Originally published November 28, 2008

When I met with the surgeon we talked about how some folks go out and have that last big meal before the surgery just stuffing themselves. He said folks that do that aren’t ready for the surgery. And he’s right. I made a comment about trying to do all this through the holidays, with the big meals and all. His response was basically get used to it.

It’s Thanksgiving today. Or course I ate more than I should have…  but I didn’t eat as much as I “would have”. I had small portions of a lot of different things. Some turkey of course, and stuffing. And what’s stuffing without mashed potatoes, and of course gravy. Oh… and can’t forget the green bean casserole, some squash (we didn’t have sweet potatoes) and some of the bread I baked. Then later, a small piece of the pumpkin pie I made, and a bit of my sister’s apple pie. Only thing I had seconds on was the turkey. Like I said, more than I should have… but less than I would have if had not started down the road I’m currently on. Small steps, right?

If you read WLS: By the Numbers, you know I need to lose at least 21 pounds over the next few months in preparation to having weight loss surgery (WLS). Found that out just over a week ago… and this last Tuesday I met with a dietitian. About half the time was spent going over just what it’s going to be like to eat after having Roux-en-Y surgery, the first few weeks are almost a shocking difference. I’m sort of glad Unity doesn’t prescribe to the liquid diet before surgery plan, cause I will get more than enough of that after.

Forget for the moment that my “new stomach” will be roughly the size of a golf ball or smaller… it’s surgery, major surgery, on the stomach. You can’t go scarfing down cheese burgers after something like that.. lots of cutting and stitching back together takes place, and things need to heal. So for the first three weeks after surgery this is what my diet will consist of;

water, broth, sugar-free drink mixes, 100% fruit juices, diluted half/half with water, sugar-free Jell-O, skim milk, non-caffeine herbal teas, diluted decaf coffee (in my case maybe some tea), sugar-free Popsicles, sugar-free lemonade, strained low-fat clear soups that are diluted with water, and protien supplement.

At this point the main goal is to get 20grams of protien and at least 64 ounces of water a day. Now after about 10 days, I will get to add a few more items – V8 or Diet V8 Splash, tomato juice our soup (which I don’t like anyways), low-fat cream sups that are strained, and even sugar-free/low-fat Fudgsicle’s.

Now even drinking water and such will fill me up at this point.. so it’s going to be a lot of sipping over the course of the day. Preventing dehydration is a huge thing.

On the fourth week, this is where you start taking your vitamins and get to move on to the pureed diet. This is the good stuff now!

plain or lite fruit-flavored yogurt, small curd, fat-free cottage cheese, sugar-free pudding, pureed meat, cooked cereals like unflavored Cream of Wheat or Malt-o-Meal, pureed vegets like green beans, squash and potatoes, unsweetened pureed apple sauce, peaches and bananas.

At this point, an entire “meal” consists of about 3 tablespoons of food. Bear in mind that there are 4 tablespoons in a 1/4 cup. That’s not enough to fill a shot glass. A suggested meal is 1 Tbsp cottage cheese, 1 Tbsp pureed vegetable and 1 Tbsp pureed fruit. And while it doesn’t sound like much… there’s a chance I may not be able to eat it all at first.

My mom gave me one of those Magic Bullet blenders for Christmas last year. It’s still in the box. I’m kind of glad I never got around to returning it. The dietitian said she uses hers a lot for protien shakes and such. I have a feeling it will get some use coming up.

Now we’re up to the fifth week after surgery. This is where you start introducing “real food” back in to your diet… eggs, tuna salad, fish, tender and moist meats, cheese, peanut butter even some crackers and beans and such. But… the quantities are still in that 3 tablespoons per meal range. So how’s this sound for breakfast? 1 tbsp soft-cooked egg (1 tbsp.. not 1 egg), 1/4 slice toast with 1 tsp of peanut butter and 1 tbsp of fruit. Then from here on out it’s a matter of slowly adding food until after about a year I’ll be eating roughly 1 cup worth of food per meal.

Yea. 1 cup. See that can of pop on your desk there? Take two of those and fill them with food, that’s about how much I will be eating in a day. The whole day.

There are some that might say WLS is the “easy way out”. It’s not. It requires life-style changes… and some pretty drastic ones. It is going to take a lot of work… probably more than I even realized at first (thus why there are so many hoops to jump through in preparing for this). And yes, part of me still wonders why I can’t make these changes without the surgery… but I can’t… any more than drive a nail without a hammer. The surgery is not a cure-all, it’s a tool.

Will losing weight be easier with the surgery than without? Sure, just as driving that nail could be done with a rock… but is done a lot easier with a hammer.

Just eating right would help, sure. But combined with the surgery means that I’ll feel full on a LOT less food than I would right now. And if I eat right… taking my time… eating what I should… not drinking with/after meals, not only will I feel full on less, I’ll feel full longer. Combine that with some of the negatives that can happen from eatting the wrong things… it is going to give me the means and motivation to keep eating right.

Next time I’ll share some of the stuff about the meal plan the dietician has me on.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

It was roughly 13 months ago that I started down the path to WLS by getting a referral from my doctor to the bariatric clinic.

One year and two days ago I met with the nutritionist and was put on a 1500 calorie a day meal plan to lose the required pre-op weight. Yea, I kinda cheated a bit on Thanksgiving… and Christmas. But I made the commitment and did a lot better than I had the year before.

Now here it is a year, and bout 185 pounds later, and I am truly thankful I made the decision to have this surgery.

I have no doubt I will be here for many many more Thankgivings to come than I otherwise would have been…. years I’ll be able to further enjoy the other many things I’m thankful for, such as my friends and family… and also thanks to the surgery I can truly add good health to the list of things I am thankful for.

Enjoy your day everyone.