When you are ready to leave the hospital, you may receive a visit from the hospital dietitian who will go over the required diet for Lap-Band patients. It’s important to fully understand the Lap-Band diet before you decide on this type of weight loss surgery. The first 3 to 4 days following Adjustable Gastric Lap-Band surgery patients must follow a clear liquid diet. Failure to follow the prescribed diet can cause complications such as band erosion or slippage that require additional surgery.

If you are a regular coffee, tea, or soda drinker you should be aware that no caffeine is permitted for the first three months after surgery. Carbonated beverages; both diet and regular may cause gas, bloating, and an increase in stomach size due to the carbonation and are not recommended at any time for Lap-Band patients.

The second phase of the Lap-Band diet consists of 5 to 6 weeks of a modified full liquid diet; the key component of this phase is consuming two ounces of a protein shake every hour for ten to twelve hours a day with two ounces of other liquids such as soup, baby food, or sugar-free gelatin three times a day.

During the second six weeks following Lap-Band surgery patients may eat food that is shredded in a food processor prior to eating. The basic foods on the Lap-Band diet include meats or other forms of protein, vegetables, and salads. The Lap-Band diet does not include most bread, potatoes and other starchy vegetables. The length of these phases may be altered according a patient’s personal weight and weight loss goals – my first phase is five weeks, followed by a two week second phase.

Protein is especially important following Lap-Band surgery. After Lap-Band surgery the stomach will never hold more than 4 to 6 ounces per meal, so making every bite count is essential for healthy and nutritionally rounded weight loss success.

Lap-Band patients are advised to consume fifty to sixty grams of protein daily to avoid protein deficiency. Protein deficiency causes hair loss, fatigue, edema, muscle weakness, and a delay in wound healing. A lack of adequate protein may also lead to depression, anxiety, irritability, apathy, and other mental health conditions, as well as cause a number of physical health issues from gallstones to colds, headaches, low blood pressure, anemia, irregular hear rates, and, in extreme cases, death. A lab can measure the amount of protein in your blood by performing a serum albumin blood test.

Eating after Adjustable Gastric Lap-Band surgery means taking tiny bites, and eating very slowly. You should think of your new stomach as a “baby” stomach. You’ll be drinking protein shakes and relearning eating skills much the same way as a new baby eats formula (or breast milk), and slowly adds new foods from blended baby foods to chunkier baby foods.