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I’m with the give them a miss until you’re at or close to your goal team. Sticking to your plan will help you take the most advantage of your surgery. When you get closer to goal you may start to look for healthy substitutes for your traditional choices. Try air fried or oven baked not deep fried. Try vegetable based pastas (you can eat zucchini noodles & cauliflower rice from solid foods). There are keto friendly low carb high protein breads you could try later on. If your desire to eat these ‘non bariatric friendly foods’ is driven by emotions, finding a good therapist may be helpful. Recognising the causes of your emotional eating, finding ways to manage them better & identifying other means of coping with your emotional needs than eating, etc. will only help you be more successful with your weight loss & maintenance. A benefit of avoiding those foods while you’re losing is by goal you may actually reduce or lose some of your desire for pizza, pasta, & the other foods you currently want & depend on. Which will make it much easier if you chose to have the odd slice of bread or pizza, etc. now & again in the future. Personally, I don’t eat pasta (only fresh zucchini noodles), rice or bread & avoid sweet things & fried foods. They were all things I ate regularly & enjoyed but I don’t really miss them at all now. I was able to break my need for them & I was eating them for a lot longer than you’ve been alive 😉. It can be done. Exercise will only contribute to you losing a maximum of 20% of the weight you have to lose. Of course it has lots of other benefits so I’m certainly not saying exercise is a waste of time but don’t rely on it to loose your weight. But it’s really up to you & you discovering what works best for you. Good luck.

Been busy with work and baking. 😁 Magic cookie bars, copycat lofthouse cookies, salted caramel fudge, chocolate covered chocolate chip cookie bars, cinnamon applesauce bread, cheddar bay bread, and not pictured are some keto cheddar crackers and sugar free almond crescent cookies for a coworker. Also my meals from yesterday- broccoli cheese soup and turkey, hard boiled egg, and some green beans were the stars next to my green smoothie.

Oh yes. Most definitely don’t compare yourself to others. There are too many factors which influence our rate of loss: age, gender, staring weight, genetics, etc.. If you’re losing a couple of pounds a week on average you’re doing fine. As long as your weight loss trend is going down you’re golden & celebrate every pound & inch you lose. Don’t forget you likely will experience stalls along the way when you do t lose anything for a week or more. Watch keto. It’s very high fat & you may find your cholesterol levels are higher as your losing weight as it’s released from your fat. Better to look to low fat, low carb, low sugar high protein while you are losing. What plan did your surgeon & dietician give you? I’d avoid the popcorn too until you’re in maintenance. It’s very easy to overeat slider food. Congrats on your weight loss so far.

Thank you so much for the encouraging words. I think I have to let go of the comparison of people dropping 100 lbs in almost 3 months.. so it’s a little frustrating. I was thinking of going back to strict Keto

That does sound good. A little keto bread and it would make a nice sausage gravy and biscuit with eggs. Yum

The further out I get, the more I adopt the attitude of Never Say Never. I have regular crap food in my diet. As I do healthier stuff (i love me some salad). I love food and can thoroughly enjoy eating in my much smaller quantities. Balance and portion control is key for me. I started eating bread again (the regular, non-keto, full-everything kind WiITH butter) about 2-ish years post op…and surprise, surprise, I didn’t implode. Warm, fresh bread is THE BEST (my Mr. is the bread whisperer lol). Now, I won’t eat 5 slices anymore, I’ll likely just have 3-4 bites (as it is very filling for me), but still. Other than excess sugar, I can enjoy a wide range of foods with no ill effects nor unintended weight gain. Im 3 years post op and been maintaining my weight consistently at 115-ish since reaching goal almost 2.5 years ago…non-healthy food choices (with portion control) and all. My most recent labs a couple weeks ago showed once again that i am the picture of health. I do understand that for some folks, some foods are triggers or potential starts of slippery slopes. I guess just know what your boundaries are and strive to stay within them. You may not be perfect, but u can be perfect ENOUGH. Indefinite denial and avoidance, especially if it causes you angst is a meltdown waiting to happen. P.S. For those early in the process, for me it helped to tell myself: “Not right now, but maybe later”; or, “This kinda sucks, but it won’t always be so”. Making peace with the fact that nothing is forever helped with accepting my present circumstance. and who knows? what u really want today may not even be on ur radar tomorrow or next week or next year. And if it is, you can always have it then. Good Luck! ❤️

Well said, Arabesque. If we continue eating the foods and snacks we used to eat or look for Keto snacks (which are heavily processed foods), we are very likely to regain all that has been lost. Even though "bariatric/keto snacks" and "protein bars" are sold on some bariatric sites does not mean that they are appropriate or good for us. Instead, look to whole foods, healthy foods, while avoiding those that lure us into eating more--sugar, flour, rice, pasta, processed foods. Read nutrition and ingredients labels like a boss! Lest you think I'm preaching, I can only tell you that I speak from experience. I've done all these wrong things in the past and paid the price--and I'm still tempted by them.

I am also a sandwich lover. Here is what I have found (2.5 months post-op). I have used Sola bread and Orowheat bread for sandwiches. Both are keto-friendly, meaning they are high in fiber and protein and low in carbs. The pieces are small, but they are still 60 calories a slice (Orowheat) or 70 cals/slice (Sola), so that is over 100 calories before you put anything in the bread. You will also need to toast the bread because it helps chew it down and regular bread can "ball up" in your stomach and cause problems. If you use toasted bread and use the sandwich as an occasional meal rather than a staple meal, you should be OK. I did eat some tuna fish sandwiches for lunch, but it was just tuna fish straight out of the foil packet on toasted Orowheat. I went with tuna for the high protein content and Omega 3s. With fries, moderation will absolutely be key. Can you steal 3 fries off someone's plate and eat them without discomfort or throwing off your diet? Yeah. I wouldn't eat a full compliment of them, both because the grease/oil could cause dumping and a fry doesn't have a ton of nutrition. If you are going to eat potatoes, try to eat them baked/boiled with the skin on, to maximize your nutrients.

I was exactly in your shoes two and a half years ago. I researched both surgeries and I had decided on the bypass because I read that bypass patients tend to lose more of their excess weight. But the bypass turned out to be medically contraindicated for me and I had to have the sleeve. Like you, I was never one to eat large volumes of food, so I wasn't sure the sleeve would be effective. But it was. I was one of the lucky ones who completely lost my appetite for the first year so it was possible for me to eat 600-800 calories a day for months. As my appetite slowly returned in year 2, my calories increased to 800-900. My weight loss slowed down but it continued and almost two years from my surgery date, I hit my goal of 130 pounds for a normal BMI. I continued losing and at this point my weight stays between 120 and 125. When I see it creep up to 127, I find myself immediately cutting back until I get it back down to under 122. It wasn't just the restriction of the sleeve that helped me lose. The surgery changed my relationship with food (I'm guessing due to the hormonal changes from having most of your stomach removed). Even today, my appetite is about 65% of what it was presurgery and I don't have unmanageable cravings. I still like sweets but I eat mostly sugar-free things like popsicles and pudding, yogurt, etc. Once in a while I'll have a treat of some kind, like cake or pie or Bailey's Irish Cream, but it's rare and it's always one treat and then back on plan. I feel like I still have the capacity to be a sugar/carb addict, so I'm careful with those foods. I also keep my carbs relatively low (although not keto-low) because that helps me maintain. So, statistically, bypassers do lose more on average. But your individual results can vary a lot.

My surgical team called the first week of the three shake a day diet hell week. You’re breaking a lot of addictions & food dependencies but you usually just have to get through that first week. I thank God I didn’t have to do it this time (done it a couple of unforgettable times in the past for myself). I had to follow keto for about 2.5 weeks. Good luck.

Welcome to ketosis. Stronger body odour, bad breath, smelly urine, etc. are renowned side effects of ketosis. It’s like all our natural body secretions suddenly reek. We want to be burning fat but it’s a shame the side effect can be quite offensive. Regularly apply deodorants, pop breath fresheners, shower more regularly. I purchased some body wipe towelettes so I could freshen up a little in the toilet at work. https://hip2keto.com/tips/keto-common-side-effects-smell/

I definitely wouldn’t recommend it for at least 6 months after surgery or more. The higher fat content generally won’t be tolerated as well and you’re putting yourself at a much higher risk for gallstones. Just doing lower carb is definitely effective after surgery since your cals are so low to begin with. It’s also hard to fit in certain nutrients because of the calorie restriction combined with the diet restrictions on keto.

I did keto for a good bit of my weight loss period (with the full support of my Surgeon). His plan was low-carb anyway, so he didn't mind when I took it to keto levels.

DISCLAIMER: The following is what *I* did based on my own research and trial end error on how things affected *MY* body. I am NOT advocating to NOT listen to your team without educating yourself. With that said: Edited to add: I didn't realize this post would be so long, sorry! My program was to consume pre-defined "portions": each meal was supposed to consist of 25% protein, 25% starch and 50% non-starchy vegetables, and to work my way up to 1200 calories per day total with a min 60-70g protein. They also said to avoid added sugar. The didn't specifically mention to go low fat, but I mean if I followed the guidelines listed above, it would naturally be low-ish fat. Needless to say, I didn't do that. First, I couldn't get that amount of food in, Second, I tried it out, saw a swoosh in weight, and figured that going low-carb was very effective in weight loss for ME. I kept losing weight, so I just kept doing it. Why fix what ain't broke, right? More on this later... So for the majority of my weight loss phase I went ultra-low carb...was averaging less than 20 NET g of carbohydrates per day (i don't count fibre nor sugar alcohols), aimed to reach 60g protein per day, and let the fat fall where it may. My cals were about 300-400 in the first couple months, and by the time I reached goal, I was at about 800 (yes, I know this is on the low end compared to most, but it worked for ME). P.S. I feel the need to add that my nutritionist was made aware of what I was doing. And while she tut-tutted me about it, she didn't overly object. Also, all my labs came back satisfactorily during this period (and still does), and my surgeon was pleased. ***WARNING, MATH TIME...*** Given the total calories I was achieving, I wasn't truly doing KETO proper, as my fat consumption did not reach the levels required for my protein intake. True KETO is 70-80% fat, 10-20% protein & 5-10% carbs. Since I was doing 60g of protein, I would have needed to do ~75g of fat, which would have put me in the 1100 cal range...and I wasn't even coming close to that level. **** So really, I was probably doing more a version of Atkins Phase 1 (ultra-low carb). Now that I'm 3 years out, I am no longer so strict about my macros. I still *kinda* limit carbs, but not really. I eat bread on occasion, and sugar pretty regularly (in small amounts)...but i very rarely eat pasta or rice. I think its just habit now? Looking back, here is my take/opinion on going this route: TRUE Keto is very difficult to achieve in weight loss phase while keeping cals low. There is a relatively big drop in weight in the beginning of each period of going low carb. There is a bunch of science to explain this, you can google it. Going low carb makes a difference in how my face and body looks. While it looks good on my body, cuz you can see more muscle definition, its not so great on my face cuz I look gaunt. I've come to the conclusion that FOR ME, in terms of weight loss/maintenance ONLY, the ingestion of carbs has much, much less impact (if any) than calories consumed. It doesn't seem to matter if 1000 calories is made up 5% carbs or 50% carbs, I'll lose weight on it either way. Good Luck! ❤️

I did a keto-ish diet pre-op and low carb off and on for years. Obviously they weren’t the answer for me as I did have VSG! I wanted to stop fearing carbs and have a more balanced diet. At almost 8 mo out, I have found that I can’t tolerate the higher fat foods as well. They make me feel nauseous. I do ok with butter, cream and full fat cheese so in weighed and measured amounts I still have those.

My nutritionist said no to keto. Honestly, my doc's office is about eating balanced with a focus on plant-based - more Mediterranean than anything else. I don't know if Keto is good for the long-term. I do use a lot of Keto recipes because then I can add in my own healthy carbs in a controlled manner, but I try to modify the recipes so they're not so high fat.

the first few weeks/months you should follow your clinic's food plan. I do know people who've done keto once they're a few months out, though (or in maintenance - if they're dealing with a few lbs of regain).

I had RNY, not sleeve, but I find too much fat at one time makes me nauseous. My husband eats keto and I literally make two meals (when I cook), because I eat carbs and can’t tolerate the high fat in his food. The post op diet is usually pretty much a high protein, reduced carb, low/reduced fat diet, which worked well for me. In maintenance, I eat more carbs.

I also was told to eat low fat after surgery, although I've found that higher fat foods keep me a bit fuller longer (I've had a lot of hunger, which isn't common). I didn't realize that was putting me at higher risk of gallbladder issues, but I don't know what else to do. I'm trying to maximize low fat protein, but while also eating low carb, there's not much in the way of flavor options. Plus, due to my job involving lots of travel, I eat out a lot, and I know eating out involves higher fat foods. I'm curious to see what answers you get from people who've tried keto.

Always a good idea to get feedback from others. I was put on keto for the 2.5 weeks before surgery but that was all I did. Some will likely swear by it but personally I wouldn’t go back to it. Good to kick start a diet but not long term. Your surgery is the best kickstart you’ll ever find. The high fat intake on keto is the real issue for me. I’ve never enjoyed high fat foods & now I don’t have a gall bladder to help process all that fat. You may find your cholesterol temporarily increases while you are losing (it’s released from your fat). I believe it’s one of the reasons most surgeons & dieticians recommend low fat while you’re losing so you’re not adding to the risk. Losing large amounts of weight & high cholesterol levels also put you had a higher risk of developing gall stones. It’s why many of us end up having issues & have our galls removed post weight loss surgery. I’ve read keto can also screw with your blood sugar levels so if you have issues with diabetes it may not be your best option. Usually best to stick to your surgeon’s plan & dietician’s recommendations while you are losing. Slowing adding in new foods as you go. You’ll lose doing that & you will go into ketosis as well - bad breath & a smelly body awaits you 😉. You may find you end up developing your own eating plan which works for you & which incorporates aspects of many eating styles once you’re close to or in maintenance: keto, vegan, vegetarian, Atkins, intermittent fasting, etc. Whatever way you go it has to be sustainable & complement how to want to live your life. Good luck whatever you choose to do.

Hey there! I was wondering if I could get some feedback from individuals who have combined bariatric surgery with the ketogenic diet, and what your progress has been with it. Specifically wondering if you've seen it maximize your weight loss.

Check out this book and its companions. Its plan is what I intend to follow when I'm back to normal food post-surgery. I've been following this pre-surgery and have lost 50 lbs, This seems to be the most logical and nutritionally sound food plan that I've found. It's not "keto" but there are similarities. Particularly look at the Metabolic Reset (on page 20) if you are stalled. The Author's premise is to eat far more vegetables, unlimited fruit, snack only on these and nuts & seeds, and use animal protein as flavor not as the star of every meal. Matthew Weiner, MD, A Pound of Cure. He's also written The Bariatric Guide and Cookbook, and How Weight Loss Surgery Really Works. I recommend all three books, available in paperback and Kindle. The author is a bariatric surgeon.

When I moved on from the liquid phase I started with Oikos Triple Zero yogurt, farina cereal with almond milk, sweetener & cinnamon. During the soft food stage, I added scrambled eggs. When I moved on to the modified regular diet, I had eggs with other cooking methods, high protein/ low carb bagels with light cream cheese, oatmeal with mashed banana or sweeter & cinnamon. I have also had protein waffles & pancakes with sugar-free syrup. I recently purchased the keto bread from Aldi and had that toasted with egg & cheese for the first time today. I often still start the day with a protein shake, just to make sure I get that protein in. I think I want to start making smoothies with some fruits, veggies, & added protein now that I am getting close to 3 months out. I hope you get some good ideas! It is helpful to hear what others eat!

I agree with what’s been said so far. One tip: you shouldn’t weigh every day, especially when those .5-2 lb gains take you on an emotional roller coaster ride. I know they did for me……in the old pre-VSG diet days (Jenny Craig, LA Weight Loss, Atkins, keto, etc etc), I would weigh myself daily, sometimes even more often. I weigh now once weekly on the day of my surgery (Thursday), and it’s a relief not to be shackled to the scale!

I think it's good to do the pros and cons. I just had surgery a week ago and I'm hungry mentally but my body is in ketosis. I'm not very hungry from my stomach telling me. I'm definitely still healing and know it could change. I don't like veggies either. I'm going to be trying an Atkins/keto diet once I'm able to eat some normal things. Idk if I'll be able to binge again. I can see myself trying but depending on the surgery, it's for life. I'll just be uncomfortable but my weight will be in a healthier place. 37 yr in Kansas. Started journey at 320, 6 months preoperative diet for insurance, surgery was 10/6 and I'm at 276.