I did a bad bad thing

[Tbeek 21]

I am 6 weeks post op. and its holiday time. I am already at a stall (1 week now .... sigh). I started eating solid food 3 days ago and I am not having any problems eating anything. So, I eat a little turkey, a bite of sweet potato, 2 green Beans, and a bite of stuffing. No problem at all. 2 hours later....bite of pumpkin pie. Another 1 hr later (here is the bad bad part), bite of cookie, bite of fudge, bite of cake, bite of Peanut Butter pretzel...probably totaling 2.5 oz of crap in one sitting! I am MORTIFIED! What was I thinking (clearly I wasn't).

Has anyone ever done this and gone on to still lose weight? I thought there would be consequence physically if one was naughty. Physically I am fine. Not even a cramp. Mentally, I am very depressed I was weak. I hope I am not doomed

[TinyTink 268]

People make choices, then they need to move on. Tomorrow is a new day. Get back down to business in the morning and follow your team recommendations for Protein and fluids.

[Dianamarie 0]

Story of my life.

[Dianamarie 0]

I found myself in a totally different situation after my surgery than preparation for surgery. I'm pretty sure I have blown this whole thing. I'm too upset to even elaborate.

You made a mistake, don't give up!!!

[Gaintheworld 19]

My doc, Dr Duc Voung, wrote a great book for sleevers: Ultimate Gastric Sleeve Success. In it he talks about the 21 day exception where you choose 21 days out of the year, where you may not eat totally on plan because life happens and you cannot be perfect all the time. He instructs us to eat the most nutritious food we can most of the time, knowing there will be exceptions. We can't eat like that every day and expect to be successful, but we can't always be perfect. So brush it off and don't beat yourself up, you can get back on track tomorrow.

[FrankyG 1,450]

You had a day of crazy. Don't freak out too much about this - just realize that you have difficulties controlling yourself around sweets and guard against exposure to this stuff until you are much better about restraining yourself.

But a big thing to remember - at this point, you could eat absolute crap and still lose weight. There are plenty of people out there that eat fast food and Cookies and because of the restriction in the early months, they continue to see weight loss. My doctor was just talking about this at my last appointment, not that I was eating poorly, we were discussing a friend of mine that is doing this and justifying it by saying she's still losing weight and me trying to get ideas of what to say to counter that mentality.

What the doc said was this: the sleeve will cause anyone to lose weight eating exactly the same foods they ate pre-sleeve in the first year. They can't eat anything in large quantities, so the weight drops away. It works that way until they hit about a year or so out, and then the weight loss slows/stops. At this point, their stomach has relaxed and they are able to eat a bit more food than at the beginning. And all of this time, they haven't adjusted any of their eating habits or tried to move towards healthy foods, because they thought they didn't have to.

So they keep eat stuff that has no real nutritional value, is high in fat, calories, salt and low in Vitamins, Protein and Fiber. They no longer have the sleeve's super reduced size to make up for the poor eating habits. And they gain back all of the weight, say that the surgery failed, when in reality they failed themselves.

You should be using this time over the next year to completely change how you eat, what you eat and how often/how much. The sleeve takes care of Portion Control and in most cases the feelings of hunger. The biggest thing that many seem to miss about the surgery - the biggest advantage is really that it allows you to relearn healthy eating habits - good foods full of nutrients and putting Protein, veggies first and foremost in your daily diet - because you're no longer a slave to ravenous appetite or able to stuff in tons of food. Sweets or junk are still possible, but they should be very occasional treats, not stuff you eat daily.

It's a huge mind shift, but those that are able to make that shift do the best after having this surgery. I hope you're going to be one of them!

Edited December 26, 2015 by FrankiesGirl

[jane13 2,256]

@@Dianamarie - I had a really bad 24th. Personal drama at home and I drank wine and ate most of a bag of cheese popcorn puffs....not good. Send me a private message if you want. I got halfway back onto the wagon yesterday. no popcorn puffs....had some wine, ate better just no Water and feeling it today. Drama is there and will be for a while. I am looking at mid to late summer for it to peak again....long story

[4MRB4PHOTO 3,899]

@@Dianamarie - I had a really bad 24th. Personal drama at home and I drank wine and ate most of a bag of cheese popcorn puffs....not good. Send me a private message if you want. I got halfway back onto the wagon yesterday. no popcorn puffs....had some wine, ate better just no Water and feeling it today. Drama is there and will be for a while. I am looking at mid to late summer for it to peak again....long story

Stress eating, that is an old, bad habit that I struggle with.

I need to learn to turn to positive outlets, other than eating, when I am under emotional stress.

[jane13 2,256]

@@4MRB4PHOTO yes! I knew it when I ate it. I am up a couple of pounds and I am dreading the next few months...

[shriner37 249]

FIDO - Forget It, Drive On. I doubt very many of us are perfect in our post-surgery routine. You have to do the best you can 99% of the time, realizing that 1% of the time we won't make the best choices. The key is keeping that window of non-compliance to 1%.

I'm further out from surgery than you but I had a similar issue over Christmas. We chose to make and give away goodies as a secondary gift (a bad choice for me in hindsight), so there was lots of snack stuff around the house (fudge, peanut brittle, bark, etc.) My meals were healthy and on plan but I did snack on this and other things too much on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I'm not really a sweets person but grazing (boredom induced snacking) is one of my weaknesses.

This morning the scale was up two pounds from Wednesday morning. I know I didn't eat enough to gain that much and a lot of it is likely Water retention, but nonetheless it was an eye-opening reminder for me to get back on track and keep the window of non-compliance to 1%.

[lauraellen80 854]

I feel you. I didn't make the best choices over the past couple of days, and I'm up almost half a pound this morning. I'm having a Protein Shake for Breakfast and may just do a day of shakes to reset myself. The important thing (and I'm saying this to myself, too) is to not think, "well, I blew it... guess I'll just keep eating crap now!"

[Scottyd1264 73]

JUST REMEMBER WHERE YOU ONCE WERE, AND WHEN THAT BUS PULLS UP YOU WANT TO STAY OFF IT

[stefanie324 8]

We all have bad days. The best thing you can do is move on and remember it was only a day. Plus, think about what you just said. It was about 2.5 OZ. OUNCES. If you didn't have this surgery you probably would have eaten so much more. So you may FEEL depressed and maybe the scale will go up for a day but you will bounce back. Just don't continue to eat bad things. It's only failure if you don't get up and try again. YOU GOT THIS!

[amyg80 45]

I must be a horrible person bc I'm nearly 4 wks out and ate like 6 Cookies (over the course of two days), a couple Hershey kisses, and a couple bits of a tamale.

Yes I know, not good....but I'm not going to stop living life bc I have the sleeve or I won't stop my progress bc I had those treats.

I'm not sweating it, bc I know my goals and my determination to get there. I will not be defined by food or by my sleeve.

that said...don't beat urself up! What's the use either way...what's done is done, just continue eating right and ull be fine. Don't let it shake u up or give up. Ur human and u are some sweet stuff on a holiday. It's ok!

[muzical1 85]

I was tempted by everything edible at that point after surgery. Can't imagine doing that during the holiday with all the food tempting me. You're lucky you didn't have any physical issues - I had/have when I'm off program. But just wake up tomorrow and start again. Everyday we learn how to live differently. It's a process. Stalls happen so don't fret.