Restarting weightloss--protein shakes?

 I have to confess, I'm freaking a bit.  My weight has consistently fluctuated by about 4lbs. for the past several months.  I'll be around 151-152, then suddenly gain 4lbs. freakishly, then quickly return to safe waters.  This time my weight gain is holding on 2 weeks.  I'm freaked.  Not only about the weight "gain" but more importantly because I suddenly feel like I can eat much more.  I feel munchy all the time (maybe not physical hunger, but definitely bad and persistent head hunger) and I seem to be able to tolerate more.  I have eaten pretty liberally throughout and today was no different.  I know the more rigid followers will immediately see issues with my eating, but I'm trying to explain it against the control that I've been eating (mostly) similarly all along, the difference being that I was never so antsy-hungry/able to eat so well as now.  Even eating carbs before, didn't make me want to eat, eat, eat.  I need help.  I don't want to break the sound barrier and start regain.  In fact, I was hoping to restart weightloss to get to my "half myself" goal of 138!  

Breakfast:
most of a breakfast burrito from McDonald's
coffee w/ splenda and creamer
Lunch:
3 oz. teriyaki shrimp
about 2" square quiche
1/2 c. roasted brussels sprouts
Snack:
1/2 c. fruit
shortly thereafter about 1/3-1/2 c. ground beef and veggie mix
Dinner:
2 oz. pork
1/2 baked sweet potato (fairly large)
4 spears roasted asparagus
1/3 c. watergate salad
After dinner:
2 of those mini powdered sugar donuts (even for ME this is abnormal)
glass of wine
a few pieces of salami

I am not terribly proud of this menu, and as loose as I am with my food choice, I would not normally ever have donuts around.  I blame the sweet potato!  It might have been carby even for me and I feel like bar the cupboards, the food monster is loose.  I hate this feeling.  I hadn't felt it in so long.  That feeling that I can't seem to do anything to turn it around and the hunger is a bottomless pit.  I refuse to regain weight.  Just refuse to.  I never had bulimic tendencies before but I'm tending that way which is why I must take the reigns.  I'm thinking of returning to all liquid diet maybe until easter to make it no gray lines, restart weightloss and negate any gains.  I promised myself that 155 was the warning point and I'm 1/2lb. away from that.  Yikes!

(((Hugs!!)))

I really understand the need to feel I'm in a safe space around food.  I know that terror about regain and I know that bottomless pit of hunger.

You have done so well and you have way more experience than I do.  But I could not do all liquids just to lose weight. 

Something that has helped me when I feel panicked is to plan my food for the day and commit it to someone.  Then, if I have to make a change, I would need to call and discuss it.  Just having a plan and having someone to discuss it with usually calms me down and makes it feel more possible.  Just a thought.

Hope you feel better soon!  I'll bet thinking about you!

Sorry to hijack Happy but have you tried out the food thickener.  I'm waiting for that full report you promised. 

Cheers

I think your day looked pretty good....right up to the powdered donuts!

I understand the attraction of going back to full liquids/shakes, but I'd never want to do it.  Didn't enjoy it the first time around.  If you think the carbs triggered the hungries, then the answer is to eliminate the carbs.  Go back to meat and veggies for a week, throw in a few protein shakes if you want, and push liquids like crazy.

I'm going to let the food police take care of your diet mostly because you, with your experience, look at it and know.  What i do have that may be of value is I'm a notoriously bad loser but at 6 months i found myself hungrier, eating more and slipping in the odd glass of wine.  I was mostly freaking out because I always thought I'd be near goal by 6 months and i just wasn't.  Anyhow i did the 5dpt.  It wasn't even hard beyond the 1st day.  Didn't lost much weight during it but it reset my hunger, and my restriction.  Then in the month following it i lost 12lb which is the most I've lost in this whole journey by 100%.  I've consistently lost 6lbs in the 6 months before it.  Now it could be just a freakish happening of nature but to lose this much in my 7th month is for me is a testament to the 5dpt, even if it is anecdotal.

I'm no vet here, but.... I would cut the donut Maybe instead of the potato, do more veggies. Maybe have that quiche for breakfast instead of the burrito. The salami has a lot of salt too, make use turkey instead? You look reasonably well to me, just tweak it a bit and see what it looks like in a week?

I wouldn't do anything drastic. Instead of the burrito, grab a protein shake on your way out the door if you want too.

Bonnie,

I am also having days when I am snackier and carbier and hungrier than normal recently..

i found myself on a sugar binge a week or 2 ago but completely quelled the monster by cutting out all the sugary snacks and doing protein shakes as meal replacements for a day or 2. it really helped get the urge for candy and cookies out of my system.

So yes, I am all for the going back to shakes for a few days to get a reign on things in kind of as a detox. it works for me.

and i makesure i have cottage cheese in the house for when im hungrier than normal and feel the urge to eat, at least if im eating something i know its lower carb higher protein and healthy. i dont keep the junk in the house this way i cant eat it when i shouldnt.

I'm sure that you know what to cut out. I would start with eliminating the wine, high sodium teriakyi sauce, high fat and sodium salami, donuts, high sodium breakfast burrito (If you are eating the wrap). Some of the foods that you are eating are high sodium items, which can cause water retention. Maybe, at dinner, increase your protein to 3-4 ounces, which might fill you up more. A sweet potato is a good complex carb, but maybe 1/4-1/3 cup might be a more reasonable amount. The sweet potato is a better choice than the donuts and most likely wouldn't increase the carb hunger, like the donuts.

I have also started experiencing this issue and am struggling with it. My weight is stable, but if I wasn't food tracking, weighing, and measuring, I would be in trouble. I'm glad that I'm not only one starting to experience this issue. I am behind you by a few months.

In all honesty, your menu isn't terrible, especially if your portions are reasonable. High sodium content can cause some water retention, so you might look at that. Are you drinking enough water?

Are you exercising at all?

Just some thoughts. I understand your fear. I don't know about going back to shakes. It might work for you. It does help some people, but I don't think that I could do it.

Gail

Well, I think you already took the first step to get control back.  Your honesty, your prior success, your willingness, your knowledge about; how it was, what happened to change all that and how its like now, are your best friends, its obvious you haven't forgotten about all that.   With all your success, you don't need someone like me @ 3 months out to tell you anything, LOL but that never stopped me before; get back to Basics; high protein, LOW carbs, hydration, vitamins, log your food, (you know how many calories you need to lose weight), get your exercise, consider whats going on in your life emotionally that might be going on behind the scenes, do it all, one day at a time....and before you know it, you'll will be right as rain, again....  

I pray I have your courage when I have been at goal weight for as long as you, to wake up before I screw the pooch, so to speak, keep showing us how its done.....

First I want to tell you that I understand and commiserate with your fear of regain.  I too share your fear.  Before surgery, I took a full year to look deeply into the success and failure rates of all the surgeries and read every study I could get my hands on, which was just about all of them.  What I came to understand is that weight loss happens with almost all the surgeries, surgery techniques, and eating plans, however, regain starts at about 12 months out and increases in the 2-3 year span.  We are not home free ever, but certainly not until we hit the five year mark. Most of my choices in surgery, surgeon, and eating plan have come from this research.

I know that you have never needed to follow a strict diet to lose the weight.  You have been fortunate to have experienced great restriction and loss of most of your hunger.  You are young enough to have a good metabolism and this strategy worked great for you.  The trick now is to be open enough to reassess your strategy.  As you get further out things begin to change for most of us.  I can eat more now, I have more hunger and my cravings are back.  I knew going in to this that I most likely had a window of time to lose the weight and then things would get harder.  Things have definitely gotten harder now.  If this is true for you as well, then just going on a liquid, (read deprivation) diet will not solve the problem long term, and that's what you really need, a long term strategy.  If you really believe that things have changed ( and some of us are lucky and they never change, but most of us have to adjust), then you need to go back to a more restricted diet.  I am talking about journaling, eating lean dense protein, and maybe even fewer carbs.  I didn't see anything really wrong with your diet for maintenance, except the obvious, of course.  You might just not be able to handle this amount of calories anymore.  You might have to start working with your pyloric valve to decrease hunger and drinking more in between meals.  It is possible that this is all just sodium or TOM, or waste, and nothing to worry about, but if you are becoming concerned and start to believe that this is the start of regain, don't do liquids, rethink your strategy and come up with a new plan that works for now.  This is my best advice, look at every step of this journey as a temporary solution and be willing to make changes and adjustments all along the way to make this work for YOU.  I am pulling for you in a big way and I totally relate.