Ugh, the f-ing struggle of weight lost. I'm close to 3 years out from getting the sleeve and my God have I went back to my old eating ways. Yes, this is a struggle, and if you are a food addict like me, then you might want to read this. I weighed 276 the day of surgery. To some that might not seem like a lot but being only 5 feet tall I looked like a rolling bowling ball. I hated carrying all that weight around so I decided to go f oror wls. I was so proud of going through with the surgery, and in the first year I lost 80 pounds. Down to 190 my second year I was even more determined to lose more weight. I worked out at least twice a week faithfully and monitored what I ate. I really didn't count calories (which I should have been doing) because I didn't eat that much. I got down to my lowest at 158, but I started to faint regularly. Come to find out, I couldn't maintain that weight partly because I wasn't taking my daily vitamins (Shocker!) I was sick as hell, and started over-eating trying to refuel my body, but all I needed was my vitamins. My weight started to increase and now I'm at 182. I love candy and chocolate, and cookies and sweets, It's my biggest down fall. And when I get stressed, it's even worse. I started to substitute my snacks for meals to cut calories because I wanted snacks more than healthy food. Empty calories are the worst (Don't do it). So now I'm doing damage control. I've gained a solid 20 pounds and this year is my year to lose what I've gained plus some. I refuse to get over 185 so I workout like crazy now. I've done wrong and I need to get back on track. It's so easy to lose sight of why you've had the surgery, and this is my reminder that the surgery is only a tool, I have to do the hard work.... Watching what I put in my mouth. My goal this year is to get down to 150 and maintain. Now I take my vitamins daily, vit D, calcium citrate and a daily vitamin. They have really helped me because I started to have muscle and joint pain and couldn't work out as well. Pain got so bad I went to urgent Care for it and the Doc told me to go home and take my supplements (Haha!) So if you're a newbie learn from my mistakes, don't lose track and keep pushing. I know I can do this, I just gotta remind myself of how great I am. Sent from my Z982 using BariatricPal mobile app