DS is not an "eat anything you want" surgery

Bringing this post out from where it is at the moment, buried in a Karen Waters thread - just want more eyes on it.

Quoted from Jazzbabe"
I truly DO NOT want anyone on here to get the wrong idea about how long it takes before you can "eat anything you want" with a DS. 


Hi Jazzbabe,
Thanks for your clear posts.

About the quote I took from your post above, "about how long it takes before you can "eat anything you want" with a DS....well, I'd just like to take issue with this for just a moment, if I may, and perhaps within this thread isn't the most appropriate place to do it, but hopefully it is, since some of us would like to help Karen understand that the DS is not really a "free pass" to "eat anything we want."

As you can see, I was a good "loser" for a time, but now my weight loss has pretty much stopped.

I was NOT eating ONLY PROTEIN during my first 18 months out from surgery.

If I could do it over, I would have PUT myself on an Atkin's Diet of ALMOST ALL PROTEIN for the first 2 years, and I would have GIVEN MYSELF THAT EXPECTATION FROM THE BEGINNING of my DS journey.

I did not. I pay the consequences. My journey is not over yet, however. I still have control, and I still have the ability to change my intake, my output, and my DS outcome.

The issue I'd like to raise here is this: The DS WORKS DIFFERENTLY FOR EVERY BODY.

The DS is not a PASS TO EAT ANYTHING YOU WANT.

Some people like to tout that the DS is SUPERIOR to any and all other Weight Loss Surgeries, because, well, it is. (My opinion.)

Yet, for each and every person who has the DS, the OUTCOME may be different, given their own parameters (what BMI did they begin with, how low is their metabolism, what mobility issues prevent caloric output, is your body completely carb sensitive, what length is your alimentary limb, common channel, stomach size).

In other words, KAREN, this is for YOU, specifically, the DS is NOT a CURE for obesity. It HELPS us gain CONTROL of what's controlled us for most of our lives.

Please do NOT go all out with eating things that are rough for you to digest this early out (hamburger, ribs), unless almost pureed or chewed to absolute mush. 

It sounds like to me you're "chomping at the bit" to eat anything and everything you want. Please KNOW that the DS is not a cart blanch to do so.

I'd like to implore you to stay the heck away from anything with carbs for the first 18 months out from surgery. It's not easy, and of course carbs will sneak in, but if you have the ability to stay the heck away from them, then do so.

Just my two cents for now,
anne s.

P.S. Anybody agree with me?

Thanks for the reality check for us newbs/pre-ops/fresh post-ops

So, what do you think a good carb limit is per day while in the losing phase?  True Atkins, kept to below 20 grams?  30?  30 - 50?  I think 50 would be the max, but maybe I should really be aiming for 30?  I've been giving myself a window of 30-50.  Too much?

Hi Lisey,
I'm not sure, but keeping it under 100g per day seems to work for most (who start with a lower BMI than I did, true, my BMI was 73 at the start).

If you are tracking your carb intake, and it's only 50g per day, that's amazing (to me). Great job! Your weight loss is still going in the direction you want it to, right?

Some say that if a DSer starts to lose weight very slowly, or stops, that there is a way to "jump start" it. The "formula" I've been told is 50-75g carb/day, 90oz. water, and 100+g protein/day for three days.

Given that all of our bodies are different, and obviously mine is stubborn as all heck, even the "jump start" only worked for a short period of time for me.

Restricting carbs further, and keeping my fats up might be helping, I can't say with accuracy or 100% fact to back it up yet (though this month, I did see a small change on the scale, after tracking every single morsel, every single carb, and following a pretty livable diet/intake for me).

I hope you'll just continue to lose weight, and when/if you see your weight isn't going in the direction you want/need it to, try the "jump start" method, and if that doesn't work, then lower carbs even further and/or output (yes, exercise) more.

Hope this helps you and others.

:-)
anne s.

Thanks Anne - - I might need to try the "jump start" your weight formula since I have been on a plateau for 3 weeks now (I am only 6 weeks out)

Lisey - You need to see what works for you.  In my case I find that <50 carbs a day is effective.  If I stray (and those carbs are sneaky devils!) and my carb count creeps up, my loss completely stops.  In my opinion (and at 4 months post-op I'm just a newbie to the DS) a lot of the posts we see from folks about "stalls" are really caused by too many carbs.

Much like with the Atkins diet, my suggestion is to start with a low carb count and add in additional carbs over time to see what works for your body.  I also believe not all carbs are equal -- sugar carbs (again just my opinion) should be completely avoided during the weight loss phase.

my 2 cents anyway,

Deb H.

In my opinion (and at 4 months post-op I'm just a newbie to the DS) a lot of the posts we see from folks about "stalls" are really caused by too many carbs.

I agree with Deb on this one.  I was keeping my carbs around 50g a day but losing VERY slowly, even though I was only 4 months out.  I dropped them to 30g a day and the weight started falling off again.  I'm carb sensitive, and it sucks, but that's what I have to do to get the weight off.  There'll be time enough for carbs when I get to goal!

I also agree with everything Deb says....only to add, that it really is individual for everyone.  For some reason, sugar intake doesn't effect my weight loss patterns.  I hate to even admit the amount of candy I consume everyday -- because, I do NOT want any pre-op  -or-  newbie to think that this is typical.  It is NOT.  I feel very very very lucky that since I got bit by the sugar **** at 10 months post-op, I continue to lose.  As much as I would if I didn't consume the sugar I did?  Who knows.  But, at 20# or so to hit *normal*, I am so OK with coming into the final stretch *slowly*.  I actually prefer having to work for the final 20# instead of it just continuing to fall off (like it continues to do), because it would give me the peace of mind that I can stop this thing.

Anne is so right, we are all different.  Will I hit a normal BMI?  Who knows.  Frankly, that was never a goal of mine, so maybe that is why I am laid back about it.  I know that I am laid back about it because I continue to lose, I am pretty close, and I just feel so damn good.  I would be fine if I stayed where I was now.

I wasn't one that went into this with the stay at  XXg of carbs or less until I get to goal.  BUT, I would have taken complete & total responsibility for my outcome if it were not ideal.  I also would have made adjustments and cut the crap out had I not been getting the results I wanted.

What I absolutely know is that this sugar consumption will probably catch up to me, and I will have to make adjustments.  If I don't and gain weight back, that is on me.

We all have different definitions of *success*, and I think that makes a big difference on how we approach our DS.  Since *skinny* or a certain *size* was never a goal of mine, and since all my goals were met within the first few months (not that all the things that have come since than are not great or very welcomed) and the weight continues to fall off, I have not been rigid.

The people that tick me off are the ones that self-sabotage and because they do will not meet their goals -- and then whine about it.

OK Kimberley, (psst...you are the only person that I have met that spells Kimberley like me with an e between the l and y) 

You just summed up everything that I wanted to say, I read this post last night and wanted to respond, but did not want to come off as a "nah nah, I can eat sugar" kind of post. 

Sugar never impacted my weightloss, nor did any carbs?!?  The only slow down that I had was when I was not eating enough.  I went below goal, I watch the scale everyday, but I also eat treats everyday. 


General Thoughts.....
I totally think that people who have surgery have to be responsible for themselves, if that means stepping on the scales everyday, so be it, I did and will continue to for the rest of my life and if eating a cookie (s) everyday makes me start to gain weight, I will stop eating cookies. 

One approach does not fit everyone.....many will have to watch carbs, some will not.  But all need vitamins and protein. 

Kym

So cool, Kym!!  I never would have known that, because you spell the shortened version of your name differently (which I like!).  My mother's good friend had a child the same day, and we are both *Kimberley*.  She is English and born in Ontario, thus the English spelling of my name.  When people point out that I spell my name *wrong*, I point them to the Kimberley Diamond Mines!

I blabbed in my post, but that you summed up my point really well -- we are all responsible for ourselves, and that means figuring out what *works* and doesn't for each of us.  It is actually tough to write about the amount of sugar that I consume daily, knowing that it isn't going to be the same for everybody, and I don't want to in anyway have a pre-op or newbie going into the DS with the mindset that this will be their path as well.  So many are on the other extreme, and stick to the rules 100%, and don't have the loss I have had.  It isn't to rub it in, it is just to give a reality check.

And, I didn't find this out about myself until 10 months out.  I had 10 months of sticking to the DS Rules, probably 94% compliant, so I had a whole lot of experience and weight loss before I started experimenting.

I didn't want to pu**** on the carbs in general, but they don't effect my weight loss at all either -- any of them.  I can't say that I lost weight eating the white flours, but I definitely don't gain.  I just don't analyze it that closely.  I eat what I want when I want, and I don't track anything.  In my head, I add up the protein, get in all my hydration and supplements, but other than that, I eat -- just like a normal person.  I eat often, and the portions are small.  I can't eat anywhere near what I could pre-op.

I get my protein in, that is the bottom line, and there isn't much room for anything else even at 18 months out.  I often don't want more than a bite or two of anything else.  But if I want it, I eat it.  Diets never worked for me pre-op, and that is why I knew the DS was my best chance at getting healthy.