Back to Real Food - What Should I start With?

Hi, Jacki! I haven't done watermelon yet, but it seems that a lot of people eat it this soon out. I am afraid of the sugar content in fresh fruit, but I am like you - craving fresh fruit! And salads!! So far, I've done okay with nearly everything. I did pick up a small Wendy's chili yesterday in a pinch after being out all day with my kids. It didn't go down as easily as some other things, and after 1/3 of the container, I was way past finished. I thought it might be the ground beef, but last night for dinner, it was my daughter's birthday and she wanted sheperd's pie. I ate that with no problems - except I picked the corn out of it. But the mashed potatoes and ground beef went down okay. I was surprised, because I used the extra lean beef so I could eat it, then worried it would be too dry. I am down 34 pounds as of today - 3 weeks and 3 days after surgery. But 26 of those pounds came off the first week. I'm hoping as I add more food in, I'll lose more weight. I'm struggling with protein too - although I am finding one or two things I can get at least one in a day.

Im 5 weeks out myself and had a terrible time healing, but doing better now. Peaches and cantalope are really easy to eat I found watermelon a little more difficult

Everybody, I too am concerned with the food ideas I am seeing here. You should be staying away from processed food...Any convenience food pobably has too much sodium and fat and calories. I realize we are eating smaller portions, but if at 4 weeks we are all ready resorting to things like Stouffers side dishes and Hormel meat products and Taco Bell, I think we are on the wrong path.... New post ops should be eating whole foods, like fish, cottage cheese, eggs, yogurt ground chicken, maybe some ground shrimp or crab meat. Peanut Butter was not on my post GB diet until about 3 months out. Crackers can become a bad habit. I has my surgery 3 years ago and have lost 280 lbs. I saw a dietitan on a weekly basis my first year out as part of my followup plan. She would faint if she saw some of the food choices people are making. We had a calorie limit of about 400 calories a day until about the 8th week. Increasing 200 calories at a time until we reach lifetime of 1200. We were told that the majority of those calories should be protein, very low fat and very few carbs....Processed food was not and is not recommended at all. Now I know that is unrealistic for most of us, including me. We need to be reading labels on everything and watch fat, sodium and calorie content.... Maybe we need to start a new forum that is supervised by an OH professional who has a strong nutrition background....I think too few of our surgeon give good nutrition advice and those of us not lucky enough to be working with dietitians are flying by the seat of their pants, hoping we are doing the right thing. The fact is, we all lose weight, because whatever we are eating, it is undoubtedly at lot less than before...But we need to be concerned with the long term effects of not eating a nutritious diet. Osteopororis, protein deficiency anemias, b-12 deficiencies...protein related malnutrtion are in our futures.... Just some food for thought.... Kelly

Hi, Kelly! It is a tough road in the beginning to know what to eat and what not to eat - but it sounds like you did a great job with the loss you've had. It would be great to have a forum like the one you suggest. I've seen two nutritionists - both prior to surgery -and both push the whole food pyramid thing, which is NOT going to work for someone like me or anyone who has had this surgery. I guess I need to find someone who has experience with people who've had surgery. I am sticking mostly to fish and eggs. Even the lean ground beef, when reheated, refused to go down easily. I'm worried now that the supplements will end up being equivalent to a whole meal!

Anna, Its okay for now if you get most of your protein from supplements...as you are able to eat more food, as you continue to heal, you will be able to transition from getting most of your protein from supplements and get it primarily from food. My dietitians are the ones at the William Rohrer Center for Health Fitness at Virtua Hospital in Vorhees. Lynn Nugent and Michelle T work almost exclusively with WLS patients and have enormous experience with getting in the important nutrients within the parameters that a gastric-Bypass patient should stick with. They meet with new Beginnings people every Thursday night at 7 pm... They are part of the comprehensive aftercare program called New Beginnings for Gastric -Bypass, Lap Band procedures done at Virtua, but they also do single consulations...You might want to call over there and get an appointment. Eggs and Fish were my best foods, as well as yogurt and no fat ricotta cheese. I hate cottage cheese, but a lot of people use that to get their protein also.... Good Luck,,, Kelly