Seeking advice - don't feel like advancing my postop diet

[VDLT]

Hello all. I am seeking your advice. I had band to sleeve revision on the 1st. I was on clear and then full liquids and was supposed to start puréed food a couple of days ago. To be honest, I have been having protein shakes and fairly thin blended soups. Today I had a spoonful of hummus. My diet paperwork is not very helpful and a call to the nut was not fruitful. The papers and the nut both said to blend chicken or fish with a small piece of potato and eat that. Nothing sounds grosser right now.
I asked if I could purée some beans or cauliflower because they sounded good right now and was told not too eat those due to fiber content and gas potential.
I feel somewhat obligated to advance my diet but have been a little down and just don't feel like it. I am also going on a weekend cruise in two weeks and a little anxious about what to have there. By then I am supposed to be on regular foods. I think I might bring some protein shakes and stick to soup and soft foods.
Thank you all for listening.

 

[OldBroad]

If it's just the sleeve, no messing around with your intestines, I can't see why there were be any worry about fiber and gas. An early days favorite for me was beans and cheese from Taco Bell. It's a small serving; it's soft; and it's tasty.

 

[VDLT]

Thanks @OldBroad I am also not sure what the concern would be. That sounds good although Taco Bell has always made me "run for the border". I might just try to blend some beans I have at home tomorrow. Another thing I thought was odd was that I am not allowed to eat yolks right now, only egg whites, and no pork or red meat for at least three months.
I guess my main thing is I am in a bit of a funk for some reason and haven't really felt like moving to the next stage. Was wondering if I should push myself to...

 

[Clematis]

There's so many changes with WLS -- it's a lot to take in. You're only 2 weeks post surg and everyone heals at a different rate. If you don;t feel you;re ready to eat more solid food, just take it one day at a time until you are.

 

[Jo777]

Weird. My first pureed stuff was HB egg, with some mayo & mustard plus a little spoon of water.. blended deviled egg. No yolk restrictions.. I also did the refried beans & cheese, cottage cheese.. ricotta cheese bake.. etc, all pretty good for the soft/pureed stage. I think my stages were 7 or 10 days clears, then full liquids, then pureed, then solids.. solids came in around 1mo out.

I did a couple shakes a day for months though. I wouldn't have been able to get my protein in with my "meals" being sub 2oz for a while. I never had restrictions once on full solids, just whatever I could tolerate.. so frankly, I vote- do what feels best once you do advance your diet. There's no set timeline, so whatever is comfy for you. If you try something and it icks you out, or gives you discomfort- back off to shakes or stuff that's easy and try again when you feel like it.

 

[duh_Mom]

Hi @VDLT - I totally understand where you are coming from! I was a band to DS revision and in the pre-op class they told us we would advance to pureed food at 4 weeks - well at my 2 week check up they advanced me. I was so not ready! it scared the hell out of me to be honest. so, I took it really, really, really slow. My first bite was the wife's chicken salad - and it tasted like nectar of the gods to me. However, i just had a tip of the spoon bite.
I tried greek yogurt, but that was kinda gross to me. so, just sit with the fact that you can have different forms of protein pureed up right now and see what sounds good. Personally, I would avoid the potato or carby stuff.
I was allowed pork and that stuff ground up was pretty good too - eventually. I was probably a month out before I really felt like food. Your body knows what it needs so don't hesitate to listen to it.

 

[DSRIGGS]

Hi @VDLT - I totally understand where you are coming from! I was a band to DS revision and in the pre-op class they told us we would advance to pureed food at 4 weeks - well at my 2 week check up they advanced me. I was so not ready! it scared the hell out of me to be honest. so, I took it really, really, really slow. My first bite was the wife's chicken salad - and it tasted like nectar of the gods to me. However, i just had a tip of the spoon bite.
I tried greek yogurt, but that was kinda gross to me. so, just sit with the fact that you can have different forms of protein pureed up right now and see what sounds good. Personally, I would avoid the potato or carby stuff.
I was allowed pork and that stuff ground up was pretty good too - eventually. I was probably a month out before I really felt like food. Your body knows what it needs so don't hesitate to listen to it.

I couldn't do the pureed meats. It was just gross to me and nothing tasted good for about a good month other cream of wheat or oatmeal with half and half and some sweetener. Now it was a very little amount and I forced some greek yogurt in to get some protein, but food didn't really taste reasonable decent to me until about 3 months (I was eating something to sustain me with protein but it didn't taste good). Nuts and seed snacking throughout the day at around 3 months really made the difference for me. Allowed me to hit protein targets and more importantly made me thirsty so I could drink.

Hang in there VDLT it will get better. Try egg drop soup, greek yogurt, poached egg, wet scrambled egg with cheese, cottage cheese or something like that and seen how you handle each of them. Just try to get some nutrients in.

 

[Larra]

Pureed food is disgusting. My surgeon had us eating soft foods by the time we left the hospital. I don't know why so many surgeons have such different post-op plans, some so slow and restrictive, others much faster. Makes no sense.
If your body is telling you not to eat pureed foods, don't eat them. Maybe try something naturally soft like shrimp or scallows, or tuna salad, or whatever. You're not going to eat much of anything at this point. And the egg business - never heard that one before! A soft boiled egg might hit the spot. Mostly just stay hydrated and get in what protein you can.

 

[Munchkin]

Eat anything the consistency of pudding, after chewing, that you tolerate. Just take it very slow. 1 bite, wait 3 minutes. Then another bite! Start with a medicine cup full.

My only problem eating postop was eating too fast!

 

[VDLT]

Thank you all. I feel better. I don't want to go against instructions but my instructions are seriously lacking. Not sure why but it made me feel bad not wanting to advance do it's nice to know I am not alone.

@OldBroad I had some refried beans and they were great. Just ate half of the cup. Didn't feel full at all but stopped.
@Jo777 thanks for the ideas. Did you measure at the beginning?
I just can't think of puréed meat. Much too gross. Eggs mashed with mayo or soft boiled sound good though!

 

[DSRIGGS]

Thank you all. I feel better. I don't want to go against instructions but my instructions are seriously lacking. Not sure why but it made me feel bad not wanting to advance do it's nice to know I am not alone.

@OldBroad I had some refried beans and they were great. Just ate half of the cup. Didn't feel full at all but stopped.
@Jo777 thanks for the ideas. Did you measure at the beginning?
I just can't think of puréed meat. Much too gross. Eggs mashed with mayo or soft boiled sound good though!

the smell of pureed meat made me want to heave, so I feel you. It is gross.

and like Larra said, tuna salad (I would taken it easy on any onion or relish at this point and stick with mayo, egg and tuna), plain canned tuna, soft seafood like scallops, lobster, shrimp (many I ate a bucket full of lobster and scallops early on) would be some things to try. Ricotta cheese with pudding or jello mix is supposed to be awesomely good and easy to eat early on but I never tried it. Soups are good for hydration and can be satiating too.

 

[Jo777]

Thank you all. I feel better. I don't want to go against instructions but my instructions are seriously lacking. Not sure why but it made me feel bad not wanting to advance do it's nice to know I am not alone.

@OldBroad I had some refried beans and they were great. Just ate half of the cup. Didn't feel full at all but stopped.
@Jo777 thanks for the ideas. Did you measure at the beginning?
I just can't think of puréed meat. Much too gross. Eggs mashed with mayo or soft boiled sound good though!

I measured (& tracked prot/cals) till goal, then for another 6mo or so- so for about 1.5 yrs, to get a good idea of my protein intake and what I needed calorie wise. For me, it was very useful to figure myself out.

Once I started soft-foods stage, I realized quick I couldn't fit as much as I wanted in at a time- 1/4 cup of cottage cheese or one whole egg was too much at the very early beginning, so measuring positively helped to keep me comfortable. I also found measuring essential for retraining my brain to not over-serve myself, and therefore feel like I needed to Eat All The Food because it was there in front of me. Early out- eating was a very slow & careful process.. I've only painfully overeaten a couple times since surgery, usually when I wasn't paying attention.

I never pureed meats- I ate a LOT of cottage cheese, eggs, mozz string cheese, beans 'n cheese, tuna salad.. Shrimp and crab meat went down really well- same for white fish. Anything soft, or that I could mush with mayo was fair game, though just a tiny amount

 

[BebeZed]

This is all really helpful info, as I progress to soft foods next week and I am NOT going to do pureed meat. Ewwww!
Mmmmm pintos and cheese at Taco Bell is sounding soooo delicious right now....
(anything, ANYTHING but this liquid stuff! lol)

 

[Elizabeth N.]

The "egg whites only" thing comes from the low-fat hype. Egg yolks are full of nutrition. Eat and enjoy.

Egg salad and soft cooked eggs sat well with me early out. Scrambled egg made me hurl.

 

[DSRIGGS]

This is all really helpful info, as I progress to soft foods next week and I am NOT going to do pureed meat. Ewwww!
Mmmmm pintos and cheese at Taco Bell is sounding soooo delicious right now....
(anything, ANYTHING but this liquid stuff! lol)

first time I tried scrambled eggs I hurled. THen a few months later I tried eggs again (sunny side up) and they were great. Now I have 4 scrambled eggs with a half cup of cheese (Mixed in from the moment the eggs hit the pan so they are very creamy) for breakfast 1 every day.

so for those of you early on, remember that just because something doesn't sit well initially. Come back a a month or two later and try it again, because things change.