Quandry

A tale of Goofus and Galant....

My cousin, Goofus had a RNY about 4 years ago and did everything wrong.  I called him 4 days after surgery and asked how he was doing, and he said had just eaten a footlong tuna melt and, I quote "Don't worry cousin, I didn't eat much of the bread."  Needless to say, in 30 days he was re-hospitalized for adhesions on his suture lining. 

Now onto Galant, my mother, had a RNY 13 years ago.  When she got out of the hospital she did a clear liquid for 2 weeks, full liquid 2 weeks, soft/pureed for a month and lost a ton of weight!  I was thinking that in order to make some great weight loss, that I would take it "slow."  To which my nutritionist poo poohed the idea and more importantly my wife also balked.

My nutritionist said that I need to advance my diet as FAST as possible to start the healing process by adding protein.  I do plan to take in protein via ISOPURE clear liquid, at 4 bucks a bottle it's not going to be cheap.  I thought it might be worth it.

Any Ideas?  Thoughts? Experiences that I might want to take into account?

George!

Follow you're surgeons plan to the letter. They shoudl know what they are doing. You're going to lose weight fast. There's no question about it. At some point you'll start adding calories back and your weight loss will slow and eventually stop. Just let it happen. 

I drank Glucerna shakes when I was done with surgery for two weeks. I think they gave me Boost shakes in the hospital. If I had to do it over again, I would probably investigate a protein powder I could mix with water rather than the pre-mixed shakes. I just did as I was told. I bought a shot glass, and used it to drink an 8oz shake over about 20 min. A sip at a time. 

My mom had surgery 21 years ago. She lives in Michigan, but had surgery in Salt Lake City since it was so new. She told me that she ate Salmon on the plane ride home. I can't imagine any surgeon worth his salt that woudl recomend that these days. 

We all have different means. If you can afford the ISOPURE, and its a good fit with your plan, then do it. Anything you are doing is an investment in yourself, and I can't think of a better place to invest money. 

It's really two issues -- calories and solidity of food. You should be very low calorie, with a high percentage of those calories coming from protein. It doesn't matter if the protein is liquid or solid, your body will use it all the same.

Most surgeons have a progression from clear liquids, liquids, puree or soft food, and finally solids. But there are some programs and surgeons that want you on soft foods before you even leave the hospital. They feel you actually heal quicker and have fewer complications than those on liquids. I have no idea if they are right, but that's the belief.

Your stomach needs some time to heal, and the swelling needs to go down some before you try to use it much. A few days of liquids, then some very soft foods in very small quantities, is the way to start. Of course, this is just my opinion, and your mileage may vary!