This Patien'ts Relationship With Food Changed After Surgery

The following article was written by a reader who wanted to share her experiences with the diet after gastric bypass surgery. For privacy reasons, her name is not included.

"After many unsuccessful diets I decided to consult my doctor about getting gastric bypass surgery..."

We had several consultations before reaching the decision that I was qualified and that it could end up saving my life in the long run. The gastric bypass surgery was conducted a little over a year ago and I greatly feel the difference.

My lifestyle has completely changed from the way I view life, what foods I consume and how I exercise. My main dislike about the entire procedure was parts of the gastric bypass diet. Of course, after any type of surgery you have to enable yourself to heal to the best of your body's capability. For me, this meant following the gastric bypass diet.

When I had the procedure done I literally felt as though my stomach was reduced from a largely inflated balloon to the size of a peanut. I knew that the amount of food that I would intake from then on was going to change.

Post surgery, my diet started off with liquids. For the first two or three days of my diet all I pretty much consumed was clear liquid. This means that I drank anything from water to clear soda that had absolutely no fizz.

Just before I left the hospital the doctors put me on what they called a Low Fat stage. This lasted just about two weeks, and it was my most disliked part of the diet. It is partly because I was away from the hospital and had to absorb the changes pretty much on my own. Chewing vitamins was the main thing I did at this stage.

You would be surprised how little it takes to fill you up! I regularly checked with my doctor the progress I had been making food wise. He finally set me up to what I personally like to call the Real Food Stage. For the first time I was able to eat some food that actually looked like real food. Tuna became my personal favorite because it was soft and that is what this stage was primarily about. It was easy for me to find foods that were soft, and if they were not, I could easily cook them and that would change their texture.

As odd as this sounds for a grown woman to say, I also turned to baby food. Bottled baby food products are nutritious, help with development and are made with real fruits and vegetables. I might add that they actually taste good as well.

It took me a while before I cooked to my fulled extent, but it was without a doubt worth it. The main thing that I would advise anyone who goes through this surgery to do is follow the plan you are given. Do not be fooled and think that because your stomach is so much smaller now that you can consumer whatever you want, at any rate you want. The size of my stomach changed but I had to change my lifestyle as well. It is crucial to eat healthy and move around as much as possible.

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To read personal stories submitted by gastric bypass patients, visit After Gastric Bypass - Personal Experiences.