14 years out and sooo lost

I had the RNY surgery 14 years ago when I was living in San Diego..and teaching HS. I was single. After losing almost 200 pounds, I met and married my sweetheart, became the motehr to his 4 kids, and had three children as well. Life has been crazy and hectic. I have really lost touch with why I did the surgery in the first place and have sadly gained back quite a bot of what I had lost. I am soooo mad at myself. I am needing some help and support in the way of advice. I was thinking of changing my diet to one that was mostly just the protein drink..like after the the surgery. What protein drinks have worked for you guys...and what should I look for. I know higher protein,..and low sugars, but what should I shoot for. Im gonna have to break the soda habit again, Ive come too far to go back to where I started!! 

Welcome! Best thing is to cut the carbs cold turkey so you get back on track. My surgeon never says no carbs ever, just put them at the end of the list. "Protein first then veggies, and if you have enough room then some fruit and carbs"  I am still trying to lose weight and do one protein drink a day with at least 30g of protein to keep my protein up. 60-80g of protein is the minimum, but most people shoot for more.

You can do this, you still have your tool. Keep coming back, read the boards and stick around. Good Luck.

The reason protein shakes are good right after surgery is because we can not eat enough food to get in all the protein that we need.  At fourteen years out I am sure you are able to eat real food.  Drinking protein shakes is an easy way to get more calories in.  They run through your pouch and defeat the purpose of the pouch which is to keep you feeling full.

What you want to do is get your body started on losing weight.  First lose all of the junk you have in your house.  Get rid of potatoes, bread, rice, flour, sugar, candy, fruits, chips, pretzels, cereals, sodas, and sweets. 

Fill your refrigerator and freezer with beef, pork, fish, chicken, turkey, cheeses, deli meats and Greek yogurt. 

Go to the drugstore and buy Ketostrips.  Use them every morning.  When they change color, your body is burning fat.

Get a good bathroom scale, a good kitchen food scale, and a fitness tracker.  Sign up for My Fitness Pal.

You are going to track your weight, your protein, your carbs and your exercise.  

Weigh each morning.  Having a scale that communicates with your tracker is excellent way to use todays technology to keep you aware of your body.  Fitbit and Withings make smart scales that communicate by Bluetooth or WI-FI.  You need to know where you are with your weight before you can seriously change it.

I would recommend going on line and reading the Atkins Induction Plan.  Follow that faithfully for two weeks and let us know how much weight you loss.  This is your new shot at being healthy.  You still have your pouch and it will control your hunger again when you learn to use it properly.

Daleymom, good for you for getting back on track. I would go back to the basics from the beginning. Start with making sure you eat protein first, replace that soda with water and stay away from carbs. If you have facebook, befriend Dr. Duc Vuong. He has a video on "How to get back on track with your weight loss." The protein I use now is called Magnum Quattro, 30 grams of protein, .5 grams of sugar, 140 calories and its delicious! You can find on amazon.com. Wishing you good luck and you can do this.

It happens to all of us. It's just part of life. Why not consider revision???
Good luck

You have already taken the hardest step by saying enough is enough and now I want to get back on track. Here are some steps I hope will help you. They helped me... Also, be sure and join the Back On Track Together group link in my signature area.

Planning/Preparing

Remember when we were preparing for surgery? How many meetings, classes and such did we attend? We were told the more prepared we were the better our chances were for success. And they were right. Go through the house, car and work place and get rid of trigger foods. Stock up on foods that will keep you on track. I removed every bad carb/sugar temptation and replaced it with lots of protein, veggies, grains and fruits.

Journaling

Get back to journaling. This will help you identify when you feel like eating, stress factors and any triggers in your life. Once you identify these factors, this will help you put tools in place to keep you from eating. It became clear I was not taking time for me anymore. I worked my day job and then spent the rest of my time caring for my husband. It was easy to reach for fast, prepackaged food. Since I purged my home I have to eat clean as there are no other options LOL

Use a tool to track you're eating and exercise like Getting Started with Health Tracker. Once I started to track ever bite and drink it became clear why I had gained.

Goals/Rewards

Make a list of goals for yourself. Make them realistic and small. Some of mine were move more, purge all junk from my home, eat more protein.

Food

In general, a long term post-weight loss surgery eating plan includes foods that are high in protein, and low in fat?, calories, and sugar. Important, vitamins and minerals are provided as supplements. (if you had a different surgery adjust this to your food plan).

Water

Water is our Best Friend. I have to say I never went back to pop or any bad drinks, however I was drinking tea like crazy. What is wrong with drinking tea? I was either using sugar or 3 equals and 3 sweet n lows per 32 ounce glass. So I was either pushing to be diabetic or get cancer. I found once I started carrying a bottle of water around 24/7 (yes had one at my bedside) I lost the cravings for the sugar and I KNOW those artificial sweeteners are not good for me. Look I am old and if you add up all the artificial sweeteners I have consumed I am sure I am at the rat in the lab getting cancer threshold.

MOVE!

I can't say enough about how key this was for me. The reason I kept my weight off for almost 10 years was no matter what, I kept moving. If I could not go to the gym I would walk. I loved Zumba, bootcamp workouts, lifting weights. When I stopped, the weight started coming back. So for me I am starting slow to avoid injury by walking and using some of the workouts on my Demand TV. Find something you love to do and it won't feel like a pain in the *** to do daily.

Support

If it's an option "run" don't walk to a support group.

Keep me posted on how you are doing

You have already taken the hardest step by saying enough is enough and now I want to get back on track. Here are some steps I hope will help you. They helped me... Also, be sure and join the Back On Track Together group link in my signature area.

Planning/Preparing

Remember when we were preparing for surgery? How many meetings, classes and such did we attend? We were told the more prepared we were the better our chances were for success. And they were right. Go through the house, car and work place and get rid of trigger foods. Stock up on foods that will keep you on track. I removed every bad carb/sugar temptation and replaced it with lots of protein, veggies, grains and fruits.

Journaling

Get back to journaling. This will help you identify when you feel like eating, stress factors and any triggers in your life. Once you identify these factors, this will help you put tools in place to keep you from eating. It became clear I was not taking time for me anymore. I worked my day job and then spent the rest of my time caring for my husband. It was easy to reach for fast, prepackaged food. Since I purged my home I have to eat clean as there are no other options LOL

Use a tool to track you're eating and exercise like Getting Started with Health Tracker. Once I started to track ever bite and drink it became clear why I had gained.

Goals/Rewards

Make a list of goals for yourself. Make them realistic and small. Some of mine were move more, purge all junk from my home, eat more protein.

Food

In general, a long term post-weight loss surgery eating plan includes foods that are high in protein, and low in fat?, calories, and sugar. Important, vitamins and minerals are provided as supplements. (if you had a different surgery adjust this to your food plan).

Water

Water is our Best Friend. I have to say I never went back to pop or any bad drinks, however I was drinking tea like crazy. What is wrong with drinking tea? I was either using sugar or 3 equals and 3 sweet n lows per 32 ounce glass. So I was either pushing to be diabetic or get cancer. I found once I started carrying a bottle of water around 24/7 (yes had one at my bedside) I lost the cravings for the sugar and I KNOW those artificial sweeteners are not good for me. Look I am old and if you add up all the artificial sweeteners I have consumed I am sure I am at the rat in the lab getting cancer threshold.

MOVE!

I can't say enough about how key this was for me. The reason I kept my weight off for almost 10 years was no matter what, I kept moving. If I could not go to the gym I would walk. I loved Zumba, bootcamp workouts, lifting weights. When I stopped, the weight started coming back. So for me I am starting slow to avoid injury by walking and using some of the workouts on my Demand TV. Find something you love to do and it won't feel like a pain in the *** to do daily.

Support

If it's an option "run" don't walk to a support group.

Keep me posted on how you are doing