What have been people's experiences, other than gas and weight regain/lack of loss (both of which I concur with)?
At about 10 years post op I got lax. I was eating 4,000-5,000 calories a day but when I shifted to eating more carbs - gold fish crackers (2-3 servings), pasta at dinner (2 servings) and cereal (2servings) at night.... I gained 30lbs in 2 years. I still ate lots of meat , cheese, veggies, butter and nuts and seeds. I just also ate carbs.
I realize I cannot be happy with one serving of goldfish crackers I want the whole bag. Same with any bread type product.
I am in the process of losing that gained weight but it's not as easy as it was in the first two years because
1: my capacity to eat is much greater and thus I am also not always planning food like I did at the beginning. So grabbing crackers becomes subconscious and I don't get the immediate stomach upset from eating donuts. The first year I'd eat a donut and have to run to the toilet. To get my protein I had planned meals to hit targets. Not any more.
2: the psychological drive to lose the initial weight is gone. It really is a honeymoon period. I'm 'normal' now so losing the 30 regain I'd like to lose isn't the challenge the initial loss was. I'm not accountable to weighing with a doctor or charting my goals like the first two years. The lack of drive means it's easy to fall off the wagon and grab the crackers.
3: my guess is I absorb way more than I did. So at year one I could eat a pound of bacon and absorb only two slices worth. Now I eat a pound of bacon and I absorb 6 slices worth. A donut would come out of me as liquid (presuming not absorbed) but now? I can eat three with only minor gas issues. I used to get oil slicking all the time and rarely do now... Presumably because I'm absorbing more of that fat?
All this makes losing now harder than losing 6 months after surgery. And if you aren't seeing the results then you just don't have the same motivation to continue. It goes back to 'I didn't succeed at dieting'.
I went from 415+ lbs to 148lbs. Even now at 175lbs I'm 'normal' but if I'm not careful in another few years I'll be up in the mid 200's, etc. I like 'normal' too much. I miss the early days of easy loss where I'd go super low carb for 3 weeks and drop 15lbs.
I want to add I think for me to keep eating bacon by the pound and 16oz ribeye steaks and sticks of butter may have also contributed to my regain not just the goldfish crackers. The fact is my body is absorbing more. So only 20% of my 20 strips of bacon , stick of butter, 6 slices of Bologna, fried up chicken thighs were absorbed at year 3. I'd greatly poop out oil slicks. Not any more.
I can eat more now and am absorbing more. So if I absorb 50% now? Half a pound of bacon, half a stick of butter, 3 slices of Bologna , two of my four chicken thighs... Guess what? I may gain from it. Same with the protein count. I know many disagree and say DSers can eat all the fat and protein but I think some don't realize the capacity of a former 400lbs food addict to eat all day long.