Feeding the family

Ok, so a lot of things are going to change for me once they put me on the liquid diet and once I get surgery.  The quantity I will be able to eat - and even some one the food choices will change for me...but not for my husband and kiddos!  How did you handle feeding your family while under such great restriction??? I'm thinking of packing my freezer with made ahead meals......any wisdom????

I think that depends on you and how you feel postop. Right now, I am 6 weeks postop, planned a whole bunch of frozen meals for postop and they are still in my freezer. Cooking is not a challenge, I actually enjoy it. It's kind of fun to be able to cook anything and not have a desire to eat it.

Preop, I didn't have to do a liquid diet, but I imagine that would be a much bigger challenge and would definitely plan ahead. Or make stuff for them you don't like.

There's no such thing as something I don't like. Lol.  I think having food I can't eat during a liquid diet without the tool of the surgery is kind of cruel...and I don't hate myself so I'm going to make freezer meals. This way my hubby can just pop em in the oven and feed the herd without me having to cook and smell all the yummy food. Post op may be different but pre op....I don't know that I trust myself. :). 

I didn't wait for things to change until the liquid diet. I went onto bariatric foodie and eggface's blogs and started making meals for my family from those 2 sites. I also found last night Emily Bites it is a WW one but she has a lot of great low carb high protein meals. I looked at it like this I have 4 kids 4, 8, 10 and 12. The 12 year old weighs more than what my goal is but the Drs tell me she isn't overweight???? My family has a weight issue and my husbands side some of them do so I made my family change diets too. My youngest said why are we all on a diet I said it isn't a diet it is a lifestyle. They liked the recipes and we have changed some of our favorite meals to be healthier versions. I do let them splurge for a meal or a dessert but even desserts I make healthier for them. I didn't do pack ahead freezer meals but I have just gotten a crock pot and I make recipes from Spark People using the crock pot that my family loves. I did a lot of research on the meals. I hated when I did WW I would sit and eat my frozen meal and my family would eat what I made for them. I decided that we would eat together as a family and we would eat healthy. The kids lunches are full of fruit, veggies and protein a big change from the chips and snacks they were taking. I feel like the bad food got me to where I was so why have my kids eat it and my husband is diabetic so he needs to watch his diet too. Good Luck with your surgery and with the meals for your family!

This is good! My boyfriend is a good size but his daughter is overweight. She will be with us for the summer and he expressed a desire for her to lose weight. Boy will she be surprised when she gets here. I have my surgery on 5-15-16 and she'll probably be here in June. All of those fruits and everything will be here when she gets here lolol!!

I get to cook for my bedridden roommate when I am on the liquid diet....I  have my liquids all planned out....broth with a spoon, broth in a bowl with garlic, etc, and kind of make funny little names for the "meals" i have  on liquids. .Then I cook his food, and tell myself, as I am cooking it, "that's not food"  or " that's not my food"  or something like that. When n I am cooking his food, I  try to force my brain to think about a list of all  the reasons I am having my RNY.  Then I serve him his cheeseburger and fries, and I have my "broth with a spoon"  It's sort of a head game in my own head. Good luck to you. 

I simply feed my family like I feed me at 4 months out. When I was in the liquid and soft foods stages, I cooked for them and it didn't bother me. I ate separate meals. Now, I just figure what is making me healthier is healthy for them as well. They do get some whole wheat bread, which I don't eat.

I normally just eat a little of whatever it is I'm making for my family, focusing mainly on the protein and a little vegetable.  For instance, for dinner I usually make a protein (meat of some sort), sometimes a carb(rice or pasta)  a vegetable, and salad.  I mainly eat the protein, skip the carb, and have a couple bites of the vegetable.  I do a lot of crock pot meals, because it's easy, and I try to pick ones that are low carb/low sugar as far as sauces, etc..  I have a crockpot cookbook called Fix It and Forget It for Diabetics that is a good resource.  I'm not a diabetic, but it has good lower carb/sugar type recipes.  Best of luck!!

I won't lie, sometimes it was hard to cook for my family during my clear liquid diet but most of the time it was fine. I would cook their food and prepare some broth for myself. I just counted down the days to surgery and reaped the added benefit of losing 12 pounds in 5 days!!! You can do it!

Best wishes!

My husband and I eat pretty differently, but since it's just the two of us it usually isn't too hard to plan. If he wants tacos, I make them and just save a small portion of the seasoned ground beef to eat with veggies and cheese. We compromise on things like pizza (thin crust so I don't get the dreaded bread-dough ball in my pouch), and when he wants fast food I cook for myself.

There are certainly times that I go a little off of my eating plan if I want to enjoy something like my homemade fried chicken or even some macaroni, but those are infrequent.

Honestly, the more normal and balanced I keep my diet, the less I feel restricted or get the urge to binge.

Best of luck to you! Once you're out of those early stages, it's pretty easy. Just boils down to smaller portions, protein first, and checking in with yourself every so often to stick with it.