Regain

Kathy,
Congratulations on your initial loss, maintenance, and then your regain loss...amazing and an awesome example. I said above people like you need to be studied!!

I am struggling with a couple factors that make it extra challenging for me...my husband does not want to purge the trigger foods from the house, and having a young one and a teenager, I don't want to do that to the extreme either. My mom did that in our house, so I snuck foods at my grandmother's and friends houses because we never had anything yummy in our house. So I wish I could find the happy medium...trying to negotiate with him on it. I never had snacks around before I met him (i.e. chips, cookies, etc), but he grew up in England in a house of normal weight people with a "sin bin"...a drawer for cookies, snacks etc. So I think he feels like without it, he's not home. We will see what we can do. Right now most of it is out of sight in the top of the pantry...but it does still call to me.

Water is tricky for me...right after my surgery it hurt my stomach a lot to drink water, and still does for some reason. I tend to drink teas and occasional diet sodas, but I know the sugar substitutes are terrible. So now I'm trying just coffee with organic stevia drops. I'm sipping water in between the cups of coffee.

Moving...painful still. Unfortunately, I never got down to a weight where exercise was not painful, so didn't get the habit going. I am trying non-impact based cycling, and when it is warmer walks with hubby. Hopefully it will help.

I know tracking, low-carb/no sugar eating is key...it is just believing I am worth the sacrifices and effort. Sugar is an addiction for me, so finding some way to cope with those feelings is hard. Nobody has a real answer for that other than...you just have to do it. No excuses ;-)

I appreciate your support...you are really an excellent role model for those of us trying to get back on track.

Thanks,
Mary K.

Hi Mary,

Ugh these are hard ones....I was going to suggest was it possible to have it where they (your family) could access the death food items and you not? If they can do so until you get back on track then you will be able to say no to it all. But it's baby steps to get there mentally. When it starts to call you try to listen to the angel not the devil side Take a moment to stop and think what eating those foods will do to your weight, health and the beat down you will do to yourself mentally.

For water try and get a really cool motivational cup and carry it with you everywhere. I am serious everywhere. Picture it as being velcro'd to your body and sip, sip, sip. If you are like me if it's cold I will drink it, warm and no way. So I find my favorite bottles are the metal ones. They keep my water cold for hours and hours.

Check out your internet and they should have a lot of workouts that are low impact. Also try youtube and if you have a Y near by water is your FRIEND! Great workout and you loving to your joints.

Head issues the the WORST. I tell people they need to get it right between the ears before re-arranging their plumbing. Here are some great articles that helped me and I share with others. Make a list of all the triggers, red flags and then tackle them one by one. YOU CAN DO IT!

Head Hunger

Sugar Addition

We are all here for you!!!!

I have experience with regain. I had so much trauma going on that I refused to be mindful of what I ate. It was easy to regain.

This last year...the whole year..I lost 30 pounds. I was here most days. I tracked my food everyday except for a hell week of sugar before Christmas. I figured out what meals I could eat over and over again that worked and kept me full. I quit eating sugar in June. Also quit rice,potatoes,beans,grains,flour, and all the beautiful things those ingredients can make.

This surgery is permanent no matter what you weigh. What I keep learning is that it still will work a day at a time. There is no expiration date for losing regain,

Deb,

Thanks so much for sharing. Can you share some of the meals that have worked for you? I know we get stuck in ruts...like it is hard for me to eat eggs anymore, because I ate too many on Atkins and Zone diets..

Thanks,

Mary K.

I eat meat. Lots of it. About once a week I'll throw meat in a crockpot. I eat tuna and shrimp. I have milk once a day in coffee. I eat plain full fat yogurt with tons of spends and 3 tablespoons of all bran. I eat one teaspoon of peanut butter after I take my medicine. I track it on an app that is on my home screen. If I'm not tracking I'll go sideways fast. I eat vegetables if someone else makes them.

You probably will see a amaw and ACAW talked about. These are five day challenges we have around here. All meat all week or all critter all week are great for decarbing.

Exercise that works for me is walking and swimming.

I also bought a large bread box or as we call it the bread garage. I have no responsibility to clean it out. It's opaque and it's not my food. It helps.

Great idea...bread garage, here I come:-)

There is a sub-group up here for Failed WLS if you go up to the forums menu.

Regain is definitely a thing and expected at different degrees for each procedure. Surgeons consider wls a success if you maintain 50% of your weight loss.

Valerie - Gwen posted a link to the Back On Track Together (BOTT) forum on page 1 of this post; however, it gets very little traction. The best support happens on the daily menu threads in each of the WLS forums (RNY, VSG, DS).

MK - I know you got some "excellent" advice, from a die hard, long time regainer/reloser/regainer/reloser/finally staying under goaler type person...

Has any of it helped, thus far? How far have you gotten into Dr. Connie's book? Did you happen to get the accompanying workbook?

I agree, about the daily menu threads. They are NOT just about posting "this is what I'm eating today". It's also a place to share your challenges/NSV/and a great way to get to know peeps, quickly

Hang in there---you CAN do hard things - AGAIN !!!