HELP

I'm new to the site, I had surgery in 10/2001and I was losing weight great at first. Now, I'm gaining more than I'm losing and I'm not sure what to do. Also, my scar on my abdomen has it looking like one side of my abdomen is bigger than the other. Now I'm back to my old diet tricks of taking diet pills or any of those quick lose weight fixes. I'm not sure what's wrong. ADVICE PLEASE??!!

The best advise I can give is go back to the doctor that did your WLS. Has your abdomen always looked like that since the surgery or is it a recent problem? Make sure you don't have a hernia at the incision site, they can get pretty big, which could explain some of your weight gain. Take care! Mary

THE ABSOLUTE BEST THING YOU CAN DO, MS TANYA, IS TO JOIN US AT OUR WEEKLY LCBB (LOWCOUNTRY BYPASS BUDDIES) MEETINGS SO THAT YOU CAN GET AROUND OTHER GASTRIC BYPASS PATIENTS WHO ARE SUCCEEDING ... WE'LL SUPPORT YOU, & ENCOURAGE YOU, & GIVE YOU HINTS THAT WORK FOR US ... &, GIVE YOU A LOVING KICK IN THE PANTS IF YOU NEED IT. ALSO, THERE IS A SUPPORT GROUP MEETING AT MUSC THE 3rd THURS OF EACH MONTH ... THEY ARE MORE FORMAL THAN WE ARE AT LCBB & HAVE A PARTICULAR SUBJECT EACH MEETING (I JUST POSTED THE INFO ON THIS WEEK'S MEETING A FEW POSTS BACK). BE SURE TO COME TO THIS BOARD EVERY DAY UNTIL YOU GET YOURSELF BACK INTO THE RIGHT MINDSET. LOSING WEIGHT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CALORIES ... IT'S ALL ABOUT MINDSET & ATTITUDE, I'M TELLING YOU THAT IS A FACT. IF YOU DON'T HAVE YOUR MIND & ATTITUDE RIGHT, YOU'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO STAY ON THE CALORIES, PROTEINS, FLUIDS, VITAMINS/MINERALS, ETC. START A FOOD DIARY & MARK DOWN EVERYTHING DAILY (FLUIDS, PROTEINS, CALORIES, SUGARS & FATS) ... THERE'S A WEBSITE THAT SOME OF THE GIRLS USE TO KEEP TRACK OF ALL THIS THAT MAKES IT EASY - MAYBE SOMEONE CAN GIVE YOU THE SITE ADDRESS ... I MEAN LIST EVERYTHING! THAT WILL GIVE YOU A TRUE STARTING POINT. THEN, JUST START CUTTING OUT THE SUGARS & THE WHITE CARBS (BREADS, POTATOES, ETC). BE SURE YOUR FAT INTAKE IS REASONABLE. INCREASE YOUR FLUIDS & PROTEIN PRODUCTS LIKE, PROTEIN PUDDINGS, PROTICA TYPE DRINKS, PROTEIN SHAKES & PROTEIN BARS - USE THESE IN PLACE OF 2 OR 3 SMALL MEALS A DAY. EAT 4-6 SMALL MEALS OF NO MORE THAN A COUPLE HUNDRED CALORIES EACH ... 1,000 - 1,200 CALORIES TOTAL A DAY. MEASURE YOUR FLUIDS (ALL SHOULD BE NOOOOOOOO SUGAR, NO CARBONATED DRINKS LIKE WATER, CRYSTAL LITE, ETC). THERE ARE SO MANY SUGAR FREE & NO SUGAR ADDED PRODUCTS THAT ARE FABULOUS. START EXERCISING ... JUST TAKE A WALK FOR 10-15 MINUTES A DAY & WORK UP FROM THERE. GO BACK TO THE BASICS & GET A BYPASS BUDDY SO YOU ARE ACCOUNTABLE TO SOMEONE ELSE!!! IT'S NOT AS EASY TO CHEAT IF WE HAVE TO TELL SOMEONE ELSE! THAT'S WHY OUR LCBB MEETINGS ARE SO IMPORTANT BECAUSE WE HAVE TO BE IN FRONT OF OTHERS EACH WEEK & IF WE START GAINING WEIGHT, THERE'S NO WAY TO EXCUSE IT ... OUR LCBBuddies WILL HELP US THROUGH THE ROUGH TIMES & BE THRILLED FOR EVERY SUCCESS! YOU CAN DO IT ... YOU CAN SUCCEED ... THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT! GOD BLESS YOU ... DAWN & NICK