Regain after hitting goal,

I think some of us just seem to have bounce back, it might be started by allowing foods back into the diet, but i know for me my lowest was 135, i only stayed there a day and bounced back up 2-3 lbs and have never got back down there.

i did go off plan for christmas from doing that gained 5-6lbs more, some of it i think is from going off low carb and allowing the glycogen stores to build back up how much is in that i dont know...
But trying to get that off is not as easy as some of you do it i have tried to go back to complete basics and i can get 3 off but then as soon as i eat anything else it comes back.. its not falling back off even with clean eating.

I can not even eat  much cheese without it showing on the scale, i eat peanut butter and it can show on the scale...  I think the only way to get it off is to go to protein shakes, but to do that will only remove all glycogen lvls again and as soon as i eat carbs ill regain it.. even if its just carbs from fruit

so maybe some of us just have bounce back??

I dont eat burgers, i dont eat fries, i dont eat rice or pasta, i dont eat alot of cheese, i dont eat bought pizza,  i dont eat chips or icecream, or even crackers,  or chocolate or cookies... my treats( not counting christmas) are P.B  barbeque minus any sauce, and twice a month i was having choc lava cake 4-5 (tsp) my husband ate the rest... but i still gained... salty meat makes me gain... did i have the right surgery??  my being really bad latly is eating 1/4 of a rye bread melt with steak mushroom and cheese... so is 1/2 slice rye bread that bad?  maybe

but ill admit i am guilty of letting exercise slide because we have had so much snow the streets have not been safe to really walk... and i dont stick to my tredmil or at home dvds i was never one for formal exercise.


my meals are mainly yogurt and berries (strawberries,rasberries,blue berries)  ham salad, (ham, eggs, onion, tomatoes and mayo) and meat i eat a ton of meat often its all that is on my plate i love steak.. but i added fruit like kiwi fruits, apples, raw carrots... i dont think i should have to remove fruit and veges just to stay at a set number...

Mini me, are you venting, or would you like  some suggestions.  Either answer is good.  I just don't want to step on any toes and its not like I have all the answers, I can only tell you what I think I would do in your situation, but if you are just putting it out there to vent, it would sound like I am a know it all.  You know what I mean.  I don't want to come across that way.  So please direct me, to give advice or to just offer a huge hug.

I dont think i have ever taken one of your posts as being a know it all.. I guess my fear is to keep my weight off  and down at my lowest is im going to have to live on a pure dense protein diet for the rest of my life and that doesnt seem healthy to me at all.  i dont think i could handle the contstant constipation of doing that.. which is why i added fruit to my diet. using greek yogurt

I more than welcome your suggestions, I dont think you should fear offering up your advice to anyone because maybe your insight could be the one thing that would be helpful.

Thank you, Mini Me, I can understand your fear.  Now that you are mostly at goal, it would really seem like you should be able to eat a bigger variety of foods, unfortunately is seems like you are very sensitive to carbs and sodium.  I think you should eat more veggies and some fruit.  However, it seems to me that you might really need to investigate which veggies and fruit are the lowest on the glycemic index.  For example, you can have almost as much celery as you want but carrots are a different story.  You can have all the green leafy veggies and most of the red veggies but restrict orange and yellow veggies.  Same with fruit, berries are probably just fine, bananas not so much.  I think I would also keep a food journal fo figure out exactly how many calories, carbs and protein you are getting as a base line and also find out how many calories you burn in a day maybe by using a body bug or going somewhere to find this out.  I would get really serious about learning the limits of what your metabolism.  I would attack it as a research project.  That is what makes sense to me to do.  What do you think?

I did what a number of people have posted already. I looked at the posts of people who had a lot of success...seemed to lose more rapidly, had fewer, shorter stalls, and very little regain. Most of them were VERY strict with carb intake during weightloss. They monitored carbs closely even after reaching goal. They weighed regularly--most weighed themselves daily. To me, weighing myself daily, watching my carb intake, and being more active is just a little extra work considering the huge payoff I get. I remember all the hours of worrying, anxiety, frustration, and anger that went into trying to find clothes that fit and looked good on me at 240lbs and all the energy I wasted on calculating how much weight I could lose before some big event. I will uncomplainingly weigh myself, monitor my food intake, look for ways to increase my physical fitness for all the great things that I get in return. I've also discovered that all of my friends that are a normal weight aren't healthy weights without working for it. I always thought they were just blessed with great metabolisms and could eat anything they wanted. Turns out, every single one of them, monitor their weigh****ch what they eat, and exercise. I love the idea of recognizing those that are working towards and achieving fitness-related goals. I think it's a great way to help people to make that transition...from focusing on weightloss to focusing on successful maintenance...which for me would have to include exercise or I will almost certainly experience partial regain.

Excellent post by all who contributed!

Thanks!

I think what others have posted we get "lulled" into a false sense of normality.  I often hear "us" say things like "my friends eat this that and the other with NO problem" well hello did your friends have WLS...did they ever have a dysfunctional relationship with food...then umm WHY are you now comparing yourself to them when you aren't them.

Also the mathematical portion as well.  We eat X calories and do X exercise at weight X...well when we get to weight Y there are a whole new set of "rules" that go with that weight, but many don't adjust to the new often times LOWER caloric adjustment, etc.

And then YES the highs from the lowering scale number is intoxicating for many and this "high" allows them to see PAST the stressors of LIFE.  But then that high is gone (by the way prior to the high of the scale we had the high from food), so it's often back to the high we had for years food.  And then 1 carb = 10 carbs for many but again back to my first point we want to be "normal" so 1 is ok isn't it?

Ok that's all I got for you!!

Ms Shell

Good post Elina!  I'm still losing, but think I'll only try to get to 160.  That will put me in the Overweight category.  I know some will think that I'm not setting my goal low enough.  But both my surgeon and my PCP agree.  At my age, they want me to just listen to my body and let it decide when it's done losing.  There are times that I think I'm done, but every week I still lose a little. 

I've been going to TOPS since 1 month out.  Didn't really need it a year ago, but I truly believe I need it now.  I KNOW that I'm going to weigh in in front of someone else.  It's not just ME who I'm being accountable to.  This is something that I need to continue to be successful. 

I am finding that my sleeve empties so much more often and I'm hungry more.  It's really hard to NOT eat something when I'm feeling this way. 

I'm saving this thread to my favorites, because reading what everyone has said is helpful to me and reminds me that I have to remain digilent.  My 1 year surgversary is next week.  I'm 3.5 pounds from where I wanted to be by then.  But I'm not going to let that get me down.  I'm pretty darned close and who knows, maybe by next Wednesday, I'll have lost it! 

I have to say that for me regain has always happened because I get to a "good" weight and get comfortable there, then I let my guard down and all hell breaks loose.  The regain has never been immediate, but it always ends up being a case of "20 lbs just snuck up on me overnight".  This is why I plan to weight myself every day for the rest of my life!  I've always had "freak out points" in either clothing or numbers on the scale that trigger me to diet.  Now, those points need to be lowered significantly so that I'm only every trying to "diet" off 3-5 lbs of regain rather then 20 or 40!  This is the reason that pregnancy scares me so much as I stated the other day.  It is the idea of having to watch the scale go up and being ok with it.  It is the fine line between me gaining weight and a baby inside me gaining weight that really scare me.  I think the biggest thing for all of us is taking it one day at a time, just like an alcoholic.  We can't get too far ahead of ourselves or we miss what is going on in the moment!  By getting on the scale every day, each day is a new chance to be the person that we want to be! 

Although my post op and maintenance life is in many ways different from many of you I think the common theme is about accountability and support and most importantly MINDFULNESS.
I do have a great support group some folks are other WLS folks, some know about my surgery some do not. The common thread is all of them are supportive of me and postiive changes I am living with on a daily basis.
For me hiking is a vital part of my on-going life style. Yes it burns calories and that helps but more importantly it keeps be grounded figuratively and literally and is a hell of a stress reliever for me.
I am accountable even though I do not track what I eat. I am accountable when I weigh regularly though not daily. I am accountable when the folks I hike with regularly wonder why I have no show up. I am accountable when I make mindful choices about what I put in my body.
I also challange myself to hike further, do more elevation, try new things like backpacking etc. This allows me to feel good about me in the way the scale numbers getting smaller used to make me feel good.