Getting Back on Track with the Pouch Reset Diet

Feb 18, 2022Alex Brecher

By mid-February, any progress in weight loss can feel like it’s slipping away. The past couple months included the holidays, the Big Game in the NFL, and Valentine’s Day. Needless to say, there may have been a lot of food around for weeks or months on end.

If you’re feeling like it’s been a while since things have gone right with your diet and weight loss, and you’re not sure how to get back on track, you might want to consider a Pouch Reset Diet. The plan is designed to help ease you back into your healthy eating routine, make your pouch feel as restrictive as it was after surgery, and get you back to losing weight.

What’s a Pouch Reset Diet?

A Pouch Reset Diet is designed to help you get back to where you were after weight loss surgery. That includes eating the way your surgeon or nutritionist taught you, with protein first and small portions, for example. It also includes learning to feel fullness again so that your pouch helps restrict your intake the way it was intended to do.

There are many versions of a pouch reset diet. They take you from the very beginning, a liquid diet, up to the solid foods diet that you start eating weeks or months after surgery. The important thing is that you follow the plan and pay attention to how you feel.

2-Week Pouch Reset Diet

The 2-Week Pouch Reset Diet goes from clear liquids to solid foods.

Day 1: clear liquids, such as water, tea, coffee, bouillon, Sipping Broth, and sugar-free ice pops.
Days 2 and 3: full liquids that can include protein, such as Meal Replacement and Protein Shakes, Protein Pudding and Gelatin, Protein Fruit Drinks and Smoothies, Protein Soup, and Protein Hot Drinks.
Days 4, 5, and 6: pureed foods, such as pureed tuna, pureed scrambled eggs, hummus, pureed cooked beans and sweet potatoes, pureed applesauce, pureed cottage cheese, pureed Protein Chili, pureed Protein Oatmeal and Protein Omelets.
Days 7, 8, and 9: semi-solid foods, such as cooked eggs, ripe cantaloupe, bananas, and other soft fruit, cooked vegetables, ground turkey, boneless fish, Protein Pasta, and Protein Pancakes.
Days 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14: solid foods, such as vegetables, fruit, chicken, Protein Bars, Low-Carb Bread and Wraps, Protein Cookies, Protein Chips and Crisps, Keto Cheese and Bean Snacks, nuts, and Protein Meat Snacks.

Each phase includes the foods that were allowed during the previous phase.

48-Hour Pouch Reset Diet

The 48-Hour Pouch Reset Diet includes clear and high-protein liquids until dinner on Day 2.

Day 1 and most of Day 2: clear liquids, such as water, tea, coffee, bouillon, Sipping Broth, and sugar-free ice pops, and high-protein liquids, such as Meal Replacement and Protein Shakes, Protein Pudding and Gelatin, Protein Fruit Drinks and Smoothies, Protein Soup, and Protein Hot Drinks.
Day 2 Dinner: 3 to 4 ounces of lean protein, such as skinless chicken breast, fish, ground turkey, or a soy-based meat substitute, or ½ cup of beans, plus 1 cup of well-cooked vegetables, such as carrots, green beans, cauliflower florets, or zucchini.