Hi again - how is everyone? We haven't heard from Connie in so long ...   And so many others. I just recently posted to my home state board - Connecticut - and received this wonderfully caring response from a woman who had her surgery in 2002. I share it with you now in the hopes that it might help those of you who share in my stuggles. Be well, friends:

Maureen- I'm late on this- so I apologize.  I rarely find time to get to the boards.  I have a few thoughts...hope you'll be ok with hearing them

First- I know it's disappointing to 'gain back'  and YES you must keep your regain under control.  HOWEVER- it IS normal to regain a percentage of the weight you lost.  In fact, it's part of the process.  You have NOT gained excessively, from the numbers I see here.  Dr. Aranow is not- NOT going to be disappointed in you.  Your WL surgery has been and still is very successful.

I'm going on 7 years now.  My lowest weight was about 128- for a day or two during an extremely stressful time.  I averaged 135 for quite a while  My current weight is 148.  I'm OK with that.  I work hard to make sure it stays there.  I have to yank my chain hard and often.  i still seek regular psychological counseling and use fitday.com to track my intake and hit the gym hard whenever I notice the scale creep up a few pounds.  I weigh myself regularly. 

I believe the reason we continue to have probelms after being very successful is simple.  I don;t mean to make a complex subject overly simplistic- but it boils down to this:  Complacency. 

That, of course is MY belief.  I'm not judging you. 

Sooner or later we allow food to become the center of our social lives again...sonner or later we begin eting like more 'normal' people and loose focus (we stop counting calories and stop paying attention to portion control and sometimes eat out of balance... sooner or later we believe we can live the way we used to for so many years- and devolve to a more sedentary lifestyle.  Sooner of later we give in to the old demons- you it's M&M's- me it's potato chips.  And then the weight gain begins...

Overachingly- I'm concerned about why you now FEEL so hungry.  What is that?  Where is it coming from?  Is there any possibility you might have an ulceration or a fistula or the like??  Go see Dr. A and get it checked, right away.  If it's not physical- then that leaves one thing... psychological.  That can be delt with as well. 

My advice to you is this:
1.  Don't think you have to be perfect every day.  Accept that you make mistakes and don't beat yourself up over them or else you will turn to MORE food. 
2. Seek nutritional counseling and psychological counsling for food addiction and your own personal issues (we all have them- mine revolve around self esteem).  if you can't afford both- the MOST important is the pshychological.
3. Go back to the gym at least 3x a week for cardio.  YOu don't need to go everyday- but you do need to go.  Also- try to find something you enjoy doing that is physical in nature and has nothing to do with food that you can do regularly.
4. Start planning out your meals again like you used to a long time ago and use fitday or another calorie/carb/protein counter to make sure you understand what your intake is on a daily (paying close attention to portion sizes and weighing/measuring as necessary).
5. Go see Dr. Aranow.

That's about all I can tell you I think.  Except that I'm proud of you Maureen.  You've done excellent and been very successful in regaining your health.  You're recognizing your issues now, and you've showed that you have had the courage to deal with them in the past.  I know you'll employ that courage again to do the same.  You wouldn't be here talking about it unless you were willing. 

PS I feel the need to mention... There is no one out there that has regained an inordinade amount of weight while doing everything 'by the book' unless they have a technical failure of their surgery or an underlying medical reason. A revision is not the answer to a surgery that is intact.  Sorry.  The saying used to be much more popular that:  The surgeon only operates on your stomach- you have to operate on your brain.  I haven't seen that said in a long time.  It bears thinking about. 

Take care & good luck to you.