After gastric bypass or laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (lap-band) surgery, your stomach is reduced to the size of a walnut or small egg - a fraction of its normal size. Your digestive system has been altered to promote healthy weight loss, and therefore what and how you eat, and how much, must be changed as well. If you adhere to these dietary and exercise recommendations, you can expect to lose 50 to 60% of your excess weight following surgery.

In order to help the healing process, you must minimize stress on surgical sites and allow your body to adapt to new eating patterns. For the first two days after weight-loss surgery, you won’t be able to eat anything. Then you are able to eat certain foods and liquids according to a diet progression. You will be able to eat foods and fluids that are liquid or semi-liquid at room temperature, which typically contain water, broth, and similar foods. After this, you then progress to pureed foods, or those that have the consistency of a thick paste or liquid and have no food pieces. This pureed diet is typically followed for three to 4 weeks, depending on your doctor and/or dietitian’s recommendations. After this, you can progress to soft foods that are tender or easy to chew, which you can eat for eight weeks before you can begin to eat foods of regular consistency.

Following these guidelines during the first three months after surgery is critical in order to have a successful surgery. During the diet progression, you can eat many small meals and sip liquids slowly throughout the day, but not with meals. People start eating regular foods with a firmer texture three months after surgery, but this can happen sooner depending on how fast your body adjusts to the change in eating patterns. Also, it is important that these meals are rich in protein; foods such as lean meat, low-fat dairy products such as yogurt and cheese, and eggs are important for maintaining and repairing your body after surgery.

Your weight-loss surgery has caused changes in your digestive system that restrict how much and can eat and drink with each meal. To avoid harming the healing process and ensuring that you’re getting the nutrients you need, the following guidelines should be followed closely.

-          Eat Small Amounts. After surgery, your stomach cannot hold as much food as it once did. Be sure to stick to your doctor or dietitians recommendations since eating too much not only adds  

        additional calories than you need, but can also cause pain and even vomiting.

         -          Eat and Drink Slowly. Remember to stop eating before you feel full. Eat and drink foods and    liquids  that are low in fat and sugar, do so slowly, and wait 30 minutes before or after each meal to drink liquids. Also, its good to take 30 minutes to eat your meals and 30-60 minutes to drink 1 cup of liquid.          -          Chew Foods Thoroughly. The new opening that leads from your stomach into your intestine  following gastric bypass surgery is very small and large pieces of food can block the opening. To avoid complications, take small bites of food and chew them very thoroughly.         -          Drink Liquids Between Meals. This can cause pain and vomiting, and it can also leave you feeling         overly  full and prevent you from eating enough nutrient-rich foods. Drinking 6-8 cups of fluids a day is important to avoid dehydration.  It’s also important to take vitamin and mineral supplement regularly after surgery. These should include a multivitamin-multimineral, calcium, iron, B-12, and D vitamin. Aside from these supplements, it is also imperative to limit or avoid foods with a high sugar and fat content and exercise regularly (talk to your physician about starting a personalized exercise plan). Those that regain weight after gastric bypass or lap-band surgery usually consume too many high-calorie food and beverages and don’t exercise enough. If you continue to follow these recommendations, you can keep most of the weight you lose off long-term. Although weight-loss surgery helps you lose weight, its success depends on your willingness to adopt a healthy diet and continuous exercise habits that you can stick to for as long as you live.