I thought after the sleeve i wouldnt have to be an odsessive freaked out diet person any more ... 4 week out ... Was I dreaming?

[Kapu 16]

Ok, down 18 pounds first 3 weeks post op. week 4 started to add "regular food" Now I am up 1 pound .... For week 4 ..... I was on a trip. Ate yogurt , Protein Drinks , cottage cheese .... At dinner had maybe 3 bites of a meatball 2 bites of salad, 1 bite of Pasta ... Another dinner, has LESS than 1 cheese taco w/ corn tortilla .... Another carpaccio (thin raw beef with lettuce ). ... I had 1 scoop of ice cream ... That's it ... During the week for sweets , no bread etc... I thought with such a small amount of food and such a small tummy and appetite , regular food would be okay for me to eat ... I have spent 30 years yo young, counting calories and carbs and binging and crash dieting. I really thought that this was going to be some how a little different .... I see here that so many people eat regular food and are happy and successful , what have I done wrong ? It has been only 1 week of real food and I gained !!!

Please help .... But no shark attacks please.... I'm not up to it .... Constructive loving advice completely welcome -

[joatsaint 2,814]

My first guess is that your muscles are replacing the depleted glycogen stores - since it sounds like you've been on a low carb diet for the past few weeks.

Your body stores 4oz of Water for every 1oz of glycogen stored.

I had the same thing happen to me over the weekend. I was trying to break my stall, ate 2 high carb meals over the weekend (some mac and cheese and some potatoes) and woke up on Monday 2 pounds heavier.

Now it's Friday and I've been back on my normal diet, been walking every day. And I've lost the 2 lbs and almost 2 more on top of that.

[delta_girl 931]

Over 6 months my weight has gone down, up, down, down, down, up, down, up, down, down, down, down, down, up. It looks like a very slowly declining zig zag up and down. I don't think that it is unusual. What would be odd is if it went straight down like a ski slope.

[Pookeyism 1,143]

I would caution real food is not a great idea at 4 weeks, and the way you are defining your portions might need to be revisited ("small", "bite", "half").

The foods you are describing come straight off my no-no list straight to this day, so I cannot say that you can eat those things and be ok.

Stay away from foods you cannot measure and keep a calorie count, give yourself no excuses, keep a food log.

You did not mention what you were drinking - Water, juices, dairy? Alcohol?

[Ms.AntiBand 2,984]

My plan is to keep the empty carbs and calories in check until I reach my goal. After that I will see if I even get the desire back

Unfortunately, there's no magic surgery that lets us eat just anything. We will forever need to take charge of our diet and make a healthy decision in what we put in our mouths.

Hopefully the sleeve will encourage us to continue to eat healthy, keep active and be happy.. I'm so looking forward to being the new me

Good luck

[Babysteppin 165]

what have I done wrong ? It has been only 1 week of real food and I gained !!!

I almost feel like a person's 'weekly' weight loss/gain isn't a true indicator of how well or how poorly things are really going. I've had various NUT's tell me that before too. Really, our bodies fluctuate so much in their Water balance, muscle activity, etc throughout any given week, that it's not best to even try to compare it to last week's final weight. It's almost better to only weigh in 1x month...or every other week even. Easier said than done though! I wanna know NOW!! Hope this idea helps, or at least is comforting for when you see numbers from one week to the next that you weren't expecting.

[Zazous 14]

I'm six months out and have lost 90 pounds. Still have another 90 or so to loose. After month three I have very little restriction and every food agrees with my sleeve. So, now I'm more obsessed with diet and exercise than I ever was pre sleeve. The fear of failure haunts me every day. I have to admit I went into this a little uninformed and believed it would be a magic cure. That was my fault. The truth is I have had to work harder at this than I have had at any previous weight loss plan.

It does work. You just need to find a balance between expectations and reality that works for you remembering that this is long term. I'm still struggling to find my balance, but from reading this forum I know it's very much doable.

[Fiddleman 4,376]

I think will power and the desire to make healthy choices is important post sleeve, especially when hunger returns post 6 months or so.

[SpaceDust 585]

Per my post-surgery diet plan, I'll be on regular foods starting at 4 weeks, although the idea is to ramp up slowly, so I don't necessarily think that being on "real foods" is a problem. I do think that the choice of real foods might be an issue, though.

As others have already said, the sleeve is a tool, not magic - we still have to work at having an appropriate diet and exercise. In fact, it's probably even harder since the volume of food is so much smaller. You need to make sure that you are getting your nutritional needs first before anything else. I know you've heard it all before, but go back to Protein first, then produce. Once you get to maintenance, then is the time to think about the occasional treat like ice cream or Pasta. For now, focus on taking maximum advantage of the so-called "honeymoon" period where your weight loss is at its best.

I'd also recommend going back to tracking for now. You may find you don't need to do so stringently after a little while, when your good habits are set, but for now, especially if you're concerned about not losing, it's helpful to know exactly what's going in your mouth. When you can, weigh it or measure it. If you know you'll have to eat out once in a while, master the art of measuring by eye - my NUT made me measure things out for a month so I KNOW what 3 oz. of chicken looks like, or a 1/4 cup of peas, or a tablespoon of salad dressing. It's still better to measure when you can in the early stages of the game, but real life does make that difficult

As Pookeyism asked, what are you drinking? Are you getting enough liquids? Avoiding alcohol and empty calorie beverages? Not getting enough Water can impact your weight loss, too.

A 1 lb. fluctuation is minor, as well, and could simply be a factor of what you ate and drank in the last couple of hours, if you happen to be holding onto a bit more Water than usual, or when you last visited the bathroom! When you do weigh yourself, try and do so at the same time of day, under the same conditions - I choose to do so after I get up and visit the toilet, but before I get dressed for the day, so I'm typically wearing similar sleepwear, haven't eaten or had significant amount of water yet, and I'm pretty much at my base weight for the day. I plan to continue that once I have my surgery, and I've vowed to myself to ignore the scale between weekly weigh-ins I know for a fact that my weight can fluctuate as much as 3-4 lbs depending on the time of the month, too, so I take that into account before I panic about a gain.

Did you take measurements before you started your weight loss? You might check to see if you're still losing inches. As you've probably read, it's fairly common to have a weight loss stall but find that your body is just playing catch-up, and the inches are still coming off.

Are you getting more exercise than you used to? Remember that you could be building muscle, which weighs more than fat.

The big thing is to not panic or get discouraged, take a deep breath, and go back to basics: take care in what you eat and drink, get some exercise, and get plenty of sleep. If you do that, I'll bet the weight starts coming off again!

[mandymae 28]

I gained 2 lbs the week I went on regular foods. I attributed it to the fact that I was not getting many calories at all prior to that. I really struggled to find Protein drinks that I could tolerate, therefore, I was hardly getting anything.

I stalled there for one week, but since then I've continued to drop about 2lbs per week.

I haven't treated this like a diet at all. I've not measured anything or prohibited anything that I'm not willing to do without for the rest of my life. If I avoid food that I will someday want and will eat again (my definition of diet), I will only gain it back.

I look at it as my way of life now. My rules are only these: Clear fluids, as much as I can drink, all day long. Protein first - and I'll admit that when I pay attention to the grams of protein the scale moves faster. Fruits or veggies next. Carbs absolutely last, and I generally don't have room for them.

As of today, I've lost 39 lbs since surgery 1/18. My starting Bmi was 32.

[SpaceDust 585]

I haven't treated this like a diet at all. I've not measured anything or prohibited anything that I'm not willing to do without for the rest of my life. If I avoid food that I will someday want and will eat again (my definition of diet), I will only gain it back.

That's certainly a viable approach, and congratulations on your weight loss! I know a few people who have been able to lose that way and I completely envy them, and you! However, it seems that by and large most of the people I've talked to needed to track at first and focus on the basics until the habits are ingrained. Then they were able to incorporate the foods that aren't on the "recommended" lists back into their life in a sensible way. At any rate, it's one way to get back on track if you feel you're having problems losing. Once the habits are in place, then it's easier to let go of the micromanagement of what you're eating and just enjoy life.

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Per my post-surgery diet plan' date=' I'll be on regular foods starting at 4 weeks, although the idea is to ramp up slowly, so I don't necessarily think that being on "real foods" is a problem. I do think that the choice of real foods might be an issue, though.

As others have already said, the sleeve is a tool, not magic - we still have to work at having an appropriate diet and exercise. In fact, it's probably even harder since the volume of food is so much smaller. You need to make sure that you are getting your nutritional needs first before anything else. I know you've heard it all before, but go back to Protein first, then produce. Once you get to maintenance, then is the time to think about the occasional treat like ice cream or Pasta. For now, focus on taking maximum advantage of the so-called "honeymoon" period where your weight loss is at its best.

I'd also recommend going back to tracking for now. You may find you don't need to do so stringently after a little while, when your good habits are set, but for now, especially if you're concerned about not losing, it's helpful to know exactly what's going in your mouth. When you can, weigh it or measure it. If you know you'll have to eat out once in a while, master the art of measuring by eye - my NUT made me measure things out for a month so I KNOW what 3 oz. of chicken looks like, or a 1/4 cup of peas, or a tablespoon of salad dressing. It's still better to measure when you can in the early stages of the game, but real life does make that difficult

As Pookeyism asked, what are you drinking? Are you getting enough liquids? Avoiding alcohol and empty calorie beverages? Not getting enough Water can impact your weight loss, too.

A 1 lb. fluctuation is minor, as well, and could simply be a factor of what you ate and drank in the last couple of hours, if you happen to be holding onto a bit more Water than usual, or when you last visited the bathroom! When you do weigh yourself, try and do so at the same time of day, under the same conditions - I choose to do so after I get up and visit the toilet, but before I get dressed for the day, so I'm typically wearing similar sleepwear, haven't eaten or had significant amount of water yet, and I'm pretty much at my base weight for the day. I plan to continue that once I have my surgery, and I've vowed to myself to ignore the scale between weekly weigh-ins I know for a fact that my weight can fluctuate as much as 3-4 lbs depending on the time of the month, too, so I take that into account before I panic about a gain.

Did you take measurements before you started your weight loss? You might check to see if you're still losing inches. As you've probably read, it's fairly common to have a weight loss stall but find that your body is just playing catch-up, and the inches are still coming off.

Are you getting more exercise than you used to? Remember that you could be building muscle, which weighs more than fat.

The big thing is to not panic or get discouraged, take a deep breath, and go back to basics: take care in what you eat and drink, get some exercise, and get plenty of sleep. If you do that, I'll bet the weight starts coming off again![/quote']

Very good feedback for those new to the sleeve "journey." I would say enjoy your daily dates with the scale for now, but do work on a separation plan after a few weeks. It can get a little crazy watching the numbers go up and down and you don't want your emotions tied to it. Once a week is good. In the beginning, I too had the same ritual as you about weighing right out of bed. The problem with it is that my at home weight never ever matched the weight checks at the WLS center. Oh well. Learned to accept that after a while. Once you get comfortable with the whole "I am going to make it to goal" mind set, the scale becomes less and less important. You start to feel good about how your clothes are fitting, how you can feel bones you never knew existed and how good sex can be ( did I just say that?). Many who have been "around the block" metaphorically will say that they probably have not gotten on the scale in weeks or months. It is good to check every once in a while just to make sure you are within a good maintaining zone (usually +- a few lbs) or generally not gaining if near goal (say, +5-10 lbs). There will be stalls. Oh yes, there are stalls. Get used to them. Name them if you like. I probably had so many stalls that my names were Greek names since I used up the english alphabet. They too shall pass. I guess the key is to get comfortable with who you are post sleeve. Know thyself. You will find great peace and happiness in that.

[SpaceDust 585]

I'm definitely not new to what kind of head games can happen with the scale, so I have embedded a lot of this just from how it impacted me whilst dieting. I'm not immune to hopping on the scale daily - I do it right now. I just have my "official" weigh-in once a week that I actually track, and I take the rest of the week with a hefty grain of salt (oh, wait, excess salt may increase my Water weight gain. Hmm, maybe with a grain of salt substitute?). It all comes down to knowing your body's rhythms so you don't get too upset over a short term minor stall or gain. I've fought that demon innumerable times already, and I'm sure I'll do so again, but hopefully will talk myself down before I scream something about the sky falling!

I hear you about the weight loss not matching at the weight loss center, though I've become immune to that to some degree. I expect what I see there will likely be about 4 lbs different from what I see at home, between clothes and the fact that my appointments tend to be mid afternoon However, I see the weight loss center far less than my scale at home, so as long as I'm consistent about my weighing habits I will see an accurate assessment of my progress in the long term, and be able to jump on it reasonably quickly if things start going in a bad direction.

[Fiddleman 4,376]

I'm definitely not new to what kind of head games can happen with the scale' date=' so I have embedded a lot of this just from how it impacted me whilst dieting. I'm not immune to hopping on the scale daily - I do it right now. I just have my "official" weigh-in once a week that I actually track, and I take the rest of the week with a hefty grain of salt (oh, wait, excess salt may increase my Water weight gain. Hmm, maybe with a grain of salt substitute?). It all comes down to knowing your body's rhythms so you don't get too upset over a short term minor stall or gain. I've fought that demon innumerable times already, and I'm sure I'll do so again, but hopefully will talk myself down before I scream something about the sky falling!

I hear you about the weight loss not matching at the weight loss center, though I've become immune to that to some degree. I expect what I see there will likely be about 4 lbs different from what I see at home, between clothes and the fact that my appointments tend to be mid afternoon However, I see the weight loss center far less than my scale at home, so as long as I'm consistent about my weighing habits I will see an accurate assessment of my progress in the long term, and be able to jump on it reasonably quickly if things start going in a bad direction.[/quote']

Sorry, these comments were more for the general audience. I did not intend them to be directed at you. Hope I did not offend.

[SpaceDust 585]

Sorry, these comments were more for the general audience. I did not intend them to be directed at you. Hope I did not offend.

No offense taken at all! I assumed as much, but thought that it never hurts to add some personal perspective to recommendations, so there's my personal thought process revealed to all and sundry