Dietitian Care Plan
- You will have 8 dietary consultations, typically 1 before your surgery and 7 after.
- These consultations will take 20-30 minutes.
Assessment and Preparation phase
Initial dietary appointment:
- We will discuss your current diet, previous barriers to weight loss, dieting and weight loss history
- We will discuss the pre-operative Very Low Energy Diet (VLED) in detail. Everyone needs to follow a VLED (e.g. Optifast) for 2-4 weeks before their surgery to reduce their surgical risk.
- We will also discuss what to expect in hospital in terms of diet and the first 2 weeks of a fluid diet after your surgery
You will be given a detailed book of dietary guidelines to follow
SURGERY and RECOVERY PHASE
- Surgery-(hospital stay: 1 night for band, 3 nights for sleeve and bypass)
- Home Recovery – (at home: 1 week for band, 2 weeks for sleeve and bypass) – patient can contact Clinic at any point post procedure if any concerns
- Dietitian Consultation – The first dietary post-op appointment is typically two weeks after your surgery; we will discuss how you will progress back to a normal solid diet, eating habits and appropriate multi vitamin and mineral supplementation.
WEIGHT LOSS PHASE
This phase can run for 12 to 24 months
- Bariatrician Consult – (covers regular assessments monthly for band patients and three months for sleeves and bypass)
- Psychologist
- Dietitian- You will be offered a dietary follow-up appointment every three months in the first year following sleeve gastrectomy and Roux en y gastric bypass surgery and every two months following gastric band surgery
Support Groups
Helpful books/magazines/websites/apps and tools:
Helpful books/Magazines
- Portion perfection for bands and sleeves – Amanda Clark Adv APD
- Your complete guide to nutrition for weight loss surgery – Sally Johnston APD
- The gastric band nutrition essential – Helen Bauzon APD
- The weight loss surgery shopping guide – Helen Bauzon APD
- This equals that book – Trudy Williams
- Spoons for thought – Justine Hawke & Sally Johnston
- ‘If not dieting then what’ – Dr Rick Kausman
- Mindless eating – Brian Wansink
- Mindful eating – Jan Chozen-Bay
- Find your appetite – Sue Zbornik
Websites
Apps
- Easy diet diary app
- My fitness pal app
- Water logged app
- Water my body app
- Eat slower app
- Am I hungry app
- Eat, chew, reflect app
- Bariatric timer app
- Great ideas in nutrition plate and bowl – Amanda Clark Adv APD
- 4 week weight loss menu plan – Amanda Clark Adv APD