4+ year Vet Starting Over

[mwrarr 244]

Hellooo! I'm coming up on 5 years...omigosh! I cannot believe I just wrote that. I have just struggled and struggled since the beginning. I hit my low weight about 1 year post op (after fighting 7 months for the final 4# to get there haha) and then it seems i've just gone back the other way. Every year it's another 14-20lbs back on. My surgeon gave up on me and basically said that I need to accept that this is how my body is, and that I can call him when I'm ready for a revision of my failed sleeve. :\ I'm not ready to accept that I can't lose weight on my own. Normal people do it every day without surgery, and plenty do it successfully WITH surgery, so there's nothing special about me. I just need to figure out what is wrong with my head.

I have had so many personal life nonsense things over the last 4 years that I'm sort of mad at myself for wasting the surgery. I wish I had either waited until NOW to do it, or been strong enough to love myself more than the drama THEN. However, now I need a plan. I know there used to be reboots, and bootcamps, etc, but I can't remember any of them. I work out at the gym 3-5x/week, lifting weights and I'm going to be adding (more intense) cardio in the next week. I'm doing (at least) weekly vlogs on youtube and trying to get back in the habit of blogging regularly. I'm also a fulltime college student, employee and homeschooling my sons through their senior year of school.

I'll take anything you got! haha

I'm so confused by this diet vs that diet, vs don't drink this, do drink that... I feel so paranoid and untrusting of the whole industry.

Thank you! <3

[ausmith 374]

Hellooo! I'm coming up on 5 years...omigosh! I cannot believe I just wrote that. I have just struggled and struggled since the beginning. I hit my low weight about 1 year post op (after fighting 7 months for the final 4# to get there haha) and then it seems i've just gone back the other way. Every year it's another 14-20lbs back on. My surgeon gave up on me and basically said that I need to accept that this is how my body is, and that I can call him when I'm ready for a revision of my failed sleeve. :\ I'm not ready to accept that I can't lose weight on my own. Normal people do it every day without surgery, and plenty do it successfully WITH surgery, so there's nothing special about me. I just need to figure out what is wrong with my head.
I have had so many personal life nonsense things over the last 4 years that I'm sort of mad at myself for wasting the surgery. I wish I had either waited until NOW to do it, or been strong enough to love myself more than the drama THEN. However, now I need a plan. I know there used to be reboots, and bootcamps, etc, but I can't remember any of them. I work out at the gym 3-5x/week, lifting weights and I'm going to be adding (more intense) cardio in the next week. I'm doing (at least) weekly vlogs on youtube and trying to get back in the habit of blogging regularly. I'm also a fulltime college student, employee and homeschooling my sons through their senior year of school.
I'll take anything you got! haha
I'm so confused by this diet vs that diet, vs don't drink this, do drink that... I feel so paranoid and untrusting of the whole industry.
Thank you!

Maybe start by going back to the basics that you started with straight out of surgery. Go through the whole process again. I think one of the most important things for me is food prepping at the beginning of the week. To Ensure every time I go to grab something to eat it’s high Protein in Portion Control amounts and the only thing I’m drinking at the moment is Water and green tea. I’m struggling with 15 and I was sleeved in 2013. Good Luck

[mwrarr 244]

13 hours ago, ausmith said:

Maybe start by going back to the basics that you started with straight out of surgery. Go through the whole process again. I think one of the most important things for me is food prepping at the beginning of the week. To Ensure every time I go to grab something to eat it’s high Protein in Portion Control amounts and the only thing I’m drinking at the moment is Water and green tea. I’m struggling with 15 and I was sleeved in 2013. Good Luck

Thank you I think that's probably a good idea. I have tried to do the pre-op diet over again, a few times, but I always flake out. Honestly, the preop diet was hard before surgery, too. I'll have to see if I have my old diet papers still around. I was sleeved in 2013 & who knows where they are now!

[Torriluv87 300]

I feel your frustration so much. I was sleeved Oct 2016 and I've technically met my surgeon and nutritionist goal and passed it. But im still struggling to lose the last 20. I'm hovering between 142 and 144 at 5'2 and it took like 6 months to lose from 160 something to now. I am rebooting myself. But im going back to basics in the dense Protein and veggies sort of way. If i follow the plan i should be ok. I've tried to go back to liquids but its harder than EVER. I keep straying. WHY is this so hard? I feel like i should have been to my goal weight already. My family doesn't think i need to lose more but i want to be able to get into the healthy bmi range for my height. Being told all your life to lose weight is NOT fun. I don't want to give any doctors any reason to doubt me on my health concerns. Sorry for the rant. I just feel you on the frustration[emoji28].

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

I am currently working off a gain - about 15 down; another 25 or so to go... I am 6 years post revision to sleeve.

First, you do still have a sleeved stomach and I think it is possible to leverage it even now. For me, it takes FOREVER to lose weight now but I just can't care about that - I just have to keep losing or maintaining, not gaining. I am also working out and just getting toner, so I feel better. If I don't eat like a sleever, you wouldn't think I have a sleeve. I have always eaten half or less portions, etc - but I still have had regain that I am now turning around.

food wise, high Protein (dense protein first), veggies and really don't eat traditional carb sources like rice, bread, noodles. Don't eat alot of processed foods, skip fast foods, make your own meals and freeze them ahead. Find favorite easy to make "go to" foods - and keep the junk, sliders and carby food out of the house, or at least out of sight. Some people find food journaling helpful. Make sure you aren't drinking your calories.

Truth of the matter is that people regain post RNY also, after a certain amount of time it is less about the surgery and more about "compliance". I hate that, but it is true. I think your plan to tackle this is a good one, just don't be discouraged at the much slower weight loss this time around.

[mwrarr 244]

On 2/7/2018 at 1:49 PM, Torriluv87 said:

I feel your frustration so much. I was sleeved Oct 2016 and I've technically met my surgeon and nutritionist goal and passed it. But im still struggling to lose the last 20. I'm hovering between 142 and 144 at 5'2 and it took like 6 months to lose from 160 something to now. I am rebooting myself. But im going back to basics in the dense Protein and veggies sort of way. If i follow the plan i should be ok. I've tried to go back to liquids but its harder than EVER. I keep straying. WHY is this so hard? I feel like i should have been to my goal weight already. My family doesn't think i need to lose more but i want to be able to get into the healthy bmi range for my height. Being told all your life to lose weight is NOT fun. I don't want to give any doctors any reason to doubt me on my health concerns. Sorry for the rant. I just feel you on the frustration.

UGH! I feel you so much! I have been told my ENTIRE life that I needed to be different: smaller, tighter, more toned, less flabby, stand up taller, calm down, sit down, stand up.... gross. I'm over it. haha

[mwrarr 244]

On 2/9/2018 at 12:23 PM, CowgirlJane said:

I am currently working off a gain - about 15 down; another 25 or so to go... I am 6 years post revision to sleeve.

First, you do still have a sleeved stomach and I think it is possible to leverage it even now. For me, it takes FOREVER to lose weight now but I just can't care about that - I just have to keep losing or maintaining, not gaining. I am also working out and just getting toner, so I feel better. If I don't eat like a sleever, you wouldn't think I have a sleeve. I have always eaten half or less portions, etc - but I still have had regain that I am now turning around.

food wise, high Protein (dense Protein first), veggies and really don't eat traditional carb sources like rice, bread, noodles. Don't eat alot of processed foods, skip fast foods, make your own meals and freeze them ahead. Find favorite easy to make "go to" foods - and keep the junk, sliders and carby food out of the house, or at least out of sight. Some people find food journaling helpful. Make sure you aren't drinking your calories.

Truth of the matter is that people regain post RNY also, after a certain amount of time it is less about the surgery and more about "compliance". I hate that, but it is true. I think your plan to tackle this is a good one, just don't be discouraged at the much slower weight loss this time around.

I definitely see the slower results issue this time around. For me, when I get on plan, I lose a lot quickly (5lbs, for example) and then gain 4.5 back even though I'm not doing anything differently than when I restarted.... it's frustrating.

I've actually started reincorporating shakes into my day, and working on mindfulness throughout the day. I've dropped 2Lb since last week, when I had stalled for 3 weeks...so I'LL TAKE IT!

[IveGotThePower 395]

Don't beat yourself up. Obesity is a multi factorial disease. It is caused by many things. Eating habits, activity level, genetics, gut microbes, hormones and who knows what else. The medical community can't even tell us exactly why weight loss surgery works. We just know that it is the most effective treatment that we have at the moment. Everyone is different. Don't compare yourself with anyone else. I also believe that stress is a big contributor as it affects our hormones and our genes. I still see my bariatric nutritionist at 20 months out and have no plans to stop because we have to be diligent and do everything we can to fight this disease. If you have access to one, I would highly recommend doing that because you are right, there is so much misinformation and information that does not pertain to us out there. Time and time again I have found her information to be spot on. She reels me in back to nutrition and away from the confusion. Also, I have said it before and I still believe that if we get to a point where we feel like we are loosing control, reaching out for psychological help is a good thing. It can't hurt and I've seen many people who said they were so glad they did. You can do this.

[BabySheldon 158]

Same boat. I get it exactly.

[Ms skinniness 3,003]

Thank you [emoji4] I think that's probably a good idea. I have tried to do the pre-op diet over again, a few times, but I always flake out. Honestly, the preop diet was hard before surgery, too. I'll have to see if I have my old diet papers still around. I was sleeved in 2013 & who knows where they are now!

Look into ketogenic WOE. It works for me and all I do is no processed foods, sugar, rice, Beans, or pastas. I eat healthy fats. Lost 15 lbs in 2 weeks.

Sent from my SM-N950U using BariatricPal mobile app

[ProudGrammy 8,322]

On 5/29/2018 at 11:13 PM, Ms skinniness said:

Lost 15 lbs in 2 weeks.

@Ms skinniness

hey girlfriend - been awhile

lookin' great!!

keep up the good work

your friend

kathy

[mi75 1,235]

I think I actually have a similar thread somewhere here in the vet's forum. I'm 4 years out and have similar struggles. I fell off program, went through HUGE life changes and had regain.

I floated around regain land, eating and drinking everything I wanted- after all, my sleeve controlled the AMOUNT I eat, right??- and finally woke up when I got ugly medical results last fall.

YOU GOT THIS. For me, I went hard core Keto the next day and got my crud together. But you KNOW what to do. Go back to post op. Relearn WHAT to eat. Focus on Water, Protein, moving every day, etc. Dig out your old papers from your clinic or doc and reread them. I do that occasionally. Don't waste time looking at various diet sites, groups, etc. As bariatric patients we know that protein, food amounts, water, movement all work for us (I did the same, I even went to a new surgeon to inquire about revision but he told me I didn't need it).

Consider finding a brand new support group. Even if you have to drive a little ways, going to a new group is SO much easier because you don't have to face people who knew you when you were losing and were post op. For me, people in my new group never knew me post op, so they only met me last year and by getting my crud together, I've lost about 45 lbs (all my regain) and am back on track to FINALLY get to my actual goal.

YOU GOT THIS girl, hang in there !!!!!!!

[MrsSugarbabe 727]

I feel your pain and concur with what some of the others have suggested - return to your post-op plan and see if that helps you get back on track. Since you said you might not be able to find your papers from your pre-op/post-op days, I've attached mine. Every surgeon has their own recommendations, which there's nothing wrong with that. I found my surgeon's instructions reasonable and am myself trying to practice what I'm suggesting. November will be 4 years for me and I'm still not to goal. I have been maintaining, unintentionally, for about 2 years now; old habits die hard - the early days post-op were much easier for me than today.

Good luck to you on moving forward. Just remember - it's more about living a healthy lifestyle than the actual number on the scale. Don't forget to Celebrate the non-scale victories along the way.

GASTRIC SLEEVE INFORMATION - Generic.doc