Down in the dumps, doubting myself

JMack
on 7/12/13 6:58 am - UT

I'm having a tough few days.  Just venting I suppose.  My surgery date was 6/6 and I'm only down 18 pounds.  For the past week or so I teeter up and down with the same .3 pounds.  It's driving me nuts.  I get all of my protein in.  I limit my carbs, I average right around 30 or less per day.  I listen to my stomach- atleast I think i do.  I get all of my water in.  My total caloric intake is between 5 and 600 per day.  This is where I usually fail.  I start saying "see, it's never going to happen.  You starve yourself and for what?"  So I say forget it and I eat things that I shouldn't.  That's a typical course for me.  Woke up this morning and I'm up again.  .2 pounds up.  It's not much but it's a pound here and a pound there that got me here.  So I had shrimp for lunch.  I ordered shrimp tacos and just ate some of the shrimp.  I felt good.  Then ordered my son a cookie dessert.  And had about 4 bites of it.  WTH is wrong with me????? Why did I put myself through this to throw it away for a GD cookie?  I don't even crave this stuff anymore.  But I took one bite, then one more.  And here I am, hating my weak self as usual.  I fear that i'll be that one person who loses no weight after WLS.  I don't feel like i'm off the wagon.  I don't ever want to do that again.  But why am I so down in the dumps lately?  Why do I feel like such a loser? I don't know what I feel.  Except disgust. 

mkvand
on 7/12/13 7:09 am
VSG on 01/06/14 with

It is normal to have emotional ups and downs after any major life event, and this surgery is definitely a major life event.  It is also normal to have stalls in your weight loss.  If you read through some of the old posts, you see that most people have stalls, but if you stick with the plan, you will lose weight.  You say you're worried you'll be the one person who doesn't lose weight after WLS, but you've already lost 18 lbs.  Rather than beating yourself up over an occasional slip up and giving up, try finding someone to talk about your food issues with.  Did you have to see a therapist to qualify for surgery?  If so, check to see if he or she is available for follow up.  If not, trying finding a good therapist now.  You should also look into local support groups where you can connect with others who are experiencing similar struggles.  Good luck.

claimmaster
on 7/12/13 7:10 am - OK
VSG on 07/05/13

If you were your best friend, would you be treating you as though you were a loser and be disgusted with you, or would you be telling you that you've been doing great, sticking to plan like a trooper, and that the weight WILL come off if you stick with it?  So you took 4 bites of a cookie.  So what.  You know it wasn't a good thing to do when you're trying to stick to a plan and that you're not going to do it again and you climbed right back on that wagon.

I don't know why you're down in the dumps today.  We all have those days.  You had a little slip.  Forgive yourself, do something to pamper yourself to make yourself feel better.  Tomorrow will be better.  Hang in there fellow sleever! kiss

Jane

 Starting weight: 320       Goal weight: 145      Surgery Weight: 298      Current weight: 215         Check out my blog at www.thebariatricvegan.com

Weight loss month 1-22  2-13  3-12  4-16  5-4  6-0  7-7  8-6

   

    

Princess_and4Princes
on 7/12/13 7:35 am
VSG on 03/07/13

I agree with the previous advice.  Also, the 3 week stall is VERY common.  Just keep sticking to the plan, add in exercise (if you aren't doing it already) & don't worry so much about the scale.  In my first month or 2, I found it easier to only wegh myself on my day of surgery -anniversary (every Thursday for me).  Now I weigh every day, just to keep myself monitoring my daily itake better. I am a little over 4 months now, so by no means an expert, but I have had several stalls.  They happen.  Just stick to the plan and keep on keepin' on.  The scale WILL move in the right direction.  We can do it!!!  

--Jen

    

datachick
on 7/12/13 7:53 am - WA
VSG on 10/26/12

The mental hurdles get less and less severe as time goes on. These are the things we all run into along the way--all the old thought patterns, beating ourselves up, etc. This is way more of a mental thing than a physical thing, right? You will learn to get through these things because you will have to in order to keep going. The beauty of surgery is that we can't get too far off balance before we are able to bring ourselves back. It's happened to all of us. Set yourself up for success--surround yourself with the foods you are supposed to eat, get rid of the foods you are not supposed to eat, take protein bars and shakes and a baggie of nuts with you where ever you go, hang out with people who are on the same path as you....and change the words you have in your head. Eventually you'll believe them, just like you currently believe the BS you have in your head today :)

Keep plugging along, you'll do great.

VSG 10/26/12 • HEIGHT 5'4"
GW = 140 lbs met Month 9
CW = 133
lbs
Loss per Month: 8 >  9 > 7 > SURGERY  > 15 > 10 > 10 > 10 > 7 > 5 > 6
  > 6 > 5 > 5 > 0

    

It works if you work it; it sorta works if you sorta work it; and it doesn't work if you don't work it.

    
Nancybefree
on 7/12/13 8:01 am
VSG on 11/21/12

What types of carbs are you eating?

Are you always eating your dense proteins first?

Are you weighing or measuring everything you eat and drink and then logging it?

 As has been mentioned, you are still probably riding the tide of emotions so common to us postop. 

 

5'8"    HRW 357 on 7/09/12    SW 339   >196 8/26/13 (surgeon's goal)   TWL  193     CW   164 

*:•-:¦:-•:*1st pers. goal 178 on 10/16/13; ultimate goal 164 on 12/13/13*:•-:¦:-•:* 

JMack
on 7/12/13 9:10 am - UT

I do always eat proteins first.  At this point I don't have room to eat more than 1 thing at a time, but I start with protiens.  For breakfast I usually have a greek yogurt though, its the light version with 10 carbs and 18g of protein.  I'm still on soft foods but typically i'll eat some sort of fish, beans, chicken, eggs, protien shakes, that sort of thing.  I don't eat bread or anything like that, no complex carbs at all.  My carb sources would be from the yogurt, or a sugar free pudding.  The amounts of carb are minimal, but by the end of the day add up to a few.  I measure and log everything in my fitness pal. 

Nancybefree
on 7/12/13 9:25 am
VSG on 11/21/12

Sounds good so far!  It's so hard to get rolling with the plan in those early weeks.  It should get better when you work your way up in the food stages.  FWIW my nutritionist told me she's seen plenty of patients stall each time they moved up a stage.

As has been said already, 18 pounds in 4-5 weeks is pretty significant.  :)  Hang in there!

 

5'8"    HRW 357 on 7/09/12    SW 339   >196 8/26/13 (surgeon's goal)   TWL  193     CW   164 

*:•-:¦:-•:*1st pers. goal 178 on 10/16/13; ultimate goal 164 on 12/13/13*:•-:¦:-•:* 

cappy11448
on 7/12/13 8:14 am

18 pounds in 5 weeks isn't bad.  That's 3 1/2 pounds per week.  In 6 months you'd lose 90 pounds at that rate.  I think one mistake we make is to set unrealistic expectations for ourselves, and then contribute to our own defeat.  I know - because I do the same thing myself.  the last time I went into see my nutritionist, I told her I hardly lost any weight that month, and she looked at her records and I had lost 16 pounds!  I wasn't seeing the weight-loss realistically. 

 Time to get back on the wagon. You deserve to be celebrating a big weight loss in 6 months.  You can do it. 

Hang in there.  You deserve to succeed, and you can make it happen.

Carol

    

Surgery May 1, 2013. Starting Weight 385,  Surgery Weight 333,  Current Weight 160.  At GOAL!

Weight loss Pre-op 1-20 2-17 3-15 Post-op 1-20 2-18 3-15 4-14 5-16 6-11 7-12  8-8

                  9-11 10-7 11-7 12-7 13-8 14-6 15-3 16-7 17-3  18-3

     

JMack
on 7/12/13 9:01 am - UT

Well, when you put it that way.  Thank you for putting it into a different perspective for me.  (90 pounds in 6 months).  It's probably true that I'm not looking at it realistically.  I'm letting the everyday stresses and the emotional ups and downs of a major surgery get to me.  I appreciate the response.  Thanks!

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