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Protein Prioritized Dirty Keto

I think for the most part, the diet we follow post-surgery (whether sleeve or bypass) is what is known as protein-prioritized keto (there's a FB group if you are interested). Keep protein high, fats low to moderate, and carbs low. In fact, I really don't understand the (traditional keto) focus on high fat since the reason most people lose weight is because of low carbs. And of course protein is better for you than fat. That said, some people may be more sensitive to fatty foods after bypass (I just had a bypass revision myself and this is something I'm concerned about). I would talk to your doctor/nutritionist to see what they think.

My question is can I safely do Keto with a bypass and no gall bladder?

12 days is still so short of time to be feeling great. I mean I know everyone says that but the new normal sucks and wow you've been having your cycle for the past 11 days. Have you been menstruating that whole time? I got my period myself way early and it was longer than normal and I think my iron was low during that time which made me tired. Also it's a mind game too. I know you're tired and tired of being fat but it wasn't over night that we got this way. I know our expectations are so great and we compare ourselves to others, which makes it even harder to feel better. Also I don't know how your diet was before and if you were as low carb before your surgery, you could be kind of experiencing your body go through sugar withdrawals, I went on the Keto diet prior to surgery. The nutritionist was fine with it (I saw my nutritionist like at month 1 and had 5 to go) she wanted me to transition to low carb less fat closer to my surgery date but I remember getting off sugar and it was pretty awful. Did you have to do 10 days of full liquid diet prior to surgery? So many surgeons are so different, that's why I ask. I'm sorry there isn't just one little thing to fix and a variety of reasons why you might not feel so great. I'm wishing you the best of luck 🍀 in figuring it out. ❤️ Lean on the message boards if you don't have a great support system at home. Everyone seems to be pretty great on here.

Ah I haven't gone to any support groups yet, don't know if I will. I told quite a few of my close friends before doing this and so far all have been very supportive. Because I had like weird eating (keto) before my surgery, everyone is kind of use to me and my having to order stuff a specific/special way I guess. Also my husband has been so supportive too. So I mean I guess with the help of the online community here too, I feel like I'm good. If that makes sense? How's it going you're only a week out. I was hating life still at a week out. Now however I am feeling great.

Atkins/Keto/high protein diet for the rest of your life after bariatric surgery is old school nutrition nonsense. FYI most doctors only need to take 1 semester of nutrition classes and that was back when they were in in undergrad or med school. A lot has changed since then. As long as you eat a well-planned, plant-based diet (this applies to non-bariatric patients as well) you will thrive. I'd say success after bariatric surgery is more about using the time where you have restriction to learn better habits and ditch your addiction to empty calorie dense carbs like white breads, pasta, white sugar, etc. than anything else. You will eventually be able to eat normal portions of food so breaking bad habits is key. If you continue to eat a SAD diet and the crap that made you fat in the first place, even if just less of it, you will eventually experience regain. Immediately after surgery (first 1-4 weeks), you will be drinking/ eating very low cal in the ballpark of 500-800 calories. You will be weak some days because of lack of calories, not lack of protein. It takes years to become protein deficient! Then you'll probably be around 800-1000 until 8-12 weeks., 1000 - 1200 for a good while after that. I hovered around 1000 - 1200 for my first year post surgery. Look up Dr. Garth Davis, he is a bariatric surgeon who advocated a whole foods plant-based diet. I also like Dr. Matthew Weiner - he has a number of videos on Youtube, both have Facebook pages and groups to help you.

I've been here the entire time. I took off a while post surgery but after I had my regain and got refocused, I came back. I do still post but SO many that were here are long gone. Sadly. In reading many threads over the last couple years I feel like so many pre op and fresh post op people are looking for shortcuts, secrets to manipulate their surgery and ways around the 'work' of being a patient. It is a LOT of work. And yes, six years later I still have to put in the work every day. There are SO MANY foods I haven't had since before my surgery. I was NEVER the person who could go back to eating everything in small amounts. I know some surgeons are ok with that, but not mine, and FOR SURE not my body! Overall, I'm doing great. I am maintaining weight loss. As many here know I had some regain and had a bit of a health crisis. My child goes to a huge national keto clinic for epileptics and under the supervision of a physician there I went hard core keto a few years back. I lost all my regain and more. I am at a bit of a plateau right now after working with a registered dietician and attempting to increase my carbs. I bumped upward a few pounds and put an end to that effort. Back in ketosis now, I'm back on track. I continue to move my weight downward and STILL there are numbers I strive for. It took me FIVE years to get the confidence to join a 'tribe' of exercise folks that I loved. After 2 years of bouncing around different places, attempting stuff at home etc., I finally found a CrossFit box that I love. I go a few days a week. I really enjoy it and will use some variation of this modality for as long as I can because it really works for me. I still do, and will ALWAYS identify as a WLS patient. I am proud of what I went through. I am focused and dedicated. I am positive that I wouldn't be seeing my upcoming 45th birthday had I not had the surgery. I had a massive health issue that was spiraling out of control and I didn't even know it was there until after surgery (after I had some regain and some testing that investigated symptoms I thought were related to regain)...Had I continued to gain weight and skipped surgery, I would be dead now. It's sobering and makes me that much MORE thankful for this option. I don't take it lightly.

Keto pound cake

Well, I live in Japan where health insurance is done through your company so if you have something done, people are bound to know about it. For that reason, I’ve self-paid both my surgeries out of the country, and did it during my vacations (like now). When people asked about my weight loss I focused on the diet side of things (mostly keto, even if it’s not) and most people accepted it. Like others have mentioned, just be vague about the surgery and focus on your diet/exercise habits if they ask about your weight loss afterwards.

I am new here, this is my first post. I am in the process of getting approved. My surgeon has not asked me to lose any weight but I want to start anyway. I have a BMI of 70 so I am in no danger of disqualifying myself by losing too much weight prior to surgery. I won’t be submitted for approval before mid-may after my last nutrition class. I want to try and prepare myself for the lifestyle changes WLS will bring on by adapting as much as I can pre surgery. I am thinking of trying a Keto diet but I am open to any tips or suggestions. I am not sure I could do the liver shrinking diet for several months but I am thinking I could cut carbs and increase protein. It looks like that will be my post surgery diet from what I can see. Is that about right? Any advice welcome. Cheers, Artinthebox

I've considered Keto but I've always done better by counting carbs. Years ago I lost 40 pounds by watching my carbs but eventually gained it back then decide to have the sleeve. I do not regret it, my only regret is that I didn't do it years ago. My nutritionist told me that with my strong desire for sweets that I should have a piece of sugar free chocolate everyday. I just need to discipline myself and only eat sugar free and low carb. I have come too far to turn back now!

Yes, it's carbs! I've now gone Keto and my weight loss has doubled per week. I'd only been taking in a small amount of carbs before changing but it's made a huge difference. My go-to YouTube doc for information on this is KenDBerryMD. Basically I stopped adding fruit to my morning green smoothie and never eat any at all (I take a Vit. C supplement and multi-vitamin), threw away condiments and salad dressings with sugar, and now add 1 tsp of coconut oil to my morning smoothie. Plus I love avocado. When I went through menopause (way before gastric sleeve surgery) I gained about 35 pounds over four months without eating more or differently - really kicked my b""" and was shocked how much weight I put on so quickly. It then took me six months to lose only 11 pounds prior to surgery. I can't do hormone replacement therapy due to having Hughes Syndrome. After surgery it's falling off me, thank goodness. Good luck, you can do this!

I watch carbs but am not strict keto and don't obsess over them. My program allows up to 70 g per day. However a lot of high carb foods cause pain and discomfort for me. I can't eat rice or pasta or chips. My stomach will hurt from those and it's not worth it. I also limit bread because it feels uncomfortable in my stomach. I can occasionally eat a slice of pizza and it's fine but a slice of bread is not.

As someone who is overweight I can tell you that you as a thin person who has been fortunate to never have dealt with a weight problem you don’t no how hard it is for your husband and you have an ignorant outlook on him just “doing a Keto diet “. Not every diet works for everyone and some people are not ready to make the commitment to change there life style . Pressuring like you are doing is not going to change things and actually you are more of a recipe for disaster than the lap band ever would be by trying to push weight loss on him. If he feels like he is ready for something like the band support him all the way. Food is an addiction which is over looked in our society. When a cocaine addict wants to go to rehab for addiction no one becomes unsupportive. Weight loss Surgery no matter which one is chosen should be supported and seen as a great tool. In all my opinion is support him or maybe you just are not right for each other anymore.

You really should have a long talk with a bariatric surgeon and nutritionist. But let me see if I can help. I will use gastric sleeve for explanations, since that is the surgery I have. This can also be applied to gastric bypass, but please know there is a lot more involved with a bypass than sleeve. I personally don't recommend lap band. Before you get weight loss surgery, you need to consult a physician and a nutritionist. You usually have a requirement of 6 months of nutrition counseling. During this time, the nutritionist prepares you for your post op diet. They start off giving you education on what you need to eat NOW. What you need to eat in your pre-surgery phase. And what to eat post op. A good program will have you continue nutrition counseling for AT LEAST a year post op, in which they will coach you through the stages of your post-op diet through until you reach maintenance stage where you are just maintaining your weight. During the pre-op period, you are also seeing specialists and getting testing for any problems that they may need to know about before your surgery. This includes a psych evaluation usually. And if you do have psych related issues driving you to eat too much, you should take this opportunity to deal with them. Many bariatric patients need counseling. Some need medications like anti-depressants or other psych medications. And some like me gained weight for other reasons (physical barriers). You will likely at least get an EKG if not a complete cardiac workup. You may need a sleep study to determine if you have sleep apnea like so many obese people do. If so, you will get treated for it. They will look for how you swallow, do you have a hernia in the stomach, and other issues affecting your surgery. Once you have jumped through the hoops and are treated for anything you need to be treated for... then you will be cleared for surgery (and no... ongoing counseling does not mean surgery will be delayed). With gastric sleeve, they remove 80% of your stomach, therefore for it immediately restricts how much food you eat. It also resets your metabolism and your hunger/full hormones. In the short term, yes your calories will be VERY restricted. But because you are seeing a nutritionist, they will help you know what to eat during each stage for optimal health. Water and protein first. Then healthy veggies. And you will learn to either not eat unhealthy carbs or eat very limited unhealthy carbs. It will be up to you to follow the recommended diet and stick with it. If you do follow directions, you will learn to eat frequent small but healthy meals every day. And over time, once you are closer to maintenance, you will start to eat larger portions, but sticking to healthy meals. Your nutritionist will guide you to ensure you do not go into starvation mode and that you eat a healthy amount of calories to maintain your weight. Most people do lose a little more than they need to early on... but then gain 20 pounds back and then maintain your weight there. The key is to stick to the recommended diet so that you don't KEEP gaining. You will also get blood work done every 3 months or so and have follow up appointments with your surgeon's office for at least a year. So, with the surgeon and nutritionist, you will be closely monitored. They will make sure you don't end up with vitamin deficiencies or other problems related to rapid weight loss. You will take daily vitamins and calcium as recommended. Your diet will be high in protein and low in carbs and fats. (So not really Keto... but many do keto post op). The carbs and fats you eat will be healthy carbs and fats if you stick to your diet. But this isn't a "diet" per-say... it is a lifestyle change. You are re-learning how to eat healthy. You are re-learning how to eat small to normal portions. And if you stick with it under nutritionist supervision, you will NOT go into starvation mode and you will not gain the weight back. Problem with all the fad diets is that there is no long term (psych) counseling, nutritional counseling, medical follow up. Most people eventually go back to their old ways. And gain everything back. If you are following the program with the bariatric team, they will help you prevent going back to your old ways. But seriously... only you can decide how successful you will be, based on your willingness to follow through. Again... if you need to, get counseling. See your surgeon and nutritionist regularly and follow their guidance. If you need CPAP for sleep apnea, wear it. If you need other medications, take them. Etc. I am 2 days shy of 6 months. I am at a NORMAL body weight. I am 6 pounds from my personal ideal body weight. I am following the recommendations of my team. And I can now eat double what I could 3 months post op and still maintain my weight and I am still losing a pound here and there. Again...talk to your bariatric team for better information, but bariatric surgery is a TOOL for weight loss. It is only successful if you follow your program. But it is also the best tool out there to reach your goals if you have dieted and failed in the past. But if you follow your program, they will give you additional tools to make you successful (nutrition and psych counseling are two of your best weapons... use them!)

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.

Trying to get information for my husband who is currently 300 pounds at 6'0" tall making his basic BMI calculation 40.7. He's tried dieting so many times over the years but always ends up higher than he started. When we first married 11 years ago he was VERY fit, muscular, and broad shouldered weighing about 190. Because of work stress, life stress, and bad eating habits he's now where he is today. Low carb/keto is how he prefers to diet. Right now he's considering the lap band to force him into losing the 100 pounds. He doesn't have an eating disorder that I know of, he just needs something to keep him straight that's more than just his mind. He says he plans to follow the strict plan with eating properly and exercising and then take it out after having it a year. And then from there continuing to keep a clean healthy diet and exercise regime. Other than sleep apnea, he doesn't have any other health issues that we know of. His blood tests all look good and other than being quite over weight he's healthy. Anyone else done this? What are the downsides? I know people don't like the lap band long term, but is this a better plan? We are fortunate to live in an area where there are many, many very good doctors and the ones here still do lap band. Was hoping he could use it as a tool to get to a healthy weight and then maintain from there. We have our first consultation next week. Would love thoughts from experienced people here. Thanks in advance!

I don't obsess about it, but I do try to keep to healthier foods just so I don't go down the "bad food" road again. My dietitian wanted me as close to ketosis as possible, but with my gallbladder out, it's *really* hard for me to do a true keto style diet. I eat a lot of lean meats, cheese, and veggies, but I also eat healthy carbs (mostly because I need fiber and fiber has carbs, boo). It's just low carb tends to be an easy way to lose weight and not do the random sugar spikes that make you hungry again quickly.

I never did - I put too much effort into developing decent dietary habits centered around a balance of high nutrition foods to toss that away in favor of the "flavor of the day" diet. People used to obsess over fat counts, and that did just as good as obsessing over carb counts. At the end of the day, you have to figure out what works best for you and go with it; otherwise, you just wind up chasing the diet of the day, What's next after keto? Does anybody still do Zone, or South Beach?

I have been following my surgeons fairly restrictive low carb eating plan for a month. No more than 10 carbs per meal. This past weekend I smelled some delicious pizza and almost cheated, but held strong and had my wife make me keto pizza. No problem. This morning however my Filipina wife made her fried bread she eats with her coffee and I cheated and had a small piece. Now you might be thinking this topic is going to be me crying over cheating. Its not. I don't regret it because after having it I realized it wasn't that great. I mean it tasted good but so does many of the low carb things I eat. That is me working through food addiction one step at a time. Thanks to wealth of information on here, I am progressing. Thanks to all of the posters on this forum.

Truly curious. My dietician and program is very moderate. It seems like a lot of people end up following something close to keto after surgery though. Wondering if anyone else here isn’t focused on carbs?

I managed to get 600-650 this week by eating small amounts more often. But then my fluid intake goes down. It's a hard line to walk. I don't count carbs really but have been having more fruits and vegetables. And I think it really helps energy. I don't follow low carb or keto of any of that. I try and eat wholesome foods as much as I can. Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

My doctor doesn't believe in keto as a long term successful way to eat. I agree with him and enjoy fruits and veggies and feel they are nourishing to my body. Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Why no Keto?