Weight gain after pregnancy anyone else? Where to start?

Hi all, I had RNY 2006 went from 246 to 160 and at 5'0" that was still very heavy.  I chose the RNY instead of lapband because I was 40, had gone through ten years of high tech infertility treatments, had 8 miscarriages with no answers and quite frankly simply didn't have the biological "time" for the lapband.  No answers as to why the infertility but I had a sneaky suspicion it was the weight.  I had 4 back surgeries so exercise was limited.  At 160 and at 43 we were finally successful & our beautiful daughter was born.  I gained up to 200 with her, lost down to 180 but have gained an additional 20.  So here I am at 200 with no energy, back is killing me and this "ahem" older mom has to do something!  I can eat whatever want without dumping (discovered that when a piece of chocolate was shoved in my mouth lol) and as much as I want.  The one thing that has changed drastically is diet coke.  I drink lots of diet coke (man do I need the caffeine).

Has anyone else had trouble losing after pregnancy?  Lap band surgery over RNY?   I was three years before I got pregnant, followed the post surgery diet to a fault and walked every night for 45mins.  I just could not lose those extra 40 - 50 lbs.  I'm wondering now if there might have been a problem way back then.

thanks in advance for your help!  I'm not a new member but haven't been on here in three years & have lost all id info

 
A band over bypass is fairly ineffective.  In the 5-6 years I have been posting here I have only seen one person do well.  The rest did not.

Have you had a barium swallow to see the size of your pouch/stoma?

I had my daughter three years after my RNY and gained between 60-70 lbs during the pregnancy after having lost over 250 lbs.  Way more than I needed, wanted or intended to, but I gave myself a free pass to do what I wanted and it caught up with me.  My daughter is now 18 months old and I've lost all by the last 5 pregnancy pounds.  I'm still nearly 100lbs from my ultimate goal (I started at 514, so I had a long way to go).  

Here's how I managed to lose the weight after pregnancy.  I started walking using Leslie Sansone videos, very easy to work into a schedule with a baby.  The shortest one I do is a 1 mile, 18 minute video.  I started doing that every other day and built up to every day, then started increasing to the 2 mile and occasionally the three mile walks (when my husband was available to watch the baby).  Once I finally decided to get serious about losing the weight, I started tracking my food on myfitnesspal (app for smartphone or website).  I set myself a calorie goal of 1500 cal and 40/30/30 split on protein/carb/fat.

I lost about 40 lbs over the next year doing that then stalled out and got bored with it.  I complained for a while about not losing or losing and gaining the same 5lbs for a few months.  I finally got fed up with myself and decided it was time to get serious again.  I joined Weigh****chers before Thanksgiving and have lost over 20lbs since then.  The WW program works for me as a tracking system and for some reason is easier for me to get my head around than calories.

I've found the most powerful tool for me since my surgery is to track my intake (in whatever form makes sense to me at the time).  That keeps me honest with myself and I'm much more likely to make healthy choices.  It's not easy, it's not quick, but it is possible.  Good luck, I hope you find the motivation that works for you to get back to better health.

Thanks Deb and congrats on your little one! 

Wow, you have inspired me!  I'm off to find the app & check into WW.

thanks so much!