Pre and Post Weight Loss Surgery Diet in Maryland

The choice to undergo bariatric surgery is a life changing decision. But it’s not always an easy one. One thing that some people get hung up on is the pre and post weight loss surgery diet. It does require dedication and discipline, but it’s worth it.

If you truly want to take charge of your weight loss journey and find success after bariatric surgery, you have to commit to the lifestyle. You will need to follow a special diet before and after your procedure, eat proper portion sizes and make lifestyle changes to ensure your success.

Pre Weight Loss Surgery Diet

Before your weight loss surgery, you will need to start changing your diet. Typically, you consult with a bariatric dietitian. Depending on your weight, you may need to lose 5-10 pounds before surgery. Your pre-surgery diet is designed to reduce the amount of fat in and around your liver. This helps reduce the risk of complications during the surgery.

General Guidelines

While it varies from patient to patient, some of the guidelines for your pre surgery diet might include:

Avoid binge eating
Limit your portion sizes
Eliminate or reduce intake of saturated fats
Stop smoking
Eliminate or reduce high sugar beverages like soda and juice
Don’t drink alcohol
Eliminate or reduce high carb foods
Incorporate protein shakes into your diet
Take a daily multivitamin
Don’t drink beverages with your meals

Post Weight Loss Surgery Diet

Your post-surgery diet plan will be divided into several stages. Your bariatric surgeon and dietitian will determine how long each stage lasts and what it will include. However, all stages place a great emphasis on portion sizes since this will benefit you for the rest of your life.

Step 1: The Liquid Diet

During stage 1, your nutrition will come from liquids. This allows your body to heal from surgery and helps avoid postoperative complications. For the first few days, you can only drink a few ounces of clear liquid at a time. This allows the stomach to heal without being stretched out by food.

After clear liquids, you graduate to other liquids which can include:

Decaffeinated tea or coffee
Sugar free ice pops
Skim milk
Sugar free gelatin
This soup or broth
Unsweetened juice

Step 2: Purees

With your doctor’s approval, you can move from liquids to purees. This includes foods that have a thick, pudding-like consistency. We recommend avoiding spicy seasonings as these may irritate the stomach. Additionally, fibrous food like broccoli and cauliflower, as well as foods with lots of seeds like strawberries or kiwi may cause irritation.

Choose foods that liquify well. Such as:

Fruits like bananas, applesauce, melons, peaches, pears, apricots, and pineapples.
Vegetables like spinach, carrots, green beans, and squash.
Protein like yogurt, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, beef, chicken, turkey, white fish, and scrambled eggs.

Step 3: Soft Foods

After a few weeks of pureed foods, you will be ready to start adding soft, easy to chew foods into your diet. This can include things like:

Ground lean meat or poultry
Baked or steamed white fish
Cooked, diced vegetables
Fresh fruit with no skin
Canned fruits like pears and peaches
Soft boiled eggs

Step 4: Stabilization

This step of the process involves reintroducing solid food. You typically begin this stage after about 2 months. Since your stomach is so much smaller, you need to dice or chop food into small bites and chew very well. Introduce new foods slowly and determine which ones your new stomach can handle. Avoid eating any food that causes discomfort, nausea, or vomiting.

It’s important to avoid certain things during this stage. This includes bread and bread products, tough meats and vegetables, crunchy foods, carbonated drinks, and fibrous vegetables. After about 2 months of this stage, you can begin eating normally. However, you need to pay very close attention to portion sizes.