I'd prefer answers from practicing post-op vegans or medical professionals and not conjecture and guesses, please.

I am 17 years Post-Op and my family and I have started exploring moving to plant-based eating for overall health benefits. The question is: Can a DS patient successfully transition to plant-based eating or am I setting myself up for a lifetime of diarrhea, stomach issues, etc.?

If I can go plant-based, what foods should I focus on/avoid?

Thanks in advance.

I guess I have a nagging question of if I had discovered WFPB prior to surgery, would I have been able to lose the weight without surgery? I know it really doesn't matter, and in the grand scheme of things, I am very thankful for being able to take the weight off quickly and have decreased hunger. Yes, I would like to have avoided blood clots and the ulcer that were consequences of the surgery, but I don't regret it. Surgery got the weight off, and I know that WFPB will keep it off and give me the optimal health I strive for for the rest of my life.

11 hours ago, AZhiker said:

I guess I have a nagging question of if I had discovered WFPB prior to surgery, would I have been able to lose the weight without surgery?

One doesn't know for sure of course because there is always a fraction of people that lose excess weight and maintain with non-surgical methods, but most likely not. The odds were against you big time with that much weight to lose.

On 5/1/2020 at 2:01 PM, AZhiker said:

I guess I have a nagging question of if I had discovered WFPB prior to surgery, would I have been able to lose the weight without surgery?

Morbid obesity is a life sentence without surgical intervention. Despite endless debate about the relative value of different approaches — in every scientific head-to-head comparison, diet plans that provide the same exercise and calories through different types of food lead to similar weight loss and regain within similar timeframes. The science could not be clearer: there is no diet that overrides the basic complex biological reality of obesity. Bariatric surgery is currently the only way to permanently alter your genetics, reset your defended weight or set point, lower your metabolism, and alter the pathways and production of brain and gut hormones such as PPY, GLP-1, CRF, CCK, NPY, leptin, ghrelin, dopamine, cortisol, etc.

*Edited to add that I regret squandering several years of optimal health and well-being by attempting overcome biology and evolution with a WFPB diet, instead of just having WLS. Good on you for not doing that! WLS got you to where you are now, and WFPB will keep you there for life.

Edited May 2, 20206 yr by PollyEster

Thanks so much. I needed to hear that. There will always be some who will testify to tremendous weight loss with any healthy eating plan, but when so much is already out of whack, as was with me and for so any decades, surgery was the answer to getting my life back. I think WFPB has take me to the next level of optimizing my health. Cholesterol, all the blood lipids, and inflammatory markers greatly improved with WFPB, even after losing the weight.

Just now, AZhiker said:

There will always be some who will testify to tremendous weight loss with any healthy eating plan...

That's just marketing, for the most part.

1 minute ago, AZhiker said:

...when so much is already out of whack, as was with me and for so any decades, surgery was the answer to getting my life back.

You're very welcome, and I'm genuinely thrilled for you, AZhiker. To my way of thinking, it doesn’t matter a whit what people look like after WLS; the only issues of consequence are physical and mental health, lowered risk of disease and premature death, weight maintenance, vitality, energy, and overall well-being.

Following a WFPB diet for several years prior to WLS, I was able to lose over 50lbs on several occasions, and almost 100lbs once, but of course was unable to maintain those losses. For a morbidly obese person, a WFPB diet, like any dieting in an of itself, leads to weight gain, stress + increased cortisol levels, slowed metabolism + having to eat ever less food in order to lose weight, bouts of overeating (the common mammalian response to starvation), and eventual regression back to your set point. Until scientists find the elusive reset button for body weight (if there even is one), WLS is the best bet for obese/MO people.

As an aside, I have several overweight (but decidedly not obese or MO) friends and family members who were inspired by the dramatic changes I experienced after going WFPB, and decided to give it a try themselves. Every one of them lost the weight, and those who remained WFPB (all but two) have maintained their losses to this day.

On 5/1/2020 at 2:01 PM, AZhiker said:

I guess I have a nagging question of if I had discovered WFPB prior to surgery, would I have been able to lose the weight without surgery? I know it really doesn't matter, and in the grand scheme of things, I am very thankful for being able to take the weight off quickly and have decreased hunger. Yes, I would like to have avoided blood clots and the ulcer that were consequences of the surgery, but I don't regret it. Surgery got the weight off, and I know that WFPB will keep it off and give me the optimal health I strive for for the rest of my life.

You did the right thing. I've been WFPB on and off for about 4 years. On a very strict WFPB diet, I've been able to lose up to 95lbs, but have not been able to maintain it over time. I just kept having to eat less and less, and exercise more and more, and eventually got to a point where I was at 600 calories a day, was starving all the time, barely had the energy to get through my day, and finally was actually gaining weight whenever I went over 600 calories because my metabolism had slowed down so much. I'm having VSG next month, if it isn't cancelled yet again because coronavirus.

What PollyEster said about the science of obesity is correct from everything I've read - and I've read a LOT over the past 5-6 years. Have a look at this article from the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html