HELP...after 2 years, I'm gaining and having issues losing!

BrandNewKimmie
on 4/17/14 12:06 am
RNY on 02/21/12

I had my surgery Feb. 2012 and have had zero complications. The day of surgery I was 284 and up until October of last year had maintained the weight of 153 for a little over a year. Getting married has changed my life - I've gained 16lbs since October. I was extremely cognizant of my weight before we moved in together and now because we eat out a lot and the stress of everything I've noticed that I've been incorporating sweets, fried foods, and pizza back in my diet. Granted, I began to look very sickly at 153, I'm 5'9 and have a naturally large build. I was looking to gain about 8 - 10 lbs not 16! I haven't been completely bad, I've been sneaking in workouts from time to time and still get my fruits and veggies in but something has to give.

On Tuesday, I started eating cleaner and working out in the mornings. I've always drank juice but diluted it with water, I cut that out completely as well as candy, chips, and pizza. I started out at 168 onTuesday...normally I can lose 5 - 8 lbs in a matter of 3 days if I eat clean, maybe exercise for 1 day. When I weighed myself yesterday, I gained a pound...and today still 169. Why aren't I losing? Is my time up...am I actually starting to absorb food again after 2 years?

I've really been trying to listen to my body tell me when it's full again. Today for breakfast I tried all the beginner tools I was taught. I sat down ate my breakfast slowly (raw brocoli and a veggie omlette) and after about 5 - 6 bites I was full and I stopped eating. I'm worried...I feel like food is controlling my life again. I'm obsessed with the scale, I weigh myself several times a day and am extremely fixated on the numbers. Any tips or suggestions how to regain sanity and to take off these unwanted pounds.

Thanks

                            
Kate -True Brit
on 4/17/14 12:12 am - UK

I am afraid that this s for life! I am not bypassed but it is my understanding that the bypass gives you maybe a couple of years before your body returns to absorbing most foods. So to lose now, you are going to have to eat fewer calories than you did in first years. 

Highest 290, Banded - 248   Lowest 139 (too thin!). Comfort zone 155-165.

Happily banded since May 2006.  Regain of 28lbs 2013-14.  ALL GONE!

But some has returned! Up to 175, argh! Off we go again,

   

Laura in Texas
on 4/17/14 3:00 am

For me I had to cut back my calories dramatically around the 2 year mark. I was eating over 2500 a day and had to cut back to my current 1700-2000/day.

Weigh and measure your portions. Sounds like your honeymoon is over.

Laura in Texas

53 years old; 5'7" tall; HW: 339 (BMI=53); GW: 140 CW: 170 (BMI=27)

RNY: 09-17-08 Dr. Garth Davis

brachioplasty: 12-18-09 Dr. Wainwright; lbl/bl: 06-28-11 Dr. LoMonaco

"May your choices reflect your hopes and not your fears."

Laura in Texas
on 4/17/14 3:03 am

Looking at your old posts, you asked the same thing in August. Make the necessary changes now before you gain it all back.

Laura in Texas

53 years old; 5'7" tall; HW: 339 (BMI=53); GW: 140 CW: 170 (BMI=27)

RNY: 09-17-08 Dr. Garth Davis

brachioplasty: 12-18-09 Dr. Wainwright; lbl/bl: 06-28-11 Dr. LoMonaco

"May your choices reflect your hopes and not your fears."

White Dove
on 4/17/14 11:56 am - Warren, OH

After the RNY malabsorption ends, it is extremely hard to lose weight.  I lose between 1/2 and one pound a week if I am very careful with my calories.  I remember when I could lose eight pounds a week, but those days are gone.  The body is now going to be very efficient at holding on to weight.

If you really want to lose sixteen pounds, then allow yourself at least sixteen weeks.  I am a big believer in weighing.  I weigh everyday and record in myfitnesspal.  I also record my food and exercise.  When people stay away from the scale, they gain weight.

You are not losing because you are eating more calories than you are burning.

Real life begins where your comfort zone ends

LvnLf5
on 4/18/14 1:21 am
with

I found it interesting that no one has said anything yet about the weighing multiple times a day -- that's not good at all.  You should find a local face-to-face support group.  Maybe talk to your local bariatric center and see if they would like patients to talk to perspective patients or at group meetings with pre-op and recent post-op patients -- giving back and taking the focus off of yourself can help with the obsessive nature of food addiction and all the stuff that goes with it.  Online forums are very helpful, but face-to-face and giving back can mean the difference between success and failure.  Good luck!!

BrandNewKimmie
on 4/18/14 1:30 am
RNY on 02/21/12

Thank you everyone! I'm currently 169, which is technically considered overweight by 1 pound. I think that loosing about 9 - 10 will not only make me feel comfortable but will put me back in a healthy range. I've started logging my food in My Fitness Pal again and just becoming extremely aware of what I'm eating. Now I realize how people gain the weight back so easily. I could never understand that before. As long as I'm being honest with myself and doing what I should be doing, I'm going to limit by weighing sessions to once a week and not several times a day. 

gabby169kitty
on 4/18/14 7:46 am

Congrats for dealing with this before it becomes 20, 30 or more pounds. I really like a book titled  Beck Diet Solution, it's not a traditional diet book, it's more about the mental game. One of the things she writes about is taking control of the weight gain before it starts to get out of hand. She suggests if you get 2 pounds over your normal weight to go into weight loss mode to lose the 2 pounds before they become 10 or 50. 2 pounds is psychologically easier to deal with than 10+. I plan to follow the 2 pound advice from now on. I'm currently 266 and even though I'm not officially in weight loss mode I won't let myself get over 268. When I get to 265 the upper limit will be 267 and so on.

    

Surgery will be hopefully in October or November 2014, with Dr. Megan Gilmore

 

AnneGG
on 4/18/14 4:24 am, edited 4/18/14 4:24 am

It's a bear always having to manage ourselves, isn't it? It is so easy to slip back into old habits and so hard to construct new ones.

Glad you're catching yourself quickly- that is sure easier to get on top of! Stick with the basics, stay away from the tempting stuff, and up your exercise- that's the only way to do it.

I have to reenroll myself every single day, take it one day at a time, and I'm sure not perfect. I do exercise a lot. I also have an accountability partner- we each make sure we're doing what we say we will. We text each other daily, an exclamation point if we have followed through and a sad smiley if we haven't, plus we talk on the phone each week. I'll keep my promises to other people much better than I keep my promises to myself.

I echo the suggestion of staying away from the scale except maybe every week while you are losing- make sure it isn't accessible to you. Focus on your health rather than the numbers.

Now that I'm at the weight I want to stay at given a pound or two either direction, I do weigh every day to make sure I am on track and stay on track.

Stick to it- you'll get there!

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls the butterfly." Richard Bach

"Support fosters your growth. If you are getting enough of the right support, you will experience a major transformation in yourself. You will discover a sense of empowerment and peace you have never before experienced. You will come to believe you can overcome your challenges and find some joy in this world." Katie Jay

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