Good morning all. First time posting. I was sleeved in 2014 - never hit goal. Lost 80 lbs and gained almost all back. I have tried a few times to regain control - but portions, carbs, wine, sweets and sliders have all undermined all I went through. Lack of good consistent followup with a nutritionist and surgeon contributed (I moved away from where I had surgery). So, here I am. I have tried to restart the plan again and again with limited success. Of course Covid has kept me home and cooking for family- I am a good cook and a “foodie” to my detriment. I have some walking issues but expecting delivery of a indoor recumbent bike soon! I have never done well with support groups in person but I’m willing to give this a try. I’m a very positive person and have health resources at my disposal - very grateful for that! hope you are all doing well. I’ll start by leaving this here and consider your responses.

Dumb question but what the heck is an OP? I’m new here ?

10 minutes ago, ohs1966 said:

Dumb question but what the heck is an OP? I’m new here ?

Usually it will mean either original post or original poster, so the very first post or poster in the thread.

On 10/11/2020 at 5:36 PM, BriarRose said:

and in 13 months I lost 45 pounds. No, it doesn't come off like it did right after surgery, but I still have some restriction and I know what I need to do

What an inspiration!!! Losing a 45 pound regain. I can't say enough about your achievement. I gained five pounds and had a very difficult time losing that much. I stopped eating after 7Pm and I don't start eating again until 8AM. It is a very difficult transition for me but I do see results. Thanks for the great success story.

Edited October 17, 20205 yr by Danny Paul
Mis spelled word

When reality sounds like negativity to me it’s time to change. Whether we want to call to reality check or something else it’s a key to go back to what works. Stop drinking choose your favorite healthy foods! It’s really great to hear the positive stories and the community. For many of us it is an every day or more days and not choice. It’s not that the road isn’t hard it’s that it can be both hard and good. ☮️

On 10/11/2020 at 2:36 PM, BriarRose said:

Hi !

I am ten years out ! I had regained about 45 pounds of my 145 pound weight loss .... and decided it was time to lose it again. So just over a year ago, I started with cutting down on treats to one a day.... and then going from chips with lunch or eating out during work days to bringing a salad to work.... then back to either steamed eggs for Breakfast or oatmeal. And concentrating on eating Protein first and foremost. And cutting out potatoes and sandwiches, and Pasta and back to finding the freshest vegetables and fruits I could and making healthier meals and making sure there was leftover chicken for lunch the next day, and eating grilled fish and veggies ..... and in 13 months I lost 45 pounds. No, it doesn't come off like it did right after surgery, but I still have some restriction and I know what I need to do.... I won't ever be a skinny woman.But I am alot healthier and I am back to where I got after surgery.. I started at over 320 pounds and had surgery at 54 years old. I am now 64, and back to where I am comfortable. My new goal is to maintain the weight loss, and maybe lose another 5 pounds this next 12 months or so.... but I am very happy with myself. You can do it. One cookie not eaten at a time !!!

What a great post! I'm going to bookmark it, in case I have regain issues down the road. ?

I'm getting nervous, I had my surgrey in Sept 2019 lost 88 pounds, stalled and now I gained 5 pounds. I am so scared I'm going to gain the weight back. I've been trying really hard to stick with healthy eating, drinking a lot of broth to stay full. Any tips for me please.

Hi Everyone,

I am a 10 year lap bander that is now getting it removed for various reasons. I am trying to decide if I get a revision to mini gastric bypass or just leave it alone. I too have gained - not all, but I have. I want to lose 50 pounds in total. So deciding if I just do it myself by healthy diet and exercise or go to the next level of surgery.

What I am reading here is with the surgery, you have to do it yourself anyway - healthy diet and exercise. And that is a problem for most. We did not have surgery because we found it easy to eat healthy, small meals and exercise. Its an addiction to food for a reason - comfort food. It makes us feel good. Until it doesn't. Its a love/hate relationship. if we all had great motivation we would not be overweight and need surgery to lose weight. Its not that simple. It's psychological. What these clinics are not providing is mental support. We all know what to eat. So why are we all still challenged? Our patterns are inherent in us. Once we get over that food = everything will be better, we will be better. Just like any other addiction.

I'm not sold on this surgery.

I found that I got bored quickly. It was easy for me to make excuses as to why I didn’t go to the gym or why I chose to eat cheesecake at 10pm at night. I recognized that I was depressed.

We all know what we are supposed to do and yet we choose to do the opposite? Once I recognized my depression, I made the decision to work on it. I also stepped out of what I normally did and tried something new, in terms of exercise.

I scoffed at the expense of doing Pilates, but I tried it for a week. I got a pass for $20 and I vowed that if I showed up at least 3 times a week, then I would sign up! I went 5 times. It was so relaxing. It was in a small setting( COVID conscious) and I felt very accomplished after each class. It surprised me. I was getting stronger every class, my anxiety about the pandemic went away, I began drinking more water and I started making smarter choices with my eating. I noticed a difference almost immediately.

That one act created a domino effect. Just say to yourself, “I’m going to walk/climb stairs for 15 minutes 3 times a week” see where that takes you.

Do a sleeve reset. Do one thing for yourself and see if it’s a catalyst to getting back on track.

I ended up having surgery to convert from a sleeve to bypass. I had horrible Gerd and I decided I wasn’t going to live on ppis for the rest of my life. I just had surgery last week and the struggle is real. But I look forward to getting back into the Pilates studio and I haven’t experienced GERD at all.

I have faith that you can find that one thing to get you back in track! I’m rooting for you! Good luck and be well!

16 minutes ago, TrueNorth1 said:

Hi Everyone,

I am a 10 year lap bander that is now getting it removed for various reasons. I am trying to decide if I get a revision to mini gastric bypass or just leave it alone. I too have gained - not all, but I have. I want to lose 50 pounds in total. So deciding if I just do it myself by healthy diet and exercise or go to the next level of surgery.

What I am reading here is with the surgery, you have to do it yourself anyway - healthy diet and exercise. And that is a problem for most. We did not have surgery because we found it easy to eat healthy, small meals and exercise. Its an addiction to food for a reason - comfort food. It makes us feel good. Until it doesn't. Its a love/hate relationship. if we all had great motivation we would not be overweight and need surgery to lose weight. Its not that simple. It's psychological. What these clinics are not providing is mental support. We all know what to eat. So why are we all still challenged? Our patterns are inherent in us. Once we get over that food = everything will be better, we will be better. Just like any other addiction.

I'm not sold on this surgery.

Surgery and having your stomach made smaller or having intestines moved around and your innards re-arranged IS a HUGE step to take. If you are not "SOLD" - I would say the it isn't the right time or the right thing to do -if it were me. I spent over a year thinking seriously about it. I waited until the sleeve was available due to knowing that a RNY was not the right thing for me, due to some medications that I need and couldn't take with it. And with or without surgery one does have to make the right food choices. Mostly because the surgery will reinforce that - and you may become ill without making right choices, especially at first. Making the mental shift is something that a surgeon's office cannot help with. Mental Health counseling can help and you might want to seek counseling with someone who has worked with people in your situation to help clarify where you are and where you want to be. Good luck with your journey.

1 hour ago, Jaelzion said:

What a great post! I'm going to bookmark it, in case I have regain issues down the road. ?

Much luck with your weight loss ! And thank you !!!

Briar Rose - yes, its a huge decision and major surgery. I hope we can make the best decisions for our health and well being and not think we are taking the easy way out. Reading these posts there is no easy way about it and can have some long term ramifications. Don't get me wrong, I am still intrigued by the surgery; however have fears of complications and weight gain of course. It will cost me $19,000 to get the revision done. So it needs to make sense to me.

1 hour ago, TrueNorth1 said:

What I am reading here is with the surgery, you have to do it yourself anyway - healthy diet and exercise.

No. It's definitely not the same. You don't have to do it "all yourself anyway". WLS is doing its part as well and it's not a small part. Otherwise WLS wouldn't be the most successful therapy when it comes to obesity and everything else (including therapy) has failed miserably.

Quote

It's psychological. What these clinics are not providing is mental support.

Blaming it all on "psychology" and "mental stuff" is denying the physiological part of the disease called obesity. That doesn't make any sense.

Quote

I'm not sold on this surgery.

Then maybe you shouldn't go ahead, at least not now.

1 hour ago, TrueNorth1 said:

It will cost me $19,000 to get the revision done. So it needs to make sense to me.

Alot of us on here got the surgery costs covered by insurance, so yeah, having to shell out $19K adds ALOT to think about.

Its easy to say now that I am 2 years post op that I would totally do it again, even if I had to pay, but really, if I think about it, I’m not 100% sure I would have gone through with it knowing nothing of my outcome back then if I had to shell out that much cash.

With that said:

I started gaining weight about 15 years ago, and spent maybe the last 10 of those years morbidly obese. Yes, I had done diet and exercise several times...on THREE separate occasions I even lost 50+ lbs. The longest I kept those 50+ lost lbs off my body was probably 2 months max...until it started to slowly pile back on to return in its entirety plus some within 4-5 months. There was no mystery to this: I went back to eating the way I did pre-diet and stopped exercising.

Now, with WLS, I have been able to keep the 120lbs I lost off of me for SEVENTEEN MONTHS so far. Again, there is no mystery to this: I eat much less and I exercise every day. Yes, I am doing this myself, but the WLS gives me a HUGE boost (at least with the eating part...I actually have no idea why I stay active all this time, and actually like it, GASP!)

I have no illusions that I am immune to weight gain. Just because I had WLS does not mean I can’t eat cookies for every meal and sit on the couch all day (but it will limit me to the number of cookies I eat at a time). I have to keep doing what Im doing to maintain where Im at. So far, so good, but we’ll see I guess. In the meantime, I am grateful and satisfied with it all.

Soooooo....this is my long winded response that I do agree with you that your immediate and long term success is primarily up to you, but the WLS gives you that extra “umph” to help u get there (and stay there).

Good luck with whatever you decide!

3 hours ago, ChattyKathie said:

I'm getting nervous, I had my surgrey in Sept 2019 lost 88 pounds, stalled and now I gained 5 pounds. I am so scared I'm going to gain the weight back. I've been trying really hard to stick with healthy eating, drinking a lot of broth to stay full. Any tips for me please.

remember to watch your sodium intake with broth.

35 minutes ago, ms.sss said:

Alot of us on here got the surgery costs covered by insurance, so yeah, having to shell out $19K adds ALOT to think about.

Its easy to say now that I am 2 years post op that I would totally do it again, even if I had to pay, but really, if I think about it, I’m not 100% sure I would have gone through with it knowing nothing of my outcome back then if I had to shell out that much cash.

With that said:

I started gaining weight about 15 years ago, and spent maybe the last 10 of those years morbidly obese. Yes, I had done diet and exercise several times...on THREE separate occasions I even lost 50+ lbs. The longest I kept those 50+ lost lbs off my body was probably 2 months max...until it started to slowly pile back on to return in its entirety plus some within 4-5 months. There was no mystery to this: I went back to eating the way I did pre-diet and stopped exercising.

Now, with WLS, I have been able to keep the 120lbs I lost off of me for SEVENTEEN MONTHS so far. Again, there is no mystery to this: I eat much less and I exercise every day. Yes, I am doing this myself, but the WLS gives me a HUGE boost (at least with the eating part...I actually have no idea why I stay active all this time, and actually like it, GASP!)

I have no illusions that I am immune to weight gain. Just because I had WLS does not mean I can’t eat Cookies for every meal and sit on the couch all day (but it will limit me to the number of cookies I eat at a time). I have to keep doing what Im doing to maintain where Im at. So far, so good, but we’ll see I guess. In the meantime, I am grateful and satisfied with it all.

Soooooo....this is my long winded response that I do agree with you that your immediate and long term success is primarily up to you, but the WLS gives you that extra “umph” to help u get there (and stay there).

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Thanks Ms. sss - it certainly is a tough call. I paid $16,000 in 2009 for the lap band that is now being taken out. MGB will be an additional $19,000. Believe me, I am all for investing in myself but its a hard pill to swallow if it is only for another 5-10 years. The trend seems to be after a certain amount of time, people are following low cal, exercise, feel like they are starving themselves and nothing is happening. Weirdly enough, weight gain is my least worry. Sure, it will frustrate me, but any medical complications scare the bejesus out of me! I'm hearing ulcers and yet more revisions? I'm 50 now; I don't really want to be having surgeries in my 60's and 70's when the risks become greater. My surgeon/clinic provides support etc for 5 years. I think that says a lot as well. Its not lifetime.

One side of me says, just do it - you have read enough to know it will help you stay on a healthy lifestyle. And the other says, get a personal trainer and have him/her weigh you in 3 days/week to be accountable.

I don't have to make the decision today. I am grateful for site's like these that can assist in decision making. Back in 2009 there wasnt much support for the lap band.