how long before you started enjoying food again?

 I'm one week post op and am starting to become discouraged with the way I am feeling. Constantly at a state of unease and the thought of another bite of jello makes me want to barf. At what point were you enjoying foods and when were you able to go out to eat with your spouse and enjoy it?

thanks Glen B.

 You're not going to like my answer.  It took several months before I found any enjoyment in food.  I ate because my body needed it.  I would often get excited over the anticipation of something, only to be underwhelmed and disappointed once I started eating it.  This is all normal, and keep eating out of necessity, for sure.  Even today, I find myself indifferent most of the time about what I want to eat.

11 months.....but I was a little unusual.

First of all, one week out is a miserable place to be all the way around. You still have the pain and discomfort and very little "real food" you can get down. So, before I go on, just know that every week that goes by you will be feeling exponentially better.
As for enjoying food, I am 15 weeks out and my eyes are still MUCH bigger than my stomach. If I get carried away because something tastes so good and eat it too fast or even try to finish more than is comfortable it can ruin a tasty experience. I hear that over time, your consumption will increase, but right now I cannot eat more than about 1 cup to 1 1/2 (if its soup) of food at most.
I think it's kind of neat though because I can tolerate so many things so I can taste so many things but can't possibly over-eat. How cool is tha?t!!!

Hey Glen, Hang in there pal it gets better. My doctor had me eating soft foods of many types within days.Within two weeks I ate small bits of solid foods. Real dense meats were not good nor was bread. That said I was following what my doctor recommended. I am coming up on two years and feel great! Get your proteins in and use your j-tube as much as you can. This time you are now spending is truly fleeting. Good luck ...." Jeff

hi glen. first, congrats on your recent journey to the dark side.  welcome!  just like gail and valerie, you may not like my answer either.
m yreturn to the love of food came in very small doses.  i remember being a newbie and how wonderful scrambled eggs tasted.  i remember being so dissapointed that beets taset like rusty nails (they still do almost 3 yrs later)
if you are looking for the way you used to eat, maybe tie on the feed bag at the local all you can eat buffet, well..........that may never happen.  you will enjoy eating out again, just not the volume and for some folks,  we can no longer tolerate certain foods.
i miss onions, m0st dairy, hummus, and bread is at an absolutely mimium.  I love having steak, medium rare. that's a new one for me.  i eat forshrimp lunch, not just out for a specail occassion ,  you'll get there, just not today.  take your time.

 I dunno...I'm kind of the odd man out here, but I started enjoying food again within the first few weeks - just in much smaller doses!

Julie,

I see you had Dr. Kemmeter.  I just found out today from my insurance company that I have been approved for my DS with Dr. K!!  When you had your DS did you do the two weeks of liquid diet after surgery?  What did you eat the two weeks before surgery?

Thanks!  You look great BTW

Congratulations!
I had the brutal two-week pre-op liquid diet (which was really really rough for me) and then I was supposed to do two weeks of liquids afterwards.   However, I became severely lactose intolerant post-op, and the product they used that time was very poorly tolerated by me.  I called the dietitian and talked her into letting me go to the soft food stage at five days post-op.     I did fine, but this is not my recommendation to do so....check with them first!

Hey there, Dr. Kemmeter has you eat their "product" for 2 weeks prior to surgery and only product again 2 weeks post operative.  I didn't think that the preop was really that bad, I honestly NEVER felt hungry.  They have spaghetti & meatballs, chicken & pasta and enchiladas that I would put salsa on and really liked.  The snack bars were good I had a caramel crunch and lemon meringue.  My favorite by FAR were honey mustard jalapeno pretzels, I really liked the spice of them.  A lot of the dinner entrees are bland and you need to spice them up with garlic, oregano or salt/pepper.  I also liked the chicken and pasta soup.  Most people like the cream of tomato (if you like tomato, go for it, I don't care for it but the flavor wasn't bad).  Stay away from the cream of broccoli soup!

However, I am 9 days into my post op and am struggling a bit.  The food they want you to have post operative is mainly liquids (bullion, jello, nectar or fruit drinks, smoothies and puddings).  I am working through my cravings for more savory foods.  I really want eggs with cheese, refried beans, greek yogurt, tuna, etc...I want "normal" foods.

So yeah, it's basically a 4 week product diet.  But don't fret, not all of it is bad, some of it is REALLY quite tasty!!