Hey Everyone!! Please be easy on me as im all over the place and rambling but...

A little background on me- I am 30 years old, live in nyc, surgery was done by Dr.Pomp at cornell (HIGHLY RECC), have always had food issues- emotional eating, love to eat, love food, no control etc.

I had VSG on 10/8/16 and went from 304 lbs to 199. My weight loss journey was great- I worked out 4 times a week and ate right, and was able to lose it all and have no loose skin, no major issues, and am pretty happy with results. I mean, it saved my life- i am ECSTATIC with the results. I stopped losing weight at about the year mark, and have been trying to lose that extra 20 lbs for the past couple months. Granted I eat a little more now, but still nothing even compared to a quarter of what I was like Pre-op. I am struggling. I am struggling with food, I am struggling with my emotions. I am struggling with my sweet tooth.

I think I am gaining weight. There, I said it. A girl at work even asked me if I had gained 5-10 lbs (she is not a friend, more like a hater but still).., (Ive been hovering at 204 for the past few months) and I am gutted.

I take this journey very seriously, but I have slacked on my workouts, and I think I am snacking too much. My sweet tooth is out of control- which is weird because I wasn't this into sweets before surgery.

I know what I have to do- go back to being completely planned out and strict- schedule all my meals, and workouts, and be firm in staying away from snacking. I cant be normal like other people because my relation ship with food is not normal, so its different for me and I have to remember that.

However, if anybody has any advice on what I can do, or if you have had the same struggles, how did you overcome"? What did you do?

For working out- I need motivation- I find it hard to find the motivation I had during the weight loss, which in turn means i work out now probably once a week.

For food- Im thinking of cutting sweets out completely since I cant seem to control myself. Or does anyone have any healthy reccs? I do have lennies protein cookies which i csn usually eat half of one and be good. MY weakness seems to be croissants.

For emotions- yall i am all over the place. I dont know whether to cry or fight ahahaha

Help!

Reach out to your Surgeon's office for a councilor recommendation and get some help with the emotional issues.

Right now you need to shore up your mental game.

cut the sugar out. not reduce - cut it all you are on a roller coaster and need to get the high and lows evened out.

Lastly download a food app and get back to tracking everything you eat maybe the act of tracking and seeing your numbers will help you make the hard choices ahead.

Don't wait. the more you delay the harder everything will get.

4 minutes ago, allwet said:

Reach out to your Surgeon's office for a councilor recommendation and get some help with the emotional issues.

Right now you need to shore up your mental game.

cut the sugar out. not reduce - cut it all you are on a roller coaster and need to get the high and lows evened out.

Lastly download a food app and get back to tracking everything you eat maybe the act of tracking and seeing your numbers will help you make the hard choices ahead.

Don't wait. the more you delay the harder everything will get.

I was thinking I might have to completely cut sweets. All or nothing has always been my issue. Yes, logging as we speak.

Do you have any other advice on how to train my body to lose again? Ive heard a few stories about a "pouch reset" but im not sure..

Thank you for your advice!!

since you asked LOL

1 hydration

2 protein

3 no sugar

4 no simple carbs - get your carbs from your veggies

5 no fruits if your gaining weight

6 no snacks

7 no calorie intake after dinner till you break your fast the next day - start with 12 hours and work it out to 14 over a month or so. whatever works with your schedule.

8 being hungry is normal and not a sign you are ill.

9 never eat before you get hungry - then drink a glass of water to see if you are hungry or just dehydrated.

10 work to get your mental focus off food. distract distract distract

as for exercise. walk walk walk if nothing else.

Planning my whole week to this right now. Thanks again!

Congrats on your weight loss success! You may have gained a little but you recognize the problem and you're catching it before it's an even bigger issue. Definitely track calories and reduce carbs. Maybe switch a meal with a protein shake. You can do this!

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I still have protein shakes for breakfast everyday! I may try having one for dinner too! Thank you!!

Sometimes I think when people deny themselves constantly...they set themselves up for bad choices.

I think you've been making some bad choices with the refined simple carbs.

But I don't think the answer is to swing the pendulum all the way in the other direction and starve and create an unsustainable diet again. Something drove you to crappy choices. You need to find out what.

If it's an emotional issue...therapy is a good thing.

If it's a diet that's too restrictive and unlivable...don't go back there....do something new.

Maybe try a moderate diet with some healthy unrefined carbs (beans/whole grains/fruit) and see if they will help control your carb cravings so you don't go overboard in an unhealthy direction with refined carbs.

If I eat a carb restricted diet...I crave sugar like a lunatic. Makes me crazy. But if I eat healthy low glycemic index carbs.....I don't miss it much. I feel much better physically and want to exercise more.

Different people approach this stuff different ways. Keto is the big trend and people swear by it because its' great for weight loss. But some people feel ghastly on it and it's unsustainable for them.

Lot of ways up the mountain. If one path keeps getting blocked, maybe look at some of the other routes?

Best wishes, and heartfelt hopes for better days ahead:)

1 hour ago, Creekimp13 said:

If I eat a carb restricted diet...I crave sugar like a lunatic. Makes me crazy. But if I eat healthy low glycemic index carbs.

Thank you for your insight!

This def. happens to me. My typical diet is usually an iced coffee in the morning, a protein shake for breakfast (I still do my doc recc. one which is unjury chocolate splendor with skim milk 32g P), around 3oz tuna salad on 2 puff rice cakes for lunch- this is my diet 5 days a week. For dinner, it usually is healthy, sometimes if its not, I try to be good, like if we order tacos, nachos, I will only eat the inside of one taco and have 3 chips etc.

The sugar craving is where it gets bad. I usually have an iced coffee around 4-5 PM, and I like something sweet with it. I'm addicted to croissants, which is so strange because I was not before surgery. I've been looking for some kind of healthy alternative, or something not as bad, and think I may try to do "Quest bar cookies" I saw from blogger the world according to eggface.

What kind of foods/low glycemic index carbs do you recc?

Thank you again!

Do you l like to cook? There's some awesome websites/cookbooks etc out there. I even do Hello Fresh once in awhile (I have a family of 4) I use the Groupon app to get it. My nutritionist had some recipe for "muffins" that were basically very ripe banana with unsweetened cocoa powder baked. Yes, fructose and carbs, I know. Do you use the Baritastic app? It's great! Cooking and plugging it all into my app makes me accountable and I love trying new things. Baritastic has recipes too. I also physically write my food AND my feels in a actual notebook (calories, carbs, fats etc) people who keep a food journal keep more weight off statistically. I also keep my calorie counting book near me, sometimes it is just handy. Good luck!