Regain - hindsight is 20/20...
Regain is the fear of most VSGers or WLS patients. Truly, REGAIN is like a 4 letter word around here! (Kidding, really, but I do know how we dread it.)
I’ve been open about my regain. It’s not massive regain and it could be much, much worse. Frankly, without my sleeve I’m sure I’d be back at my starting weight by now.
There are some stages leading up to regain that I thought might be important to share. The first stages to me are the slippery slope stages and should have been warning signs, but in early maintenance I was like a teenager and felt indestructible – all powerful. I had the arrogance of a teenage jock when it came to my weight and how to handle it. Ha! Got served up that slice of humble pie, I did!
Stage 1: I could eat anything and still lose weight (because I couldn’t eat enough of anything to get enough calories in to gain weight.) You know, a bite here or there. A single dip into my partner’s dessert. Easily satisfied.
Stage 2: Poor eating choices begin to show on the scale, but are still very easily corrected. Denial still reigns supreme because a day or two on plan eating corrects your errant ways.
Stage 3: Cravings begin to dictate food choices – this is really a bad, bad place to be. The cravings seem to control you to the extent that they did before surgery, but the sleeve still does regulate the amount one can eat. Yet, you still develop a WTF attitude and I’ll get back on track tomorrow, or Monday mindset.
Stage 4: Food becomes worth more than health, fitness, and outward appearance. Denial is still in pretty good force. You begin to feel out of control, maybe even hopeless. Feelings of self-loathing may begin to sneak in at this point.
Stage 5: Panic sets in, followed by fear, shame and self-resentment and worst of all, hopelessness. I don’t think I need to go into detail on this one. We all have lived it over and over.
This is where people either give in or get going.
What I’m hoping is that by posting this is that at least one of you will recognize what is going on before you get to a Stage 3. Stage 3 is a real turning point. If you can catch yourself and see the signs of what’s happening and stop your behavior before true regain happens you’ll be much better off. At almost 3 years out taking off even a slight bit of regain is not easy. It takes work, dedication and patience. I’d rather be focusing on maintaining than getting back down to my goal range.
As for me, I got going (took me 6 months of waffling in and out of Stage 5, though first). I decided to learn as much as I could about my effed-upness with food. I learned about what food (especially sugar, carbs, and processed food) actually do to and in my body. I learned about how some of those foods mess with my taste receptors and trigger leptin and insulin responses.
I learned that my issues with food were not a failure of character, but a huge biological and genetic cesspool of crap that boil and roil together to make it pretty damn hard to overcome obesity once the ball is rolling. In short, it’s very much a disease.
What I do know with 100% certainty is that regain is what it took for me to truly understand the depth of my issues with food.
"I learned that my issues with food were not a failure of character, but a huge biological and genetic cesspool of crap that boil and roil together to make it pretty damn hard to overcome obesity once the ball is rolling. In short, it’s very much a disease"
BEST QUOTE OF ALL TIME! Thanks for sharing. I know you have helped many.
Deb
Goal Reached in 12.5 Months
HW: 274 Pre-OpW: 266 SW: 254 CW: 125 GW: 145
You must permanently change your lifestyle if you want your weight loss to be permanent. You can do it!
Boy - did I need to read this today. I don't feel like I'm in any of those stages at this moment in time, because I am still in the losing phase, but what you describe is the very slippery slope I am terrified I will go down some day. SO - thank you so much for sharing with us the way you perceive it. I've said all along that the minute I find myself slipping will be exactly when I delve deeper into how and why I have the relationship with food that I do, so I appreciate you sharing that as well! I've done a LOT of digging on that subject and understand a LOT about my relationship with food, but it may take on deeper meaning in the future, so I'll keep that in mind.
This is truly a great post Karik. I am sitting at about a 2.5 right now. Your stages totally make sense and really resonated with me. Thank you
Surgeon: Chengelis Surgery on 12/19/2011 A little less carb eating compared to my weight loss phase loose sleever here!
1Mo: -21 2Mo: -16 3Mo: -12 4MO - 13 5MO: -11 6MO: -10 7MO: -10.3 8MO: -6 Goal in 8 months 4 days!! 6' 2'' EWL 103% Starting size 28 or 4x (tight) now size 12 or large, shoe size 12 w to 10.5 150+ pounds lost
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