6 yrs out & need another honeymoon phase!!

Hello all. New to the group. RNY 6 yrs ago & initially only went from 285 to about 205. In the post-op honeymoon phase-especially the first year-I did everything right except exercise. But after a few yrs, I got lazy and very, very discouraged. Old bad eating habits crept back into my life,as did late night & overnight grazing. Sort of gave up and did everything opposite. Now, at 219,  I started getting back in touch with the wls online community and am inspired to go back to basics- stopped eating at night, doing lots of water instead of tons of diet coke, trying to water loading, eating small portions and protein first...and, most importantly, paying attention to my pouch. Here's the question...is there anyone out there who, after many years of not folowing the rules, got back on track and actually see significant results? I need to lose at least 75 more lbs to reach my original goal. So this is not a case of reaching goal and regaining- never got close to goal to begin with...so is is possible to wake up sleeping beauty and lose that much weight in another honeymoon phase, ie., a relatively short span of time...like 6 months?  Thanks in advance for your advice and inspiration!

6 months? probably not... 1 year - absolutely.  
I think safe assumption is try to lose 1-2 lbs a week. On average.  So 75 lbs in one year - that is more than 1 lb a week...  There will be weeks you may not lose any... or even have a temporary gain.  
Next week I am getting ready for colonoskopy so I was thinking of starting a "cleanse diet" - a week long... I hope to lose 5 lbs at least.  
Let me know if you want to do that... 
I am planning to do mostly liquids - protein shakes... and one meal a day.  Drink a lot of water and herbal teas, and I do need a low carb - due to my RH (reactive hypoglycemia). 
I also plan to take daily cleansing baths... (in Epsom salt, backing soda... ) and make sure I have at least 2 BM a day ( magnesium).  Plus make sure I take greens supplements, herbs, etc... to help my system...)...
 

so its really not possible to have another honeymoon phase, even if I eat really small portions like I did in the first year out? I am wondering if that is because the pouch has healed or grown a little bit- mine is still relatively small which is why I got denied for a stomaphyx. I am curious as to the reasons that weight loss cant occur the way it did in the first year or two-if one does everything the way they are supposed to. But I really appreciate your advice, Hala. Good luck on the colonoscopy. I am just now trying to get used to the water, small portions, shakes, etc.Its like I am starting from scratch so I dont know if its wise for me  to do a liquid diet (cos I am a diabetic).

I am hoping someone will chime in who, after years out, was able to lose a significant amt of weight...Usually you hear about losing the small amts of regained weight, 20, 30 lbs. But I would like to hear from someone in my shoes- who never got to goal in the first place, but did after being post-op for years (without another surgery).

possible... yes... anything is possible... but realistically - not likely... Not sure what surgery you had... but with RNY and DS - eventually the body compensate for the malabsorbtions.  And we are left with mostly restrictions.  And our bodies is used to deal with calories deficit and become very efficient in using and saving any calorie... That's why it is difficult to go back and do it again.  But possible? yea... likely ? not so much...

BTW: being diabetic doe not limit you for a liquid diet.  It may be more challenging... but not impossible. IMO.

I have a severe RH.  I have to do low carb. Or else.   And I still can do liquids... I just need to make sure that I have fat at every meal..
But I understand your concern.

If is possible to lose... it would be much harder... but I believe it is possible...

First of all you have kept off 66 lbs.  Imagine trying to carry 7 gallons of water around with you all the time!  Congratulations for keeping off almost 70 lbs.  You are very lucky to still have a small pouch and restricting stoma.  What test did they do to diagnose your intact RNY?  An excellent GI doctor did an endoscopy on me and diagnose my mechanical failure of my RNY years ago.  He said xrays are not accurate enough.  I am assuming a reliable doctor did an EGD on you.  If you want to lose 2 lbs a week you need to either exercise more or eat less.  You need to get the net effect of 1000 calories a day more calories used than eaten to lose 2 lbs in a week.  That really is hard to do, but possible.  A dietitian told me that if you have an intact RNY you need to eat solid food to receive the benefit of the tool.  If your pouch is "full" you should feel less hungry and if you eat solid food it will take a while to empty.  If you eat fewer carbs you should have less insulin released and not experience the hunger associated with high insulin levels.  I had a double size pouch, double size stoma and very short bypass going on 5 years ago.  I have been trying to figure out what to do.  I took a class on appetite and am experimenting with different diets.  I am a diabetic 2 and have  PCOS.  I personally do best with 6 meals a day, low carbohydrate all of which is complex carbs (no sugar, white flour, white rice, white potatoes etc.)   I have recently started using plain fat free Greek yogurt instead of milk to decrease the sugar in milk too.  I eat soup made out of broth and non starch veggies before a lot of meals because our bodies release a "feel full" hormone which reduces appetite when food gets further down the intestine.  Because my bypass is so short I want the soup to get down there quickly to help me stop eating.  It is working.  I had an un weight loss related surgery in January that threw me off and gave me a major set back.  I am still recovering and my blood sugars are still running high.  This means my insulin levels are high too.  It has slowed down my exercise but I have been back at it for a couple of weeks and I can feel the difference in my muscle tone.  I honestly log my food on the "cafe/cardio" posts.  I would have gained a lot of weight in the past 2 months without the accountability.  I have learned a lot from the people in this group.  I can't eat as little as they do or I become a "witch" with a capitol B...  But I do the best I can with what I have.  I keep learning and eventually I will get to my normal BMI weight.  I know it is not happening overnight though...but where am I going anyways.  As long as each month I weigh less than the month before.  I hope some of this rambling is helpful to you.  I wish you the best.  Just me

In the post-op honeymoon phase-especially the first year-I did everything right except exercise. But after a few yrs, I got lazy and very, very discouraged. Old bad eating habits crept back into my life,as did late night & overnight grazing

This statement describes me prefectly, Its like I settled for a 'lesser-degree' of obesity. True, Im very happy to not be 364, or 336 DOS ...got down to 185 (ha.. what a great week) but being 210-215, isnt cute either. Think exercising will help leaps and bounds, especially if you werent doing it before. I dunno maybe 6yrs out, ppl would say 'honeymoon period' is over. But theres some ppl who never HAD surgery, who can lose alot really fast.


I know personally I lost 40lbs in 6weeks, several years before surgery. WITHOUT killing myself... I ate 5-6 meals a day, 300-250 calories, each, lots of protein, drank alot of water and green tea. 15-30 minutes hard cardio in the am... then 1 hour on the treadmill/elliptical (walk/run/jog). Now that was actually BETTER rate than my post surgery losses... and I maintained that for almost 2 yrs. With just 30mins of brisk walking a day....

Dont be discouraged, be ENCOURAGED!!! Time to find your 'thing' your go to dancing/jogging/aerobix/swimming... for stress/boredom. Thats how most of the 'thin-mints' on here seem to do it. LOL They seem to stay thin forever, cuz they stay active and indulge very sparingly.

Im an eternal optimistic, Im actually CRAZY enough to believe in a second honeymoon!

HI! Thanks for responding and for all the encouragement. I looked up your profile and 1) congratulations on such an awesome loss and 2) you shoulda picked that gorgeous naked man and took him home, wrapped him up and put him under your Christmas tree lol!! \

Well, yes, we did lose, and we are healthier..so where do we go from here? I envy your eternal optimist outlook...you know that is a blessing from God- not everyone has it...I am working on it, and people like yourself inspire me.

I know that significant weight loss can happen even without the surgery. I guess in my case it is a combination of not having enough self-confidence and self-love to go the whole nine yards. Haven't had that motivation for many years, but I do remember a different time and place- many yrs ago, when I also lost 40 lbs in a couple of months- from 160 to 120 when I was young, single and had some energy, drive and virtually no other distraction but myself to look after. ANd I did it just the way you did. Plus, I had "my thing" as you call it...I learned "belly dancing" and that really burned the calories. Now I am older and more beaten down, but I am going to take your advice and keep working on it. Because I missed that opportunity during the honeymoon phase and, like you, not reaching my goal or even NEAR it, discouraged me and made me think that it wasnt ever meant to happen for me and I was not worth fighting for, so eventually, I wound up with all my bad habits again... This takes a lot of work, and paying attention, and I am glad to know there are people out there who are also working on getting back on track again.

Thanks again, and I hope we keep in touch!

Yeah he was a Hottie-McHot-hot. LOL.. that was indeed a great day!!

Gotta love it when a Random HOT LATIN guy playing football drunk as hell on the nudie beach grabs you and says 'lets take a picture mami, come on growl sexy like a tiger!!!'

Put that there to show, no matter what size you are... can always be incorrible flirt.


Yeah I totally REFUSE to believe the end is over. And youre not beaten, beat up or beat down... just start off slowly. Everything starts with walking... right? Kinda like a baby, start with liquids, and walking and build from there. Push ourselves little more each time, in few weeks, months we'll be running like the wind!!!  << this was the closest thing i could find for running. LOL. but you get the point.

BABY STEPS...

AND ACTUALLY JUST REMEMBERED I DID HIT MY GOAL...

SURGEON WANTED ME AT 188, I HIT 185, AFTER GETTING SICK AND GALL BLADDER SURGERY, THEN GOT UP TO 200... FROM BEING NAUGHTY AND EATING PIZZA AND CARBS.

SO ITS VERY-DOABLE. WE'VE JUST BEEN NAUGHTY FOR SO LONG, LACKING DISPLINE MAKE YOU THINK YOU CANT...

YOU CAN!! GET YOUR HINNIE UP AND DO IT!

we just havent been doing it