I'm really hoping I'm one of those whose taste in foods changes after surgery.

I'm six days post open and no changes yet. How long was it before you noticed a change in your food preferences?

Edited March 26, 201511 yr by Okiebon

I'm a little less than 4 months out and mine are starting to change but it's not drastic. I still like beef but now it has to be a lean cut or it just doesn't sound good to me. (e.g. A small filet mignon tastes great but a ribeye makes me gag.)

I can say with certainty though that ever since surgery I haven't wanted anything greasy or sugary. My sweet tooth used to be a real problem but now I don't need or want anything more than fruit to satisfy it. The thought of greasy fried food doesn't appeal to me at all now and even though I'll eat an occasional chicken wing it doesn't sit well in my stomach and I don't crave them. (I can only eat 3-4 max anyway instead of the 10-15 I used to eat.)

I think what makes it easy post surgery is the fact that food just isn't as appealing at all anymore. I Still get hungry and still want something that tastes good but when you are full after just a few bites no matter what you crave you get physically full fast and it's soo much easier to control yourself. (Especially when you get to solid food stages)

As weird as it may sound, if you are like me, after a couple months you will find that food can almost be a disappointment no matter what you eat. This feeling of disappointment seems to increase the further out I get but I just equate it my brain not yet being synchronized with my new stomach.

It was an immediate change for me, particularly in that sweets didn't taste good. I used to drink a lot of milk before surgery, and that was something I had to give up. Thought I'd really miss it, but I don't. I eat very little bread, rice, pasta, which were all staples of my diet before. I rarely think about those things these days. So, while my diet and habits changed, and that has seemed to stick for the most part, my aversion to sweets did not. I don't eat much that's sweet, but can definitely enjoy a piece of cake if I decide to do that.

I had some changes in taste immediately after surgery, but not a lot. I am finding the further out from surgery I get, the less I want to eat. Food just doesn't give me any satisfaction any longer. I just don't want to eat anything. Food is now just a necessity not an ooh that sounds great. Even if whatever food sounds great, it doesn't taste nearly as great as I thought it would.

Edited March 26, 201511 yr by Luvin_Life125

After my surgery, my hospital meals consisted of chicken broth, Jello (tasted like regular not sugar free) , Apple juice and chamomile tea with one packet of sugar.

I would savor that last sip of tea where the sugar had pooled, and the jello - oh so good. My diet has been almost the same the two days I've been home, except I've had no tea and the jello is sugar free, which never has tasted as good to me.

I hope so badly that those tastes change soon. Sweets are my downfall. I'd be so relieved if they no longer tasted the same to me.

Wow all of it sound good but also makes me a bit uneasy, so do you think it is possible to develop some kind of aversion to food in general on the long run? A few years ago I managed to lose a lot of weight and it was because I just couldn't stand food, I could spend more than a day without a bite (not feeling like running a marathon of course), I felt happy because of the lost weight but it was really uncomfortable and dangerous I think. Do you think it is possible that something like that happens after the surgery?, I was sleeved just a week ago

The one thing I've noticed is in general the foods I'm eating TASTE better. Part of it is making healthier choices but I think just as important is eating slowly. You can actually taste your food, because you're not just shoveling it down. My first real meal out to eat was Salmon. I was never a fish eater but I knew I could mash it with my fork so I tried it. It was amazing. I kept repeating myself in conversation how good it was. Went out to dinner again and tried beef short ribs. I swore up an down it was the best meal I've eaten in my life. That's the big change I've had so far. Eating slowly, tasting and enjoying my food.

Also, not that I had a major one, but I have no desire for sweets. Last night was my wife's birthday and I saw the cake and had some head hunger but didn't crave it.

Pretty much immediately, but only for some things and it would change...

The only change I experienced is that I didn't need foods that were overly-spicy, overly-fatty, overly-sweet, or overly-salty. I enjoyed the blandness of many foods with minimal spices. I think that was due mostly to being on a four-week liquid diet (two weeks pre-op and two weeks post-op) that reset my palate so that I didn't need to be inundated with any flavor to enjoy it.

I have yet to find a food I dislike post-surgery, though I now love cottage cheese and tofu, but didn't care for them pre-op.

I've only tried one piece of fried chicken and it was delicious, but a bit overwhelming. I've tried a few bits of bread and potato...delicious. I tried a small piece of bundt cake that was great. I haven't tried anything intensely sugary and don't really care to. I find artificial sweeteners are fine, though I know many people don't like them.

Immediately for me, but my taste did seem to improve over time. My issues are with consistency and density of food now vs. taste. Some really dense Proteins like eggs taste good, but they sit in my stomach forever. I wasn't a fan of red meat and steak pre-surgery, but absolutely love it now. On the other hand, I loved chicken before and now I can take it or leave it. BTW, I'm 4.5 months post-surgery.

I'm just over 3 months out and in some ways my tastes have definitely changed.

One thing I've noticed is that I'm very sensitive to very salty foods in a way that I wasn't before. I made a recipe the other day and thought it was painfully oversalted. My parents didn't think it was too salty at all. I also noticed that some cheese are just way salty for me now. Especially sharp cheddars. The only kind of cheese I've ever turned my nose up at before was Brie and Blue cheese crumbles. Now that is definitely changing. I haven't had it since surgery, but just the IDEA of Feta cheese now makes me cringe. And I used to love it before.

I also noticed that certain things just don't "sit well" in my stomach so even if I might like them, I just avoid them now. Salads are still hard. I've barely tried any and don't look forward to it at all. Yogurt... even almond milk. (I am determined to try almond milk again though. I gave it up less than 2 weeks out from surgery.)

I don't think much else has changed. But the thing is... I have been told by my dietitian that I just can't have many foods that I was allowed to have before, and that are a staple of most people's diets. -- Bread, oatmeal (steel cut is okay but I haven't had any), potatoes of any kind, rice, crackers, pasta, sweets, chips, tortillas/wraps, corn, beans (except edamame). I'm not missing them though, which is a good thing. But the things I'm limited on were not things that were "favorites" before except for wild rice and sweet potatoes. I kind of miss hummus and occasionally I'll walk by something sweet in the grocery store and think "oh I wish I could have a bite of that!" But because I am not even allowed to have them, I don't even know if it's something I'd like now! Maybe one day I'll find out. (Or maybe I won't. I'd be cool with that.)

I do feel like sometimes we just get "used to" a taste and if we go a long time without having it we realize it's not as good as we remember. I am sure that's going to be the case with many things. I don't foresee myself going back to my old way of eating, so I will probably rarely have these types of foods, and maybe I just won't like them the next time I try them.

Edited March 26, 201511 yr by heynowkc

Almost immediately. I remember being in the hospital after the operation and I found that I could not even drink the water. The water tasted extremely clorinated. Even when I arrived home, (spring-like) water did not taste good anymore and I had to flavor it in order to drink it. The first time I added ketchup to some food, it tasted like I added hot sauce. Months later, I found seafood (crab legs) dripped in butter to be totally tasteless. It was hard to find anything that tasted good to eat. Eventually I discovered mixing food groups such as in chili and soups gave the meal some flavor.

I don't think my taste buds ever changed, but my cravings certainly did. Once I was back on solid foods at 40 days post-op, my instinct was to go ahead and try some of my old favorites. However, without being able to eat in the same volume as before, I found it to be much less satisfying. I was a binge eater pre-op and when I craved pizza, I would eat an entire pizza. When I graved Doritos, I would eat half a bag. When I craved ice cream, I would eat the whole pint. Post-op, I tried to satisfy my cravings, but I was only able to eat a tiny amount of my go-to foods. It did not give me the same feeling of contentment as it had before, because I could eat so little. Eventually, my body and brain figured out that those foods weren't going to satisfy me anymore and I stopped craving them.

I am 10 months out. For me, my food preferences didn't really change, but for a while I found food disappointing. I could eat so little at a sitting that I felt unsatisfied, even though I was full. Now that I can eat almost a cup at a meal, I'm back to enjoying all my foods. I have had stuffing on Thanksgiving and cake on my birthday. They still tasted great. I have to watch out. I have to use my brain when I make my food choices, not my appetite.

This has been an absolutely fabulous read for me. One of the best things I've learned in my forced 6 months of education time is that WLS is a VERY personal journey. No one has the same experience. It's been kind of frustrating to not find many hard and fast answers, but it's also great to read about the depth abnd breadth of experiences others have had!

I'm hoping my tastes change like many others have to find anything sweet to be unappealing. Sweets are my major downfall.

@@Okiebon - My taste hasn't changed. I pretty much eat everything I did before just in smaller portions.