Gastric Sleeve Realities

[tlexius 11]

I thought I understood this procedure but now I am confused. I have seen so many people writing about eating foods remorsedully after surgery. Can you really never have soda or dessert or pizza again (examples of food). My impression was you want to eat healthy Protein rich foods and generalLY avoid junk foods. However I did not expect people to say they can never have an unhealthy moment again! Maybe one chicken wing instead of 12. A bite of burger instead of 2. Can someone who had surgery actually educate me on what eating is like afterwards.

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[tcjmom 20]

I am almost three months out. I have had pizza and hamburger since surgery. The pizza I had was a super-thin crust pizza and it's just very difficult to get the Protein I need from pizza, especially within my calorie limits, so it's something I avoid. I've had "hamburger" as well, but as you mentioned, it's more like two bites of a burger, and I limit the bun, skip the cheese and mayo. I have even had a chicken wing. I'll tell you that buffalo wings are definitely less appealing when you can't drink anything for 30 minutes afterward. I even had a bite of my kid's dessert once.

​The reality for me though, is that I know that I have to focus on getting my Protein in first and if I eat something that is junk, I'm not going to have room in my little tummy for what I really *need* to eat, and it just doesn't seem like a hardship to forego the nacho appetizer or blooming onion. Yes, they might initially look good, but when I actually eat the food I *need* to eat, I feel so satisfied that the crap just isn't even appealing. It's kind of like after Thanksgiving dinner....yes, you love pumpkin pie, and it looks good, but, yeah.....I'm good saying no to that right now.

I think another part is that after the pre-op diet and the restrictions post-surgery, you do start to (hopefully) develop some different food habits. I don't say no to favorite foods, but I do focus on healthier ways to make them and healthier options....which is kind of a big part of the point anyway. A grilled chicken breast "feels" more like a cheeseburger did to me before surgery. Breakfast before surgery would be eggs and toast. Now it's a quarter of a low-carb tortilla, 1.5 T scrambled egg whites and a 1/3 of a serving of turkey sausage - and it has the same feeling to me as a big Breakfast.< /p>

So...the short summary is....you'll be able to eat those things, but hopefully the surgery would be a great tool to help you change your perspective and those favorite foods won't be so important to you?

[Healthy_life2 8,324]

@@tlexius

"Can someone who had surgery actually educate me on what eating is like afterwards"

This attached list will give you a basic idea of diet stages.Trust your bariatric team and dietician before anyone you meet on a chat forum. http://bariatrics.ucla.edu/workfiles/UCLA-Bariatric-postoperative-diet-instructions.pdf

"However I did not expect people to say they can never have an unhealthy moment again!"

I have not seen anyone who is perfect at wls. If you make a junk food choice. Put in extra time at the gym. Don't make a habit of it. The goal is healthy.

We are all adults here. What ever choices people make in their weight loss program. Be willing to accept the outcome.

[SilentBotts 138]

We loose the most weight in a period right after surgery that lasts six months to a year, depends on your body and starting weight is a factor as well. During this period you absolutely want maximize your weight loss and avoid anything that isn't helping you hit the Protein and calorie goals you set with your surgeon and nutritionist.

The sleeve gives us a lot of flexibility in our food choices but we still have to make sure we are making good choices.

It's a personal decision to try anything that could be called junk food. But it should be done with a lot of fore thought. You need to consider how it might affect your weight. If it's something that might be habit forming for you and could lead to reforming bad habits you had pre-op. You'll also need to make sure you are still meeting your dietary requirements as well. The real permanent change is that you are always going to be planning your food and putting a lot of thought into what you eat. The days of just eating whatever is at hand or whatever you are craving are done.

For me personally I don't plan on experimenting with food choices until I've hit goal and proven to myself that I can maintain. pizza is something I may try a year from now and even then it'll have to be thin crust, and I know I can get some Protein out of the cheese and adding some toppings like chicken. Chinese food is out forever, too starchy, too much MSG, too many calories, not enough protein. I also know that because of the bread I'm probably never eating a burger or hot dog on the bun again.

Your example of chicken wings is a good one, chicken is great for protein, generally you'll be able to eat any comfortably sized portion. It depends more on the sauce you are using. Most sauces are loaded with sugar and calories so you'll want to pay attention to that and find alternatives.

I'm five months out at this point and also honestly I don't even find my self craving this stuff anymore. I'm very satisfied by the foods I've been eating. Lots of chicken and fish, some beef and pork, lots of eggs and cheese. Nuts for an occasional snack.< /p>

[SilentBotts 138]

You will also probably be very surprised at how satisfying small portion sizes are post-op. I'll make chicken cutlets and pre-op I could eat anywhere from 2-4 of them. Now one of them leaves me completely satisfied.

[tcjmom 20]

Oh, Gina Homolka has a great Beef with Broccoli recipe (she has the blog Skinnytaste. I think the beef and broccoli is in her cookbook). Cooking Light magazine also publishes all their recipes for the entire year in a cookbook. Chinese food (NOT takeout) is fast and easy to cook and VERY easy to make light and healthy. Please don't say you'll never have Chinese food again. You can skip the rice, have it with a little leftover rice (rice which is cooked, cooled, and then reheated is much more starch-resistant than freshly cooked rice) or have it with cauliflower rice - my grocery store even sells cauliflower pre-riced. The Amazing Recipe Makeovers by Cooking Light is actually pretty amazing. Personally, I just skip the rice and don't even miss it.

My favorite is homemade Mexican. We make our own non-fat refried Beans, use ground turkey or chicken, a very small amount of very low-fat cheese, and a small amount of low or non-fat sour cream. Super protein-rich, very low-fat and flavorful. Gina Homolka even has a "Tiny Taco Salad" where she uses a baked wonton wrapper to be the "shell" of a taco salad, if you really can't take not having that tortilla-like crunch. I made that for my family - it was a high Protein 75-calorie dinner for me and my teenagers LOVED it.

I can almost guarantee that whatever your favorite food is, someone has found a way to make it healthier.

[Healthy_life2 8,324]

This will give you an idea of what food will look like. The link is to the local WLS dieticians recipes.

http://insidekarenskitchen.com/bariatric-friendly-recipes/