If you gained weight back, How did it happen?

[Lovergurl 59]

I am not post op yet, but from my limited time on this board, this issue seems to come up quite a lot. It has me pretty nervous about going forward. Quite simply, putting myself at risk to only gain back the weight in two years, if that makes sense. Can people explain to me what is happening? From what I have read, restriction still exists, food amounts are less, but a significant about a weight returns for a number of people. For my FYI, looking at what to avoid can people share what they were doing to gain the weight back?

[Introversion 1,876]

Although I have not regained any of my lost weight, I can answer this question.

Here's a hint...regaining weight is never really about the food itself. Many people undergo weight loss surgery without resolving pre-existing psychological issues.

Many bariatric patients are emotional eaters who have always used food to cope with stress, grief, boredom, joy, pain, and life itself. They lose massive weight after surgery, but regain once the next crisis occurs such as a death, job loss or divorce since they self-soothe with food.

Many bariatric surgery patients are hardcore food addicts. They lose significant weight after surgery, but regain once they add addictive trigger foods back into their diets.

Many bariatric surgery patients have undiagnosed binge eating disorder. They lose significant weight after surgery, but regain once they start binge-eating again.

Many bariatric surgery patients experienced childhood trauma such as growing up around domestic violence, alcoholic patients, or drug-addicted parents. A large number of obese people (especially females) were sexually abused in childhood.

Those with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) often drown out the bad memories of their upbringings with comfort food. They lose significant weight after surgery, but regain once they revert back to food to deal with the uncomfortable memories and flashbacks.

So when someone posts she's regained all her weight after experiencing some emotionally traumatic event, she often asks about getting "back on track" to lose the regain. What she really needs is counseling to adopt healthy coping techniques that don't revolve around the comfort of food.

Success with weight loss maintenance after surgery is 90 percent psychological. Those who fail to address underlying issues will continue the regain/loss cycle.

After all, it's never really about the food. Regaining is a symptom of a deeper problem.

[clk 3,519]

I'm 7 years out. I had one period of small regain - 8 pounds, after my dad died and while I was suffering postpartum depression. It was solely due to poor eating habits.

Regain is due to not overcoming the initial causes of our obesity. Eating around the sleeve. Yes, injury, illness or medication can be responsible - I don't want to rule that out. But most often, when you see regain, it's slider foods, not eating by the hierarchy so you feel full faster and you eat more, and just plain eating crap. Binges and grazing, emotional or mindless eating - if you don't fix this, you don't get long term success. Period. It becomes a struggle to stay at goal.

I fought hard for my new habits. I think every time I put food in my mouth. My diet is carefully selected to be balanced and nutritious; I avoid binges, I don't graze. With this, I maintain successfully and have for years now.

I had therapy. I firmly believe that many of us need to deal with what's under the fat and causing us to overeat in order to achieve this level of success and to stop looking at food for solace.

Cheri

[Lovergurl 59]

Thank you for the explanation. I'm doing my homework on this to be prepared. I've been having this conversation with my husband. He's one of those people, he likes food, but it's totally a fuel thing for him. He eats because he has to. I freely admit I have an issue with using food to soothe my emotions. This has been much more in the past 5 years. Confessing this and seeing that I must address the deeper issues. Yes, I'm one of those people that has baggage as mentioned and I can see this. I already told him we may have the expense of a therapist because I can't do the "obese" thing anymore.

Edited August 30, 2017 by Lovergurl