gaining too! 4 yrs post op.

I am happy (in a way) to find others in the same situation...gaining and struggling post op. I am 4 years out (4 years this coming aug). I went from 244 to 116 (my lowest). I am not hovering at 129 (give or take a pound or 2). I was under a lot of stress and stopped working last August and I know this contributed to my gain. I was also severely anemic last spring and had no energy to exersize. I had my abdominoplasty, boob lift and a little lipo on my flank area this past April and its been hard to be active at all! Besides I hate to exersize! My eating habits have become really bad! I snack and munch and grab "bad" foods often. I have started eating carbs again (I never did unless it was veggie or fruit in the beginning) and I began drinking diet sodas about a little over a year ago. Help. I need a good swift kick in my newly flanked but still saggy butt! lol Any advise? You think I should try to plateu buster diet? right now I am so hungry! and I had fruit already and 3 cups of coffee. help. Lee in PA

Wow, being 4 years post op, I thought I was the only one. I just found out that I am anemic. What did you do to help with that situation? I am currantly taking iron pills/vit C and that is when I have noticed I started to gain some weight. Do you think this has something to do with it? Thank you for your response- Mindy

I'm in the same boat ladies........................ HELP

I hope this will give you all some motivation. I am a 14 year post op non adjustable gastric band grad. I had this surgery in 1992. I lost 135 pounds in 9 months (195). After a while, I thought that since I was thin agian, I could be careful and not gain wieght, so I had the surgery reversed so I could eat again like I did before. As you might imagine, I quickly gained back all the weight, because I didn't know how to eat right, that is, low fat, low carb and hi protien. In 1995, I had the surgery re-done. Due to a complication after surgery, I game out of the gate with a stretched pouch, and I didn't lose any weight. Thinking that I was hosed, I continued to stuff my pouch with all the wrong foods, and my weight stayed high. I re-contracted all those little maladies that go along with obesity (high BP, Diabetes II, even 2 episodes of Atrial Fibrullation). I served a self imposed prison sentence from then until April of this year, convicted of eating the wrong foods and not following the rules. When, after my wife had RNY, and my employer pulled WLS out of the insurance policy(I was in the process of getting set up for revision to RNY), I got mad and I finally decided that I could no longer hide behind excuses like my pouch is ruined and I will never lose weight without another surgery. I had to change my attitude(as hard as it was to face). I had to re-commit to following the rules of my surgery. I have the tool in my belly, I just had to re-commit to doing my part. So I started following the rules again, knowing I would be hungry for the time it would take to allow my pouch shrink down again(it has taken about two months to shrink back down). That meant being anal about the amount I ate at a time, and being compliant with not drinking and eating at the same time, and not taking in more than 3-4 oz of liquid at once. I also got back in touch with the nurses in Houston where I had surgery. I have stayed in close contact with them and they have supported me quite well, and they we very happy to see that I have come back from the "dark side". It has been easier for me to get back compliant, eating like my wife. We support each other in this, but I would be able to do this alone too if necessary. The point I'm trying to make is this; It is VITAL that we follow the rules of our prospective surgeries FOREVER! No matter how far post op we are, we MUST follow the rules to a T as though we were only 1 week out. We have to be honest with ourselves. Don't allow your mind to tell you that it is ok to eat carbs and fat since you have a little tummy. This surgery is only a tool. We must do our part for the rest of our lives. We cannot eat the kinds of foods other skinny people can because our bodies don't handle it right. The OP described the problem in its' entirety. Eating WRONG. SODAS. SWEETS. CARBS. You gotta re-commit. You gotta take control of your urges to eat carbs and hi fat. Since April, I have gone from 304 to 256, my waist has gone from 48 to 42. I'm telling you all of these things from experience. I have lost, gained, and now, only by re-committing myself to obeying the rules, I am losing again. I expect to be at 180 by xmas or early next year. My BS and BP are normal, no more meds. Vision has cleared up. I'm not trying to preach(well, I guess maybe I am). But What I'm trying to say here is that you can recommit to obeying the rules. You must make the decision on your own to take control back and use this tool to your greatest advantage. It's still there, waiting for you to use it. YOU CAN TURN IT AROUND!! And it won't take nearly as long as you might think! Remember, small amounts, LOW CARB AND LOW FAT, and get in your protien. Hope this has helped, and best of luck!!!!

What a wonderful post! You are so right, and this is so true! Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of how it used to be, or how far we have come, or how lucky we are to have the tools we have available to us. It all comes down to us having to dig within ourselves. We are worth every bit of success, we CAN do this! Thanks so much for sharing this information and helping to take the blinders off that we may have unintentionally put on ourselves..... Thanks again Connie

Thanks for the positive post! YOU ROCK !!!!! Off to the treadmill...... It will be so much easier after reading your post.

Hi I am also 4 years post op and I am not gaining but have not reached goal either and it has been from complacency and bad eating I have recommitted myself to eating better and pulling out my rules to go over what I have forgotten,I am slightly anemic as well but really want to get back on track and get the last 24lbs off so I came here for support and to support others ....And hopefully we can all dust off those pouch rules and get back to the basics.....Good luck! Lemon open RNY 263/143/119?

I had my surgery on 4-9-04, so Im just a bit over 2 years out. At 2+ years out, I still can not eat and drink at the same time or I am soooooo sick. And to this day if I eat too fast or a few bites too much Im sick as a dog. At 2 years out I can eat like 1/2 a sandwich at a time and be full. I can eat 1 piece of pizza if its thin and be full. I still manage to get by on about a cup full at a time and be full. So be honest, do you think when Im 4 years out I will too have this problem. Oh I do eat my junk food sometimes, as long as its under 10 grams of sugar. I started out at 240 lbs and right now Im down to 105 give or take a few lbs. But I just had a hysterctomy done on 4-18-06 and now that has done a number one me. They told me it was with all my body has been throught that is causing all my problems. Im sooooo depressed, I dont sleep, I cry over nothing, Im sooooo tired, have nooooo energy, fatigued, ect....... I have been a bit anemic for about 6 months now, not sure if its due to heavy periods or gastric bypass. But Im on Iron pills, B12 injections 1 a month, my One aday vits and a hormone patch, nexium and zoloft. Im a mess...... but Im going to go to my reg doc tomorrow and see what she tells me, the plan is to maybe take 2 more weeks off of work and during that time to up my zoloft from 75mg a day to 100mg a day and to up my hormone patch from 1 a week to 1 1/2 a week per request of my ob/gyn. Thank you for listeing Shelia