Day 14 starts “Week Three” of post-op.  This is when you get to do some actual CHEWING!  You will never ever understand how much you miss this simple act until you have nothing to chew!  All liquids from the first two weeks are allowing with the addition of some semi-solids.  This is usually thought of as an applesauce consistency.  So, because I love a bulleted list…here you are:

• Light, low fat strained yogurt or plain Greek yogurt (no fruit/seeds)
• Protein fortified strained hot cereals like cream of wheat or cream of rice
• Low fat 1% cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
• Protein fortified cook and mashed or pureed potatoes and non-gas forming veggies (carrots, squash, green beans or peas)
• Mashed black, pinto or navy beans
• Hummus
• Protein fortified sugar free and low fat or fat free pudding

Most of the above will need to have some protein added in order to meet goals for the day (still need 60-80 grams of protein).  Unflavored protein powders are a great way to get the protein in but BEWARE they are not all created equally!  Some leave a grainy texture, some you can “taste”…  I found that Isopure was the best for me.  Again, don’t buy a huge portion until you have sampled to be sure you won’t waste your money.  Non-fat dry milk powder works for adding protein to puddings and cream of wheat.  Two tablespoons of dry milk powder adds about 5 grams of protein.

The schedule is a little different for this week because when you being to EAT actual FOOD, you have stop drinking all liquids 30 minutes before you eat.  You cannot drink ANY liquids WHILE eating.  ALSO – you have to wait until 30 minutes AFTER you eat to begin liquids again.  In addition, it should take you 20-30 minutes to finish your meal (or…snack as the size would indicate!).

For instance, if I woke up at 6 and had cream of wheat at 6:30….I would be finished by 7….and could only drink liquids at 7:30.  Then my next food would be at 9:30 so I would need to stop all liquids by 9 in order to start that!  Watching the clock is VERY important once you have this surgery.  Your success really depends on your commitment to the process.  The apps and resources I mentioned in this blog post really do help so much.

My first semi-solid meal was the Ricotta Bake (from the world according to eggface).  It was the best thing I had tasted in weeks!!!  🙂

Here is the picture I sent to my family because everyone was waiting for me to have this…I talked about it constantly because I couldn’t wait!

It did NOT disappoint…it was wonderful!  That week I also enjoyed vegetarian refried beans:

Small dollop of sour cream on top of them made all the difference in the world to me!

This phase starts to get very time consuming as you are constantly planning, preparing and watching that clock.  For me, this time period was Jan 10 – Jan 16.  My first restaurant meal happened that week to.  We went to San Felipe (a local Mexican restaurant).  It was just my husband and I, which I think helped my anxiety about the whole thing!  Being around a ton of people who are all eating what they want will get to you, trust me!  I had refried beans there as well.  I ordered a side of them and ate them for two days!  I am finally a cheap date!