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5 years ago today was my VSG. Pre-op, I purposed myself to be THE perfect patent, to do everything as I was told to, to follow ALL the directions and do great. and, I did. I lost about 85 lbs of weight and loved life. However, I had a very gentle carb creep and hardly noticed it. Then, one night at work I thought it might be ok to have some watered down diet soda, and that was the beginning of a pretty big spiral downward. I regained in the neighborhood of 35 lbs. It took a pretty major health scare to get me back on track about 20 months ago. I got back on track, went strict Keto, and have lost my regain. I've still got about 25 lbs to go before I'm ready for my plastics, but what a 5 year journey it has been. I left my career path, took a completely new position in my field, went to night shift, went back to grad school, graduated, changed jobs again, went back for post-grad studies, lost a parent, and have come full circle with my career. What a journey. I am forever grateful that I had my surgery. People often ask me "if you lost weight on Keto, why didn't you just do that in the first place"? But they have no idea of my health pre-op, or the battles I faced without my surgery. I would do it again in a blink. I still consider myself a WLS patient, and will ALWAYS identify as a WLS patient. I talk to others about it, and I wanted to share my journey with you.

OK, when I first was struggling with keto diet 15 months ago, I had ordered some protein powder to make protein shakes with. Flash forward to today, I ended up finding premier protein shakes ready to drink and got a good subscribe and save deal via Amazon. Now I'm scheduled for gastric sleeve surgery on 7/1/19 and am taking stock of what I can still use that I had ordered before but never opened. I have choc celebrate protein powder - expired as of Feb 2019 and I think a cookies and cream one that 'expired' Dec 2018. We all kind of learn what we can/cannot use, taking our own risk of course, throughout adulthood but when it comes to protein powder, I have no idea if it's a definite 'MUST TOSS' as it could cause all kinds of problems or...'CAN STILL USE'. Anyone have any experience with this? Since the one that expired as of 'Feb 2019', well NONE of them have ever been opened...I am SO TORN.

I have said this many times and it should be a pinned post somewhere....You are detoxing from Carbohydrates and you will feel like crap for approximately 2 weeks. Once your body recognizes that the carb storage has been depleted, you will then go into ketosis and start burning body fat for energy. You will begin to feel much better, most likely better than when you were eating tons of carbs. This is also why it is important to keep up with your protein intake, so you don't start to lose lean muscle mass. Feel free to google "Keto Flu". Hang in there, you'll get through it. Keep drinking water and protein and if you're getting headaches, replenish your electrolytes. I drink some pedialyte from time to time.

I too am experiencing severe episodes of reactive hypoglycemia. I’ve been hospitalized 3 times in the last 2 months. My sugar drops rapidly. It’ll go from 60 to 37 in minutes. Assigned to an endocrinologist team my last hospitalization and have now been prescribed Acarbose & a told to eat 6 small meals, high protein some fat & no more than 30 grams of carbs each meal. Just started med yesterday and concentrating very hard on following diet. It’s basically the keto & I could stand to loose about 10-15 lbs so I’m eager to try this. I’m wearing a freestyle glucosemeter (no pricking) to help track sugar & bump it up before I start feeling the symptoms. I’m also carrying glucose tablets to bump it up quickly. I have an appointment next week with endo to discuss progress & decide if anything additional or different needs to be done. I pray that something can be done because living with this has turned my life upside down. I’m afraid to drive long distances; lots of confusion; no interest in usual activities and also depression has set in. I feel awful that I’ve put my family through this worry simply because I chose to have the surgery. But I would have it all over again if given the choice of being very unhealthy & obese and my life as it is now. I just have to remember that and I’ll get through this! Sorry for being long winded. I just felt if anyone would understand my feelings it would be my fellow bypass friends. Take care, I’ll keep all posted as I go thru this. 😊

So you haven't even had the surgery yet! I used the same excuse- Keto diet during my pre-op diet. How long have you been on a pre-op diet for? I find it so odd how long it takes for the approvals from insurance. I feel like mine was done in no time. I'm not worried about the kids, I'm more concerned with the other staff members. I teach in a very toxic environment- A teacher might come to you being supportive but behind your back she will say very mean things.

I said I was doing a modified Keto diet, and I just wasn't hungry with it. I only had a few very funny happenings. Toward the end of the year, one of the students asked if I was dying as I kept getting smaller. Another thing that happened to me was my stomach was growling all of the time. During state testing when everyone was absolutely quietly working on their tests off would go my stomach for about 2 minutes. They were used to it so they tried to not laugh. When I told them I had to lose weight for health reasons they were very supportive, unusual for middle school students! Good luck!!! I'm now waiting for my insurance approval.

I totally understand wishing you'd had the surgery early. I've always been a painfully slow loser due to PCOS and it's so frustrating to see people losing 25+ pounds the first 2 weeks while I lost 15 and am hitting the 3 week stall early. If one more person says something about "well people with a higher starting weight lose more" to me I will scream. I was 282 on the day of surgery. That's a pretty damn high weight. I had someone tell me my weight loss on the pre op diet was "slower than keto" and I laughed because I've never had rapid weight loss on keto and my pre op weight loss was exactly the same to the amount I lost on keto in the same time. I wish I'd had surgery at a lower weight so my goal didn't seem so far away.

Thats my reasoning for this too. So many medical issues. I go up and down in weight and i was down to 178 with Keto but I don't eat red meat and do not really care so much for other meats. So my weight went back up when I went off it and my dr said I did more harm than good and was just diagnosed diabetic. So that was it for me. It really isn't anyones business, you are so right.

Hi guys. Just an update. I' back on track. I'm at 97 kg now. I am muslim so i fasted through the month ramadan (6 may - 3 june). It did wonders for me. Lost a total of 10 kg in that month. Still 12 kg to go. I think within 6 - 8 months it should be possible for me. Also the Keto diet helped me alot. I advise this to everyone who is stuck on a plateau. Thanks for the reactions. Bye

I basically eat keto every day so I’ll be more than happy to do this with you. I’ll start logging again and post my food logs. This will be a great exercise for this week.

Also: I've convinced hubby to try out Keto with me! Anyone want to join? I mean, we're pretty much all following some kind of LCHF/LCHP diet anyway 😂 TBH I'm kind of scared about consuming more fat, but I'm MORE scared about how quickly carbs started to creep back into my diet... so I'm going to try to eliminate them entirely. Sounds like a 'carnivore' diet can be reasonably good for head problems/depression, and I have eczema/skin issues too, that might benefit from the extra fat (I'm having particular problems around my sugar glider wings and side boobs... thanks, loose skin!)

Vets- I need some opinions (although typically i'm more than willing to give my own)...I am 5 years post VSG. I did good overall, losing about 85 lbs. Then, I had major life issues and had some regain. Had some ugly health news about 2 years ago, did Keto and lost my regain. I'm cycling on/off keto for the last few months and maintaining, but find that i have serious sugar cravings occasionally. I have some screenings coming up for the said health issue and REALLY want to get myself back on track and wondering if a short-term reboot using my pre-op diet is a better option than just going back to Keto? Strict keto for me is basically meat, eggs, fat, green veg. Might be a stupid question but I would love some opinions.

I finally used Keto Diet and also, that my allergies had flared up. Anyone who has known me very l9ng would know I have fought quite a battle with them in the past. One semi- friend told me if I had completed my series of allergy shots, I wouldn't have any problems! The fact that when I was terminated from my job and lost that insurance, I had no money to continue, did not enter into her mind. Perhaps she thought my pretty face would be enough payment. So to her I let my allergist take the blame instead of my bariatric surgeon. Oh if she had been a nicer type I MIGHT have told her the truth. There are people I have been totally honest with but MY LIFE-MY BUSINESS - if you are not paying for it, you are not required to KNOW ANYTHING! As Edith Anne on Laugh- in and Manny Yocum from Little Abner have said" I HAS SPOKEN!"

On the Keto diet, because basically you are and because of that your tolerance for carbs and sugar are really low. As for the days off due to surgery tell them it was something personal. I was a teacher and had the band over summer and said nothing except to a few friends, they were worried because I was dropping weight quickly. Then one day one the meanest girls in the class said, you know we notice are you dying or something? I assured her I wasn't.

I agree with this totally. Many of us have experienced regain and lost the regain by getting our heads right again. It's easy to fall off track after some time and almost forget that you are a WLS patient, but that should always be part of who you are! The only true way to know if there's stretch is to have an EGD or a barium swallow. Most bariatric surgeons will tell you that a sleeve can't truly stretch because of the basic muscle type involved. I went back to my NUT, went back to the psychiatrist, went full on Keto and lost my regain. For ME, It was really about getting out of my own head, finding what I know works, and getting back to work.

Keto (ish) Mug cake (sugar free) 1/4cup unsweetened cacao (100% cocoa) ,1 egg, 1tsp half & half, 1 pinch of baking powder, sugar sub to taste Microwave 60-90 seconds Im trying to find new ways to show my BF to microwave cook LOL but of course i had to try one too! Before and after 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Except here's the thing. You had sleeve. We had gastric bypass. We can't add in those carbs needed for stuff like HIIT without getting dumping. My friend who had the sleeve can eat cake and feel fine. I would be dead on my butt for four hours sweating and puking. I can't even tolerate one bite of wheat bread. Bypass patients are forcibly on a ketogenic diet since we can't have carbs or fat. My ketone levels are through the roof simply because I can only eat keto-friendly things. I am almost 8 months out and still not supposed to really have peas and that sort of thing because of the starch. We're supposed to add in those things veryyyy slowly. My trainer wants me at 100g of protein a day and 100g of carbs. My dietitian says I shouldn't be anywhere near 100g of carbs yet - that's usually between 12-18 months. She agrees with the protein, but acknowledges it will be difficult. We agreed on 90g of protein a day. I still can't physically get in more than 50g of carbs a day without being full and/or sick. So, doing weights and squats and everything OP is talking about - she isn't nutritionally ready for. It is essentially just eating the muscle you are trying to gain because of such a severe deficit. There's nothing wrong with being safe and waiting a few more months to incorporate the gym into the routine.

I like Crazy Richard's PB no added sugar, just peanuts (incase sugar affects you poorly) https://www.crazyrichards.com/product/creamy-peanut-butter/ My body fat is around 27 (measured from a couple of months ago) @ms.sss your carbs are still (keto level?) low, you may continue to lose with those macros @sillykitty during my drop from the 170s to the 150s my looks fell apart too 😥 when i got down to 150 i looked absolutely gaunt. I look decent at 155, I'm still mad i can't spot target weightloss @Healthy_life2 thanks for the meal plans... I am totally interested in switching things up a little

Have you made any Cloud Bread? Know others on Keto have made it and several videos on You-Tube give the directions.👼

Hi Danie! I am only a few weeks ahead of you so I can offer my thoughts on what the first couple of weeks will look like for you. The first time I went to a restaurant was 15 days post op. If I'd gone before that, I'd probably have been super annoyed because there'd have been nearly nothing I could order. Though, depending on the situation I suppose you could (not that you'd want to) go to a Panera and order something like chicken soup and then only eat the broth. It would just be a real bummer. I ate out with a friend that does not know I've had the surgery just two weeks post surgery. We went to a breakfast place and I had coffee until my food arrived, the just set it aside and never took another sip. No one seemed to notice this at all. For food, I ordered a scrambler (scrambled eggs, veggies, cheese) and asked for cottage cheese instead of hash browns. When they asked what toast I wanted I just said wheat, knowing full well I'd take it to go & crumble it up for the birds. At this stage, it just felt like the easier option than refusing toast. Food arrived, I probably ate 1/4 or 1/3 of the eggs. And honestly it wasn't a big deal. I said to my friend I went low carb & was cutting back. She ordered a pile of sugary crepes and enjoyed them. It didn't bother me in the least to see someone else eating something yummy. Already at this point, eggs and cheese is heaven for me. I've heard people mention that waitress will be like "is your food okay" when you eat less than half of it. It's fine. So much of it is your body language and how you handle it on your end. For me for this meal, I probably had my fork in my hand for a good long while as we were yapping and eating & I was pacing myself. But also, it probably looked like I was still picking at it. Eventually the waitress asked if I wanted a box. No big deal. At one point my friend was like, oh wow I just ate this entire plate and you've not eaten nearly as much. I super casually was like "oh I had a protein shake this morning." Honestly the girl had no clue and I flat out told her many times last year that I wanted to have gastric sleeve. Admittedly, I'm sure I said it flippantly and she didn't take me THAT seriously, but the thing is... no one pays any damn attention to anything but themselves most of the time. Example, even when she noticed that she'd cleared her plate & I hadn't. That wasn't about ME, it was about her. She was (I'm assuming) thinking crap did I just wolf that down? So for sure, you can fake it through a meal if you don't want people to know. Say you just ate or you've gone KETO. Whatever. As far as trying to make you eat more - there will ALWAYS be situations. It's really up to you to say no. My own damn mother (who knows I had this done & how hard I'm trying) showed me a recipe last week for something she loves that's low carb. I looked at it and said "looks great, but too many calories for me at this stage." Today she stopped by my house and brought me a container of the same thing I just last week told her no on. I told her to take it right back out the door with her. When you're in a 500-700 calorie a day phase, you will guard those calories fiercely.

I understand, every step forward my body fights me and sends me reeling backwards. It’s like climbing a steep cliff. I have many diagnosis and many unanswered symptoms. It took what feels like most of my life fighting with my weight before I could take this step. I had a tbi as a child, severe migraines, though I haven’t had seizures I can understand your predicament. Have you ever tried the Keto diet to help with seizures. I studied a lot when I was first diagnosed. Food as medicine. Something about the high fat, low carb, controlled protein can help. It’s been used as a medical treatment since the 1920’s. Also low dose CBC oil for epilepsy has been shown to be the one true scientifically proven medical use for CBD. I took so many vitamins, herbs and supplements that I researched to no true benefit to me. High fat, low carb, moderate protein worked ok for me until it didn’t between metabolic disorders and hormone imbalances and surgery. It gets exhausting when battling with obesity is a daily thing. Some part of me feels like this is punishment , having the surgery. I thought I was doing the best I could and it wasn’t enough. I wouldn’t have gotten this far had my mother not been my advocate and at times almost like an interpreter talking to doctors, making phone calls, dealing with the insurance and all the hoops you have to jump through. Being autism spectrum, I deal with sensory overload, it gets worse the more fatigued I am. it takes too many words to try to find the ones That make sense and to say what I want to say. Don’t be afraid, step into it knowing that you are doing what you feel you need to do. My brain works differently. I don’t see ahead, I see the moment I am in. I didn’t think about the surgery until I was there. When the surgery date came up I didn’t think of the after. Just getting through the day. Probably not a good way to think but it’s how my brain works. I just knew it was either do this surgery and risk everything or give up ... I hope you can find the road to what helps you most , christine

Hi, I'm almost 4 months VSG. I'm going on a cruise in 2 weeks. Can anyone suggest a keto friendly drink? (Alcoholic) Sent from my Moto Z3 Play using BariatricPal mobile app

All diet plans and surgeries fail if you eat over your weight loss/maintaining calories/macros. Sorry you are feeling anxious. Your surgery is going to be a great tool to help keep you on track. This will be different than other diet attempts. We are adults. Learn your bariatric basics. Find a long-term sustainable plan that works for you. Call it what you want, we are all on a diet. (Dietitians plan, vegan, keto, intermittent fasting, low carb paleo…. the list goes on) If you choose keto, don’t eat over your calories/macros. If you choose your medical professionals plan, Dont eat over your calories and macros.

The primary question here is,,,why? What do you hope to accomplish with it? If keto is something that you are already doing and like, and makes sense for you to keep doing it for the foreseeable future, then yes, you can do keto after surgery and it will work as well as anything. If you are hoping to adopt it because of a belief that it will improve your WLS performance, then forget it. Summerset, above, has the right idea that the WLS by itself is plenty strong enough on its own. Looking back 20-30 years, patients were often told to just "eat like you always did, just less..." and it worked! For a while. Of course, eating like what got them fat in the first place didn't prevent them from gaining weight again in the longer term. But this does illustrate one of the big powers of your WLS - that it is relatively insensitive to what style of diet is used that first six months to a year when we are losing rapidly. Low carb diets that are popular today work just as well as yesterday's low fat diets. This means that we can concentrate on learning how to eat for long term health and weight control rather than promised quickie weight loss followed by inevitable regain that we get from the various fad diets. In the non-WLS world, diets fail 95+ percent of the time when you look out beyond a year, as people either hit diet fatigue and fall back on old habits, or they may actually get down to a normalish weight, and then regain as they fall back into old habits. The same thing happens with WLS, only it usually takes longer given the lingering restriction that we have - but the weight can come back over time if we don't learn how to keep it off, and most diets don't teach that.

This is my current concern and project. I noticed when I got to goal that weight had stop coming off my waist quite a while ago. And my pear/hourglass shape was gone. Way to much weight was still around my waist and my backside was a unsightly, malformed, and mostly gone mess. My theory is this is due to lower female hormones due to my age, 47. I wanted to lose a few more pounds but was afraid my body would continue it's current distribution of loss and I would look even worse. I'm now doing keto, upped the cardio, taking certain supplements, and added bioidentical estriol, and progesterone in over the counter cream form. I'm also doing more exercises to build muscle and increase my backside. It's early yet I think it's working . I've only lost a couple of more pounds but some has come off my waist. I haven't had any problems with clothing and look pretty good fully clothed. You probably just need to spend time shopping and trying on clothes to see what looks good on you now.