Do WLS patients ultimately go back to eating anything?

[reachbree 140]

This is an honest question. Most of the people I know who have had this surgery eat whatever they want just smaller portions and of course they may not be able to tolerate everything they had before.

By my understanding this is not how this surgery is supposed to work for you by just causing you to eat smaller portions and BAM your weight drops. A big part of it what you put in your mouth no matter how much or little it is.

Ive been going to the NUT visits and being taught that the pre and post diet is pretty much the way I should be eating the rest of my life, a lifestyle change. That's really what I'm trying to prepare myself for because i know if I ever went back to my old habits..my weight would increase FAST.

Is it that they begin eating other foods when they've gotten to their ideal weight and they want to maintain or even gain a little?

[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

Are you having the sleeve or the band?

[JamieLogical 8,684]

It depends on the type of weight loss surgery you have. With gastric bypass, many patients never go back to eating any sort of sweets, as they can cause "dumping syndrome". With lap-band some foods can more easily become "stuck", making them a no-no. With sleeve, barring any new, post-op sensitivities, you can go back to eating anything eventually. I had sleeve and I can eat almost anything. bread or crusts with yeast fill me right up and don't leave room for anything else, so I rarely eat them. And raw vegetables make me burpy, so I stick to cooked veggies if I have any at all.

[Bufflehead 6,358]

With two minor exceptions, I can eat anything I want. I.E., it will not make me throw up, feel queasy, break out in hives, etc. The truth is that unless I stick to a high Protein, low carb way of eating FOREVER I will gain back the weight that I lost. "Just choose to eat smaller quantities" or "eat what you want in moderation" is not a concept that works for me. Why it doesn't work is irrelevant and I try not to worry about it -- I just have to deal with the fact that it doesn't work (for me) period, full stop, end of sentence.

[4MRB4PHOTO 3,899]

Quick answer: Yes.3

Some people with the bypass may experience "dumping syndrome" as some people with the sleeve may end up with "heartburn" from certain foods. Outside of that most people can eat the same foods they ate before the surgery.

Given that, we need to change how we eat as much as much as how much we can eat.

This is a lifetime commitment requiring a lifestyle change. If people after WLS continue to eat junk food all the time and don't follow a recommended dietary plan, they can gain the weight back.

Not all calories are created equal (The U.S. Constitution only guarantees that all people are). We all need to make healthy choices (an occasional treat is ok, healthier choices of occasional treats are even better).

[JamieLogical 8,684]

Well, now I feel like I need to make a distinction between "can" and "should". It sounded to me like the OP was asking if WLS patients are physically capable of eating any type of food eventually. And the answer to that question is "yes", with the few potential exceptions already mentioned.

If we want to get into a discussion about what a WLS patient SHOULD eat long-term, that's a whole other topic.

[AvaFern 3,516]

I have a sleeve and in theory yes, a patient should be physically able to eat whatever they want once they are healed after surgery. Medically there is not a limit that says you can't have Pasta or you can't drink beer. In my case, my stomach hates food that has oils, some sugars, fats, anything that has been anywhere near a fryer, and a variety of other things like fish and cheese. If I eat these things I can usually count on puking within a few minutes. Past that though, throughout the entire time I have had the sleeve I have eaten what I want to and it sort of irks me when people get on their high horse about how if you have a sleeve you should be eating Protein, veggies, and healthy stuff all the time. No, I did not have my stomach cut out so I could spend the rest of my life on the same diet I was on for the first part of my life. My problem has never been that I don't eat healthy food, just that I ate way too much of it. So now, I'll have oatmeal and granola for Breakfast, just like I used to, except i heat 1/2-1/3 the bowl instead. I'll have a handful of crackers as a snack now, instead of eating the whole box. I'll have a lunchable for lunch, except eat only half of it. I basically eat whatever I want to with far smaller portions and I have not had a hard time maintaining at my goal weight.

That being said, "whatever I want to" is not ice cream, pizza and beer. All of that makes me sick anyway, so that was helpful. I noticed that I can eat some Desserts and that was the one thing that resulted in almost instant weight regain. So now, I don't eat sweets. If I am at a birthday party, I might have a few bites of cake, or if I am at a picnic I have no problem eating a few bites of pie, but I don't bring it into my house because then I will eat it all and gain weight. There isn't anything that is strictly off limits for me if I want to eat something and I don't mind puking, however because I'm not limited I have no real great desire to eat stuff that ultimately just makes me feel crummy.

So, no, if you want to eat all the same food you used to in far smaller portions, then go for it. If you can maintain your weight loss doing this, then good for you. 1200 calories is 1200 calories...sure we feel better if we eat that in Protein and healthy food and our health is much better, but if you have a day where you eat 1200 calories in donuts every once in a while, so what. Life is for living, not for choking down chicken and broccoli everyday for the rest of your life.

[Ronjohn 84]

Well, now I feel like I need to make a distinction between "can" and "should". It sounded to me like the OP was asking if WLS patients are physically capable of eating any type of food eventually. And the answer to that question is "yes", with the few potential exceptions already mentioned.

If we want to get into a discussion about what a WLS patient SHOULD eat long-term, that's a whole other topic.

They should pin this somewhere.

[rastus 35]

This is an honest question. Most of the people I know who have had this surgery eat whatever they want just smaller portions and of course they may not be able to tolerate everything they had before.

That has been my sleeve experience to a T.

As I have said a number of times some stuff I liked before, I don't now & stuff I didn't like [milk is one] are now good.

Someone else mentioned greasy food like fries plus horrible Aussie sausages & the smell of these @ a cookout etc.make me gag. I think it may all be in the head?

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

I am 4 years post sleeve and maintaining.

I can eat anything but I choose to manage my diet fairly compliant with the basic sleever rules. Protein first, diverse veggies next and minimize carb type food. Junk food or essentially empty calories and carbs are ok occasionally but not very often.

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

I reread and I think i missed your actual question - about portions vs the WHAT you eat.

On a different forum there is a man who is a pretty big person and espouses the eat what/when/how much you want and the sleeve will restrict you enough to keep the weight off. As a 51 year old female, that has not been my experience.

I have radically changed my dietary lifestyle along with the Portion Control. The sleeve helped get the ball rolling and freed me from the 24/7 drive to eat.

I experiment and have learned how to manage hunger etc. Via food choices.

I lost over 150 and am currently 5 pounds under goal but a little heavier than my all time low.

[Rogofulm 2,440]

As the others have said, with the sleeve we CAN eventually eat pretty much anything we want. But that doesn't mean we is not the same as SHOULD. In order to succeed, you'll need to stay away from starches and sweets. Seriously! Wrap your head around that fact and you'll do better. I told myself early on that, "Resisting certain foods isn't nearly as hard as losing the weight they would cause me to gain." (It's kind of the opposite of my tag line.) And I promise, the longer you stay away from starches and sweets, the less they pull at you. But the minute I give in, they'll have the gravitational pull of the Sun!

[rastus 35]

On a different forum there is a man who is a pretty big person and espouses the eat what/when/how much you want and the sleeve will restrict you enough to keep the weight off.

Well that other person has a lot to learn & will stay pretty big or even bigger.

As with our skin, shove too much stuff continually into it [& that stomach pouch] & both will grow to accommodate that excess stuff ingested.

Most of us want to avoid going the same route that got us here in the first place, do we not?

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

OK, different thought:

I was very successful during the weight losing phases of WLS. And coming up on 10 months of being at goal and beyond I've been very successful at maintaining my weight.

When I was losing weight I eschewed sugar and most starches, focusing instead on Protein (of both animal and plant varieties), healthy (colored, fibrous) veggies, whole grains and a little fruit. My calories the last two months I was losing weight averaged 1,200/day -- upon advice of my surgical team who explained that if I ate at 800 cals/day for all of my weight-losing phases I might wind up with a body that became too accustomed to those low cals to burn later (in maintenance) at a higher metabolic rate.

Well, now that I've been at or below goal for nearly 10 months and am eating 1700 (and lately 1800) calories/day to maintain at 135 pounds, I have a new eating philosophy: I now eat all the healthy things I used to eat -- as well as wine, some dark chocolate, and other simple carbs.

So far, that approach is working out well. If it stops working well, I'll change how I'm eating.

What we're "supposed" to do really does vary a lot from person to person -- depending on their metabolism, their activity levels, their genetic contributors, etc. I have women friends my age / my size / my activity level who can eat only 1,000 calories a day and maintain their weight. A few people I've met online can eat even more than I can and maintain their weight.

This is all very, very personal. We have to take responsibility for understanding what will work for us. I'm so much less of a zealot than I used to be about what everyone should eat to maintain their weight -- because I've watched my own expectations about my own body's responses be shot down by reality.

Live and learn! Seriously, it's a good philosophy.

[FrankyG 1,450]

On a different forum there is a man who is a pretty big person and espouses the eat what/when/how much you want and the sleeve will restrict you enough to keep the weight off. As a 51 year old female, that has not been my experience.

Ohhh yeah, this bugs me too. My doctor specifically discussed this with me when I brought up something similar (friend of a friend has had the sleeve, and was already asking about being cleared to eat crap again).

He told me that ANYONE will lose weight in the first year or so - even those that eat total crap like fast food, high carb/fat. The sleeve will be controlling the portion sizing for quite some time, and unless you're bedridden, you'll lose due to the small amount of food you actually consume.

The goal is to use this time (roughly 12-18 months) to reteach yourself how to eat HEALTHY. Protein first, then healthy veggies, then complex carbs and rarely eating the crap foods. The real purpose of this surgery is to give you the restriction to help you drop weight NOW, along with reducing or even eliminating the overwhelming hunger most of us feel (due to the hunger hormone ghrelin, which is produced in the stomach... that is almost completely removed when they take most of the stomach out). This allows you to make smarter food choices since you should not be driven with uncontrollable cravings and better able to make smart choices.

I've also learned healthy versions of dishes I used to love that weren't all that good - so I can still have things I used to love, but they're not nearly as bad for me.

It only takes a few months for the new eating style becomes habit. That is the ultimate goal - learn to eat good, healthy foods for the majority of the time, and still be able to have occasional indulgences.

If a person has this surgery thinking they'll be able to eat everything they had eaten before - fast food, fried everything, drink and eat total crap - sure, they'll lose for a bit just because they can't physically get that much in their sleeve, but then as they get further out and it gets a bit easier to eat, they'll regain and gripe about how the sleeve "failed" to work for them. They are the ones that failed however. No one can do well on a diet consisting of high fat, carb and sodium for any length of time. Most crap foods have very little nutritional value as it is, so eating those regularly is just asking for failure.

You can eat anything after 6-12 months. Cake, doughnuts, Cookies, bread, Pasta, fried foods, deep dish greasy pizza... Should you? NO. You should make those types of foods a very rare event.

Edited February 9, 2016 by FrankiesGirl