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Your having issues being compliant. I would quite soda continuesly. Also try going back to the plan you're team gave you. Keto works but not for chopping and changing.

That isn’t going to be easy on your new stomach at all. I’d recommend you invest in an air fryer, it will help curb the fried food cravings. Especially if you find a nice almond flour/keto breading recipe.

Hi! I’m new to the forums. I am hoping to have WLS this year. Somewhat ironically, I work in Prior Authorizations for a health insurance company, so I’m very familiar with what it means to require auth. However, every company is a bit different. I’m a newlywed and my husband added me to his policy. This was planned as my previous coverage was not as good, and his plan covers bariatric surgery whereas mine did not. So we now have UHC Choice through T-Mobile. I have checked the coverage requirement thoroughly and have a couple concerns: A. They require a 5 year weight history. However my coverage before this has been fairly bare minimum. So I mostly only went to the doctor if absolutely needed. And the eye doctor, who does not weigh. How strict are they on having a five year history? Do I only need a couple weigh ins throughout that time? Or multiple a year etc? Also will they accept photo documentation or a written statement? I mostly gave up on getting help from my PCP’s previously as they’d tell me I “wasn’t trying hard enough” whenever I failed to lose weight. But I just established care with a great PCP in order to get everything checked out/ruled out prior to asking for a referral and recommendation for the surgery. B. I know when I’m ready for a consult etc. I will need to go through UHC Bariatric Resource Services through Optum. What is it like working with them? Do they actually help and guide you as if they’d like for you to get approved? thank you in advance! just to note: My BMI is over 40, and has been at least over 35 my entire adult life. I have attempted weight loss with phentermine multiple times, as well as keto, weight watchers, and CICO. I have hypertension, hyperlipidemia, exertions dyspnea, chronic back problems, and chronic muscle tension. I am active and I do watch what I eat, just fail to lose significant weight. When taking weight loss medications I lose up to 20 lbs, but then regain as soon as I go off the med even when sustaining my same lifestyle.

Don't even mention having a procedure. Start talking now about switching to a keto diet (Your future diet will match that story. Also mention going to the gym or starting some exercise program. That's what I did, and no one questions me.

If you buy Premiere Protein at Sam’s Club and don’t like it you can return it. I loathed the peaches and cream...like couldn’t choke it down last year when I was doing Keto. Barf!

For me it's bread, cake, and similar items. I can't keep that stuff in the house. I will occasionally let myself have an indulgence but I enjoy the treat and then that's it. What I don't eat gets given or thrown away and I get right back on plan. And I don't indulge often. Even keto bread-like products will kick off cravings for me. People can advise but we are each the only one who lives in our particular body. Trying to regularly eat bread "in moderation" would be a fast-track to regaining all the weight I've lost.

You can add my name to the slow down list... I have a feeling I know why, at least for myself. Surgery date: November 27th. (In week 5) Surgery weight: 247 current weight: 216 I was doing very well up until the week of Christmas when my Mom visited. I used her visit and the holiday as an excuse to eat whatever and however I wanted. I was following keto diet when I was on my prep diet and the 3 weeks post up leading up to Christmas and I was doing great! Now that I have reintroduced carbs back into my diet, I have not looked back since. The only thing I am looking back at is the rapid weight loss. Last week less than 4 pounds lost, and as for this week, I am currently +1 pound. I don't officially weigh in for the week until Monday morning, but I guess it is going to take either an actual gain or no weight lost week for me to kick myself in the butt again and get myself back on track. 😐😐😐 I don't know what to say other than its important to be honest with myself during this process, and the only thing that can effect my progress is my actions.

I was like you. I started with a BMI just barely over 35, had tried keto, crossfit 6x a week, intermittent fasting. I dropped weight, but it was impossible for me to stay consistent. I am a month out from sleeve surgery and have lost a little over 30 lbs. Even in this month alone, there would have been several times when I would have fallen off a diet due to "life" but the sleeve has kept me on track. I'm slowly but surely detoxing from food, and eating for nutrition rather than comfort. It's proving to be a very useful tool. Sent from my SM-N976V using BariatricPal mobile app

I have told a pretty good number of people. I would have to say that the reception that I have received has been mainly positive (though I'm not sure what is said when I am out of ear shot.) My husband was initially hesitant about me having the surgery. He felt that it was a drastic solution to a problem that I had been fixing previously (I lost 90lbs on keto.) But he was heavy himself. However, after he lost weight through a diagnosis of a medical condition he has - it kind of put things into perspective for him, I guess? I also researched the topic heavily and brought the information to him. I explained to him that I had a combination of factors against me and though I could lose weight on keto, it was not sustainable as a long-term solution for me. I also told him that there were scientific studies that advised that the body is so resistant to diets, that they almost always fail to maintain a long term loss (like Weight Watchers.) I explained to him that like his weight affecting his joints (he had a bad back and knees), my weight was affecting me in ways that were starting to become difficult to deal with. Now, my husband has stated that he'd love me regardless of the weight I'm at, but he wants me to be happy and healthy. He's been on board for awhile now and even went to a support group meeting with me. My brothers, who I'm close to, have been incredibly supportive as well. My mom? Not so much. But like someone mentioned previously in this chat - people are resistant to change. The only thing is that I wish people would ask me MORE questions about the surgery. I don't mind telling people that I am having the surgery, but I would like a chance to explain to them why it is a solution for me. I am also a huge medical geek and love explaining medical procedures. Thankfully, I've had a lot of support.

Dear Tracy, All the well wishers with idiotic comments are exactly the reason I only told my husband, mom, and two close family friends since they would notice when eating meals. That being said, if we could have lost the weight under less severe measures, why would we have surgery!?! Silly question. The pre-op diet was the hardest part for me, and I ended up just doing Keto. Trust that it gets better, and a few months down the road, the hard part will be behind you. How are you doing?

Thanks for responding, Fluffy, especially with such a well-thought out post. I understand now that I may be 'too early' in the process. I'm such a slow loser and am hitting multiple stalls...that I was looking for anything I could do that would help. I have started tracking my food/water/liquids intake in the myfitness tool now that I was given macros by my dr's office but their plan has me consuming more carbs than I am comfortable with as I'm a big keto devotee and I lose better when I keep carbs low as a general rule. I did 'Atkin's' way back in the day and lost 80 lbs and kept it off for a decade. I restarted a keto WOL 15 months before having surgery as this way of eating helps my body feel better. Now I'm wondering should I follow dr's plan & not attempt to modify to be lower carb...unsure if only being 2 mos post op if my body would prefer that...but having had this body for a number of yrs (lol), I have such a difficult time losing weight...period. Usually it comes off much faster when I keep carbs below 20 ideally...or 30 for a stretch. Below is your list and I just wanted to put my responses in but I get what you are saying about it being too early for me to do IF. I'm hoping some of the things on your list that I'm already doing will have me better prepared should I go down the IF route later in this process: 1. FOLLOW your doc's and RD's plan for you and the stage you're eating at. You MUST be able to easily get the required protein in per day that they prescribe for you. And the amount of fluids you're told to consume. 2. Follow the rules of WLS. No eating drinking 15/30 or 30/30 depending your doc's plan. 3. Get ALL of your daily Vitamins in without skipping a single dose. I've been fortunate that I haven't had an issue with this even directly after surgery 4. Get to walking. And maybe even get to doing core strengthening exercises. Started hiking with youngest daughter several weeks ago. We've been consistent to this day. We currently do 2 x's a week and are looking to increase this but waiting for temperatures to cool down so we can do so..I also swim in my pool a couple times a week. 5. Protein first at every meal/snack >> al dente veggies >> a tiny bit of healthy fats (and that's it). Protein always first, especially since I'm only 2 mos post-op. If protein goes down ok, then I eat whatever veggie if i have one. 6. Cut out ALL C.R.A.P. (google it)--that means no sugar, grains, starchy root veg, starches, refined products, fake stuff, "treats" such as Protein Bars or Water drops. Severely limit the use of sugar substitutes. Did this 17 mos ago when I embraced keto WOL although I never believed in enormous intake of fat so my version had fats limited to ones that are healthier. I tended during this time to stay away from protein bars but if in a desperate pinch as I had a bad habit of not eating regularly (working so much I'd forget to eat, etc.) I might have one. I was a big user of artificial sweeteners during this period although I kept an eye on the research about them possibly causing hunger and many other things about them. Currently my limitation is 2 to 3 packets of splenda (or another fake sugar) a day in my post-op world. 7. Start drinking green tea now (I use decaff) and look into Earl Grey Tea. Ironically I just got a tea brew bottle and a pack of..I think it is green tea in a subscription box that I get. 8. Try to keep your carbs to <30g net per day (subtract Fiber grams of carbs from the total carb count to get net carbs. Yes, I'm a big believer in this! Trying to figure out how to fight myfitness pal as it does not have food listed in its DB, from what little I've seen, with net carb count. I may have to hand add all my stuff 9. No "snacking". Eat 3 meals + 1-3 small mini meals per day in order to limit meal portions to the volume recommended by your doctor and to reach your protein totals each day. A mini meal is an organized, orderly, planned event. Snacking is not. Snacking is hedonistic and reckless and it's possible to do a lot of damage with a single snack event. Since I'm 2 months post-op..this is usually covered although I am not yet this structured as I'm still having occasional issues at mealtime. My mini-meals are not yet planned, thought out events. Well, it's more like I know I will have a carbmaster yogurt in between my breakfast premier protein shake and my next 'meal' which is always an intake of real protein (i.e. meat that I can tolerate and is not a fatty meat). I also will parse out 7 almonds, etc. I think where I'm at is more like 'practicing for where I need to be'? I DID find myself recently..and it is always late at night as often don't eat my 1st meal of the day until almost 11 AM...going to get sugar free jello, sugar free popsicles but I was NOT hungry. It is old habits trying to creep back in. Was really upset that I started to 'go there'..this is a very slippery slope for me! 10. Aim to get 2-3oz of protein per meal (lean dense protein, no casseroles, no deeply satisfying gooey cheesy high reward meals. Keep is simple: grilled chicken, sauteed chicken, poached or sauteed fish, etc. No meat lube or stuff that adds to the pleasure of the food experience. My protein meals are much like what you said. Haven't had a casserole yet...wait, I did. It was shredded chicken I made in crockpot with chicken broth,fat free cream cheese and salsa..but no cheese involved. It is one of the few ways I can get 'moist' chicken. The macros do fit into my keto version including keeping the fat down more than most keto plans.

I week out from RNY. Two weeks of Liquid diet and Keto found my ankles but one week after surgery gave me an even bigger blessing!!! I haven been able to wear this comfortably in about two years. Now I’m scared to wear the dern thing because I’m so used to the silicone bands I’m afraid I’ll ruin it! At least it fits!!!

I've made keto Christmas baking with almond flour! Its more dense but a great option!

I've used it in various things when I was doing Keto. Probably will continue to do so now since surgery if a recipe calls for it. I also use coconut flour when called for.

I did something very similar. I have not told anyone but my husband and best friend. I have been very public about my meal planning and doing modified Keto. I post my weight loss milestones. No needs to know that I had surgery to give me a better tool. I know some people would say I took the easy way out. I told my work I needed to have. Minor surgery for a reoccurring medical condition. For all they know it was to fix a Hemmeroid.

I'm 16 months post-op, met goal of 180 at 1 year and 4 days post-op (October 2, 2017) and have been at 173 for several months now. I am incredibly particular about what I eat and drink, and, in my opinion, that has been the key to my success. I've worked my way up to around 1900-2000 calories per day, but I never go over 2000. I keep my carbs below 25 grams per day. I follow a keto way of eating. This is sustainable for me, and it's how I am going to live. I haven't had any sugar, bread, starch, etc. in almost 2 years. It's no thing now. Food is fuel to me, and nothing else. It's quite freeing, and provides for a much better quality of life for me. I'm treating carbs like an alcoholic treats booze. I feel like they are a slippery slope for me, so I eradicated them from my life, and I have no plan or desire to bring them back. Being this size, being healthy, and having a happy life is SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT TO ME than any food or drink. I'm technically not a vet in the eyes of BP for another couple of months, but I have been doing this for a long time, been successful, and been on and off of these boards for 2 years. I've seen a lot, and lived a lot, and accepted a very long time ago that this journey is for the rest of my life. I'll be damned if I gain anything back after I permanently changed my body and put it through all of that trauma...

My wife is 5'3" and was 180 at her heaviest sometime last year. She was around 175 when we started, and hopes to get down to 115-120 (we both lost a significant amount of weight 4 years ago, and that's where her weight stayed on a keto diet with regular weight lifting). Her mom has a BMI of 50, type II diabetes and some hyper tension issues, so she was concerned that the constant up and down weight struggle would ultimately lead her down that path. Her BMI was 32 starting preop, 30 the day of surgery.

I'm not really sure that is a pretty unique situation and honestly most people here don't strive to maintain ketosis or even know what it means. You could ask some of the keto groups on Facebook or try /r/keto on reddit. Also I would try a 3 day fat fast, Google it. Or an egg fast and see if that jump starts things.

I think you kind of want to look at Keto or low carb type diets pre-op because that seems to be the post-op lifestyle for most people. About 20% carbs and the rest protein and fat should make up the percentage of your daily calories.

Healthy_Life2 is giving some really solid advice and feedback. I appreciate her comments. I am only 2 months out so can't comment on weight regain. I can say that I have made a complete 180 in my lifestyle choices. I am extremely diligent in following my post-op dietary plan. I track daily caloric intake using the MyFitnessPal App and then go over my macros in the evening to make sure I am on target. I wouldn't even call it a diet--because that's such a temporary thing. I am looking at this as a new lifestyle. I have deviated from the standard plan provided by my doctor (I did discuss it with him and my nutritionist) and I am following a very low carb keto style plan (although too high in protein intake to be a true keto diet). This type of lifestyle provides me with very clear guidelines of what I can and cannot eat--which makes choosing foods easy, I do track calories too and set a limit to how many calories I can consume in a day, but this isn't hard since I am usually very satisfied sticking to my plan. Even if my ability to eat more increases, I feel like I can make good choices that may increase the volume of food that I eat without causing me to over-consume. When they say the sleeve is only a tool, they do mean it. Losing weight post-op is still a lot of work and requires a lot of discipline. The big difference is you are no longer fighting against your high set point, so instead of heating a plateau and suffering terrible hunger and cravings, you don't have that set point fight against you. The volume restriction is also helpful, but as Healthy_Life2 said, you can eat more frequently and undermine this process. I also now get up early in the morning to hit the gym before work and I love that "me" time. Even though this new and still "exciting" for me, it's a lifestyle that I can be happy with for the long term. I do not miss sleeping in late or eating carb heavy foods. I hope I still feel this way 2 or 5 or 10 years from now, but I am definitely happy right now. I can say that you need to be mentally prepared to make major lifestyle changes after you have the surgery (before as well!!). You need to have a healthy lifestyle plan in place and be 100% committed to following it through after surgery. I think the people that commit to following a healthy lifestyle plan will be successful long term. The people that only follow the post-op plan "most of the time" and "only cheat a little" are probably not following the plan very much at all and are cheating a lot!! I have gone to a few support group meetings and there are so many people that show up that can't understand why the weight isn't coming off them, while their friends lost so much. After talking more, it turns out that, as a result of surgery, they cut down their portions of crappy processed fast foods and other junk foods, but they continue to eat the same crap they ate before surgery (just less of it). That's not how you get down to a 25 BMI!!! You have to use this opportunity not only to cut down on your portions, but change your food and lifestyle choices. The people that make these changes and stick to it don't seem to have issues with regain (other than the normal 5-10 pound fluctuations that should be expected).

I do high protein, limited fat keto. So I aim for 60 or more grams of protein a day and limit to 30 or fewer carbs per day. I don;t really worry about the fat because I'm not eating foods that are particularly rich in fat. I have lost 84 pounds and have kept it off, so I know it's working. I started this modified keto plan at about 3.5 months out. It's easy for me to stick to and I'm always full.

I have toyed with the idea of keto recently, too. (I'm 8.5 months out and loss has slowed considerably and I'm not ready to lose momentum). I've found that googling keto calculator brings up a bunch calculator options that can tell you how many carbs, protein, and fat you should be eating. Here's what's stopping me, though... true keto is about eating a high percentage of fat and considerably lower percentage of protein. While it will probably help us drop weight, we have to be concerned about our levels of protein because we're already on a rapid weight loss journey and need higher amounts of protein to help reduce muscle loss and maintain satiety. Just some food for thought. Like I mentioned, I'm considering it myself, but seeing the calculators has me concerned because a true keto diet would not allow me to reach the protein goals set by my physician. Realistically, by following a high protein, low carb diet, we can probably already maintain a low level of ketosis anyway, without compromising the extra protein we need to minimize muscle lost. I also have some reservations about it being a truly healthy lifestyle to maintain long term because of the high percentage of fat (it's supposed to be "good fat", I know, but we know that too much "good fat" is also bad for health) as well as the number of chemical substitutes that people use to maintain the lifestyle.

Hey guys! I'm coming up on 3 months next week and feel good! I've been able to tolerate most things. I had a donut today actually and it kinda didn't sit well right after so I won't be doing that again anytime soon. My stats are pretty much accurate still. I stalled for a few days here and there especially when that time of the month sneaks around. I'm on a modified keto/low carb diet for the most part, high protein, at least 120oz of water daily, and 30 mins of cardio. Many people have said I already look "skinny", but I'm not even close to it. Hope you guys love your tool as much as I do!

@@doppelganger This is one of the harder topics here because in theory everyone should follow their doctors orders, but like you said some doctors seem to cling to old ideals. I think a lot of plans are made in a way to try and break people of bad habits. Personally I have never been a snacker, I got fat eating 1 or 2 massive meals a day. So eating several time a day is a huge change for me from the past. It prevents over eating and keeps me satisfied all day. I often wonder if the people that come up with these plans understand math. A person would have to consume 20 grams of Protein per meal to get the bare minimum amount of protein a human needs to exist just eating 3 times a day. That is basically impossible to do just with food in 20-30 minutes until about 6 months, longer for some people. I have 5 -6 small meals a day now because I need more calories to keep losing weight. I had 4 meals early on, eating 100 to 200 calories per meal. You have to do what works for you in the end. My program was pretty open, protein first, avoid the usual carbs, and once I was mostly healed I just went back to eating Keto. Good luck.

This is exactly why diets like keto and atkins don't work in the long term - it's also why so many of us have (likely) been yo-yo-ing up and down in weight our whole lives. Most people just can't quit bad foods cold turkey. Kudos to those with changed gut bacteria or other chemical changes since surgery that can, but the VAST majority of us can't. What most people need here is empathy (as mentioned by creekimp) - encouragement that falling off the wagon for a meal or a day doesn't ruin anything - a helping hand to get back on track and keep up good work. As for the direction this whole thread took - first of all, the OP and original post mentioned pizza, and didn't say anything about puking it up. I don't know about you all, but I've specifically spoken at length to my surgeon about eating foods out of order or a bit ahead of schedule on the plan - his comment was, after 7-10 days, as long as you don't puke, nothing you put in your mouth (food wise, I'm sure he didn't mean nuts and bolts and ****) is going to tear/rip/create a leak in your staple line. Even if you puke, it's rare, but possible to create a leak. Based on that, I don't think anyone here should be jumping on people and claim it's a medical thing. I think all of us are scared that if we eat too much, eat the wrong thing, gain a pound one week, we're suddenly fucked and we've ruined our surgery. What we need is a community that supports people that post about stuff like this with encouraging words and helpful tips on how to get back on track. NOT pious posts like those from jess9395 and Kate. Seahawks dude should at least wait until he's post op to post opinions or criticisms, even then, see my comments on pious posts... Chill out, grow up, and be nice - try to legitimately help people. It really shouldn't be this hard.