theantichick

I'm looking for some input about the lifetime commitment aspect of this. I'm seeing a therapist about food issues that I need to resolve whether or not I have the sleeve. She is not trying to talk me out of it, she will support me with whatever decision I make. But she said something tonight that I have been thinking in my own head, and I'd love to get some thoughts about it from people who've been sleeved for a while. First, of course, this is permanent. No going back, the majority of the stomach is gone-gone. That doesn't scare me so much as makes me realize that I need to know in my gut this is the right choice. Second, it seems like this imposes an unnatural relationship with food, forever. I mean, forever having to think about every bite, x many bites of Protein, x many bites of veggies, x many bites of carbs (if there's room)... in people who haven't had gastric surgery, this would be symptomatic of an eating disorder. I mean, my current relationship with food isn't healthy (hence the therapist). But in trying to reach a balance and healthy place relating to food, do I want to permanently change my body in a way that requires unnatural eating to the other extreme? I've read the studies about how losing a lot of weight through diet and exercise doesn't last long-term in the vast majority of cases. My reading of these studies indicates that it's because in order to maintain that weight loss, people have to spend large amounts of time and energy planning and preparing their food and exercise plans, and it's just too much to maintain long-term. It has to become the number 1 priority in their lives, and that's hard to maintain. It seems that the surgery imposes that same thing, the primary benefit seems to be that the cravings are substantially lowered for most. Everything in life is a trade-off. I get that. I have chronic health conditions that my doctors believe will be greatly benefitted by significant weight loss. On paper, medically speaking, the surgery makes complete sense. My gut isn't there yet. And I know that I have to be mentally prepared for this as much, if not more, than physically. I know this post comes across as critical of the surgery. I believe the surgery is a great option for a lot of people, and I am not trying to slam the surgery or anyone who's chosen. What I need to figure out is if I'm one of those people, and I'd really appreciate your insight.

My online persona has been the Anti-Chick forever, for a reason. I was very much a tomboy growing up, and my mother was never good at the girl-fu stuff either, so I got no help from that arena. So now that I'm in my mid-to-late-40's I'm trying to learn how to do all the girl stuff. Hair, makeup, fashion, etc. The whole concept of this color analysis stuff is throwing me for a loop, though. And there seems to be several different schools of thought on the subject. Since pretty much every article of clothing I own is going to have to be replaced, and my career is heading for the management arena, I think that this is an ideal time for me to put some extra effort into understanding all of this stuff, and getting help where I need it. For the old-school color seasons stuff, I seem to be a pretty cut-and-dried Summer, kinda. I was a blonde as a child, it's turned into an ashey light brown as I've aged (adding in some cool red and covering up the grey/silver thanks to my stylist) with light blue/grey/greenish eyes. But I look way washed out if I wear any pastel or "dusty" colors. I look better in brights and saturated colors. (look at me using all the color terminology and all. LOL) I stay pretty safe if I stick to saturated blues/purples/teals and most deep wine/burgundy looks really nice on me, but then my closet tends to look very monochromatic. But a friend of mine turned me on to another concept, "Dressing Your Truth" that looks more at personality and "shapes" in the face than coloring, and I'm flat out a Type 4 which is supposed to correspond to Winter in the standard color seasons. And I do look good in the high contrast blue/black red/black kind of outfit. And I just read a book by David Zyla which says I should create a color palette based on the colors of my skin/eyes/hair, and doing that I should apparently never wear black. And should I use my natural hair colors, or the dyed ones I prefer? I already never wear black up next to my face without other colors because it's too stark against my skin, but the DYT model says black is a great color for me. And don't get me started on makeup. I despise the stuff because it seems the shades are never the right ones for me. There isn't a nude that doesn't look orange on my lip, or a red that doesn't look ridiculous. I've given up and never wear anything that doesn't say "berry" in the color name, but even those aren't quite right. Blush is just flat-out a non-starter because it always looks harsh and like clown makeup. I keep thinking it's because I'm not getting the right colors, but I'm so pale that there's very few shades I can even attempt. It's on my list to schedule a makeover/consultation thing at Ulta or Sephora, but I feel like I should have some clue about basic colors first. Is there a way to navigate this mess? I'm willing to even pay for a color/fashion consultation, but is there a way to know what school of thought a consultant uses, and which is best? How does one go about finding a good consultant?

Oh, forgot to add... and you probably already know... RNY and lapband were not options for me because I do need to be able to occasionally take NSAIDs and steroids. for RNY and lapband, the contraindication is pretty much absolute. Lots of doctors will say no NSAIDs/steroids with VSG, but the contraindication is a relative one, not an absolute one. It's a risk/benefit analysis your team does. I'm allowed to take NSAIDs when needed, as long as I stay on a PPI. My rheumy hates steroids, but if I were in a bad enough flare she'd do a short run of them. I have a history of mild/moderate reflux, which was a minor concern with the VSG, but it had always been manageable with diet/meds so we went ahead with the VSG. I haven't had any reflux problems with it, but of course I'm on a PPI forever anyway.

I have rheumatoid/psoriatic arthritis. I finally decided to have VSG after my rheumy advised in favor of it. She said there isn't a guarantee, but... the stomach tissue that is removed with the VSG plays a role in the inflammation hormone cascade, and fat cells store and release hormones that are involved in inflammation. So the surgery can have a positive direct impact on auto-immune aside from the benefits for the joints with the weight loss. I had to be off of my meds for 3 weeks before surgery and a couple of months after, so my joints were hella sore by the time I had surgery. I felt like I flared up with the surgery, by day 3 post-op my joints hurt much worse than my surgery sites. But the joint pain started subsiding a couple of weeks post-op and has been manageable. I've only had to take NSAIDs a couple of times since surgery (didnt' take them at all for 3 months to let my sleeve heal). Now, my inflammatory factors are down, back on the meds and dosage I was pre-op and it seems to be working better. My rheumy says there is no need to discuss biologics in the foreseeable future now (we were looking at biologics before the surgery because the inflammation just wasn't coming down). And my joints are happier with 72# lost. Not a cure, certainly, but I think improvement directly because of the surgery.

I've absolutely eaten fast food. Once I was cleared for a full diet, of course. The fact I cannot eat ketogenic actually makes it harder for me, because I don't have a hard carb restriction. What I have found though is that I don't want to waste valuable sleeve space on anything that isn't either nutritious (Protein, protein, protein) or absolutely fabulous. Drive through food generally isn't nutritious to speak of (though there are exceptions) and it generally isn't good enough to earn space in my sleeve (there's a couple of exceptions). But then I also have been in therapy for almost a year with my food issues. I don't emotionally eat the way I used to, and I am learning to get my emotional needs and relationship needs met with the people in my life instead of forming bonds with food. So my hubby is my honey bun now, not that icky gooey thing from Little Debbie. I really worry for people who don't seem to even see that their obsession with crap food is not healthy. I am starting to think that mandatory counseling for no less than 6 months and a sign-off from the counselor saying this person "gets it" should be needed for WLS. And a test to make sure they understand the doctor's instructions pre- and post-op.

Not closing your day doesn't lose you anything. The only thing it does is calculate how much weight you'd lose in x number of weeks if you kept eating the way you did that day. They don't want to encourage anorexics. Once your intake is above 1,000 you will be able to start closing out your days again. sent from mobile device

Mine counted. I have no problem keeping up at work, I have a cup beside me all the time. It's at home when I can't seem to keep up with the drinking. LOL.

I had a great experience. I packed WAAAAYYYYY too much stuff. All I really needed was a comb, toothbrush, a change or two of underwear, biotene spray, my phone, and my charger. I do wish I'd not packed the rest of the nonsense I took, and used the room in my bag for a heating pad. That was something that really helped the soreness when I got home. I have a history of severe nausea post-op, and my surgical team did an amazing job giving me meds to counter that. Which caused me to have complete amnesia from the pre-op room when they pushed the first sedative to an hour or so after I was in my room, which has never happened to me. Makes me want to get a copy of my records and find out exactly what they gave me. LOL. I had virtually no pain from the gas that many people complain about. My surgeon does her leak test in the OR, so something to do with the Water for that may have cleared the CO2 out more effectively, I don't know. My overall pain was there, but nothing too horrible. We'd decided on a milder pain med than she normally prescribes because I don't like the side effects of the one she normally uses, and it was sufficient. I just felt like I'd been kicked in the gut and had that residual severe soreness. The staff were great, making sure I had plenty of water and things to drink on day 1, and then Protein shakes and water on day 2 (my doc keeps us overnight to make sure we can keep fluids down well). The tech came in several times to make sure I got up and walked (which helps with the pain, but disconnecting all the stuff is annoying). Slept in short spurts, but that's typical in a hospital. Didn't have enough focus to read a book, so I played games on my phone and facebooked and watched a marathon of whatever crime drama was on TV that day. Doc came by to check on me Day 2 and discharged me. Very uneventful, which is the way we want it. You'll do great. As a nurse, I'll just say that you should work with the nurses about letting them know when you're STARTING to hurt so they can stay ahead of it with your pain meds (if you need them, some people have very little pain). Knocking pain down when it gets bad is MUCH harder than keeping it at bay. And the rest of the time, walk walk walk and sip sip sip (as soon as they let you have drinks).

LOL. One of my bonus daughters, when presented with the quiet game, goes about 5 seconds and then says "oh, well, I lose" and continues her almost non-stop patter. Good thing she's cute.

I've never eaten them, but the concerns with foods safety-wise while advancing your diet are (generally speaking): hard/sharp edges & seeds can damage a healing incision - I don't know how hard/sharp pork skins are, but they look like the consistency of chips, so if you're not cleared for chips I wouldn't want to try them. For example, I was cleared safety-wise for saltine crackers pretty early on because even though they're hard out of the package, they convert to mush VERY rapidly, even before you can swallow them if you chew well. (The carb content is another issue entirely.) But Triscuits I wasn't cleared for until I was released to a full diet because the hard fibers don't convert to mush rapidly, and remain tough with sharp edges and fragments break off easily. And while I wouldn't choose chips during weight loss anyway, they are kinda in the middle safety-wise, and I wouldn't have wanted to risk it until I was cleared for all foods. foods that swell up in the stomach can damage the healing incision - I don't know if they swell up or not, my best guess would be that they don't much? digestability (based on moisture content and density, mainly) - denser and drier foods are harder to digest, so they can cause discomfort. Not usually a safety issue, but the discomfort can be intense, and some foods that are particularly hard to digest (like the Triscuits mentioned above, or fruit rinds, or fibrous vegetables) can have fragments break off and damage the healing incision. It's always safest to check with your doctor or team for any foods that aren't on your specifically approved lists, up until you're cleared for a full diet. But at least safety-wise, those are the general things they're looking at when they answer the question.

I found a few days after surgery I didn't really like any of the Protein powders I'd so carefully tested out and chosen pre-op. I choked them down for a couple of days and then sent hubby to WalMart for some Premier Protein. I hadn't liked it pre-op but it went down OK at the hospital (that's what they had) and post-op it's the only one I tolerated. After several days of sweet Protein shakes, I was also desperate for something NOT sweet, which is when I discovered I could put unflavored Protein powder in chicken bouillon if I dissolved it in a little lukewarm Water first. So my tastes started changing right off the bat after surgery. I'm still finding things I used to like that I don't really care for anymore.

I had only been on BP meds for a few months before surgery. After surgery, I kept a close eye on my BP and about a week after surgery my BP was getting low at the same time I was getting lightheaded, so I stopped the most recent med (I was on 2 different ones) per my primary doc's instructions. About a month after, I was having low BP again so we stopped the other one.

My surgeon doesn't even do the pureed phase unless a particular patient has an individual need for it. She says that if your teeth work well, you don't need to blend soft food. LOL. I like the fork test. I went for foods of the mashed potato consistency (not actual mashed potatoes, just that consistency) at first. My instructions were to start with the softest and moistest foods first, and make sure they were settling OK before working my way slowly up to the firmer/drier foods. My doc also said that lots of her patients don't tolerate eggs well during this phase, and if that happened not to worry, just to hold off on the eggs until after soft/moist meats like roasted chicken were sitting well and then try them again. And that's exactly what happened. Eggs were a no-go with my sleeve, but after chicken was working OK tried them again and they were fine.

I wasn't even aware there were personal shopper services available without paying an arm and a leg for them. LOL. Nordstrom has always been intimidating for me, but there's one very close to me and they have the personal shoppers there. Years ago, I got a bonus in the form of a Nordstrom gift certificate, and my sister and I went shopping there and we found a couple of amazing items, one top that I've now worn several times a month for at least 10 years (and one of the few I get compliments on every time I wear it). I may have to get over the intimidation factor and check them out. And now that I employ my Google-fu (which is certainly stronger than my girl-fu) I see that Macy's has personal shoppers as well. Bwahahahaha. I may become truly dangerous here.

LOL. I have a 19 year old daughter who's the same way, but she and I don't share tastes enough for me to rely on her. She has a TOTALLY different idea of how I should look than I do.

I have to start hitting some resale shops to get me through because I'm almost out of clothes. The only reason I have work clothes is because I am HORRIBLE to try and fit in pants. Tall, huge hips, relatively small waist. So almost 20 years ago when Lane Bryant had a style of pant that worked for me, and I outgrew them, I packed them away in the back of my closet because "I'll get back in them someday". Well, almost 2 decades later, I finally have. Once they're too loose for me, I am going to make a couple of drawstring maxi skirts to get me through until I'm at goal, because I am NOT going through the hell of finding pants to fit me until I'm at goal. LOL. But I'm down to those slacks, and about 4, maybe 5 tops I can still wear that look decent, but most of those are bordering on ridiculously too big. So I have to buy some things so I don't go to work nekkid. LOL. So while this will not be my final wardrobe, I want to start training my eye for colors/styles that are flattering. I will graduate with my master's in December, and should be to goal by then, and my career should shift into at least management at that point with the potential to end up in the C-Suite. So I really need to start looking more pulled together and polished than I have as a lowly programmer/analyst by end of year.

@@ShelterDog64 Hey, if I can't laugh at myself... LOL. Thanks for the tips. I'll check out the makeup at Macy's then. I've been looking through a lot of Pinterest stuff, and I think I want to go for a Katharine Hepburn kind of style for professional stuff. I'm tall enough to carry it off, and I think it strikes the balance I want. We'll see if I can actually FIND clothes like that though.

Over the last few weeks, I've seen a number of posts about "cheating" on the diet plan in the days and weeks immediately following surgery, and I am very concerned about this trend. I am not a doctor, I do not play one on TV, and I am not dispensing medical advice. However. I am a registered nurse, and what I'm about to say is an informed and educated opinion. Surgeons tend to give VERY detailed instructions about what to eat after a stomach surgery, and for VERY good reason. Even when the surgery is arthroscopic and looks to be a very tiny surgery on the outside, it's a VERY BIG surgery on the inside. The VSG surgery leaves a staple/suture line the entire length of the stomach. That incision has to heal, and if you could see it, it would look like raw beef. If the incision were on the outside, we would be very careful with it, keeping it clean and bandaged while it healed. Of course, it's on the inside, so we can't do that. But we need to keep in mind that it needs to heal in the same way. We have to eat, and that food will be against that raw incision. At the same time that we have to protect the healing stomach, we also have to get in plenty of fluids and nutrients, specifically Protein, in order to support healing. Protein is the primary building block for tissue, so it's critical to healing. Carbs are mainly just energy sources, so they're not as important, especially given that people having bariatric surgery have plenty of energy in their fat stores. This is why protein is stressed so heavily over carbs in the diets. Additionally, the stomach is now in a new shape, and it basically has to learn how to function as a slender tube instead of a big bag. There's a learning curve. Kinda like a newborn baby's stomach. We don't dump steak and salad into a newborn's stomach for good reason - it doesn't know how to deal with it. Similarly, we don't want to do that to our new sleeve. We start off with stuff that's easy on the suture line and easy to digest, and as the suture line heals and the sleeve learns its job, start working our way up to "real" food. So over the years, doctors have learned what foods are best for a healing stomach, and that translates into the post-op diet progression instructions. Typically, that looks like this: Clear liquids, then full liquids, then pureed foods, then soft foods, then slowly move into a "full" diet beginning with high moisture content foods first. When moving from one stage to the next, it's typically advised to add just one food at a time, in small amounts, and see how it's tolerated. A food that's not tolerated well can be tried later on as well. If an entire stage is not being tolerated, back up to the previous stage for a while, and then try again more slowly. Surgeons tend to specify how long to stay in each of these stages, what types of food make up each stage, and how to transition to the next stage. Every surgeon's instructions are a little different, and it's based on their experience and sometimes changes based on the patient's specific medical case. The general idea in the very early weeks is to eat foods that will not stress the healing suture line, and do not have particles that are known to cut into the raw tissue or get embedded into the suture line. If a cut or embedded food particle gets infected, it can become an abscess and develop into a leak. A leak can be life threatening, and at the very least cause the patient to have to be hospitalized and possibly have more surgery to correct it. Foods that are particularly known to cause issues are those that swell up like rice, have seeds like strawberries, or have rough hard edges or hard to digest fibers like wheat crackers or raw vegetables. There are people who eat all sorts of things against their doctor's orders and have suffered no ill effects, but this should not be used as an argument that the doctor's orders are not important. Similarly, you will find some people who smoke a pack of cigarettes every day and drink a pint of whiskey every day but live to 100. They are not representative of most people, and should not be used as the example other people follow. The reality is that some people will develop abscesses and leaks because they ate things before they were cleared to by their doctors, and there is no way to predict who will have the complications and who will not. And the consequences can be as severe as death. It's not common, but that's how bad it can get. That's why the doctors give the instructions they do. They're not just testing you or trying to make your life hard. They are giving you the best information they have to keep you safe. Violating these orders is not "cheating" on a diet. It's risking your life. I am not being overly dramatic with this statement, it is a fact that it has happened. You are risking your safety and your health if you violate these orders. It's not about "being human", it's not about "food addiction". It's about your safety and your health. It's hard to be on liquids only for 2 weeks (or more). Some people have huge cravings, or "head hunger" as we tend to call it here. Or just want desperately to chew something. No one is saying it's easy. But it's necessary. Distract yourself. Eat/drink anything that's allowed on your plan - freeze it, heat it up, try something that's opposite of what you've been having to shake it up. Walk around the house or the block. Suck on an ice cube. Count to ten or a hundred. Post about how hard it is, and ask people to help you get through it. But muscle through. It's nothing less than your health and safety. As for why one surgeon will have his patients on clear liquids for 2 weeks while another only does 2 days? Or why one will skip a phase entirely? Each surgeon has different experiences that inform his practices. One is not right and the other wrong. They are each operating out of what they were taught and what they have seen in their own patient groups. They may have even modified the plan because of a specific health concern in your specific case. As a patient, you need to fully understand what your surgeon expects, and if you have a problem with the protocols get it straight with your surgeon and team BEFORE you go under the knife. If you don't trust your surgeon and his protocols, find another surgeon. I personally would question a surgeon who doesn't allow any Protein drinks including the clear ones for 2 full weeks post op (saw that in one patient's instructions on this site) and likely wouldn't work with that surgeon, given what I know about the needs of protein for healing. But after surgery is not the time to be questioning the surgeon's protocols. Get those questions asked and answered to your satisfaction well before the surgery date. If you are having surgery, and you have not been given your post-op instructions, at the very least for the first 2 weeks post-op, do not proceed with the surgery until you have that information. We have people posting here stating that they were sent home without clear instructions as to what they were supposed to eat or drink, just a vague statement about "full liquids". That is not sufficient information, and instructions should be given WELL BEFORE the surgery, not after. You should fully understand what will be expected in the weeks after the surgery before consenting to the surgery, or your team is not doing their job. (This ends my sorta rant about post-op diets and "cheating") Good luck to everyone!

OMG. Got home where I could actually watch the videos. Holy Hannah, how long do you ladies spend on your makeup every day? I've never seen so many layers of stuff! I use: BB cream all over, blush if I can find something that works, 3 shades of eye shadow (brow, lid, crease), 2 coats of mascara, and a swipe of a (theoretical) all day lip color. Maybe some basic eyeliner and loose powder to set the look if I'm not rushed for time. What in the name of all that's holy IS all that stuff they're using? sent from mobile device

Yeah, I over-analyze EVERYTHING. LOL. But with the money I'm about to start laying out for a professional wardrobe, I'd like to do a better job than what I've done in the past. I've hit on a few things over the years that look fabulous, and I get a TON of compliments when I wear them. But it's been very hit and miss. And my overall closet looks very mish-mash. Well, right this second it looks incredibly sparse because I'm down to like 4 decent tops for work and 2 pairs of slacks and 2 pairs of jeans. But before I started culling the stuff that was too big, it was all over the place. Nothing coherent, awful to try and pull together a good looking outfit, much less several. One of the things I miss about bedside nursing is that clothing is easy - scrubs and scrubs and scrubs. LOL. But since I'm now working toward management positions, I want to look a little more pulled together. I like the Bobbi Brown makeup look, very natural. For every day, I want something that makes me look polished but not overdone. For going out, I like a dramatic eye, but I haven't figured out how to do it without looking like I went a round and a half with Mike Tyson. LOL. And I've watched tons of videos on youTube, but I can't seem to make my hands do what the cutie on the computer is doing. Sephora carries Bobbi Brown, so I think I'll schedule that sooner rather than later. It doesn't help that I HATE shopping and trying on clothes. I swear, I'm missing the girl-fu gene entirely. LOL. And I'm not rich enough for a personal stylist and shopper.

There are several other brands of "clear" Protein Drinks as well... One called Protein2O and Atkins Lift. I didn't care for them, but it's an individual taste thing. I liked the Syntrax Nectars especially roadside lemonade, but found I needed to blend them in a blender and then let them sit until the foam settled, then they were OK. Also, you might try freezing some of these clear protein drinks. I got ice pop style ziploc bags from Amazon and did that with the lemonade syntrax to help get both fluids and protein down early on. You've probably already tried it, but you might have better luck with the GENEPRO if you mix it with savory stuff like bouillon or stock - I liked the chicken bouillon best. I found it didn't clump if I mixed the powder with lukewarm Water in my blender and then mixed it into the hot liquid. unjury has a protein chicken Soup that's pretty decent, but I liked my own powder mixed in bouillon better.

Rheumatologist discussing biologic treatment for my rheumatoid/psoriatic arthritis, and saying the VSG could help with the condition. I'd been on the fence about it for several years, and that tipped me right over.

I hesitated to join this discussion because I have such conflicting feelings about weight now. On the one hand, I have a lot of compassion for people who are hugely overweight. Science is finding that it's not a willpower issue, and as I've personally learned it's not anywhere near as easy to control weight as some people think (and I used to think). Even when I was heavy, I used to think it was just because I was failing and lacked the willpower to do the right things. Now I know how badly the deck is stacked against us. I'm also a huge supporter of body positivity. Regardless of size or ability, people deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. There's no reason for anyone to receive substandard medical care because they're heavy, or be ridiculed by people in the street. Hating your body/self is counter productive to being healthy, and health should be the goal, not some ridiculous idea of what looks good that's pushed by media and photoshop. Being overweight does not automatically mean someone is unhealthy, just as being thin doesn't automatically mean someone is healthy. That being said, there is a point where the weight interferes with movement and being able to care for oneself. As a nurse, I cannot consider that level of overweight to be anywhere near healthy, and this is one of the drawbacks I see to the body positivity movement. When I see someone who cannot move properly and maintain good hygiene because of the weight, I cannot help but wonder why they don't see that SOMETHING has to be done. Of course, drastic measures require access to medical care and many people in this country don't have it, so there's that. But I want so badly to channel Whoopie Goldberg's character from Ghost and grab them and say "you in danger, girl!!". As for dating and relationships with people who are quite heavy... I am SO VERY GLAD to not be in the dating scene anymore. But if I were, I would not want to date someone who would jeopardize my health by constantly exposing me to unhealthy eating habits and sedentary pursuits. I'm doing all of this so I can get more active and be healthier, and would only be interested in spending time with someone who is also interested in healthy eating and activity. I don't think badly of people who aren't, but this has to become a big part of my life and factor into my serious relationships. It's more like if I were a recovering alcoholic, it would be a poor choice to get in a relationship with someone who drinks regularly. As it is, I'm lucky that my hubby wants to be more active, I'm actually the one who's dragging us down right now with my weight and chronic health issues. He'll go along with whatever I want to do. I think ultimately we should seek out people with similar goals and priorities to ourselves, especially for romantic relationships. If one of our primary goals and highest priorities is our health, we should seek out people who feel the same and express that in their lives. Otherwise, our goals and priorities tend to change to meet those of the people we spend the most time with, and that can be detrimental to our health.

You may have to relax your carb restriction in order to get enough nutrition in. (not sure what your carb limit is, and if that was set by your doc/nutritionist or not) 50g/day is the general cutoff for ketosis, but each person is a little different. If your goal is to stay in ketosis, you can get urine dip sticks that let you test for it, and you can do some experimenting to find your personal limit. I'd recommend getting an appointment with the nutritionist or someone on your surgical team to discuss your specific diet issues. I get VERY ill in ketosis, and my team doesn't push low carb like some other teams, so I'm doing well with a higher carb limit but staying away from simple carbs and sugars (so far, don't know what it'll mean further down the road). Also, since you can eat eggs ok, there are Protein powders that are egg white based that might not give you the issues you're getting with the whey.