weight gain

I had the gastric sleeve Jan. 2016. I lost 112 lbs, as of today I have gained 12 lbs, I feel like I am falling back into old habits, and this is due to every day life. Does any one have any suggestions? I work 12 hour shifts and by the time I get home its after 8 pm. and I eat the quickest thing to prepare or fast food.

Prepare food and take it with you to work. I also work 12 hour shifts and pre-plan my meals. Log your meals and track the calories you consume.

Meal prep on the weekends so that you have your meals and snacks ready for when you want them. That way you can throw them in the microwave or oven and just put your feet up after a long day of work. There are some good meal prep for the week videos on Youtube. You can use a sheet pan to cook all of your proteins (chicken, sausage, salmon etc.) in the oven, package the protein with some frozen veg, or cauliflower rice (it will thaw by the time you reheat the meal), have small ziplock bags of snacks so that if the munchie**** your are ready with a healthy snack. It may take you an hour at first to do the prep, but you will get better at it. It also makes it easy to track your macros, just add a custom meal into MFP and then divide it by the servings. I hope these suggestions help.

If you head for the first thing you find when getting home, then the first thing you find needs to be healthy. My refrigerator is full, always, with cheese sticks, greek yogurt in single serve packages, hard boiled eggs, deli lunch meat, and low carb milk. My counter always, always has beef jerky, peanuts in one ounce packages, and little packs of peanut butter, and those uncoated chocorite bars that are 100 calories. So when I come home hungry I grab those things. It is always better to have protein sources like chicken, beef, fish, etc, but if you cannot or will not cook these things will work. When I have time I make turkey meatballs, chili, spaghetti sauce, and freeze in small containers so I can thaw something rather than cook.

I also do not leave the house without these things and a very big thermos of liquid. I am two years out and at this point it is all about the plan. You always have to have a plan. I recently started back up, caught myself at only an 8-pound gain, and am on the way back down now. Good for you for catching it at 12 pounds only.

As the others have said the key is to plan. When you have a day off do meal prep and freeze things in single serve containers so that all you have to do is heat one up at a time when you get home or on your break at work. I am 3 years out and I still log everything into Fitness Pal to stay accountable, I log in every morning and input what I will eat that day. If I don't plan then it is easy to go off track.

I found myself in a similar situation. I was a SAHM for 5 years, I returned to work and promptly stopped losing weight. I haven't gained any back yet but I noticed that my appetite has come back and I'm a bit scared of that. I'm trying hard to meal prep on my day off, keeping lean protein a priority, and forcing myself to drink water instead of 6 coffees a day. I'm also not focused on my meals and eating on the run. Another old habit. I've been trying to sit at the table and eat a properly plated meal (it's a tea cup saucer but still a plate) without having the TV or a magazine or my phone but paying attention to what is going into my mouth.

I find it hard but I'm determined. I hope you can take something helpful away from this.

You have already taken the hardest step by saying enough is enough and now I want to get back on track. I maintained 118-125 for over 10 years after losing 200 pounds. Due to a personal tragedy I gained and hit the 190 mark a year ago. After several starts it finally clicked and I am back to goal losing 70 pounds of regain. Here are some steps that helped me and I hope they will help you too! You may have several starts and stops but don't give up, don't beat yourself up. IT WILL CLICK!!! Our tool works if we work the tool and get back to the basics.

Planning/Preparing

Remember when we were preparing for surgery? How many meetings, classes and such did we attend? We were told the more prepared we were the better our chances were for success. And they were right. Go through the house, car and work place and get rid of trigger foods. Stock up on foods that will keep you on track. I removed every bad carb/sugar temptation and replaced it with lots of protein, veggies, grains and fruits.

Journaling

Get back to journaling. This will help you identify when you feel like eating, stress factors and any triggers in your life. Once you identify these factors, this will help you put tools in place to keep you from eating. It became clear I was not taking time for me anymore. I worked my day job and then spent the rest of my time caring for my husband. It was easy to reach for fast, prepackaged food. Since I purged my home I have to eat clean as there are no other options LOL

Use a tool to track you're eating and exercise like Getting Started with Health Tracker. Once I started to track ever bite and drink it became clear why I had gained.

Goals/Rewards

Make a list of goals for yourself. Make them realistic and small. Some of mine were move more, purge all junk from my home, eat more protein. If you didn't make a Weight Loss Surgery bucket list when you first had surgery do it now. GREAT reminder of all the things you can enjoy in life after losing weight.

Food

In general, a long term post-weight loss surgery eating plan includes foods that are high in protein, and low in fat?, calories, and sugar. Important, vitamins and minerals are provided as supplements. (if you had a different surgery adjust this to your food plan).

Water

Water is our Best Friend. I have to say I never went back to pop or any bad drinks, however I was drinking tea like crazy. What is wrong with drinking tea? I was either using sugar or 3 equals and 3 sweet n lows per 32 ounce glass. I found once I started carrying one of the metal bottles of water to keep it cold I drank water all day.

MOVE!

I can't say enough about how key this was for me. The reason I kept my weight off for almost 10 years was no matter what, I kept moving. If I could not go to the gym I would walk. Grab a cart and walk all the isles at your local box store. I loved Zumba, bootcamp workouts, lifting weights. When I stopped, the weight started coming back. So for me I am starting slow to avoid injury by walking and using some of the workouts on my Demand TV. Find something you love to do and it won't feel like a pain in the *** to do daily.

Support

If it's an option "run" don't walk to a support group. Come here on OH daily for support and participate in one of the food threads. It helps you be accountable and also great ideas for food prep.

Keep me posted on how you are doing.

Kathy S, I've been off of this site for a few years now, I've gained 30 lbs. I am so glad I finally logged on to view your post!

thank you for every word!

kimbery