4 1/2 years out and suddenly gaining! HELP!

'As I reached my hand into the pretzel jug, my fingers lightly glided over a glistening kernel of salt. My pulse started to race, my breath caught a little, and my temperature rose. Just as I lovingly withdrew temptation and steered it toward my mouth, I remembered the last time I ate them I got RH bad and it took me two days to feel right. I got up and ran them down the garbage disposal.'

I'm not making fun of you. There's things that cannot come in my house because I will eat them. Cheez Its in particular sing their siren song to me. Little Debbie is a cheap tramp, and so are her friends, Hostess and Lay's.

Once in a while I will get pork rinds , but I have to watch what comes home. Some stuff is too tempting.

Don't say bad things about Little Debbie! I'll fight you!

You're TRYING to hurt me, aren't you.  Little Debbie is quite a ***** isn't she....that *****  My absolute BIGGEST downfall is a snack called "Cheese Waffies".  They are my achilles heel.  Total crap, and I'd give my left t*t for a case of them!  HAHAHA  I not only have to avoid the one store in my area that sells them, I also had to instruct my kids not to bring Mommy any - they know how to butter me up when they want something!  HA  

I buy a jug of pretzels, and tell myself, if I only have ONE...every now and again, things will be FINE!  Then I sit there, binge watching Breaking Bad (again!!!) and deck half the jug.  It's pathetic.  On the sofa, covered in crumbs and salt, my lips all wrinkly.  What a sight!!!

So I guess the next step is, of course, having to finish off the current jug (as quickly as possible, right???  To remove the temptation????????) and not buy any more.

If this is my biggest struggle in life, I guess I'm doing OK.

But seriously, why do my precious waffies have to be SO bad!

So unfair.....

Happy Friday to everyone!

I also start gaining as well. But since the 25lb gain, I haven't lost no weight. I stay the same for almost 9 months now. I became depressed and stressed out and started eating junk again. I still can't eat large portions of food but I eat things that I shouldn't. I will defineitly try the meat test. Thanks for sharing all the feedback. :-) God Bless

You have already taken the hardest step by saying enough is enough and now I want to get back on track.  Here are some steps I hope will help you. They helped me...    

Planning/Preparing

Remember when we were preparing for surgery?  How many meetings, classes and such did we attend?  We were told the more prepared we were the better our chances were for success.  And they were right. Go through the house, car and work place and get rid of trigger foods.  Stock up on foods that will keep you on track. I removed every bad carb/sugar temptation and replaced it with lots of protein, veggies, grains and fruits.

Journaling

Get back to journaling.  This will help you identify when you feel like eating, stress factors and any triggers in your life.  Once you identify these factors, this will help you put tools in place to keep you from eating.  It became clear I was not taking time for me anymore. I worked my day job and then spent the rest of my time caring for my husband.  It was easy to reach for fast, prepackaged food.  Since I purged my home I have to eat clean as there are no other options LOL

Use a tool to track you're eating and exercise like Getting Started with Health Tracker.  Once I started to track ever bite and drink it became clear why I had gained.

Goals/Rewards

Make a list of goals for yourself.  Make them realistic and small.  Some of mine were move more, purge all junk from my home, eat more protein.

Food

In general, a long term post-weight loss surgery eating plan includes foods that are high in protein, and low in fat?, calories, and sugar. Important, vitamins and minerals are provided as supplements. (if you had a different surgery adjust this to your food plan).

Water

Water is our Best Friend. I have to say I never went back to pop or any bad drinks, however I was drinking tea like crazy. What is wrong with drinking tea?  I was either using sugar or 3 equals and 3 sweet n lows per 32 ounce glass.  So I was either pushing to be diabetic or get cancer.  I found once I started carrying a bottle of water around 24/7 (yes had one at my bedside) I lost the cravings for the sugar and I KNOW those artificial sweeteners are not good for me. Look I am old and if you add up all the artificial sweeteners I have consumed I am sure I am at the rat in the lab getting cancer threshold.

MOVE!

I can't say enough about how key this was for me. The reason I kept my weight off for almost 10 years was no matter what, I kept moving.  If I could not go to the gym I would walk. I loved Zumba, bootcamp workouts, lifting weights. When I stopped, the weight started coming back.  So for me I am starting slow to avoid injury by walking and using some of the workouts on my Demand TV.  Find something you love to do and it won't feel like a pain in the *** to do daily.

Support

If it's an option "run" don't walk to a support group.

Keep me posted on how you are doing

Awesome post, Kathy - thank you so much!  I will save this and refer back to it regularly!!!!!

We get ****y and think we got this and move away from what got us to goal in the first place.  Guilty!  Good luck, you got this

The further we get out, the more complacent we can become. A little here, a little there does add up. To others reading this thread who are still in the honeymoon phase and do not think it will ever happen to you, take note. This happens to a lot of us!!

That's why I weigh myself regularly. I know I can gain 5-10 pounds in a week easily if I don't stay on top of things. For me, when I am up 3, I cut back to lose them. Cheryl, you have gotten good advice here. Follow it and weigh yourself regularly even when you get back to your goal.

You can do this!!

You hit the nail on the head.  Was a scale regular all this time.  When I stopped looking is when things began to get ugly.

The question is, did I stop looking because I knew it would be ugly, or did it get ugly because I stopped looking?!?!??!

Thanks!!!

I'm still hearing a voice in my head shouting "stop with the pretzels". In order to not be back at your old weight you got a eat like the person who got you down to your goal weight.  Stop with the BS food carts, pretzels, and other carb crazy foods.  Also watch out for added calories from dressings, sauces, and condiments.

Sit down with yourself and ask yourself what foods are your demons.  The ones that make you think about them, get you all happy, or call to you when your not hungry: now write those down and stop eating them.