Pondlife

Inside comments/jaunty banter is simply a form of familiarity. Not to worry- we have all been new here
That said- what kind of surgery you have also has a TON to do with whether you can tolerate carbs or not- the "bad" kind, that is.
Five and a half months out, I still can not tolerate a piece of banana. Others can. It is always trial and error. And maybe one day I'll be able to- who knows?
Sleeve patients don't always experience "dumping" - when the sugars hit your intestines and are not able to be processed like before surgery. That is part of the "accountability factor" associated with bypass. Now some sleevers DO dump- and there are a handful of bypass pts that DO NOT. Typically that is not the norm. Same could be said for fatty foods/greasy fried foods.
The point is- GOOD SOLID nutrition is ubër important for ALL of us to not only be successful with the WL tool we now have, but ultimately, to be successful at maintaining our loss. There are ways to "eat around" your surgery- namely by not following the no drinking while eating or for 30 min after you finish eating.
I, personally, try and follow a ketogenic diet. Not all NUT will agree with this diet. However, because inflammation is a huge issue for my body- cellularly speaking- and the autoimmune issues I have, my docs and NUT are fine with this- and I have been symptom free since surgery. How cool is that???
One thing I will say- not ALL WLS patients have ready access to a NUT. Some see theirs only before and maybe once or twice after surgery, so if they were unclear about nutrition, and can't find what they need to know here or elsewhere on the internet ( lots of conflicting information out there), then the likelihood is they may be confused or unaware. And because we here all see different doctors- again- conflicting information- and debates ensue.
What you need to do is work with your NUT and bariatric team, take what you need from here, and make an educated decision.
Hope that helps!
Lisa
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There is also a huge difference between simple and complex carbs.

Soooooooooo some people just will never, ever, ever, ever, get it. This is the time in our lives where we are finally investing in ourselves, our physical and emotional health and our quality of life. We don't have the energy to take care of ourselves and invest our emotions in people not supportive of our Quest. Kick him out of the space your allowing him to rent in your head and fill it with the visual of a healthy, happy future you. Best wishes to you.
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I had my surgery on May 27, 2016. I have had a lot of complications and now live with moderate nausea as a baseline feeling and can only function when using the 6 antinausea meds I have but I am so happy I had this surgery.
I started this weight loss journey at my highest weight of 540. I was able to lose 60 pounds in the 6 months before surgery and went into surgery at 480. Now at almost 4 months post op I can almost wave goodbye to the 400's at 402! I can't wait to see that blessed 3 on the scale! I have not been this low a weight since February of 2012 ☺️ I am so thankful for the help this surgery has given me and I'm ready for my life to finally start ❤️

I had surgery 6 months ago, and the first 3 months were a little difficult for me. I was nauseous, I couldn't keep food down, it was basically trial and error and to be honest very frustrating.
I am still coping from time to time, rarely but it does happen. Sometimes I try new things, I like to play it safe, but little by little I've been trying new things or eating things I was used to.
Overall I am very happy. I have lost a significant amount of weight, it's coming a long and I couldn't be happier. I have been a big person my whole life, I never knew what it was to be thin, I know that at 202 lb I am not thin, but do I feel beautiful.
This Mother's Day I wore a dress, and I felt like a new person. I have been feeling great. I have energy to clean my home, walk, I rode a bike after about 10 years. I am incredibly happy.

I turn 30 in 8 days, and I am just so excited. I feel like a breathe, I can go out and do things, I want to go out and do things. I, Victoria bought myself a black dress to wear for my 30th. I feel like a different person. I am truly happy, when I first had the surgery I was sad because I would always feel sick, I would question why I did this to myself. I also had to deal with the fact that when I was upset I was able to eat my feelings away.
Today I deal with my emotions, and eating is one of the last things on my mind. I'm so happy!!
We made a huge decision having this surgery, and I hope we all get to where we want to be!!!
Before and After Pic

U inspire me, and give me hope for a bright future. Thank u for sharing. Im happy for u.
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I told 6 people a year ago and wish I'd only told my wife (if I was single, no one). The problem isn't "dumb things people say", it's the fact that by telling "just a few close friends and family", you never really know if your secret is safe.
As @@Dub says, once you drop a ton of weight people will start asking and before you know it, you're being less than honest with very close friends.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying keeping a health issue a secret is dishonest, but imagine how you'd feel if a long term friend discovered it from someone else?
Worse, most likely, you'd never find out they knew, but their opinion of your friendship could surely suffer!
Keep it a secret or tell everyone!

Hey guys! Just to help everyone out! I only needed an extender for one of the connecting flights. I didn't carry a lot of weight in my hips so that helped out a lot. It has been quite the ride since surgery and I'm down 157 pounds since surgery and feel amazing! Best decision I've ever made in my life!   
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I have an 8 year old and a 4 year old and they are the driving motivation in having surgery. They simple fact is that they deserve a better mother, a mother who doesn't have to put her size ahead of their childhoods. It breaks my heart everytime they want to do something and my weight prevents it. I won't do that to them any more. They deserve the best of me.

Fyi chicken was hard to get down better off eating dark meat and make sure you weigh tour food

A friend of mine told me her chiropractor who didn't know she'd had the sleeve almost had a heart attack when they did X-rays because he didn't know what the staples were. So they definitely show up on X-ray.

You don't.
She knows what you did, I assume? She knows how happy you are? How great you feel? How much better it was than WWs, South Beach, yo yo dieting, etc?
She'll be ready when she's ready. You planted an awesome seed, I'm sure. It's up to her to see it bloom. If you interfere, you look like an a$$.
When she's ready, she will come to you.

The best way to approach it is to just steer clear of anything processed when possible. Stick to a diet rich in whole foods and lean Protein. If it comes in a box, it's most likely processed...
Anytime things are "extracted" they are not the best way to consume them, with a few exceptions. Juicing vegetables will allow you to consume a lot more than if you were to only eat them. Juicing fruits on the other hand separates the sugar from the fiber, and that's a bad thing. A good rule of thumb when trying to add more fruits/vegetables into your diet is to "juice vegetables and blend fruits". Blending fruit keeps the fiber intact and still allows for some delicious drinks! You could also add some blended fruit smoothies to vegetable juice to mask the taste of some of the stronger greens, but I prefer green juice with some lemons and ginger.
There are a couple of exceptions that I make to the "don't juice fruits" rule, which are lemons, maybe an apple once in a while (only if trying to mask lots of greens), cucumbers (yes they're a fruit..a melon actually), tomatoes, and peppers.
White rice would be refined because the germ is removed. Brown rice would be the better choice (if you choose to eat rice at all). I think quinoa is the best choice for any grains, and perhaps farro once in a while. These are grains that you can eat in their "non-refined" state, so they take longer to be digested giving your body a chance to digest the natural sugars and carbs in them as opposed to eating refined carbs like Pasta, chips, wheat breads, or fruit juice, or anything with added sugar which causes your liver to go into "overdrive" trying to process everything quickly. When that happens, your liver just starts converting it to fat. It also wreaks havoc on your blood sugar levels and just throws everything out of balance.
I would bet that for most of us who have had procedures done, when you really look at the foods that got us into trouble (not the reasons for eating them), that refined carbohydrates and processed foods were at or near the top of the list.
I think the easiest way to approach it is to eat foods that are as minimally processed as possible. Stick to whole, fresh foods and lean Proteins and you'll be on the right track.
Best of luck!

Ok, so I was barely squeezing into a 30/32 in avenue women's clothing prior to surgery. So at about 10 months post-op, I went to lane bryant's during a sale and decided to buy a size 18/20 (I've always been hourglass/pear shape), thinking, these pants will probably last me through thanksgiving (I've experienced too big pants that look like you 're carrying a load of something really unpleasant around in the gluteal area), and those joints fit....I mean they fit like the fit will only last about a month of two; what a NSV for me! Another NSV is two other people sitting next to me on the NYC MTA subway (ok so they, not the fattest person, but two other people on a three sitter is an NSV for me!).

Boy have I learned a lot on this forum. Since I don't attend a support group ( too inconvenient location) this is the place where I go to stay on task. Where would I be if people didn't post honest/ whether you like it or not opinions and facts here? I always knew when reading things from you, Babs, VSGAnn, Kindle, Elode and so many others that I could trust the information contained in the post. I am so disappointed when people who are willing to give good advice whether pleasant or not are pilloried by those who only want to hear what they want to hear.

I am scared for some of these newbies and the lurkers who are reading. This fear is probably a huge part of why I don't just log off permanently.

Is it just me or does the trend seem to be "I'll eat what I want when I want no matter what my surgeon says" with other people actually coddling/recommending/applauding/defending that viewpoint?
When I joined this site, I had my @ss handed to me several times (THANK GOD!!) because I wondered why (out loud) my diet was so restrictive. I wanted permission to break some rules because it was damn hard to follow them. I never did test those waters (with the exception of a Hershey's Kiss one week post op -- it tasted like I imagine licking an ashtray would) because the experienced people scared the **** out of me with talks of leaks, tears, vomiting, and the worst? BEING A FAILURE AT WLS.
Maybe because I had my surgery in my 40s -- after decades of being fat and ready for a change -- I didn't take those words as "ganging up", "bullies", or "mean girls". Maybe it was because I knew in my head that I was being a dumbass every time I whined about wanted something salty instead of sweet. Maybe because I had the self realization that "listening to my body" put me in a place where I needed WLS, so clearly listening to me was a horrible idea...

I will never forget my first WLS seminar. There was a young girl a few rows in front of me who was scheduled for surgery the next week. When we were going over the dietary stages post op, she raised her hand and told the NUT she has a bachelorette party a week after her surgery. She TOLD this woman that she WOULD be eating wings and drinking, no matter what. It was, after all, her body and her right. I would love to know what happened to her. Ideally, they took her off the surgery schedule. Most likely, she had surgery and is still obese 3 years later.

I wish great success to anyone and everyone who has WLS. The quality of life this procedure has given back to me is worth all the coookies (sic) and crackers and french fries in the world. (Even McD's -- fresh out of the fryer!!) I hope everyone gets to experience everything they want to experience in a thinner, healthier body. I would love to hear less and less stories of people who never lost or gained it all back but I fear that those stories are just going to multiply with this new mindset.

It's a shame. It's a great big DAMN shame.

I predict this to be a very calm and thought provoking discussion.

When we write things on forums, it isn't just the original poster, or the responders who read it. I betcha there will be many lurkers who will read this thread and it's good that they can see various points of view. My remarks are targeted at those people who are trying to understand this surgery and if it is a good idea for them. It's a freaking scary proposition to have part of your stomach removed!
My personal experience as a sleever can be summarized like this:
Preop - Terrified and anxious, I had to get short term medication to make it through the last week before surgery. The word "hot mess" comes to mind. It wasn't because I didn't want to be sleeved, it was because I had such a fear of the operation, such a fear of failing AGAIN (I was a failed band patient and there is no feeling of failure like failing after bariatric surgery) First weeks post op were very miserable and I was still fat. Struggle to get in enough Water, exhausted, anti-social, diarrea all that stuff. I never regretted it though because I knew this often happened and I just had to "muscle through it" Introducing solid food was another awful experience. I felt like I had to do it perfectly right since I was so desperate to succeed. I feared damaging my sleeve, I felt sick to my stomach, everything tasted weird, Water tasted like it had metal in it.... and I was still fat. The next few months were surreal. I didn't feel like myself and I can't even articulate why. While I got the hang of eating properly, it was disorienting for food to taste bad, to eat so little, to have food restrictions, eating FELT LIKE A CHORE. Then, I had an "ah ha" moment - this is the window of opportunity to change my relationship with food. Food is not recreation, it's nutrtion - novel concept for me! I often felt I would be happier just not eating, but I realized that is another form of disordered eating, so I took on the approach that food is like medicine - follow my surgeons and NUTs directions and take it on faith it would get better. Still fat, but down alot. By 3-4 months out, people were noticing the weight loss, I was feeling more myself emotionally, I was not as naseaous, I could tolerate a wider variety of food and it started tasting normal. I was in a good workout routine and loving that I could do more. Yes, still fat, but not nearly AS fat. I started thinking that amazing things MIGHT be possible. At around 8-9 months my appetite returned, my weight loss slowed and I was still about 40# from goal. I made a conscious decision to evaluate what was important to me and I got my butt back on track with good steady losses. At 14 months I made my goal of losing 150#. I could wear cute clothes, people didn't recognize me, I could eat pretty much anything (exceptions are rich ice cream gives me cramps and spicy food can irritate my tummy a bit) I am nearly 5 years post op and living a good life as a normal sized, active woman with a loving boyfriend. I am living a day to day life that I could only dream of. Many people dont know I had surgery - I eat small portions of very normal food. My kids are shocked when they see my before pix... but they tell me I changed inside too, not just the weight loss. I wear makeup, I love to dress up, go out, social butterfly all that. Life is pretty damn good and I am thankful for the help of the sleeve to get me here.

You all are absolutely correct. I was repulsed by him the entire time. It was an excellent learning experience. Believe me, I am not a fan of hard lessons so I will never hang out with his ragged a $# again.
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He is an EX-boyfriend for a reason. His ignorance EXceeds his EXpertise about WLS.
You need to EXplore different people to go out with.

My son, my friend and I went to the fair this evening. We had a great time.
We wanted to see the hypnotist show before we left, so we got good seats right up front.
So the hypnotist gets on stage and of course is looking for volunteers. My son is begging me to go up, so I volunteered along with around 15 other people.
Now, 7 months ago I never would've wanted to go on a stage in front of hundreds of people when I weighed 333lbs. I would've been mortified at what people would've said about me, and I never would have been relaxed enough to be hypnotized.
But that was then, this is now. I now weigh 185lbs, and am so confident in myself that not only did I volunteer, I actually got hypnotized and was the star of the whole show!!
My friend was actually laughing so much that she burst a blood vessel in her eye!!
My son just loved that I did it, and that I got hypnotized.
And when the show was over and I got off the stage, I didn't even feel embarrassed...I felt good that I took such a risk.
Funny how losing weight opens up such weird and different opportunities!!
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As of yesterday, I have lost 134lbs and now weigh under 200lbs!!
I had my surgery January 11.
Start weight was 333.1
Yesterday's weight 199.1
As someone who has spent the majority of my adult life weighing well over 300lbs, this is a huge accomplishment for me. I never thought I would get to this weight. I cried when I saw the scale yesterday.
When I had wls, I never really picked a number I wanted to get to as a goal weight....all I wanted was that number to start with a 1!!! Now that I'm here, I feel there's nothing I can't accomplish. I'm still not sure where I want to be yet, but my next goal will be to get to 180lbs. 
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Hello!

My title is pretty explanatory, haha.
I am 6 months post-op and still figuring out how to balance eating food, the right kind of food, and meet my minimums for Protein and liquid every day, and exceed them.
I have decided I am going to try to be a Soup for lunch kind of person, (easy to go down and doesn't take an hour or several sittings to finish), and I was wondering, would you guys consider that in your 62 oz liquid minimum?
I know that we were advised to do so when we were recovering post-op, but I am well past the recovery stage, so I was wondering if it's still okay to count my soup in my minimum.

We must also expect the person/people reading to be civil and mature.

I love this.