3 yrs out with GS, gained 25 pounds back

Lordy, IM at a loss, I had zero follow up care, and was sent home with litterally no instructions other then liquid diet for 10 days, followed by soft, followed by gradual to regular foods. The surgeon in Mexico I used, I cant even find. Other then gaining the weight back that I lost and was so excited about, I had very few side effects. Can anyone give me suggestions as how to get back on track of the weight loss wagon, or should I think about revision?

Almost everyone gains back about 20 pounds after three years.  You just need to change your habits.  Cut back on carbs, eat protein first with a few non-starchy vegetables, do not drink for 30 minutes after eating.  No pasta, rice, potatoes, sugar, cookies, pastries, noodles or other foods that will keep weight on.

Start an exercise program.  Take your vitamins.  Most important start weighing yourself every day.  That will get you out of denial.  It will take a while to lose 25 pounds.  I do good to lose a pound a week, so 25 would take me about six months. 

A revision is only if something is actually wrong.  Hopefully you can find a surgeon who will take you on and help with follow up.

 

yes, start with the 5day pouch test, its on the net under that i am interested in having a support person, i did the 5 day pouch and now i am doing atkins, i gained 30 back its been 2 years so i am going to get this back under control.  the 5 day pouch brings your body into sync with our new pouch which can be regained.  The pouch has  you do liquids for two days then soft protein then hard protein.  the hardest part for me was not having anything to drink half hour before and after  you eat. my name is kathy and my email is [email protected], i am in 

virginia
Viv

A revision for 25lbs won't happen unless there is a mechanical failure that makes it necessary. There's a few other procedures, like the stomaphyX that some may do.

But 25lbs isn't that bad. It sucks but it's not that bad. Some of us call it "the creep." It happens over a long period of time. (If you put that amount of weight on in 3 months, do find a doctor to do an upper GI series).

As for diet, pretty much what White Dove said. Some of us don't do well on very low carb diets, but you can get carbs from fruit and starchy vegetables instead of grain products, potatoes, rice, etc. I do about 50-100g a day and feel best that way.

I copied this from elsewhere, but since you got little follow up care, it might be new to you. It's what we post ops must do for life to maintain our weight loss.
 

Gastric Bypass Pouch – The Rules

Despite what many people think, the key to maintaining your weight loss after gastric bypass surgery isn’t eating less because your pouch is so small that you can’t fit any more, it’s learning

The key to maintaining weight loss really is training the pouch to feel full before overeating occurs...

how to get your pouch to tell your brain that you’re “full” and then having that full feeling last longer.

Just like your stomach did before the procedure, the nerves in your pouch communicate with your brain to tell it when the pouch has had enough to eat. When the brain receives that signal, it sends you the “stop eating” message. The pouch “knows” that it’s full because it feels itself swelling slightly.

The amount of food that it takes to create the swelling depends on how much the pouch has grown since the surgery. Yes, your pouch grows and it usually doesn’t have anything to do with overstuffing yourself, so lose the guilt before you even go there.

Doctors have discovered that the pouch is likely to grow for as long as two years after the procedure. Ine one frequently cited study, the average pouch ended up being able to hold around 6 ounces of food, while some developed a capacity as high as 10 ounces.

The most interesting discovery was that, despite the size of the pouch, there was no difference in the percent of weight loss experienced by each patient. This means that the key to maintaining weight loss really is training the pouch to feel full before overeating occurs and not the actual size of the pouch.


So how do you teach a pouch something?

It’s not really a matter of teaching your pouch how to behave, it’s more a case of following the rules that the pouch “lives” by. The whole point is to have the pouch stretch slightly so it can send the “I’m full” signal to the brain. But it’s not just getting that full feeling that matters, it’s keeping that full feeling long enough to last until the next scheduled meal.

If you recently had your procedure done, you might be wondering what all of the fuss is about. You’re feeling full around the clock and you don’t have the slightest idea of what I’m talking about. Trust me, you will. It’s very common for new weight loss surgery patients to buzz along feeling happily sated for the first few months. This is because of the constant intake of small quantities of water that new patients take in during the first six months or so after the procedure makes them feel full. But over time, your body will adapt, which means you’ll need to modify your eating habits, as well.

Eating by the Pouch Rules

Let’s take a look at these so called Pouch Rules and see how difficult or easy they are to follow.

The Pouch Rules

• Maintaining weight loss requires being able to keep the feeling of being “full” between meals.
• Frequently eating meals larger than 1 cups will cause weight gain over time.
• Waiting too long between meals will cause extreme hunger and likely result in overeating.
• Eating too slowly does not allow the pouch to stretch enough to reach the point where the fullness feeling develops.
• After the first year, eating heavier foods increases the duration of time that you will feel full.
• Between meal hunger feelings can be sated for 15-30 minutes by quickly drinking as much water as you can hold.
• Eating soft foods reduces the time that you feel full, causing you to feel hungry and possibly start snacking between meals.

Well, those rules don’t seem that difficult to get along with, especially when you consider the fact that patients who follow the rules of the pouch have successful weigh loss progress (and those who do not follow the rules gain weight back). But knowing the rules is just half of the equation.

Learning to care for your new plumbing

• Time your meals to be no longer than five hours apart to avoid excess hunger and resulting snacking or overeating at the next meal.
• The optimum meal consists of meat which has been very finely cut and raw or slightly cooked vegetables.
• Consume all meals within a 15 minute time period.
• Do not drink any liquids until at least 1 hours after each meal. Then, after that time, start sipping water and increase the quantities over a three-hour period.
• After three hours, increase the quantity of water or fluids to as much as you can comfortably handle.
• About 15 minutes before your next meal, practice “water loading”, which is drinking as much water as possible as quickly as possible. Note tha****er loading will not have the desired effect if you haven’t been following the previous step of drinking water during the period between meals.

Remember that the pouch rules don’t really go into effect for the first six months or so after the procedure. That’s because it’s a waste of time to practice hunger management techniques when you’re not hungry. After the healing process is over, and the hunger pains return, reach for this article again. You’ll need it.

Other tips and tricks for successful eating and weight management

Eat Regularly
Never skip meals; even if you’re not hungry. You need to eat three meals per day to give your body the nutrition it needs and to avoid excessive hunger pains from developing. In the beginning, one half or more of each meal should be protein, until you can eat at least two ounces of protein at each meal.

Avoid Artificial Sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners have a tendency to cause intense hunger cravings in weight loss surgery patients.

Become Calorie Aware
About three months after your procedure is a good time to start paying attention to the number of calories in each food item that you choose to eat so that you can make sensible choices.

Remember to Exercise
Your new pouch is not the silver bullet that’s going to keep excess weight from ever coming back. You still need to exercise to burn calories, increase your metabolic rate, and to help stave off depression, which can set in easily after weight loss surgery.

Eat Sensibly
Plan each meal to include low fat protein (1/2 of the meal), low starch vegetables (1/4 of the meal) and solid fruits (1/4 of the meal). It’s important to learn which foods remain in your pouch the longest and take the longest time to digest. These are the foods that will keep you feeling full the longest between meals.

Become “OK” with the Lifestyle Changes
You are definitely different than the rest of humanity when it comes to where your food goes after it leaves your throat. Learning to live with a pouch sometimes requires you to adopt lifestyle changes that are counterintuitive. Not drinking any fluids at meal time, and then loading up on fluids between meals, may seem odd at first. But as you come to realize that food needs to remain solid in your pouch for as long as possible, and mixing fluids with solid foods reduces them to a soupy consistency, the “a-ha” light will come on.

Find Support Among Peers
Weight Loss Surgery Support Groups are an excellent way to meet with your peers and have someone to turn to when you get the urge to say “the heck with it” and throw the rules out the window.