Not very proud of myself!

Hello All,

I have been away from here for sometime & now I now I need so advice.

Had my WLS in Feb. of ’06 lost 107 lbs. & then stalled or shall I say stopped.

I was very happy with my weigh loss but never really proud of myself.

^1st off, I never did reach my goal of losing 146 lbs. altogether. 

Granted I am 58 years young (now) so nothing bounced back, as far as the loose skin is concerned & I had so much fat to loose in front that now as the result of the WLS I have all this loose skin just hanging. 

In fact I have so much loose skin that I still need to wear 16-18 to 1X…depending on the style.  So that in itself doesn't make me happy nor do I go like to go shopping for new, smaller size clothes.  I mean after all I was beyond a 3X & now almost 6 years later I have gained 18 lbs back. 

Anyway…I’m here to ask some questions about the amount of foods y’all eat.

I just read somewhere on the Internet that gastric bypass patients should eat 6-7 oz. per meal @ 3 meals per day.

Is that 6-7 oz. for the whole meal or just the protein part? 

‘Cause I’m way past that! 

Now I do eat 3’s a day but I’m eating like 10-12 oz. per meal.  And most of the time I’m not even full!  To top all that off, I’ve been snacking on salty carb snacks.  I don’t mean just a handful; I mean the whole thing…whatever it is!

It’s gotten to where I’m always’ eating something, especially at night.  Nighttime is the hardest time; I want to eat anything & everything in site…I just want to keep chewing.

I tried chewing SF gum, but that didn’t taste good with my lite teas.

I just want to eat…even though I’m not hungry!  Ever since surgery I no longer get hungry, no hunger pangs or anything!  I guess that is a blessing in itself!

Oh…and no I don’t like munching on celery sticks (unless w/peanut butter) or any other kind of crunchy veggies…so that is out of the question! 

So…what do you think will happen if I started eating less?  It’ll be hard but if I quit the carbs, will my pouch shrink?  How can I feel full sooner than later?  Is it possible to lose more weight now?  And most of all how many oz. should I eat per meal?   

Oh yeah…and what will it take to be proud of my weight loss?

Any & all suggestions will be very much appreciated.

Blessings for a new year,

Linda 

I was told I could eat about 10 oz after a year and that seems about right although it depends on what I eat.  Dense protein fills me up faster, of course.  Things like crackers and bread usually don't fill you up because they chew down to nothing.  Plus eating refined carbs makes many people crave more so it's a vicious cycle, the more you eat the more you want.  
It sounds to me like you have some issues going on that need to be addressed, mainly food issues if you always feel like you need to be eating, especially since you say you aren't  hungry.  Have you seen a counselor or someone to talk about these things with?  Or OA can help, too, or both.  If you don't address your food issues then WLS won't be a success.
Of course you can lose more weight, just like anyone else, if you eat fewer calories then you burn.  WLS doesn't change that.  The trick is eating fewer calories.
Are you eating enough protien and getting enough fluids?  How about vitamins?  Have you had labs run lately?  You might want to make an appointment with your doctor to have your health checked out and if you feel that you have stretched your pouch or stoma you can have that looked at, too.