scarlet333

I haven't been on these forums in about 2 years but decided I needed serious help and was hoping to be inspired again as I was 4 years ago when I had surgery. The bottom line is I've fallen back into old habits. I've regained almost all the weight I lost. Have had many false starts. Can't seem to stick with anything. I'm eating like a truck driver (no offense to truck drivers). Feel out of control. Weighed myself this morning. Refreshed my fitness app with new goals and started reading here. Words of advice much appreciated.

Some dense protein breakfast ideas? I usually eat eggs and turkey bacon or Greek yogurt.

I also regained 55 pounds and am 4 years out. I also am saying enough! My feet hurt almost all the time, lacking energy and don't want to socialize since I'm busting out of my size 16s. Today I started back on these forums, logged my food into my fitness pal and started getting my water sipping back in. Let's try to lean on each other for support. We did it before we can do it again.

Thank you both for your replies. So sad to see so many veterans, myself included have left these forums. Everything is dated from so long ago. The weird thing is throughout my 2 year weight gain I regularly e exercised which proves to me that diet is much more important than exercise. The points of not keeping bad foods in the house is a good one for me. I researched macro nutritional goals (which I had forgotten) and set up my fitness pal again. Went to the grocery store and only bought ice cream flavor and snacks I don't like for the rest of my family. Carried my water around all day and sipped all day. Thank you for the advice. Love to hear more if any other veterans want to participate.

I can't get focused. I keep eating pita chips....I'm going to just start now and forget about trying to wait until tomorrow.....u said it Diet is the key Don't wait start right away. Just focus on getting through this one day meeting Protein goals, Water goals, and keeping carbs low. Go to sleep tonight feeling good about what you ate that day. Then the next day same thing. Once a few days past it starts getting easier. So far down 6.4 pounds and will weigh in tomorrow hopefully adding to this total. Good luck!

What's the 5 day pouch test? Its a plan many weight loss surgery people use to get restriction back. I found out about it on another thread and it worked for me. Helped me to feel more in control of my hunger and got me back to following all the rules about eating protein first, not drinking before and after eating for a period of time etc. The link to the web page is http://www.5daypouchtest.com/plan/theplan.html

Week 1 weigh in 170.2. Thank you 5 Day pouch test for giving me a great jumpstart. Please change my goal to 164. Thank you for doing this.

I have to share this. I finished 5 day pouch test today and weighed in at a 6.4 pound loss. This proves to me that diet is everything in weight loss. I regained 33 pounds while vigorously exercising 5 days per week. This does not mean I will stop my exercise routing for health, toning and help with loss but diet is the real key. I am going to seriously consider the 5:2 diet to help with get the rest of the weight off and help maintain. Another plus has been a feeling of power over constant carb craving and the power of portion control. Happy to be back on this site.

I need to restart again I fell off and gained 8 pounds after came home from Paris. I'm starting today. Let's do this together Yes lets do this. On day 4 of the test and feeling good. Its totally doable and I think it broke my carb cravings. Will post back next week to report progress. Did 30 minutes on elliptical. Hope Paris was great!

For those of you that have done the 5 day pouch test, can you use canned Soups for the "hearty soups" on days 1 and 2? I see all the delicious sounding Soup recipes that are listed at the 5 day pouch test website but I confess I am not a cooking type and would never prepare those soups. After surgery I mostly had pea soup, tomato soup, broth (all canned) can I substitute those soups and also buy other canned soup like clam chowder, beef barley etc. Do I need to puree them? Please help, I want to start today.

Ok so I started the 5 day pouch test yesterday. Surprisingly it wasn't that hard in terms of hunger but have had a headache this morning which I think is a withdrawal symptom from all of the sugar. That's ok with me. I ate or more accurately drank 4 cups of Soup yesterday which added up to a lot of carbs for the day (I had tomato soup and split pea). Ironically I got a letter in the mail from my bariatric surgeon that its time to schedule an appointment. This I took as a sign that its time to conquer this weight gain. I would dread to go back a failure. Going for a nice long walk now. Will check back again soon.

I am so happy to have found this thread and group. I am 2 1/2 years out and had been so successful. Although I had not reached goal I was at a healthy and happy weight. Slowly but surely old habits started to creep back in. Grazing all day. Eating too many carbs (mostly sweets). The result is that I have gained back 33 pounds and am struggling to keep off the 50 other pounds I had lost. The fact that I have kept to my exercise routine is probably the only thing that has saved me from complete failure. I am starting the 5 day pouch test today and the other thing is I have joined the Halloween challenge in another forum which I think will also help me with accountability. Please lets keep encouraging each other and get back control of our sleeves. Lets remember how good it felt to wake up each morning knowing that we could fit into anything hanging in our closets (unless it was too big of course). Glad I have started back with checking in with bariatric pal. Thank you so much to the person who started this thread and to all participating.

Thank you for doing all of this work. CW 176.4 GW 169.9

Need some extra motivation. Can anyone tell me what the next challenge is and where to find it?

I got a vivofit a few days ago and so far it is very motivating as I am just figuring it out. I was only able to connect to heynowkc.

To add my 2 cents. I can easily out eat any exercise I have done in one sitting. In fact although I exercise 5 days a week and jog approximately 12 miles per week I have been steadily gaining weight. I suppose it would be more weight if I wasn't exercising. Diet is everything 100% of weight loss. The reasons I exercise are it improves my heart health, it changes the way my body looks, it helps me get my water intake up, it does suppress my appetite in the short term and it just makes me feel good.

I am so with you on this struggle. I am now 20 pounds up from my lowest weight since surgery in March of 2013. I have kept up and even upped my exercise throughout this whole period but I have started with snacking and eating the wrong things. It is so easy to out -eat your exercise. Lets try to get the extra pounds off by summer. A tip I am trying is instead of putting on stretchy cloths I am putting on my tight uncomfortable size 8s which were quite comfortable 20 pounds ago. The tight uncomfortable feeling is reminding me to not snack.

Love watching Celebrity Apprentice also Walking Dead.

I could have written so many of these posts especially the OP. I am 18 months out and haven't lost weight in the last 6 months. There really is no mystery as to why. Its the junk food. I have slowly reverted back to my old ways of a spoon or 2 or more of peanut butter or nutella (which I call my kryptonite). As much as my kids beg for this stuff I know I simply cannot have it in the house. If it wasn't for the fact that I exercise very regularly I am sure I would have gained a lot more. I agree with many posters that its really just a matter of keeping on keeping on and getting back up on that band wagon. But it sure is a lot easier to climb up on that wagon 70 pounds lighter!

Holy Moly! I think you lost some years off your age along with the pounds...

I'm in the same boast as you guys. I am 16 months out and was about 7 pounds away from my goal weight. Since I had not been so thin in so long and getting all kinds of compliments I became complacent which led to more snacking and now I have gained about 7 pounds! I know this is a slippery slope and want to stop it right now but finding it so hard to get back on track. I have been reading about the 5:2 diet but can't seem to get myself to try it. I think its the whole diet thing again. I got this surgery so I would never have to "diet" again. I have never succeeded in the past at diets and can't think this will be any different. I just want to go back to eating right without all the Snacks. Lucky for me I do like to exercise or I think I would have done more damage to myself.

Pitiful isn't it Miss Mac, when a grown man with a perfectly healthy wife takes his own mothers social security check and collects money from the government each month. He does have some health issues but mostly because of life choices (alcohol) that he claims he can't work. I gave up a long time ago trying to convince my husband and mother in law that they are not "helping" him by making excuses for him. As long as it has not directly impacted my immediate family I decided it was not my business. As far as being home with my kids who are 13 and 15 I think they need me more now than when they were babies. I like being the house that there friends hang out at and being the driver for there excursions. I know there friends and hopefully know most of what is going on in there lives. An update, my husband apologized to me and said he was going to fix things. There is more to the story in that 10 years ago he and said brother inherited a 2 family house from a relative. The house had a large mortgage and has been a money pit for years. About 8 years ago I let my husband talk me into taking out a mortgage on the house we live in to pay back taxes and legal fees incurred with the house. He said his brother would know that when they sold the house both mortgages would be paid before splitting any profit. I have been begging my husband for years now to sell the house and pay back our mortgage so our home is secure and I am not left with a problem if something happens to him or his brother. This I guess is the root of why I am so upset with the tv situation although it appears unrelated. I want my and my childrens future secure (without using my inheritance) and to not be financially tied to this irresponsible brother and his wife. Maybe this last fight will be the issue that finally pushes him to resolve this house issue. Thank you all so much for listening to me. All of your comments have been valuable to me as someone to talk to.

So here is the back story: Been married for 20 years to a great guy and have 2 healthy, happy children. Come from lower middle, class backround with blue collar workers galore. Due to the fact that my parents were very very (did I say very frugal) there whole lives I have come into a lot of money over the past few years (when my mom passed and then when my dad passed). My husband comes from lawyers and doctors and an upper middle class backround and his parents were not at all frugal. Here is the issue my father in law passed over a year ago and my mother in law who is 86 and lives in a beautiful home surrounded by beautiful things has become very paranoid about money (mainly feels that she doesn't have enough). In a recent conversation she told me my husband had told here he was going to pay for a new big screen tv for her (over $500). I repeat this woman is not poor but she is older and is afraid of not having enough money. I was very angry with my husband about this. Although we are fortunate to not be struggling with money he drives a 17 year old car and I too drive an older car, I am very economical and a big saver and still have 2 children to raise. I am lucky to not have to work but this is due to the help my parents have given us over the years of our marriage. I worked for approximately 15 years as a CPA and used that money to basically pay for the house that we live in. I left my job after my 2nd child to be a full time mom. Although my children are now both young teens, I could go back to work but feel I am still needed by my kids and we are comfortable enough on one salary. My husband I know feels sorry for his mother and probably doesn't think its a big deal. One last detail my mother in law "helps" her other son who is unemployed by giving him her social security check each month. I know I am ranting but I am a very private person and could not confide in anyone who knows us and just had to get it off my chest and feedback from others.

I would never tell her what to do with her money, its my money and my inheritance from my hard working parents I am angry about. The money for the tv itself may not be the issue it is the principal is this a "slippery slope?". I have invited her to stay with us and even set up her own bedroom in our house. She is welcome anytime. I have always been respectful to her. I am upset because I feel she is taking advantage of my husbands good nature and upset with my husband for not having the back bone to confront his own brother and mother about the social security check. I believe in live and let live except when in interferes with my own pocketbook.

There used to be a thread for veterans who were using the 5/2 method and helping people who where just starting it and offering advice and support. It abruptly stops in January 2014. Is there another forum where it picks up? Can't find the continuing discussion. Thanks if anyone can point me in the right direction.