help! i am eating large amts of food and gaining

i am post-op since may 19th 2004.  lost from 283 to172 in the last year i have been eating large amts of food and have gained up to 198 and am afraid i have stretched out my pouch .  if you start eating right again can it go back to small size    i am so worried i have ruined my chance at weight lost

Gloria, This is just my opinion.  I am not a doctor nor do I play one on TV.  You can't stretch you pouch that much, yes it will stretch some but if you look back on some of the things you have probably began eating again, not eating anymore, drinking or not drinking, are you exercising the same?  Have you stopped going to your follow up visits? These are just some of the things I started doing at about 18 months out and 60 pounds later I realized I was on my way to being Morbidly Obese again. I began eating bread, rice and pasta,  (oh just one bite won't hurt, it just led to another and another) I began having a drink now and then.  I began drinking with my meals again instead of waiting 30 mins before and 30 mins after. I was not exercising at all (my knee hurts, its too hot, I'll do it tomorrow,etc). I was so ashamed of myself I didn't go back to the doctor for a year. Now I am finally back on track, have lost 5 of those 60 pounds, but its hard as hell.    Since I have been there and know how frustrating it can be, I can only urge you to take your life back over before you sabotage yourself.  Only you can do it, you have to make up your mind and set some goals and achieve them. Good Luck, Darlene

darlene thank you so much, i like you am eating all the wrong stuff and i always have drank with my meal   exercise?what is that! lol   i know what i have to do   i was just so scrared that i could not right my wrongs and had already screwed up my past surgery efforts    gloria

Hi Gloria. Like darlene said, I am not sure you can stretch your pouch like it was before surgery. It is just a matter of going back to the basics. Don't beat yourself up about the gain and just try to go back to the basics to lose. Don't drink with meals, make sure you are taking ALL of your vitamins and calcium, Drink at least 64 oz of water a day, eat primarily lean proteins and no "bad" carbs and only eat 3 meals a day with maybe one "healthy' snack. You can do it. You should be really proud of losing over 100 pounds. Even with the gain, you have accomplished a lot. You didn't ruin it. Yesterday was yesterday, time to move forward.  Good luck!

thanks misty. i can see you have done so well. after darlenes advise i have had a good healthy weekend. and with your advise maybe i can carry this thru the week