Eating is becoming uncomfortable...

@Mrs.LItch-sounds like a wonderful low carb/low glycemic diet. The diet I am currently on for PCOS. I do worry about the carbs...but these are pros and know what they are doing...

Please keep in mind every surgeon/NUT has a different eating plan pre- and post- surgery. For example, I did not have to do a pre-op diet, just clear liquids the day before. I was eating pureed food and taking pills before I left the hospital. I transitioned to soft, fork mashable foods at week three, and at week four (last week) I was advanced to normal/regular foods, including salad, but protein must come first. I know many people have to endure weeks of liquids and pureed foods, but if that is what your medical team recommends, you should follow their plan. 

I have read many people report difficulty with chicken and beef, fortunately I have not had that problem. I will say it takes far less to make me full when I eat dense proteins, like meat, and I stay fuller, longer. 

Best wishes with your upcoming surgery. 

WOW--that is a pretty surprising list to me. Plans really do differ. I can tell you that pasta is not on at ALL for my plan until maintenance and many of the other things you listed were way far out or still not on my approved list. 

Soft fruit to me would = banana and they are heavily discouraged, even in small amounts, until maintenance and even then are a * item meaning sparingly. My nutritionist is not a big fan of bananas.

About the different plans. I *know* right?  I have PCOS and I am scared of pasta, rice, bananas and oatmeal.

And you know how everyone is muttering about protein on this board? A defined amount is NOT listed on my handout. So today at my appointment, I pushed for it. The NUT just said "It isn't on there. We want you to practice mindful eating."  Same with overall volume of food (i.e. my pouch will restrict me).

After having been through 50 million diet plans (Jenny and WW multiple times), this freedom/lack of measuring/lack of chains/lack of food flogging scares me. I LIKE boundaries. Yet, people on this website with my surgeon have lost all over their excess weight, so he and his group know what they are doing.  I must trust, do, and have faith.

STill, I feel like I am running around with an abbreviated field manual after years of points calculators, slide rules, and calorie counters.

Can it REALLY be that easy? Is this how normal people eat (mindfully, not counting grams of protein)?  I lived with skinny women in college and I hated them, they pigged out al lthe time on fatty stuff.

I would not call it easy, but simple perhaps. :)

there are a TON of differences in plans and I think as long as they make sense and work for that doctor and the patients that choose them, that is all that matters. I sometimes feel like my plan is harsher than some and then I feel like it is WAY looser than others. A few had feeding tubes as SOP, for example. But I really do think that there are many paths to the same destination on this shared journey!

"Overall volume of food - pouch will restrict me-" I agree to disagree.... Most of us don't feel full until after the nerves are healed. Typically a few weeks post op.  Also - even now - I have to be mindful about my portion.  the pouch limits me, but it is so easy to overeat, and end up very uncomfortable.  Initially I measured food volumes to learn what my portions need to be.  First year - it took my body 15-20 min after I finished eating for my body to register fullness.  I had to learn my body new signals to tell me when I had enough. 

Yes as others have stated there is a variety of plans.   Mine only includes some veggies if I have room which I never do!  Mine is meat and dairy.

Different plans for each. I was eating meat and green leafy veggies at 8 days post-op. Had chicken and green beans before I left the hospital. 

I wasn't allowed pasta, bread, rice until I hit goal. 

Ronda. Try eating less of  the meat you are eating than what your plan calls for. I know for me If it said 2 oz of meat I was getting in maybe 1.5 or I too would get uncomfortable. The meat is so much more dense than the other foods you are eating it could be that your pouches "too much" is less than your plan's "too much".

Also as others have said different pouches react differently to different meats. I couldn't do ground beef without a tablespoon or so of spaghetti sauce as it was just too dry no matter how I prepared it. And even this far out I can rarely do chicken breast although I can eat chicken thighs due to them being moister. Play around and find things that you can eat that don't make you uncomfortable. I found often when I found a food I liked I stayed with it for 2-3 weeks just because I knew I could handle it.

Totally agree-this is what I do, too. When I was at the 1/4 cup stage, barely could do half of that at first and had to work my way up. But then BOOM, I was moved to 1/3 cup stage and because it had taken me a while to get there, I did not stress. I am not at 1/2 cup and have only eaten that at one meal a few times and it was pretty 'slider' based, like yogurt 'cheesecake'. No way is a dense protein getting in me a 1/2 cup at a time and I'm over 6 months out. )

Ground beef was a tough one for me, but filet was AOK, though I do have GB in a few things and tolerate it well. Chicken breast is still really hard for me. I might try thighs given what was shared above.  Shrimp, crab and scallops were pretty standard 'go to' foods. 

Good luck to you!!