So I did not end up falling into the crowd of people who claim they now find some foods totally gross and difficult to even ponder. Not even one. I think I have pre-surgery eyes, and well, a three-month post-op sleeve. I feel like this could cut either way...

On the one hand, unaltered taste buds and a resulting appetite (even with dramatically reduced ghrelin production) that really doesn't differ from pre-surgery hunger levels, at least if you wait long enough to eat, coupled with conscious bariatric diet adherence could cause your brain to resist and reverse all of your efforts to reach a healthy weight, since it still senses deprivation, even though the ghrelin language is no longer available. It can presumably play with your emotions and your stability, not to mention complete obliterate your metabolism, unless you, so to say, put your money where your mouth is and provide the foods about which you are ruminating.

On the other hand, having unchanged tastes could be a blessing in disguise. Unless we are talking about blatant slider foods that provide no satiety, I feel that providing small amounts of all the things that keep coming to mind, assuming they are appropriate for one's stage of the post-op progression, trick your brain into thinking you are still overeating, just like it wants you to. I think this is the main benefit of the sleeve...a mechanism that cooks the books and lies to your brain about its calorie finances, which will keep it fooled as long as you are eating the stuff that keeps coming to mind. In other words, you brain can sense the presence or lack of certain types of foods, but cannot accurately sense the calorie value of them...it just assumes it is as high as it was before. Your metabolism may even increase with weight loss (up to a certain point) in the way it did when you overate in the past (assuming you hadn't just done a diet from which your body was attempting to recover), except that your brain is now spending calories it won't actually get back.

Does anybody else find this latter scenario working for them? Again, I am not trying to encourage people to give old, unhealthy habits another look, but as to foods that actually promote satiety (non-slider), I have found that small amounts are perfect to avoid derailing completely.

I haven't noticed a change in taste buds. In fact the other difference for me post sleeve is the amount for me. I do have to watch slider foods though. However the weight loss from the surgery acts as positive reinforcement for me. The rest is just common sense. Anything I know I would binge on, I don't keep in the house. It's just that simple. I also think increased food allergies works in my favor. Once I realized food is not my friend. Food can not only make me really sick, it can quite literally kill me. Knowing that made it easy to stay away from things. Soda is in my mind poison. I don't drink it, don't miss it and never crave it.

Not sure if I answered your question, but that's my 2 cents.

I haven't had many noticeable changes, with the exception of cold cuts and tuna. No Bueno. And I can no longer tolerate chewable bariatric Vitamins or vanilla Protein shakes.

The real change for me, besides quantity, is the total cut off from bread, rice, and other carbs, diet soda, sweets, etc. I almost feel like I should have some sort of bariatric chip or marker to go along with it to mark how long I've been clean.

But you know the longer I abstain the better I feel. Yes, sometimes I battle cravings, but I finally feel like I have the upper hand with surgery and that's amazing. Plus it definitely gets easier. For once my body and I are working towards the same goal, instead of it feeling like I'm swimming against a riptide.