Vets- How much regain is acceptable to you?

Oh gawd yes.  I was in 20w for a good fifty pounds.  :eyeroll:

I have to agree with this.  I've lost 35 pounds and am still wearing the same pants.  Granted, after a couple hours, my crack is hanging out.  But those doggone 32's from 7 years ago are still just a bit too tight!

LOL - like the extremely STRETCHY size 14s I wore for a lot of pounds???

Hi Barb,

As you said it's a very individual choice.  My lowest was 114 pounds from 330.  I stayed between 114-120 for years and was very happy.  I also stayed between 120-125 and found this was my comfort zone.  After some serious stressors in life I gained and now I am working on getting back down to 125.  

It's what you feel comfortable with, emotional and physically.

My threashold was about 10lbs when I was in maintenance.  I got to a low weight maintained for a few months kicked it onto gear dropped another 8-10 and then eventually rebounded back up the previous weight which I maintained for about 3 years until I got pregnant.  

Love your answers! Exactly the input I was looking for! 

The last time I got kind of obsessive about losing the 5, like if I didn't it was going to put me on the fast track to regain town. I even considered Phentermine, but ended up doing it with intermittent fasting, more exercise and getting back to basics. Slow, but effective. 

I just don't want to feel like I'm spending my life losing/gaining this 5 ******g pounds, especially if it seems my body is constantly fighting to be where I am now. I can live with this. Now 5 more? No way. 

Hubby had the RNY almost 11 years ago, bounced up 20 after being too thin, and has pretty much stayed there the whole time aside from a 30 pound gain after quitting smoking that he managed to lose again. So I do understand the bounce gain that happens. I'm just still trying to find my ground between what's normal and what's not. You guys have helped me understand that a bit better. Thanks! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm nowhere near vet status, so this is more just general experience with the decision of how hard to work to maintain a weight.

When I was about 19, I got down to the lowest weight I've ever been as an adult.  I was 5'10" (I'm a tad under 5'9" now) and got down to 160-165#.  Even back then, with my young adult metabolism (that I hadn't screwed up too much because I never could stand dieting as a teenager) it was sheer hell to maintain 160#.  I was having to watch every bite I ate, and run 2 miles a day (this was back in the day when I had this crazy idea that I should be running... HAH!)  It was a constant struggle, and I obsessed about every pound on the scale.  I did not feel like I had a good life, because every minute was obsessing about eating and/or exercising, and I never felt like I was allowed to enjoy food/drink or have anything I really loved.

Fast forward to about 24.  I had gone up to a little over 200# and had pulled it back down to about 175# with a really sensible diet and a good exercise plan.  I had to generally eat on plan during the week, but had a little latitude on the weekends to go out and enjoy things without beating myself up for it, and I did 5 days of aerobic exercise I liked every week.  It was workable for me, and I felt really good physically.  I maintained that for a couple of years before life stress caught up with me and I started the weight gain that led me to WLS.

While my doctors would have been much more pleased with 160# it simply was not a reasonable thing for me to try and maintain long-term.  175# was something that (at the time) I was able to maintain without it taking over my life.  15# was not worth my happiness or my sanity.  All it really meant was a size 12/14 instead of a 10/12.

I've thought a lot about whether the difference back then was set point, or just commitment.  And I've decided it doesn't matter.  Whether the struggle is against my metabolism and hormones or against my brain, there is a point where the benefits don't outweigh the costs.  My main concern a year ago when I started considering this surgery, was what my life would look like in the long run.  I had the (mistaken) impression that post-WLS patients had to obsess about food, watch every bite, and exercise obsessively.  That's a level I'm just not willing to take it to.  I don't want to trade one eating disorder for another.  Luckily, I got some great advice from people who were several years out that gave me reassurance that my post-WLS life didn't have to look like that.

I don't know where I'll end up yet, but I do know that wherever it is, my sanity and overall health is the most important thing to me, and if I have to take a 10-15# bounce from my ultimate lowest weight, so be it.

I Don't accept it and I don't feel healthy with any regain.  Frankly I never even got down to where I wanted and need to be which is why I'm seriously considering revision. 

I REFUSE to live on a diet exercise obsessively or otherwise act bulimic.

 

 

This post confuses me. 

We pretty much have to change our lifestyle and watch our diets to maintain our weight. We are formerly obese people, therefore our bodies will continue to fight to get back to that place.Over reliance on the tool itself just won't work in the long run, because as you are seeing at 5 years out, the tool becomes less effective over time. Another revision won't be the answer. 

It seems to me you have a couple of choices, because if you are at a normal weight, no self respecting Bariatric Surgeon should touch you with a 10 foot pole. 

One: Keep your intense workout routine and eat healthy because you like the benefit it gives you or, 

B: Accept that you are not perfect, and no matter how much you strive to be it will never be good enough. Therefore, slow your roll, but still find that place where you can maintain but not have to kill yourself to do it. If you are not already in therapy, I would highly advise you to be. If you are already in therapy, ask them to help you work on understanding your self worth isn't just your weight or the way you look. 

 

 

I regained 20 of 300 lbs and I felt that was too much- but I left it alone for a year before doing anything. I'm tall (6'1'' so no one noticed I regained- until I lost it).

But any more than that I would have taken care of it sooner. I think it's a case by case basis. AND what you feel comfortable at. I know lots of guys who are much heavier and they don't want to or care to or a feel a need to diet if they are 10 lbs above their ideal.