Rapidly Gaining Weight 2 Years Post Op Sleeve Surgery

[iegal 460]

Hi Nikki;

At two years out plus myself, I applaude you for your courage to speak.

Today I have learned how to "trick" my sleeve and get a lot more in than what I should. Now when I need to "lose" weight I kill myself for several weeks to get off one or two pounds which I see come back quickly. Wish I could say I'm stuck but not ready to give up knowing I could be happier with 5 lbs off me.

With a lower caloric intake as the new normal, it does take longer time frame to lose that excess weight. This is not like taking off pounds after surgery. My hunger came back at around 18 months (not everyone returns...lucky me.) While I am still under surgeons goal, I am 10 pounds above my lowest weight. Yes, I am still in a normal BMI range but the scale is stuck. So I am one size larger than at my smallest.

Nice that others advise to eat slowly, or Protein first...heck, I eat like I did before just in less volume. Think pre sleeve. My brain or emotions want food. The brain is a powerful thing, wiser than most of give credit to our emotional eating habits. I eat because I simply love to eat.

So today I still obsess over food, but I have tool to limit my intake. Still, I love my sleeve and have no regrets.

Hugs to you Nikki...nominate you as my hero today.

[K33 87]

As I understand it, there is a certain amount of bounce back to be expected. Maybe it was 10 percent. I certainly don't want to fall back into self hatred because I lost 90 percent instead of 100 percent. I guess I am saying that for me personally I will set my goal at 100 percent but relax if I only eat meet 90 percent.

Also there is a therapy called Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT. "Skinny Jeans" is a program designed by a woman who struggled with weight and who uses the technique of tapping (EFT) to help eliminate cravings.

Anyone can learn it and it is a body mind awareness training that goes beyond mental understanding and heals beyond conversation, when the time is right for you.

Google it to find out more,and there are videos about it on You Tube, or e-mail me off forum.

[Mason 122]

This thread has been particularly enlightening to me.

It appears that I have anywhere from 12 to 18 months (maybe a little longer) after surgery to redefine my relationship with food so that I view it as nothing more than sustenance. If, instead, I primarily regard and use that "golden period" as just a temporary obstacle to eating the way I used to eat preoperatively, I will most likely not reach goal and/or will very likely start gaining back what I had lost as do 20 percent of all VSG patients (as advised by my surgeon).

If, after six months post-op, I see that I am still thinking about food in the same way I do now, then I will know that I need to seek professional help before my new pouch is able to accommodate 1000 calories in a single sitting.

It would be nice to hear from post-operative VSG patients who are more than two years out and are either at or below their desired weight. I'd be very interested to know specifically what they attribute their success to, i.e., how their relationship with food has changed as a direct result of the surgery.

[JerseyGirl68 1,172]

Hi all!

I want to share my story because I feel like things are "hopeless" again like they did all of those years I had been dieting prior to having my gastric sleeve.

I was sleeved in September of 2010 by Dr. Aceves in Mexicali. I had a wonderful experience there and would do it again in a heartbeat. In fact, I feel like I may need to do it again since the weight gain has started.

I started at 240 lbs and the lowest weight I got to, which was last year at this same time, was 150 lbs. At that time, I stuidly felt like I was losing too much weight, as I wanted to stay curvy, so a friend of mine who has had the lap band, suggested I find something high calorie to substitute my daily intake with so I was getting enough calories to not lose any more weight.

Being an emotional eater, this should have been a huge red flag for me, but here was an excuse for me to overindulge, so I took it. cheese was what worked for me. I ate a lot of cheese.. sometimes, nothing but cheese once I figured out it would go down easy. After that I moved onto processed crackers and Cookies, again, things that go down easily without getting full and without getting the sick feeling.

I weighed myself yesterday and I'm back up to 167 lbs. Two months ago I was at 163 lbs, so i'm rapidly climbing back up the scale.

I do go to the gym, was twice a week, but in the last two weeks i've bumped it up to 3 times a week. I do strength training with weights and cardio. I am fairly active on the weekends, as I am fortunate enough to live in an area where everything is either walking or biking distance.

The problem is, and i'm suspecting this will be most of our problem here on this site, is that we are emotional eaters. And it was great at first with the sleeve because you literally could not eat anything.. .or you were so afraid to eat anything that you just wouldn't eat it in fear of getting "that feeling" (you all know what i'm talking about).

I can take the literature and read it over and over... my doctor can send me emails and tell me what to do (eat your Protein first, dont snack, etc). In a perfect world, if I could do that, then I wouldn't have needed to have weight loss surgery in the first place. My brain tells me to eat for comfort, eat when you're happy, eat when you're sad, eat to Celebrate.... and the hard part is, now that I've figured out what I can eat with the sleeve, its becoming more and more difficult to overcome this feeling.

I have been in therapy for about 8 years trying to overcome this emotional eating issue, but its so easy to go back to what we know, rather than change it. Not making excuses... i'm just reaching out to others who may have the same feelings and eating disorder as I do... and maybe if we can get rid of that shame we feel by sharing with each other, we can overcome this need to eat to stuff our emotions. Because I do feel very shameful that I paid all of this money, risked my life in Mexico to have this surgery done... and now i'm sabotaging myself and undoing the very thing that I've wanted my entire life... to be thin and "normal". Whatever normal is...

If you haven't had the sleeve yet, please, make sure you get in tune with yourself with regard to the emotional eating, becuase although the first year or so of the weight loss is great! If you dont get your disorder under control, it will all come back, eventually.

I said at the beginning of this post that I feel hopeless, but by letting me share here, I do feel a little more hopeful than I did when I started writing this.

Thank you for listening.

Nikki

I want to join the list of thank you's for posting this.

It is the one thing that we can't really predict, when the emotional aspect will rear its ugly head.

I agree with you, that trying to get a hold of that part before surgery will be so helpful.

Getting how you feel out there is such a positive way to move forward.

Good luck to you!!

[desertmom 297]

Hi,I can anyone of you that is out for longer tell me how much more you can eat now should you measure it in Protein?

Thanx

[LilMissDiva Irene 3,282]

Hi all!

I want to share my story because I feel like things are "hopeless" again like they did all of those years I had been dieting prior to having my gastric sleeve.

I was sleeved in September of 2010 by Dr. Aceves in Mexicali. I had a wonderful experience there and would do it again in a heartbeat. In fact, I feel like I may need to do it again since the weight gain has started.

I started at 240 lbs and the lowest weight I got to, which was last year at this same time, was 150 lbs. At that time, I stuidly felt like I was losing too much weight, as I wanted to stay curvy, so a friend of mine who has had the lap band, suggested I find something high calorie to substitute my daily intake with so I was getting enough calories to not lose any more weight.

Being an emotional eater, this should have been a huge red flag for me, but here was an excuse for me to overindulge, so I took it. cheese was what worked for me. I ate a lot of cheese.. sometimes, nothing but cheese once I figured out it would go down easy. After that I moved onto processed crackers and Cookies, again, things that go down easily without getting full and without getting the sick feeling.

I weighed myself yesterday and I'm back up to 167 lbs. Two months ago I was at 163 lbs, so i'm rapidly climbing back up the scale.

I do go to the gym, was twice a week, but in the last two weeks i've bumped it up to 3 times a week. I do strength training with weights and cardio. I am fairly active on the weekends, as I am fortunate enough to live in an area where everything is either walking or biking distance.

The problem is, and i'm suspecting this will be most of our problem here on this site, is that we are emotional eaters. And it was great at first with the sleeve because you literally could not eat anything.. .or you were so afraid to eat anything that you just wouldn't eat it in fear of getting "that feeling" (you all know what i'm talking about).

I can take the literature and read it over and over... my doctor can send me emails and tell me what to do (eat your Protein first, dont snack, etc). In a perfect world, if I could do that, then I wouldn't have needed to have weight loss surgery in the first place. My brain tells me to eat for comfort, eat when you're happy, eat when you're sad, eat to Celebrate.... and the hard part is, now that I've figured out what I can eat with the sleeve, its becoming more and more difficult to overcome this feeling.

I have been in therapy for about 8 years trying to overcome this emotional eating issue, but its so easy to go back to what we know, rather than change it. Not making excuses... i'm just reaching out to others who may have the same feelings and eating disorder as I do... and maybe if we can get rid of that shame we feel by sharing with each other, we can overcome this need to eat to stuff our emotions. Because I do feel very shameful that I paid all of this money, risked my life in Mexico to have this surgery done... and now i'm sabotaging myself and undoing the very thing that I've wanted my entire life... to be thin and "normal". Whatever normal is...

If you haven't had the sleeve yet, please, make sure you get in tune with yourself with regard to the emotional eating, becuase although the first year or so of the weight loss is great! If you dont get your disorder under control, it will all come back, eventually.

I said at the beginning of this post that I feel hopeless, but by letting me share here, I do feel a little more hopeful than I did when I started writing this.

Thank you for listening.

Nikki

BRAVO!!

Thank you for posting this. It seems we both seen Dr. A around the same time. My Sleeversary is on 9/15 and I had mine in 2010 as well.

ABSOLUTELY we MUST work on our heads. I posted something exactly like this in my status today. This should not be taken so lightly that we all think this is some magical cure. It is NOT!!

We will ALL have to deal with our food demons at some point. I'd go as far to say only a handful of us will be lucky enough to not need to do this. Majority of us will. The hard truth is, most of us became obese because of our unhealthy relationship with food.< /strong>

Many of us will not realize this until at least 2+ years post op. The difference between me today and me one year ago is vast... and I was even STILL over 1 year post op then. I have gained weight too. I do definitely plan to start working on that, because even though some people are telling me that I look better now (as opposed to the various "anorexic" comments I was getting before) I don't FEEL better. I do want to get back to my smallest where I was able to fit my big bubble butt in some size Zero NYDJ. I was tiny, but I felt amazing.

One thing however to keep in mind that myself and YOU are a true fighter. If we weren't, we would not have gone as far as to go to Mexico and have our stomach's cut out. It's so easy to say "Get back on track, you know what to do... etc..." because yes, we know what we are supposed to do. There is a might huge difference between KNOWING and DOING. Like I said, most won't know how this feels until they are far out enough TO KNOW.

Big hugs, and if you'd like, contact me anytime. Together we are stronger.

[desertmom 297]

Hi,To the OP and LilMissDiva,

How are you different today from 1 year out?Is it the fact that you can eat more or is it that (well,everything in life gets "old") the surgery is old news and life is happening?

And then,did either of you have plastics or if you havent,did you not need it?Im researching some behaviour patterns longer post op ( been there,done that with the band...regained it all)

I am mainly interested to know what is causing you to gain Irene?Is it only the eating that has slipped a little?

This is my greatest fear and nightmare.The moment I am at goal every piece of skin will be cut off.Every last fat cell I can find will be suctioned to smithereens.If I regain I will EXPLODE this time.Dont know what else to do.

[GeauxForIt 659]

For Nikki & Diva, from that wonderful sage...Winnie the Pooh:

"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

[JenC 90]

Thank you for your post Nikki, I fear facing the same two year situation. I know the possibility exists...now I have to get off this site and work out

[Mason 122]

Success after surgery is most definitely a matter of changing one's relationship with food: It's a "head job."

According to this BMR calculator, when and if I reach my goal weight of 170lbs (a weight I haven't seen since my late 20s), assuming I remain relatively sedentary, I will need no more than 1879 calories per day to maintain that body weight (by the way, the BMR requirement drops down more than 1000 calories to 1708 for a woman who is 5',5" at 150lbs). If I am accurately reading between the lines of what people are writing on these forums, it appears that it is not difficult to consume far more than 1800 calories per day after the two year post-op mark.

This is precisely why the surgery is not a cure for obesity.

I'm guessing that it's a lot easier to limit oneself to 1879 calories per day when your stomach has been reduced to 15 to 20 percent of what it had been before surgery especially when you consider that the ghrelin-producing fundus has been removed but, obviously, it's not fool-proof or the long-term success rate would be 100 percent instead of eighty.

My best friend's uncle is six months out after a gastric band to VSG "conversion." He had successfully lost all the excess weight with the band but knew he would gain it back without the VSG. He has now fallen below goal and, in order to work on his head, is attending both Weight Watcher and OA meetings every week for support.

Eighteen months from now, I'm betting that Uncle Tony is going to be contributing to the 80% side of the equation because he's working on his head (only six months out) instead of using (abusing?) the surgery as just a temporary obstacle to eating the way he used to. Good for him.

I'm thinking that those of us who have undergone the surgery in the UAE should consider starting some sort of self-help support group where we can start working on our heads before that "golden period" expires. A few weeks post-op, I'll be contacting Smoggy and DesertMom to brainstorm about this.

[Sleeved&Hopeful 182]

Thank you for your input LilMissDiva. I've always thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts. I know you worked out like a wild thing for a long time and maybe your body and mind just needed a break. I know I couldn't keep up your workout regimen in the long term. I agree that there is a big difference between knowing and doing. I'm almost 10 months post op and already know that it would be easy to slip into old habits if I let them. I will always have to be vigilant forever and ever.

[LilMissDiva Irene 3,282]

Thank you for your input LilMissDiva. I've always thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts. I know you worked out like a wild thing for a long time and maybe your body and mind just needed a break. I know I couldn't keep up your workout regimen in the long term. I agree that there is a big difference between knowing and doing. I'm almost 10 months post op and already know that it would be easy to slip into old habits if I let them. I will always have to be vigilant forever and ever.

Absolutely, and to the point my Dr. told me to slow it down. Then mentally I just crashed... but one thing I know for myself is that inside me is a true fighter. Am I worried? No, not really. I will get back to a means of NORMAL, but as I'm also quite cyclical as far as seasons it should be right around early Spring.

Big hugs!!

[buffythefatslayer 66]

Great information ladies.

[LindaS 316]

Thanks to the OP for posting this. It really is a battle that we need to continue to fight, but I also wanted to put a little perspective on your gain.

You gained 17 pounds in a year. I don't know about you, but before I had surgery I could gain 10 pounds in a weekend.

At the same time, I agree about emotional eating being a huge thing that needs to be addressed.

I am also a bit shocked that you identified cheese as your slider food into problems. I love cheese! You've made me realize that I really need to stay vigilant about what I eat and how I eat.

[chitowngirl 886]

Wow thanks ladies for coming out and being honest. I'm 8 months post op And I can totally see these bad habits trying to sneak their way back into my life. I think it's important that we remain honest with ourselves. We really just gotta keep on fighting the fight. I know a lot of people think that once their sleeved it takes care of the food/portion part of it, but it really is only temporary.