Any Successful long-term DS Vegans Vegeteraians or semi Vegetariams out there ?

I had RNY surgery five years ago.  I lost most of my excess weight and even had some plastics to remove loose skin and empty fat cells ( and have more to go) .  But I'm a lifetime overeater.  I LIKE delicious food and enjoy trying new foods .  I LIKE being able to eat extra bites.

The first two years post-op when I could live " off a diet" and still lose /maintain weight were WONDERFUL- the best years of my life .  I felt amazingly healthy, energetic, competent and beautiful.  I felt like for the first time in my ENTIRE life my body wasn't trying to abandon me by creepingly inexorably putting on fat .

In the last year or so things have changed.  If I eat " normally" I gain weight.  I'm up to size seven pants from size ones - which I can't even button any more.  I still wear small jackets but they're constricting me over the chest . I can't even zip or button up the many extra small ones :(

I work in front of the cameras.  To work, I HAVE to maintain my weight 20-25 lbs below where I am now .  I am NO LONGER WILLING to run 10 miles a day or otherwise act/be bulimic with exercise or food to maintain a certain weight THAT I MUST HAVE TO WORK AND STAY HEALTHY ( my heart, like many ex-dancers' - ex tiny people  is small- if I gain I will develop congenital heart failure ).

So here is my question- is it possible to revise to a DS or extreme RNY and both stay healthy and tiny long-term on a largely vegetarian diet ?  I just can't eat meat most days out of the week, nor fish.  I eat a TON of dairy which probably helps my bones but  not my weight .

I won't give up alcohol nor fat free dairy nor eating great food others prepared that has fat in it.

Thank you for your kind feedback ! 

Responses from India /Asian vegetarians and South/Middle American vegetraians would be especially welcome - I LIVE on Spinach Paneer , Alu Gobi and  exotic self-pollinating  corns and quinoa and cool South American high-protein multiocolored potatoes.

Some vegetarians MUST have chosen  more extreme weight loss surgeries from these countries  where a vegetarian lifestyle is acommon and accepted long-term choice.

My big take away from your post is that you're not willing to change any of your habits, you just want a new surgery that will magically make you lose weight.  Is that correct?  

Are you seeing a therapist?  That might be more useful than going through more surgery.  

I do see a therapist several times a week  .

However I also resent the implication that seeing a therapist will magically make the excess weight drop off / body's tendency to regain a few years post op go away.

Overeating/ weight gain  for most if not all of us if FAR  more complicated than an easily solveable " emotional" issue . In my case my therapist has helped me become significantly more successful - which ironically leads to more  stress eating ...

Are there any vegetarians with successful DS es or distal RNY's out here ?

Which surgery did you choose how long ago and why?

Have you had ANY health problems since your original surgery?

Any chronic health issues  or "unsolveable" weight loss surgery realted  ones like low blood sugar swings  ?

Dietary/vitamin deficiencies ?  How do you fight those ?

Thank you for your kind feedback !   ((()))) hugs

The implication actually was that a therapist might help you understand that you need to change your habits if you want to lose weight instead of just expecting a new surgery to magically do it for you.  There is no magic solution - there's just hard work to get the things you want.  

Reading through this post and your previous posts - you don't want to give up alcohol (which it seems like you drink often), you don't want to eat a protein forward diet, you don't want to exercise, and, as far as I can tell, you don't want to "diet" which means you're probably not tracking what you eat with something like MyFitnessPal so you don't have any idea of your macronutrients or caloric intake.  

Another surgery will not fix these things.  You lucked out by losing weight in your post-surgical honeymoon phase, but it seems that you didn't actually make any permanent lifestyle changes to ensure that your weight loss would stick through maintenance.  While another surgery might give your short term weight loss, if you haven't changed your mindset/lifestyle, it's not going to give you long term success.  

I sure hope you're wrong !  

The DS community has a LOT of people in it who like me cling to eating fine food lol :).

As far as lifestyle changes go - I am an ex college athlete and I was in fantastic shape before my first surgery . I really used to run 10 miles each morning before filming .

My diet is extremely healthy low fat and veggie/fresh food concentrated .  Eating " protein forward " even if you CAN ( I barf at the idea of meat most of the time ) causes long term kidney issues at the very LEAST ( also probably makes for far higher rates of cancer thanks to the hormones antibiotics and pollutants concentrated in meat and fish )

Vegetarian eating is HEALTHY!  I will point out that five years post op even with my undisciplined ways I haven't gained that much .. just too much for my heart and career to put up with .

But thank you for your interesting thought provoking responses Gwen ((( )))).  This is why these forums work- because we can debate and learn from what works for others :)

I "cling" to eating fine food as well.  The nice thing about fine food is that a small amount is satisfying.  So it's easy to control portions and eat the way I'm supposed to.  

I'd love to see a recent scholarly journal source that eating the recommended amount of protein causes "long term kidney issues."  

You'll notice that I never said a veg*n diet was unhealthy if you reread my replies to you.  And while you haven't gained "that much" you've clearly gained too much if you're considering a second surgery to fix things because you want to keep drinking alcohol and not change your lifestyle.  This is especially troubling considering you have health risks to avoid.  I would think desire to avoid heart failure would be a great motivator to change your lifestyle.  

Your comment about "eating protein forward" causes long term kidney disease is not true. I am someone with stage 3 chronic kidney disease and while it is true that I have to watch how much protein I eat. I eat what is a normal amount of protein daily and do not go over it. That means for me I can eat 70 grams per day.

I eat a protein forward diet every single day and my kidney disease is in remission.

Please be careful about making statements that are not completely true. Giving incorrect information could actually impact someone new to this process.

By the way, I eat fine foods regularly as well. And I enjoy a glass of good wine every once in a while. There is no magic surgery to get you where you want to be. Only hard work and focus.

Dietary and vitamin deficiencies are battled with supplements....LOTS of supplements.   You get bloodwork done annually or more, and you adjust your regime based on what your results tell you. You are likely crashing from your high sugar and carb meals based on what you wrote in another response.

Why is it acceptable to constantly ask us weight loss patients to " give up " the things we need to emotionally and physically survive /be happy by using  each day ?

Why are WE willing to tolerate such unreasonable and unsympathetic demands ?

Its not like I'm clinging to my " right " to eat Mickey D's at every meal ... but I'm from the generation to FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO PAAARTY  .  An  Un- Fun life is NO LIFE as far as I'm concerned and anyone who demands such a thing of me  or judges me when they've never been asked their opinion ..is just not coming from a compassionate or  supportive place.

I think the overwhelming failure rate of diets PROVES that people can only bend their habits for a short amount of time if at all. We are who we are .. we need to accept ourselves and find creative solutions around our " limitations " ( which all have good sides too believe it or not)