weight gain after 2-3 years from surgery
They must go back to their old ways of eating is all I can think of. My plan is to change my habits and never go back to the way I was before my journey began. There are several people on here who have kept it off for years, like Frisco and Elina, who seem like they have made a point to help others. A lot of people who've kept it off probably just don't post anymore and are off living life.
It's simple -- most gains I see are because people go back to eating like they did "before". They get excited about surgery and the potential. They stick with their food plan (just like they stuck to diets in the past) and they lose (just like they did before), then they become complacent and start adding back high calorie foods and/or stop exercising (just like they did before).
To be successful, you have to change your lifestyle forever. If you go back to eating and living like you did when you were fat, you will get fat again. I think this is one of the biggest fears that we all have. I know I am petrified that this will happen to me as well.
But, I know exactly how to prevent it. Protein first, exercise, avoid slider foods that are high calorie and do not fill you up.
Saying it, and writing it, are easy. Living it will not be so easy.
We can do this!
goal!!! August 20, 2013 age: 59 High weight: 345 (June, 2011) Consult weight: 293 (June, 2012) Pre-Op: 253 (Nov., 2012) Surgery weight: 235 (Dec. 12, 2012) Current weight: 145
TOTAL POUNDS LOST- 200 (110 pounds lost before surgery, 90 pounds lost Post Op.diabetes in remission-blood pressure normal-cholesterol and triglyceride levels normal! BMI from 55.6 supermorbidly obese to 23.6 normal!!!!
on 4/21/13 2:35 pm
Part of the weight regain problem that I have seen is when it comes to people who do this surgery so they will "eat less" but still plan on eating the same thing they did before. These are also the people who never seem to make goal.
I agree -- there is no finish line. Maintaining weight loss is a lifelong endeavor. I am three years out and I still watch everything I eat, I weigh myself every day, and I'm in the gym 5-6 days a week. At this point I have no doubt at all that I could gain back all my weight if I let down my guard -- I know how to eat around my sleeve and it would be all too easy to slip into my old sedentary lifestyle.
There's no magic to this surgery or any surgery. I always say my sleeve just leveled the playing field and gave me a fighting chance to do what anybody needs to do to maintain a healthy weight -- namely, resist the (fatty, sugary, salty) standard American diet and move your body on a regular basis.
THIS!! I am almost three years out and I continue to practice the same behaviors that helped me to lose the weight. I weigh myself daily, weigh and measure my food, and continue to log my food. I exercise 4-6 times/week, including weight training. It is totally about making lifestyle changes and healthier choices. Those that don't change are the ones who gain their weight back.
it would be easy to gain the weight back, if I returned to former eating habits. I make choices everyday to protect my weight loss. The surgery leveled the playing field and on this end of it, it is less overwhelming to take off 3-5 lbs, rather than 50 or 100 lbs.
The people who keep the weight off are the ones that learn to eat all over again with the help of the sleeve, then continue to eat in that new way. For many that means adopting a low carb diet as their new normal. For pretty much all it means learning to eat protein first, avoid processed food and to not "push" their sleeves by overfilling them.
Highest 303.4, Surgery 263, Current 217.8, Goal 180