Hi, I am 4 weeks port op, I am finding myself lost in what to eat and how many times I should eat. My recovery hasn’t been so well. My blood pressure keeps dropping to the point I past out.
I eat three meals a day, but I am sure I am not meeting the protein goal. I am feeling overwhelmed and anxious.

Please help me in menu ideas. I will highly appreciate it!

You should be eating between 4 to 6 small meals a day and drinking water in the middle. I was still in the non-clear liquid stage at 4 weeks post-op so I didn't start eating meals until my 2nd month. Those consisted of purees, mashed potatoes, pudding, soup, etc. Then I moved on to soft food. So I was mostly getting my protein from protein drinks for the first 3 months.

It is super concerning you're passing out. I think you should talk to your doctor or surgeon.

Remember that eating anything is better than not eating anything. So if you can't do a meal, go ahead and grab a handful of nuts or something. I started with lean meats for proteins. Mostly variations on chicken. Pork loin was also a favorite. I ate edamame like it was crack. I couldn't tolerate bread though.

Edited September 5, 20214 yr by Stalled

Thank you for your quick response.
I’ve seen my surgeon he cleared me for regular food already, which I am a bit scared since I feel I haven’t heal yet. My diet right now consist of, soft eggs, soft cheese, oats, salmon.

I’ve been to the ER for my passing out and saw my surgeon, they can’t find a reason as to why my blood pressure drops.
They told me walk more and eat a bit more alt in my foods.

Thank you so much again for you response.

It is a bit of a tricky thing, as you can see, some programs will still have their patients on a liquidy diet while others will have them on steak, chicken and other regular foods. Our general rule of thumb was to try new foods one at a time to test for tolerance - if it goes well, great, if not, try that food again in a week or two.

While some programs are adamant about staying on only three meals per day (they're afraid that more can lead to grazing,) most fall into the 5-6 meals per day (some say three meals only, plus a couple of "snacks" - of you can tell the difference at this stage (I couldn't, I just called them feedings.) I started at six but soon dropped it to five as a snack between my breakfast and lunch didn't make much sense and I could get all that I needed comfortably on five. I added a sixth back in when I needed to ramp up my intake slow things down going into maintenance, and still vary between five or six depending on my needs, dropping one if I need to cut back some.

If you are not meeting your nutritional goals, primarily protein, then you should probably add in a meal or two - just be watchful of the overall calories, Continue to think in terms of protein rich foods primarily. I had little problem with protein, so I could back off of that a bit and go for more variety - I started playing with small salads, including some meat and cheese in there, at around this time, but wouldn't have gone there if I was still struggling on the protein front.

Since you have seen your surgeon and the ER about your BP problem I will assume that it is not due to medication - BP meds often need to be adjusted fairly quickly to compensate for the changes in you body systems - you have excess cardiac capacity now since you are supporting a smaller body, even a month out. My PCP was lowering my BP meds early to avoid this, preferring it to be a bit high if necessary rather than too low. Presumably, what you are seeing is orthostatic hypotension, where you feel faint or worse when you stand or sit up rapidly, so take that a bit more slowly, Things should adjust over time.

As to meals, at that time I was mostly on single foods as you were noting, with occasional combination meals depending upon what my wife was having. As noted, I started playing with salads then, and sometime some other protein rich single dish meals with meat and veg, like a chicken teriyaki or cacciatore to liven things up a bit

Good luck on your progress...

Thank you for your response, I never had bp issues. I’ve had 5 episodes with 4 hospitalization.
I will try eating more, I am just feeling lost on a schedule of eating as well, I know meals have to be three-four hours apart and drinking in between. So I find it difficult to have more than three meals unless I start my day at 7-8 am. When I do that I don’t get enough rest in the night time.

On Tuesday I’ll be calling my doctors to see if I can get ASAP a nutritionist that can guide me.

I need more guidance and support.

Thank you for taking your time in responding to my concerns.

I get light headed pretty easily too. I get my protein in but I notice that I feel light headed when I don't drink enough water. Are you sure you are getting enough fluids each day?

I’ve been drinking water every 15 in between meals ( I wait 30 mins after I eat to start my water intake). I’ll drink about 54-40-60 onz in 24 hours it all depends some days are better than others, during night time I get up from my sleep and drink water. I try to get as much water as I can I have an alarm set for every 15 throughout the day.

I am almost 6 months out now and I have fallen into a routine that may work for you. I start my day with a protein shake somewhere around 9 and eat every three hours. Lunch is a P3 protein pack at noon (you will only eat part of it now), snack at 3, dinner at 6, and snack at 9. Snack doesn’t have to be bad for you it can also be protein or veggies I did for a while cause I needed more fiber. The premiere protein caffe latte shake has caffeine (if you are allowed caffeine at this stage) so i like it first thing in the morning to give me a kick start. You don’t have to copy this exactly but eating at 9,12,3,6,&9 sounds like it may fit your routine. I have found this schedule works great to get all my vitamins in as well. **Ask your team before you eat the nuts in the protein pack though. My guess is it’s too soon yet.

Edited September 7, 20214 yr by ShoppGirl

Thank you so much! I will take your advice and combine with the rest. Thank you all once again for all the tips and recommendations.