VSG failure
When I was in High School, I used to have a math teacher that would roam the aisle between desks during test looking over our shoulders. When one of us would struggle on a problem, he would mutter under his breath to that student "GBTTD" which stood for "Go Back To The Definition".
There's no silver bullet for weight loss as you know. Its a lot of work, especially to maintain that loss. Firstly, congratulations for keeping the weight off for 5 years!! I'm sure that took a lot of hard work. Regarding where you are now, here are my 2 cents:
1) What did you do right for 5 years that you are not doing now?
2) Looking back over the last 2 years, what changed?
- Stress risers?
- Exercise?
- Home issues??
- Etc
3) Do you know what you're eating - Truly? Again, there is no magic bullet. If you're gaining weight its because your eating too much. It's important to be honest with yourself. For me, tracking my daily food intake honestly is critical.
4) Has your activity level changed?
Good luck to you. I know that for me and a few others, weighing ourselves and reporting back every week is sort of an accountability process. We would sure like to hear about your progress.
John
Over the years, going to the local WLS support group meetings, I would notice 2 things about the people who were at or near normal. 1. They had some sort (form) of exercise or movement on a regular basis. Many just walked for miles...It also kept them away from the food. 2. They mostly stayed away from simple carbs. If you have time...Get on the internet and study simple carbs vs complex carbs. Going back to simple carbs is like an addict going back to "the stuff". Many or most people can stay away from fried foods and lots of oils. But it's those simple carbs that will kill you. There is always a holiday, birthday party, funeral, etc, that comes into play. It may mean walking away (politely) from situations that trigger going for those simple carbs. The last thought (and you need to think long and hard about this one) is getting the DS surgery. The sleeve is the first 1/2 of a DS surgery...So you are 1/2 way there. But, (just as with any surgery) there are plus and minus for the surgery. It can get you to goal weight...But there is quite a bit of malabsorption. Here is their website on OH...Good luck on your journey. Brian
I recently found myself in a similar situation but more like 50lbs. The short answer is get your head back in the game and just do it. That's really what it amounted to for me. I will tell you that the weight loss rate is much much much slower than it was the first time around. The 80lbs you gained did some serious damage to your metabolism. I am however guessing you still cannot eat as much as you could before the surgery. So you have that to you advantage. I am currently eating around 1600 calories per day using a ketogenic diet plan. It certainly keeps my hunger under control and carb cravings are quite minimal. I do however exercise every day even if it is just a 3 mile walk. Once you get going again it will feel rather comfortable and as you see the lbs start to drop off you will become more encourage.
There is not magic stick here, its ALL up to you. It does help if your family encourages you and even participates in your eating program. I have the added benefit of my wife having just had VSG so that helped me to get back on the program. To be supportive I went through the pre-and some of the post-op diet with her. That was a good kickstart, but I think the liquid phase really hurt my metabolism. I would not recommend it. But getting back to basics will help you a lot.
Start by cutting out all the **** If you have any non-plan foods in your house make it a ritual to say good bye and throw it out. If your family is not supporting you and you need to have the junk around, move it to a place you will be less compelled to seek it out. Second, make sure you have the staples you need to get on a low-carb yet satisfying plan. Low-carb greek yogurt, chicken, beef, etc. you know the drill. One of my critical success factors is to prepare my meals ahead of time, particularly the ones I am not home to eat. For at home meals, the exercise of preparing and cooking the meal actually helps you with weight loss, so if you are not the cook in the family, start to pick up some of the responsibility, particularly for your meals. There is a theory that the reason we did not see such a weight problem 40 years ago is because while people were still eating hamburgers and french fries, because they were making them from scratch at home, they did not eat them as frequenly because they were a pain in the ass, but they also felt that for the cook and the family the act of preparing the meal and after cleaning up were actually part of the digestive and metabolic process and that the digestive process physically starting when food prep started and ended long after the meal was cleaned up. Not sure you could support that with scientific evidence but from a psychological perspective it makes a lot of sense to me.
Let me know if you want any specific recommendations. In the meantime, don't wait for some event to get start. Get started right now. Hit your water goals today. Eat more protein. Even if you had a carb filled breakfast, cut your carbs for the rest of the day. if you had no breakfast, shame on you, ALWAYS eat breakfast.
I agree with the other comments, try to get physical, try to avoid simple carbs, sugars, sweets, etc. I have had a standing rule that I never "drink" calories. That includes alcoholic beverages (except on occasion). I occasionally do a full scale Atkins type diet to help shed some "creep weight".
You may also consider a revision to another surgery such as the DS. That is sometime that is common with people that do not get to or maintain their goal weight.
Sorry that you are going through this.....I know that gaining any weight after WLS is such a let down. The biggest thing to recognize is that it's not a total loss, you do have options, and things you can try!
