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In 1956, I might follow these guidelines to eat like this: Breakfast: 1 bowl oatmeal, 1 glass milk, 1 serving berries Lunch: A sandwich consisting of 2 slices bread, a serving of sliced meat, and a slice of cheese, plus an apple Dinner: A serving of meat, a potato, and a green vegetable, plus a dinner roll with a little bit of butter But you get to the 1980s and we're being told that's not nearly enough food. Eat more and be healthy!

As a kid in the 1970s and 1980s, I remember that "cereal" meant Cap'n Crunch (peanut butter flavor if you were lucky, or that one with the fruity "berries" if mom wasn't paying attention while shopping), and a sandwich was a slice of Oscar Mayer Bologna between two pieces of Wonder Bread (with French's yellow mustard and a side of Fritos, of course). And I couldn't have told you what a "serving" of any of them was, aside from whatever fit in my bowl or on the plate. It was easy to make all the wrong choices and think you were doing okay. I really wish we'd been taught the difference between healthy food choices and unhealthy ones. Although it is far from perfect, the newer My Plate guidelines are at least better, and easier for kids to visualize. And yeah, the idea that a piece of fresh fruit is the same as a candy bar "because sugar" is insanity.

I have a similar concern. I'm not worried about trace amounts of carcinogens, but the Prop 65 warning that appears on the checkout page on Unjury mentions exposure to lead, which is something else entirely. From what I understand no amount of lead is safe for consumption. I'm not clear how they determine these risks...does the company just add a blanket warning to avoid lawsuits, or do they have actual reason to believe there is lead in their products? It's weird to put that pressure on the customer. I don't want to be a paranoid alarmist, but it's like, why would I buy a food if the grocer is telling me it's poisonous? I wish they explained better or just did whatever they need to do to assure to avoid the risk. I saw this warning after adding Whey Protein Powders to my cart and going to checkout. I guess I'll just avoid that brand?

I had my 2 week follow up with my surgeon yesterday! Incisions are healing well, tummy is doing better, he cleared me to move to purees and said if I wanted to I could even try fish or eggs prepared soft since they both are relatively soft on the digestive system, though some don't do well on eggs. I had yogurt yesterday and it went down well, so last night I had some tuna fish and it was fine too!! No more awful twisting pains, just a dull ache if I eat or drink too fast. I'm so thankful I took that two weeks on fluids, I wouldn't have done as well if it was only one week. I needed the extra week to heal and let some swelling go down. I officially have lost 15 lbs since surgery. That's 29 lbs since my highest weight! The last time I lost 30 lbs was 20 years ago. I'm so amazed. I'm not losing super fast but that's okay, I'm good with slow as long as it is steady... I had enough energy to go through the grocery store yesterday!! I haven't been able to do that in a few years. It was just 45 minutes of walking and standing but it is such an improvement. I'm really grateful for all this. So glad I had the surgery...

I woke up in recovery hungry. True hungry, not head hungry. I would have even eaten seafood at that point and I hate seafood as a rule. LOL I've maintained that hunger as I've been recovering. I'm just not one of those that lost it. But I am observing my team's rules of only eating 1/4 to 1/3 cup of food at a time, chewed really well, slowly. I know nerves have been cut so messages aren't getting through. I experienced this with my hysterectomy too, it took months for everything to work normally again, my bladder was confused for 6 months. I think they say it can take 3 months for your stomach signals to get back to their new normal. I woke up this morning at 7am starving!! I ate tuna fish. LOL I love that rule about asking if chicken breast will work. I find if I'm hungry a simple, unadorned protein sounds good. If it is head hunger I'm craving chips or chocolate.

I've been a lot more careful with my eating since July, but last week I had a business trip to Las Vegas. I didn't go completely crazy, but I was eating in restaurants every day and the food was so salty. Plus flying, which always causes me some water retention. I weighed myself Sunday, the day after I got home, and I was up 10 lbs! But I know this was almost all water because I weighed today and I'm back down to where I was before the trip. A big, salty Thanksgiving meal and a couple days of leftovers would probably do the trick!

Okay, so you bulk up before your weigh in with food, fluid, heavy clothing or shoes, or weighing down your pockets. I would worry that you go the second time without this additional bulk & you weigh a lot less & they think wow you’ve lost a lot of weight great. But the third time your weight has slowed a lot to what would be appropriate for your real weight. Plus the more you weigh the more they may want you to lose before surgery. Be careful, besides taking off my shoes I’ve been asked to remove a heavier skirt before my weigh in so they’d get a more accurate result. (Didn’t wear it on purpose just because I liked it.) My friend was told she was a couple of kilos short of meeting the BMI requirement. I remember who saying oh well a couple of weeks until Christmas & I always put on weight then so I’ll make another appointment for January. She did & she met the requirement. You have Thanksgiving soon so it may be a moot point.

There are some people who continue to feel hunger after the surgery. Be careful you’re not confusing real hunger & head hunger. Real hunger feels different. I feel like something is wrong & restless. I never want a specific food, favour or texture. And there is a reason why I feel hungry - like I haven’t eaten for a few hours. It does take time to work out your cues for real hunger. The other issue to consider is you’re still healing. Someone recently posted their surgeon said it can take 8 weeks or more to fully heal internally after a sleeve. This includes your nerves which were cut which is why our messages for hunger, satiety, etc, aren’t accurately felt, or in the case if your restriction not felt at all during this recovery period. It’s why we have to be careful of how much we eat & drink. I always say all because you can doesn’t mean you should. You may be able to eat a portion larger than you’ve been told or drink more but the signals telling you stop or warning you of danger aren’t working properly. Go slowly making small changes. Best not to push to see how much you think you can do. There’s lots of little things to learn about post surgery, consider & most importantly learn about yourself. But you’ll get there. All the best with your recovery.

I had my VSG on October 2nd. I started real food this past Monday. I'm losing an average of 3 pounds per week. My problem is that not only am I hungry, I seem to be able to eat more than what I should be. It feels like I still have my entire stomach. Anyone else experiencing this? My surgeon says I'm doing great, but I'm not so sure.

Have you recently weighed in a little higher, like at your doctor's office for a physical? That may be good enough. When I was still in the nonsurgical program at my hospital, I weighed in at a BMI of just over 40. At that point, my doctor suggested I look into surgery. I was pretty shaken by hitting that number and I immediately made some changes, so 2 weeks later when I came back for my first appointment on the surgical side, I was around 39.8. They said it was fine, that they go by the highest weight for qualifying. And yes, I wore my heaviest shoes that time, just in case! I know that usually they will deduct a couple pounds for clothing, but they didn't for that highest weight, I think just to be safe. I do have a comorbidity, though, so I would qualify anyway. You might try a few days of salty foods before your next appointment, too.

Well said, @NickelChip. I agree that we need radical change from our policy makers at the highest levels, and some real nutritional education. Part of my journey is that I have finally gotten very angry about the marketing/indoctrination and policy lobbying that the for-profit "food" industries have been allowed to get away with, at the expense of our health in the USA. I'm old enough to recall that the first food pyramid from the USDA said to eat 6-11 servings of bread, rice, cereal, or pasta every day. As a young person, I thought I was practicing healthy eating when I would have two servings of cereal for breakfast, then two sandwiches for lunch, and three servings of rice for supper. 9 servings was totally within the guidelines, so why was I gaining weight??? Thank you for sharing the article, @GreenTealael. I felt like I was reading about myself! Body size, obesity, health and their places in society and the science of medicine seem to get more complicated every day. I found the short history lesson on BMI quite fascinating.

You will do fine. Being anxious is normal. I had the sleeve on 10/27 and had no issues at all. I was never even tired. At times I question whether I even had the surgery (which I have heard from others) because I have had no pain, nada. I was tired and dizzy the first day after surgery, but that is normal. I am losing weight (and following my doctor's recommendations exactly), and I have no hunger (except some head hunger--which I counteract by trying to focus on what is really going on--smells of food being one). Remembering your why is a very good way to deal with head hunger or any other obstacle you might experience. So many people say this, but it really is the choices you make on a daily basis. As to wiping your butt, they want you up and walking ASAP to get rid of the gas--if you can walk, you can wipe your butt. Good luck!!

I'm on Day 8 of 14 for my liquid pre-op diet, and honestly for me, it hasn't been all that bad! I didn't get "keto flu" or any of that, possibly because I've done keto diets before and knew to keep up with electrolytes. The only crummy part is when I can SMELL tasty things. I'm fine if I can see them, I'm fine sitting next to people chowing down, I'm fine watching YouTube cooking shows even, but if I walk past someone's office and smell something delicious, THEN I really miss food 😅 I'm starting to make myself anxious by reading about post-op infections (it feels like the only people I've read about getting them on my program's Facebook group are those who have the same surgeon as me...), "How will my cats EVER forgive me for not being able to sleep with me the night before surgery?!", "WHAT IF I CAN'T WIPE MY BUTT AFTER SURGERY AND MY HUSBAND HAS TO DO IT?!", etc. etc. etc. 😂 I think the big key is to always remember your "why" - Personally, I'm not just doing this to lose weight. I'm doing this because I have a family history of a number of different cancers whose risk is greatly increased with obesity (and I had a precancerous colon polyp removed earlier this year...I'm not even 40 yet). My "why" is that I want to be here a lot longer and be healthy and be able to enjoy that time doing fun, active things and not overheating and sweating my arse off while I'm at it. Today's my last day working in-office prior to surgery next Wednesday, and I'm really thankful for that. All my good savory liquids are at home! I hope everyone is doing fantastic and healing well, or having an easy time with their pre-op regimens! 💜

Interesting study. I'd like to see a larger study participant base...but promising. As my grandmother used to say "everything in moderation, the body makes use of each food type just don't over do!"

I had gastric bypass on October 17th. I had a lot of complications. I woke up in extreme pain immediately and was vomiting blood. After 2 days in ICU and 2 days in a regular hospital room, I ended up being discharged from the hospital. A little over a week later, I ended back up in the ER and another week in the hospital. I was unable to keep any fluids down (not even thinking about food). I would vomit immediately and I became so extremely dehydrated that I started having heart papilations. It was very scary. Come to find out, my stoma to empy the stomach into my intestine was so severly inflammed (and also sewn extremly tight) that my stomach was not emptying causing nausea and vomiting. Also a lot of fluid was pooling around my esophagus. I had to get fluids in me, potassium IVs and a banana bag of nutrients and I was unable to eat or drink anything during my hospital stay. I am not trying to scare anyone from having surgery--just sharing my experience. I am feeling much better now, I am home and I am down 40 pounds! I am holding down liquids and starting to eat soft foods like pudding and mashed potatoes.

And you would have. I realized this past week while going thru years of stuff that I'm finally cleaning out, how long I actually struggled with dieting and weight loss. I found journals and food diaries and counting calorie lists, diet books and recipes etc. It made me sad. I could have avoided a lot of that if I had decided to get the surgery sooner. But I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and am happy with where I am now, I can honestly say, and I've said it before...my only regret is not getting the WLS sooner.

Never? Lucky! I dumped when I had just VSG, it’s not as bad for me now with RNY because I’ve been avoiding problematic foods for so long. But every once in a while I still have a problem.

Never? Lucky! I dumped when I had just VSG, it’s not as bad for me now with RNY because I’ve been avoiding problematic foods for so long. But every once in a while I still have a problem.

I mean, I kind of hope OP was a troll, because it's terrible if someone was really feeling this bad about their decision to have surgery. On occasion I've regretted my surgery, like when I was losing a lot of hair, but overall I'm happy that I've lost 50 pounds. I wish I could lose more, and hopefully I will. I dislike how my neck looks now and I'm dreaming of having a neck lift or even a face lift, but mostly I did this for health. I'm positive I would never have lost 50 pounds on my own. I was losing and regaining the same 10 pounds over and over again, and would have just kept doing that. I don't really miss food, since I can eat pretty much anything, just a lot less. Like I'll have a hamburger sometimes, but just 1/4 or half. I kind of like saving on groceries, since I eat less.

Yes, weight all your food together to make 3oz.

Good luck to those having surgery tomorrow and the next few days! I started my pre-op diet today, which I am not complaining about because you do get to eat some real food. Though all of it aggravates my GERD. Ugh I cannot wait for my revision. I hope it works and I wake up reflux free.

i don't have any real answers for you other than echo what others have said above and to get more tests done and continue to work with your doc to find an M.O. to give you some relief. however, i do want to say that at 5 months post, i think i was sort of where you are at. I could barley eat very much in terms of volume. it was really quite a ridiculously small amount of food that I could keep down at one sitting, and if i went 1 bite above that, I would barf...or spit up more like. I ate probably 1/3 - 1/2 cup of food in TOTAL in one sitting (where a "sitting" would last about an hour of taking tiny bites at a time). this resolved itself over time, probably took about 1.5 - 2 years before i could eat the amounts which i can eat now in one sitting. Mind you, its still a small amount compared to what "normal" people can pack in. And i'm over 5 years out today...and other than my odd eating habits (compared to others), i'm totally fine. Oh, i do take 20mg of Omeprazole a day religiously though. if i miss my morning dose, i can feel discomfort in my sternum by 1-2pm. i also make sure I go to bed on an empty stomach. further, regarding the diarrhea, i was already lactose intolerant pre-surgery. After surgery, i got even MORE lactose-intolerant, if that makes sense. perhaps a diet consisting of only mozzerella and yogurt could be doing your digestive system a number. just a thought? Hope you figure out something soon. Good Luck! ❤️

Almost to full foods stage, once I am there is it still only 2oz. Do I weigh all my food together to make 2oz . . . a little confused . . .

Hello @New To This23 thank you so much! My current loss includes preop diet as well. I was only required to do a 3 day preop diet. I agree about the stalls or slow moving scales! I plan to only weigh once a month. I already was getting in a habit of weighing everyday...I don't feel that's mentally healthy. Anyways I feel good about the holidays. I current cook several times a week for my family and have already meal prepped my "bariatric portions". I may still make old favorites for family dinner... but there no pressure to do so. I may even try a little of normal food... but won't push it.

Apologies for the novel I'm about to write, and thanks in advance if you bother to read it all! 😂 TL;DR it took me ~7 months total to go from first appointments to surgery. I went through my local university's health system and am using insurance, so my timeline will likely differ from those who are self-pay or outside the USA! My program is roughly 5-6 months, with 4 group classes and two check-ins with Nutrition & Psychology where they determine if you're approved to move to the next part of the program (or send you for additional counseling or nutrition, if not approved). I also had to do 2 extra appointments with Nutrition & Psych to keep insurance happy, as mine requires that you have some sort of contact or follow-up every month until you get surgery. Here's what my personal timeline looked like: April 27th, 2023 - First appointments with Dietitian, Psychology, Surgeon May 2nd - First group class May 16th - Second group class June 6th - Psych check-in June 15th - Nutrition check-in July 5th - Third group class July 27th - Fourth group class August 1st - Nutrition check-in August 10th - Psych check-in **CALLED IN LATE AUGUST TO SCHEDULE! (see below) September 19th - extra Nutrition & Psych check-ins to keep insurance happy October 3rd - GP visit for physical and approval for EGD (the hospital mandated this due to high BMI requiring monitored anesthesia for the EGD) October 4th - EGD (scope of esophagus, stomach, upper bowel) November 8th - Started 2-week liquid only liver-reducing diet (LRD) November 9th - Pre-op Readiness Visits (basically meeting w/surgeon again, nurse practitioner, coordinator, etc. to make sure I have all the pre-op information, etc.) November 22nd, 2023 - SURGERY DATE! **So, they DID call me in late August to schedule my surgery. At my initial appointment with my surgeon, he wanted me to get an EGD to make sure I don't have silent reflux or anything funky going on, as I get occasional reflux with certain foods. When I scheduled my EGD back in April, they were scheduling out into OCTOBER 🙃, so I scheduled it for October 4th. In late August (after finishing all my classes and check-ins), my surgeon's office called to let me know the surgeon reviewed my file and was fine with skipping the EGD since I don't have a history of chronic GERD and asked if I wanted a date in September. Well, at this point I was used to the idea of having surgery towards the end of the year, AND I already had a big ol' wedding planned for October and wanted to be able to at least eat solid food for that and have my dress fit properly, so I told them I was fine with keeping the EGD appointment just to be safe and that I'd prefer a date in late November, as I had a HUGE thing scheduled at my work for this week (11/13-11/16) where I pretty much had to be there. They had no problem scheduling me out that far, so if you need a particular timeframe and need to push back for life reasons, I've heard the majority of programs have absolutely no problem doing so. Just know that your insurance (if you aren't self-pay) might want you to make an extra check-in visit or two so you have some kind of contact monthly.