My Gastric bypass surgery is scheduled for August 18, 2025 and here in Hawaii, our liquid diet is only for the first 2 days after surgery, then we move on to pureed for the next 2 weeks. I am trying to prepare because I know the day will be here shortly so just wanted to get some ideas of how most of you managed to get a lot of protein in with such small portions.

5 hours ago, Mama_Bee said:

My Gastric bypass surgery is scheduled for August 18, 2025 and here in Hawaii, our liquid diet is only for the first 2 days after surgery, then we move on to pureed for the next 2 weeks. I am trying to prepare because I know the day will be here shortly so just wanted to get some ideas of how most of you managed to get a lot of Protein in with such small portions.

Wow, that's really quick to move to pureed. Let me share the plan from my surgical team for comparison:

• Stage 1 -- Days 1-4: Non-carbonated Liquids only. Water, popsicles, jello, etc.
• Stage 2 -- Days 5-7: High protein Liquids. Add in 1 oz of a protein shake per hour. Goal was to work up to 2-3 eight oz protein shakes per day.
• Stage 3a -- Days 8-14: Easy Pureed foods. At this point, I was only allowed Yogurt, cottage cheese and ricotta cheese. In addition to the protein drinks, I was now allowed to add in 1-2 "meals" consisting of 1 TBSP of these foods per day. Since I focused on Greek Yogurt, this meant a max of 2 TBSP of yogurt per day.
• Stage 3b -- Days 9-30: Other pureed foods: Now could add in Pureed Meats, Pureed Beans, Cream Soups, Hummus, Cooked Pureed Veggies, and Eggs. Here the meals went up to 2 TBSP in size and I could have up to 3 "meals" per day.

In stage 3b on a perfect day, I might have gotten to ~60 grams of protein per day, with the bulk of that still coming from protein shakes. I averaged less, especially early on since I just couldn't get that much food in me. Note that my plan didn't actually have a protein goal for the first month. It wasn't until I got to the next stage where they wanted me to get 70-90 grams of protein per day.

I added all that not to say my plan was right and yours is wrong, I just wanted you to see how little protein I was getting for the first month.

I think it's important to keep in mind a few things during the recovery period right after surgery:

• If you have to choose between hitting your hydration goals and food (including protein), hydration comes first.
• Introduce foods slowly. Things you loved before, or even things you think should be easy to digest may not be. As an example, I loved eggs prior to surgery and ate them all the time. I was unable to eat eggs at all for the longest time after surgery and still don't eat scrambled eggs to this day because of how bad an experience I had right after surgery.
• Things you never ate before may become your new favorites and things that sound good now may turn your stomach. It's weird how we all react differently to surgery. I would advise not trying to stock up on things now, expecting you'll want them after surgery. Just ask here how many people still have stuff they thought they'd want and now can't eat it.
• When reading your plan, keep in mind words like "up to", "max", etc. I highlighted some of those above in my plan because sometimes I think people read right over those and think of the upper end as mandatory. If they put words like these in the plan it's there for a reason. You may just not be able to reach the higher end of those ranges and that's perfectly fine. It's not like there's some sort of test and you only get an "A" if you hit the upper end.

All the best.

Edited June 19, 20251 yr by SpartanMaker

3 hours ago, SpartanMaker said:

• Stage 3b -- Days 9-30: Other pureed foods: Now could add in Pureed meats, Pureed Beans, Cream Soups, Hummus, Cooked Pureed Veggies, and eggs. Here the meals went up to 2 TBSP in size and I could have up to 3 "meals" per day.

Sorry, I messed up there... Stage 3b was days 15-30, not 9-30.

we were eating pureed food before even leaving the hospital, so plans are all different. I had to rely on protein shakes for a while to make get up to the required amount of protein.

Try a ricotta bake, there are several recipes out there.

Protein Shakes, I got Premier Protein, in a variety pack from Amazon to give me some interesting tastes.

We didn't have puree in our plan, we went from clears to full liquids then to soft protein only. Salmon is a good one for protein. Or tuna, shrimp, or any fish really will give you good protein.

I use the Baritastic App to keep track of my fluids and protein and I meet or exceed it every day. Remember drinking a protein shake is fluid and protein both on the app.

I got a variety of Crystal Light for my clear fluids, and added Isopure clear powder to help get the protein in during the early days too.

I am a member of BariNation, and they have a wealth of information and various recipes for the bariatric patient, along with people that get you, and group therapy with licensed professionals or dieticians that are registered dieticians and all of the doctors and health care providers, everyone has experience with bariatric patients. For $40/month, it is well worth checking out for a month to see how you fit and I bet you fit right in.

Good luck on your journey!

25 minutes ago, WendyJane said:

I use the Baritastic App to keep track of my fluids and protein and I meet or exceed it every day. Remember drinking a Protein Shake is Fluid and protein both on the app.

Keep in mind some plans (like mine), specifically say not to count protein shakes toward your fluids. Like @catwoman7 said, plans are all different. Some plans also won't allow the ricotta bake until a later stage because of the marinara sauce.

This is why specific recommendations are so hard. You may not be able to eat what some of us ate. In other cases, you may not WANT to eat what we ate since tastes can be so messed up after surgery.

A high protein yogurt was my go to in the puree stage & you can make it into a smoothly y simple adding some extra milk. Add powered flavours or protein if you want. That an instant oats (very milky),runny scrambled eggs (again lots of milk to keep therm thin) and soups.

Your tummy can be very fussy in there first couple of months and your taste buds and sense of smell can become very sensitive. For me shakes were unpleasantly grainy and many foods were too sweet or too salty. Also I struggled to eat any meats I pureed but if you go down this route ensure to add enough gravy or stock to keep the pureed meat thin ( slurping off a spoon thin). So beware & tread warily when introducing new foods.

Yes plans can be different. Mine was probably the most common of two weeks liquids, two weeks, puree, two weeks soft food but there were differences in what foods were allowed or not allowed at the stages from other plans. Another thing to consider is we all heal at different rates and while your plan may say you can move forward to the next stage at a certain time your digestive system may not be ready. Don’t be afraid to stay longer at a stage than your plan says if this happens to you.

If you don’t reach your protein goal in the first weeks don’t panic too much. As long as you’re making an effort and getting closer as the weeks pass you’ll be okay. The volume of food you’ll be able to eat those first weeks alone hinders your ability to get all your protein in. It would take me three days to eat 2 scrambled eggs and the same for a single serve of instant oats. But work extra hard to get your fluid in. I could count shakes (but I stopped them after liquid stage) but I also did things like count the extra liquid I added to soups or yoghurt, the extra milk I added to the instant oats and scrambled eggs - not the recommended liquid you might have to add but any extra I added.

All the best.

21 hours ago, SpartanMaker said:

Wow, that's really quick to move to pureed. Let me share the plan from my surgical team for comparison:

• Stage 1 -- Days 1-4: Non-carbonated Liquids only. Water, popsicles, Jello, etc.
• Stage 2 -- Days 5-7: High Protein Liquids. Add in 1 oz of a Protein Shake per hour. Goal was to work up to 2-3 eight oz Protein Shakes per day.
• Stage 3a -- Days 8-14: Easy Pureed foods. At this point, I was only allowed Yogurt, cottage cheese and ricotta cheese. In addition to the protein drinks, I was now allowed to add in 1-2 "meals" consisting of 1 TBSP of these foods per day. Since I focused on Greek Yogurt, this meant a max of 2 TBSP of yogurt per day.
• Stage 3b -- Days 9-30: Other pureed foods: Now could add in Pureed meats, Pureed Beans, Cream Soups, Hummus, Cooked Pureed Veggies, and eggs. Here the meals went up to 2 TBSP in size and I could have up to 3 "meals" per day.

In stage 3b on a perfect day, I might have gotten to ~60 grams of protein per day, with the bulk of that still coming from protein shakes. I averaged less, especially early on since I just couldn't get that much food in me. Note that my plan didn't actually have a protein goal for the first month. It wasn't until I got to the next stage where they wanted me to get 70-90 grams of protein per day.

I added all that not to say my plan was right and yours is wrong, I just wanted you to see how little protein I was getting for the first month.

I think it's important to keep in mind a few things during the recovery period right after surgery:

• If you have to choose between hitting your hydration goals and food (including protein), hydration comes first.
• Introduce foods slowly. Things you loved before, or even things you think should be easy to digest may not be. As an example, I loved eggs prior to surgery and ate them all the time. I was unable to eat eggs at all for the longest time after surgery and still don't eat scrambled eggs to this day because of how bad an experience I had right after surgery.
• Things you never ate before may become your new favorites and things that sound good now may turn your stomach. It's weird how we all react differently to surgery. I would advise not trying to stock up on things now, expecting you'll want them after surgery. Just ask here how many people still have stuff they thought they'd want and now can't eat it.
• When reading your plan, keep in mind words like "up to", "max", etc. I highlighted some of those above in my plan because sometimes I think people read right over those and think of the upper end as mandatory. If they put words like these in the plan it's there for a reason. You may just not be able to reach the higher end of those ranges and that's perfectly fine. It's not like there's some sort of test and you only get an "A" if you hit the upper end.

All the best.

Thank you for this very detailed information of what to expect and different ideas of foods/liquids for each stage! I will keep in mind about hydration being put first!

9 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

we were eating pureed food before even leaving the hospital, so plans are all different. I had to rely on Protein Shakes for a while to make get up to the required amount of Protein.

Thank you for your reply, I wish they could start me on pureed before leaving the hospital so that I could have the weight loss team next to me if I have any problem. Kind of like the lactation consultant making sure you’re breastfeeding right before leaving the hospital.

7 hours ago, WendyJane said:

Try a ricotta bake, there are several recipes out there.

Protein Shakes, I got Premier Protein, in a variety pack from Amazon to give me some interesting tastes.

We didn't have puree in our plan, we went from clears to full liquids then to soft Protein only. Salmon is a good one for protein. Or tuna, shrimp, or any fish really will give you good protein.

I use the Baritastic App to keep track of my fluids and protein and I meet or exceed it every day. Remember drinking a Protein Shake is Fluid and protein both on the app.

I got a variety of Crystal Light for my clear fluids, and added Isopure clear powder to help get the protein in during the early days too.

I am a member of BariNation, and they have a wealth of information and various recipes for the bariatric patient, along with people that get you, and group therapy with licensed professionals or dieticians that are registered dieticians and all of the doctors and health care providers, everyone has experience with bariatric patients. For $40/month, it is well worth checking out for a month to see how you fit and I bet you fit right in.

Good luck on your journey!

I will try look up ricotta recipes, never had it but im sure its great! I will also check out the app as well, thank you so much for your reply!

6 hours ago, SpartanMaker said:

Keep in mind some plans (like mine), specifically say not to count Protein Shakes toward your fluids. Like @catwoman7 said, plans are all different. Some plans also won't allow the ricotta bake until a later stage because of the marinara sauce.

This is why specific recommendations are so hard. You may not be able to eat what some of us ate. In other cases, you may not WANT to eat what we ate since tastes can be so messed up after surgery.

Yes and also my weight loss plan doesn’t want us to count protein shakes as protein intake. They want us to eat our protein!

7 minutes ago, Mama_Bee said:

I wish they could start me on pureed before leaving the hospital so that I could have the weight loss team next to me if I have any problem. Kind of like the lactation consultant making sure you’re breastfeeding right before leaving the hospital.

Everything sounds so difficult to begin with. Once you get thrown into it, its a lots easier than you thought. I obsessed about taking my meds and needn't have.

My plan changed in two week cycles. I couldn't do puree, not my texture that. My surgeon didn't do shakes or protein powders so I drank a lot of milk, its higher in protein and cheap. I did do high protein yogurt and protein pudding though. He didnt ask and I didnt say. I love cheese, I would eat soft cheeses.

Never be afraid to go back a step for a day or two. We are not all the same

6 hours ago, Arabesque said:

A high Protein yogurt was my go to in the puree stage & you can make it into a smoothly y simple adding some extra milk. Add powered flavours or protein if you want. That an instant oats (very milky),runny scrambled eggs (again lots of milk to keep therm thin) and Soups.

Your tummy can be very fussy in there first couple of months and your taste buds and sense of smell can become very sensitive. For me shakes were unpleasantly grainy and many foods were too sweet or too salty. Also I struggled to eat any meats I pureed but if you go down this route ensure to add enough gravy or stock to keep the pureed meat thin ( slurping off a spoon thin). So beware & tread warily when introducing new foods.

Yes plans can be different. Mine was probably the most common of two weeks liquids, two weeks, puree, two weeks soft food but there were differences in what foods were allowed or not allowed at the stages from other plans. Another thing to consider is we all heal at different rates and while your plan may say you can move forward to the next stage at a certain time your digestive system may not be ready. Don’t be afraid to stay longer at a stage than your plan says if this happens to you.

If you don’t reach your protein goal in the first weeks don’t panic too much. As long as you’re making an effort and getting closer as the weeks pass you’ll be okay. The volume of food you’ll be able to eat those first weeks alone hinders your ability to get all your protein in. It would take me three days to eat 2 scrambled eggs and the same for a single serve of instant oats. But work extra hard to get your Fluid in. I could count shakes (but I stopped them after liquid stage) but I also did things like count the extra liquid I added to soups or yoghurt, the extra milk I added to the instant oats and scrambled eggs - not the recommended liquid you might have to add but any extra I added.

All the best.

The milk trick sounds great, and that made me feel so much better about not having to move on to the next stage if not ready. Also not to worry about not meeting my protein intake too much. Thank you for taking the time to reply! I really appreciate each and every one of you who cared to help me out!

4 minutes ago, summerseeker said:

Everything sounds so difficult to begin with. Once you get thrown into it, its a lots easier than you thought. I obsessed about taking my meds and needn't have.

My plan changed in two week cycles. I couldn't do puree, not my texture that. My surgeon didn't do shakes or Protein powders so I drank a lot of milk, its higher in protein and cheap. I did do high protein yogurt and protein pudding though. He didnt ask and I didnt say. I love cheese, I would eat soft cheeses.

Never be afraid to go back a step for a day or two. We are not all the same

Mmm I want to look into the protein pudding. I also looovee cheese as well and deal with the consequences later as I am lactose intolerant. And that eases my worries when you say everything sounds difficult but its a lot easier when going through it. I have anxiety so im a professional worry wart. I like to be prepared about everything. I also heard that RNY helps anxiety and boy I hope that it works for me! If not I’ll still be okay because after I started hitting my 5k steps a day my anxiety has gotten better! Thank you for taking the time to reply!

On 6/20/2025 at 11:04 AM, Mama_Bee said:

I also heard that RNY helps anxiety and boy I hope that it works

Oh boy that doesn't sound quite right. Will other members of the forum chip in here in case this is something I missed. You will get a shed load of confidence once you are at your desired weight. That might help with the anxiety.

Its true exercise makes us feel so much better about ourselves, especially outdoorsy stuff. I love to walk too.

You have come to a great forum. You will only get kindness here.

48 minutes ago, summerseeker said:

Oh boy that doesn't sound quite right. Will other members of the forum chip in here in case this is something I missed. You will get a shed load of confidence once you are at your desired weight. That might help with the anxiety.

Its true exercise makes us feel so much better about ourselves, especially outdoorsy stuff. I love to walk too.

You have come to a great forum. You will only get kindness here.

There are lots of studies that show weight loss (and thus also bariatric surgery), can lessen depression and anxiety.

The thing to keep in mind though is that it won't help everyone. It all comes down to the underlying reasons for those negative emotions. As you point out, weight loss has has a considerable effect on how we feel about ourselves, so it follows that for some people, weight loss will help lessen anxiety and depression. There is also some belief that excess body weight can impact how certain hormones in our body work. By losing weight, this can help normalize some of those and that may also help mental health.

Like everything, I think the real answer is "it depends".