Taste Buds... did yours change?

 Taste Buds... did yours change?

I got my VSG two weeks ago and almost everything tastes bad to me (Disgusting seems to be my favorite word). I can't even drink water, so I am chugging ice chips like crazy. The protein drink tasted bad, so I mixed it with some gelatin and made protein jello which has no smell and not much flavor. That works. I've tried banana (nope). Jello is ok. I freeze a cup of Crystal Lite and eat it as ice chips, which takes away the smell and a lot of the flavor, that's a treat for me. I am 65 years old and this has never ever happened to me before. How about you, does this ring a bell?

My taste buds have changed.  Which of course is weird to me as they didn't operate in or on my mouth. I think that what has actually happened (only my best guess) is that as you loose fat, perhaps you loose a little fat from your tongue.  This brings the taste buds closer to the surface and therefore your tastes are heightened.  This is only my working theory as to why this has happened.

I always drank water that was filtered and enhanced with minerals.  With taste buds being heightened I am now tasting those minerals in the water and they taste bad.  Again only a thought.  Whereas I used to be able to drink a whole bottle of just unflavored water I can't get in a mouthful without that terrible taste face we all know.  

On a side note there is something I should mention that will hopefully help.  I will use for example this carrot cake flavored yogurt I buy.  Many people hear carrot cake and taste the yogurt and then may not like it as it really isn't carrot cake.  My challenge to you is to try flavors of things but don't make that mental comparison to what it should taste like.  Just taste it and ask yourself ... does it taste good. Whether or not they nailed the flavor if it tastes good, then buy it and eat it.  

People need to get out of this mindset of having the flavors listed on various products whether or protein bar, shake, jello, or yogurt taste like something they are missing or craving.  Eat something and get to the basic question of whether or not it tastes good as opposed to whether or not it tastes as expected.  You will find that a lot of things are more palatable that way and more exceptable.

Nope. I was waiting for it to happen but my buds are the same.

Water doesn't always taste great to me -- and I used to love it.  I use MIO in my water now and it really helps me get it all down.  The only thing that really changed for me is the taste of coffee.  I used to LOVE my morning coffee, now it has absolutely no appeal to me at all.  Other than that, I've had no other noticable changes in taste to anything I've eaten.   

Mine went a little crazy - things that were good or ok before were gross after - especially protein shakes and vitamins.  I craved steak - when other things were hard to eat, it went down nice and easy.  The one thing that would make me gag totally was chicken broth - yuck!

Things are far more normal now - but still don't want chicken broth! 

Yes!! Mine are all messed up! I am so not my usual flavor loving self. I can't stand water which I used to love.. Protein shakes make me ill. Vanilla smells and flavors make me sick. I am told this is normal and that they can change back but may not.. so on to new favorites...

I'm 5mo out & mine still have not normalized.

Lived on shakes preop, but 2wks postop they gagged me. Tried "mind over matter" a cpl months ago (Im going to make a shake and DRINK it, dammit!). I literally threw up walking into the kitchen just THINKING about it! Wasted $$ trying new brands but no. Threw away my fancy, new $$$$ shaker cups because of "the smell". Even took out the TRASH with the cups IN it, I swear I can still smell them (and these were new & honestly had NO smell, I was super careful - after leaving a pricey one in the car, I learned to wash them out immediately)

Still can't drink water - tastes like dirt, pennies & batteries. My old face cottage cheese gags me. Artificial sweeteners of any kind started turning my stomach about a wk out. My decent tasting liquid vitamins came right back up. Happily lived on turkey meatballs & chicken til one day "Gollum" said NO MORE! And by no more I mean you better spit out the bite that's in your mouth!

Gollum is GANGSTA! He is The Boss and has been leading me around by the nose since the day I took him home. So mean! At 5months & without his vicious partner in crime (my gallbladder) he is just now starting to calm down and cut me a little slack.

This made it VERY hard to stay on plan, especially in the beginning. I was SO prepared, but no water, no sweeteners, no shakes... No Exceptions lol. I couldn't meet any of my goals. I'm still drinking diluted, full-sugar Gatorade and light (not diet) drinks. My NUT and I had to really get creative to get anything into me those first months. I remember going into her office, setting down my little "plan binder" and saying "yeah, I think you gave me the wrong paperwork. Can I have the binder that goes with MY sleeve?"

Mine have changed like crazy! before sugery I HATED, and I mean HAAAAAATED spicy food.... now all I want is spicy mexican food... I even have started buying habenero salsa! Its weird!

Only at first for me, but I am almost 7 months out now and everything is pretty much back to normal. Like a few more things actually. Plus, doing lower carb, eating less sugar, causes your taste buds to actually be more sensitive. So I could be that too. I would say things started tasting good when I was able to eat some solids, which was 6 weeks out for me. Then probably at 3-4 months things seemed more normal, in regards to the variety of what I eat, minus the junk food, from prior to surgery.

Yup, everything taste different. It has its perks but it can be frustrating when you want something, get it and it's nasty .