Falling below goal, any ideas?

Hi Cheryl, I'm 5'5" and weigh in between 123-127. I been staying here steadily for several months. I have a LOT of people telling me that I'm too thin. I swear I can't see it - somewhere in the back of my mind, I think I have more work to do or I'm not there yet. (wherever there is) On the other hand, I was thumbing through pictures and saw the difference in my face. I think my face is too thin. Then every once in a while, I'll catch a glimpse of my reflection in a glass door or window and just be blown away by what I see. I actually thought "OMG look at that skeletal person" and turned around to see who it was behind me only to realize that it was ME that i was looking at. But that realization lasts only a few hours until I'm back to being comfortable in my skin and apparently, uncognizant of the reality of it. I keep saying that I want to put on a few pounds and get up to about 130-135 BUT everytime I get the scale up to 127 I freak out and cut back a day or get extra exercise and I don't breathe a sigh of relief until I see 125 again. I'm scared of the same thing as someone else posted - that is just the honeymoon and the rebound is just around the corner - so I better keep it here as long as i can. I take in anywhere from 1400-1800 calories a day and maintain. This really surprises me and reinforces in my mind that we really do absorb less. If I had taken in that many calories a day prior to wls, I would have gained. Speaking from experience. Most of the time, I stick to the rules about protein first - but I do have carbs every day and my sugar limit is 10g in any one meal. There are times when I'm running so much at work that I just grab a banana or a mini-bagel to get me through the afternoon. For me, since my bloodwork is fine and I'm healthy and feel healthy - I'm just gonna shoot to stay in this range. I read so much from older post-ops (3 or more years out) about how they are struggling and watching their calories that I think this is just the best plan for me right now. I should just continue the habit and hopefully it is reinforced enough to get me through the later years. Hugs, Pam

hey there.. I'm below goal myself and i'm almost two and half years out.. I have never been good abou****ching what i eat and i eat a lot of carbs but to be truthful I like my weight. The only time I have a problem with it is when others are talking smack about it.. I love being 110 pounds at 5 foot 4.. i feel safe because i have those few pounds to play with.. The thought of gaining weight scares me.. only because of what others say I thought i wanted to gain back 25 pounds but finally I can admit the truth and how i personally feel and that is to stay at my weight.. my Doctor told me to add ensure protein drinks for weight gain and I tried it for a while but i basically gained two pounds from them and lost it right away.. i don't know how to gain weight back .. I guess at 2 1/2 years i'm still in my honeymoon stage which is completley fine with me. .my labs are coming back good except for my bone denisty test showed some bone loss... Sorry i wasn't much help but I was just telling you my own little story about myself.. Good luck .. xoxo

Hi, Cheryl. Congrats on your success. You look great! I think you'd be best to just keep eating healthy. I honestly don't think you'll have to worry too much about this problem of being too thin long-term. You're only a year out and still in the honeymoon phase, really. Most of our docs will tell us to expect some re-gain, and you're not really at that point yet. I was like you, I got pretty thin for a while, and stayed at that low weight pretty much regardless of what I was eating. Later on, I was still eating the same way, but the weight started to come back on. At a little over 3 years out, I have regained 25 pounds from my lowest weight. I will admit that I wasn't as vigilant as I should have been, so some of this regain has been my own fault. I would really like to get about 10-15 pounds back off. Anyway, I'm just mentioning this to you so that you won't be upset if you experience this regain as well. Just make sure you're meeting all of your protein needs, and following a healthy lifestyle, and I think things will balance out for you. Not too many of us post-ops have issues with keeping weight on, although there are a few who do. Best wishes, Carlita

Hi Carlita, Just as you suggested, I am meeting my protein needs. I've been under a lot of job stress lately and that's probably contributing to my lack of appetite. Funny how when I was overweight, I ate emotionally. Now that I'm underweight, I do NOT eat emotionally. Doesn't make sense. I learned well how to cope with head hunger and I'm quite vigilant about carbs, but I am adding some complex carbs in. I'm afraid to gain weight. Today at the doctor, I was only down 1.4 pounds, so it's slowing down. My labs are good, so I'm getting proper nutrition. Thank you for the advice. I hope you can take off the 10-15 you want to lose. I don't know how one does that, though. Hugs, Cheryl

I am very under weight. I only weigh 95 lbs. Everyone at my work thinks I have anorexia. But the doctor said no. I went to him when I got down to 88lbs and told him to fix me I was way to skinny. He put me in the hospital for 8 days and ran tpn (jars of fat) in me. I got back up to 95 lbs. so he let me come home. He told me to keep alive I would have to eat 1800 calories a day. He came out and told me to my face that I was dying. I eat protein bars several times a day. And still eating 6 small meals a day. He found that my pancrease was all screwed up. He put me on some new meds and now I am staying between 95 and 97 lbs. I know I am too skinny. I know I look like death warmed over. But I am trying. And need people at my work to leave me alone. The skinny people don't say anything. It is all the over weight people. God bless us all. Amy

Amy, I'm sorry you're so underweight. I know you're not anorexic. Can you manage to get 1800 calories in a day? I can't eat that much. I eat protein bars and drink shakes. My pancreas works okay - but maybe there's some medicine that can fix your pancreas. I think it might do something with your metabolism, but I really don't know. The overweight people will always be the ones to point it out to you - especially if they knew you when you were 'one of them'. I know you're trying. We'll try together. I only lost 1.6 pounds this week and my doc is starting to relax. My clothes are too big and everyone says I went too far (as if I had control over the situation). I can eat, but that doesn't mean that it will stay on. I am under a great deal of stress right now, and I think that's what's causing this dramatic drop in weight for me. A skinny person understands. An overweight person who used to be a skinny person who could never gain weight also understands. That's me. I think my body is just normalizing. My weight never hit 100 until I was 21. Then I finally got up to 103 when I got married. I weighed 123 when I got pregnant with my first child and went all the way t0 153 when he was born. Fast forward 8 years and I'm pregnant with my second child, and a baseline weight of 140 (normal BMI for a 5' 5" small framed person) - I skyrocketed to 180 with that pregnancy, then I broke both of my arms and started a sedentary job. I ate what I wanted to - I always could and didn't realize how big I was getting until I was already so far gone. In my 20s, everyone said I was too thin. Well, I guess I'm going back to MY normal, right? G-d bless, Cheryl