I know this is a silly question but...

I have to ask it. After RNY, can anyone tell me exactly what you eat? Is it all liquid, and if so for how long. What kind of a diet do you have to stay on to make this surgery worth your time? I am 6 months presurgery. Did you have any specific diet prior to surgery? Thanks for allowing me to be such a pain in the neck.

Every program has their own plan and there is some variation. In general, you'll have a liquid diet for at least a week - I had two weeks of liquid, one clear (no milk) and one full (milk allowed). Then you will advance slowly from pureed foods (mashed-potato texture) to soft foods (think cottage cheese, scrambled eggs, flaky fish) and then eventually to a full diet. For me, "full diet" was six weeks. That doesn't mean you can eat everything - dry meats like chicken breast with no sauce will likely still be a problem for a while. I'm nearly three months out and I can eat almost any meat as long as I put some kind of sauce on it. We had fajitas last week and I ate the chicken with some mild salsa mixed in.

I still have a protein shake most days - it's the easiest way for me to get lunch on-plan while I'm working. I eat "regular food" in small quantities the rest of the time.

"Protein first" is the watchword. I haven't had any vegetables except the little bit of salsa and a stray piece of onion in butter chicken. Everything is protein: eggs, cheese, and meat.

You can do this!

Oh, and I had to follow a liquid diet for ten days prior to surgery. This is fairly common and is meant to shrink the liver to make the surgery easier and safer.

Ed - welcome to the forum.

Have you been to your program's orientation? Also I'd suggest attending their support group meetings. As mentioned, every program is different - some very much so. I'd suggest checking out the menu thread to get a read on what we are eating in general and varying phases of the program - since most of us have our surgery dates listed. However, it isn't worth me telling you about my program, if yours is very different. Most of us say that it is important to follow your surgeon's program - other than ignoring their usual recommendation to eat silly worthless carbs like oatmeal and crackers very soon after surgery. My program required extensive pre-surgery weight loss and a 7 week liquid phase, but that is for men who are very large. I've not seen any other program with such requirements. So I shouldn't scare you off.

Regarding is the surgery worth it - yes. However, it isn't a cure and only a tool. It won't do all the work for you. If you think it is a magic bullet, then please do more research about regain after weight loss. It takes dedication. Search on WLS success - there was a recent thread on the topic and it's very good. Good luck!

Different surgeons have different regimens for both pre- and post-op eating, and your insurance company may also have a pre-op supervised diet requirement as well.

Some doctors require a one- or two-week all-liquid diet immediately before surgery. Others just say "don't eat anything after 8pm the night before." Your best bet is to ask your particular surgeon what his/her standard procedure is.

Regarding the post-op diet-- check the daily menu thread, people post what they eat each day and it's a great way to get an idea of what your eating will be like after WLS.

Immediately after surgery, you'll be progressed through clear liquids, full liquids, purees, soft solids, and then finally "regular" food. Each doctor has their own timeline for this, but most people usually take 4 - 6 weeks to heal before eating normal food again.

Once you're all healed up, the standard post-op diet is high protein, low carb. A very common recommendation is 600 - 800 calories, 60+ g protein, under 25g carbs during the weight loss phase. Once you reach maintenance, most folks up their calories to the 1000 - 1200 range.

First of all...congrats on deciding to help yourself. I struggled with eating & drinking after surgery. But I never wanted to push myself too quickly cause I wanted to allow my pouch to heal. But I followed my doctors rules....regarding the phases of eating. If I couldn't move on as soon as they wrote down, I didn't. I struggled to lose weight before the surgery (so I drank a protein drink in the morning & did a Burger King Chicken salad with Apple Cider Vinegarette dressing for lunch and tried to eat a healthy dinner and drank a ton of water and sugar-free packets from the local dollar store if water got to boring)....and no sugar, no soda or carbonated drinks. Many programs have a pre-surgery diet that they will put you on; mine was a percentage of my weight had to be kept off (to show them I was committed to change). You are NOT a pain in the neck.