Thoughts on Weight Regain

This article was in Barbara Thompson's Weight Loss Newsletter and it seems to fit several of us....thought provoking....Barbara When we first had surgery, the trip to the scale to weigh ourselves was a delight. "How much did I lose yesterday?" One pound? Two? It was truly weight loss heaven. For the first time in our lives, our relationship with the scale was not only friendly but intoxicating! But over time the weight loss slowed and then one day it stopped. Hopefully when that day came, you were at your goal weight. But for most of us, we have fallen short of that goal. But really, is that so bad? Weight loss surgery is not designed to get us to goal. It is a tool to help us hopefully get within 70% to 80% of our goal weight, to get us to a healthy weight where our obesity related symptoms disappear. Reaching goal is a very tough road. And with the accumulation of hanging skin, and the toll our excess weight has taken on our joints so that exercise is sometimes difficult, many of us never see our goal weight. Most of us can live with that. What we cannot live with is when we see the numbers on the scale moving up. Panic sets in. We have all been through the yo-yo dieting. It is natural to wonder if the same thing will happen this time. The problem with weight loss surgery (especially gastric bypass) is that the weight loss is so fast and automatic that it gives us a false sense of security. We start to feel like the pounds will never return. We feel like we can eat anything and we will still have the weight problem licked. But we don't. As we get further out from surgery, our appetites return. We haven't learned how to eat and how to control those demons. Yes, we know that we are supposed to eat protein, but what does that actually mean? And as we get further and further from our surgery date, our motivation dwindles. We rationalize that we loo****ertainly better than we did before. And besides, maintaining a weight to fit into a size 6 or 8 is just too hard. A size 10 is just fine. But it is when the size 10 turns into size 12 into size 14 and 16 that we start to panic. We each need a rational approach to maintaining our weight. And sometimes it means just getting bask to basics - drinking water, exercising, eating protein first and no grazing. It all sounds so simple, but it's tough and we are in this together. If you are struggling with your weight, don't feel alone. Most people do, even after weight loss surgery.

Barbara, I certainly agree with everything that was said in the article. Thanks for sharing it with us. Have a great weekend, Rick