What the H is going on? (major venting)

You said that you are journalling, which I totally agree with doing. Are you measuring and/or weighing your food? Like you said, there might be the possibility of portion creep. Also, with the colder weather, you may be less active, thus you are burning less calories.

Are you eating more sodium containing food? I put on 1.8 lbs OVERNIGHT from the sodium contained in oysters and other restaurant food. It has been coming off, but it was an eye opener. You mentioned that you might be eating more carbs, but it doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary. Carbs do contain water, so that could also account for some of the weight gain. People lose weight quickly on low-carb diets initially, because when the body releases the stored glycogen or energy stores, water is lost.

This is part of the reason that I continue to journal, weigh and measure my food on a daily basis. If I go up in weight, it is usually because my calories are up a bit and/or my exercise is less for that week.

Hopefully, it won't go any higher, but if it does, talk with your surgeon or pcp, to make sure that your thyroid is functioning properly.

Gail

Thanks Gail.  You are right about sodium and carbs. I don't weigh and measure stuff because I had gotten pretty good at estimating. maybe i better weigh again.

thyroid is normal. its funny because as a young person i had low thyroid and took meds for 10 years then somehow it normalized. have had it checked by detailed tests at a university hospital but they say its normal. about the only thing about me thats normal!!  Good suggestions. I am trying to exercise and watch things more carefully.

I may never figure out what causes this sort of thing but I guess we all know what to do about it.

Diane

Studies have shown that over time our portions creep up. What we need to do is spot check them once in a while and reset the creep.

I sent you a PM, call me and we will talk this out.

You are smart to be worried, Diane.  Not that 4 pounds will make a difference to you one way or the other, just that I think it's important for us to be vigilant and not allow our weight to creep back up again.  That's my biggest fear, and probably is for a lot of us.

I had a 6 pound gain, not 4.  But what really worried me was how difficult those pounds were to take off and how long it took me.  It felt like my body was fighting me on it.  I didn't give up and the weight eventually came off, and I'm more vigilant now than before because I don't want to struggle like I did.

Maybe we are doomed to always be on the lookout for an eventual gain, but everything I've read about long term success has to do with being consistent, vigilant, and continuing to do what worked for us to get us here.  There was an article posted on the VSG forum about this, and how most people regain and why.  The lady  interviewed that was successful in maintenance continued being vigilant, journalling, weighing daily, weighing her food, exercising.  She says that she is always aware of her food.

So I guess this is how my life will need to be for the rest of my life as well.  I still journal, exercise, in other words I keep accountable.  It's sad.  I've read a lot of newbies state how they don't want to live like this for the rest of their lives- always watching what they eat.  I don't think we want to either, but it comes with the territory.  If we want to maintain, we can never go back.

So, I feel ya!
Hugs,
Adele

Yep, that is why I continue to journal, weigh, measure, attend support groups, exercise, etc. We all need the accountability and viligance for long term success. Granted, I am still early out, but whenever I have stopped journaling and weighing myself and food in the past, I have put the weight back on. I will continue to practice these behaviors long term. They are a habit now. I dread any weight gain and will do whatever it takes to prevent it.

Gail

Yes, but that article was about people who lost weight without WLS.

I've been lurking here awhile, as I'm about 5 pounds from my surgeon's goal and about 20 from where I'd like to get personally, so I'm spending a lot of time thinking about how to be successful in maintenance.  I have no illusions that this is going to be "easy".
If you found the NY Times article to be interesting reading, I'd like to recommend you have a look at http://justmaintaining.com/.  The blog is no longer active, but the archives are riveting reading about the challenges of maintenance, though the blog's author did not have WLS.  The comments are almost as interesting as the original post - from my perspective, she drew a really interesting audience of readers.  Unfortunately, most of them are rabidly anti-surgery, but if you can get past that, I think there's some great content there.  Intimidating, but enlightening.
I think one of my favorite reads on her blog was the analogy of weight loss to skiing.  The "honeymoon" stage is like downhill skiing.  Early maintenance is the coasting to a stop at the bottom of the hill, where the cheering crowds on the sidelines disappear.  Eventually you come to a stop, and it's time to strap on your cross-country skis and continue the journey, which is a lot harder, and essentially never ends.  That's the real maintenance stage. 

Good luck to you Diane!  You've done so well, hopefully you'll find the cause of your small regain and be back where you want to be with a small adjustment.  I know I feel better knowing I'll have all of you to turn to when I'm ready to start figuring out maintenance!

Thanks,
Beth

 Beth, I love what you said here. I will check out the link, thank you.

thanks for your support beth and welcome to our group. you are wise to start thinking about maintenance now and this group is about the best thing available for that purpose.   Diane