Get.Waisted

hit the reverse button. FIND the passion you had when you started your pre-op diet, try to channel it, and start fresh. today is the start of a new week, make it count for you.
first up, empty out all the junk food. run stuff through the disposal, so you aren't tempted to dig through the trash later and dust it off.
next, go back to basics. plan your menu for the week. i also still boil eggs every sunday. i brown some lean burger meat, buy enough P3s for the week, pre-measure my Fiber-Con and Protein powder for every morning at work and portion it out into little snack baggies to take with me Monday morning.
if necessary, get out your nutrition stuff from your NUT appts and try to focus on a few simple rules.
I fall off track every couple of weeks too, i just have to push myself to get back on track.
i figure this surgery was my ABSOLUTE last attempt at success. and although i have great insurance, i still had to pay a good amount out of pocket. i want that money to count.
my LIFE means everything to me. hang in there!

Glad you started this thread, @@Get.Waisted. I learned a lot -- and appreciate everyone's comments.
Thanks to all (including @@McButterpants about possible new challenges around 5-7 months out).

Thx for all the great advice everyone! It definitely didn't fall on deaf ears, I know what needs to be done and now I'm doing it. Thanksgiving I was a bit off but I ended up losing 2lbs, I have no idea how! I didn't pig out, my restriction kicked in big time but I did have a little bit of everything except Desserts. I didn't wanna walk that line. I was thinking I would have a gain but wasn't expecting a loss. I guess the worst things I ate were cornbread dressing w/ cranberry sauce. Thx again everyone.

I don't think you are failing miserably at all.
I have written about this many times, but at about 8 months post op...i faced a cross roads, a decision. I was looking and feeling so great. weighing around 190 looking incredible compared to weighing say 300+ so the compliments were flowing. However, I have to honestly say I still had a fairly comfortable protective layer of fat on me. I had to face it - was I okay as a fairly typical middle aged "mom" (not obese, looked pretty good, physically comfortable, but still overweight). Frankly,I would have been just fine if i stopped RIGHT THERE. Seriously - that IS SUCCESS!!!!
I decided that I wanted to go for the gold so to speak and try to get to a normal BMI. That seemed impossible in some ways, but why not try, right?
I did two key things.
1. I spoke to my very good NUT (who sadly moved away!!) about specific dietary changes and
2. I learned from some smart dudes on this very forum how to change my workouts to get better results. i moved to high intensity interval training.
So, I am maintaining in a normal BMI range and it wasn't so hard for quite awhile. As I approach my 3 year post surgery anniversary, I am finding it harder, even though I am still under goal.
My point - you are not a failure at all - you are a success! You just have some decisions to make now....what is it you REALLY want?

i concur...almost 80 lbs off is NO failure. you just have to revamp the way you are doing things right now. i do wish you the best of luck, you can do this!

I agree with a lot of the previous posters...get back to basics.
I belong to another on-line group that had their surgeries at the same time and something similar happened to all of us around the same time. I kind of felt like at that point I no longer "feared" my sleeve...I became more comfortable and I knew what I could eat and, quite honestly, it was around then that I found what I could do to eat around my sleeve.
Here's where the hard work comes in - you're sleeve has been doing the work the since surgery. Now, you are in control. You are in control of what you put in your mouth and how much you move your body. Go back to doing what works - Protein first, get junk out of the house, drink your Water and move your body.
You're going to be fine - you got this.

Same here Catherine! I was like, "you lost 100lbs in 3-6mos?? How??" I wanted to know what I was doing wrong. I have been far from perfect w/ sticking to my plan so for me I know that's why I run into so many stalls but I'm down +75lbs in 7mos and that's slower than most but it's not a race. I believe we'll all get to our goals if we remain focused and stay on plan. I have my doubts some days but you just have to shake that off.

Love. Love. Love, this response! When I slip up I tend to stop tracking my food. Shame I guess but I'll work on getting past that and recording what I eat no matter what. Thx!!

WTG! You're doing great...I was sleeved in April also but I'm 'only' down 76lbs...I'm happy for that but I can NOT wait until I'm down 100lbs!! I have so many stall it's ridiculous. I'm happy for you, congrats!

Same here Catherine! I was like, "you lost 100lbs in 3-6mos?? How??" I wanted to know what I was doing wrong. I have been far from perfect w/ sticking to my plan so for me I know that's why I run into so many stalls but I'm down +75lbs in 7mos and that's slower than most but it's not a race. I believe we'll all get to our goals if we remain focused and stay on plan. I have my doubts some days but you just have to shake that off.

I have to figure out a way to prep without my 14yr old and my husband eating all my stuff. I'm thinking hiding my meals in the vegetable cubbies in the fridge may work...they never look there. Lol

@@VSGAnn2014 I don't mean access as in they can log in and out of my account. I mean as in 'friends' can view my food diary. I didn't find out til recently that you can lock it.

Track every single bite. I am 20 months out and I have tracked the good, bad, ugly for all that time. chips are sliders for some and go right down with no restriction. You just need to pick a different, more dense snack. There will be plenty of time to have chips again when you start losing again and when there is room in your calorie limit.
Because I track everything I can easily tell why a gain occurred (I am in maintaining mode. I don't say at goal since that sounds like there is an end and there really isn't ) Usually the scale goes up if I have indulged in too much sugar. Or i see that most of my calories by far were Snacks then I know too much grazing. But the trick is absolute honest tracking of every single bite. I tell myself that as long as I track it I can eat it with no guilt. That is my safe guard to not only lose weight before but now also to maintain.

Try Quest Protein chips, the macros are great and I loved the taste of pretty much all of them..then you don't have to feel guilty .. Just google it

For my first 5 months I feel like I had this whole new lifestyle down! I stuck to plan and if I happened to veer I remembered that moderation was the key. I'm in a stall, been here for over 2 months now. Partially because I've strayed so far I don't even know where to get back on path. I got pretty down the first couple weeks of my stall and had a pity party. My vice is chips and Cookies now. Chips have always been an addiction of mines but I was never a cookie or sweets person so I don't know how that happened. I'm really worried with the holidays creeping up. Has anyone else fell so hard so early on but was able to bounce back? Advice and opinions welcomed.

After looking at your stats, I can't see why you titled this "failing horribly". You've lost 76 pounds in 7 months! Very, very impressive. You must be doing something right.
I am a slow loser. I had surgery last February and I haven't lost as much as you. Still, I consider my loss very much a success. I'm not yet exercising formally, but am doing a lot more housework, yard work and walking at work. I had a 2 month stall around 5 months out, which finally broke when I got a stomach bug and couldn't eat for a day. That restriction that I could no longer recognize came back at that point and I'm losing again.
You, my dear, are no failure!

I'm definitely not waiting on him to get approval. Was just stating that he'll understand better once he's had surgery. I'm working on getting back on track. Believe me my husband is the sweetest person you'll ever meet but if he's hungry he's going to go for whatever is easiest and that means my already prepared foods/meals. I'll stick w/ my idea of putting them in the veggie compartment in the fridge.

I have to figure out a way to prep without my 14yr old and my husband eating all my stuff. I'm thinking hiding my meals in the vegetable cubbies in the fridge may work...they never look there. Lol

@@Get.Waisted - get you a few sets of those disposable glad food storage boxes and put your food in those. Clearly label them and tell them these are for your food program and not to eat them. You shouldn't have to hide food. Make them aware that if they eat those they are sabotaging your health. Sure those are strong words, but do you want this surgery to have been in vain?

Right. I do know what to do and for the last week I was doing good but fell off today. And I feel horrible. I think what I really need to do is actually sit down and do some meal planning and then prep for the whole week, it seems I always get off course when I don't have Snacks and/or meals on plan already thought out. If that makes sense.

Right. I do know what to do and for the last week I was doing good but fell off today. And I feel horrible. I think what I really need to do is actually sit down and do some meal planning and then prep for the whole week, it seems I always get off course when I don't have Snacks and/or meals on plan already thought out. If that makes sense.

I am 7 mos on the 23rd and did pretty good lost 60 pounds but for the last 3 months I have strayed hard to get back on the path. Eating like I was prior to the surgery I can eat one day no problem and then the next day I can barely eat. My doctor said to go on the paleo diet but I tried and I couldn't stick with it. I think I need to do a sugar flush. Any suggestions and your not alone.

I do food prep every week. There's not much to do now since I'm only 9 weeks in, but I still boil eggs every Sunday . They are my post gym breakfast/recovery food since I take a Water aerobics class at 9am.
Plan your food, include some healthy Snacks that keep you within your food goals and get the chips and Cookies out the house. My rule is I keep nothing in the house I can't eat reasonably. If it's a food I would binge on, I buy only enough for the moment. The other day I bought a small bag of hershey kiss, ate one gave the rest to my sister.

I have days where I am a disaster. Just the other week I had a whole week of being well under my MyFitnessPal goals and then I blew it on Sunday and had like 1700 calories in Cookies and other junk. There are still days where I tend to eat Cookies or crackers, but the thing that helps me is recording absolutely everything in MyFitnessPal. For example, today I had a cake pop from Starbucks, a petite four, and a handful of nutterbutters, however with everything else I had for the day I'm still only at 950 calories, so when I slip up, I don't freak out when I can see the calories in my app. If I gain a pound one day, I just pay a lot of attention to what I eat the next day and invariably drop right back down by the next morning. The trick is to weigh yourself everyday because it keeps you accountable and to log everything you eat, also because it keeps you accountable. Life is no fun without cookies and chips, but making the sleeve work for you is about knowing that it's ok to have a few cookies one day or even maybe one or two everyday if you really want to, but making sure that your calories are within where they are supposed to be, that you're working out, and that the majority of days you're eating mostly healthy. I had no interest in living the rest of my life eating chicken and vegetables, so I don't eat that most days. I eat like a normal person, which compared to how I used to eat is about 2000 calories less a day!
Good luck...you can get back on track.

Right. I do know what to do and for the last week I was doing good but fell off today. And I feel horrible. I think what I really need to do is actually sit down and do some meal planning and then prep for the whole week, it seems I always get off course when I don't have Snacks and/or meals on plan already thought out. If that makes sense.