Who is your provider and where are you getting it done?
Personally I worked really hard to lose as much weight as I could and try to adapt what I thought would happen after the surgery. So I stuck to around 1000-1200 cals a day, considerably cut down my portion sizes, very small meals, did low carb high protein.
I lost over 2 stone in 2 months, then a holiday and xmas came along and then it was time to start my LRD which wasnt that different to my own diet although much lower in fat, they like you to eat very low fat during the LRD because the liver needs to shrink and soften up.
Your provider should have advice and guidance about what they want you to eat and drink after the operation and also how long each phase is. For some reason it changes from provider to provider
Mine was 2 weeks liquids, 2 weeks puree, then 2 weeks mashed foods.
I personally do not eat artificial sweetners and so these periods were quite difficult in terms of getting the right products. A lot of people rely on protein shakes which are full of them, also protein waters (which I did try and drink) are full of them. I also dont like milky products like milk shakes so I really didnt use these type of products.
What I did have was lots of water, bovril, cuppa soups. I tried thinned soups and thinned yoghurts but it was too heavy for me and I found it difficult getting it down. I bought unflavoured protein powder and just added that to hot drinks or weetabix and I still do this in order to get the protein in.
During the puree stage I tended to just mash things a lot, had mashed potato, cant get on with egg at all now. Weetabix, mashed up cauliflower cheese
I do really struggle to get food down me as I still have the feelings of something sitting in my chest and throat, it is getting better however so my intake has gone up a bit now. Im still not on the calories I should be but am working up to that, however I do meet my protein and liquid targets most days so that is ok.
I am struggling with animal proteins so have gone mostly veggie with a view to keep trying the animal proteins to get used to them, they are getting slightly easier to get in. Ideally my protein will come from food not my powders but Im not there yet and may not be for many months. I now cant drink water at all, all my liquid every day is made up of tea and coffee, which I have to have very hot.
All of this is very different for each person, on my support group there are people who could eat quite a lot quite soon after surgery and genuinely feel hungry. There are others who are worse off than me and have a lot of sickness and struggle to get food in. It does seem to ease as time goes on
My weight loss has been 'slow' apparently, just under 2 stone at the 9 week point (I dont weigh myself very much so not due for a weigh in until week 12). My surgeon said he is pleased with my progress overall but it is quite a slow loss!!! Overall due to the pre op work I did, I am very nearly 5 stone down in 6 months. Perhaps it will speed up if I manage to get more food in, but equally I am peri menopause so Im not expecting it to be like some of the young girls I see in my support group where its dropping off!
My supplements are Baricol and Im meant to take extra iron with that but I havent started the iron again yet as I had constipation after the op and want a few more weeks. Im also taking the protein powder which is collagen, Im also going to take magnesium and biotin. My hair has started falling out already. My surgeon said he wants me to take b12 injections but on Baricol you're not meant to need this, what I have found is that the advice differs according to who you speak to, my nurses, my nutritonist, my surgeon. Bit annoying. Im convinced I have acid reflux, my surgeon says its not, the nurses say it might be! I think my first blood tests are at 6 months.
You wont be able to have your toddler bouncing on your lap. Even now at 11 weeks I get aches and pains in the sites, have to be careful about how I lie in bed, they are healed fine but just a bit achy, probably scar tissue etc.