Post Date: 8/23/08 5:57 pm
Topic: RE: HELP!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Janette!
I agree with Jessica-we are all out four plus years and facing new challenges in our journey.  But you musn't give up!  You have to try harder to keep healthy choice foods available.  Not just for you but for your kids too.  They can and will benefit from eating healthy too.  Whenever you feel hungry try drinking some water.  I feel for you and I wish there was something I could do to help you, but you know and I know that YOU have to make the decision to get back to the basics.  I gained back 12 pounds from the lowest weight I originally got to, but I have also heard that it is not uncommon to gain around 10 pounds after getting close to or at your goal weight.  My goal weight was 150 but I haven't made it yet.  I'm going to though!!  And you'll get back to the 198 and even less than that, but you have to really want to do it.  I know it's hard, honest I do, but you have to do it for YOU because YOU deserve it!!!!
Laura

Post Date: 8/4/08 8:36 am
Topic: RE: HELP!!!!!!!!!!
Oh Janette, I'm so sorry to hear of your frustration but please know you're not alone. We're all 4+ years post-op now and for most of us, can eat whatever we want and drink whatever we want without much reprocussions. I've been fighting the scale myself but my vice is soda. Not diet either - full sugar - full calorie - yummy soda. I've gained 17 lbs in the past 3-4 months! I'm challenging myself to get off the soda and at least onto diet but the goal is water. Then I'll tackle the sweets and carbs. I can totally see how its possible for WLS patients to put the weight back on but its up to us to put a stop to it at some point and say "I WILL NOT GO BACK!!!". It requires more planning and preparation on our part but it can be done. You mentioned its late when you get home with the kids and usually stop on the way home for soemthing to eat... perhaps you could swing into a grocery store with a deli and get more of a balanced meal; Or pack a cooler with turkey/chicken/ham/etc... and cheese sandwiches for the drive home. Toss some fruit and veggies in the cooler with some bottles of water or juice for the kids and you've got the making of a healthy dinner (not to mention, cheaper in the long run!). I applaud you for reaching out in your time of need. That's what this site is for and I think it'd be helpful to everyone to check in once in a while. I know I am more weight concious when I've been on here recently. Best of luck to you. Jessica

Post Date: 7/2/08 4:20 am
Topic: RE: IT'S BEEN 4 YEARS
You look great. I went from a 28 (tight) to a 12, but over the last two years I have gone back to size 18. I am frustrated, but trying to get back on track. Lost 9 pounds in the last 4 days. Ginger

Post Date: 6/17/08 2:26 pm
Topic: RE: On track...
Congrats on the twins Becky!! I'm in the same situation as both of you regarding weight loss. I lost from 304 to 164 but settled around 170. Now I'm up to 179 or 180 and I swear my clothes fit like I gained 25lbs! I joined the gym here at work and I even brought my gym bag to the office.... its been sitting under my desk patiently waiting for me to grab it and head downstairs. I don't know what my problem is.... its almost like I'm scared to workout. I couldn't agree more Krystal.... who ever said this was the easy way out was SERIOUSLY mistaken! Its a constant battle mentally, emotionally, and some days physically. I really want to get down to my "ideal" weight which is around 140 but honestly I'd just be happy if my clothes fit right again. I'm in 14s mostly but have a few 11/12s in my closet. I also have 1 pair of 16s which I had to buy as a desperate measure so I could go to work the next day and feel some what comfortable. My poor husband keeps trying to motivate me but I just keep going after the Mt. Dew, chips, cookies, chocolate, etc... and keeping the water far from me. I'm going to try to come on the board more often for support. I think if I can do that I may not reach for the sweets for comfort. Stay strong ladies and congrats on all of your progress thus far!! Ciao! Jessica RNY: 5/17/04

Post Date: 5/28/08 1:54 pm
Topic: RE: On track...
Dear Becky, How wonderful...TWINS!! I do the yo-yo fluxuation too! I have found that there are several things for me that affect that. Salt, so I retain more water. Pastas, grains or rices, which act like a sponge in my gut and sit there like a rock making me feel so uncomfortable and lastly, I just ate to darned much! Any success in weight loss that I have is always attributed to the same things we used to lose the weight in the first place. I drink as much water as I can. If I am drinking then I am full and there is a bottle of water in hand rather than a cookie. I keep low cal, low carb stuff on hand that is quick to eat. Yoplait light (delicious!!!!) baby carrots and celery sticks in a ziplock in the fridge. I do dip in ranch but we have to live a little Cubed meats and cheeses in ziplocks. I just have to be able to make healthier choices when I get hungry. I do sit ups and push ups everyday but that's about it for exercise unfortunately. The biggest thing is just to avoid the pastas and grains. I can even eat a couple of pieces of chocolate and lose if I cut those out! I hope you continue do do well and hey always remember that at almost three hundred pounds, you and I would have killed to weigh what we do now so be joyful!!! Sincerely, Krystal

Post Date: 5/28/08 8:41 am
Topic: RE: ANYONE BREASTFEEDING AN INFANT??
Hi, congrats on your babies. Though my babies are healthy, I had a disappointing breastfeeding experience because I never did make very much milk. My twins are 15 months old and I wanted badly to breastfeed them (rented a hospital quality pump, used a lactation consultant, etc.) I never had any discomfort with breastfeeding, my breasts never got really engorged and the lactation consultant said my breasts were really soft and spongy not the typical post partum breasts so I might have lost a great deal of breast tissue with my weight loss. I also used reglan and it seemed to help some but my babies didn't seem to get very much from me. I wound up breastfeeding part time for 4 months; we started supplementing with formula in the hospital because my babies weighed 6lb. 5 oz each at birth but the one I was breastfeeding more (he took to the breast better) lost down to 5 lbs. During my pregnancy I took B12 shots every month. The only regret I have about the way I approached breastfeeding was that I think I was too "ambitious" I planned to pump milk for them after I returned to work and so I focused on using the pump to stimulate my milk production (following the lacatation consultant's advice). Later I found out from my sister that she had never been able to have much of a "letdown" using a pump and she made more milk actually feeding her baby. Next time I will focus on feeding the baby and let the hormones do their job and not worry about pumping. My babies are perfectly healthy according to their doctor but they've always been on the low end of the percentiles in weight and height-like 10% to 20% which concerns me. (Head circumference was on the higher end). Hubby and I are short and small framed though so this might account for the low percentiles. My advice is listen to your pediatrician and try not to worry. Ask for additional labs for your baby such as iron so your doctor can address any potential health risks. Becky post gastric bypass May 2004

Post Date: 5/20/08 8:22 pm
Topic: out of control again! Please help!!
I was doing good until I got preggers last year. I only gained 8 pounds with him and now 6 months later I have gained another 8. I am tired all the time. I do have low iron and am taking two pills aday but I just want to sleep all day long. I know I shouldn't eat when I am not hungery but for some reason I can't stop myself. I can't afford to join a gym and it hasn't been that nice here to walk. Oh it has been warm enough it just rains about every other day it seems. When we do go for a walk it is just around the block. I don't have a car to go to the mall or a park. I am a stay at home mom. If it wasn't for my 13 year old, I wonder what I would do because she help me so much with the baby boy. Does anyone know how I can check my pouch and get back on track and lose more weight. I am at 157 and in a size 14/16. I hate it!! Please help if you can. Thanks.

Post Date: 5/8/08 4:04 pm
Topic: RE: ANYONE BREASTFEEDING AN INFANT??
My baby boy is 6 months old and has no problem gaining weight. He is also doing fomula off and on due to my milk not coming in right. I am taking reglan to produce milk still. There is alot of women on the preggie post op board that nurse and seem to be doing just fine with it. They may beable to answer better than I can. I do take two "dots" of b12 daily. They dissolve in your mouth, I get them at walmart. Tht might help as well.

Post Date: 5/6/08 1:47 pm
Topic: RE: IT'S BEEN 4 YEARS
Nice to see someone posting here! I just had my 4 yr surgiversary on May 3. Down 160 pounds and maintaining! Congratulations on your success!!!

Post Date: 4/23/08 10:23 am
Topic: RE: IT'S BEEN 4 YEARS
Congrats! I too went from a 26 to 14. I still want to lose more but am happy that I haven't gained too much back.

Post Date: 4/8/08 1:55 pm
Topic: IT'S BEEN 4 YEARS
Hello everyone hope all is well it's been 4 years and I went from a size 26 to a size 14 life is great check out my new photos

Post Date: 2/18/08 8:16 am
Topic: RE: Weight Gain!
Hi-Even though You posted this back in December 07', I'm just reading it now and I had to reply to tell You that I, too, am having the very same problem. I'd say I have gained about 50 lbs. back too. I have been seeing a therapist for just under a year now, and I know why I eat when I'm not hungry, I just don't know how to stop it yet. I am eating anything and everything, although mostly carbs. I have been on disability for the last 5 weeks, and every morning I am at Panera for coffee and a pumkin muffie, with 2 pats of butter! God, I know that what I'm doing is soooo wrong, but I do it anyway! I am kicking myself, but I don't stop. I tell myself every day that I'll get back on track soon, yet when the time I had planned to do it comes, I procrastinate about it again for another week or so. I don't know what the answer is-I wish I did. My clothes are tight too...........I put the blame squarely on my own shoulders. If You should gain (no pun intended) any insight on how to remedy this problem, please let me know. The last thing I want to be is on a DIET! I HATE HATE HATE them!!! I just want to be normal! GOOD LUCK To YOU! Believe me, I know how You feel! Linda

Post Date: 1/17/08 5:20 pm
Topic: Hey ya'll
Well Hello California..... I've been gone for such a long time and miss the support I use to get from this place. Miss everybody soooo much. I moved very far away, such a bad girl.... I've even put on some poundage and I need help getting back. I've strayed off the yellow brick road. I'm real down, really down! Almost feel like giving up then I said, wait... I didn't go through hell and back just to go back to how I was before! But I need help. I know this is asking alot. Most of you don't even know me now. I use to go to all of the Seminars, I was so proud of who I had became, and happy with shopping for clothes had the greatest Doctor in the world, he was even a cutie pie. But now I'm so far away from home and I've lost my dirve. HELP ME IF YOU CAN. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!