Question:
2 YEARS POST OP & GAINING TOO MUCH WEIGHT!
WOW, I AM SOOOO TERRIBLY FRIGHTENED BY WHAT I HAVE BEEN GOING THROUGH THE LAST 2 MONTHS... I KNOW THEY SAID IT IS POSSIBLE TO GAIN YOUR WEIGHT BACK EVEN AFTER THIS MIRACLE SURGERY, BUT I DIDNT BELIEVEIT! I FIGURED, NOT ME, NOPE, ILL GET DOWN TO MY GOAL OF 145 - 147 AND STAY THERE FOREVER........WAS I EVER WRONG! I GOT DOWN TO 154 AND WAS HAPPY THERE, HOWEVER THAT WAS 2 MONTHS AGO OR SO AND JUST WEIGHED IN THIS WEEKEND AT 168. I CAN EAT WHATEVER I WANT, STILL NOT AS MUCH AS I USED TO, BUT A GREATER PORTION THAN I COULD EVEN AT 1 YEAR POST OP. YOU KNOW THAT NAUSEAUS FEELING YOU GET WHEN YOU EAT, I DONT GET THAT ANYMORE (EXCEPT IF I EAT A BIG SLICE OF CAKE!) IM SO AFRAID THAT I HAVE STRETCHED MY POUCH, COULD THIS BE? IS THIS WHY I AM GAINING SO MUCH WEIGHT SO RAPIDLY? I CANNOT, CANNOT, CANNOT GO BACK TO THE LIFE I WAS LIVING BEFORE.........PLEASE HELP, ANY RECOMMENDATIONS WOULD BE GREAT! — Karen W. (posted on October 12, 2004)
October 11, 2004
GO TO POUCH RULES FOR DUMMIES.COM
— STEWART C.
October 11, 2004
Get back to basics. Dedicate a week to how you ate on those first few days
following surgery--liquids/protein only. Then count your calories
faithfully, logging every bite of food that goes in your mouth for at least
a month. Make sure you're doing your vitamins and exercise. When you fall
off the horse, just get up, dust yourself off and get back on. You can do
it.
— Cathy S.
October 11, 2004
Why ever are you eating a "big slice of cake!" Please, please,
go back to the basics. It will take you a few days to get the carb demon
off your back if you've been eating the highly refined stuff regularly but
you can do it. I think it's true for most of us that we can eat whatever
we want at some point in this process (except some people can never eat
sugar) but the point is, just because we can eat it doesn't mean we should
eat. Get back to basics and use your tool and you'll be on your way to
success again. Good luck to you.
— scbabe
October 12, 2004
you've been given the answer that will change your weight gain...back to
basics. Just because you CAN eat whatever you want doesn't mean you
should, but you know that. See a nutritionist, get back to basics,
exercise and start measuring/writing and keeping track of everything that
goes in your mouth. Chances are, your tool is functioning, but you've got
to make it work for you now. Good luck.
— LMCLILLY
October 12, 2004
alot of people gain weigh after WLS especially at 'year two'. You know
your eating has NOT been the best.. If you were NOT transected - have your
doctor check you out to be sure your still working... Then its up to you...
To maintain, gain or loose. You might consider WW.
— star .
October 12, 2004
I gained back about 10 pounds in my second year. I find that I am not able
to eat as much as the former self, but a lot more than the first year
post-op. Also find I do not dump as much, so I cannot depend on that to
stop me from overeating. I was doing the low carb thing and found I was
gaining weight. So here is what I am doing now, and it seems to be working!
1. Keep healthy fruits and veggie around to munch on when I am in a
"grazing" mode. I bought a great apple slicer gadget from
Pampered Chef, went and treated myself to the best apples from a local farm
and oranges, grapes, carrots, sweet snap peas...things that need some
chewing! 2. Keeping low cal snacks like pretzels, baked chips, popcorn,
etc...3. trying to get out of my office and walk around the building at
least twice a day 3. track every single thing I eat on fitday.com 4. allow
myself to have a little something "special" like cake, but just a
very small taste when the craving hits me. Hope this helps you. My weight
has stabilized, I am sure if I would actually exercise I could drop the ten
pounds, but ever little bit helps.
— missmollyk
October 12, 2004
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Graduate-OSSG. Were you transected? Have you
had your mechanics checked? That's one item, but the other might be your
own wanderings off the path that worked? I posted the link for the GRad
list, which is not to suggest not being HERE, but to add it. It's for
people 1+ yrs out and where people are talking about regain issues,
mechanical failure, oops I messed up and OMG, I never was following the
right program all along. I think most of us assume we will be
"normal" once the wt is gone and we can eat like others around
us. I don't think so. I have a fatal disease, always did, always will. I
can only keep it in remission as long as I keep taking the treatment.
— vitalady
October 12, 2004
Go back to the diet you were on the first two weeks post-op. Is it too
hard to go back to that kind of diet? Too bad! What other choice do you
have? The point of your surgery was to give you the tool to lose weight,
but you were suppose to change the inside too. You let your body lose
weight without effort on your part. Now it's time for you to do what you
should have done from the moment you woke up in post-op. FIGHT for your
self-control, your self-worth, and your self-endurance. What do all three
of those words have in common? SELF. Fight for yourSELF. You are too
deserving to go back to the pain and misery you felt being fat. Don't
allow it to happen. You are in control of how much goes in your mouth and
what kind of food goes in your mouth. You are in control of how much
walking you do each day. If you walk to your mailbox or to the corner,
that's your decision. If you park your car at the end of the parking lot
instead of sitting and waiting for a closer spot near the door, that's your
choice. It's not a big effort to make small changes in your life, but
those small changes will add up to big rewards. FIGHT FOR YOURSELF!!!!
You and only you have that choice. No one else can force you to eat that
big slice of cake, so cut it smaller. No one else can make you park close
to the front entrance of a building, so park a little ways out and walk.
It's your choice, and no one else's.
— kc135wife
October 12, 2004
Even if you have "stretched your pouch" - and I am not saying
that you did, your pouch still is nowhere near the size of your pre-op
stomach. Many people with normal-sized stomachs are able to maintain
their weight (or even lose weight) - it's what they choose to put in their
stomach.
<p>
It certainly sounds like you lost touch with how to got down to the 154.
Eating "whatever you want" and eating sugary foods is the
slippery road to regain as you have found out. You need to get back to
basics as others have said and make the conscious decision to put the right
things in your mouth...JR
— John Rushton
October 13, 2004
I had to have this surgery because of severe back problems that, because of
the weight, ended me up in a wheel chair. I will be 10 months out this
Saturday and have lost 118 pounds so far and am now able to walk. I
recently broke my foot and after becoming sedentary again, I've gained 7
pounds in 2 weeks. 2 weeks! twice as fast as i've been losing lately. So
I took a look at my daily diet and routines. Did you know that if a
carbohydrate such as cereal, oatmeal, banana etc eaten as the first meal of
the day it will cause hunger pangs and cravings for more carbs the rest of
the day? I had fallen into that convenient, stay off the foot, routine of
cold cereal, granola bars etc. So these last 3 days I've been getting up,
having a cup of coffee while I scramble an egg with some shredded cheese
and chopped ham and fry up a couple of pieces of bacon. I've had that for
breakfast, a hamburger patty w/cheese for lunch, a whole apple sectioned
with regular chunky peanut butter on it and some wheat crackers for snacks
and had bbq ribs w/corn one day, teriyaki chicken w/egg roll then next not
to mention 2 protein shakes in between and in 3 days lost 6 of the 7 pounds
without moving a muscle. Exercise along with the food you eat controls
your metabolism. If you can't move..lessen the carbs but dont eliminate,
increase lean protein and add a fruit. Basically balance it out like the
food pyramid but with protein as your first and most important meal of the
day. And don't forget your water! It feels like I'm eating all day long
and get fuller faster. Give this a try and email me, I'm anxious to see if
it works for you. [email protected]
— boonikki29
October 13, 2004
i am really offended by the venom in the previous post. No One of us is any
better than the other. Walk a mile in her shoes. Everybody makes mistakes.
Surgery does not "fix all" no matter how much a preop would like
to believe it. If I had great control over what went into my mouth I would
not have personally needed surgery. What was said reeks of the nasty things
I had said to me all of my life, Just push away from the table, just don't
eat it, eat less, exercise more. All that is well and good, but all of us
post ops, and wanna be 's are in the same boat. all those things did not
work for us. I for one will struggle for every day of the rest of my life
with an awful eating disorder surgery or not. As for the person who wrote
the original post, honey, you are not alone in this. There are many of us
who can sympathise, been there, done that. talk to supportive individuals.
If I can help I will.
— **willow**
October 13, 2004
AMOS MOD NOTE! I removed a uncaring post to avoid hurt feelings. I too can
eat anything, and gain weight easily:( I have to stay with the program or
could easily balloon my weight back up. I sympathize that those who cant
get surgery because of insurance troubles are upset. But really were all in
this together. The enemy is the insurance industry not each other.<P>
Back to basics no sugar very low carbs, protein first, espically fierst
thing in the day helps to curb the cravings and get lots of exercise. It
helps weight loss while often improving our mood.
— bob-haller
October 14, 2004
Karen, I emailed you and hope I can help. I live in Tampa.
DN @ GOAL
— DianeN
October 14, 2004
Karen,
I have gained 3 lbs. I know that does not sound like a lot, but to me it is
too much. I am 1 year and 3 mos post op. I do not want to go to my doctor
for my 1 1/2 year check up and have gained weight. I need some suggestions
as well. I have excuses trust me. I work full time, am a full time student
and my mother was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm. The surgery was not
going to get rid of stress I know and when I am stressed I eat. I don't
think I have stretched my pouch. I still do some things right. Fat free
milk, no carbonation or straws and eat small portions, but lately I have
been eating potato chips. I buy the reduced fat chips, but I know I do not
suppose to eat them. I buy reduced fat nabs that have 7 grams of fat, but
they have 23 g of carbs, this can't be good.
Does anyone have any suggestions to food with more protein that I can eat
while sitting at my desk?
Karen,
Don't give up hope, and try to do the suggestions that these people have
offered. I know I am going to.
Lillie
— lphillips001
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