How to get organized/post op food & working f/t

Hi all

I'm wondering about after surgery & eating at work? I work in a small department and we have a fridge- but I'm wondering if shakes would just be the easiest? 

Also, how to you handle the various stages of food at work? Is it easy? 

And I'm getting confused about calories- I'm reading LOTS of people put themselves on 600-700 cal "diets"/food plans... which sounds fine to me- but youre not "starving" all of the time?

I'm just trying to get a picture of my daily "day" and how to get organized...

Thank you so much

I almost always prepare food on Sunday's for the week. I pre portion everything out and put into little containers I can just grab and go. It takes commitment and dedication on Sunday but then the rest of the week is super easy. 

Learning to deal with the food is not tough at all. You'll soon figure out your likes and dislikes. Early out I ate a lot of sliced turkey breast (deli meat). It was moist and I could add Greek yogurt smears (using different spices - though my favorite for Turkey roll ups was Penzy Spice's ranch flavoring) and make turkey roll ups. I ate a lot of Greek yogurt early on, too. I found things high in protein and low in carb that I enjoyed and stuck with those. 

I also like making my breakfasts and lunches the day before. That gave me some flexibility. I relied on Eggface's blog for recipes and ideas. Here's a link: The World According to Eggface

A standard weight loss plan for WLS patients is 600-800 calories per day, with at least 80 grams of protein and fewer than 40 grams of carbs. That weight loss recipe has a very good track record. 

After surgery only a very rare person is truly hungry. Some people experience emotional hunger (head hunger, cravings, etc...) and some have acid that is not yet controlled and the acid can often mimic hunger. If you are having actual physical symptoms of hunger, e.g. a rumbling, grumbling empty feeling within a half hour of eating, you can bet that that is from acid. You should contact your surgeon about getting on a PPI to control the acid. I've taken Protonix for 3 years now and it was a miracle cure!

Hope that helps.  

I precook all my meals.  I work 80 hours a week split between my full time job in a small office and my internship is at a small mental health agency, and I can still eat easily.  Various stages of food were simple; pureed food is basically "soup," right? I just would freeze small 2-3 ounces of soup.

I prepare my meals for the month in one day.  It's just me, so cooking 7-8 normal meals is basically a month of food portioned out.  I usually have a shake or yogurt for breakfast.

Organization is in my opinion critically helpful, as it keeps unplanned eating or eating poor choices at bay.

• I typically have a general idea of what will be on the menu for the week, and get the ingredients in the house over the weekend.
• Sunday dinner is normally doubled to work for Monday night if I know I have to work late in a meeting.
• Meals are based on cooking times as much as nutrition stats, to ensure that I will actually prepare them on the night I go to cook. If they are too much effort or take to long I know I am likely to go out to eat instead.
• At work, I stock my classroom with acceptable snacks and back up lunch options for the days I forget mine sitting on the counter.
• I always have protein shakes available and ready to go also.
• Lunches tend to be very simple items- greek yogurt, hard boiled eggs, rotissierie chicken wrapped in a low carb/low calorie pita, etc. I pack lunches in groups of 2 or 3 so that some days I do not need to take anything in and it is there ready to go. 
• For a long time I would just do a protein shake for breakfast. Those were always my most effective days nutrition stat wise. 
• If I don't have good options that are easy and fast, I almost always start getting into crap I just shouldn't be eating. 
• Calories started very low month 1 (under 600 mostly), then up to 800, then slowly upped until about 1200 around month 5 or 6. I exercised a lot to go with those calories 

Thank you everyone! I have a couple appts  this week (blow into a bag to test for stomach ulsters...?) A NUT appt, and fasting bloodwork.

My psych eval is early March...then 2 more NUTS & surgeon appt. My "tentative" Surgery is May- I'm SO EXCITED! I really cant wait...trying to get as organized as possible.   

Thanks again!

Hi EJ. I will tell you what works for me and will hopefully work for you. I food prep either Sunday or Monday (my two days off) and I will make a variety of things in smaller portioned recipes. I then weight my food on a food scale and put it in small Tupperware or plastic zip-lock baggies and stack them on the top shelf of my fridge to grab.

So I may cook some fish or chicken or pork, I almost always make a batch of ricotta pancakes (a small luxury calorie and carb wise I allow myself) and then I make sure I have enough light cheese sticks, jerky, almonds (be careful on those though lots of carbs and calories) for snacks for the week. I always plan my meals on my fitness pal a few days in advance so I know I am on track for the week and feel in control of good/healthy choices I do not leave food up to chance.

The one time I forgot my lunch I went to the store and bought jerky and nuts so I could still have an okay day food wise, but I haven't forgotten food since. On a typical day I will have 600-700 calories (no more than 700) less than 40g carbs (usually in the 19-29 range) 75-100g protein and 20-29g grams of fat. I am literally never hungry but I am only 9 weeks out from surgery and the hunger feeling does return further on down the line. Also eating every 3ish hours helps with hunger thoughts (head hunger) because your body is not being left empty too much of the time. Things that are easy to take to work for me are lunch meat, cheese sticks, nuts, protein shakes, greek yogurt. They are small and compact and don't take up much room in a communal fridge. 

Make sure to get in tons of water (except 30 minutes before or after a meal) as sometimes "hunger" is dehydration it can also be acid so make sure to get your surgeon to prescribe a PPI or ask about taking one over the counter, I use omeprozole available at Costco, Walmart, Rite Aid etc over the counter.

Good luck!

Thanks Kelly! 

9 weeks out, great!! How are you doing so far?? Is it  working out  how you hoped? How was your recovery? 

Thanks again!!

I'm doing well, thank you. I adapted to the difference in eating and food prep. I've lost 40lbs since surgery (I lost 25 before)  I'm doing well on water intake and moving more. It is working out better than my dreams of it. I feel so much more confident and good about myself, I'm giddy. My recovery was okay, obviously there was pain but it was managed well, gas pain was the worst part.  I got to leave hospital day after surgery and at first getting any food in was hard (though water was easier for me).

It got better day by day and I'd do it again if I had to, to feel this good emotionally and physically. Body pain is gone; no more back, knees or hips hurting. I have been able to stop chiropractic appointments completely where I would go every two weeks before. I'm eating anything I want texture wise now, there are a few foods that don't work for me: eggs on their own, I can handle them as an ingredient in things but eating them alone makes me feel sick. Beef sausage (ie summer sausage etc) does not work for me. Neither does ground beef. But I can eat jerky and I did have a bite of steak medium rare and that was fine so I think it's just the low quality of the meat in processed beef things.

I found post op extremely easy! I planned just like I did before surgery, by making my lunches and snacks. I wasn't big on shakes, but a week post op I returned to work and I packed premier protein and egg drop soup. After that it was on to soft food and real food and as long as you plan and pack it's not a problem.

Just now my hunger will return every now again, but its rare. You may have head hunger initially.

What has your surgeon or NUT told you in regard to your food plan?