How quickly regain can happen!

I'm over 4 years out and have been maintaining my weight at 5-7 pounds over my lowest weight for 2.5 of those years (I did not stop losing and hit my goal uitil 20 months out).  I have a self-imposed 5-pound gain threshold... when I have two weekly weigh-ins that are at that threshold, I cut way back on my carbs and increase my protein and water until those few pounds come off.  I have had to do that only twice in those 2.5 years.  I was already up about 3 pounds and then was traveling for the past week and a half so I was having to eat lunch and dinner "out".  I knew I didn't do a very good job as far as carb consumption... but I didn't go completely overboard.  I also did not do any physical activity beyond walking a few blocks for dinner several nights that I was there (but my knees are so bad that I don't do a lot of exercise these days anyway... mostly just my recumbent bike).

I weighed myself both yesterday morning and this morning... same weight... I am up over 4 pounds in 2 weeks!!  I took a water pill yesterday because I sometimes retain water when traveling (I drove the 8.5 hours rather than fly, so that I would have my own car with a navigation system), but apparently none of that 4 pounds is water.  That puts me at 7 pounds up, so tomorrow I have to cut all the non-dairy carbs (I get a lot of my protein from dairy products)...  ugh. 

I know I can get those 7 pounds back off, so I'm not panicked or anything... it's just a drag that I have to do it.

So... just a warning -- and I am sure otehr "vets" can attest to this as well -- once the caloric malabsorption is gone, the weight can start to reappear with just a short period of laxity about your food consumption and/or exercise.

Lora

And even if you aren't that lax.

A new med I took for a couple months over the summer caused me to gain, or at least made it easier to gain.  I gained 13 pounds in about two months.  Eek!  I was horrified.  That med has been reduced and now I'm down a couple pounds but I'm not finding it any easier to lose right now than it was when I was pre op.  I get full on less food, yeah.  But I have to be careful or I can still get too many calories.

I can also attest that I do NOT need to ingest 3500 extra calories to gain a lb either - that may be the case for someone who has not messed with their metabolism but it is certainly not for me!!!!

I'll bet you haven't consumed nearly 25,000 extra calories in those two weeks either ...

No, it does not take an extra 3500 calories for me to gain a pound, either.  Many of us messed up our metabolisms with years of dieting... and some have their metabolism permanently lowered by the months of limited food intake post-op...

Let's see... 4 pounds in 2 weeks (eliminating the 3 pounds I was already up) "should" be an extra 14,000 calories (assuming a normal metabolism)... which would be an extra 1000 calories every day during that 2 week period.  Nope, there's no way I ingested an extra 1000 calories every day...  maybe an extra 500 each day...

Lora

Oh bummer....maybe a little extra time on the bike would help out.

It does suck, big time.  I know for me that happened when I went on the pill back in February to try and alleviate ovarian cyst pain (did not help a bit and I gained 5 pounds).   Then, I gained a couple more because I was self-mediating with lots of carbs.

I got my wellbutrin dosage upped and I am back to the middle range of my self-imposed weight range, which is between 104 - 107.  I know that I wasn't really watching what I ate this week, lots of carbs and some fries (includes dinner out about 3 times, and salty food no doubt), and I am now up to 108 and I feel it.  My favorite jeans are tight and I really don't like the feeling.

I too do not need to eat an extra 3500 calories to gain a pound.  I got lax with my grazing - a handful of nuts here, a glob of Justin's Maple Almond butter there, too many cheesesticks, a few beers, it all adds up!

You have to watch what you eat and drink like a hawk to maintain.  A day off here and there, fine.  A week off - no way.  I am paying for it today.  

I feel your pain Lora!!

 Oh ya.  I still have to step back sometimes and go over my eating and adjust.

If you go from training for a 5K and eating along with that, to just regular workouts and still eat that way?  Ya, you'll gain weight too.  Not that I would know anything about that..not me...LOL

The awesome thing?  I know the solution!  It sounds like you do too.  I love living in the solution these days.

I'm 3 years post-op and went through the same thing last week. I was up 6 pounds in 2 days, which was 4 pounds above my goal weight. WTH?? I can't remember doing anything different. I cut my calories back to 1400 and have lost 5 of them this week. I have to stay diligent. 4 pounds could easily become 200 

Laura

I hear you, and I will be two years out next month!

We had a viru**** our house where we all felt dead on our feet tired, but there was nothing off enough to stay home for work or anything.  As a result, I was barely exercising at all and not taking the time to prepare foods properly.   Before I knew it, I was 3 lbs over my snap back into shape weight.

The weight seems to be coming off fairly easily, but it was an eye opener for sure.