Escape_Pod

I gave up wheat products simply because I found eating low-carb reduced my sugar cravings dramatically. I can't say I notice any other side effects of wheat on the very rare occasions when I do eat a few bites of waffle or pizza crust, but I know a lot of people find eliminating wheat to be very beneficial. For most of us, I think the weight loss is more a matter of adjustments in water retention that our bodies make when we change how we eat, but that's just my guess. I wonder sometimes if my husband would find some health benefits to going lower carb, but I don't think he's ready to make that change.

To me, the important question is not, can our sleeve stretch or not. Seems like what we really want to know is, can we regain the weight? Unfortunately, the answer to that is, YES. Once you're several months out from surgery, you'll find that you don't have that much restriction when it comes to slider foods. You can easily consume enough low-quality, high-calorie foods in a day to gain weight, and to gain a LOT of weight. But if you use the post-op months to develop new habits, to change what and how you eat and not just how much to develop a new, healthier relationship with food, to find a form of exercise that you enjoy, you can be successful at this long term. Your new smaller stomach won't keep you from regaining weight, but it will help you be successful if you put in the effort, emphasize dense protein over slider foods, and sustain good habit.

Hi everyone, I'm just checking in. I've been on track for a whole month (woohoo!!), the scale has not rewarded me for my good behavior (booo!!), and I've had a really hard time with that. Basically I've been up and down (a lot!) around 2.5 pounds over the past 3 weeks. I know the up and down is just normal for me - Water retention, saltier food, monthly hormonal shifts, whatever. But it's the complete lack of progress that I'm struggling with. That probably has plenty of normal reasons too. I did lose a little more than 10 pounds the first week of being on track. I figured most of that wasn't real loss, just losing the bloat from eating carbs and sugar, but it may be that my body just needs a break, I don't know. I'm confused, because a year ago I was at this weight, eating the way I am, exercising the way I am, and I was losing at a pretty steady rate. I truly believed that if I could just get my eating back in line and stick to it, and stick with the exercising, the scale would reward me. Not so much.... I didn't experience real stalls during the months after WLS - if I saw a stall or a slight gain, it was clearly attributable to slacking off and eating the wrong things. I know I was just really lucky that way, but it means I'm feeling completely unprepared for it now. It's all messing with my head, and I hit a serious bout of depression. But I'm determined to keep on keeping on, and struggling for patience. I took myself off to my favorite beach spot for a few days - COLD, but beautiful, and the wind seems to blow some of the negativity out of me and clear my head. Best of all, I'm managing to eat right, even in my favorite vacation spot where I have all the "treat" foods memorized. There are SO many temptations, but at the moment my head's in the right spot, I'm feeling motivated, and staying on track is more important than any of the goodies. I also have a bad habit of letting exercise be my excuse to eat too much and the wrong things. Sure, a couple hours' walk / jog down the beach and back burns a good number of calories, but not nearly enough to justify eating EVERYTHING that tempts me. I decided before I went what I was going to eat, and how to stay on track, and I feel really good about sticking to my plan. I continue to weigh myself daily (though not at the beach, I did leave my travel scale at home - seemed counter-productive to getting my mood back where I want it!) I often think about not weighing, I've gotten so I step on that scale with fear in my heart every morning, and get off again feeling despondent (yeah... I'm a little overdramatic!) I wonder why I don't just take a break from weighing, but I sort of feel like I want to track and see what my body's patterns are, and learn to cope with it better, not just avoid it. Does that make sense? As long as it's not actually derailing me, I think I'll stick with it. I've definitely had times in the past when bad news on the scale became a reason to declare "it's not working anyway, I might as well eat what I want!", and I'm keeping a watchful eye out for that attitude. I have a fat girl inside me struggling to get back out, and she's a sneaky witch! So, on to month two of staying on track!

Thanks everyone for sharing! I lost about 75 pounds in the first nine months after being sleeved, which was approximately my surgeon's goal for me, weight-wise. I was extremely fortunate in that I never really stalled, I think the longest the scale "stuck" at a weight was 5 days. I got spoiled! Since then I've been up and down, mostly within a 10 lb range, mostly because I was letting carbs and sugar back into my daily food, and then having to take the resulting gained pounds off again. After 9 months of that I've decided I've had enough, and I'm back on track pushing to goal. I quickly dropped about 10 pounds (almost entirely carb / water bloat I'd guess), but have been stuck for the past few weeks and, quite honestly, having a major pity party over it. I wasn't expecting to stall here, as the last time I was eating right, exercising, and at this weight, I was dropping a pound or two a week, fairly consistently. I'd come to feel like I deserved to see those numbers dropping when I'm doing everything right. Wow, there's nothing like getting a little cocky to convince the universe it's time to teach you a lesson in humility! So thank you, for the reminder that these things take time, that patience is a virtue, that it's WAY too soon to panic! Here's to the persistence of slow losers!!

Coops, that's very exciting news on all accounts! Congratulations!

I think any kind of fish like that goes well with cottage cheese, but then ... I like cottage cheese.

I'd say double-check with your surgeon. My pre-op was under 30 grams, counting everything, including dairy, veggies, etc.

I LOVE microwave popcorn, and I always thought of it as a fairly healthy snack pre-op, but it doesn't fit into my low carb life now. Carbs tend to send me into a crazy spiral of craving more carbs and sugar, so "just a little" doesn't work so well for me at the moment, and I'm not willing to test my boundaries so close to goal. If I'm craving a salty snack, I often munch on seaweed snacks. Friday nights I have just about a half serving of soy crisps - it's still carbs, but there's at least a little protein in it, and I'm able to stop after just a few as long as I'm not eating out of the bag!

Wow, nice work everyone! Coops, can't wait to hear how your appointment goes.

Wow, you're so pretty. Congratulations - you've done an awesome job!

How's it going Ms Skinniness??

YESSSSSS! Back down to 151.4 this morning, that's more like it. Still on track, now for more than two weeks, and I feel like I'm coasting with it rather than battling it. I've been trying to spend a few minutes every day really thinking about how things are going, focusing on my goals, and looking at issues that need addressing. It helps keep me motivated. I had a bit of an "aha" moment last night when I was thinking about how I struggle with stopping when I'm satisfied. It's particularly hard when I'm tracking what I eat, and I know the portion in front of me is a good, reasonable serving, and it fits well within my calorie budget for the day. Then I really don't want to stop eating when I start to get full. This probably sounds kind of dumb, but it finally occurred to me that changing a habit isn't supposed to be fun or easy! (DUH!) Like when I took up running, those running intervals between walking weren't exactly fun, they were HARD. But I did them because I knew it would get easier, and I was building strength and endurance, and I wanted to run a 12K. I think a part of my mind was waiting for it to get easier to push the food away, and I forgot that it was just going to take practice and pushing through the resistance. Once I've decided it's important to me, and it's something worth doing, and I recognize it's going to be hard for awhile but it will get easier, I can do this.

L-Glutamine is an amino acid, and your brain uses it for fuel. It's present in a lot of protein-dense foods, so I think of it as producing the same effect as the initial experience of super high Protein / super low carb. For me, that means my appetite declines and my physical cravings for carbs go away. I still eat low carb high protein, but I find the supplements make it so much easier. This site has a nice excerpt from Julia Ross's book, which explains some of it: http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/dietcure.htm

Well, I'm pretty sure the strong CRAVINGS for sugar, the ones that have me constantly obsessing about it, squirreling it away, munching on it all day, are definitely dietary, because when I went on the super low carb high protein pre-op diet they completely disappeared, and now that I'm taking L-Glutamine I don't struggle with that either. We have a food court in our office building, and there are all sorts of temptations, but they don't really call to me now. But if I have much in the way of sugars or carbs that can send me spinning down into a spiral of out of control cravings. Now, I still think of sweets as a comfort or a reward after a stressful day, or when I just feel like I deserve something, but it's different, because it's just the mental association of chocolate = rewards. I manage that, partly by working on the mental part of it, and partly with small amounts of substitutes that don't spike my blood sugar. It's easiest when I'm managing from both ends, but it's been a real revelation that it's not all "stress eating" or "emotional eating" - part of it really is my body wanting something because of an imbalance and that's where the supplements have made my life SO much easier. I feel like I can resist like a "normal" person.

I have a really bad dessert habit, something neither me nor my husband really needs, so we're working on cutting it down from a daily thing to an occasional treat. I find I can work something sweet into the end of my day and still be within my calorie goals, particularly if I've gotten a good workout in. And, if I have a healthy treat I love, I'm not really tempted by the ice cream or whatever my husband's having. At the moment, if I have dessert it's either microwave protein pudding, or tofu pudding. I'm sure that sounds really weird, but the tofu doesn't really have any flavor, it just gives it body, and creaminess, and a boost of protein. Part of it's really the mental game. I'm not entirely ready to give up dessert entirely or have it become a holidays-only thing, so I need to find some options that I really enjoy that are still good for me and don't send me into a sugar death spiral. And, if I'm eating it, I'm really focusing on enjoying it. The other part I'm working on is really questioning why I still am so attached to sweet food as a comfort or a reward, something I "deserve". I'm working on taking off some serious regain from the holidays, but at the moment I feel like I can do this.

I just wanted to throw out another possibility for you to ponder. I was in much the same situation as you, similar starting BMI, and an absolute exclusion under my insurance policy (for anyone, of any weight, with any co-morbidities) for bariatric surgery. I wasn't brave enough to consider going out of the country, but I found that I could manage the costs with a local surgeon, and I found one who is covered by BLIS insurance, which takes care of the cost of post-op complications should they arise. I'm a professional worrier, and that gave me a ton of peace of mind that I didn't have to worry about fighting with my insurance company if I ended up with unanticipated medical issues. I know a lot of people go to Mexico and couldn't be happier, and I have nothing against that, but it's nice to know you have options if you're not totally comfortable going that route. Best of luck to you, it's an exciting change!

Ok, back for my daily accountability check-in! Today is day 14 of staying on track - doin' a little happy dance to celebrate, and setting my sights on a month. The scale finally stopped heading in the wrong direction. I'm bummed not to see a loss this week, but I believe this is just normal monthly fluctuations and next week will be better, as long as I keep doing my part. I'm experimenting with exchanging my morning protein hot cocoa for something more substantial. And, I'm reconsidering my efforts to wean off the PPI I've been taking - it occurred to me yesterday that the frequent hunger I'd been experiencing might actually have been stomach acid instead. Too early for a verdict yet on either count, but I'll give it a couple of weeks and see how it goes.

I'm at about 18 months post-op, and though I surpassed my surgeon's goal, I never got to my personal goal, and I've gained quite a few pounds from my lowest. I know I have it in me to get to goal, when I was still really keeping low carb high protein, low calories, my body was still losing at a fairly good pace, but I've been off track on and off for most of the past nine months, so here I sit, more than 10 pounds from goal. For me, I just had to decide whether or not I really wanted it, and then commit to it. I've found some supplements that help me over the worst of the carb and sugar cravings, and I'm nearing on 2 weeks back on track, exercising, and staying within my protein and calorie goals. Part of my motivation was a horror of how much I'd regained, and how quickly. I could see I was heading down a very dark ugly road if I didn't get myself back on track. The rest of it is just determination. I spend a few minutes every day focusing on my goal and some of the things I want to do when I get there. Nothing major, one of them is nothing more than the privilege of being able to announce GOOOOAAALLLLLLLL!!!!!! But they're important to me! I've joined a couple of challenges for motivation, and I'm tracking my food and exercise compulsively on MyFitnessPal. I'm focusing on changes I can make to what I'm eating to maximize satisfaction. I'm one of the few who dearly loves her protein shake (I make a killer morning protein hot cocoa!), but I'm going to try subbing it out for solid protein that will keep me full longer. Less cheese, more grilled chicken ... that kind of thing. Basically, just a lot of little steps, and short goals like staying on track for a week ... and then 10 days ... and then two weeks, so I can build a feeling of confidence and can-do-this! The most important thing for me is, decide how badly you want it, and then decide what changes you're willing to make to get there. If you're game, come join us on this thread for a little healthy competition: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/28952-gonna-get-to-goal-wanna-join-me/page__st__760#entry638166 At the moment the scale is NOT rewarding my hard work and dedication, but I've got my motivation mojo back in gear, and I'm going to get there! Race 'ya!

I think you're going to have a hard time if you're not getting your protein in. Even at 8 weeks you need it for continued healing, and for all your various body functions - growing hair and nails, and maintaining muscle. Can you thin the protein drinks? Or try another type - I got really tired of vanilla and chocolate early on, and liked the Nectar brand - fruit flavors, iced tea, etc. This will pass, I can almost guarantee you! I remember going through a phase where eating didn't seem worth the bother. It was already an effort to get in all my liquids, and I'd have to stop sipping to get in 2 tablespoons of food - it seemed absurd. But it was a very short phase. If it persists or gets worse, you probably ought to talk to your medical team to make sure you're not developing a stricture. And your taste buds will come around too. Hang in there!

Ms Skinniness, I think some day to day fluctuation is normal (but that doesn't mean I'm not totally ticked about my trending upwards! ha ha...). Unfortunately, I've been on and off track for so long that I don't have good stats to go on for what a normal month looks like for me. Guess I'm about to find out, because I will NOT be derailed this time. I splurged and got myself a Withings scale last Fall, it sends my weigh-ins via Wi-Fi to my computer, so it tracks itself for me. It also integrates with MyFitnessPal, so the scale tracking software knows about the activity I enter in MyFitnessPal, and MFP knows about my daily weight info. Up until now my weight tracking has looked more like a wild roller coaster than a trend line, but that's going to change.

Great.... I'm up another half pound. I've gone from 151.1 on Monday to 153.4 today. Unfortunately, I think Monday was an artificial low, but CRAP! I've been exercising, staying within my calorie range, and avoiding carbs and I feel like someone up there is trying to teach me a lesson about being cocky that I can do this. Pity party at my house - snacks will NOT be served!

Well, crap! I was up yesterday, and now I'm up again today! 152.9. Not sure what's going on, my calories yesterday were right at 1200, about 400 burned in exercise (I track with a heart rate monitor, not the machine readout). I'm in physical therapy for neck / back issues, and a recent change they made to my exercises left me REALLY sore, so maybe I'm retaining water in my muscles? I usually associate that with a really hard workout session and the resulting soreness, but I suppose it's the same concept.... Regardless of the cause, it might be time to get off the scale for a week, as I have a bad habit of letting bad scale news have me throw in the towel completely and get off track. I am NOT doing that this time - today's day 12 of being on track. I know if I just keep doing what I'm doing, the scale will start going down again. So, I put on the cutest outfit I can fit into this morning, pasted on my game face, and I'll keep on keepin' on today. I've been REALLY hungry the past few days, so it's time to focus on making those calories count with extra veggies and dense protein. Sigh....

You're probably just extra swollen after the surgery, it will get better soon, but in the mean time, experiment with different temperatures like others have suggested. Also, for some reason a lot of us find that plain water is harder to drink that water with something in it - tea (non-caffeinated), crystal light, etc. I was always a big water drinker pre-op (gave me that full feeling), and I never put anything in it. I hated artificial sweeteners. But, just a little bit in my water post-op made it easier to get down. It's not the flavor, I read it has something to do with changing the viscosity of the liquid. Now I carry a little squirt bottle of Mio everywhere, though at 18 months I'm beginning to transition back to plain water. For the longest time it just kind of went "kerplunk" in my tummy. I think you're fine with tea as long as it's herbal - it's the caffeine that dehydrates you, and black teas can be more acidic and harder on your healing tummy too.

You're so right FeedYourEye, it's easy to get wrapped up in the number on the scale or on our clothes tag or whatever measure we're using at the moment and forget to take time to appreciate how very far we've come from where we started! I was thinking the other day about the last time I lost a substantial amount of weight. I got down to about 160 and started to climb again, and there seemed to be nothing I could do to take pounds back off again or stop the regain. This time, I feel like I have a fighting chance at staying where I'm at. I want to do better if I can, but not at the expense of appreciating what I've achieved. It's still a journey, whether we've reached goal or not!

Coops, you're my hero. I hope I haven't offended you, if you'd rather I started a new thread do let me know. You just work so hard at it, and you look fabulous! I know you're not where you'd like to be ideally, but I think you've done an amazing job.