Wait you want me to gain what????

[Taylor32909]

So I am 11 months out and I am already 8 lbs below my goal weight. My husband and I weren't married or even together when I had my surgery. We have known each other since high school and reconnected last October. Last night while lying in bed he told me that he was concerned that I was losing too much weight. He said get up....I said I'm not getting out of bed why? He said I want you to look at your a$$. (I have always been known to have back) I told him I didn't want to...he stated that I still only eat about 3-4 bites at a time and he was afraid I was going to die. We talked about it a little more and I told him I have worked hard the last 11 months to lose this weight and I wasn't going to gain some of it back. He said 10-20 pounds won't hurt you. Mind you my a$$ now looks like it is all sagging skin as I did look when I got up this morning. I do not have one it is gone. I have gone from a size 18/20 to a size 4. The only thing left is saggy skin. He supports me 100% as he was with my almost from the beginning he is just concerned I am losing too much. I kind of agree with him as I would love to wear a bathing suit and not have saggy skin where my butt was. How would you respond to this request??? And what did you do about your saggy butt??

Anyway....hope everyone is doing great with their own weight loss and have a wonderful day!!!

[Aquajog]

Make a appointment with your doctor concerning your weight loss. If he thinks you are losing to much he may adds shake for increased calories and protein.

[Taylor32909]

Make a appointment with your doctor concerning your weight loss. If he thinks you are losing to much he may adds shake for increased calories and protein.

I have moved and had to switch doctor's. The one I am seeing for follow-up is not the one who did my surgery since I am now in another state which really sucks. I went to see her a few months ago and she sent me to their NUT. She was flaky and told me to eat 6 times a day or more but be careful because when my stomach relaxed it would be used to eating so many times a day and I would gain my weight back so I did not start eating 6 or more times a day. Why would I want to get my stomach used to my old ways???

[Stephanie2]

Sounds like you need to keep trying until you find someone that is the right fit for you. Maybe you should look into counseling as well? I think most of could use some counseling. Our lives have not been easy. Good luck and I hope you do what is right and healthy for you!!

[Taylor32909]

Sounds like you need to keep trying until you find someone that is the right fit for you. Maybe you should look into counseling as well? I think most of could use some counseling. Our lives have not been easy. Good luck and I hope you do what is right and healthy for you!!

I am actually going to call the counselor they referred me to today and make an appt. I do believe I need that. My emotions are everywhere!!!!

[Stephanie2]

I'm looking into counseling myself. I hope it helps!!

[Taylor32909]

I got a counseling appointment for tomorrow at 3pm we'll see how that goes....

[12NVDiva]

You can regain your butt by doing squats, longes, planks while repetitiously kicking your leg up, and jumping jacks. Do squats with heels on for more of a burn. Meanwhile the weight gain would be a personal decision between your dr, yourself and your husband. I am a 12 and i was an 18/20 also. So far i still have a big butt but it has gone down a lot but i maintain with the aformentioned.

[jane_vsg_ayla]

Definitely, absolutely positively you need to lift some weights! At least body weight exercises. This happens to a lot of VSG people - you lost weight so fastthat it comes off in muscle and fat... you dont want to lose muscle - that is what gives you body its shape. Its too late now, but you can start working on building it back up. Start now, and keep doing it. You will not "bulk up", you need to eat a little more to support muscle so in the long run when you can eat more (which you will if you are not already), it will help you maintain your weight. But most importantly, muscles are what gives your body its shape!!! Keep them at all costs! I wish they would have explained exactly that to me from the beginning and I would have started lifting before or right after surgery instead of losing all the muscle and having to struggle to get it back (easy to lose muscle, terribly hard for women to get back).

Take pics - it will be a subtle difference at first, but worth every minute of it. Get some training sessions if you need a startup, or google something like "Stronglifts".

ANd dont just concentrate on your butt. I bet if you take a good look at your shoulders and upper arms, you will seem somewhat "skeletal". This is not what you want. find a whole body weight workout that gets progressively more difficult over time (as you adapt). Something like Convict conditioning or "you are your own gym" is also a good place to start!

[Taylor32909]

Definitely, absolutely positively you need to lift some weights! At least body weight exercises. This happens to a lot of VSG people - you lost weight so fastthat it comes off in muscle and fat... you dont want to lose muscle - that is what gives you body its shape. Its too late now, but you can start working on building it back up. Start now, and keep doing it. You will not "bulk up", you need to eat a little more to support muscle so in the long run when you can eat more (which you will if you are not already), it will help you maintain your weight. But most importantly, muscles are what gives your body its shape!!! Keep them at all costs! I wish they would have explained exactly that to me from the beginning and I would have started lifting before or right after surgery instead of losing all the muscle and having to struggle to get it back (easy to lose muscle, terribly hard for women to get back).

Take pics - it will be a subtle difference at first, but worth every minute of it. Get some training sessions if you need a startup, or google something like "Stronglifts".

ANd dont just concentrate on your butt. I bet if you take a good look at your shoulders and upper arms, you will seem somewhat "skeletal". This is not what you want. find a whole body weight workout that gets progressively more difficult over time (as you adapt). Something like Convict conditioning or "you are your own gym" is also a good place to start!

My husband and I were just talking last night and decided to join the gym. My only issue is I was in a bad car accident and I have a torn rotator cuff and dislocated my elbow really bad and I am still having issues with it but I'm sure the trainers can help me with that. Thanks for your reply!!!!

[Grace]

I think that eventually your body will decide what weight is healthy for it and if you need to gain back a few pounds it will happen.
I'd be more concerned with if you are getting all your nutrients....
I never wanted to be a size 4 so it's hard for me to imagine but I don't think I'd worry too much as you are just a year out and this next year will be your evening out time, emotionally and physically.

[Taylor32909]

I think that eventually your body will decide what weight is healthy for it and if you need to gain back a few pounds it will happen.
I'd be more concerned with if you are getting all your nutrients....
I never wanted to be a size 4 so it's hard for me to imagine but I don't think I'd worry too much as you are just a year out and this next year will be your evening out time, emotionally and physically.

I know I am not getting enough nutrients as every time they do blood work they say my protein is low and I am malnutritioned. That is why my husband is so concerned. I just can't eat enough or get enough in during the whole day. Can only eat 3-4 bites at a time....

[Little Verbena]

It sounds to me like your husband has reason to worry. You are not getting good reports back from your blood work. I am very surprised that this far from your surgery date you can only eat 3 or 4 bites at a time. Everyone I have talked to past eight months can definitely take in more food than that. And no one I know that is this far out is malnourished. You need to have a very serious talk with you doctor and nutritionist and you definitely need to talk to a councilor about this. I agree with the others, you are losing muscle and not just fat. That is not healthy.

[Taylor32909]

It sounds to me like your husband has reason to worry. You are not getting good reports back from your blood work. I am very surprised that this far from your surgery date you can only eat 3 or 4 bites at a time. Everyone I have talked to past eight months can definitely take in more food than that. And no one I know that is this far out is malnourished. You need to have a very serious talk with you doctor and nutritionist and you definitely need to talk to a councilor about this. I agree with the others, you are losing muscle and not just fat. That is not healthy.

Thanks for the reply. I have an appt with a counselor today. The NUT just said to eat 6-7 times a day but then my body will get used to it and I will probably gain the weight back eventually by getting my body used to doing that which I don't want to do. I will see how it goes today and we are joining the gym so I can try to build my muscle back up so hopefully I can get back to being healthy. I am tired all of the time and my body hurts for someone to even touch it. I appreciate everyone weighing in and trying to help me!!!!

[jane_vsg_ayla]

Well weight lifting and protein go hand in hand. And you need *way* more than the minimum they tell you after surgery. I would shoot for 100g if you are lifting. And if you are not getting enough now, you are probably not going to get far with the muscle development. So get started, but you need to address the protein and eating/malnutrition pronto! The weights wont help that, it is dependent on it.

As a side note, do *not* be alarmed if you gain weight the first 2-3 weeks of lifting. Its water to repair muscles, is normal and will go away. Ignore it!!

For protein, I regularly get over 150g a day to support my lifting habit. I very deliberately worked my way up from under 1000 calories a day when I started to almost 2000 a day now (and still losing weight very slowly - because I burn about 22-2300 every day, deliberately!) - it took me over 6 months, adding 100 calories every month or so. I can definitely eat more than a few bites now (3 years out), but to get that many calories in the way I want to (high protein), I have to work at it. I eat *all* day long. Like every 1-3 hours. On purpose. Planned. I have definitely learned some tricks to getting more calories and more protein into smaller packages

1) Drink coffee or hot tea? Add protein powder to it. I add a scoop of white chocolate designer whey protein to earl grey hot tea and add sugar free white chocolate davinci/toriani syrup. In about 6 oz, I get hot white cocoa that has 20g protein and about 100 calories. I have also used caramel toffee fudge protein powder with caramel SF syrup - yum

2) greek yogurt (about 12g protein per 1/2 cup) mixed with 1/2 scoop any protein powder (another 12g protein) and dump in 1/4 cup why protein crucnhies (body360 makes them, basically flavorless but adds crunch like granola and has about 12g protein per 1/4 cup). So my yogurt is STILL only 1/2 cup size when you stir it all up - but it has about 200 calories and about 36g protein! If the protein powder is too powdery or sour still, I add in a little SF flavored syrup to sweeten it.

3) make protein "shots". I.e you dont have to drink a whole protein shake at once, or use a whole scoop. Getting in 1/4 scoop 4-8 times a day works too! So I use syntrax fruity flavors (like apple, cherry, grape) - add about 1/4 to 1/2 scoop to *1* or *2* ounces of water. You dont have to make according to the directions! Shake it up (I use little tupperware like things that look like shot glasses with lids). And down it. Its barely a swallow or two. It takes like koolaid. Start with a small amount of powder and just enough water that you are ok with drinking it. Work up to a little more powder. Keep the volume low, but repeat every few hours. You will get 6g protein in 1/4 scoop of the syntrax nectar line.

4) Get "Invisiwhey" or similar unflavored protein powder. Add it to everything. Invisiwhey is 40 cal and 10g protein per little scoop (no carbs or fat, no sweeteners, no flavors. Literally the only ingredient is whey protein. Add it to savory type things - mashed potatoes, soup, mac and cheese, milk, etc. Anything. The trick is to only add as much as you can without changing it in such a way that you wont eat it. I.e. if you are putting it in a few bites of mashed potatoes, you might be able to add 1/2 scoop and not notice it. But 1 scoop and it tastes powdery. So put in the 1/2 scoop. My biggest mistake when i first had surgery was thinking somehow I always had to use a whole scoop. Use what you can! in everything. Any single thing you eat, think of a way to add even a very little amount - 2-3 g protein even! Make every bite count.

5) Graze. They tell you not to. Do it anyway. Eat more often. You are tired because you need more calories (which includes protein and all your vitamins and all). calories=energy!!! a kCal is a unit of energy!! If you ate something 2 hours ago, eat something again. A single hardboiled egg works - that is about 6g protein alone. Babybel little cheese things work too!

6) Learn to cook with protein powder. Look at proteinpow.com, google any recipe. I eat protein pancakes several times a day - because they are yummy There are lots of recipes - the one i use is 2 scoops protein powder plus one egg plus 4oz any milk (i use unsweetened vanilla almond milk). Cook like pancakes. I put sugar free preserves and whipped cream on top. I cook a batch, separate into 2 (or 4 servings) - whatever it looks like you could eat in one sitting. I make up a ton on sunday nights and put each "serving" (which will have a whole scoop of powder, or 1/2 scoop or whatever depending on how many servings you divided into) into a ziplock baggie. I end up with a big baggie filled with all the little baggies. I just go in and grab a baggie a few times a day and either toast them or microwave them and add the preserves and whipped cream. I also have sugar free maple syrup, but I like whipped cream. There are cookies, cakes, etc lots of things you can learn to make using protein powder. Make up little individual servings of them and use them for your "grazing".

Those are just some ideas. Be creative... as you are eating your little "meal" think - can I add protein to this somehow? Cheese on top? powder in the mix? etc. If not, drink a little shot instead! Liquids fit more than solids, so the shots may get you there for awhile.

Good luck

And *please* ignore the NUT who said your body would get "used to it" and you would gain everything back. Get some muscle on you, figure out how much you are burning in a day (it will be less than online calculators say because your body has likely adapted to less calories and is showing that by making you tired). As long as you always eat less than you burn, you will not gain weight. That is how it works for *everyone*. We are a little different because we have less muscle (due to them not telling us to weight lift from the start, so we lose a LOT and end up "skinny fat") and our body has adapted to a very low calorie diet - it becomes more efficient in order to survive... it does this by making you tired so you quit wasting precious calories by moving. The solution - eat more, it will catch on eventually and not do that to you. Slowly increase BOTH calories and activity over time. THey will keep pace with each other, and you will continue to lose weight but will have a better shape, more energy and better nutrition (it is extremely hard to get adequate nutrition on such low calories.. eat more).

Energy issues also come from deficiencies in vitamin D and B - make sure they tested those (they usually do) and are helping you address them. If not, there is very little harm in taking a vit B12 and D supplement. They have spray kinds you can spray under your tongue, etc - use those or liquid instead of pills (due to short amount of time in your stomach, these do not always have time to dissolve and/or absorb properly before passing out of your body - you want the fastest absorption method you can).