I need advice..one month out and gaining

Ok.  I'm expecting to be reprimanded but here we go.  I had my sleeve surgery on January 30. I started out at 318 pounds at the time of surgery, and I'm currently 292 pounds. My lowest weight was 289 about a week and a half ago. I know that I haven't been doing everything right, but I can't understand the weight gain with the amount of food that I'm able to eat.  In the beginning, I was losing about a pound  a day but since I've introduced food, my weight has slowed to a crawl and has even crept up. I'm so frustrated.

Sample Meal Plan

B- 1/2 cup of cream of wheat with a teaspoon of protein powder ( I usually add some agave nectar to it.)

L - 1/3 crab cake, 2 broccoli spears and a spoonful of mashed potatoes

S- premier protein shake

D - 1/2 boneless skinless chicken thigh, 1/4 cup of squash

To be completely honest, I have been eating about 2 pieces of hard candy (strawberry filled) every other day.

W - I'm getting about 51 ounces of water in per day.

E - I'm exercising 3 days a week. All cardio

I know that I have to cut out the sweets and am probably consuming too many carbs, but what else can I do to restart my weight loss?  I will be meeting with my surgeon next week since it was rescheduled due to the weather. I'll also discuss this with him.

 

 

I can't imagine being able to eat enough to gain weight at 1 month out.  My scale never went up until I was 6 months out and that was only 2 lbs and it went back down almost immediately.  I can't imagine your frustration.  All I can say is what I was doing.  At one month out I was ONLY eating protein.  Other than the 2 weeks of pureed and soft foods when I would eat mashed potatoes, but as soon as I could eat meat, that was all I ate.  Also, I don't think  you are getting enough water.  My surgeon said to drink protein drinks 3 times a day, getting at least 15 grams of protein per drink.  He said that drinking protein between meals helps to optimize weight loss.

Good luck!  I hope you can get back on track.

You're right about the water. It has been extremely hard for me to get in the required amount of water. This has always been hard for me, even before surgery.

Here's my critique of your food choices - please don't be offended.

B:  too early in the program for cereal - too many carbs - try to have something like eggs, ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, or even a baby bel cheese.  If you must have cereal switch to steel cut oats, or 1/4 c kashi mixed into yogurt

L:  crab cakes are full of breading and fried - bad choice.  Also 2 broccoli spears seems to difficult to digest to me at this point.  I don't think I could eat them now.  Instead go to something more similar to lean protein - turkey breast, tuna, ricotta, etc. - also ditch the mashed potatoes - there is no redeeming value in them

D:  opt for more chicken, less squash

Try some sugar free hard candy or I love no sugar added fudgesicles to satisfy my sweet tooth.

Good luck.  I hope you don't take this as a reprimant, but you did ask for feedback

Thank you so much. Tough love works best for me so I'm not offended. I know that I wasn't following the plan exactly. I dabbled in things that I shouldn't have, but I was away at a conference and I tried to eat the softest thing I could find, hence the crab cake. I guess I figured that it was ok because it was such a small amount. I've decided to extend my soft food stage for another week to get back on track.

First, it is common for weight loss to stall about a month out.  It's called the third-week-stall. 

But beyond that, you are eating a lot of carbs.  Carbs cause me to retain water and make my weight go up.  Also carbs trigger cravings for me,  I chose to keep my diet very low carb until I hit maintenance.  I couldn't have stuck to my diet if I ate what you are eating.

I'd suggest trying to go very low carb for a few days and see if that helps. You'd need to cut out the cream of wheat, the mashed potatoes, the squash, and the candy. Eat proteins and low carb veggies.  It will be hard the first few days and then it should get better. If the low carb diet makes it easier, then you can try adding back small amounts of carbs to find out how many you can tolerate until you feel compelled to eat candy. 

I hope this helps.  I know that low carb was key to my success.

best wishes,

Carol

You said it...carbs are definitely my downfall. I never knew how addicted I was to carbs until now. I just didn't think that I could gain weight on such small amounts of food, even if it was carb heavy. Boy was I wrong. I'm learning my lesson. I'm so addicted to food that my old habits have inched their way into my new way of life.

You're in a stall.  But you already know that you're eating things you shouldn't, and probably not hitting your protein goals as a result.  Eliminate the cream of wheat, potatoes, crab cake (unless it's 90% crabmeat!****il you're closer to goal.  Focus on protein and protein only.  Increase your water consumption, because you're definitely not getting enough liquid.

Protein, protein, protein. I know that I need to increase it. I limited my consumption of protein shakes because of the constipation that I was experiencing at two weeks out. I'm working on my water intake. I just feel like to get in my recommended water intake, I would be drinking it all day. But I know it's best for me so I'm going to try a little harder. Thanks.

Shakes shouldn't be causing constipation, but, hey, we're all different.  Thin the shakes out - add water or milk to them.  Yes, you'll feel like you're drinking all day, all the time, but that's pretty much what you have to do at this point.  It's not the most satisfying stage of post-op life, but it'll get better!