Bariatric Surgery Diet Plan
Bariatric surgery patients need to follow a special diet for success, and your bariatric surgery diet plan may be very different from what you’re used to eating. You’ll start with a bariatric surgery pre-op diet plan. Then you’ll switch to an after-bariatric surgery diet plan, which has a progression of foods.
Your own diet will depend on what your surgeon, nutritionist, or other healthcare professional says, but these are the basics of a bariatric surgery diet plan for before and after surgery. The BariatricPal Store has foods and other products that can help you throughout your weight loss surgery journey.
Bariatric-Surgery Pre-Op Plan
You might start your pre-op plan a few days or weeks before surgery. It will be high in protein and low in carbs. A day or two before surgery, your surgery might ask you to go onto a liquid diet or a liquid day plus one meal a day with some lean protein and non-starchy vegetables.
Your day could look like this.
Breakfast: BariatricPal Protein One Creamy French Vanilla Protein Shake
Snack: Protein Pudding
Lunch: Skinless chicken breast with steamed asparagus spears
Snack: Protein Hot Chocolate
Dinner: Creamy Tomato Protein Soup and Protein Gelatin
After-Bariatric Surgery Diet Plan
You’ll start with a clear liquid diet. Think: water, juices, and broth. As soon as you can, you’ll progress to a full liquid diet. This includes Protein Shakes, Protein Soup, Protein Pudding, and Protein Gelatin. Milk, ice pops and sugar-free gelatin may also be allowed.
Days or weeks later, you’ll add some pureed foods to your after-bariatric surgery diet plan. These need to be watery and completely pureed to remove all chunks. Watery oatmeal, mashed potatoes, beans, cooked or canned carrots, and yogurt may be on this part of your bariatric surgery diet plan. Watery pureed Protein Oatmeal, Protein Omelets, and Protein Mashed Potatoes may also be included.
You’ll progress to a diet with semi-soft foods. Proteins during this phase may include cooked fish, eggs, cheese, and ground turkey. Well-cooked vegetables, and ripe, soft fruit, such as ripe cantaloupe, may also be part of the plan.
A day on this plan might look like this.
Breakfast: Protein Omelet with Bacon and Cheese.
Snack: Yogurt and a Protein Pancake.
Lunch: Protein Pasta with cooked fish and cooked carrots.
Snack: Cottage cheese.
Dinner: Cooked ground turkey with Protein Mashed Potatoes and cooked green beans.
Snack: Chocolate Protein Pudding.
You might add in one new food at a time to see how it is tolerated. Eventually, you can add in solid foods as long as you tolerate them. Your doctor may suggest including small amounts or whole grains. You might also look for Low-Carb or High-Protein Cereal, Bread, and Pasta products.
Following your doctor’s bariatric surgery diet plan is a good way to set yourself up for success after weight loss surgery. Both the bariatric surgery pre-op and post-op diet plans are both high in protein and low in carbs. You can get the details from your own healthcare provider, but your after-bariatric surgery diet plan is likely to include a progression that lets you add foods back into your diet.
The BariatricPal Store has great-tasting, convenient foods for every stage of the weight loss surgery journey. Our goals are to make it easier for you and to help you succeed.
