can you still lose after 3 years?

 I have regained about 15 -18 pounds from my lowest weight of 168, it's been 3 years since my surgery.  I had started at 252.   While my goal weight had always been 150,  I felt terrific at 168 and would have loved to have been able to maintain that. 
I am aware of the things that I have stopped doing as religiously as when I first started:  journaling my food, restricting my carbs, snacking, not weighing myself daily, and sometimes not even for a few weeks, not exercising as consistently as I did in the first 2 1/2 years...all of those things would explain regain.  I am now recommitting to doing all of those things. 
I do still feel restriction when I stick to dense proteins.   My appetite seems reasonable, and I have many days where I don't feel hungry at all.  To me it's no coincidence that those are days when I am very busy, not sitting around ruminating...  
I am seeking  comments/suggestions or anecdotes from others this far out who have regained and then succeeded in losing all or part of the weight.   That is, I am seeking hope and reassurance that it's possible. 
I will say that I have days where I feel very angry at myself for allowing this to happen, but I try to channel it for a more constructive purpose, as that kind of anger and frustration feels like the old behavior before WLS that I very much wanted to leave behind.  
Many thanks in advance for your feedback. 

you're stopping the regain at 15-18 lbs.  You didn't wait until it was 50 and a much more daunting task.  Sounds like you're on the right track to reverse the trend :)

Scroll down and read Pura Vida's story about getting regain off.

 I got the link to work! Congrats on your 1 yr. I have to go to hopkins greenspring today becuase of possible hernia issues I am having.....assuming you are going downtown or may bumb into eachother! ..tell collen or pat I said hello! lol

Hello!

I actually see Dr Lidor out of a small office in Columbia. She works over there on Mondays. It works out for me since it is on my way home from work.

I've had a good year so I'm looking forward to today's visit. I need to update my blog today!

I have been trying to copy and paste a post on this board from a few days abgo from someone else on this same topic...but I am having technical difficulties! Anyhow..oh course you can still lose after 3 years...if you are willing to go back to the things you did in the first place...The name of the post comes up and it was just a few days ago and worth the search..Good luck to you!

Topic: How I got that regain off with PIcs!

I'm not 3 years out yet, I'm 2 years out, but from what I've read on here, there are many people who have lost weight further out.  Pura Vida is the most current.

The bottom line is that it's totally doable and from reading your own post, I can tell that you know what you need to do to lose again.  Of course the difference between knowing what to do and doing it is the big challenge.  I would strongly recommend that you take an hour or so and write down a contract with yourself about food and exercise.  Keep it very detailed and complete and than follow through with your commitment to yourself.  That is what I would do in your case.  Take care and good luck.

Hi, sounds like you are on the right track with your commitment to go back to your original weight loss habits. Keeping busy is so critical as so many of us head to the kitchen when we need something to do.

While I haven't had regain issues (yet) I am absolutely positive that its possible to get rid of those pounds at this point by sticking to 70 g protein, going back to under 1000 calories and skipping the white carbs. I have been following this group closely since it started (by me) and if you go through the older posts you will find many examples of others in your situation.

Start with food journaling again. I think this is critical for some of us to maintain weight loss. Having to write it down makes you think twice about it. And make a commitment to reporting your progress here. we will support you. you can reestablish the good habits,i know it.    diane

Shoot yeah!  In the past three or four months, I've lost 26 pounds of a 32-pound regain!

I'm almost four years out, and after reaching goal and maintaining easily, at about a year and a half post-op I had spinal surgery with loads of complications.  Long story which I won't go into, because everyone here is sick of hearing about it, heh heh, but the end of the story is that I lost a whole bunch of weight during those complications and got very emaciated.  In an attempt to gain back to my goal weight, I started eating garbage food again.  (Hello eating disorder, hello crazy thinking!)  I shot back up to 182 pounds!  

For a long time I just couldn't get a grip, but now I'm a month away from having ANOTHER spinal surgery to fix some of the mess that happened last time, and the new surgeon said to get this weight off!  It helped that I've been pretty sick coming up to the surgery, and I dropped 20 pounds without really trying.  That, however, gave me the running start I needed ... well, that and the fact that the surgeon's PA told me if I didn't get off a lot of this weight off I was going to have a really hard time in recovery.  

All it took was a really good reason to get serious again.  For a long time I didn't too much mind the extra 32 pounds.  In fact, in some ways I liked them -- my face looked younger I thought, my thighs weren't so wrinkly and saggy, and my breasts filled back out a little.  Those things are stupid, though, when it comes to health.  Those things are just appearance things. Those things are just excuses.

So when I reduced my food intake to healthy protein, veggies, complex carbs if room, and lots of water (My goodness, don't I recognize that eating plan from somewhere in my not-too-distant past??), and cut out most of the garbage food (I must confess I haven't gotten off all of it, sigh.), the blubber started coming off again!  

The restriction is definitely still there, just like we were told when we chose VSG ... in fact, I had never doubted the restriction.  When I was eating garbage, I really had to work a diabolical plan to fit what I wanted in my little bitty stomach.  Just like my eating disorder counselor told me four years ago, ANY weight loss surgery can be out-smarted by someone who tries hard enough! 

So that is my long-winded answer to your simple question!  The short answer to the question in your subject line is YES!!!!!!

Best wishes :-)

--Dorothy