Banging my head against the wall....

Hey all, thank you so much for the help I have been getting, but I have to say that now I am completely overwhelmed. I don't know what to do. I don't have a WLS doc, not a lot of money at all (currently unemployed and even more broke than before), and I'm terrified that these portions and listings won't be enough food and I'll end up eating whatever I can get my hands on to stop the hunger. The closest thing I can relate to is an excerp shared with me from WLS for Dummies where it talks about measuring your pouch with cottage cheese. I did that and it works out to be what they are saying - about 1.5 cups max at minimum 12 months post op. So. Do I need to just suck it up and try and develop a food plan for myself or is there something else around that I can look at? My confusion: Eat slowly vs. fill pouch up fast. No liquid until 30 min after vs. no liquid until 90 min after. Do I have to have vegetables with breakfast? Ew... Don't eat fluid with your meal but then there's milk listed for breakfast... I'm trying very hard to stay focused and figure out what I need but understand I've been doing this WRONG for 5 of my 6 post op years. Yes, maybe I am asking someone to just tell me everything. LOL I never knew how different everyone's surgery was or anything like that. I figured there was just one guideline for everyone because we all had the same surgery. NOPE! Oy vey....

Hi Yvonne, Every surgeon does seem to give a different plan but one thing that comes through on all plans is not to drink while you eat. We always need to wait 30-60 minutes AFTER eating. Some docs say 30-45 before as well but that seems a bit more flexible. The reason is that liquids wash out the food and so you get the calories from it but not the satisfaction of being full. I have never eaten veggies with breakfast (not counting onions and peppers in eggs ). My nutritionist reccommends 5 servings of veggies a day but remember that a serving is usually 1/2 cup of green beans or such and not nearly as much as you might think. I usually try to get more in as my snacks. As far as the milk thing goes...that it just confusing. My nutritionist says you don't eat cereal with milk. Others say it is fine. I guess the issue here is that there is no one "standard" WLS diet - not from the newest post-op to the longest. You'd think that someone could agree but they don't. but true. The abo****es of WLS are 1) Eat protein first, then veggies, then carbs 2) Drink at least 64 ounces of non-caffeine fluids a day but not within 30 minutes of when you art and 3) exercise. Aside from that, it's all up for discussion. My suggestion might be to take a look at bariatricbytes.com, a web site created by our own Dame Tooter. The site is funny, informative and supportive. Sounds like you had surgery and were then "cut loose" by your doc. For me, I spent a goodly amount of time with my doctor and nutritionist before surgery and even more with the nutritionist after. I can't imagine not having had that support. I hope that this board proves to be useful. Good luck! Judi

I moved from Ontario Canada to Bennington VT 4 months after my surgery and only had 2 follow up appointments with my doc because of the distance and loss of my insurance. I didn't exist in the USA until 2001 when I got my green card and finally was able to see a Doc but a few other problems came up by that time. So, you're right, I didn't have a whole lot of direction. My hubby always tried his best to help me eat good food, but with depression and nothing to comfort me but food it was a downhill slide for a few years. Today I am starting with the "pouch rules" but I was really grumpy and hungry really soon after breakfast this morning, but I figure I have to tweak a bunch of things to work with the size of my stomach now and also how it works. I can still feel some twinges at the outlet so at least I know my pouch hasn't turned back into a regular stomach... Should I be sticking to 3 meals or is it better to have snacks? I've heard both and all I can do is get a headache trying to absorb all this info....

I noticed on your profile that you have trouble w/ sugar and flour. Me too!! Major addiction. Your first few days are going to be hard as you kick all those carbs. I did want to share with you how I tweaked the pouch rules to work better for me personally. I combined them with the South Beach Diet principles. When I'm trying to lose, I choose foods recommended in Phase I of the South Beach diet for those first few weeks, including the snacks, so I can kick those cravings. Then I follow the Phase II menus. This just works better for me, but I follow all the other advice in the "pouch rules" about liquids, water loading, exercise, etc. Another thing that helps me is to only eat dense protein for breakfast like scrambled eggs or shrimp ****tail. This keeps me full longer. I would borrow or buy the South Beach Diet book if you're a carb addict. It explains why we are and how to control it. That combined with using the pouch rules, really works for this carb addict. Linda

You are worrying about things that will more than likely not even be an issue for you. After surgery, you will not be hungry all the time. Most times you will not be hungry. When you eat, your pouch WILL dictate how much to eat. The rule of thumb is to ALWAYS measure your food and eat the SAME amount at each "feeding". That way you do not stretch your pouch or overeat. Meat 2-3 oz Fruit, Sides and Cooked Veggies 1/4 to 1/2 cup Raw Veggies / Salad 1 cup Dessert 3 bites and then throw it away ! By following that plan, you will continue to lose the weight and you will feel great. The other key is drinking lots of fluids. That helps you stay full and also washes waste from your body. You are to eat on a schedule and do not eat if you are not hungry. ie: Breakfast: 8am Snack: 10am Lunch: 1pm Snack: 3:30 pm Dinner: 4-5 pm Snack: 8pm Between those feedings, you should try to drink 12-32 oz of fluids. Make your snacks fruit and protein shakes and your meals mostly meat with some form of veggie. Don't stress, it is not hard at all. This journey has been a pleasure for me. Learning something new daily ... VAL

As others have said each doctor has different rules so you are going to get different answers from everybody. I think the pouch rules are about average personally. The important thing is to get a set of rules and follow them. Basically I think the reason most people stumble on their wls journey is that they let too many carbs sneak back into their diet. I'd suggest a few days of eating nothing but protein to get the carbs and cravings out of your body. I have to stay below 30 gms of carbs to lose weight but I have a very slow metabolism. My surgeon suggest a few things in addition to the pouch rules that I think make a lot of sense. (1) No protein shakes/bars after six weeks - He thinks we need to fill up on food which makes us feel full longer. (2) Nothing liquid with meals, the milk washes the cereal out of the pouch. (3) Dense protein stays in the pouch longer. Thus chicken stays longer than chili, steak stays longer than hamburger, etc. You mentioned you've done this wrong 5 of the 6 years you've been post-op. Did you ever lose all your weight? Have you regained? I realize this might be in your profile but I started the reply before I read your profile. You didn't mention vitamins/calcium. I hope you have continued to take these long term. Do you have blood work done on an annual basis? It can be very dangerous for wls patients not to be followed up. Even if you aren't working you should have access to medicade of something of that type. Best of luck to you.