8 Years Post OP - Weight Gain

[Timetrax 1]

hello, I am 34 years old. this july will mark 8 years since i got the gastric sleeve surgery. i still always watch my carbs and try to maintain under 30 carbs. my lowest weight i got to was 180. currently at 210 lbs right now. i was at 255 lbs when i had the surgery. i have noticed my weight start to creep up, my clothes start to fit tighter. i did let go of the Protein for a while last year and just maintained lower carbs. i admit i fell off. for a couple months now i have increased my protein intake and still maintaining a lower carb count. i have not had a carbonated beverage since i had the surgery. i do not take any medicine except for blood pressure medicine which is a 12.5g lisinopril everyday.

with my daily protein intake becoming normalized now, mainly in the case of Protein Shake and then higher protein meats throughout the day. high Water intake, i am still not seeing weight loss. i see that it is staying about the same. my question is, has anyone gone through this or is going through this? is there something i am missing as far as supplements. i did get blood work done, but my doctor has not said anything about any abnormalities. i have read it could be low Iron. i figured if i went back to the basics, high protein low carb and of course high water intake, i could see results. could it so normalized now that it will take longer to lose weight? physical activity, i do try to get in about 10,000 steps a day.

any help, advice, would be greatly appreciated. thank you!

[ms.sss 14,634]

Couple questions...how tall are you? How many calories on average do you take in a day?

[Timetrax 1]

5'5". i typically do not count calories. i am not sure about that. i need to start and keep a better track of that. i just read the labels of the things i am eating/drinking typically. i am seeing anywhere from 45 to 160 calories, in things like low carb tortillas, deli meat, cheese, Protein Shakes. i do drink alcohol, but only vodka and only with Water. i have also cut back on that to see if that was causing the gain. did not notice much of a difference.

[Meadow76 150]

I’m only 7 months out but happy with my progress. I’m eagerly looking for others suggestions to you that have more experience. Your situation is something I think many of us are always concerned about- Maintaining our weight loss. You certainly sound like you’re doing right things. My brother has maintained his 160 lb weight loss for 18 years. He has had periods of struggles & has said he’s been up as much as 15 lbs. He then is super careful & goes back to early basics & does go back down.

[ms.sss 14,634]

14 hours ago, Timetrax said:

5'5". i typically do not count calories. i am not sure about that. i need to start and keep a better track of that. i just read the labels of the things i am eating/drinking typically. i am seeing anywhere from 45 to 160 calories, in things like low carb tortillas, deli meat, cheese, Protein Shakes. i do drink alcohol, but only vodka and only with Water. i have also cut back on that to see if that was causing the gain. did not notice much of a difference.

I think you are right, that you need to start keeping track of your calorie intake....it will give you a better idea of how much you should be eating to lose weight.

Take a look at this calculator and input your data and it will give you a general sense of what calorie level you should be at to lose weight:

https://www.ruled.me/keto-calculator/

There are many other calculators out there, this just happen to be the one I used.

Good Luck!

[GreenTealael 24,850]

17 hours ago, Timetrax said:

hello, I am 34 years old. this july will mark 8 years since i got the gastric sleeve surgery. i still always watch my carbs and try to maintain under 30 carbs. my lowest weight i got to was 180. currently at 210 lbs right now. i was at 255 lbs when i had the surgery. i have noticed my weight start to creep up, my clothes start to fit tighter. i did let go of the Protein for a while last year and just maintained lower carbs. i admit i fell off. for a couple months now i have increased my Protein intake and still maintaining a lower carb count. i have not had a carbonated beverage since i had the surgery. i do not take any medicine except for blood pressure medicine which is a 12.5g lisinopril everyday.

with my daily protein intake becoming normalized now, mainly in the case of Protein Shake and then higher protein meats throughout the day. high Water intake, i am still not seeing weight loss. i see that it is staying about the same. my question is, has anyone gone through this or is going through this? is there something i am missing as far as supplements. i did get blood work done, but my doctor has not said anything about any abnormalities. i have read it could be low Iron. i figured if i went back to the basics, high protein low carb and of course high Water intake, i could see results. could it so normalized now that it will take longer to lose weight? physical activity, i do try to get in about 10,000 steps a day.

any help, advice, would be greatly appreciated. thank you!

I may have missed it but what is your caloric intake? A calorie deficit/balance intake is still crucial to weight loss and maintenance. IMHO check that info out first to make sure you aren't eating more than your BMR requires

(P.s. I HATE logging food intake because it is ...

*t e d i o u s*

but every once in a while I need to spot check what I'm doing.

I also recently bought a new scale {because my old one was super inaccurate} that checks body fat, muscle mass, hydration, basal metabolic rate, etc. I find these numbers more important to me because they tell a bigger picture of my health)

Good Luck❤

[Shemekasr 54]

Hello all,

I am 4 years post op and I totally feel your pain. Post sleeve i was 256 lbs. My lowest weight was 146lbs. I am currently 205 lbs. I have made the decision to get back on track with it all. I will start with the basics of Protein Shakes for 3 days, then slowly introduce other allowable foods. I do know that my sleeve is still intact because i cant eat alot at one time, but once that food digests, I am ready for more, but only out of habit, not hunger. For me it is mental because when I am bored I eat. Since having my last child I have began to fall back into old habits, but I know I can make the changes because my sleeve still works and I am ready to do this once again!!

Edited May 13, 2020 by Shemekasr

[afterthought 15]

My weight loss calories seem to be different as I progressed out from surgery. Calculators don't wok for me. My calorie zone is less.

I don't eat Keto - I am back on baritric basic diet to get the weight off.

I'm further out from surgery. I can eat more food. If I stay in my weight loss calories,I lose weight. I logged in a food app to find my weight loss calorie zone.

Some log food consistently to get the weight off. Others can guess if they are in weight loss range. I was gaining when I guessed.

None of this is a one size fits all to get the weight back down. Find what works for you.

Edited May 13, 2020 by afterthought

[sundy65 2]

Glad to read that I'm not alone in this. I had my GB in 2017 and got down to 150lbs and was maintaining. These last 6 months the hotflashes started/intensified and the weight gain spiraled so fast I thought my scale was broken. I'm up to 185lbs and am SO unhappy. I'm beating myself up mentally every day. That old "overweight" feeling in clothes, in the mirror and even the thighs rubbing just brings me down. I hate this. Gotta figure out how to turn this around.

Edited July 5, 2020 by sundy65

[catwoman7 10,845]

I started calorie counting when I was about a year out, and still do it at five years out. It's the only way I can keep on top of my weight (although not everyone likes this method - some find it a bit obsessive. But it's worked for ME). I can maintain my weight if I stay within the 1500-1700 calorie range, but this is going to be different for everyone. To lose, I stay at the low end of my range (or under) most days. If I go over 1700 too often, my weight starts heading north.

you might want to start tracking what you're eating in something like My Fitness Pal (although there are other decent apps, too), just to see how many calories you're averaging. You'll probably have to do it for a week or two to get a good average, since some days you'll eat more than others (as we all do...). Then try to cut your average by 100 calories. If after a couple of weeks you're not seeing results on the scale, cut another 100 calories. Rinse and repeat. I find it difficult to drastically cut my calories, but if I ease them down like this, it's much easier to adjust. At some point, you're going to reach your sweet spot where you're losing again.

btw - I still count Protein grams, but I don't count carb grams anymore - but some people have to because they're very carb sensitive (I'm not particularly carb sensitive). For me it's the protein and overall calories at this point.

[Prestonandme 107]

19 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

I can maintain my weight if I stay within the 1500-1700 calorie range, but this is going to be different for everyone. To lose, I stay at the low end of my range (or under) most days. If I go over 1700 too often, my weight starts heading north.

Man, you are lucky. I am 13 months out and am maintaining on 1200 calories a day, including exercise. This is how much my body says it needs/wants or it will add weight again. It is really rough because I could easily eat 300 calories a day more if I were permitted. I am so envious...

[catwoman7 10,845]

9 minutes ago, Prestonandme said:

Man, you are lucky. I am 13 months out and am maintaining on 1200 calories a day, including exercise. This is how much my body says it needs/wants or it will add weight again. It is really rough because I could easily eat 300 calories a day more if I were permitted. I am so envious...

it varies so much between people - I've seen anywhere from 1000 kcal to 2000 kcal (for women - some men can go higher). You're shorter than me, and you're trying to maintain a lower weight than I am - so those are both factors. Plus there would be differences in genetics and possibly metabolic levels. Plus our activity levels could be different. And body composition - at my last DEXAscan, my muscle weighed 117 lbs - so almost as much as you do! And it takes more calories to maintain muscle than it does fat or bone. So anyway, so many factors here. But yes - I agree I'm lucky. I see people who have to eat something like 1000 or 1200 calories to maintain, and I'm super glad I'm not them. Some days it's hard enough to stay in the 1500-1700 range!

[over65 133]

10,000 steps by fitness watch is deceiving you. I did two loads of laundry, folded and put everything away. All the hand motion gave me 12,000 steps. I have a friend who drives a big rig all day. He gets 30,000 steps just from steering and shifting. You need to be doing exercise for at least 30 minutes, fast enough to get your heart rate up and some huffing and puffing. I am just 7 weeks postop and my surgeon says 180 minutes of exercise a week. That is 30 minutes six times a week but would be better to do 60 minutes three times a week. I walk my dog but he's little and so I don't get my heart rate up enough. Will start walking without dog so I can walk faster and longer. But it is grueling hot with summer heat and humidity. Would like to get an exercycle for indoors. Will check out PLAY IT AGAIN SPORTS.

[november11 970]

I"m so confused about how your bmr can effect your wieghtlosss I know that is does I just don't understand how to apply those numbers to how much you should or should not eat calories wise. My BMR is 1548 so what does that mean in terms of daily calories?? Any one can help me with that?

[catwoman7 10,845]

4 minutes ago, november11 said:

I"m so confused about how your bmr can effect your wieghtlosss I know that is does I just don't understand how to apply those numbers to how much you should or should not eat calories wise. My BMR is 1548 so what does that mean in terms of daily calories?? Any one can help me with that?

you really have to experiment with it because it doesn't seem accurate for everyone. Mine is supposedly 1717 and at my activity level, I'm supposed to be able to eat 2515 calories. I would gain weight like crazy on that! I had to find my maintenance calorie range through trial and error. Mine is 1500-1700. If I go over 1700 too many times in a week, my weight will start to creep up. And if I stay at or under 1500 most days, I'll lose. So I think my actual BMR is probably more like 1000-1200-ish.