BroadwayBaby

I have been lurking back here for awhile but haven't wanted to post because I have gotten very off track and have gained back 30 lbs of the 60 lbs I lost from surgery. I had surgery in August 2011 with an initial weight of 241 and a surgery day weight of 232. I got down to around 180 in the 5-6 months after surgery and then stalled out. I stayed in the low 180's until December 2012 when I took a jump up into the low 190's. At the time I told myself there was no way I was going to cross the 200lb mark again. I was doing moderate exercise (I am kind of an all or nothing type of person when it comes to exercise) weekly and trying to stay on track with eating but my hunger - mainly carb craving -was very strong. I have PCOS and had been able to go off of Metformin after surgery but had to go back on it when I was in the 190's. My endo also put me on the pill to try to level off my hormones but it made me feel crappy so I stopped taking it. I was always very good about taking my multi-Vitamin and VitD and Calcium daily but still ended up with a VitB12 deficiency & a VitD deficiency which my doctor gave me a prescription for. I had regular followups with my surgeon who told me that the sleeve only does so much and I needed to do it myself at that point. I told her that was troubling to me because I had tried and failed so many times to lose weight in the past and that if I was not going to get any help from the sleeve in the form of restriction that I didn't know what to do. She always meets very quickly with me and I kind of feel brushed off every time I go in. As I mentioned, restriction is pretty much gone. I can ( I don't regularly) eat 3 regular sized pieces of pizza and then feel full but that is about what I would have eaten before surgery and gotten full. I know I own a lot of this - I have fallen back into eating carbs & sugars and not eating Protein first. I went to see the psychologist who works with weight loss patients and he told me I am not caring for myself as much as I care for others. I am very regimented with my work, my family schedule, etc. and always leave my own health, etc. for last. I guess that is part of it but I also just feel unmotivated to exercise. I am very busy with my work,etc. and often as soon as the kids go off to school I need to get right to work. I could definitely find time to do something but honestly, I often just don't feel like it. Then I get mad at myself for eating too much and gaining weight.. I know that the common sense thing to do is to go exercise and plan out my diet. I've done it in the past and been successful for a time. I'm not sure why I have such a mental block on this. I'm upset with myself for "failing" and feel kind of hopeless that I can get back on track.. I'm also upset because I feel like my sleeve should be helping me more than it is.. It hardly feels like I was sleeved at all. If anyone has been through this and has suggestions I would appreciate it.

Thank you both for your comments! I do need to track - I have had success with that in the past. I had a size 40 bougie done and I have felt limited to no restriction from about 5 months out. I have never thrown up after eating anything. I also think I can eat too much. I had an upper GI fairly recently to see why I was having reflux and need to follow up with my surgeon on it. I will start tomorrow by drinking more Water - definitely something I haven't been doing. Thank you so much for the encouragement! K

You are probably just in the 3 week stall - look it up here - most everyone has a period of time around 3 weeks after surgery where their weight just stands till even if they are doing the right thing. From what I've read it can be moreso for someone who goes from band to sleeve. Keep doing what you are supposed to and the weight will start to come off again!

I really appreciate your post because a lot of it sounds familiar to me. I have only lost about 38% of my excess weight and at this point I am 15 months out. I was going great and then had a plateau which frustrated me and I fell off the wagon somewhat. I have gained about 10 lbs back but a few days ago decided to get back on track and what has helped me is to write down what I am going to eat for the next day the night before. I write in exactly what foods I am going to have and it has surprising helped me to be less impulsive about eating. When I look in the cabinet or fridge for something and see something else that I'd rather eat, I think "that is not on my plan so I can't eat it". That little step has helped me get more in control and I am down 2 lbs in the last 3 days. I wish you the best of luck on this journey!

Hi Tabb - I too have dealt with this. My surgery was 8/15/11 and I started at 241 and lost to 181 by January 2012. I have not lost any weight since then (actually I gained 10 lbs back). I have been watching what I eat and exercising. I haven't been 100% with tracking & eating right every time but I eat way less than I used to and I exercise and have just stalled out. It is frustrating!

I had surgery in August of 2011. I started at 241 and lost down to 181 but have since regained 11 lbs and am working on losing the regain. Found loss was slower with PCOS (for me anyway). I have an IUD so don't get a period at all. For the first 6-8 months it seemed as if the hair on my face was growing at a slower pace but it has since picked back up. Also, I still have acne along my chinline. Frustrating! Hope others are faring a bit better than me!

I too have fallen off the wagon and have regained about 9 lbs since my surgery 13 months ago. I stopped losing at about 5 months out and became frustrated with the fact that even though I was exercising and eating little the scale wasn't moving. I slowly began to start some bad habits again - not exercising and eating more than I should. I really want to get back into doing the right things and need some encouragement! Thanks!

I haven't posted in awhile because I haven't been losing. I know some of it is my eating and some is that I haven't been exercising as regularly but I do feel like my hunger is back with a vengeance, especially if I eat any carby stuff. I am still hovering around 60 lbs lost but haven't dropped much since January. I have at least 40 more to go until my personal goal - would love to lose more than that but want to at least hit that. I am trying to get back on track with my eating, not snacking and doing some sort of exercise. I have done well for the past few days and feel confident that I can get back in the game. I was so frustrated because I was following plan in Jan, Feb & March and seeing no results that I let things slip a little. I want to be a success and don't want to be a failed wls candidate! Sounds like everyone is doing very well - congrats! I hope to join you soon

I have had a similar problem. This week it was very bad - I was in intense pain from it. I went to the pharmacy and the pharmicist told me to take magnesiam citrate - it is a clear, bubbly liquid and it works in 45 mins - 6 hours. She said not to take the whole bottle right at first just in case it caused me to go more than I wanted to (if you get my drift!). I took 1/2 the bottle before bed the other night and it did work the next morning.

I had a loss this week - I've been bouncing around at 184.4 for quite a while but I walked every day this week, went back to liquids during the day and sensible meals at night and today I weighed in at 182.2. That is finally .4 down from my lowest weight since being sleeved so I am happy about that. Hoping that this week I'll see more loss and get down into the 170s soon! Have a great week everyone!

I haven't had anything to post as of late. I am still stuck in the 184 range - since the beginning of January. I went for my 6 month check up and my surgeon seemed happy with the loss and said that I am at 47% loss of excess weight. She said I may only end up losing 50-60% in total. I am not happy with that and while I am determined to prove her wrong the scale seems to be agreeing with her right now. I am still walking & exercising but haven't done as much in the last two weeks as I did in Jan & Feb. I go through periods of extreme frustration at the scale and then times when it doesn't bother me as much. I have tried all kinds of things - more exercise, less carbs, more & less calories. Not sure what to do at this point....

That is so great Lissa! Hoping to join you in a loss very soon!

Love your post! Thanks for the reminder!!

I have PCOS and my endo was the one who suggested I have WLS to lessen the symptoms. She also did not say it would totally go away but that I could reverse many of this issues with the surgery. I am six months out and definitely my energy is way up and carb cravings have gone way down but I still have hair growth on my face and I had thin hair due to the PCOS before surgery and it is much thinner now. Hopefully when I get further out and have lost more weight those things will resolve. Good luck! The sleeve is a great option and I definitely am much healthier now than before surgery!!

I will be six months out tomorrow and I have not lost any weight since the very beginning of January. I have upped my workouts including doing 2 intensive boot camps a week plus walking 2..5-3 miles 3 times a week. Usually when I do my walk I run part of the way too. I started out before surgery at 241 and lost 8 in the pre-op diet. I am now stuck at 184.4. For one day I went down to 182.8 but really have only been there that one day. Other than that I have been bouncing around the 184 mark. I am 5'3" and have set a modest goal to get to 140 which is the very top of my bmi range. I went back to drinking shakes last week in an attempt to kick things into gear. I am mostly tracking my food and doing my best to do Protein first - not much, if any additional snacking. I have been pretty good about getting at least 64 oz of water/calorie free drinks (mainly diet snapple tea). My typical day is this: Breakfast - 1/2 cup egg mates, 1/4 cup shredded cheese, 1 or 2 turkey sausages 29 g protein mid- morning - Protein shake (made w/ water) 23 g protein lunch - Wendy's small chili w/cheese snack (if hungry) - either protein shake or 1 or 2 mini babybel light cheeses dinner - lean protein such as chicken breast, pork chop or steak & veggies Has anyone else plateaued in this way and still continued to lose weight? I feel like I am staying pretty much in the lines and am getting really discouraged. I have PCOS and am wondering if that would make a difference. I have my 6 month followup in 2 weeks but don't anticipate much help from my surgeon as she had told me up front that if I got to 190 I'd be a success. Can anyone give me some ideas of what to do? Thank you! Katie

I am eating between 900-1100 calories a day but netting between 600-800 on the days that I exercise. I have gone over that here or there but have kept the net at that most days.

Thank you all for your encouragement! I have been drinking well over 64 oz of fluids daily and am taking colace to deal with the "not going" problem - it has since been solved. I have tried upping my calories and then also cutting them way down and none of that is working. I will try to add some carbs to see if that might help. I am noticing a small change in the way my clothes fit but not dramatic. People at work have commented that they think I've lost a lot more so maybe it is just redistributing. I will just keep doing what I'm doing. I have to fight the urge to just stuff my face though when I have been doing the right thing and it is not working. I don't want to go back to those old ways though. This change has got to be for life. Thanks again and hope you all have a great week!

You look great! I love your blue jacket - it is a really pretty color on you!

Hi Kathy - I'm not sure what you mean exactly but I know that even though I have been exercising I have to also cut out some carbs I've been eating which have most likely been counteracting the exercise in terms of lbs lost. I do feel much, much better and more energetic on the days that I exercise so it makes me want to do it. My weight loss has really slowed down recently but, like I said, part of it has to do with what I'm eating. Hope that helps! Good luck

I walk or run 3-5 times a week. When I walk I do about 2 - 2.5 miles and when I run I do about a mile. I also lift weights 1 or 2 times a week.

No loss for me this week. I am eating too many carbs. I am going to focus on cutting back this week. Also, I think my calorie intake is too high. I have been around 1100 or so for the last few weeks and have been stalling out big time.

PdxMan - I am in the same boat. My daughter has sold a ton of boxes and they are sitting in my office, waiting to be delivered. When they first came in I quickly delivered as many as possible but we have some relatives that we don't see often and they are there in the boxes for when we see them... I won't lie and say that I haven't had any but I am doing my best to hold off. I do love the thin mints! Good luck to you!

I'm sorry to hear about your setback. I'll pray that things go better for you!

Wow - you have a lot to be proud of! You are doing amazing and it sounds like things are just getting better & better for you. Congratulations!

Awesome job! You look fabulous