Weight gain - questions for those who are farther out

I have a question.  For those who have had the surgery over a year ago I guess.

  When do you notice that its less about the surgery and more about you sticking to the plan? I know its a tool to help you learn new habits but for everyone it works for a certain period of time then they must start gaining back. 

What do you think is the biggest contributer to weight gain?

Do you have any suggestion for those of us who have not had surgery yet or had it recently on how to avoid pit falls?

 

 

I was a little over a year or so out.

It took me another three years to get my act together again.

Inactivity led to my weight gain and eating junk but still.

I suggest that people get as active as they can as soon as they can after surgery and don't rely on the surgery to keep the weight off. 

Sure people who cannot work out keep the weight off and if you can, that is great.  I can't.  I love my workouts.

for me, it was around the 18 month mark. But, I was pretty diligent throughout the "weight loss" phase and I could always tell when my choices were on par.

If you rely on your surgery to keep you compliant, it's more than likely not going to be the result you want. Not always but most of the time.

Weight gain (outside of medical factors) usually comes from slipping back into old habits. Not being diligent about choices. I happen to love to exercise but that's not always an option for some (and even me recently with surgery on my foot) BUT I had to be way more diligent with nutrition - and I made it through the holidays without gain.

Back this summer, I was creeping - and I mean creeping super close to a number that, while not bad, is unacceptable to me. Maintenance has taught me about moderation but I was moderating a little too much and got comfortable with "running it off". Well, the further you get out, quality becomes a big deal. I try to eat less processed foods and I can tell a difference in weight, bloat, and satiety when I do.

It's a day by day process. For real. Don't get caught up in next week. Focus on the choice immediately in front of you and ask yourself, "is this the best option right now?" Planning my food for a few days in advance is a lifesaver for me but again, that's what works for me.

Best wishes.

Eating too much and exercising too little. After about 2 years we CAN eat a lot more and our body is absorbing every calorie. too many people think the surgery will do all the work and it won't. We have to do the work.

Most people notice how easily the weight can creep back on at somewhere between 18 and 24 months, which is (NOT coincidentally) about the time that the body has completed its process of adapting to the bypass and has overcome most of the caloric malabsorption (this process starts almost immediately after surgery, is gradual and takes anywhere from 12-24 months to complete... after which time you will absorb 80-90% of the calories you eat).

Form my point of view, it is ALWAYS more about the new habits than the surgery itself.  People *****gain (barring medical issues or medications that cause weight gain) do so because they become lax about what they are eating and/or how much they are moving their bodies (and many start drinking with meals again, which enables you to eat much more before you feel full). The more ingrained your new eating habits and overall new lifestyle habits are, the less likely you are to regain, and that means taking full advantage of all of the first year post-op to really change your habits and your ways of thinking about food.  (At least half of the battle is psychological, not physical... people who don't deal with the psychological/emotional contributors to their weight loss almost always find that those things rear their ugly heads again a few months or a year down the road and cause problems maintaining the loss.)

My suggestion would be to really embrace a new healthy way of eating from Day One... instead of looking at this as another "diet" that you can be on for a few months and then quit... instead of wondering/asking only a few weeks out when you can have pizza or ice cream or whatever again.  Pay attention to your food choices (and, down the road, to your portion sizes) and eat mindfully.

Lora

Thank you alll SOOO much.  Do any of you think you could have started eating the way you do now on your own.  I always wonder if I should give it one more try.  It would be optimal of course to lose it on my own but that has lead to 12 years of frustration and an extra 140lbs.  I still remember when it was just 10lbs or 20lbs I was trying to lose.  I still work out but the exercise is not fun. It hurts me.  standing hurts, sitting hurts, it all hurts really.

 

 

I couldn't.  I would have been starving all the time.  I get full now on about one cup of food and I never felt full on that little before surgery.

If I could have done it on my own I wouldn't have gotten to 140 lbs overweight.  I am finding the surgery a life saver.  My only regret is not doing it sooner.

Thanks, Thats kind of what I thought but I felt I needed to ask.  For my own sake.  I sometimes wonder if my inability to feel full is something only I expierence. 

Nope. I know for a fact I could have never lost 200 pounds and more importantly kept it off without surgery.