Honeymoon Period

no one on my weight loss team has mentioned a honeymoon period. I gather it is the time right after surgery when a lot of weight comes off. Do most go low carb during thus time? And if so, what kind of meal replements are low carb? I am in Canada and our choices seem to be so limited here. My SO is an OTR trucker and crosses the US on a regular basis so if you advise of a brand , please let me know where to purchase it. Thank you so much.

For VSGers, the honeymoon period is more dependent on the brain game. It's easier to lose weight when it's easy, in the beginning, and you're getting tons of compliments and feeling super motivated. As you get closer to your goal, there's less of a caloric deficit, and the weight comes off more slowly. You don't get all those constant compliments on the weight loss and your motivation can decline. This is when it gets easy to fall off the wagon and go back to old, bad habits.

Most of us are low carb for life. Meat is an awesome low carb food :)

Generally the honeymoon period is about 6 months-- but it is due to folks becoming fatigued with working on losing weight and not that somehow the process becomes less effective. There are a slew of people that have come through here over the years demonstrating that significant weight loss can occur after that period. A lot of us use protein shakes for replacement meals. I used Premier ready to drink primarily, but there are a lot of brands out there. Just be sure the vitamin count in the drink meets your needs, carbs on it is not too high, and that the protein used in it is something we can absorb. Don't buy too much of any one item- taste buds can really change post op.

I think that the honeymoon concept started with the gastric bypass, as the caloric malabsorption of that procedure typically lasts 1-2 years, the idea of an 18 month honeymoon period of prime weight loss was born. The sleeve doesn't have that issue, though as with most procedures it does mature over time such that you can eat more, and the loss rate declines as the weight comes off - it takes fewer calories to move your body around all day when it is 100-200 lb (or whatever) lighter. When I first came onto the forums some years ago, there was a group promoting the idea of a six month honeymoon for the sleeve, but as that group was into some fairly extreme dieting, that mostly corresponded with diet fatigue - that was about how long they could stick to their diet without substantial cheating.

Most people go low carb post op because most people go low carb; 20-30 years ago most went low fat because that was what most dieters did then; the relative success with their WLS was about the same. Some have specific morbidities like diabetes that call for it, while others follow the crowd. Generally, the longer out from surgery one is the less likely they were to have done low carb, simply because it wasn't the "in" diet at the time. The caloric level enforced by the WLS is low enough that by any rational standard our post op diets are both low carb and low fat, which is one of the reasons why WLS works well despite whatever diet happens to be in fashion at the moment - it really isn't something worry about unless one has specific medical reasons to do so. I couldn't afford the side effects that can go with the low carb diets, so I just went with the more moderate and balanced approach prescribed by my program, given how successful people had been on that program for many years.

Generally, a "meal replacement" drink or bar is intended to be just that - a meal replacement that approximates the nutrition of a normal meal; what we typically need post op is more specifically a protein drink or bar that is primarily protein, as that is what we need at the time, and most other nutrients we get from supplements until such time as we can get more from our food. The best and most absorbed protein drink comes from 100% whey isolate rather than what is called a whey blend or concentrate which is cheaper. It is hard to recommend a specific product as taste preferences vary widely between us, and our tastes may change some after surgery (or they may not...) so it's best not to stock up much until you find what you like after surgery. Many manufacturers offer sample packs of individual servings of different flavors to try, and many get them online. Do you have any vitamin or supplement shops in your area (GNC and Vitamin Shoppe are the biggest chains in the States)? That would be the place to go to find some selection rather than the general merchants.

I really like the ready-made Premiere Protein drinks. In particular, I like chocolate and peaches & cream. Since surgery, the vanilla and caramel flavors are way too sweet for me. They contain 160 calories, 30 grams of protein, and very few carbs. The registered dietitian at my surgeon's office leads our support group sometimes, and she says people tend to be more successful if they continue to use 1 per day as a meal or snack. I skip them on weekends sometimes. I buy them at Sam's Club, the Wal-Mart warehouse store for about $17 dollars (for 12). Your SO could get a membership there and perhaps pick them up for you when he's going through a larger town that has a Sam's. I no longer use the Premiere protein bars, however.They just don't taste good anymore, and I'd rather save room for dense proteins.

It's funny you mentioned being from Canada because I like many of the Proti products and I think some or all of those are from Canada. I like the cinnamon oatmeal, cream of chicken soup (powder) and the protein shakes b/c they are not so much volume at a time and/or the consistency is more pleasant IMO. Do watch out on the calories/carbs/protein balance as they make a few items that I would think of more as maintenance products. Internet search for Proti Diet products. I totally agree with whomever said to try different protein shakes because some of them are an invitation to gag for me.

My surgeons office prefers we learn to eat "real" food and I do strive to do so, but I'm only 9 weeks out and I find that sometimes it's still hard for me to get the volume of protein they suggest with regular foods so I do use meal replacements part of the time.