Okay so my first year was phenomenal! I did so good! And this past year? Well... not so much. My loss slowed around the end of last year and continued to be slow/creeping for the first couple of months. Chalk it up to holidays, the stress after a move, poor planning, it wasn't a great time. And I should have followed that up with renewed vigor, but instead I re-introduced two things into my life that has made this year, frankly?, a complete waste!

1. Carbs! I started re-introducing them back in February. Just a little at first. But what was an occasional thing turned into an every day thing, turned into an (almost) every meal thing, turned into an (almost) every meal/every snack thing. It's a slippery slope. And the worst part about this is that I don't even enjoy them that much! They're just convenient and EVERYWHERE.

2. Snacking. Before I was mostly doing the strict 5-6 meals/snacks per day. It would occasionally deviate, but for the most part, that was my mainstay. After introducing carbs, the desire to snack became so much stronger. The more carbs I ate, the more I snacked, the more I snacked, the more I ate carbs. It was just a gross gigantic avalanche of snacking/carbing.

3. Facebook! Can I blame the fact that I re-introduced Facebook on this? I recently read (a real article, though I can't remember the name of the publication at the moment! I THINK it was NYT.) that surveys suggest that Facebook takes up more of our time than exercising, reading, and socializing per day COMBINED. COMBINED. That's... INSANE. To know that I've wasted good quality exercising (and reading!) time on Facebook (which I don't even really LIKE, which is why I avoided it for SO LONG.) is mind boggling to me. I haven't deleted the app from my phone yet, but I'm doing it tonight! I'll keep messenger because for some reason people prefer that to texting these days. STILL. This is unacceptable in my world view. How did I allow this to happen?

I have not technically gained weight this year because I looked back and I'm around the same I was this time last year. So that's... something? But with gains and losses, I did gain back about 25 lbs. You could say ALMOST 30, but the only reason I ever dipped that low was because I had mycoplasma pneumonia (the one with gastrointestinal symptoms) for 2 weeks in the middle of the year. Apart from that one week period where I had lost weight because of Illness, I'd been hovering at about 255 for a pretty long time this year. Then, when I stepped on the scale one week ago I was shocked to discover that I was weighing in at 278.5. 23 and half pounds higher than my (non-pnuemonia-induced) lowest weight!

The little progress that I did make this year, just kept being erased by my poor choices! I hadn't stepped on a scale since I'd been sick. I was in deep denial!

I immediately joined a dietbet (which I'm going to lose because I'm losing too quickly!) and started eating right again. No carbs, veggies, Protein (at least 70/day), getting in my fluids, only eating 5/6 times/day. I began losing weight so rapidly that I couldn't believe it. Still can't. That was Dec 1st. When I weighed myself this morning. I'd already lost 12 lbs! This is TWO YEARS out from surgery. I haven't had ANY TIME this week to exercise (though I do babysit after work so I usually get all my steps in.) This tool still works! It still does EXACTLY what it's designed to do! And the REALLY remarkable part of this? Half way into this week, my dentist had to prescribe me an antibiotic AND a steroid. A steroid! Yet I still managed to lose 12 lbs. I feel like I JUST had surgery. These are astonishing numbers even if it's mostly Water weight. Even if I'd just lost 6/5 lbs this week I would have been astounded. 12 is beyond anything I ever expected.

Some things I've noticed this week:

1. I still don't miss carbs (much!)

It's hard to step away. But honestly? I just feel so dissatisfied with what I'm eating when I'm eating carbs. I've always been more of a meat and veggie girl. Carbs are just so abundant, so easily accessible and convenient, and so weirdly addictive even if you don't really love them, that it's just a habit I fall into that is almost exclusively environmental. I just need to REMEMBER that I control my own "food environment" if I make the time to plan!

2. I have to remember to take my Vitamins.

I still have them, I just have lapsed in taking them. Now that I really need them again, it's more important to remember!

3. I am going to the bathroom very infrequently, much like I did the first year post-surgery.

4. My capacity really is not as high as I feared.

When you nibble, stretch out your meals into long social affairs, snack frequently, eat slider foods, it can really be a bit of a mind trick. You start to believe that you can still eat like you used to. But you can't, you're just adapting what you CAN do, to what you WANT to do. If you want to eat more, you'll make it happen. You have to MAKE YOURSELF use your tool the way it was intended.

If I eat good quality veggies and protein, eat from start to finish (no stopping to chat OR BROWSE FACEBOOK for ten minutes in between bites!), I can still only eat ABOUT a solid cup of food before I'm comfortably full. Might take a few extra bites to make me UNCOMFORTABLY full depending on what the food is. I made a double-batch of Skinnytaste's Stuffed Pepper Soup (without rice) last week. Which is not very brothy and more like a stew. Yesterday I had a cup of that for lunch. (my ladle measures exactly one cup). By the time I finished the cup, I was UNCOMFORTABLY full. I actually should have stopped a few bites before I finished. Because it was stew-like, it was way more dense. For dinner today I had about 2 ounces of roasted chicken breast (which doesn't equal a half cup if you cut it up in chunks), about a half a cup of sauteed brussels sprouts, and a little less than a tablespoon full of homemade pimento cheese melted over the top. I was perfectly full by the time I was done. Not too full. Not still hungry. Just right.

5. I'm worried this will not last. I don't mean I'm worried I will fail again. I'm sure I will and I have a plan for that. (Get back on that horse, not 10 months later, but two minutes later!, etc.) I'm worried that I'll somehow do the same thing I did this week and for some reason I won't lose. I think I told myself for a long time this year that it wasn't ME and MY CHOICES that were causing me not to lose. It was something else. So I just have to remember that I am in control and I think these worries will go away. I'm really excited to get back to the gym too. Babysteps!

I'm so thrilled at this NEW START. I wonder if anyone else is in the same boat I am, or is in the same boat I was a week ago? Has anyone had long-term success with a re-start? After a period of not losing or a period of slight re-gain? What are you doing? What's working? What's not? How did you "re-boot?" Did you do the pouch test? What warnings do you have? Etc?

I feel like a newbie. It feels kind of good!

@@jintycb yay I'm so glad to inspire! The holidays are when we need the most inspiration of all!

I am so thankful I joined up and read this post today. I am 4 years out this month and was wit30 lbs of goal when I started down the drink Water with meals, add back in carbs, hey they were good carbs! well at least at first....snack and graze all day, first healthy veggies ad nuts and then a here, a nibble there, not only did I not lose that 30 I gained 20 back. Thus I find myself today 50 lbs from goal.

I restarted this am, I can't tell you how many times I have restarted in last year or two but I am motivated, going to do everything in my power to ensure my success.

1) back to basics, no more drinking (even water) before and after I eat.

2) no more grazing period! planned 3 small meals and 3 small Snacks daily,

3) eat all my Protein first, then veggies, then complex carb, which I really should not reach since I should be full from protein and veggie

4) 8 glasses of water

5) track everything, every bite...

its challenging, grazing is a habit now but I am amazed to report that this 4 year old sleeve which has at times managed to consume a hamburger with bun, was stuffed after 3 ounces of chicken and a cup of salad. Our tool still works!

I'm only two months out from surgery, but I have said it in my mind that carbs are the enemy, and I work very hard to avoid them. I am hoping that two years out I will still feel the same way. Maybe it's a kind of brainwashing to sit there and tell yourself that carbs are evil, but that's what I have to do.

I focus on my Protein intake.

Last night, I hit my local Korean market and bought a salmon head.

Don't gag, they are actually loaded with meat.

I steamed it with pink salt and some sliced fresh ginger, for about 20 minutes, and then had about 2 to 3 ounces of it, and let my daughter have the rest.

It is a cheap, easy, way to get lots of soft and easy protein.

Heynowkc, thanks for your post. I am only 8 months out from surgery. I've lost 50 lbs, but I haven't been able to budge beyond that. I was doing really well, then bam! The weight loss stopped. Now with that said, I am a diabetic, and I am still on some insulin. I'm wondering if my insulin is causing me to not lose further, or if I am just eating too much. I am very deflated to learn that I can actually eat crackers, pretzels, potato chips without getting sick, and I can eat what seems to be quite a bit at one time. Candy also has snuck its way back into my life. The candy (chocolates) will cause me to have a lot of gas and have a lot of bowel movements. It is very tough around the holidays right now. I know I need to get back on track, because I'd really love to lose another 50-75 pounds. I would probably be able to come off the insulin if I can just achieve that goal. I've been very worried about eating beyond that 1 cup at each meal and stretching my pouch. You have definitely inspired me to really get back to the program and truly watch what I am eating and get back to the gym! Thank you.

I was on insulin for 30 years pre surgery. I was still on it after surgery for 3 1/2 months and while the initial weight loss was rapid, like you it slowed down way too soon. Then I talked my doc into letting me go off insulin and on to metformin plus foxigia (both of which have a side effect of some weight loss). Because I was no longer on insulin I was able to safely follow a low carb diet without worrying about hypos (metformin and forxigia don't usually cause hypos). In the 6 or 7 weeks since I stopped insulin the weight has fallen off me about 13 pounds) and last week I stopped taking Forxigia since I don't seem to need it on a low carb diet. I am also cutting down my metformin with the aim to be off it by the new year if not before.

So to answer your question ... yes insulin does slow down weight loss. Talk to your endo about swapping it for metformin plus forxigia and a low carb diet ... just don't go too low carb whilst on insulin because of the risk of hypos. if your endo is anything like mine he will be more than happy to let you give it a try and see what happens.

Nymea, thanks for your post! Always nice to see someone winning the diabetic war! Little background on me; I've been diabetic for about the past 24 years. My diabetes began with my first pregnancy, went away, then came back with a vengence with my second pregnancy. After that one it just didn't go away again. I have been on metformin forever (2000 mg a day) and I've tried every drug out there over the past 24 years. None of the meds work for me. I've followed a low carb diet for the past 5 years. In the beginning of that my numbers did come down, but then it just became difficult to control again. Finally I had to face facts that my body was very messed up, the sugar was beginning to affect my kidneys and I went to my last resort which was surgery. Since then my blood sugar has substantially improved, and although I'm still taking insulin, I'm only using it for basal only, and I've already lowered the amount twice since surgery. I'm so glad this is working for you and again I thank you for your suggestions. As the saying goes, this too shall pass, and I'll get to goal eventually. I'll just keep working hard to get off the insulin and hope that will help! Continue with your success!

@@heynowkc dang this is awesome. I can't wait to see my after pictures

Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

Glad to know I am not only one...

SW 296 CW 174

I had surgery June 2015 and up until after my one year sleeve anniversary was very strict and good on my meals. Proteins and veggies. Then people kept telling me I was too strict on my diet and was hearing how others were back incorporating carbs into their diets. I knew I was getting carbs from what I was eating by was staying away from Pasta, rice, breads, etc

So I decided oh I can have some. Well it's my trigger food! Because since July when I was at my all time lowest 144 I have now gained 30 lbs back. I am about to bust out of my size 10 dress pants, but I refuse to go any higher again. So after this weekend of Christmas I am thinking about doing the pouch reset, not to shrink stomach but to reset my brain. I am a VSG patient and will always be and need to go back to acting like it.

I was running and got bored with that and now with winter back to not working out. So need to get my mind wrapped back around this now.

Any other suggestions to help get back on rack that have worked for ya'll?

A pouch reset...that's what I'm making my New Year's resolution. Back on track because I've gotten so far off track at this point. Sadly. Thanks for the reminder that we can do that. My brain is going "don't do it" but my resolve and willpower is saying "you can do this". I'm going to work my a$$ off to hit goal!

This was such a good article that I downloaded it and saved it for next year. My surgery was scheduled for next month. I am worried about what happens when the honeymoon period is over. When I reach that hurdle, I intend to pull out and reread this article, and to follow your advice.

So grateful for you posting this. I actually uninstalled this app months ago when the weight was falling off. Ive gotten so sidetrack that I decided to go back to the roots nd reinstalled it and plan to make other changes. You have inspired me so much. Makibg worthy changes!

Sent from my SM-G930P using the BariatricPal App

Love this!

@@myrizzy good for you!!

The holidays were tough. Especially being at my mom's for 8 days. Not proud of how I ate. I gained about 3 lbs. Not as bad as I feared. Now I am right back to it starting with Protein, veggies and water!

Awesome posts!

I feel the pain!

For me most times I want ease of eating ----- carbs

Before was - my down fall was soda, bread, Pasta potatoes - all of this hurts me even after15 months, so these aren't my down fall

Starbucks, cheesiest and rice cakes are my sliders

coffee isn't bad if I can limit to one - one cream one milk and 4 Splenda, but some days I have 3-

I used to drink Water but since surgery- it hurts I have tried ph 8 water and it does cause acid issues - so I generally don't drink much water

I am now back to skipping Breakfast to have my coffee, lunch is Soup and 4 crackers

Between 4- 8 is when I want crunch - I try not to have my rice cakes in the house or I will eat them.

Recent labs I am anemic ( very low Iron I am at 5)

I have gained 8 to 10 lbs which is a whole wardrobe change in pants !!!!

I need to get back on the weight loss train !

Any suggestions on yoga online? I am not allowed any exercise due to a problem with my lower back / hip/ nerve problem I am working on with acupuncture / chiropractor at the moment -

I wonder if I am self sabotaging myself - or making excuses

I look back at how I felt from 3-9 months - I had energy- I had confidence, I felt like I had my life together- now I sit all day, I am uncomfortable ( due to hip/ back nerve) feel lazy and I need out of my rut of self pity!

I need to just Do IT!!!

I got all weeks Vitamins in a pill case , and Protein drink in the fridge for breakfast!

The water thing is hard for a lot of us. But I have heard from another support group that SMART WATER is easier on the tummy. They said it is filtered more and is supposed to be softer. I don't know for sure but it might be something to check out.

I will look for it - is it the same as vitamin water?