HI Y'all,

I wanted to do some research with REAL people instead of reading about it in some report.

I'm wondering how much weight (IF ANY) you have gained since being sleeved. I go up between 1-3 lbs. so my answer would be 1-5 lbs.

I'm curious to see how this goes.

Thanks!

I have wanted to get on a vegan diet for years. A good documentary to watch on Netflix is "Forks over Knives" and also "Engine 2 kitchen Rescue". Lots of impressive research and studies have been done proving this healthy way of eating. The only thing that has stopped me over the years is simply learning how to cook all over again. I do hope to transition to this eventually. I would love to know more!!

Well I'm hypothyroid too and I don't gain weight that easily. And guess what, I eat a plant based diet...no meat, dairy or eggs. Also no added oil to cooking. I live on beans, potatoes, rice, pasta, oats and lots of veggies and fruit. The trick is no added fats. I eat as much as I want. I also exercise. I don't gain on this way of eating and I also have a sleeves friend that follows the same and she too is very slim after 5 years.

The book "Engine 2 diet" has lots of great vegan recipes.

Yes, I watched Forks Over Knives and Engine 2 Rescue 2 years ago and that changed my mind about what I had been doing. I had been suffering with an anal fissure for over a year on the high protein lifestyle and just could not resolve it. When I went plant based it cleared up immediately and my cholesterol went down to below 150. A lot of things improved for me overall. I just feel great on this lifestyle. Very clean in the colon if you know what I mean. And the food prep is easy. I keep cooked rice, potatoes, beans etc. on hand for quick effortless meals.

Laurak I'd give my eye teeth to be able to eat rice and potatoes without being triggered to eat the whole damn refrigerator and cupboard (mine and yours) several times over. I think SOME of us carbaholics have tried that aporoach many times with the same dismal results. This don't mean we did it wrong. Just that it backfires on us. If i eat certain fruits i get so hungry (peach or plumb for example) i simply have no control over eating. If that had worked for me, i wouldn't have opted for a sleeve surgery. Im glad you found what works for you and hope it continues to bring u satisfaction

Yes, I definitely find myself eating all the time but I find that the calorie density of these foods is so low that I can't out eat my restriction. So what I'm saying is that my calories in a day stay low because of my inability to consume much volume at once.

Laurak712, i can and do ignore the pain and fullness and eat anyway.

Yes that was the point of my original post. Some people are eating around their sleeves and abusing food again. I've got 2 friends that have done this and have gained back every bit of their weight. One is 7 years out and the other is about 4 years out. Thy both are as big now as they ever were. There's no surgery to cure that problem I'm afraid. Basically, any diet works if you adhere to it.

So why did u need the surgery?

I got surgery to lose weight like everybody else. But somehow I was able to get over my food issues in the process. That's what this thread is about in the first place. Isn't it? I'm just trying to tell people what has worked for me as a veteran sleever. Some of us do lose AND keep off the weight. It is possible. I want to offer a ray of hope that is can work but only if we resolve our issues with food. I definitely don't want to put anyone down or hurt any feelings. So please don't take my posts that way. But I'm skinny and I have sleeved friends that are still skinny and I also have some for which the surgery failed.

I hear ya! But what i wish is a blue print showing us HOW to ' 'get over' FOOD ISSUES.

Perhaps you came off as harsh when you assumed others were eating "crap"

I would suggest that you diet should almost be its own topic that way those interested in it can discuss it there.

Happy you and others are doing great on it but that type of food causes issues in my body so I could not do that and I am like most others on this thread focusing on high protein.

Sorry...hit send prematurely. ..please don't suggest therapy. I think we all "been there, done (ir still doing) that." This outcome is exactly the one i feared before i went into the surgery. Remember all the joking posts about needing brain surgery not stomach. That had a hollow ring to it. Im glad i did it: experiencing more than i ever dreamed i could. But struggling like mad to just STAY THERE.

Samelton68...yeah that prickled.

@@reallyrosy

Blueprint?

Why would you assume we ALL have the same issues that led us to gain weight?

I'm dealing with my issues in therapy. No way would I tell you what your issues are -- or accept it (if you tried) to tell me that my issues were the same as yours.

I'm also pretty sure that the maintenance "diet" (calories, proteins, carbs, etc.) that work for Person X may not work equally well for Person Y.

So serious experimentation really is required to maintain well.

"Get WLS surgery and never have a weight problem again" is not the way it goes for almost anyone. I think you just have to keep figuring out what works for you -- food wise and behavior wise.

I'm sorry you think therapy couldn't help you or that it rings "hollow" to you. Just for the record (and the benefit of others reading this), my therapist has been quite helpful to me during the last 13-14 months. I started seeing him a few months before my own WLS (in August 2014).

I'll also say in response to your inferred question ("If eating less is the solution, why did we have the surgery?") that WLS gave me the opportunity to lose weight quickly and get back my ability to move my body a LOT more than I could pre-op. That extra movement alone adds hundreds of calories to my daily maintenance diet and gives me a much better fighting chance to maintain my weight than I could pre-op.

At the end of the day, no matter how we do it, weight loss and weight maintenance are not easy-peasy.