Never Give Up, Never Surrender, and NEVER Get Complacent

Believe me, you CAN regain weight after the VSG.  All you need to do is to forget to monitor yourself on a regular basis.

I have told this story before, but we have a LOT of new people here, and some can benefit from my experience.

I was very faithful about weighing myself once a week for the first 2 years and 3 months post-op.  If I regained a total of 5 pounds, I just went "back on program", and got those 5 pounds off very easily (which rarely happened, as I would just slow down the eating if I regained ANY weight).  That way, I maintained my weight at a pretty steady 170 pounds.

But, as I was SO successful, I became complacent.  after all, I had this thing whipped.  I was over 2 years post-op, I watched my diet, and I wasn't going to regain again.  So, I stopped the weekly weigh in's. 

Three months went by, and my pants were getting a little tighter.  I stepped on the scale, and to my horror, I weighed 191 pounds!

Whoa, what the heck happened?

I went back on program, big time.  I did the "5 Day Pouch Test", having nothing but 3 protein shakes a day, along with a ton of water, and then stuck to program 100%.  It took me almost a month to get that 20 pounds off.  And I had to be 100% compliant with my dietary program, and walk my 3 miles daily, 7 days a week to do that.

And so please, take my warning:

NEVER, EVERY, GET COMPLACENT ABOUT YOUR WEIGHT LOSS.

This is a life time process, and do not allow yourself to forget that.  We can so easily slip back into those old bad habits.  In my case, it was "grazing", eating between meals, and NOT really watching what I was eating.

Heck, I had this thing whipped, right?  I was SO successful, this couldn't happen to me.

But, it did happen to me, and it can also happen to YOU.

So, never give up monitoring your weight.

Never Surrender the principles that got you to goal.

NEVER, EVER GET COMPLACENT AND THINK THAT YOU HAVE CONQUERED THIS ON A PERMANENT BASIS.

You do NOT have to give up all eating pleasures.  I eat anything, and I do mean ANYTHING, that I feel like eating.  I just limit the amount of the things that can easily put weight back on.

You CAN  maintain your weight, without depriving yourself.  I do it, and I am a lazy, 68 year old couch potato.  If I can do it, you young folks surely can!

Now, go enjoy a healthy serving of your Thanksgiving dinner, and a healthy portion of pie!

Old Medic, there are many things we don't see eye to eye on, but you have just hit on one area where I am 100% in agreement with you.  This is my biggest and only fear when it comes to long term maintenance, complacency is the enemy of permanent success.  It is why I weigh myself everyday and stay within a five pound window.  I am not bent out of shape over tiny fluctuations, but I watch the trends and I intend to do this for the rest of my life.  I am just where you were before you regain.  I am almost 2.5 years out and have been maintaining successfully and easily for the past 22 months.  I feel good about where I am, but I have noticed a definite slide when it comes to grazing and allowing carb filled foods back into my diet.  Until now, the scale has not yet registered any difference, but I am aware that the behavior has changed a bit.  I am hoping that by weighing myself regularly, I will safe myself from the shock you must have experienced at seeing the 20 pound weight gain.  I can deal with a few pounds, 20 pounds would probably send me into total dread.  At that point, I too would probably have chosen to go back to the much despised (by me) protein shakes.  Thank you for coming back and sharing your experience, you always have kept it real and I appreciate your honesty and example.

 WOW! this is a very eye opening post and I thank you for posting it! I am only a little over a month out and to see myself gaining after all I have gone through with this surgery is something I definitely don't want to do! So thank you for the insight and this will definitely help me to remember to weigh myself regularly once I get a little further out and to not become complacent about this life changing procedure!

GOD BLESS YOU AND HAVE A BLESSED THANKSGIVING!

RAQUEL

Amen, my brother.  I am living proof of what you just said.  Started eating garbage at about a year and a half out (after some health problems, not wls related), and am now packing almost 30 extra pounds.  Now I just can't or won't clean up my act enough to get them off again.  Before I got sick, I was maintaining my goal weight very easily, eating a little of most anything I wanted.  Now I don't eat enough good stuff and eat too much crap.  For anyone reading this, it is NOT worth it.  Don't let those few pounds creep up on you!

Thanks, OldMedic.
--Dorothy 

Absolutely 100% bang on, I too got complacent and haven't been on the site as I was in the past.  2 1/2 years out and 17 pounds up, I'm back on track this week and refuse to let it get further out of hand.  Accountability, journaling, protein, low carbs and lots of water and exercise.  Winter is here and it's not going to get easier with Christmas around the corner.

This is a life changing experience and I've come too far to go back to square one.

Thanks for the post OldMedic it came at the right time.

So much to be thankful for,  "Happy Thanksgiving to all our American Friends".

This is a very real fear for me. That's how I always gained my weight back in the past and then couldn't stop. I would love to have my past favorite foods, but I refuse to indulge. That's not to say I didn't have a bite or two of foods I wouldn't normally eat and thankfully I was satisfied. Of course, I really enjoyed my low carb but not low fat pumpkin cheesecake! Thanks OldMedic! I so wish I could get my brother-in-law to read your story. He is slowing dying from his weight and has just given up.

 THANK YOU!  This was JUST what I was looking for!  And it was JUST what I needed.  I got pregnant before my first year out (which they warn you against but I was told by many medical professionals that I couldn't get pregnant, it just wasn't possible...so I wasn't worried about it).  I gained 65lbs during the pregnancy, the last 25 in the last 3 wks of pregnancy and lost all but 4 of those lbs.  I thought, Pfft...I can FINALLY start losing again...and I didn't.  I started eating junk, TONS of junk...The rules in the back of my head are screaming and I'm ignoring them.  I've gained 18lbs since I gave birth.  I have a TON of leftovers in my fridge from thanksgiving and I have a can of Mackerel right in front of me.  I know what I'm taking to work today...and I'm getting back on track...I have a little book and I'm going to start journaling my entries...feel like I"m starting at day one again.  In a real way, I guess I am...Thank you, Old Medic...I needed you.