Seriously. If I Celebrate being able to eat pizza two months after surgery, someone please slap me. HARD.

One, my surgeon doesn't allow bread, Pasta, or crackers for six months after surgery.

Two, if I wanted to keep eating the foods that got me where I am today, I wouldn't be having the surgery.

When I was losing weight (before I reached goal) I was extremely regimented about what I ate.

Now that I have been at goal and below goal for 3 months I'm experimenting with what I need to eat to STOP losing weight. My nutritionist and exercise consultant and I did our respective calculations and figured out the very same thing: Our consensus is that at my current level of activity / exercise I can maintain at 145-150 pounds while eating 1,750 calories a day ON AVERAGE.

FTR, my daily menus now average a little over 100 grams of Protein a day and about 60 grams of fat. That means I need to eat about 200 grams of carbs a day to hit 1,750 calories. But the truth is I can't eat that much every day, nor do I feel like eating that much every day. And guess what -- I'm still losing weight very slowly (I'm now 5 pounds below goal).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that what works for most of us during the weight loss phase isn't the same thing that will work for all of us during the maintenance phase.

It's already clear to me (by listening to others who are in maintenance mode) that people's maintenance calorie budgets vary dramatically due to a variety of things that seem (and are) sort of unfair. Why can Person X eat more than Person Y and not gain weight? Will what works for me now work the same way for me two or four years from now?

Ultimately, it just is what it is. Each of us is a science experiment with only one subject in the experiment -- our self. We have to be willing to experiment and find out what works for us. It's absolutely ridiculous for me to tell you what will work for you. Or vice versa. Yes, there are principles that make sense which we should all follow. But I'm beginning to appreciate the longer I'm post-op that we can't all be handed a pre-written "Diet for Life" that will work for every single one of us.

I didn't feel this way at all during the first six months after WLS. But maintenance is teaching me some whole different lessons.

And please do not misunderstand that I'm advocating that patients go "hog wild" at any phase of weight-loss or maintenance post-op. That's neither what I'm advocating nor what I'm doing. I plan each day's menus and record every thing I eat and drink using www.myfitnesspal.com, so I'm not guesstimating about what I'm actually doing.

http://www.bariatricpal.com/page/articles.html/_/support/3-top-reasons-for-regain-after-weight-loss-surgery-r520

Great article. Thanks

Don't be so hard on yourself. slip ups happen, you are pre op right?! As long as you lose the weight you need to prior to surgery and follow the pre op diet (mine is 14 days) you'll be ok.

just to chime in, in my head i was celebrating normal food again only because i felt so left out of everything , picnics, parties etc. we as a society associate food with fun and friends and family (at least my society in my head) once i got food i didnt want it anymore, my tummy wasnt ready and I learned quickly. my nutritionist told me i could do thin crust veggie pizza with no cheese, tried it out at 6 weeks and had one piece and was full and satsfied, the next day i had another piece and my husband killed off the rest

my point i guess is one piece of pizza didnt ruin my loss or my energy, actually made me feel "normal" again. so yes i had pizza and yes in my head i celebrated it, even though i had the burps all night

the 248 lb me would have eaten a whole pepperoni pizza WITH breadsticks...so Celebrate if it makes you smile

Wow some of you guys have some interesting doctors. Mine said everything was fair game after about 6 months. The key is moderation which the band allows for.

Wow some of you guys have some interesting doctors. Mine said everything was fair game after about 6 months. The key is moderation which the band allows for.

My point is the "moderation" thing doesn't work with most people who have a history of obesity. You need to change your eating habits completely to be successful. Just eating the same foods you ate before in moderation may work in the honeymoon phase of weight loss, but will not work for long term success with maintenance.

I'm not saying to NEVER have pizza, ice cream, etc...but it needs to be balanced out with eating right the other 98% of the time.

I believe people who say they are going to eat the same things post surgery because they can eat less of it are fooling themselves, and are not willing to do the lifestyle change required to be successful in the long run. How many of us know someone who had surgery, any WLS, who had this mentality and may have lost all or some of their weight, but didn't keep it off? *Raises hand*

if i made a post that said slap me, the line would be out the door. lol

Seriously though i took a piece of this light whole 8 thousand grain bread and put some all natural Peanut Butter on it, you know the kind made out of just peanuts that you have to stir first etc. took one bite, and the pain from that bread expanding and the peanut butter sticking..taught me a lesson i wont soon forget.

Sometimes we have to experience that pain, to really reinforce our need to succeed.

I have to agree here, moderation is not the key, carbs in moderation wi make you moderatly fat. Sugar in moderation will make you moderately fat. you see how it works. Im not saying you cant have something bad-ish now and then , but dont eat a big mac ( as if i could fit one) and then complain, oh i cheated tee hee hee, no if you cheat once a week, then twice a week is easier, and pretty soon you fail.

Everything in moderation why we get fat. Think about it, you eat everything. But i too was in denial for so long I can understand why people stay that way.

@@Stevehud

I could EASILY eat a Big Mac. Might take me all day, but I could get 'er done

lol

@@Stevehud

I could EASILY eat a Big Mac. Might take me all day, but I could get 'er done

'Atta girl.

(I jest, of course).

I was never a junk or fast-food addict, but I have to say I have a soft spot for a McDonald's Double Quarter Pounder with cheese. Ooooooo. Haven't had any food like that since being banded 7 months ago, and curiously (and most delightedly!) I haven't missed it, either - my bod has turned off bread completely (hooray) because it STICKS and HURTS.

Hey, B.F. Skinner would be happy - negative operant conditioning at its finest.

Like you, if there were a gun to my head, and I was given an hour, I could *somehow* murder a double quarter. I'd get 'er done. lol!

What a fantastic thread this turned out to be. Thank you to each and everyone of you. I have been dieting for the past 15 years off and on and have managed to lose weight but now I am looking to get WLS. Last month I started my 6 month supervised diet toward the sleeve surgery. Reading this thread has taught me a lot about what the future might be like. I see mention of myfitnesspal and I am also over there. I would love to become friends with anyone here who is also over there. My id at MFP is ssbeadlady. I am all alone in this journey and sure could use friends in both places, so feel free to send me a invite as I have a very long journey.

Ditto on "slap me hard" !!!

What is wonderful about this surgery is that most of those old nasty foods which got us so fat are really not that tasty when the hunger is not there. I have almost no hunger, and almost all yearning for foods I crave is completely in my head. So much of my previous eating which got me so fat was tied to salty, fatty, carbs.... and I just don't get excited about that stuff.

When my hunger returns, I will have gone 9 mos to a year without eating those types of foods, and will have a good chance of eliminating them.

Gosh if I ate the things I ate before surgery in moderation, I might die lol. I look back now at what I ate and it's a wonder I was just obese. Everything was processed and fast food and out of a grocery freezer. I love to cook but I have no time for it. I will also have to learn how to cook new stuff. None of my favorite recipes are healthy. As I go through this initial phase, my Fsmily is feeding themselves for the most part. I am also learning to be more assertive in restaurants and getting them to bring me just what I need and what is allowed for me. I know this sounds crazy but learning how to eat out is key for me.

I wouldn't suggest eating pizza, however if that is something you are craving, improvise. You can make a chicken pizza so instead of dough, flat out chicken as the crust or cauliflower. Or better yet, put cheese on parchment paper and place your toppings on top ( turkey pepperoni is packed with protein) and bake in the oven. That way you will be getting Protein first and still satisfying what you want.

Good luck

just to chime in, in my head i was celebrating normal food again only because i felt so left out of everything , picnics, parties etc. we as a society associate food with fun and friends and family (at least my society in my head) once i got food i didnt want it anymore, my tummy wasnt ready and I learned quickly. my nutritionist told me i could do thin crust veggie pizza with no cheese, tried it out at 6 weeks and had one piece and was full and satsfied, the next day i had another piece and my husband killed off the rest

my point i guess is one piece of pizza didnt ruin my loss or my energy, actually made me feel "normal" again. so yes i had pizza and yes in my head i celebrated it, even though i had the burps all night

the 248 lb me would have eaten a whole pepperoni pizza WITH breadsticks...so Celebrate if it makes you smile

I so get this! The psych consult mentioned that this will change relationships and he clarified that everyone thinks it means "it will end my marriage" or something but food is SO much a part of how and when we connect in a real way with other people that not being able to eat changes things. My friends and I tend to meet up over a meal because that's when we had time to see each other in a busy week. When the surgery came up they said "we can find something else to do" which was a great intention that didn't really work out that way. So when I saw a broth based high Protein non spicy Soup on the menu of a friend's favorite restaurant (IE, normal food I could eat) I absolutely celebrated. I only had a few bites as I'm still learning what I can handle and got a bite that was too big in about the first 5 seconds but I enjoyed the crap out of that dinner. And the next day when I took the leftovers and cut them up into tiny pieces I enjoyed the crap out of the soup as I've basically been living on Protein drinks I hate as I'm having a really tough time with nausea. And next time I'll know to cut the soup up in the restaurant so I'll enjoy both the dinner and the food at the same time.

I'm not saying fast food and pizza didn't contribute to my weight - they're really easy gotos when you've been working until midnight and don't have food in the house and the stores are closed and you haven't had dinner and you have deadlines that make you feel guilty for taking the time to cook or shop anyway... drive through it is. But the reality is that I pretty much hate almost all fast food restaurants and my weight while definitely carb related is more a volume issue than a choice of food issue. However the knowledge that I can go to dinner with friends who have a hard time finding time for other things, or lunch with colleagues whom I'm still getting to know and build relationships with, and have a couple of bites of whatever is being had or at least soup from the menu.... That is something I'm happy about. Mind you people think I'm a little obsessed with soup, but the point is the same.