Question:
Long term regain?
I am pre-op and the nutritionist my surgeon sent me to told me that studies are showing that after 18 months post ops will begin to regain the weight if they do not exercise at least 60 minutes per day. I have not heard this from anyone else and it really threw me for a loop. It seems counterintuitive since your input is still fairly restricted. Has anyone experienced this? I think she may have been trying to talk me out of this because my BMI is just under 40 and other than GERD I am very healthy. She kept talking about someone who had lost 90 pounds on a regular diet and I told her that I have done that several times in the past but have always regained it. In any case, after talking to her, I can't help feeling somewhat discouraged. Is this another temporary fix? If so, I might as well not put myself through this. I'd really appreciate your feed back! — Beatrice C. (posted on December 27, 2004)
December 27, 2004
I have never read anywhere about post opts regaining their weight because
they didn't exercise 60 minutes a day. However, I guess it could be
possible, but I make a point of walking three miles a day. This surgery is
just a "tool", and it will not do all the work for you. You
still have to eat right and exercise in order for this surgery to be
effective. I'm only 5 1/2 months post opt, but I have been exercising
since the day I had surgery and continue to eat right. I hope you research
you're decision more so that you aren't disappointed if you do decide to
have the surgery. I hope my response doesn't sound negative to you because
that isn't my intention, and I do wish you well with whatever decision you
do make.
— Belle
December 27, 2004
yes, it is possible to gain weight back. I'm 2 1/2 years post op and have
gained back almost 40 pounds. It's very discouraging, but I know i have
nobody to blame but myself...
— candymom64
December 27, 2004
I'm 20 months out, and have gained ten pounds in the past two months or so.
But, it's because I've been stress-eating (car accident, boyfriend
break-up, need a new $4000 boiler, and a few other things). Too many
carbs, not enough control. I'm getting back on track. What this has
taught me is that I'm just like regular people: if I eat more calories than
I burn, I will gain weight. So, I need to decrease my caloric intake
and/or increase my caloric output. Same as regular folks. That doesn't
mean I have to do strenuous exercise for an hour every day. I need to make
better food choices and stop making excuses to skip a workout here and
there. No magic to that. The person you talked to is right in saying that
you can gain weight back, but an hour of exercise a day may or may not be
what you need to control your weight. And, I can tell you this, it's so
much easier to deal with having to lose a few pounds now than it was having
to lose 130 pounds pre-op. As long as you understand that this is a
life-long commitment, and the surgery only helps, then you'll be fine.
This is absolutely a decision you must make for yourself.
— Vespa R.
December 27, 2004
Ok...I am a little over three years out, and my mother is 28 years out. I
dropped down to 135 at my lowest and currently weight 147. My mother lost
to 125 and at two years out gained to about 150 and stayed there for 25
years. Neither of us have or have ever had any set excersize routine.
<br><br> If you go right on back to your old habits you will
regain some of your weight. It will be difficult to gain it ALL back
unless you have some kind of mechanical breakdown or you drink chocolate
shakes non-stop. After two-three years the odds are you will regain some
weight, how much is up to you and how much control you have over your
eating habits at that time. Almost everyone will gain back a few pounds at
that point, and almost everyone freaks out over it. God knows I did. Best
of luck. REbecca
— RebeccaP
December 27, 2004
I am somewhat suspect of that needing to exercise for 60 minutes a day to
avoid regain. I've never heard that, plus we are all individuals, so that
may be true for some, but certainly not all. Kind of hard to do, if you
have other responsibilities like a family and a job! I WISH I had an hour
every day just for me to exercise! LOL!You can regain, and I think you also
need to find what works for you to keep the weight off. I stopped losing
at 9 months out, and now, at 26 months out, I started losing again. Kind of
up and down over the holiday, but I'll be back on track, and just don't go
up more than 3 lbs from my current lowest weight before getting worried.
You see, I have this tool that is always there, and I have to use it to my
advantage. I tried protein shakes out the wazoo, upping the water,
exercising more, etc. Finally found I just need to drastically cut calories
to lose - but that's ME, not everyone else. I saw my surgeon a couple of
weeks ago, and even though I haven't met my goal (still have another 30 lbs
to lose), all he could say was, "Wow, you look great!" and he was
really pleased with my lab results. My PCP even told me he was happy with
how I was doing, even if I never lost another pound! So, don't set yourself
up for failure. This surgery does work. My husband also had surgery and had
a BMI of 38.5 to start with. He is about 1 1/2 years out and has regained a
few lbs, but is able to drop them pretty quickly when he tries. (Easy for
him, a real pain for me!)
— koogy
December 27, 2004
this is just my personal opinion but exercise is about alot more than
preventing weight gain. It is for your health. even with weight loss you
cannot be healthy with out regular vigorous exercise. Exercise conditions
your heart & lungs and helps build bone density as just a couple of the
benefits. Preop the whole idea of exercising for a whole hour seemed
absolutely impossible. 5 minutes on the treadmill was huge! now with the
weight off and building my endurance and hour of exercise is not only a
regular occurrance for me, but if I skip it I feel like a slug, tired, no
energy, and I feel fat even if I didn't gain an oz. Most days of the week
I do an hour of cardio and 30-45 minutes of weight training to tone my
muscles and build bone density. It is as much a commitment to my health as
taking my vitamins and doing my best to eat right.
weight loss cannot be seen as a temporary life change or a quick fix. No
matter what you do, surgery or otherwise it is a lifelong commitment.
those who go into it with the idea that the surgery solves it all will be
dissappointed a few years down the road. Don't be discouraged, look at it
as a chance for a new life and treating yourself the way you desreve to be
treated. As far as time issues, well, do you watch TV in the evening or
any time during the day? that time could go to exercising. I work as a
nurse, and I take care of my 6 y/o grandson who lives with me. I get up
often at 5:00 am , go to the health club by 5:15, exercise til 7 and go
home and start my day. It is a priority.
— **willow**
December 27, 2004
Your nutritionist is correct that regain is a common problem, but I don't
know where she's getting that 60 minutes a day thing. Regain's a function
of too many calories in, not enough expended. You can correct that by
increasing exercise or reducing calories. At 18 months, many begin to fall
of the wagon and don't commit as strongly to exercise as they did before,
and/or they begin snacking too much on sugary treats that they avoided in
the early months.<P>I've experienced bouts of regain a couple of
times since my surgery 2 1/2 years ago, but all I have to do is cut out
sugar (chocolate) in order to stop it. I never exercised 60 minutes a day,
nor would that be practical for me, but when I'm doing what I should, I
exercise 45 minutes 3x a week (includes cardio & weights), plus maybe 2
relatively leisurely 3 mile walks a week. I find weight tends to creep
back on without exercise, whereas intaking sugar (I don't dump) will make
it shoot up very quickly.<P>Your reservations about WLS sound like
mine: Why do it if it just means regaining anyway? I can only speak for
myself, but WLS has worked for me because I can fill up on dense protein
foods now (whereas my full-sized stomach was much harder to fill up with
anything), and I've learned to turn to protein drinks to help me stay and
get back on track, and I have also learned how important exercise is not
only in burning calories, but in stabilizing mood and suppressing appetite.
Little building blocks, but take one away and I'm in trouble. Without
WLS, I had no real foundation anymore to make those building blocks stay,
they always collapsed eventually. Now they don't, not so far.<P>Good
luck with your decision.
— Suzy C.
December 28, 2004
I think many of us will have a little rebound weight after our bodies start
to adjust to the surgical alterations regardless of our habits. But! It's
not the beginning of the end of your life as a non obese person. (like I
thought it was...I had sooo much anxiety at that point) I'm 3.5 yrs post
and generally walk 4-5 days a week for about 45 min and do Ladies Workout
Express (like Curves) about 2 X a week 30 min. +/-. I had initial weight
gain of about 10 lbs at 2 yrs post in the blink of an eye and no real
change to my habits. Over last summer, I had about 7-8 creep back on, but I
did increase my eating a little bit. I'm right around 150 now (and 3.5
months pregnant). Despite the pregnancy (I actually lost 4 lbs because of
morning sickness) I have pretty much maintained this weight for about a yr
now. (I know I will gain weight over the next six months, but am really
trying to watch what I eat-key word, trying). I have cut way back on the
exercise because I had a rocky start in the pregnancy and was advised to
take it easy. Things are going well and I plan on heading back to walking
and LWE after the new year. (OB gave me the OK). I think moderate exercise
and eating way better (not perfect, but lots better) is really the key to
be successful with WLS. To me, and I'm no doctor/nutritionist 60 minutes
seems a little extreme, especially for those of us who didn't exercise at
all before WLS.
— KimBo36
December 28, 2004
Well, please don't hold me up as the perfect example of weight loss or
maintenance. However, I am almost 4 years out (1/8/01) and I have NEVER
exercised-not once. This is not something that I am proud of nor do I
recommend it. I am just giving you another viewpoint. I weighed 123 for
almost 3 years. I now weigh 128 and continue to be a size 6. I am sure that
my overall health and bone density have suffered due to my lack of
exercise. However, my weight loss and maintenance hasn't been affected.
— Shelley.
December 28, 2004
It comes down to how much a person is doing. The further out you are the
more your body will rely on exercise to keep it in check. That's why when
I see people who are fairly early PO's and doing 60 minutes a day already,
I wonder what in the heck they are going to do in the long run. It is
natural along the journey to need to kick things up a bit, usually around
6-9 months PO. So if they are already doing an hour and then need to
increase to keep losing and then need to increase to maintain, they end up
only doing exercise. I know this because that is how I lost 200 lbs in 13
months in 94/95. I had set myself up for failure because both the eating
and exercise routine were not something I could live with the rest of my
life. So when I went into WLS I went in with a definite plan to not become
exercise obsessed. I started at 442 lbs walking came very slowly. I went
back to weight training at 10 weeks PO, because it was all I could do. I
took it slow. It took 6 months to get back up the weights I was doing
pre-op. At about the same time I could walk a mile continuously. After
that the walking just kept improving, until about 10 months PO when the
knees when to crap. They had been good for about 3 years, but now are as
bad or worse than they have ever been. But at least I am more mobile, just
not without pain. At about 7 months PO I could tell my body was ready to
add in another weight session a week. I had been doing 30 minutes twice a
week till then and went to 3 times a week. I have stayed at that point for
the past 14 months. I actually have been off of exercising quite a bit
this year due to 3 extensive PS's. The last being Nov. 10th. I'm starting
to workout again. Because I didn't go from some extreme to nothing,
because of my surgeries, my body didn't react by gaining. I have pretty
much been able to maintain my weight without any exercise. I am up a few
lbs but that's from the food choices I've made. Things will turn around
now that I can workout again. But I do not plan to ever have to workout
more than 3 times a week. My ideal plan is 30 minutes of weight lifting
and 30-45 minutes of walking on the same day. I figure then anything more
I get in during the week is just a bonus and something I want to do and not
something I have to do. It gives me a lot of flexibility.
<p>All this said, this is how my body has worked. Not everyone
experiences the same thing. I do believe though that how crazy we go at it
from the start does sort of set the pace for the long haul. You will need
to exercise but I sincerely doubt it will require 60 minutes, 7 days a
week. JMO
— zoedogcbr
December 28, 2004
Thanks everyone. I feel much better. I am very committed to getting
healthy and staying that way and I actually enjoy exercising and am an
active perston, but I am extremely busy as a teacher, wife and mother of
two and it would be difficult to find 60 minutes each and every day. This
nutritionist implied that WLS and the accompanying diet somehow ruin your
metabolism. She implied that I would have to be a slave to exercise even
though I might be sticking perfectly to the eating program. I want to be
able to lead a healthy active normal life, not obsessed with food. Your
replies have done much to ease my mind. Thank you!!!!
— Beatrice C.
December 28, 2004
10 yrs. I never did much organized exercise. Did some specific types, but
not cardio types. Still weigh 110-115, give or take. Regain is a DISTINCT
possiblity and no, restriction alone will not cover it. We need
extraordinarily small portions for life. If we eat sugar or graze (which
makes small portions large but you don't FEEL it), we can regain 100%.
That part is true. Exercise is marvelous, healthy, 1000 reasons to do it.
Skin, muscle, bones, heart, lungs! Except weight control. If exercise was
going to work for us, it would have pre-op. The post-op success you have
depends on the type of surgery you get, the post-op plan you follow and how
involved in support you remain. At least so I think, in my rather biased
way.
— vitalady
December 29, 2004
Yes, more then likely you'll gain the weight back, so far I have met
numerous people that have all gained back and a few that have even gone
totally anorexic because their terrified of gaining. I myself have gained
back 40 lbs over the last 2 y ears, and I am still very active.
unfortuantly nothing is a fix all. Sorry. Sue
— Sue B.
January 1, 2005
Each one of us is given a tool. What you do with that tool is up to you.
If you go into this surgery well informed and positive you have a great
chance of being successful. Don't let anything or anybody get in your way
or tell you differently. My surgery was 2 1/2 years ago, I lost 160# and
have been at goal for a little over a year. Every morning the first thing
I do after I get up is get on that scale. I know they tell you not to do
that, but that governs my day. If it is right where it is supposed to be
or under I eat whatever I want and just listen to my stomach and quit as
soon as it tells me to. If it is up a pound then I watch what I am eating
and quit when my stomach tells me to. The next morning it is right back
where it is supposed to be. I guess I am a little paranoid about gaining
my weight back. As I tell my husband I still have this feeling that some
morning I am going to step on that scale and it is going to say 311# again.
Don't know if I will ever lose that feeling and maybe I shouldn't as it
keeps me honest and in my size 10 jeans! Best of luck to you and remember
it's all up to you.
— buhret
Click Here to Return