Bread - The enemy?

cut it out completely. It is not going to help you lose weight pre or post op.

I lost122# after surgery with no exercise and have maintained the loss for 7 years.

I eat meat and low carb veggies, very little fruit and about 900 cals even in msintenance.

Fruit is pure sugar natural or not. Your body doesn't know natural from table sugar. If you give your body sugar, it will burn that instead of burning your stored fat. Burning stored fat is how you lose weight.

Grains turn into pure sugar in your body, even whole wheat. It takes a bit longer for whole wheat but it turns right into sugar. As long as you give your body quick energy from sugar, it will use that instead of burning stored fat.

I didn't eat bread at all during the weight loss phase. I ate whole grains occasionally, but not often and only in very limited amounts. I do eat all of the above occasionally now that I'm in maintenance, but again, only in limited amounts. Unlike a lot of others on here, I'm not particularly carb sensitive, but those things take up real estate in my stomach that is needed for proteins and vegetables. When your stomach is that small, you have to make choices, so...

Hi LeAnne,

Two weeks is not too soon to expect a significant weight loss on a high protein, low carb diet.

As long as you are eating whole wheat bread and adding some rolls, you are not low carb.

You need to follow a true high protein diet. No bread, flour, sugar, rice, potatoes, corn, peas, or fruit. Do that for a week and then see what the scale says.

I eat differently than most on here - largely vegetarian and high carb but very low fat. You can go this way too for some meals or almost all your meals like I do.

To me it seems silly, risky and unnecessary to choose living on a restrictive " diet" after weight loss surgery simply in order to maintain your weight loss.. didn't we get this surgery because diets don't work ?

There are a few restrictions that DO work- if you're going to eat a high carb meal don't eat fat with it, in it, or until at least 2 hours afterwards .

Similarly don't snack on " carbs " until two hours has passed after eating fat /protein.

The type of " carbs " most people refer to on the site are potato chips full fat cookies , french fry type of things . These CANNOT EVER be eaten safely ( unless you just finished a full day mountain hike ) because they combine carbs with fat which is a guaranteed insulin releaser, glycemic index pusher-upper .so.. a fat pill in other words.

But whole wheat bread, lentils and rice, fat free refried beans , fat free corn tortillas, fruit - these have NEVER put a single lb on me ( Thank God) And if you're a clever " thin recipe converter" you can cook and bake pretty much every " carby" taste you crave without fat.

See what works for your body and most importantly - use your tool wisely for all the weight loss you can get in the " sweet spot" you're now in.

OK...thinking of fries as a fat pill might work for me. I need these types of visualizations to help me cut back or completely cut out items I love. Got any more? :)

Yeah... ( full fat **** cream butter and full fat cheese as " might as well APPLY it " cuz it'll stick forever lol.

You know at some point you can still eat drive-thru ( I enjoy the low cost ( 89cents ! low fat ice milk cones at Burger King and Wendys

Even a small fast food cheeseburger is not hugely caloric though the antibiotics and preservatives make it a questionable regular choice ...and post op it TOTALLY fills up your new tummy ( I still have to eat a half of mine and wait and eat the other half ten minutes later)

Here's a great thing to remember when craving something ... the body only remembers 3 weeks of food so if you can last that long without eating it what you craved MIGHT just skeeve you out .. or at least be totally ignorable ....

I ( seriously )often buy fast food French Fries, MAKE fried potato croquettes and tender-tots for the guys that work for me all the time and never want or eat a bite because I haven't tasted them for so long . (((()))))

Ditto for fast-food pizza, " real " unhealthy nachos, full fat ice cream in the case and even cheesecake ( I know its hard to believe but totally true) . I make a low fat delicious version of all these occasionally though and no-one tells the difference ( or they like mine better)

The stuff I crave is the stuff I recently ate ... like seafood salad ceviche , fat free creamy clam chowder " air fried" coconut breaded butterflied shrimp and fat free lattes.

At least twice a week I make a big pie pan of fat free refried bean and fat free cheese enchiladas too .. very satisfying comforting high fiber and ( surprisingly ) low calorie food .

Good luck with your pre-op diet - I sure HATED mine lol :)

Personally, I'd rather never eat another carb in my life than give up full-fat choices for low-fat chemical laden crap.

I eat very low carb but I enjoy butter, sour cream, fatty cuts of beef, full-fat cheese, etc. I just keep my total calorie count to my loss target calories. How is eating bland carbs and low-fat foods less of a restriction or diet?

I eat bread very occasionally. Keep in mind pre-op eating upwards of 8 slices of bread a day was a norm. (a bagel or 2 slices with breakfast, 2 slices with lunch, 2 slices as a snack of PB&J). Then add in pasta, rice, etc- I'd say my life pre-op was 90% carbs, post op its 15% carbs.

To help in my transition when I was pre-op, I limited myself to 1-carb per meal. Even that was hard; but it really opened my eyes to how much of them I was eating. The idea of going 'cold-turkey' off carbs pre-op is down right scary IMO.

Yes! Before starting this diet, it wouldn't be uncommon to get in 5 slices a day. I am trying really, really hard to quit but am finding it difficult. I went out to eat on Sunday after church and I got a salad and steak, but when they brought the rolls I couldn't resist. Instead of eating 3 or 4, I ate 2, but that was an accomplishment for me. I'm hoping next time to just have 1, then none.