Tips To Conquer Weight Regain

March 15, 2021

“Weight Regain” those dreaded words. I am a rule follower, so I knew it would not happen to me. WRONG! Little did I know that I’d have to conquer weight regain.

Life happens to everyone; even those of us that follow the rules. My first real experience with regain came at a little over five years post-op. My oldest daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer, and my life changed fast.   

My daily five-mile walks, jazzercise classes, and laser focus on my meal planning took a back seat to four-hour drives to and from her home daily to watch her children and then finally taking the children home with me for a month. That month was a continuation of bottles, diapers, stroller walks, naps, food prep for others, repeat. 

What I have found is, the trick in stopping regain is to acknowledge it and get right back to bariatric basics. For me, that also includes a trip back to my dietitian and surgeon. I have to be accountable. Measuring cups, spoons, and scales are back in the forefront of my every day, and then I follow my list of tips that I am sharing for you to conquer weight regain. 

Tips To Conquer Weight Regain

I always look for a mantra (affirmations) that is just a few words that will jolt me into action each time I repeat it to myself. I track how many times each day repeating a positive mantra has changed my direction, attitude, or self-talk, and I use that one again.  

A liquid measure, dry measure, and scales!! All the tools for the recipe book of life come back out and stay out. To get those numbers on the big scale to move down the measurements of exactly how much is going into my body has to be correct.  

Thirty minutes before and thirty minutes after I eat, I need to leave the fluid alone and allow my tool the ability to work. I want to feel full.

When I first had surgery, I could live with no problem with so much less! Over time, the half-cup becomes a full cup. After a few years, I put most of my measuring tools away. Until REGAIN became a real word. I remembered what my dietitian told me.  “The tool of surgery is only as good as the person who is using it.” I can start over with small portions, eat my protein first, veggies, and watch those carbs, and my tool works with me as it always has to lose weight. 

Habits are so hard to break, and stress triggers comfort AKA FOOD!!! My surgery was on my stomach, not my brain. My brain may think it wants an extra bite or may temporarily forget the struggle before surgery and feel deprived. I know that if I eat as I did, I will feel like I used to, and that cannot happen.

So when it comes to food, my eyes cannot measure, and my brain is not always to be trusted.  I know I can trust my bariatric manuals, cookbooks, and notes. I attend support groups, cooking classes, and still see both my dietitian and bariatric surgeon annually. 

This is personal. Deciding to have weight loss surgery was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made and one of the best.  When I met my bariatric surgeon, it was the first time that I had felt hope about my weight, my life, my future in so long I had forgotten how that emotion felt.  

Slowly I allowed myself to begin the process of learning about my disease, accept that with surgery, and changing my lifestyle; I could have a different life. I was no longer afraid of failing. I began to feel empowered. After my surgery, my life changed in more ways than just my weight. I was more confident; I found my voice, I felt in control. 

Regain entered my life five years post-op after my daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer. My focus changed from me to my daughter and her family. My exercise was walking two small children in a stroller. I didn’t notice the weight until after my daughter was on the road to recovery, and then I felt defeated.  

I got back to my surgeon, my practice, my support group, and they all encouraged me to ‘take back control” and make my lifestyle of food and exercise my top priority.  It took some time to get refocused, but I wanted to feel in control again. Since then, I have been writing down tips to help myself always stay focused.   

Sugar, for me, means hunger. Weight loss surgery took away that feeling of being hungry all the time for many years. Now, as I work toward my nine-year surgery anniversary, I notice that if I let any sugar into my diet, I begin to feel hungry. 

Tracking has never been something that I like to do, but it will hold me accountable. In March 2020, when my husband and I both began sheltering in place, I dug out my old Fitbit and food journal.  There are so many fantastic online apps that I could use, but if I am tracking, I want to write it.  

I was shocked when I first began to see the volume of food I was eating.    My snacking was under control, but my portions were too large. I also found that in the first weeks at home, I was not moving enough, so using my Fitbit, I was about to track my steps and increase my mobility.  It makes a difference.  Little changes make big differences over time if you acknowledge the need and stick to those changes.  

The easiest of all tips. Plain water is so vital to weight loss, and we cannot forget that documenting our intake is just as important.  Some people love water, and some don’t. I have to be in the mood, and it has to be very cold.  

The only way I get my water in every day is to make deals with myself.    I love hot tea or iced tea in many varieties, so I make myself drink water in-between every tea. Depending on what form of exercise I am doing, my water will win out two to one. Staying hydrated has helped me keep my weight stable and also lose when I am working hard to shift a few pounds.  

My journey with obesity is life-long. Obesity is a disease that I believe “is always waiting.”

Whenever life has gotten heavy for me, I have found that my weight is always in danger of climbing up.  

Support groups, mentors, mental health counselors are the people that I always keep on my team. Others that understand obesity and the complexity of my disease are so essential to my continued success. 

As far as losing weight, I did it once so I can do it again with weight regain. No food tastes as good as feeling healthy, in control, mentally, and physically strong.

My decision to have surgery and change my life is freedom for me in so many ways. I am free from the constant pull of my body being exhausted all the time. I am free from all the medications I once took, and doctor visits I dreaded. I am free from the stares and feeling of humiliation if I ate ice cream in public or tried to get out of a booth in a restaurant. My new life is hard work, but it is positive, good work that results in me feeling good about myself. I'm happy that I finally did conquer weight regain.

Self-care and self-love are not selfish. I am a better wife, mother, grandmother, daughter when I am confident, strong, and feeling in control of my eating. I can conquer weight regain. I am worth the hard work. You are too!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Cathy Arsenault is dedicated to Bariatrics and Patient Experience. She serves as the Bariatric Patient and Family Adviser on the UNC REX Patient and Family Advisory Council and co-chair, sits on the Bariatric Surgical Service Line and Peer Rounds on Pre-Op and Post-Op Bariatric patients daily.

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