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oatmeal Raisin Protein Bars Ingredients 2 C Rolled Oats 8 Scoops Keto vanilla Protein shake Mix* 1 C Raisins ¼ C Flax Meal ½ C Splenda ¼ C Benefiber 2 t Cinnamon 1 t Salt 1-½ C Unsweetened Applesauce** 1 T Flax or Olive Oil 1 t Vanilla Extract * You can add any vanilla-flavoured protein/whey powder you like, but this is the one I used so be aware that the nutrition information can vary widely. The scoop in this is roughly 2T, which is fairly standard, but this is another thing to keep in mind if you use a different product. ** You can use fresh apples if you like – just wash and core them (you don’t even have to peel them unless they’re waxed), then put them into the food processor after Step 2 in the instructions. Be sure to process them until they’re a fine consistency and use whatever is left quickly. Instructions Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Process one cup of oats in a clean, dry food processor for about one minute until it's the consistency of flour. Add the remaining oats and pulse a few times just to grind them a bit. Pour into a large mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients except the Splenda and mix well; stir in the applesauce and vanilla. Taste, then add Splenda as desired; baking won't alter the level of sweetness. Pour into a foil-lined 9x13” pan and spread evenly. The batter will be the consistency of thick cookie dough, so use a heavy spatula. Bake for 16-20 minutes until it’s a light golden brown around the edges. Cool and cut. The bars can be refrigerated for a week or so, or frozen for several months. Notes I’ve used dried blackberries and cranberries instead of raisins, chocolate Protein Powder with dried cherries minus the cinnamon and raisins, and made similar substitutions. I’ve also made a variation using pumpkin puree instead of applesauce and, when the bars are almost done, topping them with a thin layer of low-fat cream cheese whipped with Splenda and egg whites then returning them to the oven for the last five minutes or so of baking time. Nutrition Information - Recipe as written cut into 12 meal bars Calories 202 Carbohydrates 26 g Sugar 10 g Fiber 6 g Sodium 290 mg Fat 7 g Saturated Fat 1 g Protein 11 g Nutrition Information - Recipe with 1/2 Cup Raisins cut into 12 meal bars Calories 185 Carbohydrates 21 g Sugar 6 g Fiber 6 g Sodium 288 mg Fat 7 g Saturated Fat 1 g Protein 11 g

I wanted WINGS!!!!! Is like we are alcoholics....and there alcohol EVERYWHERE and we can't drink it. The smells are amazing when we can't eat anymore of it. Honestly, we are addicted to carbs, candy sweets...and now we made a decision COLD TURKEY to not eat it again. I will never judge anyone with addictions again. It takes a great deal of strong will to stop eating the things we loved. Then again, our stomach is so small that we couldn't eat more then 2 oz at the time.lol....I am 3 weeks post surgery. I miss the wings..but I am going to try the Keto diet...all the bread free wings I can fit in three oz belly!!

Carb Smart fudge bars & KETO cherry chocolate chip

Sounds pretty good - I'd go completely keto (no sugar, carbs) a couple of days before the surgery because depleting the liver of sugar stores is what makes it flexible and easier for the surgeon. But other than that sounds good. Good luck hon!!

Yeah, half the bariatric surgery websites I read in the US warn against fast food due to high sodium. Show me the evidence. I also want evidence on saturated fat and cholesterol while you're at it. Nonsense. I understand there's correlation, no ****, but when I was going Keto, often as not I used to rip the bun off two long chilli cheese burgers from Burger King (Swiss thing, awesome) and I was skinny and my blood work was epic. Oh and caffeine too. There's so much nonsense out there and half of it is from people whose names end in MD.

I’ve already tried that 😭 we turned it off half way through because he kept arguing it was propaganda. We’d recently watched Forks over Knives and I was sold on WFPB. He’s not. He believes in keto.

When I met my husband in 2007 he was 22, super fit, very muscular, and weighed 190 pounds at 6'0" tall. He was chubby as a child, raised by his dad and didn't grow up in a healthy eating household. He lost weight in high school, gained it back early college, then lost weight again at the end when I met him. Fast forward to now and over the past decade he's eaten too much bad food, drank too much beer, had too much life stress and work stress and now weighs 300 pounds (BMI 40.7 btw). He's talked for years about wanting to lose weight, he'll low carb for a little bit and have some success but then falls off the wagon and feels bad for himself and decides to 'start tomorrow' or keep putting it off. This has been frustrating for me to say the least. I've had his 3 kids, love to be active, and truly enjoy eating and cooking healthy and making good food choices. I weigh the very same I did when I met him (115 pounds at 5'3" tall) and have always cared about staying healthy. We are in a rough spot in our marriage right now because of many stressors, one of which is this weight issue. It's not so much the weight as it is the reason for the weight, the constant procrastination, the food and beer that he put ahead of our marriage for so long. I know he's unhappy, so why does he eat almost an entire pizza in one sitting tonight? He always TALKS about wanting to be healthy, but then does the opposite. I just cannot understand it. He had a protein shake for breakfast, cooked a healthy 'hello fresh' meal for lunch, and then had that pizza for dinner. I feel awful for even posting this, I know this is his journey but at the same time I have feelings too and my feelings are that I want to be with someone who has the same values that I do, cares about being healthy for his children and me in the long term, cares about his appearance, cares about his food choices. I brought up the lap band to him last week saying I thought it was something he should look into and consider, at the time I thought it was something temporary he could put in, lose the weight, and then take out when he got to where he wanted to be. Now I'm learning that's not the case and I've discouraged him from WLS. Truly if he could just do keto like he always says he wants to do, actually STICK with keto and making good choices then I KNOW he could do it, I know that if he'd just commit to the lifestyle change that he could accomplish his goal. But now he's saying he wants to do the lap band so it forces him. And I worry this is a recipe for disaster. If he doesn't have the will power to commit to keto on a daily basis I worry that something like WLS will throw him further into a depression because it's such a permanent choice. I don't know how to properly support him. I want him to lose weight because I know he will be SO MUCH happier in literally every aspect of his life. But why can't he just choose to do something like keto, stick with something. Do I support this WLS idea? I just don't know. I don't want him to be unhappy and miserable forever. And at the same time I want my healthy fit husband that I married 11 years ago. Edit: he wants the band for a year only so he can lose the 100 lbs by following the protocol to the T and then take it out and maintain by being super diligent with his diet and exercise. He says 'he's done it before' twice once in HS and once in college and knows he can, but wants the 'sure thing' with the lap band forcing him to lose that 100 lbs.

Hello, I'm Tracy age 45 mom of 7, ages 30 to 1½. I'm originally from southern California and now reside in Alabama. I had the Roux en Y procedure 12/26/2001 almost 18 years ago in Whittier California at age 28, my weight skyrocketed to 407lbs at 5'2"..! Luckily with no other conditions i.e. diabetes, high blood pressure etc so I was a great candidate. My lowest weight was 148. I maintained for many years until 2006 after my 5th child and a nasty divorce and with that came my depression & over eating. In 2007, I moved to Alabama and weighed 189, got remarried in 08' and had 2 more children. After having my 6th child in 2011 my weight got up to 203 & there it stayed until January 2018, after giving birth to (my 7th baby) our precious full term daughter who sadly was stillborn at 41 weeks, and 10 months later in October, I lost my best friend/my momma to liver cancer at age 66. After the devastation, I no longer cared about anything, I didn't even care if I lived or died. I turned to eating and was on a lot of medication for anxiety, depression and a mood stabilizer which added another 57 lbs. After going to therapy, getting off all my meds, returning to my faith/church I decided 2019 would be my year!! I made that promise to my momma on her death bed! I went ahead and had my oral surgeries, another back surgery, another mammo/biopsy (I also lost ¾ of my left breast last Aug) saw my cardiologist, changed my diet to all Keto. But the 19 lbs I lost in 5 months came right back. So on June 7th I met with a local Bariatric Dr, June 27th did my pre-op tests and just 6 days ago July 2, I had my revision done to a gastric sleeve. I was 251 day of surgery and I'm at 142 lbs as of yesterday. I had zero pain except for the horrific gas pain in my upper chest, shoulders & back because once they got in there, they discovered a huge hernia behind my liver & fixed that. My first gastric bypass I was cut open 16" so having it done by laparoscope was amazing just 9 little incisions. I feel great and I'm excited for my new life & 2nd chance! Thank you for reading and God bless! Sent from my DL7006 using BariatricPal mobile app

If making the decisions later is difficult, make the decision earlier when your willpower is intact. Pack lunch. Leave your wallet home and just bring your license to the gym. Never grocery shop hungry. In terms of food, I'm the opposite of what is described: the longer i make healthy food selections (for me, that's keto) the easier it is to keep making the right selections. Cravings are nil and weight loss is a steady reward and so I have no desire or incentive to cave.

I am 31-wks post op, from VSG to MGB. Iam am down 60lbs. I do Keto and Paleo. I get food delivered to my home and prepare the meals. This helps alot to stay on track. I eat lots of salad! My dumping syndrome is maintained by limiting my sigar intake, I can tell when I start to OD on sugar. I can no longer eat flour tortillas, I cannot digest them as well as raw veggies. Broccoli is a horrible gas veggie for me and I cramp up. I cannot eat thick bread or pizza dough, even bagels are difficult. I do eat a bite then I’m done. Excercise, I run now 3-4 days a week. Ran a 5K. I excercise regularly, 1mi a day, stairmaster, rower, weights. I am still loosing but at a slower rate now. I also have extremely saggy skin. I cannot change it no matter how much I exercise. I notice that I have to reset my exercise or food diet to continually loose or I plateau out.

Coyote, I think that most nutritionists are well versed in diets based around meat as the main protein source. I think these are the nutritionists that work closely with bariatric patients. Low carb/keto diets generally are responsible for the fastest weight loss. It is not uncommon to lose 7 pounds per week on these diets. The goal for bariatric patients is to lose weight as safely, but as quickly as possible to stabilize whatever ailments or conditions that they are experiencing. Let's face it....A high carb, low fat diet is effective for weight loss, but it isn't as quick. Add to that, French fries, potato chips, and CANDY are all vegetarian foods. A lot of vegetarians (myself included in the past) eat highly processed foods that aren't healthy, and don't contribute to weight loss. I have met several overweight and obese vegetarians in my lifetime. If it is done correctly, meaning no or minimally processed foods and sugar laden foods, it can be a very successful diet for a lifetime. I have never been able to stay on a diet for more than a few months, but I was a vegetarian for a little over 3 years. The only reason that I left it was because I was unhappy at still being over 260 pounds. This was because I ate a lot of the wrong things. I should have been happy that my levels were all excellent, but I focused on weight instead. One thing that sticks with me though......My uncle died 2 years ago of brain cancer. He was about 6'0", and 175 pounds when he was diagnosed at 55 years old. We thought he was very healthy. He was a hunter, and heavy meat and cheese eater. One day, he started just getting tired, which was the reason he reached out to his doctor. Anyway, to make a long story short...He had stage 4 brain cancer. MD Anderson in Houston urged him to give up the meat, cheese, milk products and processed foods. They wanted him to do a plant based diet. He was told that he only had 2-3 months to live. On this diet, his tumor started to decrease. He made it another 2 years before he succumbed to the disease. He was tired of fighting, and so he stopped. I asked my aunt why they gave him the plant based diet to follow in the first place. She told me that they told her that the fat and sugar in his diet fed cancer cells. I don't know if this is a fact since this was 1 doctor that said that, but he is a highly respected surgeon at MD Anderson, so I have to take his word for it. I would listen to your nutritionist in the short term, because your life is in their hands. After you are out of the danger zone, I would do whatever you feel is best for you. I know I will.

Lol re aussies drink a lot. Understatement there @DaisyChainOz. It can be odd to be still nursing my first G&T while my girlfriends are on their 3rd bottle of bubbles. I was put on keto by my dietician for three weeks pre my surgery & was successful too. (Yes, it’s easy to do & fits in well with family & lifestyle.) Now, I can tolerate very little fat in my diet. (Cheese is ok & marbled steak but had a thin sliver of lardo on king prawns the other night. Tried one piece & threw it up an hour later - all slimy yuckiness). Strangely, my cholesterol levels immediately pre surgery were in the middle of healthy range as it always has been. But it has been going up over the last 4 months when I eat far, far less fat than I’ve ever done. I believe there is talk around now that you should only follow a keto diet for short periods of time - a couple of months at a time only. A modified version may be different. Talk to your doctor about this. I know you haven’t got a surgeon yet because of your move & the delay to when you can do the surgery but maybe you could start the process. The surgeon I went to refers patients to either a dietician or the Wesley weight loss clinic (all shakes). Ask for the dietician. I believe the Wesley program can get very expensive.

What a lot of proponents of high protein diets like keto & carnivore omit is that excess protein that your body does not need will be stored as fat. While these diets may work in the short term, they are not sustainable in the long term & may cause health issues. This weight loss period is perfect for working out what your body truly needs to be healthy & function well, what foods your body can tolerate & what works for your lifestyle in the long term. My two week pre surgery diet was keto but once I started eating solid foods I modified that diet with my dietician‘s support. Dropped the high fat, added fruit other than just berries, broadened my vegetable options (but still avoid root vegetables), etc. to the more balanced diet it is now. I’ve tried to cut out a lot of the foods that AZhiker mentioned but have discovered reducing or limiting the intake of sugar, carbs, processed foods, alcohol, etc. works better for my lifestyle. I eat small serves of whole or multi grains but no bread, rice or pasta. I limit my sugar to naturally occurring sugars only, like in fruit, whenever possible & avoid artificial sweeteners whenever possible. (They are the worst as they only feed your sugar cravings.) I go for weeks without alcohol & if I do have a glass, I often don’t finish it. Good luck. You’ll find the balance that works for you.

I'm so frustrated. I lost 30 pounds the first 2 weeks after surgery. Then I hit a stall for 2 weeks. Lost 5 pounds when the stall broke, and then literally lost nothing else. Stayed at that weight for a week, and now I'm gaining weight!!!!! I don't understand it. I bought a food scale and I weigh everything. I check the labels on everything to make sure protein is high and carbs and fats are low. I work out once, sometimes twice, a day. I never have restriction, so I make sure to set alarms for when I can eat so I don't graze or eat too much (I eat 3 meals and 1 snack per day). I'm always hungry, but I do my best to ignore it and stick to the diet and eating schedule. I did a journal of what I eat and I sent it to my dietician and she said "it looks good, you're doing what you're supposed to. It might be that you have PCOS and it's holding on to your weight and even putting some back on. We see this a lot in PCOS patients." Wait....what??? I lost 100 pounds in 8 months on keto, but I can't lose more than 30 with WLS??? And it took 2 months before the weight came back with keto, but I can't even make it to 6 weeks post op before the weight starts coming back with WLS??? I went down from a size 30 in clothing to a size 22 before the weight came back with keto. I haven't gone down any clothing sizes with WLS and my clothes are still fitting pretty much the same (I've gained 6 pounds back from the 30 I lost). I can drink as much as I want, eat anything I want, don't have to eat slow because there's no restriction and nothing to make me slow down, I could only eat 1/3 of a burger a week or so ago, now I can eat a whole one with no issues and not quite feel comfortable yet (I still stop, even though I'm still hungry). I know everyone says my stomach is still healing, but I never lost my hunger hormone, I never had food aversion, I never really had any restriction. After the first 2 weeks (my stomach was still very sensitive and I had to crush pills and be careful what I ate because PAIN), I never had any other ANYTHING that would even indicate I had surgery. Literally nothing has changed. So I follow the diet, weigh my food, eat only at my designated times, work out, journal what I eat, stay hungry, gain weight back, and basically just live miserably every day.

I also had the MGB 2 months and 1 week ago! I find mornings difficult...but once I am up, I am raring to go! I think the low carb thing does it also. There is such a thing of Keto flu....where you are exhausted. So body healing, new way of eating, exercise....we will be tired! But then it switches and you will have energy.

It's kind of like Atkins. Low carb, high fat, allows for the protein we need. There's a lot of great info on it on a Reddit keto sub thread. Read the FAQs section if you're interested. I learned a ton there. There are also great searchable posts here.@outsidematchinside is one of the resident experts. Her posts kept me from giving up on it because she's rocked it for huge weight loss and has a lot of knowledge and humor to share. I'm also doing a parallel effort in mindful eating, which is eating with awareness and non-judgment. The judgment part is what throws us into catastrophiizing one poor food choice into days or weeks or years of eating crap. My surgeon's office had a six week mindful eating class that was great. We used a workbook by Susan Albers, who I think is from the Cleveland Clinic. I thought it would be only minimally helpful, but it was really excellent. I'm also lucky enough to live near Jean Fain, who is an expert in mindful eating. She wrote a book called The Self-Compassion Diet, which is also excellent. I have just started seeing her for individual counseling because I've used overeating as a coping mechanism since I was six years old and it's high time I move on to a better existence. :-)

Well, life would be wonderful if we all fit into these little cookie cutter molds that were all exactly the same wouldn't it? It would be so simple...lol. Or would it? We are all so different. Metabolically, even genetically. And they will find out in the relatively near future, why some people tolerate one type of diet while other have issues with it! They've already identified quite a few genes that shows some of this. But the reality is we ALL have to weed our way through the fog to find the diet that doesn't feel like a diet. And my doc doesn't limit any of those things listed above. My RD has made changes to mine based on my personal needs and based on the fact that my fasting insulin continues to be higher than we'd like--even after surgery. So...I just can't handle as large a serving of some of those, nor do I choose to include some of them every day. But I'm low carb (sorta keto by defacto, although i don't eat super high fat) and I still enjoy a variety of whole natural foods including very small (like 1-2tbsp) of whole non-processed grains, berries, winter squash, some root veggies, fruit, nuts, and beans. My diet is 10000% satisfying to me and I just do not feel deprivation at all. But I know for me to keep my bgs and insulin down, I have to limit total load in a meal--luckily my RD works with me to help me figure that out! (That's why it's called personalized medicine...) And as @skinnylife mentions, it simply must fit into my calories and macros for the day. They almost always do. I've been able to lose over 130lbs that way...

@summerset. The great thing about this site is we don't all have the same opinion. You have yours I have mine. 😉 How many different diets have you seen on this site? Keto, Paleo, whole 30...Is a vegan bariatric diet that new to anyone? To each their own.

I watch the Keto Twins on U Tube and they did a video using the noodles. They always give their honest opinion of the things they try. Here's a link to one of their videos : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xylw6mQYq_E

I've been low carb for a very very long time. I only eat adequate protein though, not high protein. I've never heard of keto rash--doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but I'd think it was a food sensitivity or allergy of some sort. Have you changed soaps or dry cleaners or anything lately? How are the fall pollens in your area?

I googled Keto rash and it looks like what I have & it seems like it tends to show up where mine has shown up. I do hydrocortisone cream and even went to the doctor to have it looked like. Basically they said to keep doing hydrocortisone and follow up with them later...

When I finally convinced my Dietitian to give me some sort of macros to follow, they actually said "150g per day" for carbs! I thought that sounded WAY too high, and even 100g seems like a lot to me. I've done keto before (and that was the only way I lost any weight at all, prior to VSG), so it's not too difficult for me to cut back there. Thank you for weighing in - I really appreciate it! :)

Arabesque, You are describing my journey! Low BP, low blood sugar, most of the time, light headed, lose my balance easily. Drinking Propel and other sugar free electrolyte replacement, making sure I have frequent small “meals”. Fortunately, hubby goes out walking with me because I’m afraid I could pass out! This is why I was never able to do Keto pre-op. I guess some of us are just predisposed to these issues. Thanks, and I do hope things have gotten better for you? Please tell me it goes away? I’m so light headed, I think it officially makes me an airhead Lol.

@BayouGirlMrsS this sounds like a well balanced plan! Thanks for sharing. I have an appointment with my nutritionist in May and I am going to discuss coming up with a plan that works for ME! Researching online, it seems like a lot of people implement their own plans because I see a variety of Keto, IF, counting macros. I haven’t tried the yogurt you mentioned but I will. I either buy Dannon Light and Fit or Chobani.

I actually have less issues when I am on low carbs. I am really gassy since the surgery. The days that I eat less carbs I don’t have that issue. As far as high calories, I’m not absorbing a lot of that fat. I’ve started keto... for those who are interested I’ll keep you updated. Again, this is not a lifestyle thing. I got an ok from a PA I know, so here I go...