What are you able to eat the 1st month and then the 2nd month

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone,

This is for the newbies who have just had surgery or are about to have surgery.

It has been posted before, but so many found it helpful, so I am posting it

again.

What are you able to eat the 1st month?

I have said over and over that the 1st 30 days after having weight loss surgery

are the very hardest to do. I think there are several things that make it so

hard. The first is we were used to chewing a lot of food at one time and then

swallowing it. Now you are on clear liquids. I got bored with them. The 1st

10 days was the worst. Then the creamy stage came along and I loved being able

to have creamy soups. Remember now you can add your protein drinks that are

creamy to this stage—you will be able to get some good quality protein.

When I got to the mushy stage this was a bit of a challenge for me. (My husband

and his great sense of humor suggested Gerber baby food.) Believe me I

considered it. I made some chicken soup and put it in the blender and it was

chunky—it was good and I was getting some protein too from it. I also made a

big pot of veggie soup and mashed it up in the bowel when I ate it. If you make

a big pot of Veggie soup everyone in the family can eat it. The last 10 days are

when you are learning to take that tiny baby bites and then swallow.

I suggest that when you get to the mushy stage that you start to practice taking

tiny, small baby bites of food. For most of your life you have been inhaling

your food, barely chewing it and almost swallowing it whole with 2 or 3 bites.

That will NO longer work for you once you finish the 1st 30 days. That was my

biggest problem when I started to eat regular food again. I still sometimes

have to set my fork down and chew and chew and chew. It is a learning lesson.

During the 1st month after WLS, your brain is still thinking in the mode of

where you used to be before WLS. PLEASE remember that our brain really could

convince us before to eat and eat and eat. We ate for all the wrong reasons.

We ate when we were bored, upset, hurt, scared, or anxious. I am sure there was

many more reason why we ate. NOW you are going to have to learn to listen to

your stomach and know that you are full. Some signs are hiccups or runny

nose—pay attention to those signs. The brain plays tricks on us—many of us call

this " head hunger. " The brain really will try to tell you that you are starving

and you should eat more. Those are " head hunger games " and you need to learn

the difference between do I NEED to eat or do I just WANT to eat.

SO WHAT DO I EAT STARTING THE 2ND MONTH

I started with what I will call soft or easy to chew proteins.

1.Soft Boiled eggs or scrambled eggs cooked in a pan with PAM spray.

2.Chicken breast with NO skin—baked, grilled, broiled, steamed, boiled, or

roasted. Look for a cookbook that shows you 100 different ways to fix chicken.

3.Fish no skin no bones it is worth getting it this way—Grilled, roasted,

steamed, broiled, or in a pan cooked with PAM spray—dip it in a little egg for

more protein.

4.Turkey breast with NO skin—baked, grilled, broiled, steamed, boiled, or

roasted. You can also cook it in a pan with PAM spray.

These proteins can be cooked so many different ways. At first I would cook them

pretty simple and use different " rubs " on them for flavor. Fresh squeezed

Lemmon or Lime really added a lot of flavor to them. I eat very little RED

meat. I was a lover of red meat in the past, but I no longer eat much of it.

I try to keep my carbs down to about 25 or 30 carbs per day. I use WHOLE GRAIN

carbs and not whole wheat. It takes time and effort to plan what you are going

to eat. It takes a while to adjust your lifestyle to eating like this. This is

NOT A DIET, but a lifestyle change that will last a life time. I also exercise

at least 5 days a week.

I ate fresh veggies and usually steamed them or had them raw and a small amount

of fresh fruit helped too.

You are only going to be able to eat small amounts of protein—maybe 1 oz. per

meal and ¼ of a cup of veggies this second month. You will look at your plate

and think is this all I am going to get—then you eat and figure out pretty

quickly that you are full.

I still eat these same foods 2 years and 11 months later, only I now eat a

little more of each of them. I also STILL drink my Premier Protein drink for

breakfast every day. It has 30 grams of protein and it just works for me to

drink it—that is all I have for breakfast. I have some small snacks during the

day too, and they consist of nuts or veggies.

Yes, I have a something sweet now and then, but in small amounts and NOT every

day. A sliver of cake—not a big piece, or 1 cookie, not 5 or 6.

It is more about the taste, and once I have satisfied the taste, I am ok and I

don't feel deprived at ALL. As time goes on you will become more creative with

what you are cooking and will find what tastes good to you. Take some of your

old recipes and reinvent them to something that you can eat now with you new and

improved stomach.

If you have any questions just E-mail me.

Suzanne

Sleeved 10/21/2008

Lost 105 pounds