Hello,

I am a little over 5 weeks out and I am starting to fall into bad habits. I had an ice cream the other day. I had two drinks on Memorial day. I ate Nutella during my period. I even had a piece of pizza. I am so afraid that I will not lose weight. I am worried that I stretched out my sleeve. I need to reevaluate and make some changes fast. Wow this is what I was afraid of.

Your sleeve will not stretch. That's a myth. But you are sabotaging yourself for what? Have you considered therapy? If risking death wasn't enough to get you to change your habits, there's nothing anyone can say to you on here to help you. I would recommend therapy ASAP.

Are you tracking what you eat? If not,that might help.

Not to sound harsh, but damn it, you know what to do, now that you've undergone this major/life-changing surgery...quit whining and just do it!

The first two months were the most challenging for me, as well as almost everyone else!

You will get through this, however you have to want it, nobody can do it for you...and trust me, you do want it!

This has been a blessing for me and my wife (she was sleeved exactly 2 months after me)...and you will see, the transformation will be friggin' incredible! You cannot fathom how much the weight loss is going to change your life...you just gotta get through the gettin' through!

Good luck and Godspeed for a quick recovery! (Tough love rant over! )

What's been helpful for me is that my postop diet is basically low carb. I don't want to knock myself put of ketosis, so that's what's helping me stay on track.

Hey hon,

Many of us have fallen, even post-op. The brave figure out what brought them down, and turn it around! Go back to basics. Figure out what your body needs and eat that first. Protein, protein, protein first - make it be dense if possible so your stomach KNOWS you ate! Fill the other half of your plate with veggies. I don't do carbs personally, because they are a slippery slope for me. I binge when I allow myself that first chip, that first bite of warm pita bread...so I don't eat them. I am keeping track of all my foods now, but I didn't at first, not for months. It turns out it is what I needed. Even today, I was eating some Jerky and I wanted to finish off the bag, but I wasn't about to write down 270 calories worth of jerky in a single day in my journal! So I gave the rest to my husband. If you want to splurge a little, just plan for it. I ate two beef ribs on Memorial Day and they were glorious! The rest of my meal, however, was just raw veggies. This is the plan I've created for me. Yours may be totally different. One bit of pizza or a little Nutella when I'm pms-ing isn't going to sabatoge anything. But when things go off the deep end, take a deep breath and start over with the basics. Good luck!

Hello,

I am a little over 5 weeks out and I am starting to fall into bad habits. I had an ice cream the other day. I had two drinks on Memorial day. I ate Nutella during my period. I even had a piece of pizza. I am so afraid that I will not lose weight. I am worried that I stretched out my sleeve. I need to reevaluate and make some changes fast. Wow this is what I was afraid of.

While the sleeve is a marvelous tool, you have a limited time window to work with - typically a year to 18 months. After this point your stomach will be at it's final size, your body will have settled down, and you will not lose weight so easily as you will be at maintenance. You need to lose as much weight as you can within the window, and it looks like women have a harder time losing than men (I know, it's not fair).

I see two things you need: accountability (tracking (like MFP) will help here) and support. Find a support group in your area asap and get involved.

Who told you this was a "magic pill"?! Did you not have a psych eval? Did you not have preop counseling? Did you not spend any time researching what this surgery meant? You said "this is what I was afraid of", so I assume you knew exactly what you were getting into. Why would you waste all your doctor's good work just to keep doing the same things you did before surgery. The surgery itself was the easy part. You need to take responsibility for your decision and figure out why you are sabotaging yourself.

Does your doctor have a support group or therapist you could talk to? Making poor food choices will only get easier and easier the farther out you get. You need to stop now. Sorry to sound so harsh but geez, I don't get why you would just throw away such a great opportunity.

On the other hand, I COULD be wrong. Unlike the other posters on here, I do not track or count anything. But I know what I am and am not supposed to eat. It's really not that hard if you get your head straight and focus on your goal. There's more than one way to succeed with your sleeve and you need to find what works for you. If you are losing weight, reach your goal, feel good, have no complications, then good for you! In which case you should stop feeling guilty and enjoy this wonderful weight loss adventure.

Every day is a struggle but you have to take it one day at a time. I had to reprogram the way I looked at food before I even got the surgery because I knew that if I went into this with the same thinking process as I once had then I would fall back into my old ways. I cant let that happen. I no longer see food as "living to eat" instead I see it as "eating to live". I eat only what my body requires, I don't overeat anymore (I can't anyways!) and I try and make better choices. All I can tell you is take it one day at a time and instead of thinking "oh I need to eat this" think "I can eat this, but I don't want to eat this". You don't need to eat that and you don't want to eat that, its just your mind playing games with you. Don't let it!

Good luck, I know this can be a struggle but just remember you got the surgery to help you take control of your life back. The sleeve is only a tool, you still have to do the work.

Thank you all for the support and great suggestions. I will call my doctor today to find a support group. I also will start to track my food.

I am down 27 pounds in 5 weeks but when I ate those foods like the slice of pizza or ate the Nutella, I fear old habits. I have never learned moderation so it reminds me of the past when I would diet and then go off plan.

I eat well during the week. Usually, I'll have a GNC Total Lean shake for Breakfast, a yogurt or sliced deli chicken for lunch, and turkey chili or rotisserie chicken for dinner. But, I had a small ice cream cone and I feel like a failure because I have always been all or nothing.

I need to seek help ASAP to adjust.

Thanks to you all.

Hi @nmr---

Just to piggy back on what everyone has said, I highly recommend some type of therapy. Also--you are not alone in what or how you are feeling. I'm 4 months out and while I feel good, I do have some moments of... failure, falling off the wagon, frustration etc. This past weekend, I ate a lot of stuff that I shouldn't have eaten and I felt badly about it. But Monday morning, I got back on track.

Weight loss is HARD. None of us had WLS because we were able to loose weight easily. We had/have a problem. Think of yourself as an addict. (I do) And our addiction is different from other addictions---as difficult as it may be for someone to stop drinking--- they don't HAVE to drink. We HAVE to eat. But we don't have to eat ice cream or Nutella. Like @@*Glitter*In*The*Air* I have found staying away from most carbs is the right thing for me. A. Carbs can get you into trouble and B. I find that i don't feel well when I eat them and C. We need the protein Also--I recently started keeping a food journal and am calorie counting. You can make this right, just find all the other tools you need in order to do it.

Good Luck!!!

Thank you all for the support and great suggestions. I will call my doctor today to find a support group. I also will start to track my food.

I am down 27 pounds in 5 weeks but when I ate those foods like the slice of pizza or ate the Nutella, I fear old habits. I have never learned moderation so it reminds me of the past when I would diet and then go off plan.

I eat well during the week. Usually, I'll have a GNC Total Lean shake for Breakfast, a yogurt or sliced deli chicken for lunch, and turkey chili or rotisserie chicken for dinner. But, I had a small ice cream cone and I feel like a failure because I have always been all or nothing.

I need to seek help ASAP to adjust.

Thanks to you all.

Well, maybe you just said it "I have always been all or nothing". Maybe you just cannot deviate from your plan at all.

Dust yourself off. Keep trigger foods out of the house. You will succeed.

Start doing My Fitness Pal, it is a free tracker of ALL your foods and how much you have left to eat.... But just know it doesn't recognize WLS so it will tell you that you don't have enough calories in etc.... But you can see and track your carbs, protein, fat etc. but be honest when you enter your food. If you had one slice of pizza, make sure you enter the correct portions. This makes you accountable for what you put in your mouth. I am 5 1/2 weeks out and still at 2oz of food per meal... Can't even fathom having a carb... I go to the Dr tomorrow for my clearance to go back to work.... My goal was 40 pounds down in 6 weeks... I think it will be close. Don't beat yourself up or sabotage yourself.... Take one day at a time.

Food for me is an addiction. Surgery was like going to jail. This is exactly how my first bout with addiction went. Let me elaborate. I was addicted to hard drugs for about ten years. I wanted to quit, I just couldn't. I knew my life was at stake but I failed every time I tried to stop. Then I got arrested. The time in jail saved my life. It afforded me the opportunity to get through the withdrawal and start thinking clearly. If I hadn't been in jail I would have used for sure. When I got out I knew I didn't want to squander that opportunity, I was scared I'd never get another, so I never used drugs again. Then it food became my addiction.

WLS gave me the opportunity to break free from this current addiction but not with out putting in the same kind of work. Support groups, talking to those that love and support me in my journey, and always being vigilant when the feelings of relapse popped into my head. This is also what has kept me from reverting g back to old eating habits. Find support, make new routines, new hobbies and always remember the fat you is always waiting to come back if you drop your guard for even a minute.

I went through something similar. I'm five weeks out on Tuesday and getting back on track. I did what I always have done and told myself "well I just worked out really hard so I deserve a treat" and I got a kids ice cream cone. I, like you, immediately felt a huge wave of guilt and turned it around. Now, at this early stage in recovery, isn't the time to fall off track. We're learning an all new way of life that someday will seem second nature to us (hopefully) and not so much of a constant internal battle. That's what keeps me focused mostly; knowing that just like the liquid phase of the post op recovery that I surely thought would kill me, this stage of learning new behaviors will end too and I'll be much happier on the other side when I've lost the weight and changed my life. Keep your head up!!