Why is keto considered a fad diet but the bariatric diet is considered appropriate to follow? For example, my surgeon said to get 60-80g of protein per day, less than 50 carbs per day, and less than 50 fats per day. Keto is high protein, low carb, and higher healthy fats (think mct oil, avocado, not necessarily eggs and bacon). Both are also low/no sugar and require you to eat at a calorie deficit (they just specify how much since calories are not the main concern for either one). Both also require some exercise, based on your ability. The ONLY difference is the fat content. They are virtually the same otherwise, yet one is considered a fad and the other is acceptable. Why? If one can stick to the bariatric diet, why is it assumed they couldn't stick to keto?

Edited September 10, 20223 yr by SleeveDiva2022

I don't think keto is any more a fad diet than is the diet recommended to post surgical bariatric patients. They both have specific purposes and are (or were) very effective for their original purposes. The keto diet was originally developed a long time ago as a specific treatment for severe epilepsy. At the time, before antiepileptic drugs, it worked very well in controlling symptoms. The problem is that it became popular for weight loss and it's probably not the healthiest way to eat long term. That said, I think the same thing is true for the post-surgical bariatric diet. It's a diet developed for a specific purpose and it works well for that, but it's not really a healthy way to eat for the general population.

The reason we eat a protein forward diet is for a few reasons:

1. Protein helps preserve as much muscle as possible while eating a low calorie or very low calorie diet. This helps keep your metabolism as high as possible so you burn more calories at rest.
2. A carb forward diet (or even a more balanced diet), would cause your body to burn less fat at any given time because carbs are easily burned for energy, whereas protein is not.
3. Protein (actually the amino acids in protein), are essential to your bodies proper functioning, whereas consumption of fat or carbs is not nearly as important.
4. Protein is even more important when healing, thus it's critical post-surgery.

The reason the medical community focuses on protein for bariatric surgery patients is due to the above. It's not because protein is actually "healthier". It's just because we are so restricted in what we can eat, thus tradeoffs must be made. I think most doctors would agree that once a bariatric surgery patient can eat more, they should not eat more protein, but instead should work to add healthy fats and carbs ASAP in the form of more whole foods.

The general consensus in the medical community is that the healthiest diet is one that starts with lots of fruits and vegetables, has very little processed food, and a lot less meat than what most American or Western Europeans eat.

Edited September 10, 20223 yr by SpartanMaker

3 hours ago, SleeveDiva2022 said:

Why is Keto considered a fad diet but the bariatric diet is considered appropriate to follow? For example, my surgeon said to get 60-80g of Protein per day, less than 50 carbs per day, and less than 50 fats per day. Keto is high protein, low carb, and higher healthy fats (think mct oil, avocado, not necessarily eggs and bacon). Both are also low/no sugar and require you to eat at a calorie deficit (they just specify how much since calories are not the main concern for either one). Both also require some exercise, based on your ability. The ONLY difference is the fat content. They are virtually the same otherwise, yet one is considered a fad and the other is acceptable. Why? If one can stick to the bariatric diet, why is it assumed they couldn't stick to keto?

The macros for post wls diet and keto are different.

For post wls surgery, the dominant macro is protein. The moderate macro is fat and minimal macro is carbs.

For Keto diet, the dominant macro is fats, the moderate macro is protein and the minimal macro is carbs. You have to stick to the macros in order to stay in ketosis. It can be a slippery slope.

I think a lot of people call "low carb" diet keto. They're not the same. You can do a low carb diet, by only changing the amount of carbs. If you do keto, you have to change your protein and fat macros as well.

Keto isn't really sustainable, that's why it's often considered a fad diet. It's often used for short periods, not really long term. Keto when done long term can eventually do harm to your metabolism, cause kidney stones and other issues.

Exactly as @SpartanMaker & @i bypassedmyphatass said.

Diets are for the short term not the long term. The bariatric diet is devised for a specific short term purpose. While it is restrictive in the first weeks to support your healing, it does encourage you to slowly add more nutritional sources as you progress. One of the things you’ll do as you near maintenance is work out how you want to eat for the long term. Not a ‘diet’ but a sustainable way of eating that works for you & meets the needs of your body.

I find it amusing when people consider our bariatric post surgery diet is high protein. It really is just focussed on protein first. Most of us are advised to consume 60g of protein while losing. In actuality, this is less than the daily recommended amount - 1g of protein per 0.8kg for our weight at that time. (Though I was told by my dietician as a woman in her 50s I should be having 1g per 1kg of weight.) So at my surgery, when I was about 85kg I should have been eating 68g - 85g of protein. Don’t know about you but before I started this process I never ate any where near the recommended amount of protein I needed.

Remember if there was a single diet that worked for everyone, no one would be obese & we’d all eat exactly the same way. Diets are too restrictive to be be sustainable. That’s why we could lose weight on a diet but could never keep it off. I don’t follow a ‘diet’ at all now. I worked out what foods provide the nutrition I need, enable me to maintain without restricting my life & keep my body happy. Like, I aim to eat 70g of protein because of my absorption issue & I avoid bread, pasta, rice & potato because they sit heavily in my tummy. You’ll work out a way of eating that works for you too.

Do your own research about nutrition. Start now so as you add new foods back into your diet you are making healthier choices & to see how your body responds to them. Remember any pro diet sites (keto, Atkins, etc.) will only give you biased information about how great & wonderful that diet is. Just ensure you’re eating a range of foods to satisfy your nutritional needs. In the meantime, follow your plan & the advice of your dietician & surgeon & listen to your body.

See, what you all are saying makes sense, but my nutritionist said I will be eating the bariatric diet for the rest of my life. That's why I was so shocked that she said keto is a fad diet but the bariatric diet is ok. I love keto. My body responds well to it. I have friends that have been on it for years and are doing really well. I lost 100 pounds on it. But I couldn't keep it off no matter how strict I was with it. With the bariatric diet, I was really struggling because my body doesn't do well with low fat. Higher fat with low carbs and high protein seems to work wonders for me. I tend to stay around 70-80 fats per day, 25-35 carbs per day, 70-90g of protein per day, and 1050 - 1200 calories per day (1200 if I work out that day, less if I don't). I may need to call my nutritionist again, because if keto and the bariatric diet both aren't meant to be followed for life, I need to see why she said it would and what I'm supposed to do once I hit my maintenance weight (nowhere near that yet).

Keto is HIGH fat, low carbs and moderate protein.

Bariatric is HIGH protein, and from there depends on the surgery team. Some are low carb/sugar low fat. Others are a BALANCED low fat/low sugar diet.

Mine is VERY balanced, I have never heard anyone on my team tell us we can't have carbs. Through all the classes, appointments and Nutritionists follow ups. They all say the same thing, balanced diet while making sure we get our protein first and then veggies, if you want or have "room" then have the carb.

Understand this is only my opinion: I do not think it is realistic to think someone is going to stay "keto" or "extremely low carb" for the rest of their life. Isn't that how we all YO-YO? By doing extreme diets that we realistically cannot maintain long term?

I have lost 100+ lbs 4 different times. (I know, ridiculous) The last time I even had skin removal surgery and still gained it back because eating chicken and broccoli every single day was not realistic!

This is what convinced me to finally have WLS. I went through the classes for pre-op still hesitant to have WLS and just figured what do I have to loose by learning more about it in a formal manor. I learned that while some things we might not be able to eat, there was really not the restriction of foods like I heard by travel of words. Even on my worst days, I haven't been even able to eat more than 1200 calories. it really is the restriction of capacity that makes the HUGE difference from a diet to WLS. Eating healthy (most of the time) was never a problem for me. My problem was ALWAYS being hungry, eating 3 servings of chicken rather than 1. Eating 3/4 slices of pizza rather than a half a of slice without eating the outside crust.

Again, my opinion and what works for me may not work for you or the next person.

I think we all have to figure out what works for us and go from there. Everyone is so different and every bariatric team/center is just as different.

I had this surgery so I can eat like a normal person and not like a 400 lb person. I am almost 6 months post op and when I eat around people, rarely does anyone notice my diet being different than their own. I think maybe 3 times someone (who doesn't know I had WLS) has commented about what I was eating.

You do you girl, work with your team. Find out what works best for you and run with it! Modify it as you go if needed.

We are all on the a different version of the same journey. We got this!!

(Sorry for my long post, I got carried away)

I had Bariatric surgery to help me with portion control. While waiting for surgery in pandemic I did Noom. Lost 30# with portion control and 80% good food choices. At 8 wks post op I just started all foods. I'm testing a food each day. I was proud that I haven't had any dumping. I have not tried any high sugar. I still measure what I eat. 1/3 c protein, 1/8 c veggie but once a day it is carb and a fruit. 5 meals, every 2 hours. I just put my goals in Myfitness app to monitor my protein and calories, carbs and fat. It is not a diet anymore, a way of life. Plan to progress to 1 cup by 9 months to one year. Maintain that.