bookworm1983

I reached my "happy weight" about a year post op. Then I gained 50 lbs or so over six months and stayed that weight for a solid year. I figured that was my new "set point" and I basically gave up. However, back in February, I was pretty miserable. I ended up going on a new medication (e.g. antidepressant). The pandemic hit as I was adjusting to the new medication. I don't know if it was the medication or everything going on in the world, but I just felt a new sense of focus to deal with the regain around May (my Birthday). I lost about 20 lbs since May (rewarding myself with an arm lift). I know there's still work to do, but whether or not I lose the rest of the weight, I'm trying to deal with my problems without eating.
To lose my regain, I had to go back to basics. High Protein, tracking calories on my fitness pal, walking every morning and classes at the gym (once it reopened). As wacky as it sounds, the less I eat, the more I feel my restriction again. Don't get me wrong, it's not like the early months following the op, but I feel "full" when I'm eating healthy Proteins. I just need to avoid my trigger food (chocolate and ice cream) which slide down so easily.
My other tip is just about adjusting your mindset - which is very hard to do right now. I'm trying to stay positive. Look on the bright side of life - which is challenging because I'm a pretty anxious, negative person generally and there are a lot of terrible things happening. I just keep thinking about my blessings. And I'm so proud of what I have achieved losing 20 lbs in 2-3 months, I'm lucky enough to still have my job. If I do get COVID, I'm much healthier than I was 3 years ago.
Finally, I really try and keep a healthy routine and avoid the bad habits I fell into. I try and get enough sleep. Drag myself out to exercise. Healthy Breakfast every day. These little routines and rituals seem to help me.
Good luck! I know you can do it.

This is me too, unfortunately. Sleeved in 2016 and have seen steady incline—most rapidly in the past four months. My first step was to go to my surgeon’s office, talk about the program with someone that understands what I’m supposed to be doing (I’ve had almost zero group support). Now I’m back here, trying to refocus and get healthy again!

I’m the same walk every day but unfortunately the boredom seems to be my biggest problem at the moment

my husband and I walk almost every evening and I do weights in my basement 2-3x a week.
I don't stress eat, but I do tend to eat when I'm bored, so this has been a challenge, but so far I've been OK. I try to keep a lot of raw veggies and grapes in the fridge to munch on when I can't seem to be able to control the urge to eat. I also drink a lot of fluids...and try to keep my hands busy, too.

I am also a 2014 vet. I too had some regain. Here's the story for me...about 18 months after my op I left a long term career position, took a night, started grad school, switched to a leadership job, lost a parent unexpectedly, graduated grad school, went back for PhD, and more. When I had surgery, one of the main issues was a health problem that was considered reversible. In 2017 after some regain, my GI doc gave me some sobering news that it was returning. I had a serious 'come to Jesus' talk with myself. I went online looking for solutions. I sought my team. I went to some support group meetings (even online). I met with my nut. I met with a surgeon. After being given the option of a RNY revision, I realized that I KNEW WHAT TO DO, AND I HAD THE TOOL...I went full on Keto and never looked back. I am now at my lowest ever. I lost all the regain and then some. I realized through the process that FOR ME, I must always identify as a bariatric patient. I will NEVER be able to eat 'everything in small amounts'. I will always struggle. Surgery saved my life, yes, but it didn't fix my weight permanently- it did part of it but the major work was up to me.
I would suggest seeking out support from your surgical team, support group, nut, psych, etc. ANYONE who is part of a bariatric practice. And start from scratch. Dense Protein. Water. shakes if necessary. Skip the 'reset' and all those things. Obviously regain comes from EATING so you have to relearn how to eat as a bariatric patient. It is absolutely possible but there are many of us here on the same timeline as you who have already been through this and are willing to help!

oof. Well, I have thrown out all the junk food (several times, in fact) and it just gets replaced; the food I get for myself (cottage cheese, yogurt, lean meats, etc.) get eaten and NOT by me. Conversations with the hubby have been had, but pretty much ignored. I acknowledge I have impulse control issues when it comes to food and I am working on it, but having temptations around all the time makes it difficult.
I actually purchased new shorts and shirts online a few days ago so I can be more comfortable (waiting for them to be delivered) as my current clothes are too tight/small for me to comfortably leave my house to walk around the neighborhood. I am also going to talk to my boss about changing my login time so I can try walking in the morning when it is cooler rather than when I get off work when it is the warmest. (This seemed to work well when I had to go into the office. I took an earlier bus so I could get 30 minutes of walking in before work.) I downloaded a calorie tracker so I can start using it tomorrow morning.
I literally cried when I got on the scale on Wednesday because my weight was way worse than I thought. It was a slap in the face and a huge reality check. I cannot change everything at once or I will get overwhelmed and quit. I am hoping that making these smaller changes now, losing a little and feeling better, I can make more and more changes.
Since I really do not have a lot of support from my husband, I felt that coming here, I could find some POSITIVE support and encouragement to help me make these changes and STICK to them.

You can absolutely find positive support here and I am sorry that you have had an encounter with New&Improved. His toxicity is a serious detriment to these forums and I urge you to ignore him.
I've very sorry that you're not getting the support from your husband and that it's making things difficult. It's definitely not too late to turn things around, even with the chaotic state of the world. The fact that you've acknowledged that you need to make changes and have begun to make them is an amazing step in the right direction! I've been in the same boat with the exercise portion of my post-op routine. Between some persistent light-headedness and the stream of 90+ degree days, my efforts to walk 30 minutes a day generally have only been for 10 minutes. That might be a good place to start for you as well. It may not be 30 minutes, but it's still exercise and gets the body moving and burns some calories.
Food logging is definitely going to help. I've been using the Baritastic app since I started in my weight loss program in February. It's been a definite boon and I highly recommend it.
I wish I had some advice on what you can do to get your husband to be part of the process again. Maybe leading by example might get him back on track?
You've got my support on this, as well as the support of many others on this site! You can do this and you're going to kick butt doing it!

oof. Well, I have thrown out all the junk food (several times, in fact) and it just gets replaced; the food I get for myself (cottage cheese, yogurt, lean meats, etc.) get eaten and NOT by me. Conversations with the hubby have been had, but pretty much ignored. I acknowledge I have impulse control issues when it comes to food and I am working on it, but having temptations around all the time makes it difficult.
I actually purchased new shorts and shirts online a few days ago so I can be more comfortable (waiting for them to be delivered) as my current clothes are too tight/small for me to comfortably leave my house to walk around the neighborhood. I am also going to talk to my boss about changing my login time so I can try walking in the morning when it is cooler rather than when I get off work when it is the warmest. (This seemed to work well when I had to go into the office. I took an earlier bus so I could get 30 minutes of walking in before work.) I downloaded a calorie tracker so I can start using it tomorrow morning.
I literally cried when I got on the scale on Wednesday because my weight was way worse than I thought. It was a slap in the face and a huge reality check. I cannot change everything at once or I will get overwhelmed and quit. I am hoping that making these smaller changes now, losing a little and feeling better, I can make more and more changes.
Since I really do not have a lot of support from my husband, I felt that coming here, I could find some POSITIVE support and encouragement to help me make these changes and STICK to them.

oof. Well, I have thrown out all the junk food (several times, in fact) and it just gets replaced; the food I get for myself (cottage cheese, yogurt, lean meats, etc.) get eaten and NOT by me. Conversations with the hubby have been had, but pretty much ignored. I acknowledge I have impulse control issues when it comes to food and I am working on it, but having temptations around all the time makes it difficult.
I actually purchased new shorts and shirts online a few days ago so I can be more comfortable (waiting for them to be delivered) as my current clothes are too tight/small for me to comfortably leave my house to walk around the neighborhood. I am also going to talk to my boss about changing my login time so I can try walking in the morning when it is cooler rather than when I get off work when it is the warmest. (This seemed to work well when I had to go into the office. I took an earlier bus so I could get 30 minutes of walking in before work.) I downloaded a calorie tracker so I can start using it tomorrow morning.
I literally cried when I got on the scale on Wednesday because my weight was way worse than I thought. It was a slap in the face and a huge reality check. I cannot change everything at once or I will get overwhelmed and quit. I am hoping that making these smaller changes now, losing a little and feeling better, I can make more and more changes.
Since I really do not have a lot of support from my husband, I felt that coming here, I could find some POSITIVE support and encouragement to help me make these changes and STICK to them.

I completely understand the regain of weight after hitting our low weight or our goal. The biggest problem is that we graze and I am seeing grazing on a daily basis in my practice. I am a Family Medicine doctor and have been working on my own regain of 30#s in the last 2 years. I started with logging every morsel of food along with a rating of how hungry I am when I am eating it. Also assigning an emotion to the process. Day in and Day out I saw that I was eating out of good and bad emotions, but nothing having to do with hunger. So I started back at day 1 and went back to Protein Shakes and am in the process of getting my act back together.
What I have noticed with my patients is that we are all struggling with the lack of control we have in our lives. I think we have to embrace that and accept that we can only control our own actions and we need to be our own best friend first. The average weight gain among my patients in the last 3 months (since lockdown started in NV) has been 9-11 lbs. I finally had a couple of people last week who had lost weight with a great deal of effort on their part. The comment I loved the best was from Bev, who is 93 -- She said she wished her refrigerator had never learned English because it practices it all night! I completely agree, so now I am ignoring my refrigerator and planning out every day.
The one think I know is accountability. That is really important so find someone you trust and can be honest with and ask for their help.

I gained 20 lbs after hitting my lowest point (138). I really needed to gain the first 10 lbs of it - I'd gotten too thin. But I've been struggling to lose the last 10 because I DIDN'T need or want that part of it (have managed to lose like 3 of it -- since March! It's tough...)
anyway, I still track my food intake, but I've been doing that since my surgery in 2015 (actually, even BEFORE surgery). I've made a serious effort to stay within my maintenance calorie range, which for me is 1500-1700 per day - and I'm trying to stay at the low end of that (1500). I also really increased my exercise. My primary exercise these days is biking, which I usually do for 60-90 minutes a day, five or six days a week. It's working, but it's S-L-O-W. I know if I lowered my calories even more, to like 1200, the weight would come off faster - but I'm evidently not ready or willing to do that yet or I'd already be doing it. BUT....I'm sure it would work.
at this point I just count calories - and I've been doing that since I was about a year out from surgery. I can eat anything as long as it fits into my daily calorie limit. I know that doesn't work for everyone, though. I know several people who are trying to lose regain doing Keto, or Weight Watchers, or Intermittent Fasting. And many just go back to what they were doing the first year post-surgery (not all the way back to Protein Shakes and purees, but back to Protein first, then non-starchy vegetables - and then maybe an occasional serving of fruit or whole-grain carb)
it basically comes down to what works for you and what you think you'll be able to sustain long term.
Losing regain is hard and it's slow, but it's do-able

You can do it! I gained 14 lbs, turned things around, and have lost 2 over the past week or so. I lose slowly at under 1500 calories a day.
Breakfast: 1 egg, 2oz lox, 1/2 cup fruit, coffee with a little 1% milk
Lunch: Healthy Choice Powerbowl (low carb) or similar
Dinner: Fish, vegetable, occasionally brown rice or carbanada low carb Pasta
Snacks if I am actually hungry: fat free yogurt, banana, 1/2 cup Julian's low carb granola, unsweetened almond milk, low fat cheese stick, etc.
I take a walk/run with my dogs for about 2 miles a day and do Pilates 2x a week. I'd like to add back weightlifting when it's safe to go back to the gym.
Knocking off the number of snacks seems to have been the main issue for me. I would track and see where the extra calories have snuck in and see what you can live without. Good luck!

I have been gradually backsliding for the past few months. I have gained about 7 pounds since the first week of June. I know I need to get back to measuring and tracking my food and drinking the amount of Water that I need to on a daily basis. I know I can't just snap my fingers and magically be back on track but does anyone have any ideas that worked for them? I know part of my issue is once I hit 230, the weight loss stopped.
I also feel like I am able to eat more and that scares me. I am worries that I will gain the weight and and be right back where I was. To make things more difficult, I am totally an emotional eater so that makes it harder to stay away from the sweets. Any advice, words of encouragement, links, books or anything that you found helpful on your own journey, I welcome.
Thank you

I have been gradually backsliding for the past few months. I have gained about 7 pounds since the first week of June. I know I need to get back to measuring and tracking my food and drinking the amount of Water that I need to on a daily basis. I know I can't just snap my fingers and magically be back on track but does anyone have any ideas that worked for them? I know part of my issue is once I hit 230, the weight loss stopped.
I also feel like I am able to eat more and that scares me. I am worries that I will gain the weight and and be right back where I was. To make things more difficult, I am totally an emotional eater so that makes it harder to stay away from the sweets. Any advice, words of encouragement, links, books or anything that you found helpful on your own journey, I welcome.
Thank you

I have been gradually backsliding for the past few months. I have gained about 7 pounds since the first week of June. I know I need to get back to measuring and tracking my food and drinking the amount of Water that I need to on a daily basis. I know I can't just snap my fingers and magically be back on track but does anyone have any ideas that worked for them? I know part of my issue is once I hit 230, the weight loss stopped.
I also feel like I am able to eat more and that scares me. I am worries that I will gain the weight and and be right back where I was. To make things more difficult, I am totally an emotional eater so that makes it harder to stay away from the sweets. Any advice, words of encouragement, links, books or anything that you found helpful on your own journey, I welcome.
Thank you

I also stayed on Prozac through surgery. My team said that i needed to be off the time-release medication for the first month and then I could go back on. Obviously, check with your team but if you feel the need to go back on your meds, talk to someone and do it You need to take care of your mental health as well as your physical health. If you neglect your mental health, it can effect your physical recovery. Best of luck!

A little background: my husband and I have been married since May 2014 and together since October 2009. My sex drive has always been less than normal. I was admitted to the hospital with large blood clots in my lungs in September 2016 due to birth control (which I no longer can take). My husband was sleeved early December 2017 and myself at the end of December 2017. I am down a little over 100 pounds and my husband down 150+. Sex pre-surgery was difficult as we were both large. I was hoping that after both of us lost weight that my sex drive would come back but no such luck. My husband's sex drive is high than ever. I feel horrible that I have no sex drive. I know it has to be hurting my husband but he doesn't voice his feelings so I don't know how much. Has anyone else gone through something similar or have any advice on where to go from here? I have a doctor's appointment this week with my GP to address high copper levels so I am hoping to address this problem as well.

I am Prozac and have been since middle school with no dosage change in 10+ years (30mg). I also am on medication for hypothyroid. I also am seeing a therapist for my depression.

My NUT said I coud try coffee after my 3 month visit but to introduce it slowly. I'm a Starbucks girl and order 2 shots of blond espresso over ice in a venti cup and then I pour my Protein Shake over it (premier Protein Caramel). It dilutes the coffee and adds great flavor so I do not need to add any cream or sugar. It takes me a little while to drink it but all the ice melts and it is 24 ounces of liquid every morning!

My NUT said I coud try coffee after my 3 month visit but to introduce it slowly. I'm a Starbucks girl and order 2 shots of blond espresso over ice in a venti cup and then I pour my Protein Shake over it (premier Protein Caramel). It dilutes the coffee and adds great flavor so I do not need to add any cream or sugar. It takes me a little while to drink it but all the ice melts and it is 24 ounces of liquid every morning!

My NUT said I coud try coffee after my 3 month visit but to introduce it slowly. I'm a Starbucks girl and order 2 shots of blond espresso over ice in a venti cup and then I pour my Protein Shake over it (premier Protein Caramel). It dilutes the coffee and adds great flavor so I do not need to add any cream or sugar. It takes me a little while to drink it but all the ice melts and it is 24 ounces of liquid every morning!

A little background: my husband and I have been married since May 2014 and together since October 2009. My sex drive has always been less than normal. I was admitted to the hospital with large blood clots in my lungs in September 2016 due to birth control (which I no longer can take). My husband was sleeved early December 2017 and myself at the end of December 2017. I am down a little over 100 pounds and my husband down 150+. Sex pre-surgery was difficult as we were both large. I was hoping that after both of us lost weight that my sex drive would come back but no such luck. My husband's sex drive is high than ever. I feel horrible that I have no sex drive. I know it has to be hurting my husband but he doesn't voice his feelings so I don't know how much. Has anyone else gone through something similar or have any advice on where to go from here? I have a doctor's appointment this week with my GP to address high copper levels so I am hoping to address this problem as well.

I am Prozac and have been since middle school with no dosage change in 10+ years (30mg). I also am on medication for hypothyroid. I also am seeing a therapist for my depression.

Good for you for addressing the situation and not just letting it fester! I hope things get better for both of you and he can support you through this big life change! This experience can also bring you closer; Best if luck to you both!

I am also an emotional eater too. For me, the best thing was to talk to a therapist. I was able to express my feelings without judgement and get support in my decision to lose weight. As for the boyfriend, his actions show a lack of respect for you and your choices. Your boyfriend should be the first to support you and encourage you on your journey. He should be helping you to make good food decisions, not flaunting bad food in front of you. You may want to keep your shakes somewhere he doesn't normally go and then just pour them over ice in the morning and evening; that way they are cold for you but not easily accessible for him. Good luck and you can do this!

I am also an emotional eater too. For me, the best thing was to talk to a therapist. I was able to express my feelings without judgement and get support in my decision to lose weight. As for the boyfriend, his actions show a lack of respect for you and your choices. Your boyfriend should be the first to support you and encourage you on your journey. He should be helping you to make good food decisions, not flaunting bad food in front of you. You may want to keep your shakes somewhere he doesn't normally go and then just pour them over ice in the morning and evening; that way they are cold for you but not easily accessible for him. Good luck and you can do this!

I was an emotional eater as well. And a stress eater. And a bored/tired/anxious eater.
Use the pre-op and immediate post-op time to work on changing your relationship with food, it's not easy, but with the right amount of effort it's totally possible to overcome.
As far as the boyfriend. I think you 2 need a serious sit down. The lack of respect and support is a major red flag. Not that he's a bad guy necessarily, it's possible he's afraid of losing you, either to surgery or to someone else once you drop your weight. Maybe he's insecure about his own weight and your process is shining a light on that. Either way, I think it would do you both good to sit down, drop all pretenses and lay all the cards out on the table. He's either going to step up and be honest with you... or he won't. But either way, you need his help and support and you should demand his respect. I'm not going to tell you what you *should* do, but, personally, if my significant other was that rude and subversive, I'd be looking for the door.

My wife was on-board for the lap band. She wasn't fully sold on the revision to bypass, but she knew it's what I wanted, trusted that I chose what was best for all of us and she accepted that fact even against her own thoughts on the matter. Now, she's looking and feeling better herself as well because of my surgery. My whole family eats better, gets more exercise and overall, everyone is happier, all because of the changes I made for myself. Hopefully everything works out for you, one way or another.
Stay Strong, this process if for yourself and yourself alone.
You got this!