Need Help Please!

I had vertical sleeve surgery in Dec of 2014. I started at my highest weight of 235 and lost down to 140. I have gained up to 163. I need help on getting this weight back off. I know I need to up my water, exercise. My problem is I hate vegetables. I have been eating "when" and "what" I wanted for the last 3-4 months and now I'm in trouble. I need help on where to get started (portion size and what to eat). Please do not give me bad comments. It was VERY hard for me to join this group. I need ideas and support. I hate what I have done by gaining this weight. Is it possible to get 25 lbs back off? Thank you in advance for any help you can give me.

Welcome.

The good news is that you've done this before and you CAN do it again. You can even do it while hating vegetables! The first thing you need to do, if you aren't already, is to start weighing and tracking every single thing you put into your mouth using something like MyFitnessPal. That will let you see what you're consuming and what you need to change. From there, you need to get back to your basics. Here are my basics, yours might be slightly different, but this should give you a good place to start.

1. Prioritize protein and water
a. dense protein trumps everything
2. Deprioritize carbs, especially the refined and processed ones
3. Make the most of healthy fats
4. Eat three meals a day with no snacks
5. Avoid liquid calories (breakfast protein shake is the exception)
a. don't drink with meals or 30 minutes after eating
6. Weigh portions
7. Eat mindfully and with no distractions aside from real live people
8. Move as much as possible
9. Weigh myself daily
10. Be kind to myself

If you are really being honest with yourself, then you will need to weigh and measure everything as part of the logging. That way you can retrain your brain what is really 4 ounces.

Have you figured out what it is about vegetables that you don't like? Are there ways that you do like some? I have discovered that some of my previous list of Non-Food veggies, can actually be quite tasty if they are prepared differently. My list included ANY and all Orange veggies. The reason is that my Mom used to serve them to us and made them sweeter and sweeter each time. While I like some sweets, sweet veggies are NOT on the list. However I discovered that making the orange veggies in a savory (non sweet) manner and I like them. So an acorn squash with a little butter and garlic is fine. With brown sugar, cinnamon and the other apple pie spices and I gag.

Textures are an issue for me also. Lima beans have a weird dry, mealy texture and I can't eat them. Okra can be tricky, as cooked wrong and it is woody slime.

Gwen M's list is great and following it will help immensely. For #7, think of eating as if you are a food critic. What does the plate look like? Do the colors of each ingredient add to the visual appeal? What about the aromas? Is there anything that your nose picks out as special, anything it objects to? Take a bite of your protein. Does it have a good chew? Are all the flavors in proper balance for this protein? etc.

I have a list of 20 items that I try to run through and it has slowed my eating down a lot!

Good Luck!

Oh my gosh, I love it. "Eating like a food critic." That's a really great way to think of it!

I always think of mindfulness, in general, with the phrase, "When you're peeling a potato, you should be peeling a potato." Meaning... that you should be thinking about what you're doing, focusing on the potato, not letting your mind travel around to everything else in your life.

But for eating, "eat like a critic" is great.

Thank you for the input. I weighed my food tonite for my lunch tomorrow. Chicken and broccoli and yogurt for snack and a protein shake for breakfast. Now,,, I need to focus on the water intake. "If" I ever get this back off, I am going to try by best not to regain this again. Thanks again!

There is no "if." Believe in yourself - you'll get there!

I don't see hating vegetables as a problem. I had surgery in 2012, and I don't eat any. At all. I'm a meatatarian.

Focus on dense protein. Cut out the crappy carbs. The processed foods, breads, white carbs. Don't drink any calories.

If all you are eating is a piece of chicken, steak or similar, you will find you can't eat much. 4 to 6 ounces, max. And you will stay full for a long time.

You can do this, but you'll have to renew your focus. Weigh and track your food.

It is definitely possible to get the weight off - at any time. More difficult now, yes... because you don't have the same kind of restriction as you did after surgery, but it should still be good.

I would highly suggest joining the daily menu threads. It will give you some idea of what and how much people are eating. It's hard to say how many calories you should be eating at this point without knowing your height and weight. If you Google TDEE calculator, it can tell you about how many you burn daily, assuming you don't have any metabolic disorders. Then, for every pound you want to lose per week, subtract 500 a day from that amount.

It's different for everyone. For example, I'm an almost 5'10" woman and I could maintain my current weight on about 2,300 for moderate activity. That is way too much for most women.

Visit these boards often. There are a lot of helpful people here.