Weight Regain

Hi, I am new to this group. I had a gastric bypass in over 6 years ago. I have always had problems eating since then. If I eat potatoes, meat or heavy foods I will vomit. I have tried to eat normally and follow the food guide but I cannot eat most of the food. I find that junk foods such as popcorn, lots of cheese, ice cream, I can eat. I have been tested to see if there is anything wrong and the surgeon found nothing wrong. He said my pouch is a normal size and it is where it should be. Well since the surgery I gained 100 lbs back. I am so depressed. I hate looking at myself. I am hardly eating anything now and nothing is coming off. I really need your input and advice on this. I really appreciate it, thanks

The hundred pounds will continue to grow if you don't cut out those junk foods. The same as if you didn't have surgery you cannot eat them and expect to lose weight. Maybe start with lighter proteins that your stomach can handle more easily - canned fish or chicken, protein shakes etc and slowly increase from there. You may need to eat at the soft foods stage for a long time to re-settle stuff. But...I'm a very newbie and don't know a lot. Those are just some suggestions from what I've picked up here. Hopefully some vets will give you some better ideas. Good luck on tackling this, it will be a fight, but if you don't put your all in to it the only place to go is more weight gain.

First off you you need to just eat small amounts of foods that are good for you. Take your time eating. I honestly have a hard time believing you cant eat anything but junk.

Second if you are hardly eating anything then you will gain weight as well, your body goes into starvation mode.

My suggestion is ... make an appointment with your dietitian, and social worker., also eat 6 small meals a day, and stay away from the junk.

Drink lots of water, get your vitamins into you, also up your protein lower your carbs. Exercise.

It wont come off over night, but if your are serious about loosing the weight again, you will. You still have the tool, you just have to use the tool the right way.

Starvation mode is the biggest pile of bullcrap ever. You know what happens when your body goes into srarvation mode? You keep losing weight, until finally you die. You don't gain weight from eating too little. It's not a thing.

If someone is staying the same weight, or gaining weight, over a long period of time, there is only one reason -- they are eating too much to lose. That's it.

Do you honestly believe that if you "hardly eat anything", that you will GAIN weight? Really? Because that is utterly absurd. Really, totally absurd.

well, i guess we can agree to disagree.

You can disagree all you want. But starvation is real. Eat 600 calories a day. You will first burn through your body fat. Then your muscles will be used to maintain your brain and vital organs. Then the organs themselves will stop working. Then you'll die. And you'll die weighing far less than when you started.

You will not GAIN weight when starving! We've all seen pictures of those suffering from starvation. There is no disagreement about what happens. Just a foolish myth, and those too stubborn to acknowledge it.

I've helped treat people with anorexia for years. None of them retain weight, and most have BMIs under 15 when they are hospitalized.

You absolutely will not gain weight cutting calories. In my case, I lose weight much slower because I have lipedema and I am severely insulin resistant still from having been previously over 750 pounds. However, even I, with my history, still keep losing weight restricting calories.

It is true the body will downregulate energy use, however you will lose weight on low calorie diets. I have never seen someone with severely curtailed calories fail to lose weight. Almost always the issue is that people eat far more than they consume.

First of all, welcome to the group! I hope you can get some answers to your issues.

Are you doing any kind of physical activity? e.g walking or workouts

What kinds of "real" food can you tolerate - can you have yogurt or fruit or vegetables? Junk food is not going to help you at all in any way shape or form. Stop all the junk food immediatly. You will never lose the weight if you continue to eat processed foods or junk food. I would go back to the start - do a reset of your pouch - as if you just had surgery, try and do clear fluids again for a few days, then move onto the next stage - full fluids. Slowly introduce new foods - maybe one a day - see what you can tolerate. Try soups and things that are very light for a start.

Get in all your vitamins and try to hit those protein targets again. If you can't tolerate meats - perhaps you can dice it up fine or puree it and eat just small portions. I would definitely get your bariatic medical team involved again and get their advice and help. Start with small steps towards your goal and you can do it.

You made the drastic choice to have surgery - so you obviously were committed to doing this. Just get back on track and each day is a new opportunity to start again. Best of luck!!

Thanks so much for your advice. I cannot exercise right now because I just had a knee replacement. I know how to the lose the weight because I did lose 200 lbs. after surgery. I was eating, yogurt, soups, cheese, eggs, jello, pudding, etc. but I am serious when I have a meal eg. a piece of chicken with a potato I will vomit. I have gone back to the pureed food and I am hungry all the time. This morning I had a coffee and a muffin. Now I am hungry again. I am good at following menu plans like the ones we were given before surgery. I wonder if there is anything out there that I can follow a menu or meal plan. I know it has been a long long time since my surgery and during this time I have had a lot of emotional pain. My mother passed away and I had to move, having surgery, on so on. Please I don't want sympathy but I know this has probably contributed to my weight gain. Maybe I need a psychologist instead.