Been missing in action with weight gain needing to get back on track

I'm so glad you came back. Regains can be so completely discouraging. Reaching out talking to others can be beyond helpful. I've had to do it myself. I've had two big regains in the last nine years. One was 40 pounds and one was 50+. They are gone, and I ended up at my lowest postop weight ever in year SEVEN.

We absolutely can lose any regain, big or no. The biggest problem for me was turning my head around and getting a realistic grip. I'm re-posting a response I wrote a bit ago because some people have found it helpful. And you've gotten solid advice already so it's just a matter of getting your body to follow your mind and taking some specific physical actions.

Good luck and don't give up. Here is my post:

Amy R.
on 7/10/16 10:51 pm RNY on 12/09/08 with Myur S. Srikanth

I'm feeling pretty lazy tonight so I'm just copying the text from one of my prior "regain" posts. My answer is still the same regardless. And fortunately for me I've yet to have a third regain which I know is probably 99& attributable to continuing with the following so here you go:

"1) The number on the scale. Resolve to yourself that you will not, under any cir****tances allow it to go higher. Give yourself a couple of weeks at that number, to reassure yourself that yes, you can hold the line and you do know how to stop the gain. Do whatever it takes. Stop the disappointment of stepping on the scale and seeing even a .2 pound gain. You can do this.

2) Meat. Protein. Non-starchy veggies. The end. That's what you feed your body until you are back where you want to be. It's not forever, but it will take awhile and I actually think that's a good thing. By the time you are back to goal you'll have truly integrated that way of eating. No diets. I don't count calories or proteins or carbs or anything. (Other than sugars - because of severe dumping and RH. But sugars won't be much of a part of your life while you are losing.) I'm not dieting. I didn't go through surgery to spend my life dieting. I just eat differently now.

3) Fluid. Get in as much as you can. I typically drink two to three liters of water a day. That's on top of my diet coke (yes, I drink it daily) and anything else I might drink. It's imperative to flush out built up toxins and keep them flushed out. You don't want a bunch of sludge in your body but if you're not drinking enough water I can guarantee you've got a lot of it.

4) Expect to lose slowly. About four or five pounds per month. It took awhile for you to re-gain that 100 pounds. Give yourself that long to lose it. It sounds so desperately slow I know. But slower is better. As I said above, you're building in habits so that you won't be in this spot again. We all know how to lose 30 pounds in month or whatever. And we all know it takes only a week or two to come right back. You are in this for the long term. You will eat this way the rest of your life - with a little more wiggle room when you get to your goal.

5) So much of this is a head game. We feel like since this is going to take a few months we will be in whatever size we are in right now, feeling horribly huge and discouraged, until the whole however many months are over. We tell ourselves that it won't be until then that we feel and look better. Wrong! You will feel better with every pound lost. You will lose clothing sizes along with that horrible worthless feeling all throughout your journey. Yes one day you will get on the scale and see the number you have been waiting for. But things will just be getting better and better during the weeks or months or whatever leading up to that day.

6) Exercise if you want to. Move your body every day even if you don't. Not to earn extra calories to eat, or to burn extra calories. Just because bodies need movement to avoid atrophy. And because it feels good. Walking is great and is all of the exercise I need to be successful.

So that is what I did. Both times I've had to lose regain, that is how I've done it. Obviously I'm human because I had to learn the lesson twice and the second time was even more weight than the first! Life happens and I don't think anyone here would deny that. But we can change. We can do hard things."

Hopefully this helps in some small way. ~amy