former_vbg

I had my surgery 6/22 and overall it went fine. I have had a fair amount of issues with gas pain, particularly up in my left shoulder area. Sometimes like someone is stabbing me with a knife- but it will come and go. I am walking a fair amount, but what has started bothering me about Sat morning is a pain in my left lower abdomen area. Occasionally, I will have a coughing episode and I have to hold that area in my lower left abdomen. I'm not sure holding it decreases the pain, but it is sharp and painful. Once I'm resting, its just kind of a dull pain. The pain med they sent me home with doesn't really do much for it and so I have stopped taking it so I can drive. I don't have a temperature, and everything else seems to be going well for only being 4 days out from surgery. I'm actually going to go to the store and get some sugar free popsicles today. Anyone know what lower left abdominal pain might be?

I am only posting this as someone who would support a support group in the KC area. I do not have the time to lead the group, but I would do everything I can to support the group leader in their role, and of course participate as my schedule allowed. I will be 3 yrs out this June! Great idea Alex!!

You are better off googling it. It will help you reset your restriction.

You will get better information from other threads for people who just had their surgeries. This thread is for those a year or more out from surgery!

This thread is for those longer out from their surgery. I'm not sure why the newbies keep coming in here and posting about weight gain right after their surgeries. When I catch these posts, I try to post something nice to guide them to other threads but they still keep coming in here.

I understand you want to get to goal by just trying to eat smaller meals, but as your body changes, so will your body in how it metabolizes food. If you haven't lost anything in 4 months then you will need to find something different in your regimine. If you are unwilling to be more restrictive in your eating, then you will need to step up more exercise- particularly in the cardio area so you are burning more calories. Bottomline, you will need to change one or more things in your routine that will get you back on the losing path.

So, in June it will be 4years this June that I had my surgery. Overall, I would probably say I've been successful, although I have had my fair share of challenges. I reached my goal of 120# and stayed there a few months but had lots of comments from people who said they thought I looked too thin. At times, I wondered the motives from some of the people who said it because I think some people feel threatened when all of a sudden they might be the "fat" ones, even if they are only 20 or 30# overweight. I guess I gave in and "allowed" a 10# gain which I regret because I had always decided that I wanted a 10# bounce zone for those times of stress that I know happen. Well, that has now put me at 155# that I am struggling to get off. I am going to work hard to get back to my 120# range and stay there if I can. I have people who tell me now, "oh, but you look fine". Ok, maybe I do look "fine", but I felt fantastic in the 120#, or even the 130#, but I am not going to let others dictate how I should look. I wasn't at an unhealthy weight. I have had a lot of job stress the past couple of years and it continues even now, but I started a couple of weeks ago to clear out all the bad carbs and get back to the basics. I've been successful in doing so and am seeing movement on the scale. I know everyone has their preference about getting whether it be daily/ weekly, etc. For me, if I weigh daily, it makes me LOOK at the # and face reality. I know that when I avoid the scale, I'm ignoring my addiction to food and giving myself "permission" to not pay attention to what I'm eating. I have gone weeks w/out getting on the scale and then when I get back on, I get nervous for the damage I have done. Yes, my clothes tell me, but for me I need to SEE that #. I am back to weighing daily and I am going to get back on track. It's going to be a litle more difficult not just because I'm further out from surgery, but also because I have a fair amoun of hip pain. I have learned through a number of dr. appoinments that I am going to need hip replacement soon. I'm only 43, but I have been able to trace it back to being born with hip displacia as a child. My PCP had always said it was bursitis and so I have put up with the pain all these years until it started getting worse earlier this year. And, then the MRI's and Bone Scans told the story. I'm not going to let this deter me, I just am going to have to be extra careful with what I eat. Anyways, all the best for those of you struggling on the same journey. We didn't come this far to fail!

mrwvw, You are only 3 months out. You will notice when reading other threads that this is a natural process. Even if you hadn't had surgery, it is a natural part of weight loss. This thread is for people who have reached or nearly reached their goal, or it's been a significant amoun of time since surgery and never reached goal. Just stick to your plan and you will find your way.

Speaking of cookies, I ALWAYS have a hard time when the girl scout cookies are out there!! I'm a sucker for those Peanut Butter cookies. OMG! I'm not doing the 5:2 exactly, but similar to you. A few weeks ago, I stopped ALL sugar and doing high protein with some vegetables. I'm down 6# but I know the first few is Water weight. I'll take it though. I need to lose another 25# to get to back to my original goal weight of 125#. I look at pictures of me in my skinny jeans and yearn so badly to be back in them without looking like a squished sardine. One day I will get to wear them. I ask myself, Why oh why didn't I fight harder to stay there or even better yet, why did I let it keep creeping up and up before I put a stop to it. Darn carb monsters!!!! Ugh!

Do a search for "White Pages" on your smart phone, it's free and provides caller id.

Ashley, it's a huge thing to be able to admit that you are not on track. I have been facing many demons myself the past year. I am now a little more than 3 yrs out and I go in phases where I kind of don't care. I say, "kind of" because deep down, I really do care but sometimes so much gets dumped on us whether it's work/ family/ whatever that something has to give and unfortunately most of us have found food as a way to help ease the stress in our day to day lives so it makes sense in a way for this to happen. Not saying it should be an excuse but I continue to try to recognize the things in my life that are causing me to get off track. Carbs are my drug of choice- always have been/ always will be.... I still have really good restriction WHEN I eat how I'm supposed to eat--- meaning dense Protein first, plenty of Water or something equally good. My lowest was 120# and have been fighting to get back there for the past year. I keep bouncing between 135 and 145#. Do I look fat? Hmmm, no, but I know how I felt when I weighed 120# (see my avatar picture). I felt on top of the world. I want to get back there and I will. I recognize some of the things going on in my life that are making this more difficult and I'm working on changing those things. For me, it's a miserable / horrible job w/mandatory OT every single week and I'm a salaried professional in my field. Anyways, allow yourself to be upset, but try to do your best to not dwell on it. They say that the measure of a person's success is how they handle failure. By no means is an 8# gain a failure, but try to keep it from being a 10# gain or more. Think about the things happenign in your life right now that are creating the road blocks or challenges. Maybe you can change them, maybe you can't. I'm pretty certain you know how to fix this, and coming here for support is an excellent thing to do. I still read posts, but don't come on the board nearly as much as I did the first year or so. I think its important to keep in touch with people that remind me that I'm not alone with my struggles. It's not an excuse for me to not stay accountable, but it reminds me that I'm human and that I can dust off my boots, and try again the next day. Stay true to yourself and just keep moving forward in the direction that is best for Ashley.

You know a thought just occurred to me. It would seem all of us are so busy with work, family and everything else that leading a group is not something any of us can do. What about planning a get together this Fall. I can help plan if there is enough interest. I am thinking of getting together at a park or something where people can bring their kids, SOs, etc, It would be a chance to meet one another locally. Maybe just do this a couple times a year or something. Then, if you feel like you connect with 1 or more people, they can exchange information and provide a little more support for one another. Just a thought. p.s. I am thinking maybe late September or early October???

How long have you been stalled? How much more do you want to lose? Here is a link to the 5:2 plan. Several people have reported much success. http://thefastdiet.co.uk/

You are just a babe in the process. Most of us on this thread have been out a year or much longer and either reached their goal with some regain or never quite got to their goal. You are experiencing a very normal part of the journey. So, when you read these posts, understand that the issues are more specific to being further along.

This thread is for people who are much further on their journey, not recent post-ops. You will probably find more helpful information on post-op regain on other threads.

I haven't had the surgery yet, but things are rolling right along- so I am certain it is just around the corner. That being said, I was curious for the single ladies out there how you handled dating. First, if you go out to dinner particularly at the early stages and obviously you can't eat very much- how do you explain that to the guy? I'm not one to share personal information (especially something like that) unless its with close friends or family- so to me I'm not inclined to tell them I had WLS- just too early. Anyone had any experiences they care to share? How they handled it?

Welcome! I'm so sorry about the trauma you experienced as such a young child. I was very touched by your story and just felt compelled to tell you I am certain you will discover a whole new person through this journey. You will discover many new things about yourself and an inner strength that will help you claim the joys in life you deserve! Best of luck to you!

Congrats on getting your surgery. Please understand this discussion thread is for people who have reached goal or near goal and then regained. Good luck with your journey!

I have a question. I'm doing well on the 5-2 plan, have lost 7# in the last 2 weeks. Although, when I started this, I did 2 days of actual fasting to clear out the carbs from my system, then went to the fasting of up to 500 calories for 2 days. Just curious if anyone ever noticed any bounce the next day or two after their fast days.

Thank you. I wasn't planning on using that many calories. I just meant that it was helpful to know under normal circumstances where I was at. I figured I would be eating between 1,100 to 1,300 on the non-fasting days.

Just thought I would report back after the many helpful suggestions earlier this week when I was asking newbie questions as I develop my strategy for the types of food I should be eating on this plan, or rather preclude if there were other alternatives with fewer calories but still cognoscent of the carb count with an emphasis on protein as much as possible. I had to wait until I got back to the store to look up many of the things I tend to eat as part of my mainstream eating. Keeping in mind I hate cooking and look for easy/quick meals as much as possible. I did look up most everything today at the store to check the actual labels since I typically remove the packaging upon coming home to conserve on space in the fridge. The good news is that for the most part all of my choices were really pretty much fine. I buy pretty much the same things from week to week which include Jimmy Bean sausage (comes in sort of a sausage packaging where you make your own patties). 180 calories for a 2 oz patty (cooked), 0 carbs. Generic saltine crackers 35 calories and 11 carbs (carbs are higher than I like but given that's really still pretty good) and that is for 5 crackers, then pepperoni slices 7 slices, 120 calories- 0 carbs, individual cheese slices (generic), 1 slice- 60 calories- 2 carbs, Tilapia fish- 4 oz individual packaged- 100 calories- 0 carbs, I did buy a different kind of butter but there ended up being very little difference, just went to a light version. I found pretty much all the butters to be fairly comparable to each other with calories/ carbs, with the price being the biggest difference. So, you might be wondering where my vegetables are and that's certainly a valid question. Basically the only answer is it's something I need to work on. Oh, and I bought some eggs, MFP said 1 large egg was around 120 calories which surprised me. In the store, all the eggs were around 50 to 60 calories depending on egg size. That was a nice find. And, of course no carbs and 6 grams of protein. :-) I will use the Spanish Gardens for a little flavor in the eggs. Oh, and I bought some bacon, 2 slices was I think 60 or 80 calories (can't remember at the moment) and another 0 carb. The only thing new I bought just really to try something different were some rice cakes. I don't have high expectations that they will become a favorite or super yummy. My favorite snack which might sound weird but considering what my other choices used to be, it's much better. I take either 4 or 8 saltine crackers, 1 piece of cheese that I fold in quarters to fit on each cracker, then I take a whole dill kosher pickle and slice it vertically- cut in half then placed on top of the cheese square that rests on the individual cracker. So, if I can limit that to 1 time per day or 2 at max, it should be ok. I know have my BRM and TDEE scores to use as a guide. I have already done one day of fasting and will do another day tomorrow as today wasn't hard. Thank you everyone for all your help as I get myself situated. Most of this involved paying attention to calories and not just carbs as I have always done previously. Of course it goes without saying I need to stay away from the junk but that's true for all of us. I think from everything I have read on the 5-2 plan that this should make maintenance a little easier. First have to get the re-gain off. I can only hope anyways. :-)

I found this sauce Spanish Gardens YEARS and YEARS ago and absolutely love it. zero calories/ zero carbs. and SUPER tasty! I don't know how they did it, but I mix it with ground beef, scrambled eggs, almost a complete replacement for ketchup. They make it in Spicy also, but I don't do spice foods. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Spanish-Gardens-Taco-Mild-Sauce-11.5-fl-oz/10313869

Yep, I looked up a bunch of things yesterday on MFP. Fortunately many things I am eating should be ok but with some tweaking. Like you and several others have suggested, I need to really pay attention to the calories aspect of the foods I eat. Take for example salad dressing. I have always gone for the full fat Caesar or Ranch dressing because it is much less carbs. If you compare the lite versions, those are always higher in carbs. It will be a little uncomfortable for me to choose the lite in that kind of situation but its become obvious that focusing on low carbing is not helping w/getting off the regain.

That is a serious work out routine! I tried that work out routine once with a friend who had the whole CD series and I didn't even finish the first session. Good for you though!

So, I've been looking up various foods I typically eat to get the caloric / health label information because I tend to remove as much excess packaging on things after I come home from the store to conserve on space in the fridge so looking up is my only option right now until I can make it back to the store to look at these items myself. I'm guessing I'm going to have to change my choice of butter, or at least make sure its the lowest I can buy. I'm not sure I can handle that butter spray even though its zero calories. Then, I got to thinking about what I drink everyday which is diet pepsi cherry flavor. I drink that like many drink coffee. Yes, I know there is lots of debate about whether we (those who have had WLS) should be drinking that- not going there, I don't believe it triggers anything for me. My issues are stress and properly managing it w/out using food aka carbs/ comfort foods. I would like to hear from anyone who does drink diet sodas and is on this plan and what their experiences have been. I am going to TRY to drink more water, but that will just have to be a work in progress thing.