I will NOT throw this away.

I haven't been around in a long time. Which is probably a bad thing in of itself.

I had surgery on 9/20/13. At that time I weighed 247, with my highest being 276. By June 2014 I was down to 161 with a goal of losing another 11 lbs. I never made it to that goal. As of this morning, I am 175.6. Almost a 15 lb gain...in just one year. I'm completely beside myself. How did I let this happen?

None of that matters. It's history and dwelling on it will only continue to put me in a bad frame of mind and ultimately contribute to the weight gain. It has to stop. The sugar intake, the lack of water consumption, the feeling hungry All. The. Time. I have to get back into the gym. I have to be mindful. I can't throw this away.

Any suggestions from veterans who have faced the same thing? At this point, I don't know if I'll ever see 150, but I at least want to get back to the 161. I felt so much better then than I do now. It's funny...at 276, when I lost 15 lbs it didn't feel that different...but at 160, gaining 15 feels awful.

But it stops now. This is forever. And we will have to work at it forever.

Cut the processed carbs out of your life.  Bread, crackers, chips, sugar, pasta, rice, and potatoes will create huge cravings. The more you eat these carbs, the more you want.  If I eat processed foods, I am a bottomless pit,  feel hungry all the time, and I can eat a ton of them.  

Get back to dense protein first and non-starchy veggies.  Limit your fruit to one serving per day.  The body reads fruit as sugar and will slow or stop your weight loss.

Get at least 64 ounce of fluid daily.  If you are drinking with your meals, STOP!!!!!  This is the biggest reason for weight gain.  Drinking with meals allows you to eat larger portions before you feel restriction, causing weight gain.  Wait at least 30 minutes after eating to drink.

Watch your portion sizes.  Obese people do not have a grasp on what a proper portion looks like.  It's easy to let those portions creep up.  get out your measuring cups and start tracking how much you are actually eating.  You might be surprised.  I am years out from RNY and still measure because I know I can't trust myself to eyeball a portion size.  If I do, I WILL over eat.

Regain happens to the best of us.  The good news is you caught it at 15 pounds and not 50 pounds.  You won't lose the weight as quickly as when you first had surgery, but you can lose this weight.  You still have a very powerful tool if you use it the way it was designed to be used. 

This is such a brilliant post from a vet who always gives you the truth.  You rock, Rocky 

Rocky nailed it.  That should be the plan.  I also had a 15 pound regain over the winter.  I have been doing exactly what Rocky said and it is coming off.  As she said much slower, but I am going in the right direction.  I said the same thing to myself "how did I let this happen".   For me it was eating when I was not truly hungry and not stopping when I was full.  Throw in some sugar and it is a recipe for disaster. I was very comforatble maintaining my weight and yes you are right I can feel the difference from what would have been considered a low regain.  Besides doing all the concrete things, I just got really scared that I would go back to a life of food obsession and dread.  It really came down to self care and living the life I want.  I didn't make it about weight loss, but about caring for myself as I am the only one that can do that.  You can turn this around with kindness, compassion and personal accountability.  Don't ever give up.