Weight loss surgery is all about the food! Okay, maybe not all about the food, but a good amount! You focus on food from the moment you first learning about the post-op diet and the diet you will follow for the rest of your life. You learn about portions, about which foods you should and should not eat, and about hunger, fullness, head hunger.

Your diet post-op is far different than what you may have eaten in the years leading up to surgery. You may not have known which foods are right to eat. Maybe you did not know that Protein can be satisfying, or the exact size of a proper portion, or that you were doing yourself more damage than eating fried chicken or pizza when you ordered a dressing-laden salad from a restaurant. Did you learn a few things when preparing for WLS?

Or, are you more like me in that you basically knew what you should be doing, but you weren’t able to do it consistently for long periods of time? I more or less knew that eating a balanced diet was the best way to go, but I still put myself on some crazy diets because I thought maybe they would work.

So, how has your understanding of nutrition changed, if at all? Share what you learned as you went through weight loss surgery!

The most important thing I've learned so far is that your body requires a certain amount of Protein and Water in order to burn fat.

Before this journey, I lost weight by seriously restricting calories, and I always gained it back. I hadn't known that my body required a certain amount of calories, protein and water to fuel the fat burning process.

There is a balance and formula that works for each of us. This is what I am learning daily and trying to get good at.

Yesterday when having my one on one with my NUT, I learned the purpose of the large Water intake goal post op is to prevent kidney stones from developing which bariatric patients are proned to afterwards. Here I thought it was just to keep our tummies full and prevent hunger. I will work harder meeting my water goals.

Sent from my SM-N910T using the BariatricPal App

I have a much deeper understanding if nutrition now than I ever had pre-op.

The biggest thing: Protein, protein, protein, and fluids, fluids, fluids.

Importance of veggies and lean meats, no fried/caffeine/soda and more exercise of some sort.

So, how has your understanding of nutrition changed, if at all? Share what you learned as you went through weight loss surgery!

It didn't change at all. I didn't learn anything new.

It wasn't the "not knowing about nutrition" that was the problem. I have a three year education in the field of nutrition and I was always very interested in nutrition after that. It was the "not being able to apply the knowledge about nutrition" that was the problem.

Edited October 30, 20169 yr by summerset