I, too, am 14 months out and

14 months ago my new life started. Now I have come to a point that goes nowhere. I was at a plateau from 6 to 12 months, 80 pounds lost, give or take a pound or two, but never going further than 84 pounds lost. The PA said to cut back protein to only 60 grams a day (I was eating between 90 to 100 cuz people said to up my protein, but that stopped working for me. )because I am short and don't need as many protein calories. She also said to cut back on the carbs, only a low fat tortilla once in a while, but that I could still eat a fruit or vegetable with my meals, which I just found out by the little carb counter booklet that fruit has tons of carbs. Anyways, I have lost another 6-8 pounds finally and again the scale seems to have stopped moving down. I am definitely one of those people whom the gastric bypass didn't work so well, though I am elated on how much I have already lost and how far I have come. Any other advice to move the weight off? I do exercise by doing water aerobics now and that does seem to help. It is a struggle every day as I don't dump o anything and nothing ever bothered me. I find if I don't buy it, I am fine, but if someone sits it in front of me, I just have to try some of whatever it is. Karen

Dear Karen, I usually just lurk on this board--not a grad yet--but I do want to encourage you to see yourself as a success. If you look at a height/weight chart, someone 5' tall should "ideally" weigh between 104 and 137 depending on frame. So if we take the higher end of the frame to reflect being older, that means you had 117 extra pounds. At 80 pounds lost, that puts you at having lost 68% of your excess weight! That is great--actually higher than some of the average statistics of 40 to 60%. Congratulations, Sally

Karen, Congrats to you on your success. Excercise is the other key component to this surgery. I read that you are doing water aerobics and that is very commendable. I would suggest varying your routine by adding walking, eliptical, cycling or other form of cardio workout for at least 30 minutes each day. In addition, a weight lifting program 3 x a week to boost your matebolism by building muscle, will not only help you loose weight, it will also help you maintain your weightloss. Mary 415/160

Good Morning Karen! I replied to Toni's "14 months out" post, and I've attached this same reply to you too. Hope it helps! I'm Nancy and my surgery was June 1999! I was reading your concerns and believe me, I go through it even today - 7 years later. Binging and eating junk food is part of the reason we all got in this boat to begin with. We all need to realize that these same problems existed BEFORE the surgery too and that this surgery is not capable of taking away those "bad habits" we all still have. It's a "mental" thing as well as a physical thing. The new habit of "grazing" took the place of the way we used to eat, therefore we're eating the same calories - just in smaller, spread out portions. Our brains are VERY smart! Ha, ha. Anyway, at my lowest weight I had lost a little over 100 pounds and at my current weight, I am about 14 pounds up. Even though I knew I was going to gain SOME weight eventually and 14 pounds in 7 years is not too bad, I too was concerned. It's hard to loose any weight at 46 years old! I love that "calorie budget" theory someone suggested. That's a great analogy. It's basically what I also started doing about 6 weeks ago. However I had help incorporating it into my daily life. I would like to recommend the following to EVERYONE that's reading this... 1. Look into CURVES. I joined about six weeks ago and have taken off both inches and pounds since. Do you do ANY exercise? I absolutely did not! It will help! My body needed a "kick start" and that did the trick. It's actually fun, you meet a lot of great women and it's truly really a quick routine! If you can spare one hour; 2 or 3 times a week - check it out, you have nothing to loose, but weight and inches! 2. iVillage.com. It's a wonderful reference site. Click on Diet and Fitness. Actually, check out the entire site; it's GREAT! I use the several "calculators" they have available on there! Especially the calorie one. I can type in most anything and it calculates the protein, fat, carb., calorie, sodium, etc. in just one click. There's also a Daily Diet Diary. You can join it for free and it keeps track of your daily food intake (It totals it and everything for you!), water, vitamins, exercise, etc. I love it! Bottom line is this. It didn't take a few months for us to get to our original weight, it not going to take a few months to loose all of the weight we need to loose, and no matter what, eventually... you, me, everyone that had this surgery - WILL GAIN SOME WEIGHT BACK! It's gonna take a jesture on our part (again) to get back on track. Just don't be afraid - it CAN be fixed. Just take one day at a time and good luck. Nancy : )