meal plan

[phil2912 22]

Hi guys... I'm just over 6 weeks out and have lost about 16kg since surgery and about 27kg since October 2013

This may sound like an odd request but do any of you have prepared meal plans that you could please maybe share?

I'm stuck as to how I'm meant to be structuring my day and what I should be eating (I'm on normal foods but have been told I'm not eating enough some I barely reach 200-500cals I think, and to make it worse I've stalled/ plateaued at around 100kg for the past week or 2)... The hunger is there I just try to ignore it or have liquids, but today I gave in and had 2 oat Cookies, some grapes, and a few rice crackers! I feel guilty... Which is silly I know.

Any help or guidance would be appreciated. I think I'm having hard time mentally adjusting to this way of eating... I'm hoping a regimen or plan will help me.

I can feel my eating disorders returning mainly in the form of restriction... The scales are evil. I wish I never bought them... I'm thinking of destroying them "by accident"...

It's a mental roller coaster and I've been a major bi*ch to those around me. I haven't been able to see a therapist yet as apparently the paperwork isn't ready...? Weird

Anyway sorry for the crazy post. I just wanted some meal plans please?

Phil

[James Marusek 5,244]

Hi Phil

I discussed my meal plan in "How I Survived Bariatric Surgery" and even included some recipes. I am 11 months out and this approach worked for me. You can find the article at http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

Jim

[phil2912 22]

Hi Phil

I discussed my meal plan in "How I Survived Bariatric Surgery" and even included some recipes. I am 11 months out and this approach worked for me. You can find the article at http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

Jim

Hi James I skimmed through the document and it's fantastic! Well done on taking the time and effort to put it together. Especially to help others!

I will be honest tho. I'm worried with the Soups that I will be consuming too much... liquids go down and sit really easily for me... For example I can down almost 1.5L of Fluid (not Water as it still hurts my stomach) I'm half an hour (with some effort)... This might not be the best thing to do but it's the only way I feel I can get enough in during the day!

On another note... I'm not actually sure of how much my stomach can now hold... Is there a test for this? And if so... Are liquids the best indicator as they seem to just pass through the system?

I wonder tho if low calorie Soups are the best option for me... Any other meal plans out there that involve solids?

[phil2912 22]

Hi Phil

I discussed my meal plan in "How I Survived Bariatric Surgery" and even included some recipes. I am 11 months out and this approach worked for me. You can find the article at http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

Jim

I'll check out ur site soon as well... It's just I'm about to fall asleep! So will do it tomorrow

Edited April 18, 2014 by phil2912

[James Marusek 5,244]

I am assuming that you are probably communicating from Australia perhaps. Due to the use of metrics and the fact that you are about to fall asleep. So maybe the regiment on Bariatric Surgery might be somewhat different there. Here in the States, they provide us with a document that provides a basic meal plan. The document describes the volume of food to be consumed at each meal based on the stage after surgery (first 4 weeks, weeks 5-8, weeks 9-15, months 4-6, months 7-9, months 10-12, months 12-18 and months 18 and beyond). It delineates each meal by ounces of Protein, starch, fruit, and vegetables). Then it defines which items (such as yogurt, Beans, rice etc.) are approved in each category at any given time after surgery. This meal plan is very complicated and regimented. When you went through surgery, did you receive the same type of document.

[PATTIANN 0]

james can you post your website again when i click on it , it won't open

Thanks

[James Marusek 5,244]

Pattiann

This is the web address. Just type it into your browser window.

http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

[James Marusek 5,244]

The program is automatically truncating the address. Let's try

www. (then type) breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

[phil2912 22]

I am assuming that you are probably communicating from Australia perhaps. Due to the use of metrics and the fact that you are about to fall asleep. So maybe the regiment on Bariatric Surgery might be somewhat different there. Here in the States, they provide us with a document that provides a basic meal plan. The document describes the volume of food to be consumed at each meal based on the stage after surgery (first 4 weeks, weeks 5-8, weeks 9-15, months 4-6, months 7-9, months 10-12, months 12-18 and months 18 and beyond). It delineates each meal by ounces of Protein, starch, fruit, and vegetables). Then it defines which items (such as yogurt, Beans, rice etc.) are approved in each category at any given time after surgery. This meal plan is very complicated and regimented. When you went through surgery, did you receive the same type of document.

Hi James,

Yep I am in Australia.

I did receive a book but it doesn't seem as detailed as what you're describing. I'll go through the information I have been given again and see if I can draw some useful meaning from it.

I guess what I'm after is a set structure and a plan that's tells me what to eat and when.

Phil

[James Marusek 5,244]

Let's see! At Week 5-8 after surgery, the meal plan recommended to me was:

Breakfast: one ounce of Protein + 1 ounce of fruit

Lunch: one ounce of Protein + 1 ounce of vegetables

Dinner: one ounce of protein + 1 ounce of starch

All of this food should be pureed. One ounce is equal to 2 tablespoons or 1/8th of a cup or 28 grams or 28 milliliters. This is a microscopically small amount of food. At this stage, you are essentially surviving on Protein shakes, Water and Vitamins. They recommend your daily protein intake should be between 75-90 grams of protein per day. This is important. Also you need to drink 64-80 ounces of low calorie fluids daily. That would be 1.8 - 2.3 liters per day. You move to solid foods at Week 9.

[phil2912 22]

Let's see! At Week 5-8 after surgery, the meal plan recommended to me was:

Breakfast: one ounce of Protein + 1 ounce of fruit

Lunch: one ounce of Protein + 1 ounce of vegetables

Dinner: one ounce of protein + 1 ounce of starch

All of this food should be pureed. One ounce is equal to 2 tablespoons or 1/8th of a cup or 28 grams or 28 milliliters. This is a microscopically small amount of food. At this stage, you are essentially surviving on Protein shakes, Water and Vitamins. They recommend your daily protein intake should be between 75-90 grams of protein per day. This is important. Also you need to drink 64-80 ounces of low calorie fluids daily. That would be 1.8 - 2.3 liters per day. You move to solid foods at Week 9.

Thanks so much James.

I'm on soft/ normal foods and can easily have maybe 3/4 of a cup... But as I said I'm having food/ anxiety issues.

I went to dinner tonight with a friend and although I probably only had a cup of food (a few spoons of rice as well as some Ho fun) I am worried I ate too much. Granted I was feeling quite full/ tight but that only fueled the anxiety. I hate eating with others (especially those unaware of my surgery) but got caught in the situation unexpectedly...

Hmmm Gah!

Sorry for the randomness/ranting/venting...

[James Marusek 5,244]

A cup of food per meal at your stage (6 weeks after surgery) will probably bring your weight loss to a grinding halt. But let me switch to another subject - Vitamins. What Vitamins are you taking? Perhaps if they did not prepare you for the surgery by giving you a meal plan, they may have also been remiss in defining Vitamin requirements.

In a gastric bypass operation. They cut your stomach in two. Your normal stomach which processes your food is now very, very small. One of the functions of a stomach is to provide your body with nutrients. Some of these nutrients are vitamins. Without certain vitamins, you will develop serious medical problems. Therefore there is a regiment of vitamins that you need to be taking in order to avoid a trip to the emergency room. Your body no longer synthesizes these. What vitamins were you directed to take?

[phil2912 22]

A cup of food per meal at your stage (6 weeks after surgery) will probably bring your weight loss to a grinding halt. But let me switch to another subject - Vitamins. What Vitamins are you taking? Perhaps if they did not prepare you for the surgery by giving you a meal plan, they may have also been remiss in defining Vitamin requirements.

In a gastric bypass operation. They cut your stomach in two. Your normal stomach which processes your food is now very, very small. One of the functions of a stomach is to provide your body with nutrients. Some of these nutrients are vitamins. Without certain vitamins, you will develop serious medical problems. Therefore there is a regiment of vitamins that you need to be taking in order to avoid a trip to the emergency room. Your body no longer synthesizes these. What vitamins were you directed to take?

Sorry I should have said a cup of some foods (not all/many) other things I can only have 1/4-1/2 cup. Or can't tolerate them at all.

As for the vitamins. I was told to take one mini Multivitamin a day. It's so gross! Sometimes I forgo it all together because of the horrid taste but I try my best to take it everyday.

Phil

[James Marusek 5,244]

Wow! There is a world of difference in the Vitamin regime between the U.S. and Australia for individuals that undergo Gastric Bypass Surgery. I am not saying who is right and who is wrong, but if you begin to experience major health issues, the problem may lie in your Vitamin intake.

The following is the regime that I have been directed to take.

1. Three Flintstone's chewable Multivitamins daily. (These contain my Iron requirement and I am taking these late at night to provide a 2 hour separation between my Calcium intake.)

2. 1500 to 1800 milligrams of calcium citrate. (This is my Calcium requirement. I take Citracal. These are large pills and at the beginning I had to smash these pills because I couldn't swallow them whole. For best absorptions, I take these in 3 doses of approximately 500 mg spaced two hours apart.

3. 5,000 I.U. of Vitamin D3 daily.

4. 500 to 1,000 micrograms sublingual B12 daily or injection once monthly or Nascobol nasal spray once weekly. (I do the B12 injections once per month and my wife gives me these.)

5. 100 milligrams vitamin B1 also known as Thiamine daily. (At the 6 month mark, my doctor reduced the dose down to one vitamin per week.)

[phil2912 22]

That's a massive difference....

Bringing up Protein again, I was told 60g (ish - as it was a rough guide given to me when I asked) which is a huge difference to the 75-90g/day I've seen others talk about...

Curious... Where you told you are allowed to have diet flattened pop drinks? Because I was given the ok for these...?