So tell me this...

I have read hundreds of posts and hundreds of blogs and hundreds of educational literature. Is it the new diet that actually helps you loose the weight or is it the smaller stomach?It seems to me that most people loose the bulk of their week during the period when their diet is dratcially restricted. Just curious....

For me personally, I think its both.  Im not eating the same things I used to, Im making better choices BUT I also cant eat as much either.  I know when I used to do WW, I would always overeat on the healthy things too and now I just cant do that.

The new diet is due to the smaller stomach. I would not say that people lose the bulk of their weight pre op. ??? I would imagine that if it were that easy that one could just eat the pre op diet and never bother to get the surgery.

I can only speak for myself - and for me it's the stomach. I have LIVED on restricted diets for years - and followed them - without success. I know I'm not losing super fast, but I am losing consistently and that's a win for me!!!

It's a combination of both. Many people have different post-op diets and it seems that different post-op guidelines work for different people. Having restriction, and being able to have constant/permanent restriction is a huge key to my success since I was a volume eater. But, I can eat every hour on the hour if I wanted to do so. Fortunately, I have zero desire to eat that way, or sit around eating junk food all day. I can still lose weight at 22 months out by changing what I put in my body, not really dieting, but just being more mindful of what I eat, and limiting some of my indulgences.

 "But, I can eat every hour on the hour if I wanted to do so. Fortunately, I have zero desire to eat that way, or sit around eating junk food all day. I can still lose weight at 22 months out by changing what I put in my body, not really dieting, but just being more mindful of what I eat, and limiting some of my indulgences."

Which is basically the way all my 'naturally' thin friends live their lives. :) Tiff, you're normal! LOL

well you could theoretically lose just as much weight if you followed the barriatric post op diet of 600 to 800 calories per day. but the practical matter is that there is no way you could stick to this diet for very long. without the surgery and restriction and ghrelin reduction you would just get too hungry and end up eating. and studies show that traditional dieting causes increase in ghrelin production so that your hunger increases as you diet and you are programed to regain. So yes, you are not going to lose weight without significant calorie reduction of the wls diet. but the surgery enables you to stay with it. at least, thats how I see it.   Diane

 Ditto

It's both.  But for me there is NO way I'd be able to stick to a 650 calorie a day diet without the smaller stomach.   Last night I ordered pizza for the kids (first time in 3 months!) and couldn't resist a slice.  But in reality I ate maybe half the slice before I couldn't eat anymore.  Now I can assure you I'd have never been able to eat only half a slice and no breadsticks before the smaller stomach.   But the bes part was that I was totally satisfied with what I had and didn't even want more.  It's crazy.

~Jen

I never ate really "bad" foods (chips, ice cream, etc) I basically followed the post-op diet since I was about 25... My problem has ALWAYS been portion control! Why have one serving of edamame salad when I could eat the whole bowl? The size of my new stomach makes it absolutely impossible for me to do this anymore! ...and I don't feel deprived because I'm FULL! If we all could control what we're putting in our bodies, we wouldn't have come to this drastic measure of having surgery! I'm so happy to have a smaller stomach and to be able to stop when I SHOULD stop.