Hi guys, Im almost a year out now and feel my sleeve has stretched out a bit. I can eat a lot more and I notice junk food goes in very easy. How do I stop my complusive eating that is starting up again. I got down to 125 and have gained back 3 pounds. I need help.....any advice?

I am not a year out but have heard others that are farther out say that yes you will be able to eat more farther out. That junk food goes down real fast (it is a slider). Have you been to a therapist to discuss why you compulsive eat? Maybe you should take up a hobby to busy yourself. Or just do not buy the junk food items (out of sight out of mind). I am sure the sleevers that are farther out will have some other ideas. Hope you get it figured out.

Hi there-

I am not that far out, but I can tell you at my lowest weight in my teens and early twenties that my weight would fluctuate about 3-5 pounds on any given day. That is perfectly normal.

Lara

Hi Greeneyes! I will be 11 months out on the 10th of this month. I can eat more now than I could even just two months ago, but still not a lot at one time. Three times a day I can eat more than a half cup, but less than two thirds. It all depends on what it is. I snack off and on all day to get in the 1200 calories that I need to maintain. Are you at goal and in the maintenence stage? I was on steroids the week before Easter, a 7 day prescription to break a migraine cycle....some people say they are ravenously hungry, they did not affect me that way, but I had the munchies, OMG. I wanted to graze, then Easter. I took the last pill Easter day!!! I am currently about 12 lbs under goal, before the pills I was 15.5 lbs under goal. I am certain it has been sweets, although I don't eat much at a time, I have grazed. I know I can lose it, last week I lost back down to 135.5, two lbs from where I'd been, then the weekend hit, we were running around all weekend and eating out. I always keep a food log except on the weekends if we are eating out, so I am back up a couple of lbs. I know I'll go up and down, but the obsessive part of me worries. I'm below goal, but I still worry about stretching my tummy and putting on too much. I like having a 'big' pad!! I'm glad you posted this!!

Hi guys, Im almost a year out now and feel my sleeve has stretched out a bit. I can eat a lot more and I notice junk food goes in very easy. How do I stop my complusive eating that is starting up again. I got down to 125 and have gained back 3 pounds. I need help.....any advice?

I'm almost 2 years out, and what you are experiencing is normal and expected. It's the sleeve maturing to max capacity. If it makes a difference, I'm eating the same amounts today that I ate a year ago so, there hasn't been a big change from year 1 year out, to year 2 post-op.

As for carbs, and junk food, yep those sliders are a slippery slope and it happens with ALL weight loss surgery options. Maintenance is when the real work goes into the sleeve, and life long commitment.

I can also tell you that on any given day, I bounced on the scale up and down 4-5lbs. It's Water weight, and I honestly do not know one naturally skinny person that weighs the exact same weight every single day of their life. Don't you hear your skinny friends saying "I'm having a fat day!" and you used to think "FAT DAY, where at in your BIG Toe you skinny hussy?" At least that's what I thought, but after getting skinny, I now understand what they mean.

As for managing your food and eating demons, unfortunately, they didn't operate on our brains so this is where you have to be disciplined, set a meal plan, a schedule and stick with it. I find structure helps me in check. Also, seek professional help via a nutritionist or therapist to help you manage through the eating habits.

Do you feel like you can eat a lot when it's solid Protein? Sometimes I feel like I can eat too much, but then I have something like steak, and I realize just how little I can eat.

All chips Cookies, etc, slide right through and I don' t even consider that my sleeve has stretched. I knew along what slider foods are.

I gained 8 lbs over Christmas and at nearly 2 years out, it was hard to lose it. I had to be very diciplined to eat solid protein for 3 meals and only one healthy snack in the evenings.

Maintenance is tricky. There is no doubt about it. If I went back to my old eating habits before WLS, I am sure I would gain a lot of weight back quickly. I have to weigh every day to keep myself accountable.

I am thrilled now that I am 2 years post op, and I have no "bounce back" as they call it. It would have been very easy to just maintain the 8 lb gain instead of using what I learned to take it back off.

I'm 11 months out and seem to be maintaining - not really lost anything since January. I'm still a little over target but my Dr said he was quite happy and didn't seem to think I'd loose much more.

I am eating what I want to, with the odd treat and seem to shift between the same 4 or 5 lbs. If as some say, I eat solid protein then i can still feel amazing restriction, so I know its not stretched much at all. So I can also feel a big difference with the the ease that a slider food gives, so these are my occasion treats.

I am 9.5 months out and can eat more, but as everyone says, it depends on the food. If you eat a piece of chicken breast, you should be able to tell if your sleeve truly has stretched, or if you're just eating crappy foods that disintegrate and slide down. I could eat 10 cookies in a row with no problems, but couldn't eat more than 3 or 4 oz of chicken. So I can't eat cookies, because I choose to keep losing and be full.