BigSue

Yes, most of those are well-known problem foods for WLS patients. My program says no rice, pasta, bread, or tortillas for at least the first year. Rice is hard to eat because it absorbs water and swells up in the stomach, which is uncomfortable when you have such a small stomach. Many WLS patients say that pasta sits in the stomach like a rock, and bread can form a lump that is hard to digest.

I lost about 70 pounds in the 5 months before my surgery.

No, I haven't tried those... ANy particular flavors you recommend?

My current obsessions are chia pudding and homemade sugar-free gummy bears. I love making different flavors of chia pudding; my favorites are chocolate raspberry (tastes like brownie batter!) and pumpkin spice. I never knew how easy it is to make homemade gummy bears -- just some gelatin and flavoring (either 2 packs unflavored gelatin + 1 single-serve sugar-free drink mix, or one unflavored gelatin + 1 flavored gelatin; I've also made them with real lemon juice and lime juice). I bought some gummy bear molds on Amazon, and voila: sugar-free gummy bears that don't cause diarrhea. I also recently discovered Skinny Girl salad dressings. They're fat-free, sugar-free, and 10-15 calories for 2 tbsp. I've tried balsamic vinaigrette, roasted garlic vinaigrette, poppyseed, buttermilk ranch, and honey dijon, and I love them all.

My surgeon didn't give a timeframe for different meats, but I've only eaten ground beef once since surgery, in chili, about 6 months out, with no problems. I normally substitute ground turkey for ground beef (just because I've heard that a lot of WLS patients tolerate ground turkey better). I've also had pork (pork loin, carnitas, and pork chili verde, all cooked in the Instant Pot) with no problems. I ate a smoked pork rib around 3.5 months out and a bite got stuck on the way down -- not pleasant, but I had some leftovers that I took off the bone shredded, and covered with sugar-free BBQ sauce and that was fine. The key with most meats is to make sure they're moist. I mostly cook meat in my Instant Pot, shredded, with a sauce. It is easy to digest that way. I can eat grilled chicken now as long as I cut it in small pieces and chew it well.

LOL, I don't know of any laws against it... I put some of my light dressing in a little 2-ounce container and stashed it in my purse. When I got my salad, I discreetly took out my dressing and poured it on my salad. No one was the wiser.

I can count on one hand the number of times I've eaten at restaurants since my surgery, but the few times I have, I've gotten salads, and one time at a Mexican restaurant, I got a tostada (which is basically a salad on a tortilla, and since the tortilla is at the bottom, no one can tell you're not eating it). You just have to be careful about salads because of the dressing. I ask for the dressing on the side and bring my own light dressing. A lot of restaurants also have meals like grilled chicken breast with a choice of sides, and you can get a side of veggies. I like to get salads because I can eat a more "normal" portion of salad, but not a whole giant chicken breast.

You need to follow your surgeon's instructions for post-op diet. Did you surgeon give you instructions for your diet progression?

There are many different artificial sweeteners, and some of them can have side effects. I looked at the ingredients in the Pure Protein bars, and they are sweetened with maltitol, which is notorious for causing digestive discomfort. You may be able to eat protein bars that use different sweeteners without those digestive side effects. Here's a video with some good info on different types of artificial sweeteners: And here's a good article summarizing the different types of artificial sweeteners: https://www.sweetashoney.co/the-best-keto-friendly-sweeteners/ My personal favorite protein bars are Built Bars (which are sweetened with erythritol). I think they taste better than candy bars!

Congratulations!

Congratulations! 150 pounds -- that's awesome.

I can't be the only one here who has fallen completely in love with chia seed pudding! I've seen a lot about how healthy chia seeds are, but to be honest, I thought they looked kind of gross. I finally decided to give chia seed pudding a try, and it's delicious! The basic recipe is 1 tbsp chia seeds + 2 ounces liquid (I usually use a combination of almond milk and sugar-free flavored syrup) + sweetener. There are so many options for flavors, and here are some I've tried (I'm partial to the chocolate ones because a tablespoon of dark cocoa powder makes it taste like BROWNIE BATTER!).

Skinnygirl fat-free, sugar-free salad dressing is amazing! I've tried the buttermilk ranch, roasted garlic vinaigrette, balsamic vinaigrette, honey dijon, and poppyseed, and I love them all. They all have 10-15 calories in a 2-tbsp serving. $1.98 at Walmart.

It's a marathon, not a sprint. You didn't gain the weight overnight and it won't come off overnight. Stalls are very common and you just have to stick with your plan and be patient.

This was one of my big fears, too, that deterred me from getting WLS sooner. I had read a lot of people's personal WLS experiences, and many of them seemed to talk about their pouch ruling their lives, and stuff about how they never know how their pouch will like something they ate, etc. I really hate vomiting and I was afraid that if I had WLS, it would happen all the time. I am 10 months out and I haven't vomited a single time since surgery. There were a few close calls (early on, it's not uncommon for a bite of a dense/dry food like meat to get sort of stuck on the way down, which is very uncomfortable and can result in nausea, but in my case every time this happened, it worked its way down eventually). I have been extremely careful about what I eat, so I'm not even sure if I get dumping syndrome. My surgeon said I should make sure not to exceed 15 grams of sugar or 15 grams of fat in one meal to avoid dumping. I've stuck with that and haven't had any issues. I actually see it as a benefit of the surgery that fear of dumping keeps me in line. There have been some occasions where I ate a few bites more than I should have, but I didn't vomit -- just felt kind of stuffed for a while. Unfortunately, there's no way of knowing how your individual body will respond to the surgery, but there's a good chance that if you stick to your plan, you won't have to worry about vomiting.

Sorry I don't have any helpful advice on losing the weight, but I just wanted to say your bariatric team is there to help you. It is really common for pregnancy to cause weight gain, so you shouldn't be embarrassed about that! Especially since you've worked so hard to get back to your goal weight (but even if that wasn't the case, you have a new baby! cut yourself a break). I'm sure they've seen other people with similar issues, so I hope they are helpful.

When I first reintroduced meat after surgery, I frequently had problems where a bit of meat felt like it got stuck on the way down, and it was very uncomfortable until it worked its way through. In addition to cutting meat into small pieces, you should make sure it's moist (it should be swimming in sauce), not dry, and chew it really well. The good news is that I stopped having this problem after a few months -- but I still make sure to keep meats moist. I make a lot of Instant Pot recipes for shredded chicken, which is easier to eat than, say, diced chicken.

Do you drink Crio Bru? I LOVE that stuff! I add a little almond milk and some sugar-free flavored syrup and it's delicious. It's also really good for adding protein shakes. I used to add a couple of ounces of protein shake to my Crio Bru (I don't need to do that anymore because I can get enough protein from food now).

Have you tried protein hot cocoa? I found that warm liquids went down more easily than cold. If you make it with Fairlife milk instead of water, it has about as much protein as a shake. I love the BariatricPal brand hot cocoa packets, and you can also buy protein hot cocoa on Amazon (the ProtiDiet brand in a big canister is cheaper per serving).

There are tons of delicious protein bars on the market these days. Built Bars are my favorites. I also love this protein mug cake: Other easy high-protein options include turkey jerky (Chomps jalapeño turkey sticks are my favorite; they’re available at Trader Joe’s) and hard-boiled eggs (if you have an Instant Pot, look up the 5-5-5 method — they come out perfectly every time).

I think my parents did a lot of damage to my relationship with food and eating when I was a kid. I know they didn't mean to. They meant well -- they just wanted the best for me, and they knew that being fat would be a hard life, so they tried to stop me from being fat, but unfortunately, most of what they did was totally counterproductive. I remember my mom always being unhappy with her body, but looking back, I don't think she was as fat as she thought she was. She was probably overweight, but not obese (but of course her weight fluctuated as she yo-yo dieted). I remember once when I was very young, we were on vacation and my mom had a meltdown because she ordered curly fries and they gave her regular fries and she didn't want to waste her calories on regular fries. That was probably my first awareness of dieting. When I got older (junior high), my parents made me participate in whatever fad diet they were doing at the time. I was always chubby, but I have brothers who were skin and bones and couldn't gain weight if they tried. And they did try. My mom bought them all kinds of cookies, crackers, candy, soda, etc., but she didn't want me to have any, so she had them hide their snacks in their rooms. I think this is one of the biggest things leading to my food issues because it made me feel so deprived. It felt so unfair that my brothers were being rewarded and I was being punished, basically for no reason other than my natural body type. So every chance I got, I snuck food. I spent all of my allowance money on candy and junk food. I hid food in my room because I wasn't allowed to eat it openly. It blew my mind when I went to friends' houses and they just had chips and cookies in the kitchen that they were allowed to eat in front of their parents. When I was old enough to babysit, I always looked for junk food to eat after the kids were in bed. I'm so embarrassed now to think about what the parents must have thought of me pigging out on their junk food! I got into a vicious cycle of yo-yo dieting, losing a little weight but gaining it all back and more, my parents trying to control my eating more and me feeling more deprived and sneaking more food (which got easier as I got older). My parents made me go to counseling and dietitians, and for a while, my mom weighed me every other day and tracked my weight in a notebook. It made me feel like my entire worth as a human being was based on my weight, and I could never be good enough. Ironically, when I first looked into weight loss surgery, my mom talked me out of it. She cried because it was so dangerous and she was afraid I would die on the table. That's a big part of why I haven't told anyone in my life -- not even my parents -- that I did it. It was my decision that I made for myself and my own health. Not to finally win my parents' approval. My parents were actually the first to notice my weight loss (actually before surgery -- I lost about 70 pounds before surgery) just by seeing my face on a family Zoom call, And the first time they saw me in person after surgery, of course the FIRST THING out of my mom's mouth was how good I looked. Now, my parents had given up on trying to get me to lose weight by the time I was in my 30s, so my weight had ceased to be a topic of regular discussion, but it kind of hurt to see that they are still so hung up on my weight that they got so excited to see that I lost weight. Even though they stopped talking about it, it's obviously still important to them and to what they think about me.

While you're on clear liquids, Syntrax Nectar is good and has a variety of flavors. IdealFit also has some good clear protein that you can buy in single-serving packets. Once you're on full liquids, protein hot cocoa! I found that warm drinks went down more easily than cold (especially in the beginning), so if you have trouble drinking cold protein shakes (or just get tired of them), try protein hot cocoa. The BariatricPal brand is really good, but you can also get protein hot cocoa on Amazon (I like ProtiDiet brand). You can boost the protein even more by making it with Fairlife milk instead of water.

Good luck! I didn't tell anyone about my surgery other than medical professionals, so I did it all alone and I was fine. My recovery was surprisingly easy and I only took a week off of work (I just said it was a vacation). I do suggest having a backup plan for someone you can call if you need help because it is possible that you could have complications, but weight loss surgery is statistically very safe and has a low rate of complications. See you on the loser's bench!

I completely relate to all of your feelings about this! I first started looking into WLS 15 years before I actually went through with it. I considered it many times over the course of those years, but the reason it took me so long to go through with it was exactly what you said -- I hated the thought of giving up everything that I loved. I couldn't imagine not eating a whole Red Baron pizza every week, or giving up my diet sodas. But I eventually reached a point where I had to choose between my health and continuing to eat the way I wanted, and that's when I went through with the surgery. The first few months (including the pre-op diet) are HARD. It is a huge adjustment to make to your life, especially in the liquid/purees/soft foods stages. Even when you get to the "normal food" stage, it's hard to know what to eat because it feels like everything you want is now off-limits. I still have the occasional pangs of sadness when I see something that looks delicious and realize I can't have it. I think the biggest surprise for me after surgery has been how little I miss my old diet. I have gradually discovered new, healthy recipes and foods that I never even would have tried back when I was eating pizza, french fries, pasta, ice cream, etc. I'm actually enjoying eating healthy food. I don't miss eating rice at all (in case you didn't know, most WLS patients don't eat rice because it expands in the stomach and can be painful) because I have found that cauliflower rice is a great substitute. I didn't even try it until my pre-op diet because I hated cauliflower, and now I eat it several times per week. I recently tried chia seed pudding and learned that I love it! I've started drinking tea since I quit carbonated beverages and now I'm discovering all kinds of delicious teas. I've found some great spice blends and sauces that make vegetables really tasty, and delicious light salad dressings. Can you believe I never tried sriracha before surgery, and now I love it (Huy Fong chili garlic sauce is even better). I'm about 10 months out from surgery, so still in the honeymoon period, but my experience at this point has been that the adjustment to my diet has been easier than I expected. The hard part for me has been making time in my life to take care of myself and my health because I didn't really exercise before surgery, and now I'm devoting over an hour per day to it. I went years without ever going to a doctor (other than the dentist) and now I have to go a few times per year, get periodic bloodwork, keep my prescriptions filled, etc. I have to take my vitamins every day. It can all be a burden, but the tradeoff is that I am in the best health of my adult life, and not obese for the first time in my adult life. I'm not saying that WLS is right for everyone, but you know all the reasons you have decided to do this and whether it's worth all of the changes you'll have to make. Good luck!

I have been looking for a therapist and having a lot of trouble finding someone who treats eating disorders (I'm not sure I have an actual eating disorder, but I certainly have issues with food that I need to deal with) and takes my insurance. I'm guessing your best bet would be to find a therapist who treats addiction and/or eating disorders. Your surgeon or his nurse might be able to recommend someone who has helped other WLS patients. I'm finding that there aren't a lot of therapists who are experienced in treating WLS patients, unfortunately. We have kind of a special situation, so it would be nice to talk to someone who understands that. It is good that you are recognizing these patterns and taking steps to address them!