Back on track

Well here I am, August will be 7 years since I had RNY surgery.  I got everything I wanted from surgery.  I lost over 100 pounds,  was very active,  felt better then I ever had.  I have slowly put almost 75% of the weight back on.  I am so ashamed of myself and honestly disappointed with myself.  It started with slowly making the wrong decisions.  

So today here I am....ready to go at it again.  I know my pouch still works the way it should , I just need to put the right things in it.  One of my main problems is I always feel hungry.  I would appreciate any  suggestion to help with that.

So here it is. 

1.  I vow to be active on OH regularly again! 
2. I vow to be accountable for my food choices.
3. I vow to exercise regularly!

Thanks for taking the time to read my post.

Alicia M.

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 and post on the Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery Forum (RNY)

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

Don't spend any more time feeling ashamed of yourself. Regain does happen & good for you in not giving up & wanting to get the weight back off.

Kathy S gave you a lot of great tips to get back on track. I'll only add that you should get a set of labs done just to make sure nutrition wise that you're ok. Also I'd take a look back at why you've gained the weight back. Stress?, boredom? etc. Do you have an emotional attachment to food? A lot of us do, getting into therapy, OA, or some kind of support group can help you find ways to handle life stresses without turning to food to cope.

As far as the hunger thing goes, maybe its head hunger?, also for me too many carbs does end up making me more hungry, putting protein first does help ease the cravings for it. You might want to see if you need a ppi.

Good luck, you've got a great tool, & once you put it back to work I'm sure the weight will come off again.

Thank you T!  Much appreciated.

Making a plan is such a HUGE help for me! I find that setting specific goals is super helpful, so quantifying things could help a lot. How about:

--Log onto OH at least 3 times per week.

--Record food choices (in MFP or elsewhere) every day, and meet targets (calories, protein, carbs) at least 6 days per week.

--Do at least 100 minutes of exercise per week.

As far as hunger is concerned, many folks here have found that stomach acid mimics hunger. You may want to try a PPI, something like Prilosec that you can get over the counter, and seeing if that helps. Dropping carbs from your diet can help as well.

Have you seen your surgeon recently? Getting in for a checkup is probably a good idea. You can have blood work done to see where you stand on things like vitamins, and your doctor can help you come up with a plan going forward. You can make an appointment to follow-up in 3 or 6 months, and that's good motivation to get your butt in gear to avoid embarassment on your followup.

You can do this!

Hi Alice, I think we had our surgery the same month and year. Don't be discourage. I know how you feel. I've gained 22 lbs. Even though my goal weight is at 130 lbs I feel better at 125 lbs . My current weight is 143 lbs. I, too is very disappointed in myself. It's been a month now that i've cut back on all carbs and sugar. and I only lost 4 lbs I started juicing fruits and vegetable and i am wondering if that is slowing my weight.

Juicing - as good as it sounds - is really bad idea to lose weight...unless your are on a limited calorie juice fast (that I personally don't recommend) 

Juice is just pure liquid carbs with no fiber.  Not only they just ran through you very fast, but the pure carbs can leave you with high insulin, more hungry than before. 

When I try to lose weight - I limit fruits...sugar is sugar... My body does not care if it is natural from fruits, veggies, or candies. 

Awww. That explains why I'm gaining. Thank you so much. 

Hi Alicia:

I totally feel you. I am about 10 years out and have slowly gained back some of my lost weight. I started at about 420 got down to 185. Over

the next few years I did maintain but eventually crept up to 269 and said no more. I have dropped to about 242 since the first of the year. Had

a couple of set backs with a complete knee replacement on Feb 1st and then had another on the other knee this past Monday. 

My goal is to finally get my skin removal in the late summer early fall. It got side tracked due to a divorce, etc. Getting back on OH was 

an important move for me. I couldn't get back into my original account so I started this one.

I wish you the very best of luck on your "new" journey. I know I definitely could use some luck in mine. I want to try to get another 42 pounds off

by my surgery day. 

Rich