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Thank you for your reply! Yes, since weight has been a focal point in my life, I’ve been weighing myself daily on every single plan I’ve ever done, from HCG, to Keto etc. I started my current journey many months ago when I was going through the 6 month approval process. I weigh myself each morning, naked…after using the bathroom and before consuming anything to eat or drink. I was completely baffled when it said 226.6 this morning when the last two days it has said a solid 225. Im going to have faith this is just for today lol! The only thing I changed is I added some more calories thinking that would help break the 225 stall. The only other thing that has changed is that for the last few days, I’ve went for 20-30 min walks.

I am about 5 years post-op and definitely regret it as well for mostly the same reasons as SleevedK above. Yes, I lost quite easily at first but that only lasted the first year. After that I could not lose anymore no matter what I tried. The worst thing? I am ALWAYS hungry. Before I had VSG, I had done low carb/keto for quite awhile and lost well and had a lot of energy. Part of that is eating plenty of fat which keeps you full. Unfortunately, after VSG I could not eat much fat. Protein first of course, but if I had too much fat I'd get sick. I also LOVE vegetables and can no longer eat much of them. I fill up quickly at a meal but am starving an hour later. I was told that at least in the first 6 months or so, hunger would never be a problem b/c the part of your stomach they remove is where the hunger hormones are secreted and that eventually that would come back. I was hungry from day one and it never changed. The biggest disappointment to me was that I did want the bypass. I went in for surgery and woke up to find I had nothing done. Doctor tried but could not pull my intestine far enough forward to attach it without stressing the incision. I went on a liquid diet for a month and lost 22 more lbs, tried again with the agreement that if it still wouldn't fit, he could go ahead and do VSG and that's what I woke up with. My surgeon has a very good reputation and I trust him. My body has always done weird things. Not sure if it's just all the fat in the omentum around the intestines that was the cause or adhesions from my previous gallbladder surgery, although he did say he broke down some of those. By 3 yrs post-op I'd not only not lost anymore but started regaining. The regain is totally MY fault, not the surgery, but I was so tired of fighting to lose with no results that I began eating junk food again and it crept up. All told, I lost 85 lbs and regained 28, and have been sort of stuck there. I'm now revisiting trying to do low carb since it works for me once I get past the initial cravings, etc. I had some GERD prior to surgery but it went away with the weight loss, only to return with a vengeance after i began to regain. It is MUCH worse than it ever was prior to surgery. I have not had an endoscopy to see if there is a hiatal hernia or anything yet; it's on my list to get checked out soon.

I'm happy to join in too. I'm 7 yrs post op. Had some regain at 18 months post op. Went Keto and lost regain plus some, but have fizzled out and STILL have 25 lbs to go until ultimate goal as current BMI is around 30 (need to change my profile info still). I remain on a tight diet and am essentially still keto, but I'm considering putting Keto to the back burner and focusing more on high protein-low carb-lower fat which is more of a 'bariatric' type diet long term. I am desperate to make the scale move in the next 3-4 weeks and see some good losses. I will ALWAYS identify as a bariatric patient and sadly this will be a lifelong battle for me. But I have all the tools I need. I actually just spoke to a NP today from my clinic to suggested I start FIERCE tracking which I haven't done in about 6 years.

Life is going well. I never thought I would be able to maintain as well as I have. Even to be running 5+ 3 times a week. I do Keto

Yep, could be keto flu. Google it & see if it’s what you’re experiencing. Plus you’re likely experiencing withdrawals from caffeine, sugar, etc. It does get better. Good luck with your surgery.

The good news is that it gets better as you’re able to introduce more foods back into your diet. I have always enjoyed cooking and now I just try to find creative ways to recreate healthier versions of my favorite recipes, like a keto Pad Thai, and I use a lot of herb and flavors so that what I’m eating is full of flavor. It’s going to take time for your mind and body to adjust. At three weeks out your body is still healing and may feel a bit all over the place for a while. I couldn’t reach my protein or water goals until a couple of months out so don’t be too hard on yourself, it will come. Even at 5 months out I still miss my water goals sometimes, in fact today is one of those times!! Losing 42lbs is a huge achievement and you should be really proud of your self. Hang in there

Yes, it's very common. It could be "keto flu" as you stop carbs. It should stop soon, as long as you don't "cheat". Feel better soon!

The first year I didn’t eat desserts often because my palate changed and every flavor was intensified but I totally understand wanting it. I tried to make smart substitutions like low sugar or sugar free items. Mostly Keto, protein or diabetic brands. As everyone says that first year is pretty critical because it’s the absolute fastest you’ll lose the weight and there’s a good chance you’ll overshoot your goal with can help as a buffer zone against possible regain (losing after regain later is possible but a lot harder).

Thank you for the detailed reply! I use to do lazy keto, where I would replace carbs with meat, but the meat was processed. I would one day like to try bulletproof coffee, it seems so delicious.... Do you count macros and calories ? I have PCOS too, my blood sugar is all over the place sometimes and causes cravings.

A typical day begins with coffee, 1 tsp of extra virgin coconut oil, 2 equal blended. I use the Premier Protein shakes because they are keto friendly. I have nuts on hand, Macadamia, Brazil and pecans as a snack food. 4 oz of hard cheese are allowed each day. I use regular butter or vegan butter to make an egg or two, you are allowed bacon but I tend to break out from that type of fatty meat. You could dice ham into your eggs and green veggies. Peppers are also allowed. I use 1 oz of cheese in my eggs if I want. For lunch I make tuna, salmon or egg salad and eat it from the dish. I also eat salads with viangrette. I’ve had Cobb salad, spinach salad and portobello salads. I add extra hard boiled egg for more protein and I enjoy the taste. I’ve eaten fish at dinner with green veggies. My favorite is Brussels sprouts and butter. You can use Quest bars or cookies as a safe snack but try to limit them. I often have a second cup of coffee as made at breakfast for the mid afternoon. So far my blood work came back immaculate. I like this plan because it helps me with my hyperinsulinema from my PCOS. I don’t spend the day constantly looking for sugar. If I do fall off, I start again at the next meal. It takes me four mealtimes to get the cravings out of my system again. If you have any questions. I can get you more information.

what does your healthy keto consist of ?

Hello. It’s been a while since I posted here but I have been busy figuring out how to get past a months long stall and some sugar addiction. First, I found out that I have lipedema which is a connective tissue disorder. It’s an abnormal collection of fat that is no longer in it’s original spongy condition. It is literally scar tissue and adhesions under the skin that do not let go of fat easily. I have huge amounts of it on the lower body and some on my arms. The change that worked for me was specific exercises using a vibration plate on the fat deposits and other mechanisms that can be found on the internet. Second, I ended up switching to healthy keto and that made a great difference in the movement of the scale. I’m down a few pounds now and I no longer have the sugar cravings. I also have gotten better about setting limits on other people monopolizing my time. I’m prioritizing myself and it is really starting to show. I’d be happy to share more if anyone is interested in the connection between stalled weight loss after Bariatric surgery and the condition known as lipedema. It’s not a broadly known condition but it is starting to get attention. I can share some of the resources that I have used in the past few months. To learn more, start here: https://lipedemaproject.org

Thank you for letting me know… did your nutrition tell you to be on a keto diet for a year after surgery. I just made up my own food selection. I better look at the paperwork… I don’t want to gain anything back.

Keto is ok to give you a kickstart but there’s information coming out that it’s not a long term option. Go back to what you were eating up to when you reached your goal. Or you can slowly reduce your portion size & therefore your caloric intake until you start losing again. The caloric point at which you lose could be lower or higher than others depending upon your metabolic rate, activity level, height., age. As I said above I maintain on 1200 - I’m not tall like you, have a smallish frame, am in my mid 50s & not very active. If I eat as much as some others do in maintenance, I’d gain. I can lose if I drop to about 900 - 1000 calories. Did you have a good relationship with your nutritionalist/dietician? You could always go back to them for some guidance.

Im trying to find an a typical daily calorie limit for a Woman, 4 years out Gastric Bypass. Lost 150 lbs, maintained, then covid and gained 30lbs back. Now I need advice on how many calories I should eat to return to weightloss, and then for long term maintenance, being im so far out and was eating anything, and too much, and not having a problem till recent. Start: 276Lbs., Lowest: 117, maintained 125lbs, Currently 140 lbs. Goal back between 117-125 Lbs. Im also trying Keto, any advice for me is appreciated, Thanks!!!

The food, the intake, at times I do not want to get out of bed. I feel more swollen and bigger in certain areas. The most difficult thing is what to eat and not since everything is more keto. Vsg food is very different and again im in 3.0oz i dont count calories in which I should. My surgeons nutritionist told me.3 ounces. I do crave hot dog for some reason lol Sent from my SM-J737T1 using BariatricPal mobile app

But what about the sound nutrition advice given via lifestyle bloggers on YouTube who have this amazing cleanse to sell you?? Or a raw vegan paleo high protein keto diet consisting entirely of lemon water? It sounds so legit. 😬 All kidding aside, great advice. And I think it also bears to mention that although you should follow the advice given by a credentialed professional, there are bad and good doctors out there and the same follows for dietitians as well. If you feel strongly that you’re getting bad advice, you might want to seek out another opinion.

There’s lots of different pre surgical plans. I had about 2.5 weeks keto. My friend had four weeks of two shakes & one small protein & vegetable meal per day. Another friend had two weeks shakes only. The first week is always the hardest - my surgeon called it hell week. I’m secretly pleased I had keto but I’ve done those shake diets several times in the past for a couple of months each time. Once past that first week of cravings, headaches, etc. you’ll be ok.

Was gonna say much that was mentioned above, skewers with various meats and veggies, (sugar free) BBQ chicken, Italian Sausages & Peppers, Kielbasa, burgers and hot dogs should be fine too. Aldi has some great Keto bun options if you want to have buns for others and yourself. There is pasta made of lentils, chickpeas etc. that you could use to make a macaroni salad. Fruit tray. Veggie tray. Lots of options.

You're eating less than 500 very low carb calories a day. That, in itself, will cause a little weight loss in 6 days. But the bulk of what you've lost is likely water. Because of your low carbs, you are stripping your liver of all the glucose stored there...so it shrinks. (Which is really nice, because there is a little more room for the surgeon to work with the liver reduced) As the glucose in the liver is used, a lot of water is expelled, too. This "instant significant weight loss" when we mostly eliminate carbs from our diets....is why people are so delighted when they go on a Keto diet and instantly lose weight and inches around their waists. But they're not losing fat....they're just losing their emergency glucose and the water it's stored in, and just shrinking their livers. Your loss is normal and I wouldn't worry about it. Keep following your team's instructions.

I'm still new in this game but when I get around to being more regular with my diet I'm sure I will prepare myself (when out and about or on road trips) much like I did when I was doing Keto and have individual servings sizes of nuts/seeds, a package of Dukes Meat Sticks (I think only has 1 gram of sugar), keep a few bags of stuff like Cheese Whisps, cheese sticks (gotta bring as you go), spicy salami slices (gotta bring as you go), Quest Chips, celery with some natural peanut butter, cucumber slices with some cream cheese and Everything But The Bagel seasoning, pickle chips, pork rinds, etc.

Oh Lordy! I hope the OP found a bariatric treatment team that understands vegetarian diets. My team had an entirely vegetarian plan option and guess what some of the first foods were? Beans. Brown Rice. Oats. Potatoes. Hummus. Why? because they have a terrific metabolic index...are loaded with plant based protien...and have FIBER. (they're also much better tolerated right after surgery than meat by many folks) I'm not a vegetarian, but I like the Mayo Clinic Diet and the Mediterrainian diet....so my pre and post surgical diets were sort of a hybrid that included a lot of vegetarian influence. (I still eat meat, but I also eat a lot of beans, oats, nuts, seeds, etc) Thankfully, I had a team that did their homework on different ways up the mountain and didn't suggest keto was the only way or that carbs were the devil. Whew! So thankful for that! Cause the diet that many of ya'll describe is not something that I could have survived. I remember posting some of my sample menus...from my freaking dietician....a few weeks out and getting slammed by people here for the things (and amounts...1200 calories by end of first month) I was eating. A month out of surgery, I remember existing on refried beans with lowfat cheese and salsa....black beans with salsa and canned chicken....split pea soup....tofu chili with white beans....tofu chop suey over a small amount of brown rice....steal cut oats with dried cherries. Fruit. My clinic was absolutely fine with fruit as tolerated, but they wanted whole fruit, not just the juice. I ate a lot of baked oats with blueberries, strawberries, pecans and low calorie maple syrup. I ate 100 calorie whole grain english muffins with peanut butter. I ate boiled potatos with lowfat cheese or nonfat yogurt. ****, I poured caramel Premier Protien shake on my oatmeal and liked slurping it warm. But you know what I didn't eat? Sugar. White flour. Processed foods. Prepackaged sweet carbs. Stuff that spikes your insulin. I also didn't add animal fat like butter. Most of the stuff I ate was pretty low fat with the exception of tiny amounts of olive or grape seed or sesame oil. All of my carbs in weight loss phase were full of fiber and not processed. I ate a little fruit everyday. I added a lot of herbs, made sauces replacing sugar with splenda, I put every kind of vegetable and fruit in my kitchen in the smoothies I drank....and a glob of nonfat greek yogurt or tofu or chia seeds for protein. My clinic was activingly fighting the notion that super restricted calories and keto in the first months after surgery were necessary. They did things very differently than I hear routinely described here. I know we're all gonna have a different experience and I know for MOST of you guys....a super restricted calorie diet in the early days and keto, keto, keto, carbs are the devil....is what you were taught is the only way. And I know for most of ya'll...it's what worked and what you believe like a religion. I'm here to tell ya... There are other paths up this mountain. I'm working on being tolerant of everyone's preferred path. Anyway you get it done....you deserve serious kudos and I'm proud of you all. But I've gotta say.... it can be easy to feel defensive when post after post after post here...is so negative about what worked terrific for me and others like me. A few of us have lost weight successfully and maintained really well...on a diet that includes a buttload of (unrefined) carbs and a pretty high calorie allowance started early in the process. What's more...as a group, it appears we're having really good luck not regaining. That's no small thing. Keep an open mind about your carb eating brothers and sisters. We do ok with this whole process, too;) As always...to each their own. Peace and best wishes to all.

I am 11 months post op gastric sleeve. My highest weight ever was reached in June of 2019 and I was horrified to weigh in at 502 lbs! I didn't believe it and requested the doctor to re-weigh me. That was my first wake-up call. I was suffering from very high blood pressure, debilitating back pain/spasms, knee pain and damage, sciatica, and sleep apnea. I started doing keto and got down to 415lbs. During COVID quarantine, I gained back up to about 459lbs. In July of 2020, I finally decided to take back my life and financed a vertical sleeve gastrectomy surgery (out of pocket, since insurance would not cover it). As of yesterday, I'm down to 275 lbs. I have gone from a 6xl shirt to a 2xl. From size 62 pants, to a size 44. I still struggle to see myself as anything but fat from time to time, but it's the Non-Scale Victories (NSVs) that keep me going! My only regret is not doing this sooner. Sometimes I wish I could go back and re-do certain life experiences without the extreme morbid obesity. Here's my running list: - I’m off of all medications (including 2 BP meds). - No more seat belt extension on airplanes - Seats with arm rests are no problem. - Restaurant booths are now no problem - I can fit in an MRI machine (if needed). - I can now walk ANYWHERE without debilitating back pain. - The car steering wheel no longer rubs my stomach. - I can shop in most “regular” stores for clothes. - I no longer worry about a seat being able to hold me (those plastic white ones at weddings are even ok now). - I can use my own step ladder to do things around the house like change a light bulb. - I can sit with my legs crossed. - I can now get down on the floor. - My “love life” has drastically changed/Improved. - too many to list! Notice there is a lot of use of the word “CAN” here? All in less than a year. The little black battery operated box on the floor cannot control me any longer! Yea, it’s still important. But weight is no longer the defining characteristic of my life. Sleeved 7/23/20. HW 502, SW 459, CW 275, GW healthy

Eat more. Get a new scale. I know "eat more" sounds like crazy advice when you're stuck in a stall, but our bodies have an amazing set of defenses...thousands of years of evolution to survive bad harvests and hunting seasons. When we drastically cut calories and move a lot more than we used to....our biology interperates this as OMG, we're starving to death and must be moving more because we're desperately searching for hard to find food!...then your endocrine system goes....Must hit this body with every hormone and defense mechanism possible to STOP weight loss! (there are also a whole bunch of little hormonal changes that can bite you in the ass after a long period of severely restricted calories to "make up" for weight lost and encourage gain...which is why most people have some regain issues eventually) If it were me.....I'd add calories. Something with fiber. Black beans, potato, a smoothie with some spinach and low fat greek yogurt. All of these have protien, but they also boost your gut microbiota and stop the keto that your body might be interpereting as starvation. Crazy internet lady advice....take what you like and leave the rest. All of our bodies work a little different. Find what's best for you.