1 year surgiversary and only halfway to goal - Xpost from VSG main

My 1 year surgiversary is this week, and I am only halfway to goal. Between months 6-10 I completely stalled, mostly because of eating too many carbs. I am losing again, but just as I upped my activity level at the gym, I got a hernia and haven't been able to exercise like I want to so the loss is slow. My hernia surgery is this week and I won't be able to exercise again for about 2 weeks.

Anyways, is there anyone else out there that was only halfway or so to goal at one year that still made it to goal? A friend of mine is already saying I will probably need a revision to the DS if I want to get to goal. Sigh.

I think you can get to goal without any revision. You have learned the lesson about carbs. For some of us, they really have a huge impact. I am one such person and really avoid them. And will for the rest of my life I think. Once you get them out of your system it seems the cravings go away.

And my surgeon says that while exercise is good and valuable, eating less is the real key to losing weight. So while you may slow with this hernia repair (so sorry you have to go through that) you can accomplish a lot with dietary things.

While I was at my goal in a year, I started with a lower bmi and I was a slow loser and failed to reach the goals at the times my doctor set and he didn't think I would make it. But I did. It just took longer. I just have a slow metabolism so it took longer. You may too, but you can do it. Up your protein - my surgeon's recommendation for slow losers and I gotta tell you it works. GL. YOu can do this.   Diane

Thank you, Diane. My head tends to get in the way and I will start overthinking. It's so easy to fall back into the "I'm a failure" pattern of thinking. It's just so hard sometimes to see people only six months out or so that have reached goal or are near to it. I should probably stop looking at other people's tickers.

Carbs are a killer for me.  They started slipping back into my diet and the pounds started slipping back up too.  Can you walk?  That works for me.  It is basically most of the exercise I do.

Thankfully, the surgeon said it would be OK to exercise about a week after my surgery as long as the exercise doesn't put any strain on the abdominal area. Two days a week I was taking a weight lifting class that does this, so I'll have to wait awhile to start that one again, but in the meantime I can go back to Zumba next week. I haven't exercised in the last three weeks at all because even just a hard sneeze will make the hernia bulge and it really freaks me out.

Up your protein, watch the carbs, drink your fluids, write down everything you eat, and move as much as you can.

Those are the tried and true ways to get weight loss going again.

 Putting my hand up and waving! I figure it's just going to take me longer. I still keep plugging away. I have had log stalls too but I know my measurements were getting smaller even though the scale isnt changing. I am almost 2 years out. Don't think I want to trade more weight loss with the malabsorbtion of a DS. I will keep working at it, keep tweaking my diet and exercise. This is our lifestyle not a temporary thing anyway. Today I feel hopeful that I will make it. Ask me next week though...

You know, I was telling myself the other day that even though the VSG isn't a "magic bullet", never before have I been able to just make a small dietary change and drop weight. It is truly a wonderful tool.

I'll never forget when I did the Atkins diet religiously for about a year back in 2004. I kept my carbs under 20g, peed on a stick every day to make sure I was in ketosis and I STILL only lost about 20 pounds. Only 20 pounds!!!  In a year! I started weighing about 235 and only got down to 215. If I did so much as look at a piece of fruit I would gain. It was so frustrating.

I keep my carbs around 40-50g now and even though the loss is slow, it's there. Every week for the past month I have lost about a pound a week. I'm itching to get back to the gym because I know I can do more with exercise, plus I love Zumba so that helps.