Here's the list. It's long, but see what you think!
RULES FOR LIFE AFTER WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY
FOLLOW THE RULES
Just like most things in life, you follow the rules, you will stay out of trouble.
NO DRINKING 30 MINUTES BEFORE A MEAL, OR FOR 30-60 MINUTES AFTERWARDS (depending on your doctor’s instructions)
Forever. Start getting used to it now. Loading your pouch with water before a meal keeps you from being able to eat as much as you should, drinking during the meal or afterwards flushes out the food before you get any benefit from it.
DRINK AT LEAST 64 OZ OF NON-CARBONATED, NON ALCOHOLIC, CAFFEINE FREE LIQUIDS A DAY
What does that leave, you ask? WATER!! Lots of it. Do not leave home without it. Keep a bottle with you wherever you go.
VITAMINS
Every day, for the rest of your life. Keep them next to your toothbrush/toothpaste. You will remember to take them if it is with something that is already part of your daily routine. NO CHEATING. This could result in severe consequences down the road.
PROTEIN FIRST
Start every meal by eating your protein first. It is essential to our long term health. After you have eaten your protein, go to the vegetables, then starches. Strive for 60-80 grams (at least) a day.
SUGAR IS YOUR ENEMY
Sugar can lead to dumping syndrome and are nothing but empty, good for nothing calories. Nausea, vomiting, sweats, heart palpatations, and drowsyness are possible side effects of eating sugar and foods high in sugar alcolhols. Avoid them. It will make you happy!
EAT THREE MEALS A DAY PLUS ONE PLANNED SNACK( if allowed by your doctor)
No mindless eating, grazing, snacking, tasting, sampling, licking of spoons, munching allowed.
EXERCISE
Just DO IT. Enough said.
EAT SLOWLY AND CHEW THROUGHLY
Learn to savor your food. You will not be eating much, so enjoy it. Put your fork down between bites. CHEW, CHEW, CHEW!!! Improper chewing can lead to painful results. Your pouch can not tolerate big chunks/ fork fulls of food. Any meal is worth putting on a plate and sitting down to eat it. Do NOT eat in front of the TV, while reading or standing over the kitchen sink.
MEASURE YOUR FOOD.
Follow your doctor or nutritionists rules for the amount of food you eat. Your new pouch will only hold ONE OUNCE of food in the beginning, and will increase, at about 18 months, to a 3/4 to one cup capacity. Failure to follow this rule early out can lead to staple line disruption, pouch stretching and ultimate failure. Sorry to be blunt, but it’s true. Follow the rules!
JOURNAL YOUR FOOD AND WATER INTAKE
Writing down your intake makes you accountable for what’s gone into your mouth. It is important that you know you’re getting in the proper nutrition daily. There are many excellent website that offer free diet journals. Or, simply get yourself a small notepad. Whatever works for you, just do it.
PLAN YOUR MENUS IN ADVANCE
Poor planning promotes poor performance! Finding yourself in a situation where you might have a clue what you’re going to eat can lead to bad, often unhealthy choices. If you have to be out all day, consider a small cooler with healthy snacks and water. Do not be caught unprepared
SUPPORT GROUPS
Studies show that a weight loss surgery patient who attends at least 5 support group meeting a year has a 77% greater chance of reaching their goal and keeping their weight off. Five meetings a year seems to be pretty good insurance at a very low price.
MAINTAIN A POSITIVE ATTITUDE AND AVOID TOXIC INFLUENCES You are having this surgery for your own benefit. Now is the time to make sure you take care of YOURSELF. Do not let well meaning family and friends sabotage your efforts by listening to negative comments about your decision. Make the decision to succeed, do not plan to fail.
FOLLOW THE 3 BITE AND H.A.L.T RULES
If you MUST eat something off plan, have three bites and then destroy the rest. Ma**** up, pour water on it, empty the salt shaker over it. Whatever it takes! A few bites is enough for you to get a taste....the 10th bite tastes the same as the first, so why eat more? Follow the Overeaters Anonymous’ rule of H.A.L.T: Don’t eat when you’re hungry, angry, lonely or tired. Planning will keep YOU in control, not food controlling you.
MAINTAIN YOUR FOLLOW-UP SCHEDULE WITH YOUR SURGEON
Make sure you have your lab tests done as directed by your doctor
FOLLOW THE RULES
Just like most things in life, you follow the rules, you will stay out of trouble.
NO DRINKING 30 MINUTES BEFORE A MEAL, OR FOR 30-60 MINUTES AFTERWARDS (depending on your doctor’s instructions)
Forever. Start getting used to it now. Loading your pouch with water before a meal keeps you from being able to eat as much as you should, drinking during the meal or afterwards flushes out the food before you get any benefit from it.
DRINK AT LEAST 64 OZ OF NON-CARBONATED, NON ALCOHOLIC, CAFFEINE FREE LIQUIDS A DAY
What does that leave, you ask? WATER!! Lots of it. Do not leave home without it. Keep a bottle with you wherever you go.
VITAMINS
Every day, for the rest of your life. Keep them next to your toothbrush/toothpaste. You will remember to take them if it is with something that is already part of your daily routine. NO CHEATING. This could result in severe consequences down the road.
PROTEIN FIRST
Start every meal by eating your protein first. It is essential to our long term health. After you have eaten your protein, go to the vegetables, then starches. Strive for 60-80 grams (at least) a day.
SUGAR IS YOUR ENEMY
Sugar can lead to dumping syndrome and are nothing but empty, good for nothing calories. Nausea, vomiting, sweats, heart palpatations, and drowsyness are possible side effects of eating sugar and foods high in sugar alcolhols. Avoid them. It will make you happy!
EAT THREE MEALS A DAY PLUS ONE PLANNED SNACK( if allowed by your doctor)
No mindless eating, grazing, snacking, tasting, sampling, licking of spoons, munching allowed.
EXERCISE
Just DO IT. Enough said.
EAT SLOWLY AND CHEW THROUGHLY
Learn to savor your food. You will not be eating much, so enjoy it. Put your fork down between bites. CHEW, CHEW, CHEW!!! Improper chewing can lead to painful results. Your pouch can not tolerate big chunks/ fork fulls of food. Any meal is worth putting on a plate and sitting down to eat it. Do NOT eat in front of the TV, while reading or standing over the kitchen sink.
MEASURE YOUR FOOD.
Follow your doctor or nutritionists rules for the amount of food you eat. Your new pouch will only hold ONE OUNCE of food in the beginning, and will increase, at about 18 months, to a 3/4 to one cup capacity. Failure to follow this rule early out can lead to staple line disruption, pouch stretching and ultimate failure. Sorry to be blunt, but it’s true. Follow the rules!
JOURNAL YOUR FOOD AND WATER INTAKE
Writing down your intake makes you accountable for what’s gone into your mouth. It is important that you know you’re getting in the proper nutrition daily. There are many excellent website that offer free diet journals. Or, simply get yourself a small notepad. Whatever works for you, just do it.
PLAN YOUR MENUS IN ADVANCE
Poor planning promotes poor performance! Finding yourself in a situation where you might have a clue what you’re going to eat can lead to bad, often unhealthy choices. If you have to be out all day, consider a small cooler with healthy snacks and water. Do not be caught unprepared
SUPPORT GROUPS
Studies show that a weight loss surgery patient who attends at least 5 support group meeting a year has a 77% greater chance of reaching their goal and keeping their weight off. Five meetings a year seems to be pretty good insurance at a very low price.
MAINTAIN A POSITIVE ATTITUDE AND AVOID TOXIC INFLUENCES You are having this surgery for your own benefit. Now is the time to make sure you take care of YOURSELF. Do not let well meaning family and friends sabotage your efforts by listening to negative comments about your decision. Make the decision to succeed, do not plan to fail.
FOLLOW THE 3 BITE AND H.A.L.T RULES
If you MUST eat something off plan, have three bites and then destroy the rest. Ma**** up, pour water on it, empty the salt shaker over it. Whatever it takes! A few bites is enough for you to get a taste....the 10th bite tastes the same as the first, so why eat more? Follow the Overeaters Anonymous’ rule of H.A.L.T: Don’t eat when you’re hungry, angry, lonely or tired. Planning will keep YOU in control, not food controlling you.
MAINTAIN YOUR FOLLOW-UP SCHEDULE WITH YOUR SURGEON
Make sure you have your lab tests done as directed by your doctor
Susan
Susan - 
Annette 
Thank you Susan....It's nice to have these rules all written out and now I can make a copy to hang on my fridge. I pretty much follow these rules already but every one needs a reminder once in awhile. This was very nice of you to take the time to do this and I appreciate it very much as I am sure others do too.
Thanks "Susan that makes ladies pretty in her chair". ;-)
Sandy
Thanks "Susan that makes ladies pretty in her chair". ;-)
Sandy
Exceptional!!! You rock! Thanks, Susan.
You have done a super job with this and now I am going to copy it and keep it.
Thanks for posting this for us to read. It is just plain great! Job well done. I am sure your group will like this and get a lot of help from it.
Thanks for posting this for us to read. It is just plain great! Job well done. I am sure your group will like this and get a lot of help from it.
It's not what you gather, but what you scatter
that tells what kind of life you have lived.
Aloha darlin Susan.....What a great compilation of rules for WLS peeps!
As I read through it, I realize I no longer follow many of these (water with meals, big bites, big portions, etc.) However, I read somewhere that if you are losing too much weight, you should REVERSE the rules...so that's my excuse as long as I'm trying NOT to gain. However, if one day the old metabolism decides to slow down or whatever is keeping me skinny, I at least have these rules to go back to.
Sugar isn't in my diet (very often), nor rice, nor white bread....but I do now eat whole grain breads, pasta (try to use whole grain), and I do eat in front of the TV all the time. I eat too fast, but my little pouch doesn't complain except rarely. My snacks are nuts, Zone bars, yogurt, skinny cow ice cream treats, and dried apricots, prunes and raisins. My whole way of eating is different from my original rules....because my weight loss is different from the norm I guess. I'll keep doing what I'm doing until it doesn't work at keeping the weight off.
Susan, I will copy these rules and tuck them away in my OFF file for use when/if I need them again one day. Thanks for the time you put into doing this....it will be a godsend for many!!
Aloha nui loa,
Maui Karen
As I read through it, I realize I no longer follow many of these (water with meals, big bites, big portions, etc.) However, I read somewhere that if you are losing too much weight, you should REVERSE the rules...so that's my excuse as long as I'm trying NOT to gain. However, if one day the old metabolism decides to slow down or whatever is keeping me skinny, I at least have these rules to go back to.
Sugar isn't in my diet (very often), nor rice, nor white bread....but I do now eat whole grain breads, pasta (try to use whole grain), and I do eat in front of the TV all the time. I eat too fast, but my little pouch doesn't complain except rarely. My snacks are nuts, Zone bars, yogurt, skinny cow ice cream treats, and dried apricots, prunes and raisins. My whole way of eating is different from my original rules....because my weight loss is different from the norm I guess. I'll keep doing what I'm doing until it doesn't work at keeping the weight off.
Susan, I will copy these rules and tuck them away in my OFF file for use when/if I need them again one day. Thanks for the time you put into doing this....it will be a godsend for many!!
Aloha nui loa,
Maui Karen
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