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I am only 5 months out from my surgery but I'm also interested in transitioning to a whole foods plant based diet. Two years ago I became a vegan for about a year and when I really focused on plant based cooking and eating, I felt great and did really well. But I definitely got lazy and started defaulting to eating simple carbs because that did not involve a lot of cooking or thinking. I was having too many chips, popcorn and other heavy things. I also worsened my Iron deficiency and my doctor asked me to resume eating meat. Now post surgery I am doing a lot of research on vegetarian and vegan eating and trying to move in that direction. I personally am convinced by the research out there showing that excess consumption of red meat is not good for our health. I've also been convinced by a couple of bariatric surgeons books who have suggested that a vegetarian if not vegan diet would assist in long terms success with weight loss. So I'm starting to phase out meat and dairy relying more on fish, Beans, vegetables and nuts for my daily intake. I hope in a few months I will have mastered some go to recipes and foods.

@@VSGAnn2014 You forgot the "dead bodies of helpless, slaughtered animals". I, too, am healthier now than I ever was before. High fat, high Protein, high spice, fresh foods. I'm not sure what food that has sunshine in it is either, but I do prefer free range chickens and humanely raised beef and they lived out in the sunshine, so... I totally get why some people are vegan or vegetarian. It's kind of like religion or sexuality, it's a personal choice. What I don't understand is the inflammatory and provocative language that some choose to use regarding other's choices.

If you're going to not eat "dead animal flesh" then you have to be responsible for eating in a way that provides your body with sufficient Protein. And that means at least 60 grams of protein to start -- and probably more later on. Lots of good plant foods have protein, but to eat complete Proteins you have to become a serious student of vegetarian nutrition. You can't just eat something that "still has the sunshine living in it" (I actually have no idea what that means). As someone whose body does well with poultry, fish and a little meat, I've had zero health problems since WLS by eating those foods. In fact, as most people here will testify (counter to the OP theory that most WLS patients get sick from eating as their surgeons recommend they eat post-op) I am a heckuva lot healthier now than I was pre-op. I do strive to eat 5 fruits and veggies each day and whole grains. Most days I also drink wine and have a little dark chocolate. One thing that's definitely a switch is that since I hit maintenance (9 months ago) I now cook "from scratch" so much more than I used to. Hubby and I eat out and buy takeout so much less often than we used to. Now, when food shopping, we seldom buy frozen or pre-packaged or deli food. We buy our veggies and fruits in the "fresh" department, get meat / poultry that's grass-fed and grown without hormones from a butcher's shop (not a big box store). We now make Pasta dishes with whole-wheat pasta. We shop at farmers markets three seasons a year (but not very much in deep winter). The food we eat now tastes so great! I am definitely not a WLS patient who doesn't like the taste of food anymore. I like it better, because the food we're eating now is better. Oh -- and I drink a glass of skim milk daily and eat at least an ounce of full-fat cheese, sometimes two ounces. I don't eat a lot of nuts, although I made for dinner today some honey pecan pork cutlets. Mmmm-mmmm! I cook with a lot more fat these days than I did pre-op -- was always a fat-avoider. Now I use a lot of olive oil AND butter. When I eat breads or crackers they're always high-protein, high-Fiber ones. Most days I hit my minimum 21-25 grams of fiber recommended for women. And when I have treats, e.g., ice cream, Desserts -- I have the full-fat versions. I just don't eat nearly as much of everything that I used to eat. So that's what I'm doing.

This is an interesting topic. I do find that I crave more veggies and fruit but based on what is recommended by my nutrionist, these food options comes last. I won't lie, I do enjoy meat, seafood & fish but I want to try to eat less red meat. I've started researching the Paelo diet as well. I doubt I will ever be nor do I want to be a vegetarian, but I do want to find a happy balance. As someone else posted, we each have to find what works best for us while keeping in mind the nutrients that we need to maintain a healthy body.

There are a few vegetarians who post here and there is a vegetarian forum. Even those people, get their Protein in. Protein is a building block of the body and you can get it from things besides meat. So what was your start weight? What is your height? What is your current weight? How many calories do you eat a day? What is your protein goal? Do you meet your protein goal? How many carbs do you have a day? What kind of fruit are you eating?

Totally agree! We eat so little now, what we put in our bodies should be super-nutritious, healthy, chemical-free, GMO-free, etc. And we do not have to consume the dead bodies of helpless, slaughtered animals. Please search for "WLS Vegetarians" on Facebook to join a group of like-minded WLS'ers who are following (or interested in following) a plant-based diet.

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Not Vegetarian but I am going to TJ February 11th 2016!

I'm so excited and I want to tell everyone but I can't.. I've decided to keep this journey of my life very personal to close friends and my immediate family. I'm so happy that I belong to such a great support system such as this group. I wanted to know if there are any vegetarians out there. My hubby and I have been vegetarian for over 8 months.

Thanks. I tried scrambled egg whites with finely chopped vegetarian sausage diced up in it, along with a small pinch of cheese.

@@katy -Most restaurants have grilled chicken, beef or fish in my area. So, not eating bread, potatoes, Pasta or rice has not really been a problem for me. As you can imagine, I eat a lot of salads. On a side note, before I had the surgery, I was a vegetarian. Switching to a diet eating animal Protein was a big change for me. And, yes, I do take the leftovers home. Often times I have lunch for two days, which is a good money saver :-D.

I struggle to eat meats or fish or eggs, so I'm turning to a vegetarian diet. I'm 11 months out and I eat about 50/60 gr of protein. Lots of nuts, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, cheese, tofu, different kinds of beans. I had a run bypass

I feel the same way..i cant eat any meat as of right now..i got alot of vegetarian food like veggie patties and Chik patties and my stomach tolerates it 100%..soo i think I've came to a horrid conclusion that for now...i have to be a Vegetarian ????

Hi Everyone! I'm new here. Joined back in August 2015 after my initial consultation with my surgeon. My surgery date was November 23, 2015. Been lurking awhile, but this is my first post. All in all, I think I'm doing pretty well. I've lost 61lbs. I tolerate most foods well. I haven't experienced much nausea or vomiting (that only happened once thankfully!). I do have some concerns and I'm hoping the lovely people here can offer some tips. I feel like my life revolves around food now. I feel like I'm constantly eating all day to get my required Protein in (my doctor recommends 65-80 grams per day). Water is a whole other beast (64oz). It seems I just don't have the space for the volume of food and water necessary to meet these requirements. I know once we are able to eat solid foods, we should be getting most of our Proteins that way. I do okay maybe half the week and the other half I'm still using shakes to supplement. Should I not be doing that? I almost feel like Protein Shakes will be something that's part of my life forever, but there's a lot of people who disagree with that feeling. While I'm not vegan or vegetarian by any stretch of the imagination, I CANNOT just eat meat and nothing else all day long. I eat veggies and dairy products as well. I don't eat much fruit due to the sugar content. If I have any at all it's blended in a shake or 1/2 a teaspoon is added to my Greek yogurt to take the tang out. To make matters all the more awesome, I was never a big water drinker. If I had 8 cups of water in a month, that was a lot. So to go from that to 8 cups PER DAY is really difficult for me. I get maybe half. My doctor is aware and it's something I'm working on. He'd like me to get it increased, and quickly at that. So. Any tips to ensure I get as much protein packed into a single meal WITHOUT using shakes? Or is it okay to supplement with them as long as I need to? Tips for water consumption would be awesome, too. Thanks for reading! Sorry if I rambled

For me it was a history of mental abuse from my peers, and an inability to cope with my emotions. I ate rather than dealing with the problems that were around me. I ate to cope with everything from sadness to depression. I'd done the yo-yo dieting thing since I was 12. I'd tried going vegetarian, I tried cutting out carbs, I tried Weight Watchers, TOPS, Jenny Craig, all before I ever hit 21. Well, as you can guess, I kept going up and up and up, always gaining about twice what I'd lost. But I managed to hit and stay at a maximum of around 300-320 lbs, thanks to a stupidly high amount of exercise, since I was 'active', even when I was fat. I could run up and down a flight of stairs without getting winded, and I was starting to work around my emotional issues, and things were looking good! Then at 23 I fell and blew the cartilage out of both knees, after which I was diagnosed with PCOS and had to have surgery, coupled with losing my father to cancer. Between the emotional and physical issues, I just went immobile. I stopped being able to dance and run the way I used to, and I just quit caring about anything, so I started trying to eat myself to death, despite having a wonderfully supportive husband and a halfway decent life regardless of the troubles I was having at the time. I ended up almost 500 lbs at my heaviest. It wasn't a pretty journey, but I'm determined not to go back to where I was.

I'm not a fan of many protein sources myself. I'm not vegetarian, but I have been eating a lot of vegetarian meals lately (I haven't had surgery). Check out A Pound of Cure by Dr. Matthew Weiner. He's a bariatric surgeon who is really into nutrition and is very vegan friendly. You should get some good ideas there about what to eat. Also, his YouTube videos are fantastic.

Am a life-long vegetarian sleeved on 11/5/2015 & down 52 lbs to date. Please search for & join the Facebook group "WLS Vegetarians" -- a support group for like-minded WLS'ers looking to follow a cruelty-free, plant-based diet!

Am a life-long vegetarian sleeved on 11/5/2015. Invite you to search for & join "WLS Vegetarians" on Facebook. Like-minded WLS'ers seeking to live healthy on a plant-based diet.

No problems. No morning sickness. Took my Prenatals in the gummy form because I couldn't swallow this big pills. I focused on getting as much protein down as I could have a little bit of dehydration because I couldn't drink large amounts and I live in a place that hits 113 degrees in the summer. Lots of swimming. Because of my surgery I did have a lot of extra appointments but everything was great. For me yogurts and a cheese went down best I put protein powder in my coffee (I am a vegetarian) taco Bell pintos and cheese was a serious lifesaver!!! The doctor explained to me kind of weird he said babies are like a tumor or like cancer they'll take what they want from you. They can thrive in crack whores!!! I was like.... Ok lol

Why is my bypass so different I can have taco shells, well tortilla chips and salsa. it's in my diet. I'm 7weeks out I just have trouble with meats though if I can't stomach tacos I can't eat meat period I don't like chicken,fish,or pork I'm damn near a vegetarian.

If you thinking of going more vegetarian, then you should check out Dr. Weiner's youtube videos and book. I don't know how far out you are, but it is NOT recommended to try a plant based diet until you are 6 months out. I do somewhat of a plant based diet. This is probably because fresh fruits and vegetables cost more and have lower quality during this time of year. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=753&v=3_aahPETzH0

I know there are a few vegetarians lurking around these boards. I can't imagine how hard it would be to meet my Protein requirements without meat. But technically vegetarians can eat eggs... just saying. If you are talking about cutting out eggs, would you be going vegan? That would mean cutting out dairy as well.

I am six months out and I can't hardly stomach meat and eggs....did anyone else "convert" after wls?

I have always been a big meat eater, but something happened since surgery: following my surgeons instructions to eat protein first left me with little room for anything else. This made me realize that I needed to find other options. My first thought was to add nutrabullet shakes but everyone seems freaked about the fruit sugar. I don't believe for one second fruit made me fat or can make me fat. I have been making an effort to eat less meat and much more fruits and veggies for long term health and faster weight loss. I'm not committed to vegetarianism but I do want to continue to shift in that direction and can use all the help I can get. Trying to avoid gmos and factory farms means choosing higher fat foods. Some days I live on nuts and advocados. I feel like I'm stumbling clumsy and lost. My surgeons office clearly knows nothing about food. Any info would be much appreciated.

It is easy. I eat out a lot. I am a vegetarian with food allergies. I rarely have an issue eating out. I was eating out 8 weeks post op. This would be a problem since I can't drink before I eat. One of the first times I went out to dinner I ordered a Water and went to town on it thinking I was getting ahead for the day. Food came out and I was like rut ro. My pouch was full of water. Live and learn... I never drink the water. I order water when they take drink orders, then push it away. They don't care. They've seen much weirder things. And if they did who cares? On vacation one year I actually order a tuna sandwich no tuna. I was in Italy skiing and starving! I stopped at a pub and this was the closest safe thing to eat. I just wanted the lettuce, tomato and cheese. I'll admit I got some strange looks, but the sandwich was delicious!