4 years out. got off track need to get back on the right path

[erik]

4 years ago had sleeve at 340lbs. dropped120 pounds down to 220 and for most part have been able o stay within10 lbs of that weight but no longer. ive creeped up to 245 lbs. I am just looking for some advice and a good eating plan to get back on track. any elp would be appreciated.

[Ann2]

Erik, I've not dealt with regain -- yet. But the most success I've seen others have in dealing with a modest amount, like yours, is that they:

1. Get very much back in touch with their original inspiration and reasons for having WLS. Those who were initially strongly motivated to have WLS for health reasons and who reached their weight goal seem to be more successful in maintaining their weight long-term. At least that's what the good research I've studied says.

2. Recommit to losing their regained weight the pretty much the same ways they lost weight after their sleeves healed. That means eating a lot of protein, eating it first, focusing on colored veggies, eating only a modest amount of whole-grain carbs, avoiding empty-calorie, highly processed "bad carbs." The portions you can eat and still lose weight will depend on your own metabolism and activity level.

3. Do not graze between meals. If you need nutritious snacks, that's one thing. But grazing is a whole other thing. You know the drill.

4. Exercise in ways that you can continue exercising the rest of your life.

I gotta tell you -- my yo-yo dieting days are over, by which I mean crash dieting. Obviously you'll have to eat fewer calories than your body burns up to lose the weight again.


If I were in your shoes I'd recommit to a lifelong healthy lifestyle and make sure I had support for it among my household. I'd get my trigger foods out of the house and keep them out. I'd look for support and accountability in other ways -- through the use of a therapist, an in-person or online support group, and/or a sleeve maintenance group. And I'd track my food like a bird-dog with OCD.

Obviously, others will have ways that work for them.

P.S. Some folks have found the "five day pouch resest" useful. I've heard pros and cons. You can google it to find out what it is. Speaking for myself, it sounds a bit much like a crash diet. But like I said, some swear by it.

[tinman]

It would be hard to argue with Ann and her success. As she said, there are many ways to lose weight that has come back years after the procedure. For me, the process is simple. First off, I will admit that I do gain weight from time to time. Almost 100% of the time, the culprit for my gain is my reluctance to adhere to rule number one in the tinman plan. Never overeat. When I do, I gain. I don't gain weight by eating certain kinds of foods. I gain weight when I eat too much of them. Conversely, I do not lose weight by adding certain kinds of foods. Pretty simple.

For me, a simple adjustment to my nutrition will usually kick off the metabolism and the weight generally will come off quicker than it was added. For me, upping the protein and making sure I get in all of my WATER is the key. In my opinion, your metabolism is kicked off and maintained by a high protein diet. It's also my opinion that in order to keep the metabolism ramped up, you have to give it fuel. For me, that fuel is carbs and fat. In fact, that's the case for all humans. Once you've kicked off the metabolism, you've got to feed the beast.

In post op life, again in my opinion, when we gain weight, it's really nothing different than being in a stall. In order to bust a stall, you have to get the metabolism to a point where it naturally burns off more than it's given. Exercise is important, but exercise alone without protein, carbs, and fat, will only cause you body to start to protect itself and that's the root cause for stalls in all who are still trying to get to goal. For those of us at goal, weight gain means that we've lost that natural balance between exercise and nutrition.

So, if you want to try something different to see if it works, try eating as much protein as you can. For me, it's simple. I don't limit how I get the protein in as long as I get it in. My go to in order to kick off the metabolism is Hooter's wings. Love them. Again, the fact that they are breaded and fried means nothing to me. It's the protein in the chicken. I'll eat a ribeye steak every night and what's left over, I eat with an egg for breakfast. It usually takes a day or two and then BAM...off to the races I go. Also...one more very important rule. None of this that I am typing, or that Ann typed, works without the proper hydration. Gotta get in the WATER.

I wouldn't recommend the five day pouch thingie. Like Ann said, too gimmicky and dietish. You need to find a plan that works for you to lose weight as easily as you gained it. Once you have that plan, you'll have the cat by the ass.

So, if the charting and planning and logging and OCD approach sounds more like your cup of tea, then you should by God do it and start right now. As I said earlier, Ann is a huge superstar loser on here and her approach worked, and continues to work, for her. For me, I need something that allows me to eat what I want, when I want, and made just the way I like it....all while maintaining. I've been at goal for over three years now and when I gain, I lose just as fast.

Feel free to pm me if you want some guidance on my methods. Speaking for Ann, I'm sure she would be glad to help you via pm as well. She's pretty famous for doing that.

Either way.....get on with it brother.....

[erik]

thank you for your advice. I have started tracking everything again. and eating regular meals. hopefully this will trigger the loss. I have done the 5 day pouch and it didn't seem to do anything. again thank you.

[Shar1]

Hello. I have not been on this site in a while. I will be 3 years out in March 2017. I have gained about 15 pounds in the last year. In reading everyone's posts and knowing what I know about the sleeve. Over the last month or so I realized what I was doing wrong. Not eating enough protein, not drinking enough water, and eating way past my full state. I also was on a popcorn binge for months along with trying to go semi-vegetarian. The reason why I stopped eating so much protein is because I was having stomach issues, nausea, acid, so I was trying to pinpoint what I was eating to see what my issues where. When I stopped eating a lot of dairy and meat I felt better. In any case I am now introducing a little dairy at a time into my diet, by way of protein powder in the AM. It is amazing when I switched back how full I felt with drinking the shake in the morning. I guess I got away from the basics. I really do not want to go back to where I was 286lbs or more. So this week I am focusing on water, protein, and the exercise part is where I have issues with. I will give it a shot. I need to use a feather instead of a brick to beat myself up, as a old friend of mine use to say.

I wanted to also know how long did everyone continue to see their surgeon after surgery?So far I have not been totally released from my follow up care, but I have not been keeping up with appointments as I should due to the distance of where his office is located, and hour away.

Tinman and Ann thank you of your honesty and inspiration as always.

[Ann2]

erik, good luck to you. And you, too, Shar1.

BTW, I love this: "I need to use a feather instead of a brick to beat myself up."

Tinman, nice to hear your voice.

[DEWD_2017]

Hi Shari - I'm totally new to all of this. I put in a projected surgery date for June 2017 and waiting to see if I get approved for the financing. After reading about the procedure involved, I was under the impression that once your stomach has been reduced, it would be hard to gain any weight back because you won't be able to eat as much. Could you clarify a bit more on how it's possible to gain the 15 pounds you had mentioned? Just curious and also why is it so important to eat a lot of protein and either no dairy or a little bit of dairy. I love yogurt and would hate to give it up. Looking forward to hearing back from you. I don't check these posts very often so if you could send me a reply back to my personal email address, I would appreciate it. (mcavery@cox.net).

[DEWD_2017]

Hi Tinman - I also responded to Shari as well with my concerns in how can we still gain weight once our stomach has been surgically reduced? But it looks like it's still possible depending on how and what we eat. Do you also have to take vitamin supplements for the rest of your life once the surgery is done? I don't want to be dependent on pills, however, I do take multi-vitamins for the 50+ age group once a day (when I remember to take them). Another question I have is would it be okay to be on the Nutri-system mean plan after the surgery? I've done it before back in 2005 and it worked for me but just couldn't afford it after a while. I like how everything is laid out and all I have to do is pop in a meal to cook. No planning, no counting calories, etc..... I could eat veggies or fruit for snacks and they even had certain kinds of desserts included. All in all, it really made things easy for me. Just trying to figure out what other options I could do if I'm not able to sign up with Nutri-system again. Thanks

[RehabNurse]

I was under the impression that once your stomach has been reduced, it would be hard to gain any weight back because you won't be able to eat as much.

Even if your stomach's size has been reduced with bariatric surgery, you can regain all of your weight by overeating 'slider' foods, also known as slurry foods.

Slider foods (crackers, pretzels, chips, popcorn, cookies, wafers, etc.) turn into a liquid slurry once we chew them. The slurry rapidly slides past the stomach and into the intestines without creating a sense of fullness or satiety. Since slider foods tend to be high-calorie carbohydrates that stimulate insulin spikes, they promote rapid weight gain and fat storage.

A sleeved person can eat two dozens of cookies without ever feeling full. The same sleeved person absolutely cannot eat two dozens of chicken drumsticks because he/she will become full after one or two pieces of chicken. The two dozens of cookies has 2400 calories, more than a day's worth of kcals. The two chicken drumsticks has 250 calories. It is all about choices.

Overeating slider foods is the root of most weight regain in sleeved people. One member posted that she had regained 150+ pounds after being sleeved, so take these words and do with them as you wish. Good luck to you.

[Ann2]

^^^^ This!

What RehabNurse said!

[sraebaer]

Hi Tinman - I also responded to Shari as well with my concerns in how can we still gain weight once our stomach has been surgically reduced? But it looks like it's still possible depending on how and what we eat. Do you also have to take vitamin supplements for the rest of your life once the surgery is done? I don't want to be dependent on pills, however, I do take multi-vitamins for the 50+ age group once a day (when I remember to take them). Another question I have is would it be okay to be on the Nutri-system mean plan after the surgery? I've done it before back in 2005 and it worked for me but just couldn't afford it after a while. I like how everything is laid out and all I have to do is pop in a meal to cook. No planning, no counting calories, etc..... I could eat veggies or fruit for snacks and they even had certain kinds of desserts included. All in all, it really made things easy for me. Just trying to figure out what other options I could do if I'm not able to sign up with Nutri-system again. Thanks

No way is Nutri System how we are taught to eat after the sleeve. Nutri system is just a low calorie diet. We are taught to eat protein first, then veggies, then only other stuff left if you are still hungry, which you probably won't be. Nutri-system is loaded with carbs. You don't have to count any calories now, just eat how your nutritionist told you. If Nutri-System worked, you wouldn't have needed this surgery. As far as vitamins, I got "in trouble" when I told my nutritionist I switched to the Walmart brand multi vitamin for adults over 50, seeing I didn't think it mattered three years out. She told me I need the bariatric ones, as the ones I was on didn't have any iron and some B one (can't remember which.) So I switched back. I guess when they say vitamins for life they mean it.

[sraebaer]

OK, I love this quote Tinman,

"So, if the charting and planning and logging and OCD approach sounds more like your cup of tea, then you should by God do it and start right now."

Or you could be the person like me who has never counted or logged anything (except protein and liquid intake) in over three years. I just eat protein and veggies and exercise. I have no "forbidden" foods. If I feel like a piece of pizza or taco once in a while, I go for it. I am not on a diet. I have kept my weight off this way for years. But others have fabulous results with the OCD approach. We're all different, do what works for your. Just don't regain your weight!

OMG, If I hear one more, "I ate TWO sugar-free popsicles," I might just die. Or "I was so bad, I had two bites of Chinese food." Can you stick with never eating certain foods for the rest of your lIFE? I know I couldn't. And that deprivation mindset is what got me fat to start with. It's not that complicated friends.

[erik]

you are absolutely correct. ive gotten rid of slurry food and have gone back to high protein meals. started this on Friday as of this morning down 2lbs.

[Ann2]

It would be so easy to read the advice above from vets (Tinman, RehabNurse, sraebaer, me) and focus on the differences in our approaches. But we're different people with different personalities, lifestyles, ages, body types, ancestries, weight histories, etc. Each of us has done it "our way." But each of us has had considerable success -- we've all lost all our excess weight and are maintaining our weight losses.

You can see some differences among our approaches. But don't let the differences in our tactics obscure the commonalities in our stragegy. While losing weight and while maintaining, we all have emphasized:

Focusing on protein
Eating other nutritious foods
Not making crappy foods one of our major food groups
Not grazing on "slurry" or "slider" foods
Not overeating (by being mindful and/or by measuring/tracking)
Staying very hydrated
Exercise
Continuing to take our prescribed meds, vitamins/minerals and other supplements
Continuing to learn about how to remain successful

To the box food question -- I wouldn't go that route either. Sraebaer's right that those products are not high-protein. I also advise against them because unless you plan to live on them and nothing but them for the rest of your life you're just delaying what you will eventually have to do: Learn how to live in the real world on real food. From my perspective, you would also benefit enormously from learning more about the basic nutritional content of foods you choose to eat -- their proteins, carbs, fats, sugars, fiber, etc. And yes, their calories.

In closing, the weight losing phases are obviously about losing weight. But in my opinion they are even more about learning how to live healthier and better for the rest of your life. Once you are able to eat real food the choices you make will teach you how you're going to live from now on. You can either teach yourself to succeed for the coming decades. Or you will teach yourself how to regain your weight.

In closing, I do not aspire to perfection or suggest that anyone else attempt that approach. I'm just talking about pretty-consistent consistency.

Very best wishes to all the people just starting out.

[sraebaer]

So true Ann, you are so wise. Different ways of really doing the same thing.