Fallen off the wagon in more ways than one

Hi lpray,

I am so glad you came back to the site and are ready to deal with this problem rather than letting it go on until it is much worse. 

You can lose the 15 pounds.  Its all about "back to basics"  - cutting carbs, stop grazing, eat dense protein first, weigh and measure and log your food.  Its  easy to eat more calories than we realize.  Its important to measure.

I also like to drink wine, and I tried for some months to lose weight while having my glass of wine every night, and I couldn't do it.  I finally made the hard choice and decided that weight control was more important than my glass of wine.  I substituted herbal tea, and its ok. 

Sometimes I feel like I have to sacrifice so much for my weight maintenance, but in the end it is worth it.  Being healthy is the best reward.

best of luck,  You can do this.

Carol

Thank you Carol! I started using MyFitnessPal again today and have stayed on track.  No wine.  Maybe not enough water, but I am still working on it.  Really had a heart to heart with myself today.  I just need to stay strong and listen to supportive people like yourself.  We are all in this together!

Welcome back and kudos to you for having the guts to ask for help.  I did not have the VSG but it all comes down to getting back to the basics for our surgery type.  I have a list of basics that helped me when I was getting off track.  Please be careful about your alcohol, we all know being on these boards those of us that have had WLS are at risk for addiction transfer.  Here is  my list and some links to article that may help you.  Stick around and be sure and post on the daily eating thread. It's a great place for support and great ideas what to eat daily 

http://www.obesityhelp.com/articles/?s=alcohol+

http://www.obesityhelp.com/articles/?s=transfer+addiction

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.

Wonderful words of wisdom! It is so nice to have people like you to turn to and that provide such great advice! (And thank your for the webpage information). Just coming back to this website had helped me tremendously!!!  I have returned to the basics, measuring, myfitness pal, daily weighing, no wine and more water. I have already lost 1 pound. (Probably water, but heading in the right direction).  I am going to keep all of this advise with me to remind me of the path that we are all on and that I can turn to those that understand when the going gets rough.  God Bless!

We are all here for you    PM me anytime if you need a kick in the butt and or cyber hug