Why "diet" after RNY?

I have a question.  There are periodically posts here from people asking about various diets after RNY.  Some come from people who are not very far out from their surgery. I am not trying to be judgmental, but I truly and honestly don't understand why people would abandon the RNY post-pop eating plan in favor of yet another diet (that may or may not be considered a "fad" diet) when all that any of us got from YEARS of dieting was staying obese.

I had this surgery to END the dieting madness so I am really trying to understand why people would abandon something PROVEN to work for something new they saw on Oprah or Dr Oz or in a magazine.

Lora

Thanks for this question, I've wondered the same thing.

I can't speak personally on this, but I know one of my friend had RNY in 2007 and she didn't follow the rules. She no longer has malabsorption - which she relied on to lose all of her weight, so now she his following weigh****chers. 

Did she not KNOW when she had the surgery that she would lose her caloric malabsorbtion and would need to change the way she ate?  (Just curious, since not all surgeons bother to tell their patients that the caloric malabsorption is temporary. {grr})

Lora

Lora,
I don't beleive they ever told her that. She was very surprised to start gaining.  I don't say she is not at fault, but I think it happens a lot. It's something that should be disussed up front.

I don't get it either. But perhaps, after years of dieting and trying one thing after another, it is all that some people know. Particularly when they expect more out of surgery than they get (particularly they expect to lose faster or lose more than their body truly is able to lose based on body type and excess weight through skin and dense bones)

If you've always dieted, one way or another, and the WLS doesn't give you the magic cure in the time or to the weight you wanted, it's easy to fall back on the old pattern.

I think that this is an element of unrealistic expectations. Everyone compares themselves to everyone else...... 90% of people on this forum, if you ask them, will tell you they are SLOW LOSERS (which doesn't make any sense, because if 90% are slow losers, then the definition of slow loser is skewed).... and a LOT of individuals do not reach the goal they set for themselves. I think that some of these individuals (not all by a long shot) have unrealistic goals, and as long as you aspire to get to a weight that is not realistic, dissatisfaction will reign.

For myself, I knew that I would be doing GREAT if I got to 80% EWL, and even though I set my goal lower than that, I didn't think that diet and exercise were worth the possibility of maybe getting to a lower level. I had to choose the level of effort that was acceptable and balance that out with the weight I desired.

To me ultimate success is reaching a balance of food, exercise, and final weight that is something I can live with forever. DIETING is not on my agenda, but I have to say that Exercise and REGAIN are also not on my agenda.

I too am confused by the dieting that people embrace after surgery and many do it almost right after they get on solid foods.  Yes I'm still waiting for the weight to "just melt off" but I'll be damned if I ruin my metabolism after having had a beautiful metabolic reset with something that may or may not do more harm than good.  I like with the pokey losses knowing that if I follow the plan I will get to whereever I need to be and I can always up the ante with addtional exercise and fluids if I feel I'm floundering.  I have extremely excessive skin.  This means that my goal weight may be unreasonable without plastic surgery.  I"m fully prepared to change my goal weight to reflect that, but want to get much closer to my goal before I figure out what my body is willing to give.

well then again, the plan is just a diet as well!  Who are we fooling really, our surgery was nothing but a tool, the DIET plan and exercise is the work we must do that goes hand and hand with our tool!  Im two years out, lost exactly what they said i would, would like to loose a little more, but i have never gained a pound back.  I dont stick exactly to the plan or DIET they gave us but close enough i guess.  I follow the rules pretty much to the tee but there are some things i eat i prob shouldnt every once in a while.  However i dont think there is a person out there that has never pushed the bar a little!  come on now ....... But every last one of us is on a diet hahahah they just make of us think of it in a diff way, and i guess reading everyone's responses the doc's are doing a good job of making us think we are not on a diet! 

protien, protein, protien, veggies, complex carbs, hahahahah sounds like a diet to me, hahahah

Not that i care if its a diet or not, its the best diet ive ever been on, loosing over 100 pounds is great, someting i never thought i could do and keep it off..... 

I absolutely do NOT view how I eat as a diet. 

First of all, with the exception of watching my simple carbs a bit more closely and eating more protein (and less food overall, of course!) than others, I eat very much like my thin and health-conscious friends.  Do I eat like the average Joe sitting in Applebees or wherever?  No, probably not, but the average Joe is not terribly thin and not terribly healthy, either.

Second, a plan that calls for protein first and limited simple carbs is VERY different than all the rules and restrictions associated with your average diet.  Many diets are phased.  Our plan is not.  (No, immediate post-op liquids/purees nonsense doesn't count, since how long you spend on liquids or puress (if any) is NOT tied at all to how much weight you lose... those of us who went straight to solid foods before we even left the hospital did nto lose any more slowly initially than anyone else.)  Atkins has severe restrictions on what you can eat; this Dukan diet requires eating ONLY certain foods AND certain combinations of foods (which vayr depending on which phase you are in); the 17-day diet... well, Good Lord, talk about restrictions and rules!  I don't have any restrictions (otehr than teh 5 thnings that make me phsycially ill).  My only rules are "high protein, low simple carb" and "no drinking with meals".  I can eat whatever I want.  It is, actually, very UN-diet like.

If feel sadness for anyone who ahs a RNY and feels as if they are on a lifetime diet.  Form my point of view, it really isn't.

Lora

Lora, Why do you say that immediate post-op liquids/purees is nonsense?