Weight Gain after RNY

I had my RNY surgery on 10/30/2007, I am 5'10" and my weight was as high as 340 pounds. After surgery I lost down to 213 but that was only for a very short time before I gained up to 220 and stayed for a year. It was no where near my goal weight of 185 but I was on of those lucky people that had one of the worst things to happen in my life about 14 days after surgery. Totatlly sabotaged my weight loss.

I was happy at 220, but slowly the weight came back on and in May of 2009 I was at 245. I kept thinking I need to get this off but you know it was always easy to put it off. In July of 2013 I reached 275 and I decided that was enough. I started walking and jogging and for the first time in my life I was able to jog, although very slowly, a full mile. I was not dieting, just letting my tool let me know when I was full. I lost down to 268 by September and then broke my foot when I stepped on a rock funny on Labor day. My weight stayed in the 270s until the summer of 2014 and then it shot up to 300 over the course of 6 months. So I made a New Years resolution. I would not eat sugar, mainly in the form of sweet tea (by far my biggest vice) and I stuck to it. For six months I cut all that sugar from my diet and guess what my weight was by June? 303, thats right cut out over 1000 calories a day and gained weight.

During all this time I have searched the internet looking for the magic bullet of understanding to be discovered. It seems to be the same with so many RNYers that they gain weight back. And yet, something more than just cutting back food causes that tremendous weight loss at the begining. Why couldnt they crack that? I was ready to through a full fledged pity party. I was convinced my thyroid must be bad, my testosterone had to be low but when I had them checked everything looked good. I had to look at myself and really ask why and these are the truths about myself that I discovered.

1. I am sedintary. Other than my walking in 2013 I rarely did anything that could be considered exercise.

2. I snack way too much. Maybe it isnt icecream, or even sweets, but I snacked on too many processed slider foods.

3. Carbs, Carbs, Carbs. I love to cook and I had been making homemade bread, Chicken and Dumplings and Mac and Cheese. Not big portions when I eat mind you but still, protein was taking a huge back seat.

On June 25th 2015 I decided it was time to get very serious about stopping this climb. I would excercise, do protein first (basically Atkins) and I would stick too it. This morning I was down from 303 to 281. I have been walkng every other day, and I have been very good about keeping my carbs below 40 a day.

My point to all of this is that I was convinced something was wrong with me that would not allow me to lose weight. But for me, I just had to do what so many others tell us. Exercise and eat right. And if I am being honest, eating low carb is not a big challenge for me because unlike some of my friends that have never had WLS, I do not get truely hungry like they do, I still get full when I eat, my tool is still working all these years later.

I do not know what the future holds. I do feel like I am in a groove and I hope this continues. My goal is 230 pounds. But more than anything I felt like I needed to post this for my own accountability and hopefully it may help someone else going through the same struggles.

Troy

Update 9/27/15

My weight is officially at 253. I am down 50 pounds in three months. If I can do it, you can do it. No Sugar, Low Carb, do not beat yourself up if you have a bad day, just get back on it. Good luck all.

Congratulations on facing reality!!!  So many folks who have re-gain refuse to look at the truth and live in denial.  They get mad when you tell them the truth and want to think they are some "special snowflake" and their bodies are somehow "different".  There is no "magic answer".  The surgeon operates on our stomachs, not our brains.  It's up to us to do the hard, emotional, work to overcome our food demons.

We re-gain because we eat too much.  We can re-gain even if we are eating "healthy foods" if the portion sizes are too big and those foods are carb heavy.  Most obese people have no idea what  proper portion size looks like.  If we did, we would not have needed WLS.  This is why it is SO important to measure your portion sizes and then stop eating.

We also want to eat until we feel full.  That's the other danger.  Many of us have never allowed ourselves to feel hunger for various reasons ( many of which are emotional).  We associate the "absence of the full sensation" to be hunger.  It's not.  Just because we don't "feel full" does not mean we are hungry.  Hunger is not an emergency.  Nothing bad will happen if you allow yourself to feel hunger.  Facing this fact gives you the power back over food that controls you.  Facing this fact allows you to wait until planned meal times and to stop at your pre-measured portion.

Kudos to you for getting back on the wagon!!!  You can do this as long as you keep using your tool the way it was designed to be used.  

I'm rooting for you!   GO, TROY!!!!

Rocky,

You are always so positive and optimistic. I had my RNY in December and this is really difficult. I'm hoping that I can be as successful as you have been. Thanks for the help you always offer.

Love to you,

Robin

Thank you for sharing. Best wishes to you being back on track. There are a lot of great people here that will help you with your journey. 

Good for you, facing the truth and taking control of your eating.  You've learned the secret, which is, there is no secret.  It's all about the stuff we know - measure food, protein first, don't drink with meals. etc.  You've got this!

It isn't easy to admit that we screwed up, not pur bodies, or the surgeon. The surgery does continue to work if we put the work in.

Stick around. You'll be a big help to others, and be helping yourself at the same time.

You're on the right track. Good for you.

Thank you for sharing and good job for getting back on the wagon.  I have lost 16lbs in the last few weeks myself - at 11 years out, I can still shift over 2 lbs per week on average if I need/want to -  it's a constant struggle, but it is wholly possible for almost all of us to get our asses in gear and lose to goal or shift any regain - we just have to do what we are supposed to!

Thanks for the support everyone.

hooray for you! 

i'm in the same boat and also came to the same conclusions. many of us regain and for 99% of us behavior is the culprit. thank you for being honest with us and yourself. i'm equally annoyed and saddened by the many posts on here blaming the surgery or anything other than themselves for regain. it's not easy to face ourselves sometimes. 

You are an inspiration for telling it like it is! We gain because we don't follow the rules and that is the only reason. We are the ones who have to face the facts and and eat the way we are supposed to otherwise we are the ones who will suffer, no one else! Way to go and just remember all this if the weight sneaks up again!!