So sad....crushed---I GAINED today....HELP!

I was in the same boat. Kept seeing the same 3 to 4 pounds.  I had just started exercising this past month, after 10 months out. 

Then I got a big WHOOSHH! and Got below 204 down into onderland.
At the end of the week I had 8 lbs, the next week I have made it to 192.

I also had started a habit of sucking on butter rum nips. I thought it was just one litttle piece couldnt hurt...
Well one little piece was 30 calories with no nutrition! I relized that was my old mind coming back into my life.
I threw it out
Now , I make a small amount of carnation shake blended with ice for a "sweet ice cream treat", or I suck on one of my chewable vitamins, tastes like orange candy

Keep at what your doing and keep evaluating your food intake and vitamins to use your tool. 
Your WHOOSH will come!!

I am looking forward to that WOO**** didn't come today, but, hopefully, soon.

I completely understand the starting bad "little" habits & "nipping" (no pun intended...lol) them in the bud.  I had been eating about 1/4 cup of these wasabi almonds before workouts and last night I really looked at the fat/calories vs. protein & realized that they really are so fatty---the benefit of having almonds didn't outweigh the fat at this point, even w/workouts.  And, the SF cool whip & SF puddings are no longer allowed in the house.  I buy the food & won't buy them anymore...if I want something sweet I can have a SF popsicle or SF Jello.  (Of course, this is all so easy right now, when I am not craving sweets, but maybe, like Bob said, that having a little bit of sweet stuff is making me crave more...it seems like that is what has been happening & Bob's The Man...so, I'm believing that)......

Congrats on your wooosh.....xo, M.

Michaela, you bring up a good point.  I hope you don't mind if I highjack your thread to say a couple of things, not necessarily geared towards your situation...  but eventually it will apply to all of us regardless of how far out we are.

In the beginning, after wls, it doesn't really matter what you eat too much, you'll still lose weight.  But the farther out you get, those calories have to be the name of the game...  the thing that we watch and keep a close reign on.  They add up way too fast!  I try my hardest to get the lowest calorie choices that I can.  Calories look innocent from dressings/condiments, butter, almonds, peanuts, peanut butter, additives even to our protein shakes such as milk, berries, etc.  They add up incredibly fast, innocently enough also.  

Further out, we have to be ever mindful of calories.  That's where it comes in handy to stick close to your food journal (whether using an online program, a pen/paper, or some sort of diary).  I don't keep a food journal every day of my life, but when things seem to get a little out of control or out of hand, I must once again open up my journal and begin to write every single thing that goes in so that I know where the culprit lies....  at the end of the day, you can use the journal to analyze what could have been cut out, things to stay clear of, etc.

That's why it is so important for folks to change their habits EARLY out from surgery.  The sooner the new changes are made, the easier it is to embrace.  It gets harder at 2, 3 yrs postop because there are no goals needing met.  The weight is gone, thinness is reality, and even though a person has those changes in place, its easy to get lax or let up (adding other foods, not keeping track of calories, etc).  So, that tells me that if its hard for a person who made all the changes and lived it for 3 yrs, it sure will be even more difficult for those who don't have that good habitual eating ingrained into their conscience. 

I'm just thinking out loud and sharing what I have found for myself...  yes I maintain but I must admit, this wls thing doesn't stop after the wls goals are met... Like Melting Mama says, "It's for a lifetime".  You seem to have made the changes, but I do see folks who are not making the changes...  they hide their food choices and then wonder why they are slow losers, or why they got sick (dumping, stools, etc). When you question them to help them figure out what it was, the little "discrepancies" begin to come out and you realize...  the changes just aren't being made.  That makes me afraid for some people.

I am thankful that somewhere in my pre-WLS research I read that the first 12 months are your window of opportunity (when your tool is working the best for you) to make the changes that you need to make w/your eating habits and, of course, to lose the most weight. 

WLS takes effort....they type of effort just shifts.  Right after surgery the effort is getting your protein & fluid needs met.  Then, as time goes on, it's eating enough &, then, as you point out, actually using our own "will power" to restrict.  I knew that when I had surgery and I am thankful that was made clear to me.  I told myself that no matter what I needed to watch calories/fat/carbs & exercise....and, I decided, with the tool of WLS and the weight off, I would be able to do that more effectively & as a healthier person.  But, still, I knew that this would not be an easy fix and that I would have to make life-long changes--I just opted to make those with the help of losing the weight. 

What I am battling right now is figuring out if I just have really cruddy eating habits or if I have an addiction.  I had a long talk w/my husband last night and, although he has never had a weight problem, he is so insightful about it.  He really listens & gives me great advice.  I was grappling w/if I have an "addiction" to food & need to seek therapy for the underlying causes or if I just have cruddy habits that need to be changed.  He said it didn't matter.  His philosophy is that I know what probably caused the weight gain & I know what I need to do to stop it.  Regardless of if there is some deep-rooted underlying cause of why I am doing it, the fact still remains that I know what I need to do (limit calories & carbs---get rid of the "trigger" foods in the house) and I know what will sabatoge this.  He said I have my answers, now, I just need to put the discipline into place.  Good point.  He said that it takes 21 days to break a habit (or form one) and that I slowly started adding sugar free sweets at night when the kids went to bed (& it was easy fall back into that because that is what I did with high carb, super sweet treats before WLS)---and now I just have to break that habit. He said that I could do it, because for the first four months after surgery it wasn't even a temptation.  Then, he posed the "why" question.....he said that if I am going to sweets because of a bad habit, the answer is to resolve the bad habit.  He said if I am going to sweets because of a need to "control" my food and feel like I am doing something for myself, the answer is to resolve that by not using food to reward myself.  No matter what the reason, the answer is the same...quit it.

At any rate, he made some good points & got me thinking about the entire thing.....I don't want to fail at this....I have worked so hard and will continue to do so for the rest of my life.  But, in the end, I am buying myself years to spend raising my three little ones & growing old with a great husband. 

Thanks for your insight & support, Mel---you make such a difference to this board...xo, M.

Michaela, I think that the things you are exploring are good...  they help you figure out WHY you were overweight, and then you can deal with the answer accordingly.  I tend to think that we only get so much information at a time...  so that we can deal with bit by bit instead of having such an overwhelming task of doing it all at once. 

It could be that right now, you realize that your eating habits were poor (did any of us REALLY know how to eat?  I know I didn't!  I wish every student should have to learn how to read food labels while in school).  I find people saying to me "I don't know why I am overweight; I eat healthy."  When I ask how they eat, (these are non wls folks) they start listing crackers, chips (baked), lots of fruit juices, things loaded with sugar OH LIKE YOGURT!  That's a big one, and many have around 30 g sugar per container!  Except our Carbmaster of course    People as a majority do NOT know what "healthy" is...  or how to read food labels...  I am so glad that I had to learn this.

Then later, you may have some issues present themselves to you, and as you explore, you find that indeed you also have something else to deal with...  but that's ok.  Just take it in stride.  I truly believe that the majority of our journey is emotional, delving deep and resolving issues from our past and coming to terms with what we have done to our bodies... 

Hang in there, sis. You are doing just fine....  one step at a time.  That's all we can ask of ourselves... 

Oh my gosh...I am laughing so hard right now...and, just the fact that after I did, er, well, go "take that poop" (sometimes I can't believe what I type on here...), I actually weighed again just to see.....no change...I guess my poop is skinny, at least.

I forgot about that post...I will go back & read it---it's so much harder for us to take our own, honest advice.  Thanks for the encouragement.....xo, M.

Thanks, Mel, for the positive spin....I kept my eating in check yesterday & was hoping to wake up & see that 2 pounds gone this a.m, but, no such luck...only .6 of it was gone....I will keep my eye on the goal. xo, M.