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@@Hadenough2 I eat sausage, but I just started within the past 2 or 3 months. I had to find a way to increase my calories and I needed the fat and variety in my diet. I lost most of my weight so far just eating fish and seafood but I added pork in because it is economical and adds variety. I dont really watch my fat intake other than to keep it high enough, and I keep my carbs low. I eat more of a keto diet, which isn't that common among WLS patients. So you have to choose for yourself.

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😂 Get used to it. When it comes to the topic of diet, food, calories and especially carbohydrates it can get quite controversial. Low-carb or keto diets are very en vogue these days, just as low-fat diets were a few years ago. Go with what you feels most comfortable to you and don't be afraid to make adjustments as time goes by and weight goes down. Your nutritional needs will change over time. And go with what feels most comfortable to you, not to your best friend, your surgeon, your dietician, a random person online, your mother or Uncle Bob's best buddy. Talk is cheap. That includes dietary advice.

I was on a keto diet months before I had surgery. There are a few forums on reddit dedicated to keto and they are great sources of information. You may want to research cyclical keto which allows for periodic carb increases for those who do heavy lifting. This is something many body builders do.

For me when I noticed how much better I was feeling and looking it became more important than what I love, to eat. Lol. I changed the way I look at food. It is now something to keep me alive and not a crutch. Don’t get me wrong I still like to eat but I’m making better choices and keeping junk food away so I’m not tempted. Look up keto recipes there are tons of them. Plus keep easy meals on hand so if you’re ever in a hurry you don’t grab something bad for you. Hope this helps. Good luck and stay strong!

Just seconding Sosewsue61's comment: I've been told (by nutrition professionals, if not actual doctors) that hormones get stored in small quantities within our fat, and losing a lot of fat quickly can do a real number on our hormonal systems because they're all released at once. It's a little unpredictable. For me, in my early 30s, on a low-fat keto plan, that looked like some skipped periods, some longer-than-average periods, and a few extra cramps--and I'm ready for that again in my late 30s, after the VSG. I don't know what that would look like for me on menopause, or for anyone else, though. The one reassuring thing I can say is that it's temporary. Your body adjusts. The really rapid weight loss tapers off, and you go back to some kind of homeostasis. (I don't want to say "you go back to normal," because it's generally a new and better normal, right? Like you said, there's less inflammation when you weigh less, and that has positive impacts for every body system.)

@@Steph~L~16 i don't track calories. never have. i eat keto. no carb no sugar high fat. for me increasing my fat is what got me out of my big stall. its usually about eating more rather than less or more often. everyone is different but that's what worked for me. good luck!

@@JamGuy I use myfitnesspal to track my intake. I've been doing low carb off and on for about 15 years and tracking calories as well, so I'm pretty familiar with the counts on most foods that I eat. What makes it easier for me is that I eat relatively the same things week after week and I keep my foods as clean as possible. I make most things and rarely go out to eat unless they have nutrition info available. Keto is really the only way I'm able to lose. I thought the sleeve would change that, but nope! Although, I find that I'm able to better manage my cravings for carbs and avoid them. I use net carbs, but I don't worry too much about it since I rarely eat "non-keto" foods. Sometimes my carb intake will be a little higher from things like baby carrots, but again, I don't worry about it much.

I am 15 months post op (sleeve). I went to see my nut, recently, because I hit a wall. We spoke quite a bit about the Keto plan. She said that we who have had WLS not longer absorb the way we once did. She had the concern even though I take all my vitamins daily. She said that we as WLS patients need to have the protein over the fruit and veggies (think eat proteins first then the rest of the meal). If I keep up with the protein and reduce the fats, she is ok. Of course, this does change Keto a lot. So, I continue to investigate those who have had surgery and have done Keto without any issues.

Hi guys, I ran a search but not much popped up. I've been on a ketogenic diet (high fat, moderate Protein, very low carb - basically the induction to Atkins except you keep it up forever) for the last 15 months. I know it's not a very well-understood diet and gets a lot of flak, but it's been great for me. I'm healthier than I've ever been and I adore this style of eating so much. The only problem is I hit a wall hard in the weight-loss department, hence the surgery. I'm wondering if anyone has had experience eating this way post-op? I know low-fat gets pushed a lot in surgeon-recommended diets, but I'm not sure if that's because low-fat is part of the government's idea of a healthy diet, or if there's an actual physical purpose? I think some people have mentioned fatty foods made them sick, but are they talking about doughnuts, or ribeye? If it's not possible then I'll accept it and just stay as low carb as possible, but I would really like to stick with keto after surgery if possible and am looking for reasons it might not be a good idea.

Keto really does work from what I hear. Only complaint I’ve heard is with the making sure your body stays in ketosis but other than that, people seem to love it. Keep us posted on how it works out [emoji846]

So far the only food that bothered me was scrambled eggs, but I can eat them now if they are mixed with a lot of veggies. Everything I liked before I still like. I haven't tried any foods I don't like..lol.. I am not craving bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, or sugary foods at all. I am so thankful for that and I have no desire to ever eat them in any kind of quantity again. I used to love crackers and cheese as a snack, but I have no problems turning down crackers now. This is what I love about the keto diet. It really takes those food cravings away. I look forward to my salmon, greens, chicken, ect..

Think I am going to have a look at this KETO diet. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

First off, let me say that you should always listen to your doctor and nutritionist...rather than crazy people on the internet, myself included. But here's my rant today. And for what it's worth....this is just MY feelings on this nonsense. I'm no expert. Ya'll need to eat. Not overeat. But also NOT UNDER-EAT. Eat healthy food you enjoy. I know how it happens. Your weight loss gets sluggish and stuck and you think OMG, this isn't working, I'm Failing at this! You start to panic. And what does a lifelong self-destructive dieter DO when they start to panic? They go exteme. They go...ok, my doctor said it was ok to eat this much.....so I'm gonna try to eat HALF of that to speed up my weight loss! I'm going to work harder than anyone! I'm going to eat less! I'm going to force this weight off of my body...because this is my last chance and I'm freaking out and I can't fail at this, so I NEED to do better and cut back! Only, here's the thing. You don't need to cut back. You need to stay the course, nourish your healing body, have good energy to boost your metabolism and lose weight sensibly. Why do people do VLCDs? (very low calorie diets....1000 or less calories a day)....they do them because they show results in a hurry. And there is nothing people like better than a lower number on the scale...regardless of how they're achieving it. Or how harmfully they are achieving it. When you eat less than 1000 calories a day, did you know you lose more muscle than fat...even if you are eating tons of protien grams? When you lose muscle, you slow your metabolism, endanger your organs that have muscle (heart anyone?), and decrease your bone density. None of this is a good idea. And when you're eating starvation level calories, your body tries like hell to keep you from dying....by, you guessed it, slowing your metabolism even further. And the carb thing...can we talk about that a minute? You DO want to avoid carbs that are metabolized to sugar really fast, like sugary foods and refined white flour items because they can cause your pancrease to over-react and send too much insulin and you'll end up with rebound hunger....but other carbs, particularly ones that have good fiber content to slow the sugar can also have good protien content...and they don't do the rebound hunger thing. They give you great available energy. Why do we lose so much weight so rapidly when we do keto? We don't really....but the first five pounds is so quick and shocking that it MUST work! (except you're not losing fat, you're losing the water that your liver stores extra glucose in.....and you've stripped your liver of its emergency reserve of energy. And yeah...you can make the sugar you need from other things through gluconeogenesis....but it takes amino acids that your body is typically harvesting from your muscles.) Don't do that thing where you lose the five pounds eating keto....then eat a few carbs and go OMG, look at the weight I've gained!....and go keto again and lose the same five pounds of water. It's an illusion. (Not saying keto people can't lose weight...they do lose weight fast...but they also have about five pounds in lost water from glucose storage, no emergency stores, and their bodies may be consuming their muscles) Food for thought (literally!) Guess what organ runs exclusively on sugar? Pure glucose. Your brain. Your brain burns over 300 calories of glucose every day. At just 2% of our body weight....our brains burn about 20% of the calories we use each day! The CPU needs fuel. Lots of people lose weight rapidly with Very Low Calorie Diets after bariatric surgery. They have these amazing results that other people notice and are in awe of. They lose to goal eating very little and feel very accomplished about their self discipline and their amazing fast results. And then guess what happens? At goal...they are still people who have never learned how to eat sustainably for life. All they know is starvation and self deprivation. And starvation doesn't work long term. Please learn to eat sustainable amounts of calories. Do it early so you don't fudge your metabolism into starvation level calorie requirements. One of the best ways to have a robust metabolism...is to do exercise every day. It doesn't have to be the gym or something you find tedious. Do things you enjoy....but keep moving. It's hard to build your robust metabolism.....when you're too tired to do anything but go to work and go to bed...because you're starving yourself. Please eat. Don't overeat. But eat. Learn to eat right, not starve. Starving is not the cure and in many cases sets the stage for significant regain. Do it right, even it it's slower than other people. Do it sustainably. Learn to coexist with food, not avoid it. (easier said than done) Don't get discouraged by small losses. Just keep losing to goal with small sensible tweeks. You don't have to suffer extremes to have success. Learning to control your diet moderately...is the best skill to have when facing a lifetime of sustaining a significant weight loss. This end my rant. Totally ok if you think I'm nuts/wrong/whatever. Take what you like and leave the rest. Peace and best wishes to everyone on this crazy road.

There are a few bariatric keto plans out there..... What I've been told is for keto do High protein 60 -80g or whatever your doc recommends. Moderate healthy fats and low carb and lower calories. Just search for bariatric keto truth and groups like that on facebook Sent from my SM-G965U using BariatricPal mobile app

Fluffy has awesome recipe ideas. Particularly, if I were a keto person, I'd watch for her recipes.

I disagree with with Dabeyhive and RickM's comments above. Sure, keto isn't for everyone, but it's great for many people. I love the fact that it gives me some firm rules to follow and it happens to fit my eating preferences. First, I don't believe Keto is a fad diet at all. It's been around in various forms since the 1920's and became the basis of the original Atkin's diet in the early 1970's. It works very well both for weight loss and general health benefits. The problem is that some people don't really understand the diet or follow it correctly--and that's where people into problems. Following a proper Keto diet doesn't mean you should be chowing down on cheeseburgers without the bun eating bacon with every meal. While cheeseburgers and bacon are not prohibited on Keto, those aren't recommended either. You should stick to things like organic eggs, lean organic meats and wild caught fatty fish (like sockeye salmon). Stay away from fatty meats, since the fat is bad things the animals consumed are stored. You then add healthy fats to your food, like avocado, MCT oil, extra virgin olive oil, ghee etc. The idea is to "prime the pump", so you body burns off its excess glycogen stores and then converts stored fats into ketones for energy. This is important, especially if you're insulin resistant. For me, I am really happy with Keto and I can definitely stay on keto long term. My surgeon and nutritionist are on board with my keto choices. I just had my blood work done after 2 months on Keto and everything was perfect. I am no longer diabetic (A1C dropped from 6.3 on multiple meds to 5.1 on no meds). My triglycerides dropped to 54 (they were 450 this past summer on meds). My cholesterol is 190, but my good cholestrol is 97 (which is outstanding)--so that's good. Some of these may be from the surgery, but diet and exercise are equally critical. I suggest that you don't do keto on your own, but you do with with the guidance of a doctor or nutritionist that has a lot of knowledge about keto. I personally keep my net carbs down to approximately 20g a day and close to a 1:1 ration of fat to protein. At this point, I am 14 weeks post op (99 days). I am eating between 1200-1600 calories a day. Those calories are made up of 45% protein, 45% fat and 10% carbs. The carbs I am consuming are mostly from vegetables--even green veggies have some carbs. I don't eat any bread, starches, potatoes, sugar etc. I avoid high carb fruit, but I am allowed berries. I avoid processed foods to the greatest extent I can. I also work out daily--at a high intensity (and have been since I had all physical restrictions removed 1 month after surgery). I have lost 70 pounds since my highest weigh in. My pants size has dropped from a 44 to a 32. My body fat has dropped from 28% to 16.5%. Weight loss surgery is only a tool (a good one), but I would say it gives you a head start and helps prepare balance your body's hormones and stomach so people like me (morbidly obese, with a trifecta of co-morbidities) can lose weight like a normal person without insulin resistance/diabetes and other issues that get in the way. Once I had those issues, in check the rest of it was up to me--with keto and serious exercise making the big difference in getting me to where I want to be. I'll let my pictures speak for themselves: The was me on July 4, 2018 (weighing around 255-260) : This is me on the day of Surgery (weight 235): This is me on March 23, 2019 (weighing 190): As a 45 year old man with diabetes etc., no way I could have done this without VSG. However, I really believe Keto and exercise (45 minutes moderate to high intensity cardio 5-6 times a week and 1 hour of high intensity weight training 4-5 times a week) have changed my health and my life. I can't imagine going back to the life I had before surgery, nor could I imagine not living a keto lifestyle at this point.

I am not at the solid food stage yet, but I'm thinking about a Keto style of eating, trying to make sure that I can get in my 60 grams of protein daily. Have any of you done or are doing this? I'd love your feedback!

There are some decent low carb pancake recipes out there using almond flour. They aren't just like the real thing, but they aren't terrible either. I got in the habit of making them during a 7 month run of doing keto and I still make them now because my kids seem to like them. But yes to echo some of the others trying to avoid food for comfort is a great way to keep yourself out of trouble. I struggle with that plenty myself. I've actually taken to carrying a "challenge" coin around with me that I grab when I'm thinking of going for something to eat and not really hungry as a reminder of what I'm trying to accomplish. It doesn't always work, but I think it works more often than not at getting me to refocus and direct myself towards a healthier activity.

October 3 here and day 7 of my pre op diet. I have already lost 12lbs in this 7 days. Crazy. I have been feeling so ready up until this morning when I noticed the keto breath and realized I am full on in ketosis. I keep thinking there are people out there that lose their weight with just a keto diet and exercise not surgery. I know it is just cold feet and I have been expecting this to happen at some point before the actual surgery. Anyway, off to have my Protein shake! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I'd been eyeing this product since Facebook and Instagram started sending me ads. It's low carb keto ramen with 6g carbs, 21g protein and 890 mg sodium and 18g fiber. I found they sell them individually at Whole Foods (because I am NOT buying a $35 pack knowing there's a huge risk me and my stomach don't like it for some reason). Planning to run out to buy a pack or two tonight just out of curiosity and eat half a pack or maybe a fourth just for a taste (and also because it's 300 calories for an entire pack) But before I do, I'm wondering if anyone has tried Immi ramen and if so how did you like it? Did it have a weird aftertaste like a lot of protein infused products (it all tastes like whey to me)? Since my surgery I've been really weird about textures now and I've seen a couple reviews complaining about texture of the noodles but I want to try this since it has a nice amount of protein and fiber and I have to do a bit of doctoring to shirataki noodles, moreso than what I feel like being bothered with some days lol

@PaulaUSN Dr. Westman (low carb doctor at Duke Univ) recommends plenty of water, a cup of bouillon (I use Better Than Bouillon--so good!) and a teaspoon of MOM (for the magnesium) for the keto flu/headaches. You should google him! But you are on the downhill slide of it now!! Congrats! @Luisajfc The sleeplessness is a well-documented side effect of going super low in calories and carbs. You get pumped full of "feel good hormones" and almost a euphoria with tons of energy. It's temporary and is also kinda part of the keto flu. I drink lots of water, then take my calcium, vit d, and MOM before bed. It helps me relax!! Y'all are rockin' it!!

Fortunately, all went well. I lost 29lb in the three and a half months since my first appointment doing a sloppy job of keto and not exercising at all due to my bad back, bad feet and bad shoulders. They'll be submitting my paperwork to Cigna for approval tomorrow, and the staff said it usually takes up to two weeks for Cigna to process everything. Once the approval comes in they'll schedule me for surgery and I'll make an appointment with my PCP for my pre-op physical. My best guess is that I'm looking at mid-June at this point. The good news I got is that I will not be having my procedure done outpatient as I'd previously been told. It turns out that Cigna requires an overnight stay, so I'll be having the surgery at the hospital and will get to spend the night. While I'm sure the doctor would not do it out patient if it wasn't safe, I prefer the idea that I'll be monitored for at least the first 24 hours following surgery. So now I wait. Many people post about their nerves and fears yet I have none. My wife had a knee replacement two weeks ago and I was perfectly calm. I've had two epidurals in the last two months and didn't worry at all. I even took my daughter out driving on Sunday morning, her first time behind the wheel, and even then I was utterly relaxed. I'm really beginning to think that at this point in my life nothing is going to phase me any more.

@@Clarevoyant You should be fine. They have Protein shakes and bars in the UK just like in America. You can get a salad with grilled meat and eat the meat off anywhere. 2 months post op your energy levels should be rising. You will have to make sure you get enough calories in each day for energy. In London you will be forced to walk a lot, unless you already live in NY or Chicago, it should really help with your weight loss. I am really excited for you that you have this opportunity. I wouldn't pass it up. Things to remember eating out, you can always get a sandwich, they usually have 2-4 ounce meat portions, and just eat the meat I do it all the time. It is an easy way to control how much you are eating out, and to get cold cuts. You can eat the top off of pizza. Like I said before get a salad with meat and eat all the meat first. This keto blogger lives in the UK so you might find some hints on here where to shop. http://ketodietapp.com/Blog 2 low carb UK restaurant reviews http://ketotheukway.blogspot.com/search/label/Restaurant%20Reviews Keto UK boards https://www.reddit.com/r/ketouk Just do your research and have a plan. If you have a plan you can always stay on plan. For example I know almost every restaurant has a chicken Cesar salad, so if there is nothing else I can eat on the menu I know I can get one and eat the meat off. Even slumming it at a casual place, they will have some kind of sandwich with cold cuts I can eat. If push comes to shove and you are stuck with street vendors, a kabob is better choice than fish and chips. Also the food in Europe tastes so much better than the US, you will really enjoy that post-op. Good Luck!

I was like you. I started with a BMI just barely over 35, had tried keto, crossfit 6x a week, intermittent fasting. I dropped weight, but it was impossible for me to stay consistent. I am a month out from sleeve surgery and have lost a little over 30 lbs. Even in this month alone, there would have been several times when I would have fallen off a diet due to "life" but the sleeve has kept me on track. I'm slowly but surely detoxing from food, and eating for nutrition rather than comfort. It's proving to be a very useful tool. Sent from my SM-N976V using BariatricPal mobile app