Need advice on maintenance

 Thanks for the clarification on it being 10x not 11.  Honestly, his statement on the 10-15 lb regain was not my biggest concern.  It was his "in 2 years you will be struggling to keep the weight off" statement.  I know that people regain but is it really that hard if you somewhat stick to the plan?  It's not like we are going to gain uncontrollably, right?  

From what I have read on this board and heard in support groups, is that the further out people get, they gradually become less mindful of what they are eating, food tracking decreases, and exercise stops, which leads to the gradual return of former habits. I believe, if the rules/guidelines are followed, the weight can stay off, as evidenced by people who are further out, but it requires hard work, attention, and lifestyle changes. Exercise, including weight training, is paramount to long term success. I think that people do struggle to keep the weight off. VSG or any other WLS is not a magic bullet. It just helps us to get to a more even playing field.

Gail

I think it depends entirely on your hunger level. The farther out we get, the more ghrelin we make. This is also why I think we should let our bodies go as low as they want to (unless there is a risk of being  underweight).

I know there is this idea that people only regain if they slack off, but the #1 predictor of regain is how far out you are. That says to me that a large part of it is physiological. Plus, my own experience has shown me that you can bounce back even if you are very hyper-alert and still mentally in the same place you were while losing.

I am a big believer that our bodies have a weight they want us to be and they will fight us to get there. The lower you get in the year after WLS, the better your chance that this set point will be a weight you can be happy with from what I've seen.

Have you been logging your food the entire time? What do think contributed to your weight gain? I know you exercise alot. Have you changed anything?

I logged my food from 7 months prior to surgery until about 2.5 years out. From hitting goal to when I stopped logging, my eating was really regular and nothing really changed. I did go up during that time period. Some of it was muscle and some of it was bounce back. My body fat got pretty low and I was concerned about how little fat I had around my middle so I was okay with that.

My biggest change was last winter. I always go up a bit in the winter and it's almost always fat. Then, when the weather gets better and I start doing long workouts again, the fat melts away. So I don't worry about it. However, last winter I also did a big heavy strength program, doing Crossfit 2x a week instead of 1x and also doing some training on my own so I was doing strength workouts 3-5x a week. I definitely put on muscle during that time.

Since then I stopped logging and I know I'm eating more carbs and less protein since I did that. Part of this is being out of work and finding the food that's easier to grab without doing any prep to be carbier than I normally eat. When I am working I have yogurt or cottage cheese almost every day. I have a protein shake for breakfast almost every day too. When I'm not working, I grab stuff and it may have protein but it's also has more carbs. So protein bars instead of protein shakes and more cereal and crackers and stuff like that. I'm also drinking less water. So I bet I am consuming about 100-200 calories a day more than I was when I was working.

I really want to see what my body fat percentage is and then I will be able to tell exactly how much muscle I gained and how much of it is fat.

Do you think that you will start logging your food again? Are you still exercising?

Hopefully, you are all muscle.

I've got to agree with Marie on this one. I have stayed mindful of my intake and and I have put on about 10 lbs from my absolute low, 7 lbs from where I decided I was at goal. Plus, I drastically upped the exercise. The weight is not going up any more, and I'm trying hard to take it off--but I have been for the past 6 months. I am eating as well or better than I ever have, have cut out all sweets and snacks, etc. So it's definitely more than bad eating habits. I don't know if it's hunger, either, as I don't feel appreciably more hungry than I used to. Not sure what the cause is!

Lizanne

I wonder what is going on. How are your thyroid issues? Low thyroid can definitely cause the problems that you are talking about. TSH needs to be less than 3.0 for weight loss.

Are you logging your food? That helps me to be mindful. I am fairly early out, so the logging really helps me, and is helping me to maintain.

Gail

I sincerely HOPE it is my thyroid, believe me! I just got back my (rather late) 4 year labs and the TSH was 7.76, definitely high, and I'm waiting on my pcp to either do more tests or retest or put me on meds. My mother had an inoperative thyroid and my younger sister has been on thyroid meds for 5 years--but neither of them ever had a weight problem. And mine has NEVER been below 3, even when I was losing... They didn't do a baseline before I had my VSG, but it was 4.12 in 2008, 3.27 in 2009, 3.28 in 2010. The weight regain did happen rather quickly in this last year, around March, so if my thyroid finally bit the dust, that could be the explanation..

As to logging, I do it on and off. I tend to eat the same things A LOT, so I'm pretty aware on a daily basis of what I'm eating. I cook a lot and it's hard with recipes. I do just guess there because I don't have the patience to put everything in, but I do make a big effort to cook healthily. And when you eat 3 protein meals a day, plus snacks of seaweed and beef jerky, as I've been doing, it's hard to pinpoint a food cause! Gone are my lovely little chocolate treats :-(

Lizanne

It depends to a certain extent on your total thyroid panel, but at 7.7, you should definitely be medicated.  Go to an endocrinologist. Anything over 3, really, you should be medicated. The standard used to be 5, but ASCE has dropped their recommended 'normal' range to .5 to 3 from .7 to 5.    What they used to call, "Euthyroid sick syndrome" (having hypothyroid symptoms while testing 'normal) was really, in many cases,  a reflection fo the fact the 'normal' range was too broad.

My TSH is about .7,  If I go above 2, I become clinically hypothyroid.  That's why my doc pulls full panels to check fT4, t3, my antibodies, etc.  Having been Hyperthyroid (Graves Disease) and Hypo (post radio-iodine therapy to knock out my thyroid), I tend to be pretty sensitive to the symptoms.    

My surgeon's office  pulls just TSH, and his PA asked if I was going to have my meds adjusted.  I looked at her and and said, "What's my pulse?" She checked my chart, and said, "55."  I looked at her, and you could almost see the lightbulb go on. She laughed and said, "Yeah, I guess it's hard to argue you're hyperthyroid when you technically have bradycardia."