food to get to 1000cals!
I wouldn't say the pre-op weight is flying off of me, but I've now lost 50+ lbs since May3 and am having my 2nd appointment with the surgeon on Monday. I will have lost about 19 of the 25 lbs she wants me to lose before surgery in 6 weeks. So planning and prepping works and really helps meet goals. Hope this helps. Sorry for being long-winded!!

Hi there! For those struggling with meal planning, there is a free app that may be helpful - Sparkpeople. Google it ,& check it out!
(Online dietitian)

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using BariatricPal mobile app

I planned meals before considering WLS. It helps make sure a meal is on the table rather than fast food after work. I keep a spiral bound notebook and write a header for each day - and then I simply fill in a meal under each header. Now that I'm mindful, the 'meal' is just a protein and veggie and how I intend to cook. I love doing it this way, since I can make my grocery list from the menu and everything is on hand when it's time to cook. I can leave it on the counter - the fam can peek at it to see what's for dinner and even start prepping with out you. If you find it overwhelming, try doing it just for dinners. Repeat your breakfasts and lunches to simplify things. If you get stuck on planning, you can flip through your notebook and view previous weeks for inspiration.

This week,my meal plan looks like this: Sunday: Taco Salad (no tortillas, dairy or cheese for me); Monday: Vegetable beef soup; Tuesday: Zucchini and meatballs with marinara; Weds: Lettuce wraps with ground turkey & cucumber salad; Weds: Grilled steak & asparagus.

It doesn't have to be complicated