I have eaten bread that I made myself by grinding the wheat and baking it. It was good, but we didn't eat it fast enough to keep it from spoiling. Just weren't that interested. I haven't found a good store-bought bread that has anything to offer me. Lately we've found some really thin bagels in the bread aisle. When you separate the two halves, they're less than a quarter inch thick. Good in protein, relatively low in carbs. We can just eat a package of eight pieces before it grows a beard. They're just thick enough to keep the mustard off your hands in a sandwich.
I've had pasta a time or two, but find it has nothing to offer. Not long ago I posted a recipe for "legal" spaghetti using a spaghetti squash instead of pasta, though. Being part Italian, I thought it'd be harder to give up pasta, but it's been fairly easy. I experimented enough to know I didn't want to continue with it. If I'm going to use pasta in a soup or stew, I make sure it's whole wheat and can stand by itself with its protein content.
As blue said - red meat and I get along just fine! I don't eat much processed meat, such as hot dogs, bologna, etc., and a can of Spam can last a long time in our fridge before being thrown out. I like Spam for its old associations, but not enough to eat a whole can of it!! Last week I did a 9 pound pork roast in our crockpot. We ate on it all week and I froze a bunch of it in vacuum pouches.
You had surgery to take control of your health and life. Don't fear a regain. Fear implies you don't control the outcome. Have a healthy respect for the principles that have brought you this far and the power they have. If you look forward and follow those simple rules, you won't have to worry about putting it back on.
When we are farther out, the rules change focus a bit. Instead of being so detail-oriented, we learn to honor the concepts behind them. Protein first, fruit & veggies second, carbs if there's room is a concept that we all live by. It has room enough to allow red meat or white, seafood, vegetable protein, etc. Our pouches allow us more freedom now, which can be a good news/bad news type of thing. We have to stand on our own strength when dumping becomes less frequent.
I've been at my body's goal now for just over two years. I'm careful about the rules, but I have experimented with small amounts of different things I wouldn't recommend for someone still in freefall. Flirting with the edges has no attraction for me, though. I like to stay firmly in the WLS comfort zone. It's safer!! I'm 2 pounds more this morning than I was 25 months ago. I've been as much as 8 pounds lighter in that time, and 3 pounds heavier than today. I never even bothered with a 10 pound change in a month in my earlier life!
This is without a doubt the most sustainable way of eating I have ever found. I can get something good in a restaurant when I'm traveling. I can have snacks and special treats, too. They're not the same as three years ago, but they're more satisfying to me.
My wife had RNY 15 months after I did, and her experience is similar to mine.
If you want to expand your horizons, do it carefully and stay in control and you'll be just fine. You're the same height and starting weight as my wife, and you had your surgery 4 months after she did. She's holding steady at 137, so I'd say you've done very well for yourself. Now comes the hardest part though - maintenance!!
CT
just wondering 
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