Gaining Weight During 6 month wait

So I'm coming up on month 4 of my 6 month required "diet" for my insurance company. My weight loss practice has me coming to monthly nutrition meetings and I am logging my food daily. Problem is, since I've been logging my food and attempting to get in the 2 veggies, 2 fruits, 2 healthy fats, and all my protein in 4-6 meals I am gaining weight. Before this I only ate maybe 3-4 times a day, and I avoided fats and high carb load fruits. The nutritionist told me I could eat any fruit I wanted though, so naturally I was thrilled to eat bananas and grapes again. I tossed my food for the day into MyFitnessPal and turns out I'm really eating like 2000 calories, even though it's healthy food.

I know if I go under the 35 BMI I am in trouble, but I feel like I've seen people get denied by insurance because of weight gain during this time. I'm going to mention it to my nutritionist next week, but was hoping for some thoughts from you all.

You should talk to your insurance, too, so you understand their policy.

I personally add fruits when I need to gain. Seriously.

But if you want to stop gaining, but still follow the recommendation, why not switch the high sugar fruits to choices like berries? Most berries I can eat don't affect my BS very much and my body is able to tolerate that.

The 6 month diet can also show you what type of foods would contribute to weight gain. Some people estimate we need app 100 Cal per pound of body weight to maintain. So theoretically, 2000 calories should sustain 200 lbs body.

Post op, I find that I can eat 1500 calories, and lose weight, or start gaining. For me - not only calories but what I eat may determine how much I can eat.

Good luck

Thank you! Before this I always stuck to berries, apples, and mandarin oranges for their low carb index. I was surprised when the nutritionist said I could have any fruit I wanted! I guess my glorious short-lived days of bananas and grapes are over :(

" I was surprised when the nutritionist said I could have any fruit I wanted!"

Sure... as long as you don't mind gaining weight..

Most long term successful post op WLS people will tell you:

"Just because you can, it does not mean you should".

My personal mantra is: (see my sig line)

"I can eat or do anything I want to - as long as I am willing to deal with the consequences"

Some of the consequences are gaining weight.

Post op, early post op, most of us get instructions for soft food stage that can include mashed potatoes, porridge, cream of wheat, etc... And some people start eating that because it is often every easy on the new pouch - sleeve. But ideally - those foods are just carbs with very little proteins and we often tell the new person - "just because you physically can eat it - it does not mean you should eat it".

Normally i still have very good restrictions, unless I start eating carbs like mash potatoes, or even french fries. I can eat them and eat them... rest a little and eat again. But I can barely get a burger in me. Just burger.

So it sounds like you may have just added those food categories to your prior diet. Are you weighing and measuring everything going into your mouth? Are you following the program? I'm sure banana's are NOT what they intended. I ate a banana today (actually half a banana) and I didn't eat them until maintenance. I also only eat them rarely - maybe 12 a year. So if you are gaining and really concerned, dig down and figure this out. If you asked this question expecting to hear - "oh, that happens to everyone." I'd say it really only happens to people who feel like they are doing something different, so they are following the program. But they aren't really following it. Not meaning to be harsh - just saying. Time to dig into what you are doing. Entering into MFP with a guess of volume is not good. I had a friend say she was eating 1200 calories and she admitted after I made her weigh and measure that she was closer to 2400. Studies show heavy people underestimate food volume by as much as 50%.

Yeah I mean I didn't ask the question expecting to be placated, but thanks for that. It was more of an inquiry about fruits and fats because that seems to be the thing I have been altering. As I mentioned, I kept away from these things prior. I have a food scale and have been weighing my proteins. This is the only thing my nutritionist has told me to weigh. She also told me that it doesn't matter what fruits I eat because she rarely meets anyone who became obese eating fruit of any kind. So looks like I will be going back to strictly berries and apples again.

It's like the hardcore dieter who gained weight and complained "How can I be gaining???!!! I've added a salad to every meal!"

Get rid of the fruit. Cut carbs to a minimum. Thats how youll be eating after surgery anyway. Might as well start now.

We've all seen a lot of really poor advice from nutritionists.

Haha! Well I'm definitely not hardcore dieting that's for sure. I didn't expect to lose weight, but gaining seemed odd.

"We've all seen a lot of really poor advice from nutritionists."

That is a huge bummer to me haha I really thought I could trust her advice given she has so much experience with bariatric patients. Thank you for the advice, I will cut down to the two servings of low carb fruits only. Unfortunately, I can't cut it out completely yet because it's the program requirement to have two servings.

I don't necessarily agree to get rid of the fruit, and I don't think your nutritionist necessarily gave you bad advice. There are basically two approaches to weight loss: low calorie (low fat) and low carb (sometimes high fat). The medical consensus is that studies so far have not found any significant advantage to one over the other, so the recommendation is that you follow whichever one is easiest for you to stick to.

If you're following a low calorie diet, fruit is not bad. It provides a lot of nutrition. Most fruits, such as berries, apples, and citrus, are very filling for the amount of calories they contain. Bananas are not inherently bad, but they are a little tricky. In small amounts they can be a very useful part of your diet. For example, adding half a banana to a smoothie makes it very creamy without adding much fat. However, they contain more calories and carbs than other fruits, so you have to watch the calories.

I'm assuming your nutritionist has you on a low calorie diet. When you added fruit, you added calories. If you had stuck to berries and citrus, you probably would have consumed less of other foods, causing your overall daily calories to remain about the same, or even fall. That was what your nutritionist expected to happen. At the next visit, I'm sure he or she would have seen the problem and made some tweaks. That's one of the things nutritionists do best, helping you tweak your diet to your personal tastes and needs. Some people wouldn't want enough bananas to cause a problem, but perhaps you do.

If you hadn't been eating many vegetables, the nutritionist might have suggested that you add more. If you then added a variety of vegetables, they probably would have filled you up enough that you ate less of other things. But if you only went for starchy vegetables like corn and peas, you might have made things worse.

The best thing you can do is to track everything you eat, using an app such as myfitnesspal.com or cronometer.com. Then you'll see problems like this without having to wait for the next visit with the nutritionist. These apps also help you be more honest with yourself about what you're really eating. Tracking what you eat will highlight problems. If you find you often get hungry in the afternoon, for example, discuss it with your nutritionist. They can suggest the best solution for you, which might be eating a slightly larger lunch, or adding a small snack. My point is that there isn't one best diet, only a best diet for you. Your nutritionist isn't necessarily a bad nutritionist, and may be a very good one.