Advice/Support

 This is  coming from what I learned to become a certified personal trainer ... muscle  weighs 3 times more than fat of the same volume. 

When you start to exercise your muscles fill with water so U become temporarily heavier  .. then Ur  body  builds muscle and loses fat , so U become smaller   but stay largely the same weight .   you have to really  work hard and ( usuually ) restrict calories a bit  to actually lose weight from exercise.

When you stop exercising is Ur lowest weight setpoint , then body fat percentage starts to creep back up .  Right now U  weigh the same but are a larger size because you have more fat  percentage wise than U did last summer .

Moving more will  get U back into those pants ! 

I'm so sorry you're going through this. It sounds like you are really suffering from the wake up call. I haven't had bounce back so I can't speak to that, but I never got to the low numbers that many lightweights get to. My weight, 143 is the lowest weight since 1973. I graduated high school in 1968 at 176 and lost a few pounds over the next years after leaving home. My body wants to stay here and even with hard dieting it doesnt want to budge.

Calories in-out. Here are the results of my summer experiment with it.

I hiked 5.5-8 miles 4-5 times a week. The other days I walked 3.5-6 miles daily.

These are maintenance ranges:
The days that I hiked, I could eat 1200-1400 calories a day. I burned close to 500 calories.
The days that I walked, I could eat 1100 calories.
If I took a day off, I had to eat 1000 calories or I would see a gain the following day.

My food plan has very little white stuff. I ate blackberries that i Picked on the trail. Occasionally organic blueberries or raspberries. Carbs came from the Premier Nutrition protein bar tht I ate for breakfast before hiking, or Greek yogurt the rest from veggies.

So calories in/out have never worked for me and still don't.

I'm glad you posted and please stick around and keep sharing!  I really do think it helps... knowing that others are going through the same thing can help us mentally which is a big part of being successful.

I'm not sure about the bounce back part of WLS.  I know that I increased my calories and started eating a little more sugar and I gained a few pounds and I don't think that's "bounce back". 

I do believe in redistribution though.  I know my face has filled out some and  I have a little more in the boob area (still flat but not like tube socks...LOL).  I weigh the same as last summer but my shorts felt a little tight this summer so I know my legs, stomach, and butt have filled out some too.  I can't figure out where I got smaller at to make up for it but I seem to be more balanced now.

I loved it when I was in the 112-115 range but I've been in the  118-120 range for quite awhile now  When I watch my carbs I'm at 118 and when I've had a few extra I'm at 120.  It doesn't seem to take much for my tummy to look bloated.