I am beyond frustrated and in tears.

I’m sorry if I’m being a debbie downer.  That is truly not my intent.  I am struggling.  I had surgery a month ago on May 18.  My dad passed away on the morning of May 19.  I am a revision from lap band to gastric bypass.  The recovery from this surgery has been so very hard.  I was in surgery for three hours because of the band removal and fixing a hiatal hernia.  I don’t know if I’m dealing with the repercussions of surgery, the loss of my remarkable dad or both. 

So, I am one month post-surgery.  I had lost 19 pounds so far, but 12 of that was during the first week.  I have gained 3 pounds since Monday.  I don’t even know how that is possible!  I’m eating less than 1000 calories per day – generally around 700.  I’m getting my water in.  The only thing I’m not doing is exercise.  I have been so bone weary tired after working all day, I simply haven’t had the strength to do anything.  I’m also dealing with the loss of my dad.  I miss him so much.  But I would think that even though I’m not exercising, I would still be losing weight due to the lower amount of calories I’m consuming.  I’m eating high protein, low carb foods except for the morning when I’m eating either a yogurt or oatmeal.  But yet again, I am staying low on the calorie count. 

I have a call in to my nutritionist but wanted to get ideas and help from those of you who have been there and done that.  Anything and everything is appreciated. 

Give us a list of what you eat a day and how much. 

Are you measuring everything out? 

Do you track everything that goes in your mouth?

Drinking plenty of water? 

What about vitamins?

I have to be honest at 1 month out for me I was at around 400-500 calories.  I never ate oatmeal even though it was on my plan.  I did three shakes a day to make sure I met my protein goal and then for B,L,D it was things like yogurt, cottage cheese, scrambled eggs, tuna salad things very protein forward. I was at around 1/4 to 1/2 cup depending on what it was.  

I'm sorry for the loss of your dad hugs.

I don't think I'm getting enough restriction.  I don't feel full.  I am measuring things out and stop when I have had the correct portion size.  I'm wondering if the doctor really made my pouch small enough since I am able to drink without problem and haven't had anything that didn't want to go down.  

I just started on Tuesday with writing down everything that is going in my mouth since I thought I was doing okay prior to that.  I am taking my vitamins.  

This is yesterday 

B - Yogurt - 90 calories, 16 carbs, 5 proteins

L - Pork tenderloin - 4 ounces - 167 calories, 0 carbs, 29 proteins

     cheese stick - 90 calories, 1 carb, 7 proteins

D - Ricotta bake - 227 calories, 5 carbs, 19 proteins

     two meatballs - 160 calories, 3 carbs, 9 proteins

For a total of 734 calories and 69 proteins

You have to remember that your nerves have been cut and you will not feel any restriction or full for a while.   That is why it is so important to measure out everything so you don't over eat and get sick.

What does your plan say for how much you should be having right now? 

At a month out mine said 1/4 to 1/2 cup of protein as tolerated and most of the time it was only 1/4 of cup that I could eat.  Even now at 4.5 months out I don't eat over 3/4 of a cup and that is usually something that is not a really dense protein. 

Last night I had 1/2 cup of cut up grilled pork chop with 2 tbsp. of unsweetened apple sauce.  I usually don't have much of any fruits just because of the sugars/carbs, but with the pork I did make a small exception.

I am sorry about the loss of your father. I can't imagine how hard it must be. 

Look at what you are eating. I would log onto myfitnesspal and journal what you eat. Your body is also adjusting to the surgery you had. It was major surgery. You will be tired. Maybe just try to talk small walks on your breaks at work. Sometimes a little sunshine makes us feel better to. 

The loss of a family member or an illness in the family can cause a lot of stress.

This is a great website. There are so many vets her who will help you.

I hope you feel better. 

It's possible that you aren't feeling restriction yet because the nerves that were affected by the surgery have not yet recovered.  That is why it's so important to measure.  I never had difficulty drinking.  You may not either.  Three pounds of weight gain that quickly pretty much has to be due to constipation or water retention.  It will come back off.  You might want to switch to weekly, or even monthly weight monitoring if the fluctuation bother you.  Follow your program's plan.  It will work:)

I agree wholeheartedly with Karen's response.

There are several things to keep in mind:

1) I don't know how much you need to lose, but most people who are revisions have less to lose than people who are first-timers, and they will therefore lose more slowly (because the caloric deficit is lower -- it takes more calories to keep a 300-pound boy alive than to keep a 200-pound body alive)

2) You are correct that it is impossible for you to have actually gained 3 pounds of fat in just a few days with what you are eating.  You would have to have consumed about 10,000 extra calories to make that happen.  Therefore, it is NOT fat and not true weight gain.

3) Our bodies routinely fluctuate (sometime a a much as 5 pounds) because of water retention (or lack thereof) and/constipation.  Women are more prone to this than men, of course, but even women who no longer menstruate can have cyclical hormone fluctuations and water retention.  As Karen said, perhaps weighing less frequently would prevent you from seeing these fluctuations and getting upset about it

4) Some of the 12 pounds that you "lost" the first week after surgery was likely water weight rather than actual fat, so may not have been true fat loss.

5) Perhaps you expectations for rapid weight loss are not realistic.  12 pounds in a month is perfectly adequate.

Please don't stress so much about what the scale says on a daily basis.  It will do nothing but make you crazy, especially since you are still more emotional post-op and you are also grieving the loss of your father.  Focus on doing what you need to do and really embracing the changes in how you eat rather than on the rate at which you are losing. Focus on long-term success rather than short-term progress.

Hang in there.  I am very sorry about your dad.

Lora

I am very sorry for the loss of your Dad.  That is such a blow on top of the emotional upheaval having major surgery can bring. 

You've been given excellent advice - the nerve thing is real and as a former LapBander I know what you mean by lack of restriction and let me tell you in my experience (almost 2 years post-op revision) I have never ever felt "restriction" like I did when my Band functioned properly.  You might want to just strike that from your vocabulary :)

I had a 3.5 hour surgery with hiatial repair so I know what you are going through.  Follow your plan to the letter.  If you aren't feeling hungry then maybe try measuring out ⅓ cup instead of a ½ cup of food and see how you feel hunger wise.  I lost all sensation of hunger so I had to measure and weigh everything - I still do or I gain even though I am eating 100% on plan!  Also have a drink at hand all the time.  Sip throughout the day and flush out your system.  I was able to drink and eat seemingly normally from almost day 3.  Again - RNY is nothing at all like living with the Band.  Enjoy it!

I surpassed my weight goal - you can too.  It takes time and patience and a belief that it will work!  You can do this.  

Even though I'm a revision, I started off at 300 pounds even.  So, I'm a big girl with a lot to lose!

I am so sorry you had such an incredibly difficult and painful loss, especially right at surgery!  Please don't get discouraged, though.  I had the exact same thing happen to me at almost 3 weeks post-op.  I battled the same 3 "pounds" for a couple of weeks.  It is very common to stall right around this time frame and of course you are not gaining fat weight.  As others have stated, you are not feeling restriction (or hunger, either, most likely) because the nerves that supply those sensations have been severed  and  have not yet grown back together.  You will really need to be careful with portion control.  I was not able to eat pork at 4 weeks and I still cannot eat 4 oz of it at 10 weeks post-op.  Are you grinding it up? 

It's great that you contacted your NUT.  S/he should be able to direct you to an appropriate meal plan for this phase.  I know I was very tired at 4 weeks postop and I started B12 supplementation right around that time.  It helped immensely. 

Remember that your body is still recovering from major surgery.  This is a marathon, not a sprint, and you WILL see the scale move in the right direction as long as you follow your plan.  I was not convinced of this at all when this happened to me, but I got the same advice you are getting from people who went through it and they were right!  I am now losing steadily.  I am also a band-to-bypass patient but my surgeries were 4 months apart because my innards were so messed up so I was doubly afraid I would fail at  bypass.  It just isn't true.  I can do this and so can you!  :)