westieridgeback

I had a sleeve back in 2015. I lost 100 pounds. I've gained between 25 to 30 pounds through the years. I have several health issues, one being burning mouth syndrome. Nothing tastes good and I'm nauseated off and on during the day. this past year, my parents have declined so I care for them as well as maintaining my own family. I'm extremely overwhelmed with managing everything and the traveling . I need to get back on the straight and narrow. just not sure how at the moment. I'm tired. Thanks for listening.

In limited quantities, yes, and on special occassions.
bread tends to make me sick, so I don't eat much of it. You can eat it if you choose to. Minimizing consumption of bread, Pasta, etc, is good for a diet, and with a sleeve it will potentially be a slider that fills you up on carbs instead of Protein. You can eat it though, just don't eat a lot of it.
I refused to give up diet coke and I drank it the entire time. I've maintained at goal weight. Diet Coke is bad for you. You should not drink it. Are you able to drink it after the first 2 months of recovery following the sleeve? Yes. Is it any worse for you with a sleeve than without it? No.
I love Cookies. I eat them maybe once every few months, I enjoy them, and then I'm good for awhile. You can eat Cookies all you want- you just won't lose weight quickly and won't maintain if you're still eating junk. Enjoy them once in a while, and then skip them.
The nice thing about the sleeve is that after recovery there is literally nothing you are banned from eating. If you make bad food decisions, you pay for them just like you did before the sleeve. Enjoy a sandwich occassionally, eat a few cookies if you want to, probably don't drink diet coke as much as I do....use your discretion and you will be fine.

You want a conversation? Okay, here it is.
What you are going through is completely normal. 99% of us went through it. It's called the "Dreaded 3 Week Stall". No, you're not failing. No, you're not doomed. No, you're not doing anything wrong. It's physiological. In laymen's terms, your body just takes a break after the rapid weight loss to adjust. Expect to completely stop losing here soon. It may last a week, or it may last several. Hard to say. Not much you can do about this particular stall except ride it out. Once it's over, expect to start losing at a more "normal" pace of 2-4 pounds a week. And yes, you will probably stall again. And again. And go up a pound or even 2. Then lose it again. Then go back up 1. Then lose 3. It's all just part of the normal fluctuations our bodies do. You'll get used to it over time.
Now, here comes the science:
A "stall" a few weeks after surgery is not uncommon, and here's why.
Our bodies use glycogen for short term energy storage. Glycogen is not very soluble, but it is stored in our muscles for quick energy -- one pound of glycogen requires 4 lbs. of Water to keep it soluble, and the average glycogen storage capacity is about 2 lbs. So, when a patient is not getting in enough food, the body turns first to stored glycogen, which is easy to break down for energy. Then when 2 lbs. of glycogen is used a patient will also lose 8 lbs. of Water that was used to store it -- voila -- the "easy" 10 lbs. that most people lose in the first week of a diet.
However, when the body stays in a caloric deficit state the body starts to realize that this is not a short-term problem. Then the body starts mobilizing fat from adipose tissue and burning fat for energy. But the body also realizes that fat can't be used for short bursts of energy. So, it starts converting some of the fat into glycogen, and rebuilding the glycogen stores. As it puts back the 2 lbs. of glycogen into the muscle, 8 lbs. of water has to be stored with it to keep it soluble. So, even though the patient might still be losing energy content to their body, the weight will not go down or it might even gain for a while as the retention of water dissolves the glycogen that is being reformed and stored.