Looking for some RNY veterans advice....
Haven't posed a question in awhile and now I am need some advice on how to slow, no, stop my weight loss and in fact add about 10 lbs back on. I had my RNY last May 17th. I lost about 24 lbs pre-surgery from 337 to 313. Now here it is just over 10 months out and I am now down to 179 lbs. I know I'm older than most of the people on here but at 6' tall I am starting to look malnourished. When my surgeon told me a year ago that I would be lucky to lose 100 lbs of my excess weight I thought that would be great. Today I am down 159 lbs total and I've gone thru 3 or 4 sets of clothing already. I'm sure a lot of you think this is not a problem and that my body will stop losing when it is ready, but I don't think so. I think I eat more than I should and I really don't follow a strict RNY diet. Most of the time I can eat about 3/4 to a cup of food. I was on a mostly a soft diet for about three weeks because of stomach pain. Last week I had an endoscopy and my surgeon found a stricture that was probably formed when I had my bleeding ulcer back in Dec. Hopefully those problems are behind me.
What I want to know is do any of you know what I can do? Do I increase my carbs or my protein? Do I quit exercising? Any advice will be appreciated.
Jim
The bottom line is that you need to add in more calories. Just adding carbs but keeping your calorie intake the same won't help you gain any weight. There are a couple of ways you can do that, and what will work best for you may depend on what you pre-op eating issues were. You want to put on a little bit of weight but do NOT want to awaken old eating demons and bad habits.
If you normally only eat three or four times a day, you can add in an extra snack or two. this gives you some freedom in your choice of WHAT you eat. You can just get additional calories eating the same kinds of things you normally do, you can add in protein shakes, or you can make the snacks a bit higher in calories than what you would normally eat (e.g., having some nuts or some peanut butter, which have some extra fat and calories). Maybe have an occasional treat of some kind(as long as it isn't a trigger food for you!)...
If you already eat 6 times a day, you may need to just alter what you eat to add some additional calories: eating full fat cheese rather than reduced fat cheese; eating beef instead of turkey, chicken, or fish; adding in some additional fruits (calories and carbs); drinking some of your calories (through milk, fruit juice, or protein shakes).
Lora
14 years out; 190 pounds lost, 165 pound loss maintained
You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.
Thank you for responding Lora. I normally eat 3 meals and one snack but some days 2 snacks. You are right about the protein. Over the last few months I got where I couldn't stand anymore shakes or high protein bars. I'm trying to force myself to have a shake with at least 35 - 40 grms of protein each day. I can't afford to lose what little muscle I have left. If I remember right both you and poet-kelly had mentioned that you use normally full fat cheese. I do that to since I am a cheese head from WI and I just can't stand low fat or no fat anything. I'm even going back to 2% milk. I think I'll start taking all my meds and vits with milk. Your right about the calories. I've got to add them in because everybody is telling me I have to stop losing.
Quick question for you. How is the knee doing and also how's the puppy? Thanks again.
Jim
I agree about the cheese... reduced fat cheese just isn't REAL cheese, LOL.
Gus is doing great... growing like crazy! The knee is coming along slowly but surely. I am down to using one crutch instead of the walker (and am trying to move to a cane instead of the crutch). My extension is good, but flexing is still very difficult (I just reached 90 degrees -- and just barely -- this week). The pain is much less than it has been, though! (Thanks for asking.)
Lora
14 years out; 190 pounds lost, 165 pound loss maintained
You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.
Increase your calories. Add protein and complex carbs (like whole grains).
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
Glad I could help. I'll add that I wouldn't quit exercising, but if you exercise a whole lot, I might cut back some for now.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
When I was having trouble stopping the weight loss, my nut told me to add olive oil to every meal, nuts and nut butters. All of those add healthy fats and calories without bulk. Not everyone just stops losing when they "should". I am still struggling with being under weight.... I am older than most here, too, but I don't think that has any effect of the issue. It's all about the calories although as we age we do naturally burn fewer calories. Don't go overboard all at once, you don't want to go too far the other way!
Martha 
High 250/Consult Weight 245/Surgery 205/Now 109
Height 5'4.5" BMI 18.4
In maintenance since June 2009
Thank you Martha and everyone who commented on my post. I'm going to try and follow all the good advice I received here. How did you add olive oil to every meal? You don't drink it straight do you? LOL! Are you speaking mostly about peanut butter when you mentioned "nut butter'? I do use regular peanut butter about twice a week with wheat thins.
