Randon daily thoughts and questions

Hi, I love sashimi and avocado and soy. !!!

**Standard Disclaimer: My experience and advice should not supersede that of your surgical team. Especially this early out I encourage you to follow your program's plan to the letter. Further out from surgery I believe you can tinker with your diet a little more to meet your needs. That being said.......

I am a massive outlier on the WLS spectrum as my surgeon advocates a "veggies first" approach to post-WLS eating. His theory is that we do not need massive amounts of protein - 50g a day for women and 60g a day for men. He also feels that once you're in maintenance and eating more "normal" portions of a balanced diet, that you will hit your protein goals without any sort of conscience effort, and I have found that to be completely true.

Therefore, he feels that your protein should be the "side dish" and vegetables should be the primary focus. That you should have a small (2-3oz) portion of meat along with generous portions of vegetables and fruit. He alsao encourages his patients to have at least one meal a day on non-animal protein (beans, lentis, etc)

I have been in maintenance for the last 8 months and I shoot to eat 1-2lbs of vegetables every day. In addition I usually have 2-3 servings of fruit a day, and mostly protein after that. I generally have meat protein once a day and non-meat protein at other meals/snacks (beans, lentils, nuts...)

If you're interested, my surgeon is Dr. Matthew Weiner and he has written a book called "Pound of Cure" which is around $10 on Amazon. If you just want more information without investing the $$ you can get almost all the information in his book by watching the videos he has posted online. He has them divided into Surgical Videos and Non-Surgical (Pound of Cure) Videos.

I can't speak for everyone, and obviously the protein first, low carb diet works wonderfully for the vast majority, BUT this program has worked phenomenally for me! I lost almost 50 lbs in the 6-weeks pre-op just by following this plan. In total with my RNY and pre-op weight loss I'm down about 185lbs. And the 8 months of maintenance has been going well. I certainly understand I have a long way to go, and will never be out of the woods when it comes to the risk of regain, but I absolutely LOVE my food plan. I get to eat lots of fresh and delicious food every day and yet maintain a healthy weight.

HI, He has some interesting videos. I can see eating a whole foods diets with veggies. I would be willing to bet that none of us got fat on vegetables unless we were frying them...lol Those morning spinach, ginger and fruit cleanses sound great. For now, I am going to stick to what I am doing for a while longer and experiment when I get close to goal.

I tried Weigh****chers for a long while but didn't lose very well on this. The problem is once you are so metabolically resistant, the minute you add a carb of any kind most of us gain weight. I do believe that we can alter our metabolic set point but it takes work because your body resorts to what it is used to.

I have always been a good loser. While I was never able to drop 185lbs, I went up and down 50-60 lbs regularly. What I was never able to do was maintain. I was always either actively gaining or losing weight. Even at my high weights, I wasn't stopping. I would just get up near 350, freak out and lose 50+ lbs and start the cycle all over again.

This is diet is sustainable to me, which is what I think it has made it feasible. The surgery is obviously an awesome tool. And the fact that I have developed reactive hypoglycemic has helped deter me from eating sugar in moments of weakness, but the fact that I really, really enjoy the foods that I eat, and the fact that I am "allowed" to eat when I'm hungry have been literally life saving. There are definitely some days where I overeat, but my overall calorie intake isn't catastrohphic because I am overeating on mainly fruits and vegetables.

Everyone needs to do what works for them, and everyone should definitely follow their teams' plan early on. And I'm well aware that I'm in the minority in the WLS Community, but it's a great fit for me. And it's one of the major reasons I chose Dr Weiner as my surgeon. Oh, and he's just a great guy!

I, too, eat a lot of vegetables, and I am maintaining my weight loss 10 years out. My doctor does not think 80-100 grams of protein is necessary nor advisable, and we are both happy with my weight and (mostly) with my health (calcium issues). I would follow your doctor's advice as much as you can through the active weight loss period, but know that many of us do fine with less protein and more vegetables - even fruit.

I have also developed reactive hypoglycemia, which usually keeps me from eating refined sugar so I won't experience severe low blood sugar and be forced to eat again when I don't even want to. It's actually a gift, though it can be frustrating when I do want 1/2 a small piece of cake and then I feel my blood sugar dive. Old habits die really hard.

I highly doubt they would do infusions at 11. I eat a lot of veggies but I just try maintain. I would go by my Drs. Plan, not by what you read here ... no offense but we are not drs

You are absolutely correct -- if we were talking about anemia. The infusions are for NON anemic iron deficiency -- and yes, my hemocrit is in the normal range but I get infusions once my ferritin falls below 25.

Yup agree. I have lupus/sjogrens so I can dip down on all my numbers quick. But the ferritin level I have is really low at 12. The storage is really important.

Forgot to ad. NO I do not plan for a 'treat' this isn't a diet, it's a lifestyle.

There's lots of great info above.

Low BP is usual, and most of us get a bit of orthostatic hypotension the first year. It gets better. But drinking more, and getting more electrolytes will help. Be careful. I passed out a cole of times.

A ferritin of 12 is horrible. If it's this low right after surgery, you will have major iron issues down the line. Be proactive. See a hemotologist, and preferably one that has experience with WLS patients.

Don't eat very many veggies? The recommendation is 3 to 5 servings. Since surgery in 2012, I've probably had 3 to 5 servings.