A year and a half post op

[likehasjustbegun 21]

I’m a little over a year and a half post op and I’m struggling with controlling my hunger/eating. I’m noticing that I can now consume larger portions of food and I’ve been snacking much more than usual. I’m stressing about gaining more weight. Sw was 282 my lowest was 155 which was about 1 year post op and I now weigh 170. Any advice on how to retrain my body to not consume such large portions? Should I go back on a liquid diet? I’ve also had no energy to do anything. I’m getting worried here, please help!

[Cheeseburgh 3,084]

Can you call your program or dietitian? You can’t retrain your body, it’s your mind that is doing most of the work. Having no energy can be a sign of depression too. If I were you I’d call my Doctor.

You can do this.

[Recidivist 1,141]

I'm just about where you are and have definitely noticed that I can eat much more than I could during the first year. I was also eating more "normally," including more carbs and fat than during the first year. I started gaining (only six pounds, but enough to be concerning) and tried cutting carbs and fat to the greatest extent possible. The six pounds came off quite easily with no other changes.

[GreenTealael 25,618]

9 hours ago, likehasjustbegun said:

I’m a little over a year and a half post op and I’m struggling with controlling my hunger/eating. I’m noticing that I can now consume larger portions of food and I’ve been snacking much more than usual. I’m stressing about gaining more weight. Sw was 282 my lowest was 155 which was about 1 year post op and I now weigh 170. Any advice on how to retrain my body to not consume such large portions? Should I go back on a liquid diet? I’ve also had no energy to do anything. I’m getting worried here, please help!

I would suggest clean salads with a Protein source for hunger control (you can eat a lot of salad for very little cals) & B Vitamins (especially B12) for energy

Good Luck ❤

[beingdina 64]

I'm 18 months post vsg. Lost 175 pounds, gained 10 back. I can eat a lot of slider foods but when I eat solids it makes me puke because I'm not eating slow like I should. I'm also eating candy again too. Today I've puked 3-4 times from eating too fast and now my whole esophagus and stomach are super irritated. For the next 2 days I'm going to avoid solids. I am totally on my own and feel like this is the hardest it's been for me so far. I never hit my goal but am only 35 pounds away. I still want to get there and know I need to find my way back to ketosis. Carbs and candy won't help me get there. I need to make some big changes.

[WInston223322 161]

Ok I disagree with most of this! However I am not at this state or time frame!

My view is your head is doing this, How the heck can you work so hard to get healthy and let some addictions take you back down the rode you were on! Bottom line STOP EATING. There has to be something else you can do besides snake and swallow. May be harsh but my view is simple we all work to hard to get to the finish line!

It may happen to me but I never want to go thru this again and No way a bag of Fritos or candy is worth it to me.

My view This WLS Head games are the demon that haunts us all

[summerset 5,265]

21 hours ago, likehasjustbegun said:

I’m noticing that I can now consume larger portions of food

What exactly do you mean when you say "large portions"? That you can eat bigger portions that far out is completely normal. Could you give some examples?

[summerset 5,265]

3 hours ago, WInston223322 said:

Ok I disagree with most of this! However I am not at this state or time frame!

You're free to do so and at least you're putting what you've said into perspective by admitting to not being very far out of surgery.

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How the heck can you work so hard to get healthy and let some addictions take you back down the rode you were on!

Maybe you will be able to answer this question a few years or maybe only some months down the road.

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No way a bag of Fritos or candy is worth it to me.

I've read this or similar lines countless times. Like really countless times. And yet so many people turn to this bag of candy or Fritos.

[summerset 5,265]

10 hours ago, beingdina said:

Today I've puked 3-4 times from eating too fast

Ah yes, had that happen only yesterday again, lol. Sometimes I forget that it will take some more time after revision before being able to get to my personal "bypass normal eating".

I also have a bit of a stomach ache today. Woke up with it and it feels like I ate something yesterday that obviously didn't sit well though I'm not sure what it could be.

Hopefully I will be able to tolerate the same foods with the RNY than I did with the MGB. I was doing fine both physically and mentally with the amounts and kinds of food I could eat. 😖

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I need to make some big changes.

Maybe the changes you need to make aren't that big in the end?

"I need to make big changes" - only thinking about having to make big (most likely unwanted and uncomfortable) changes would scare me away from wanting to do it and postponing it into a vague future that most likely won't happen anytime soon if ever. 😳

[catwoman7 11,285]

you absolutely can physically eat larger portions now that you're that far out, so you can't "retrain" your body. You have to retrain your mind at this point.

are you still tracking your food intake? If not, start there. Figure out how many calories you're averaging these days, and then cut out 100/day. If after a couple of weeks nothing is happening, then cut 100 more. Rinse and repeat until you find the calorie level where you're losing weight again.

no need to go back to Protein Shakes (although you can if you want, of course - I just couldn't sustain that for very long). Just eat like you did the first few months - Protein first, then veggies, and then if you have room, maybe a small serving of fruit or whole-grain carb.

I try to keep my refrigerator stocked with things like already cut-up raw veggies and grapes in case I can't control the urge. Try to keep your hands busy - or get out of the house and take a walk - or anything to keep your mind off food.

[summerset 5,265]

12 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

you absolutely can physically eat larger portions now that you're that far out, so you can't "retrain" your body.

I disagree. Up to a certain point people can train their stomachs to be full again on smaller portions. This doesn't have anything to do with WLS though.

It's like training your body not to feel hungry in the morning or in the evening. The people doing IF with 16, 18, 20 hours fasting windows will most likely know what I'm talking about.

[catwoman7 11,285]

2 hours ago, summerset said:

I disagree. Up to a certain point people can train their stomachs to be full again on smaller portions. This doesn't have anything to do with WLS though.

It's like training your body not to feel hungry in the morning or in the evening. The people doing IF with 16, 18, 20 hours fasting windows will most likely know what I'm talking about.

well I guess you're right - I had to drop from an average of 1700 kcal/day to 1500 kcal/day to lose these extra 10 (now eight) lbs I want to get rid of, and it was tough at first, but I've kind of gotten used to it. I could never go back to what I was eating the first year, though (600-800 kcal/day). Or at least not that calorie level.

Edited April 25, 2020 by catwoman7

[summerset 5,265]

1 hour ago, catwoman7 said:

I could never go back to what I was eating the first year, though (600-800 kcal/day). Or at least not that calorie level.

Me neither. The less weight you carry, the harder a calorie deficit is both on the body and on the mind.

I never thought much about this until my recent post-op liquid phase. It was godawful this time and I had truckloads of cravings for just normal food. Sandwiches with cucumbers, rice with tofu, salat with tuna...

Yes, the liquid phase wasn't exactly fun after my first revision and while I wasn't heavy by WLS standards I did carry some extra weight from the unfilled and failing lapband and the calorie deficit I was in for some time didn't feel as awful as it did this time.

So when people who've regained some weight but are still only slightly overweight by BMI maybe should be careful when deciding on how aggressive their calorie deficit should be to lose the weight again. Yes, a less aggressive calorie deficit takes more time to lose the excess weight, but IMO "back to basics" 800 kcal a day or even less is not a very wise thing to do.

[likehasjustbegun 21]

On 04/25/2020 at 05:59, WInston223322 said:

Ok I disagree with most of this! However I am not at this state or time frame!

My view is your head is doing this, How the heck can you work so hard to get healthy and let some addictions take you back down the rode you were on! Bottom line STOP EATING. There has to be something else you can do besides snake and swallow. May be harsh but my view is simple we all work to hard to get to the finish line!

It may happen to me but I never want to go thru this again and No way a bag of Fritos or candy is worth it to me.

My view This WLS Head games are the demon that haunts us all

Yes I 100% agree! I actually did a lot of thinking and decided to try out intermittent fasting and honestly it’s helped me so much! I definitely eat way less food and smaller portions now and feel completely satisfied. I do allow myself a few cheats here and there but it’s been working for me the past couple weeks and I’ve actually started to lose weight again and feel more energetic!

[likehasjustbegun 21]

On 04/25/2020 at 09:57, summerset said:

What exactly do you mean when you say "large portions"? That you can eat bigger portions that far out is completely normal. Could you give some examples?

It’s not necessarily “big” portions but much larger than what I use to eat. For example, when I started eating regular I could only eat a little less than half a slice of pizza, now I can almost pretty much eat the whole thing. I don’t eat pizza often but just trying to give an idea of what I meant by larger portions :)