19 Month Post-Op Weight Gain

[irreverentgamer 9]

I had my surgery 19 months ago, I've been regaining weight for the past 4 months and I feel completely out of control. Are there any tips or tricks to reset myself and get that feeling of not wanting to eat back?

[Arabesque 7,401]

As much as it would be great if we could reset our tummy to the loss of hunger phase after surgery we can’t. You can reset your thinking and your head though it’s not easy.

Start by going back to tracking everything you eat and drink & maybe keep a second record of what you were feeling at the time you ate or drink to see if there are any specific emotions (boredom, frustration, anger, sadness, happiness, stress, etc.) driving you to eat or any events that occured or situations you were in (Friday morning tea at work, socialising, at the movies, a sporting game, holidays).

Identify things you ma have let slide: portion sizes, Protein intake, food choices, Fluid intake, snaking, etc. check your activity levels. Then make a change. Drop a snack or work on reducing your portion size. After a couple of weeks make another change or two like increase your activity, or increase your fluid intake or swap out some food choices to better ore nutrient dense lower calorie options. And so on. Gradual changes are much easier to adapt to and adopt and always seem more achieveable. Become more mindful about your eating. Are you eating because you need to eat (real hunger) or just want to eat (head hunger - associated with emotions, situations or events). Eat slowly to allow time for your full/had enough message to register (takes at least 20 minutes).

Slowly work your way back to how you were eating when you were first maintaining. You’ll get there. All the best.

[Spinoza 1,451]

Some people (including me) find it helpful to go back to Protein first, veg second, small amount of carbs third at every meal. Cut out processed foods and sugar. As Arabesque says, check whether you are really properly hungry before picking up anything. Try to introduce more veg and fruit if you can tolerate those. Veg sticks pre-prepared have been my lifesavers over the last few months when I was trying to lose a big regain in my third year post procedure. And track absolutely everything - when I stopped that (complacency) my regain started because it's so easy for little things to add up.

Some people who have regained after WLS have done well on Ozempic/Mounjaro type drugs, and some bariatric teams will prescribe those I think - worth asking your surgeon?

I hope you can sort this. You've done the right thing by seeking advice - there's so much experience on this forum.

[Spinoza 1,451]

Sorry that was the easy answer and what has (at least temporarily) worked for me. The hard but probably more effective in the long term answer is to address our relationship with food if it's in any way dysfunctional. A bariatric counsellor might be an excellent investment (I am currently considering but they're expensive and not easy to find).