Weight Gain :-( Help.....

Blossom your diary seems to contain alot of carbs. This may be why you are hungry. I am no expert but maybe you could substitute some of your veg and fruit for others that have less carbs.

Rather than Potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, peas and corn the better choices are zucchinis, cabbage, cauliflower.

Bananas are about the best fruit I can stomach but are carbs too so you are better off with honeydew melon, oranges, mangoes

Can you swap your breakfast for an egg with tomatoe and mushrooms.

Tins of tuna are good with mayo and salad (lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, mushrooms)

Snacking on meat inbetween meals is good too. Go to the deli department and get them to do up 50-100gram portions of lean ham or beef. Or if you like seafood, a few cold cooked prawns are good to snack on.

Hope this helps. Cheers

Thanks.....I'm going to give it my best shot!!!

Hi Daisy May

Here's a link to the Diaries: http://www.gastricsleevesupport.com/the-diary-f8/
have a look and you'll find lots of good information and see how they work... lots of to and fro.

If you need to send something private, you can use the messages tab at the top of the page.

Cheers - Carrie

Hello again,

I know I need to start a food diary. Where is the diary section you have just mentioned and how do you do a private mail?

Can we share diary entries for advice or does that happen in private communication?

Very nerdy at techno stuff!!!

Thanks all. x

Hi guys,

I am pre sleeve, but this is EXACTLY what im concerned about... the emotional eating thing.

Blossom I hope that you can find a way to get over this hurdle.

See how you go losing some weight eating that. if it works great leave it as it is, the time to tweak a diet is when you are NOT losing that way you get some wiggle room with calories later if you need it. I know any dietcian will tell you to add more protien and reduce the carbs as this will keep you fuller longer. But as I said see how you go for a week keep a complete and honest food diary and adjust it if things do not move down as you want. You already identified the really bad things and that is a HUGE start :)

applesauce

Hi Everyone

Thanks so much to you all for your responses and posts. Applesauce, thanks for your vast amount of knowledge on the subject. I’ve been on holiday and now feeling refreshed and ready to start again.

I had a few tests come back and to my disappointment my insulin resistance has returned, bit upsetting as have not had this since the week after surgery but am prepared to fight it. I am not going on medication at present just going to try and fight it off with exercise and diet. I didn't understand why this would happen after having the surgery but apparently being on the pill it can trigger off the hormone in the pancreas and starts it up again so be aware of this - ummm would of been nice to know this before as I would not of gone on it but anyways at least I am off it now and I can try and do something about it and get control of my eating again.

I’ve got the all clear to head back to the gym now as well so I’ve booked into my trainer to start this Saturday and will take it from there.

As I said earlier I’ll start a post in the diary section so I can keep track of what I am eating etc but I think I am getting off to a good start.

Applesauce, if you can see anything wrong with the below would you mind pointing it out.

Monday

9am Breakfast
1 cap & 1 sugar (sugar needs to go)
2 weetbix
1 banana


2pm Lunch
2 tbsp of spaghetti bolognaise


3.30pm Afternoon Snack
1 cap & 1 sugar (sugar needs to go)
½ piece banana bread (no need really was just in front of me)


5pm Another snack

1 orange


7.30pm Dinner
Baked Dinner (1 small potato, 1 small piece pumpkin, 3 small slices meat, 1tbsp peas/beans)


About ½ glass of water – I really need to take in more.

Cheers
Blossom x

Hmm very interesting Apple!! I should keep that in mind.
For me thing to keep me away from snacking is eating through out the day. Say at work, I will bring about 350mL Chicken salad, and eat a couple forkfuls for morning tea, then eat a few more for lunch and then few more for afternoon snack.
I do feel if I drink fruit juice, it will make me full through out the day :)
But then again everyone is different! I feel like I am able to capacitate more vegetables while eating salad :) but come to think about it, it's just my feeling... my stomach really can't take that much :)

Apple is right, you should do a food diary to record your food intake :)

Goodluck :)

XOX

Yools

both are forms of gastric bypasses. The sleeve is the first part of the DS bypass.

applesauce

Thanks.

Is the RNY the same as a gastric bypass? and what's the DS?

x

The DS which is the choice of bypass to have leaves the stomach the size it is now, as in the sleeve size and they reroute you intestine to make you malabsorb. so only 20% of the fat you eat counts in the calorie stakes, as does 50% of your protien BUT 100% of carbs count as you absorb all of them. Some people experence shocking toilet problems, as in going heaps and lots of nasty wind BUT having said that the vast majority of people can control that with a careful diet. You need a very good surgeon to do this part of the surgery even more so than the sleeve as how long they make the common channel will determin how bad if at all you have bathroom issues. I would try working with the sleeve first and seeing if you could tweak your diet before going down this road. I personally would not do this surgery unless I could choose the surgeon myself who was doing it thus get a higher chance of not being somebody with those bathroom issues.

Use the american weight loss boards and read up on the DS there. I doubt in the UK anybody would offer you the RNY, if they did run a million miles, it is like the band a living nightmare for a lot who have it and 40-60% failure rate by 5 years, that being a 80-100% regain.

applesauce

Thanks applesauce!

I think I am overeating ...I will pay more attention to volume....but grazing is a huge prob. When I paid for the GS the understanding was that if insufficient weight was lost then I could ask the NHS for the next step and that it would not incur another payment......

I don't really want to have another op especially as I never feel sated when I've eaten. Doesn't the GBpass restrict quality and quantity further?

I will do a diary and let you know....if that's OK?

Happy Easter.....Pasg Hapus (Welsh) x

kitty yes it is normal to rebound a bit of fluid weight, it will go away in the next week :)

DaisyMay you need to work out how much you are eating at one sitting, is it more than 250ml ? Everyperson so far I have talked has ended up answering no. they tend to find the problem their eating habbits. They are grazing on a fairly consistant basis. The sleeve ONLY reduces the volume of food you can eat at one sitting it can not magicly stop people from grazing. We tend to get very good at this as time goes by. Now having said that it is not easy to break those habbits. But it is important that you look very carefully at what you are doing. DS bypass is an option but the side effects are not pleasant for some and seeing you are in the USA the drug regement you are required to take for it is both expensive and extensive. Getting your insurance to cover it there is also pretty difficult without a bmi of over 50.

Do a food diary it really helps with accountability and see exactly what you are doing then let us know and see if we can work out some ways to help.

applesauce

Hi, I am just 18 days post -op and have no problems at all with my sleeve surgery. At 51 years
old I have had an amazing recovery.
The weight fell off at least the first 16 lbs and today I weighed and have gained 2lbs. Is this normal? Should I be really concerned at this stage?

Hello blossom & posters,
I'm so glad to read the weight gain posts. I have real trouble each time a holiday comes around and as I teach there are plenty of breaks!!! I've always dreaded having time on my hands.....it equates with food in my mouth!!

Is it really impossible to stretch the pouch? I seem to be able to eat more than I did. Also, just after a meal I long to eat.


I would welcome any more advice as I too feel huge. My weight gain has slowed. Should I have gone with a bypass? Anyone done that?

THanks and happy Easter xx

Hey Blossum,

I appreciated you coming here and posting about what is happening with your weight / diet.

Nothing to add re advice - I think you've had sound advice! I certainly do relate to the snacking thing!!!

Sophia

It was crispychic who said that not me - we're using the same computer!

No special diet - I just cut out the crap!

Hi Cuddly Kat

Thanks for the tips on the snacks. I am going to try and go cold turkey on them for a while and just stick to the 3 meals per day and try and get over this carb craving.

I am putting together my food diary now so I’ll be posting again later today. I’ll start a thread in the diary section.

Thanks to everyone for their support and comments. All advice is welcome and taken on board but I know its up to me as to what I put in my mouth.

Cheers
Blossom xx

Hi Blossom

One thing I noticed from your food post is that you used to be able to get by with just 3 meals. I was like that too and also felt that the sleeve was somehow not working when I started getting hungry between meals (and ravenously so, like you said) so I've made a big effort to eat yoghurt, fruit (sometimes 1/2 apple mixed with a small low fat yoghurt) for morning tea and I have a cereal bar at afternoon tea and that seems to be working a lot better.

Like applesauce has said, you go through a period when your stomach can handle food better and faster and it seems like you can eat more but you can just fit more naughtiness down there in the sleeve (its still only 250ml but a bag of chips crushes down to nothing, you just feel like you are eating more and you are certainly eating more calories!). When I eat sensibly (say chicken stir fry, veges & rice) lo and behold I get full, but when I eat a bag of Grain Waves or chocolate, well let's just say things get a bit ugly.

So try some planned snacks in your day and let us know how you're going. Good Luck!

Thanks Chris. I am glad you got the weight back off. Did you follow special diet to do it or just cut it out?

I am strugging getting off that carb crave again.

Blossom x

Hi Blossom
I hear you! I put on 6kg over the Christmas period, and it was just because I was grazing and snacking on junk. It was really hard to stop it, because of course, as you've said, the cravings were still there.
The good news, though, was that when I finally got all the crap out of my diet (well, make that most), and went back to 3 proper meals a day with only healthy, small snacks in between, the weight dropped off really easily.
Good luck!

Hi applesauce

Thanks so much for your response.

I’ve sat down and thought about what you said and reminded myself that I can blame all my problems but I really need to be completely honest with myself and take responsibility and admit that I do believe it is my eating habits combined with the lack of exercise over the past 6 months.

When I actually think about it you are right. It is not that I can eat huge amounts of protein in a sitting. The biggest change is that I’ve become a grazer / snacker. Before going on the pill I was happy just eating 3 “small” meals a day and would rarely ever snack at all – in fact I couldn’t as I never felt hungry.

However since I started the pill (and still now after stopping it) I am constantly hungry. For example, I used to have 1.5 weetbix and milk and a skim cap without sugar and be full til 1pm. Now I’ve been having 2 weetbix and milk for breakfast or 2 eggs scrambled with water (not milk) and 20 minutes later I am looking for more food.

At lunch I can now eat 4 corn thins with roast chicken, avacardo and tomato whereas before I only used to eat 2 (this does take me about 45min to 1hr to eat) and that was me til dinner time. Now 30 minutes later I am looking for food.

Now for honesty - lately I have been snacking on a mixture of things including: fruit, nuts, biscuits, rice crackers, cakes, popcorn, chips, chocolate, hot cross buns etc ….oh dear seeing it in writing is very confronting - I’ve become a comfort eater again – obviously I have not addressed the issue of my ‘emotional eating’ because like you say, it has been my choice to give in and make bad choices that’s lead to the weight gain.

I really want to turn it around now and get back to where I was because can I tell you something which you no doubt already know – nothing feels as good as what thin feels. I am still 26kg down from where I was at the start of my journey but I feel 10 times bigger than what I was back then – not sure that makes any sense to any of you but it is a horrible feeling.

When I first reached this weight I was so excited and felt so good but after being close to 80kg and now being 10kg heavier I feel fat, bloated and uncomfortable and I do not want to stay this way.

I haven’t kept a food diary and I haven’t been honest with myself or anyone else for that matter but I will start one from now. I will report back what I’ve eaten each day and that way I am accountable. And I / we will know EXACTLY what I am eating and I can attack and dissect the bad stuff and get rid of it once and for all.

Thanks again for your post Applesauce and support.

Blossom xx

That was really interesting for me Apple! I have felt a little more like snacking recently, and I realised that I have introduced fruit - and that has made me want to eat more 'naughty' stuff. Hmmmmm.

I didn't bring a piece of fruit today, and lo and behold I haven't had those "must eat something now or die" feelings.

I actually put on a half a kilo last week (despite the exercise) and that is probably the reason.

Thank goodness for your experience and wise words.

Hugs
Caz

Okay first things first you need to work out why you have gained weight. Is it because your stomach has stretched or because you are eating the wrong things or you are snacking. so do a food diary over a few days including the amounts you are eating at one sitting and put it up here and lets see what is going on. The pill doesnt auto gain anybody weight, it increases your appetite, how you deal with it is upto you. Now that is all very well me having said that from the person who in order to get her fix of junk with her period last month skipped lunch to fit in a bowl of icecream ;) It isnt easy, and you sure as hell can work around the sleeve with bad choices when your body screams give me junk.

The reality tho is the vast majority of times the stomach settles at about 250ml and has not stretched we just get way way waaaaaaaaaaaaay better at sneaking past it those bad things we want. After the first year or so the stomach digests food far faster and easier so you can fit those snacks in again far more often. There are tricks to stopping this BUT it means you have to work at it and it is hard when your body says chocolate biscuit. You basicly keep full all the time on stuff with no or next to no calories all the good stuff. Nobody wants to pick at stuff when full, it just spoils the fun. Make your meals dense protien like steak to make it stay in your stomach longer then fill the rest of you up with green veg. Avoid carb snacks if you are getting cravings in other words no fruit for a few weeks. Grab a tin of tuna , if that isnt filling enough throw it into some lettuce and low cal dressing and mix it up add some cucumber or something else green if you like. If milk fills you up a glass of hilo will be a good fill in, so is the no sugar no fat yoghurts.
But that is jumping the gun let us know your eating habbits and let us see if we can tweak it :)

applesauce