Diet and nutrition are crucial to your weight loss after gastric sleeve surgery. You can plan proper diet stages to reduce weight and regain strength by ensuring true healing and long-term success through weight loss surgery. This article will discuss the road map toward different bariatric diet stages and post op gastric sleeve diet plans.
According to the journal Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases, the patients who followed the strict diet plan were able to lose 25% of their body weight after the Surgery on average in comparison to those who could only lose 19% of their body weight without following Gastric Sleeve Post Op Diet.
Succeeding After Surgery: Gastric Sleeve Post Op Diet
Low-carbohydrate and high-protein diets help you lose weight faster, based on several studies published in the journals associated with gastric sleeve post op diet.
A proper diet rich in nutritional values helps provide the required time for the stomach to heal, speed up your weight loss and reduce the risk of complications after your Surgery.
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Gastric Sleeve Surgery, also known as Sleeve Gastrectomy or Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, is an essential step toward weight loss. The post-op diet for gastric sleeves also promotes weight loss at a faster rate. It provides the necessary nutritional elements your body might have become deprived of after the surgery.
Once your surgery is done, you are supposed to consume fewer calories than you can burn. You must get into the gastric sleeve post op diet plan and strictly obey them to achieve the following benefits.
- Reduces Calorie Intake
- More protein intake fills up your stomach and increases satiety, which often leads to you eating less, which means a reduced calorie intake can be observed with a proper diet.
- Hunger Management
- A proper diet plan will know what to eat and what amount according to your type of body, BMI, and expected weight loss goals and provides feelings of fullness at the same time.
- Preserve Muscle Mass
- For your overall health and long-term weight reduction, protein is an essential nutrient that will help you build and maintain muscle mass.
- Enhancing Metabolism
- Your capacity to proceed with food and conversion into energy depends on your metabolism; enough fiber in your food would help you improve your energy conversion cycle.
- Preventing Malnutrition
- Patients’ stomach after the surgery gets significantly reduced, and they may not be able to eat that much compared to before the surgery. This is when a post op gastric sleeve diet plan based on nutrient-dense food becomes absolutely crucial to avoid malnutrition.
Almost 200,000 people in the United States undergo bariatric surgery and intend to lose weight, and often most of these patients go through a diet plan since they do not risk their health in post-surgery complications.
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How does your post op diet for gastric sleeve look alike?
It is necessary to understand what you’re looking for and made for, and we are here to give you a particular glimpse of how your post op diet for gastric sleeve may look alike, however, you must consider, we can only provide you a merely general guideline, which may or may not be the right fit for different individual patients.
The following table might give you the general or ideal post op gastric sleeve diet plan; please remember that you can use this only for your reference since every patient’s body and requirements is different, and you must visit a professional dietician before considering your food intake.
| Week Stage | Type of Diet | Food Recommendation | Quantity Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Clear Liquid Diet | Water, broth, sugar-free gelatin, sugar-free popsicles, non-carbonated, non-caffeinated, non-alcoholic liquids. | 48 to 64 ounces per day |
| Week 2 | Full Liquid Diet | Protein-rich drinks and shakes (low-sugar, low-carb), low-fat milk, cream soups without chunks, watery oatmeal, and sugar-free pudding. | 4 to 6 small meals per day |
| Week 3 | Pureed Diet | Pureed vegetables such as squash, sweet potato, and carrots), pureed fruits such as applesauce and canned fruit), lean proteins such as ground chicken, turkey, and fish. | 3 to 4 small meals per day |
| Week 4 | Soft Diet | Scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, mashed potatoes, cooked vegetables such as green beans, carrots, and broccoli. | 3 to 4 small meals per day |
| Week 5 | Solid Diet | Lean protein such as chicken, turkey, fish, and lean cuts of beef and pork, non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, and asparagus; fruits such as berries, apples, and citrus fruits; whole grains such as quinoa, brown rice, and whole wheat bread. | 3 small meals per day and 2 snacks as needed |
Every patient must report their progress card to their dietician and surgeon and keep their regular post-operation appointments to have long-term results in their weight loss journey. Since individuals’ specific needs and food restrictions may vary, you cannot take the risk by generalizing your body type and health conditions.
We recommend you consult a professional dietician in your local area who provides the services and prepares for you a diet after gastric sleeve surgery.
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Impacts of Gastric Sleeve Diet Stages on Your Weight
According to the systematic review and meta-analysis in their Obesity Reviews published in 2017, patients who visited a registered dietician and received nutritional counseling lost 5.5 KG more weight on average than those who did not consider a diet plan.
The gastric sleeve post op diet allows your stomach to heal while restricting the impact of food on your stomach, you eat. To recover more quickly after the surgery, professional surgeons, dieticians, and doctors suggest you undergo gastric sleeve diet stages.
Your stomach can safely and comfortably digest the food prepared through the conscious diet plan considering different body parameters and expected weight loss. This is where the gastric sleeve diet after surgery becomes crucial in your entire journey of weight loss.
Patients who do follow the bariatric diet stages and accordingly carry their food intake are less likely to experience the risk of complications, such as nausea, vomiting, and dumping syndrome after the surgery.
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Pre-Surgery: Gastric Sleeve Food Stages
There is typically no gastric sleeve food stages before the surgery, however, healthcare professional usually recommends slight or cold modifications in your dietary habits a few days before the surgery to help your body prepare for the surgical procedures.
Following are specific diet suggestions you need to obey before the surgery;. However, pre-operative diet ensures the best possible diet, do not conduct a sudden change in your food intake before consulting with your doctor.
- If you’re not adept at having a high-protein diet, you must start now since it helps you preserve your muscle mass. You can have protein-rich foods such as low-fat dairy products, lean meats, fish, poultry, and eggs.
- Increasing your fiber intake will significantly contribute to your metabolism and prepare your stomach clean for the surgical procedure. You can Eat fiber-rich fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes.
- Stay hydrated and drink plenty of water to support your digestion system and promote constipation. A minimum of 2 to 3 liters of water daily can help your hydration and prepare for the surgery.
- You must avoid drinking alcohol, smoking, and consuming high carbohydrates and high-sugar foods to help you prevent the high risk of complications during the surgery.
Post-Surgery: Gastric Sleeve Food Stages
Following the recommended gastric sleeve food stages aid the weight loss with a designated food intake plan. What you eat, you become is what applies to every individual. We’ve derived the general stages for your diet plan as given below.
- STAGE 1 – CLEAR LIQUIDS
- You must pass through this post gastric sleeve diet stage at the beginning of your diet plan or right after your surgery for the first few days or weeks.
- Patients can consume only clear liquids or fluids in a limited quantity or at least 48 to 64 ounces daily.
- Clear liquids you can consume, such as water, broth, sugar-free gelatin, Decaffeinated tea or coffee, non-carbonated, non-caffeinated, non-alcoholic liquids, and sugar-free drinks.
- STAGE 2 – FULL LIQUIDS
- Once you pass through clear liquids for the first few days, this is the stage of 1 to 2 weeks more, where you enter an utterly full-liquid diet.
- Patients can have, apart from all clear liquids, thicker and protein-rich liquids with at least 3 to 4 small meals per day as an amount of consumption.
- You can start to consume more substantial liquids such as protein shakes, low-fat milk, cream soups without chunks, watery oatmeal, and sugar-free pudding.
- STAGE 3 – PUREED FOODS
- After your liquid diet, you enter the stage of pureed foods, typically lasting 2 to 3 weeks.
- Easily digestible foods can be consumed from this point in time, again with the same 3 to 4 small meals per day.
- Pureed vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, soft cheeses, pureed squash, sweet potato, carrots, applesauce, steamed fish, or ground chicken can be consumed in this 3rd gastric sleeve food stage.
- STAGE 4 – SOFT FOODS
- Soft foods are the ones that are easy to chew and swallow and don’t require to be blended. You get the variety and texture here in your diet plan.
- This 4th gastric sleeve food diet stage usually lasts up to 3 to 4 weeks, in which you can consume 3 to 4 meals of low-fat and low-sugar soft foods daily.
- You can have mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, cooked vegetables (such as green beans, carrots, and broccoli), and tender cuts of lean protein, such as fish and ground turkey.
- STAGE 5 – SOLID FOODS
- Now your stomach must be prepared to take the more breakdown of solid food that requires more chewing after 6 weeks of surgery.
- Patients can consume 3 small meals of solid foods within a day with two different snake time slots if required, although limit your food if you feel your stomach is taking time to digest them.
- You can gradually restart your solid food intake with lean protein, non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, asparagus, and whole grains such as quinoa, brown rice, and whole wheat bread.
It is essential to note that the gastric sleeve diet stages we have introduced here are based on excellent and general recommendations for fair use of information. Individual diet stages might vary from patient to patient.
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Conclusion
In this article, we have comprehensively covered the gastric sleeve post op diet and surgery with the requisite gastric sleeve diet stages and their impact on weight. We have also highlighted the pre-surgery diet recommendations.
FAQs
When can you eat solid food after gastric sleeve?
After 6 weeks of surgery, you can start to eat solid foods such as lean protein, non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, asparagus, and whole grains such as quinoa, brown rice, and whole wheat bread.
What is the 3 week diet after gastric sleeve?
The three-week diet consists of clear, complete, and pureed liquids. You can gradually start with a clear liquid food such as broth, sugar-free gelatin, Decaffeinated tea or coffee, and sugar-free drinks and move towards pureed foods like lean protein, non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, and asparagus.
Can I drink milk after gastric sleeve?
Yes, you can drink milk after your surgery, however, you must obey a clear liquid diet in the initial few days right after your gastric surgery, and then you can start to have low-0fat mil in your full-liquid diet.
How long is the post op diet for gastric sleeve?
Generally, the post of diet for gastric sleeve can be distributed in different stages; however, it takes nearly 6 weeks for the complete diet plan after your surgery.
