Liquid diet

[Hanako]

I am 4 days after the surgery and I am already bored to death with the liquid diet. Thinking about my drinks tomorrow make my stomach turn. I really did not know that I would find it so hard. In the past I have been on all sorts of limiting diets such is lighter life, new Cambridge diet etc and I was never bothered about remaining on milkshakes and soups for a while, 2 weeks is not that long, so why is this such a problem this time?

I am ok with drinking all different teas. I also don't mind smoothies and fruit juice. And hot chocolate. The amount of liquid that I have to get into me is not a problem. The problem is the protein. I have bought some protein water, protein soups and protein milkshakes and I thought how easy it will be. How naive of me! After 4 days I hate the protein shakes, protein soups and protein water. So I tried to have milk with added dry milk (to increase the proteins) and have it just with hot chocolate. The first time it didn't taste that bad. The second time it felt a bit sickly and now I feel repulsed about having it tomorrow. I don't mind hot chocolate as such, but by adding the dry milk (to increase the proteins) it becomes 'too much' for me.

Any advice? What should I do? Should I stop worrying about the protein and enjoy ten more days of teas, milk (without adding dry milk) and smoothies? I know it will be inadequate from the protein point of view, but maybe I am trying to be 'perfect', do it as best as I can and my stomach struggles. Actually, I don't know, is it my stomach or my head who can't cope? I think both.

 

[eglantine]

Hi.

I am 4 days post op as well and was just about to start a similar thread.
I am bored to death of the liquid diet already.
I have some protein meal replacement soups but just feel sick looking at them. They taste horrid. I seem to have developed a milk intolerance. My provider said I should avoid dairy for the next few days.
I find that I am not hungry at all, I just eat because I have to.
Today I found out that I was quite weak. I went out for the first time since Friday. Short walk. I suddenly felt very hot, started sweating, felt dizzy and felt as if I was about to faint! :-(

Gerry xxx

 

[Mazza]

Do you like slim fast? the ready made shakes are good for the liquid stage - plus you will be getting important calories and vitamins in too. Smoothies are good too, as are milky coffee or hot chocolate (options etc made with milk).

I don't do well at all with protein shakes, its not as important for us banders especialy at your stage to be focusing on protein.

Have what you fancy, I felt very 'icky' if I didn't have something little and often xx

 

[Hanako]

Most of the time I am not really hungry. when I am, I would happily drink just fruit juice, peppermint tea or smoothie. I am not worried about having enough calories, the fruit juice and smoothie would give me hopefully enough calories. All I am worried is about how to get into me the protein. 60 grams per day is a lot!

No I don't like slimfast any more. Well, I didn't mind it before, but suddenly after 4 days I just temporarily hate all milkshakes (no matter what flavour), all protein soups and all protein water. I don't know what's wrong with me. It is not milk intolerance, I just got a bit fed up with it. I am worried that if I try and force myself, that I am going to be sick. they don't recommend being sick; I would be worried that my band may slip.

How much damage would I do to my body if I don't have the protein? I know protein helps muscles and healing, but we are talking about ten more days!

 

[BlueDiamond]

How about milky coffee? brovil? or sugar free juices like lemon and black currant and having them with hot water?? HTH BD x

 

[Hanako]

Sugar free juices are great, but don't have protein. But I could be the next day of them. No problem.

Milky coffee would be survivable, but to get enough protein from milk (with or without coffee), I would have to drink something like 1.6 litre of it per day. Milk has 3.6 grams of protein per 100 ml, so if I am aiming for having 60 g protein per day I will have to stick to the milk nearly the whole day.

Not sure what brovil is. I will look for it on the internet. Does it contain protein?

 

[gonnabethinner]

What about milk jelly?

 

[Hanako]

What about milk jelly?

I don't think I am allowed jelly on the liquid diet, am I? I can have anything that could get through the straw. Jelly wouldn't.

By the way, does jelly have protein? I didn't know that. I can't wait to get to mushy stage. I will love jelly!

 

[Tobi]

Honey just make stock at home and drink that or make soups with it. I posted recipes in the recipes section. Hope that helps. I absolutely loathed the protein water and shakes myself, soups saved my life the first couple of weeks and now I can't stand soups good luck xxx

Sent from my iPhone using WLSurgery

 

[SAS1]

I went straight only blended food, my provider said no liquid diet at all as no benefit. Been having normal food just baby like consistency. Means I can get my protein in food form.
If you really can't stick it, ask your provider if you can move to blended? But check first as
Not sure if it got something to do with type of band, mines a soft AMI one, not sure if a more rigid one needs extra care. X

 

[top_kat]

Don't worry at this stage about your protein. In the first week I was bloated and found that I couldn't really stomach milk, when I spoke to my dietician and the nurse, they told me to just make sure that I am getting fluids on board and not to worry about the content, protein content or anything else at this point. As such, at day 5, for another week I went back to very clear liquids in the form of NAS squash, tea and coffee only to help settle things down . . .things will even out when you get back on to the mush and then foods, but dont stress if you really struggle with the protein shakes.

My protein water went in the bin, I don't do protein shakes at all after being dreadfully ill physically as a result of Lighterlife, you will soon start getting it onboard when you move to the next stage

 

[Mazza]

Most of the time I am not really hungry. when I am, I would happily drink just fruit juice, peppermint tea or smoothie. I am not worried about having enough calories, the fruit juice and smoothie would give me hopefully enough calories. All I am worried is about how to get into me the protein. 60 grams per day is a lot!

No I don't like slimfast any more. Well, I didn't mind it before, but suddenly after 4 days I just temporarily hate all milkshakes (no matter what flavour), all protein soups and all protein water. I don't know what's wrong with me. It is not milk intolerance, I just got a bit fed up with it. I am worried that if I try and force myself, that I am going to be sick. they don't recommend being sick; I would be worried that my band may slip.

How much damage would I do to my body if I don't have the protein? I know protein helps muscles and healing, but we are talking about ten more days!

You should be at least a little more concerned with calories rather than protein! Where does the protein issue come from - the 60grams

You have just had surgery and yes protein will help your recovery but its really important to keep your body hydrated and to get the vitamins in too. I can't tolerate 'protein' drinks but you don't need them.

Ok so you don't like slim fast anymore - it was just a suggestion but fruit juice is full of sugar, you refer to sugar free, do you mean squash?

There is no way you will be getting enough nutrition from fruit juice, smoothies and peppermint tea. Thats a lot of fruit sugars. I understand you don't want to be sick or even feel sick but not putting enough in could result in that too.

What about soups, homemade or shop brought that you can blitz until smooth or water down to thin?

 

[Wobbly71]

For the first 2 weeks i had slimfast, ww soup, milky coffees, tea and water I also had a few pouring yogurts.

I wasn't told to aim for any protein levels and to be honest I still haven't been given a target as such.

Listen to your body try to get more calories and liquid in without worrying about protein.

You will feel better and heal better with more energy and vitamins.

 

[BlueDiamond]

When I was first banded I had some yoghurt and added some milk to it too thin it out. x

 

[Hanako]

You should be at least a little more concerned with calories rather than protein! Where does the protein issue come from - the 60grams

You have just had surgery and yes protein will help your recovery but its really important to keep your body hydrated and to get the vitamins in too. I can't tolerate 'protein' drinks but you don't need them.

Ok so you don't like slim fast anymore - it was just a suggestion but fruit juice is full of sugar, you refer to sugar free, do you mean squash?

There is no way you will be getting enough nutrition from fruit juice, smoothies and peppermint tea. Thats a lot of fruit sugars. I understand you don't want to be sick or even feel sick but not putting enough in could result in that too.

What about soups, homemade or shop brought that you can blitz until smooth or water down to thin?

Mazza, calories are no problem at the moment. All my previous days I have been on 800-900 calories, which is the same as I would be if I was on any slimming diet. (That means, not good for long term, but acceptable for 2 weeks).

The fruit juice I am using - it is not squash, but it is not 'full of sugar'. It is 100% fruit juice (squeezed fruit), not from concentrate. So it has plenty of vitamins, it has sugar (as much as any fruit has) but not any added sugar. To be fair, I know that fruit has a lot of fruit sugar, but that's the thing to give me the calories and extra vitamins. Tea contains nothing.

What exactly do you mean about the nutrition I am missing if I stay on juices and tea? As far as I am aware, I have plenty of vitamins from the recommended vitamin tablets and from the fruit juice, I have minerals, I have carbohydrates... the only thing I need and I don't have is the protein and fat. I think a human body can survive for two weeks without fat (or I could be drinking full fat milk), but what about the protein?

The 60g of protein I was talking about - a dietician told me that it's the minimum my body should have otherwise it will start burning my own muscles. Well, I have done some research on the internet and some sources are even saying 0.8 times body weight, and that would be even more than 60g and I am struggling even with the 60g.

 

[Mazza]

With all due respect how would I know you were taking a vitamin tablet? also fruit juice is full of sugar - yes fruit sugars but still sugar, fine in moderation. I have no idea how much you are having of course.

I thought you were asking for advice, my mistake, afterall I'm not qualified to give you anything other than my opinion! You should always stick with what your provider advises. Why not ring them for suggestions. 60 g of protein would indeed be difficult if you don't like the protein drinks you have.

 

[snack]

I was told not too worry about protein levels so soon after the op , but to focus on it when you move on to eating proper food etc at this stage the most important thing was keeping hydrated and keeping an eye on sugar levels as until your healed you can't start things properly any way , xx

 

[LucretiaUK]

I'm glad someone started this thread because I'm on day 12 post-op and the liquid diet is starting to get me down.
I'm having meal replacement shakes (Asda Measure Up) done quite thin, soya yogurts, lots of tea, coffee, milk, water, stock cubes, Bovril, thin soups and NAS squash. Having 200-300ml every 2 hours or so.
I am going to call Heartlands tomorrow to see if I REALLY MUST do 4 weeks of liquids as they advise. I did have a few spoons of cream of tomato soup on day 4 and I felt full almost at once so it wasn't sliding down as easily. It was good to feel that fullness!
However my tummy is growling all the time and I'm aching for some mashed potato or swede or mushy peas!

 

[Hanako]

With all due respect how would I know you were taking a vitamin tablet? also fruit juice is full of sugar - yes fruit sugars but still sugar, fine in moderation. I have no idea how much you are having of course.

I thought you were asking for advice, my mistake, afterall I'm not qualified to give you anything other than my opinion! You should always stick with what your provider advises. Why not ring them for suggestions. 60 g of protein would indeed be difficult if you don't like the protein drinks you have.

Mazza, I am not sure why you are angry. Yes I did ask for advice and I do appreciate all the advice everyone here provided. I am not discounting anybody's opinion, yours included. When you wrote that I may not have enough nutrition, I asked which one because I was worried that I am missing something. Why is it so offensive to you? I am really confused, because the last thing I would want is to hurt you or offend you. I am really thankful to all kind people here on the forum who take their time and tell me how they dealt with the same problems when they were in the same situation.

The dietician who told me about the 60g of protein per day, it was several years ago, when I was trying to sort out my eating. So it wasn't done in connection with this surgery and therefore I was so unsure whether I have to stick to it for those two weeks. But enough posters have been advising me to worry about getting enough liquid and forget temporarily about the protein, so I will listen to everyone. (I think it is my fault sometimes trying to be too perfect, do exactly what I should be doing, and sometimes it is just not doable. But if others survived alright without chasing the proteins, I will be fine temporarily without them too.)

 

[Hanako]

Oh, Lucretia, and I thought I had it tough! You were told 4 weeks? Oh, no! I think the majority of us here with band were told 2 weeks liquid and 2 weeks mashed food. But if your provider told you 4 weeks, they may have some reason for it. Definitely check with them.