Like the title of the thread says, will WLS work if the reason for being overweight isn't from overeating? I don't overeat but I definitely choose the wrong foods.

Like the title of the thread says, will WLS work if the reason for being overweight isn't from overeating? I don't overeat but I definitely choose the wrong foods.

Have you ever seriously tracked your food consumption for a few weeks to see exactly how many calories, carbs, fat and Protein you are consuming? You may not think you are overeating but if you consume a large amount of calories from carbs and fat every day then the result will be excess weight

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Myfitnesspal is good for tracking this

Edited June 15, 201610 yr by ironpoorer

@@WitchySar - One more thing - and a lot of people don't like to hear this - but honestly, therapy has been a stronger tool than my pouch (I had RNY). I had tried to do that before and never found the right therapist or would give up and stop going when it got hard. I credit the work I have done there to getting to goal so fast. I still go twice a month. I know not everyone can afford it. I get that. But if there is ANY way you can participate in therapy, I strongly suggest it.

I recommend therapy too! It has helped me and I had the time anyway so why not get the most out of it. I believe it will help me tremendously post-op. I understand your "fear" of not losing after WLS. I often worry about the same thing but my Team assures me the weight will come off IF I follow the plan.

Like @@Dub - I'm not eliminating temptation from the house. Pre-surgery, I buy a loaf of Italian Bread (my favorite) so my SO can still enjoy bread with dinner. This week I bought him a 1/2 gallon of ice cream (my favorite flavor). I need to learn how to avoid temptation as these foods will always be around us. I'm having the surgery - my SO isn't and he shouldn't have to sacrifice because I am morbidly obese. I would never ask that of him. Last night, he had potato chips while I ate a tomato. It takes alot of control and as I mentioned above - therapy has helped a lot!

I don't limit my family either. I offer a lot of nutritious foods in the house, but there is junk, too. I want my kids to have a healthy relationship with food so they don't end up like me.

My mother denied us all junk food, sweets, and goodies. When I got out of her house, I binged because I could and blew up as a result. My kids always have cake, chips, candy, Cookies in the house. It's nothing exciting to them so they rarely eat it.

You sound pretty determined. Your determination will be your strongest asset in regaining your health and staying healthy.

I will double down on what others have already said -- that WLS long-term success requires significant lifestyle and behavioral changes -- re what you eat, how much you exercise / move, your eating habits (eating slower, not drinking with meals, etc.), and for many people changing the ground rules for many of their relationships, both personal and professional.

Some resources that have been hugely helpful to me in addressing these changes in my own life include:

* I've been in therapy for two years (started just before WLS -- I'm sleeved). It's been so helpful in helping me learn how to care for my own needs before caring for others' needs. My greatly improved self-care has been critical to my losing 100 pounds and maintaining that weight loss for a year.

* I'm a pretty regular measurer of my foods and liquids. Without that consistency I'd definitely be experiencing "portion creep." Two of the foods I consistently underestimate are cheese and nuts. My eye thinks that 1.5 - 2.0 ounces of cheese is 1 ounce. And my guesstimates about nuts are just, well, nuts! As high-calorie as both these foods are, they can present problems over time. And they're not the only ones.

* I have planned and tracked all my meals / Snacks / everything on the online food tracker at www.myfitnesspal.com.

* I weigh every morning. Not everyone can or even should do this. But everyone should weigh at the same interval -- whether it's once a day, every week, every month, etc. It's easy when you don't weigh regularly to ignore the impact of developing eating problems and the resulting weight gain. That's how some people wake up one morning and realize they've "suddenly" regained 20 pounds.

Re measuring and tracking, I do not know how anyone knows for sure how much they're eating without measuring and tracking or how their intake might be slowly changing over time. I challenge everyone pre-op to measure and then track their food intake for at least one week to learn and/or confirm just how much they're actually eating in terms of macronutrients (calories / Protein / carbs / fat).

Finally, the folks who seem (to me) to have the most problems along the way are those who have WLS so they'll "never have to diet again." Usually what they mean is that they don't want to ever have to make any future tough choices about what to eat or how much to eat -- because they expect their new gastrointestinal system will make those choices for them or somehow negate the impact of the bad choices they do make. Please believe me when I say that even after WLS you will still have to make plenty of tough choices about what to eat and drink. You're about to put your foot on the road to health. That road and your journey will never end.

Good luck to you.

Like @@LipstickLady, I was denied all junk food and processed foods growing up. Everything was nutritious, healthy and mostly homegrown. We never went to fast food places. We also HAD to clean our plates. Anything we didn't finish for dinner, we had for Breakfast the next day. Turns out it's not such a great lesson to learn. Don't get me wrong, my mom is an outstanding cook and I still look forward to her home cooked meals. But it's sad that one of my profound memories is that we were allowed to buy 1 box of "kids cereal" a year. Captain crunch berries was my favorite and I got to have it just once/year. So of course when I moved out, I made up for the previous 18 years by pigging out on every bit I could lay my hands on. I filled my shopping cart with chips, Cookies, oatmeal cream pies, and I ate captain crunch and went to fast food places every single day

And also like @@dubs, I like to excercise my willpower muscles all the time. I purposefully walk through the bakery section and down the candy aisles and watch cooking shows and go to restaurants with friends and watch them eat Desserts. The "bad" food isn't going anywhere just because I had surgery and I don't think it's fair to make everyone around me adapt the my chosen lifestyle.

Being able to say no just makes it easier to say no the next time and the next time. The only exception to this for me is peanuts and Peanut Butter. It's my crack cocaine. Not to mention a slider. I could eat a whole jar in one sitting. So it's the one thing I do avoid.

But what ARE small portions? We pre oppers don't know. We really don't. We think we do. Lol. You say you don't eat large "portions" but in America portions are out of whack. I'm less than 2 weeks from surgery and have worked my butt off absorbing every scrap of info available to me and I'm still unsure of what a pizza portion is. Not that I have any interest in pizza but for the sake of argument, I would assume it's less than half of a slice. But your husband, if asked, may say a serving portion is 2 slices maybe. I think that's what people consider normal. But I would guess it would be like a half slice. Our portions are completely out of whack.

I grew up eating mostly food cooked from scratch, we never had junk food. The home cooked food wasn't the most healthy, and we always had home made sweets in the house, but it was cooked at home, from scatch.We grew veggies or got them from local farmers, we used a local butcher. I never had much junk food growing up and I didn't want it. I had soda once a year on 4th of July. The few times a year I got fast food with a relative or something I had milk. I never binged a lot of fake food as an adult. I cooked a lot and I went to high quality restaurants, and lots of expensive liquor (an expense account is a dangerous thing).

I still think that denying people trash food being viewed as "punishment" or denial is a big social problem. The marketer in me thinks that food industrial complex has really won and has ran the best marketing plan ever over the past 50 years. All these foods people are saying they won't deny their families, didn't even exist a few decades ago. You know before we had a diabetes and obesity epidemic. And it is totally the foods and the food chain, because as every country moves from malnutrition and the Western foods are introduced into their society, the move to obesity and diabetes, in areas where is was previously unseen.

I eat organic (mostly), and so does my dog. If it isn't good enough for me, it isn't good enough for my dog or the people I love. I don't try to force my friends to eat how I eat, but if you are in my house, there is no sugar, and a lot of other BS that people want. I still make good delicious food with love. The people I love, I love, and I am not going to feed them toxic poison because it is socially acceptable. Clean eating used to be the norm not a special diet.

Edited June 15, 201610 yr by OutsideMatchInside

But what ARE small portions? We pre oppers don't know. We really don't. We think we do. Lol. You say you don't eat large "portions" but in America portions are out of whack. I'm less than 2 weeks from surgery and have worked my butt off absorbing every scrap of info available to me and I'm still unsure of what a pizza portion is. Not that I have any interest in pizza but for the sake of argument, I would assume it's less than half of a slice. But your husband, if asked, may say a serving portion is 2 slices maybe. I think that's what people consider normal. But I would guess it would be like a half slice. Our portions are completely out of whack.

Your portion sizes will change a lot over time. That's because your stomach's capacity will change. And when you are through losing weight you'll have to (and want to and be able to) eat more to maintain.

For instance, the first 4 months post-op I averaged about 800 calories/day. That translates to about 1/2 a cup of Protein / veggies at a meal. Then I raised my cals to 1,000/day for Months 5 and 6, then up to 1,200 cals/day for Months 7-8.

It's been nearly 2 years post-op and in maintenance for the last year for me. I now eat 1700 - 1800 cals/day. That's anywhere from 0.75 cup to 1.25 cup of food at meals. I eat 3 meals a day and have 2-3 Snacks. One of those snacks is "treat food," and the other two snacks are nutritious food, e.g., yogurt + fruit, high-protein, high-Fiber cracker + cheese, etc.

Re pizza -- the first time I had pizza (maybe 3 months post-op) I ate part of the toppings from one slice. Today, I can eat two (not huge) slices of thin-crust pizza. Sometimes I eat only 1.5 slices.

A typical serving of protein at a meal for me is 3 ounces. A typical serving of green veggies is a quarter to a half a cup; same with servings of whole grains.

@@taracutch - You are SO right! I am 1 year post-op and less than 2 months ago, my NUT said to me that a "serving" of meat should be 3 to 4 oz. I was FLOORED! Seriously, I thought I was supposed to be working towards higher amounts! I since have limited each meal to 3 oz of meat and Snacks to less than that and it was eye-opening. I realize now that pre-op I easily at a 10 oz steak. I mean even the "petite" portions of filet mignon at a fancy steak restaurants are sold as 6 oz and I was always so sad to only get 6 oz but felt if I ordered the larger portion, I would look like a pig! Now, I realize I am only supposed to eat half of that?! Learn something new every day...

@VSGAnn gave some great responses re true portion size.

@@taracutch - You are SO right! I am 1 year post-op and less than 2 months ago, my NUT said to me that a "serving" of meat should be 3 to 4 oz. I was FLOORED! Seriously, I thought I was supposed to be working towards higher amounts! I since have limited each meal to 3 oz of meat and Snacks to less than that and it was eye-opening. I realize now that pre-op I easily at a 10 oz steak. I mean even the "petite" portions of filet mignon at a fancy steak restaurants are sold as 6 oz and I was always so sad to only get 6 oz but felt if I ordered the larger portion, I would look like a pig! Now, I realize I am only supposed to eat half of that?! Learn something new every day...

@VSGAnn gave some great responses re true portion size.

Right, portions are totally out of control. People post-op think they are eating tiny portions but for the most part once you heal, you are eating the correct portion of meat and most other things. I had depression era Grandparents so they believe in proper meat portions because even though meat had became relatively cheap in the 1980s, they still viewed it as expensive and something that should properly portioned. Also with our native american background, we have certain spiritual views about eating meat and how it should be consumed.

Not only is 3-4 ounces of meat the recommended amount, but your body can't really process more than that. 30 grams of Protein is the max your body can process at one time, so if you are over eating on protein, it is turning to excess in the body. This is how people can low carb and still gain weight. Portions still count.

To the OP, another huge difference between my pre-op and post-op life is learning to deal with the inevitable stalls. Pre-op, stalls were generally when I gave up. I can't do that anymore.

Embrace the Stall

http://BariatricPal.com/index.php?/topic/351046-Embrace-the-Stall

I will be 5 years post sleeve in December. It is my opinion that you will lose weight due to the quantity restriction, but you will have a hard time maintaining if you continue to eat these slider/junky food as a mainstay. Maintenance is harder than losing....

@@taracutch - You are SO right! I am 1 year post-op and less than 2 months ago, my NUT said to me that a "serving" of meat should be 3 to 4 oz. I was FLOORED! Seriously, I thought I was supposed to be working towards higher amounts! I since have limited each meal to 3 oz of meat and Snacks to less than that and it was eye-opening. I realize now that pre-op I easily at a 10 oz steak. I mean even the "petite" portions of filet mignon at a fancy steak restaurants are sold as 6 oz and I was always so sad to only get 6 oz but felt if I ordered the larger portion, I would look like a pig! Now, I realize I am only supposed to eat half of that?! Learn something new every day...

@VSGAnn gave some great responses re true portion size.

What's even more boggling? As were many of us, I was a dieting expert. I (thought I) could eyeball meat/chips to the ounce and salad dressing/ice cream/juice to the tablespoon or cup.

Every once in awhile I would check myself only to be shocked that 4 oz crept up to 6, 1 cup crept up to 1 1/3 cups, etc.

It looked the same on the plate, but not on the hips.

My husband is naturally thin. A plate of food the size of his head looks like a small portion to him. Now, when I put 1/2 or less away in tupperware to save for another meal, he just shakes his head. More than a mouthful is no longer a waste.

Well I've been tracking my foods and I struggle to eat enough calories in a day. Even my thin husband comments on how little I eat. So it really isn't portion control I have a hard time with, just the choices. I know that after putting in all this work and pain to have surgery I'm not going to want to sabotage it so I think it'll help me make the better choices for what I need to eat. I just needed to hear from someone else that this really will help.

I'm not trying to be a meanie pants, but are weighing your food on a scale? Even pre packaged foods (because those labels are off 99% of the time) or are you just eyeballing your portions. The only reason I bring this up is because it can be eye opening what a portion really is as compared to what I thought a portion size was.

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App