Getting back on track- post surgery 6 years

Hello all!!

Today I finally went and saw a weight loss doctor and nutritionist regarding my post-op weight gain. Over 5 years I have slowly regained about 50% of my weight after going on birth control and not eating the way we were taught! I am completely restarting my weight loss journey at 50 lbs lighter than when I first had my surgery 6 year ago. I need to get back to that sexy weight I was at when my husband first fell in love with me! Any recipes or tips would be greatly appreciated!! 

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...  Be sure and join on the RNY Forum and here is a link to the Recipe Forum also. 

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.

Good on you for getting back on it, especially getting to see your doctor.

A few things that help:

Log ALL of your food. Every nibble, every blob of ketchup, EVERYTHING! Weigh and measure and track. MyFitnessPal is fabulous for that.

Most folks tend to shoot for 600 - 800 calories, 60 - 80+ g protein, under 40 carbs. Your doctor may have other suggestions, but this seems to be pretty common.

Stock up on vitamins if you've been slacking. Deficiency is no joke!

Go back to protein first and foremost, maybe a bite or two of veggies if you've got room after. Nothing carby! Bread, rice, pasta, no bueno. If you want to try a week of "nothing but meat," it can be a good way to get yourself back on track.