Danpaul

Costco, make sure it is Citrate as the other I believe Bromate does not get absorbed as well.

I'm out four years and in the past few months have been battling a slight gain. It has brought me back mortality as far as weight loss goes. I no longer have the super power to lose it as I once did post WLS. After talking with others who have had WLS we all came to the conclusion that 1- The gain must be addressed ASAP. 2- We cannot eat as we did, we need to "trim the fat" from our diets. It's like spending too much money and going into debt. Do you continue to spend at the same rate and expect to make up the debt? Same with food, we need to take in less to lose the most. 3- Do it in attainable increments. A loss of 2lbs a week will get you better results overall than trying to lose 10lbs in a week. 2lbs is doable and you can build on your success while not achieving the 10lbs psychologicaly will start you on the eating for comfort spiral 4- Some form of exercise is better than no exercise. We found that taking the stairs on a regular basis really helps as does simple walking. Of course if you feel comfortable going to a gym that's great as well. 5- Weigh once a week and the same time on the same scale. We find this gives us enough time to see trends and to address them. Daily weigh ins are not accurate and longer than a week is too much time to correct any minor gains. At this stage of our lives weight loss takes effort and time. Long gone are the days of rapid weight loss. I'm lucky to have so many family and friends to talk to and to get different views on things WLS related. It really helps. I for one could not do it on my own.

Six months post WLS and you've been put in a position to fail. Not by your doing but by an inconsiderate person. You have only ONE CHANCE to do it right. Only one. You need to give it your best shot and not have an inconsiderate person sabotage your path to better health. I once again bring up the comparison to being an alcoholic . Would you allow anyone to hinder your recovery from alcohol by letting them bring it into your home? NO, so why allow him to sabotage your recovery from poor health and obesity by allowing him to bring in junk food? The choice here is very simple, for you to succeed with weight loss and getting back to good health he cannot be a part of your every day lifestyle. Get rid of the food or pack it up and drop it off to the place he is going to but you need to get it out of your home. Remember you are only six months out and you've already gained weight. I'm out four years and I will tell you it gets harder NOT easier to lose and maintain the weight loss. Your in the best position of your life to lose the weight. Don't let Mr. inconsiderate ruin it for you. Despite what you might hear, insurance companies will not pay for a do over. Make the best of this golden opportunity.

I have other friends and family who have had the surgery. That's three different surgeons between all of us. There were three DIFFERENT post op plans that we followed. So far. we all are doing well. Follow YOUR surgeons plan.

It's a life long struggle

Misconceptions abound. My often cited one is looking at a person who is poor and obese. People will say look at that person complaining about not having money but probably wasted their money on food. The misconception is, poor people have poor food choices. Their diet consists of cheap over processed carb based foods. Eating these on a consistent basis will eventually lead to obesity. These poor food choices are direct marketed, readily available, easy to consume and cheaply priced. I too was a victim of this until I started to eat better quality food to maintain my weight loss. I don't know how many times I had to explain this to people who have no clue about food nutrition. I can't blame them, until my WLS I didn't know as well.

Looking good. Now, in the coming months the most difficult part of the journey will be upon you. The maintenance of your weight loss and the continuance of your good health. Many before you have experienced the overwhelming joy and gratitude of such a rapid weight loss. It is such a great experience and due to surgery attainable. In time our bodies start to revert back to some sense of normalcy and the battle to keep the weight off will be a daily struggle. You're doing everything right and all is going to plan, best of luck on your life's battle with weight loss.

Tony you are so correct. I belong to Over Eaters Anonymous. In some buildings that we rent space to have meetings AA will also have their meetings. This is usually in a church or private school. I would hear snide comments from some building staff about OA that they would never think to say about AA. Such as thats the fatties meeting or referring to the group a chubby's anonymous.

I'm four years into my journey and like many here I too experience the same trials and tribulations of bariatric weight loss life. I'm a strong proponent of support groups as I had to form my own (with friends/family0 who have had WLS. It has helped me and I hope them immensely. Just by offering a tip on a method to help really makes all the difference in our success.

Two out of the five family/friends that have has WLS have constant hunger. The only saving grace is they have a food restriction due to the surgery. Their surgeons tell them that in some people, like them it is normal. The one piece advice that I can give you and that they practice is, do not eat around your restriction. Meaning, once you feel full (even after a few bites) STOP eating. The restriction despite your feeling of hunger will do it's job and let you know when it's time to stop eating. Do not eat around it. Both are two years post op and both have learned that the surgery did not stop them from feeling hungry. They did learn that the restriction is their most potent tool to lose weight and to try to keep it off.

We were all conditioned to not waste food. Remember Mom saying, eat all your food there are people starving in(pick a country). I've learned that I don't have to waste food in order to not work around my restriction. (That's what we do when we are full and continue to eat) When I eat and my restriction kicks in (thank goodness after 4 yrs I still have a pretty good one) I stop eating, put the food in a container, store in fridge and eat the next day. I will eat the same thing for a few days so that I don't waste the food but most importantly so that I'm not tempted to work around my restriction. I went to a therapist. This therapist was recommended by others in my support group. I honestly didn't find her to be as helpful as talking and interacting with others who had the surgery. One other note to the OP, your family has to be in your corner 100%. Mom should not have had a large dinner with you only days post op. That's like a recovering alcoholic who has sit through a cocktail party. It will not bode well. I also find that drinking plain water or herbal tea helps control the craving to eat. It does two things, first the action of getting the drink takes your mind away from the food and the liquid helps to fill your stomach so that you eat less.

Stall and Loridee, out of necessity I had to form my own support group. Are there others that you know who have had the surgery that you can talk with? I found that just by talking and bouncing ideas around we all benefited. I told my surgeon that he should try to set up a way for his patients to exchange emails so we could network. Prior to covid he had two group meetings a month. He tried zoom meetings but they were not effective. So far he hasn't done it. I subscribe to Dr. Becky Gillespie on you tube. She doesn't give bariatric specific weight loss advice. Hers is geared more for us mere mortals and it's usually backed up with the science behind it. I find that fasting for 12 hrs a day helps me control my weight. I don't eat between 7PM - 7 AM. I'm also considering a longer fast but don't want to try until I'm absolutely sure that I can commit. One thing I've found out from not only my experience but with others, if you do not commit to a plan it will never work.