Bariatric surgery long term success (gastric bypass)

sophipattersonx

Hi all, I’m wondering if there are many people on here who have had bariatric surgery? I’m one year post op and I’ve lost 158lbs but I’ve hit a plateau and I’m finding my old habits are starting to creep back. Does anybody have any tips for long term success after bariatric surgery? Feel free to add me on here or on my wls account named in my attached pic.

Latrellis

Had several friends who had it. Most important thing is to change your lifestyle, healthy eating and exercise. Some of them are now back at their original weight (or more) because they continued the patterns that caused weight gain. Also, from what I've read, the bariatric surgery does something to your hormones (which makes you not as hungry); after 5 yrs, this wears off. Remember, the more muscle you have the more calories you burn, exercise is good!

trishnuk

I had a gastric band roughly 3 years ago. I had lost 5 stone when covid hit, managed despite everything to put over a stone and a half back on so back on it. No matter what journey it has to be a lifestyle change. My food habits are kinda ingrained now, but Im a junk food aholic, and found that I could still eat pringles. Think my weight gain is purely pringles.... We got this lovely, back to basics, remember all the dos and donts and just keep on keeping on.

BethCW2963

I had a bypass way back in 2002 and I hate to say it but I never put in the effort that I should have. I started out at 425 lbs. and managed to get all the way down to 195 but slowly I allowed all my old habits to creep back in and by the time 2020 got here I was back up to 325 lbs! Luckily, I found MFP and I've made some great lifestyle changes but I'm now 58 years old and I have to really fight to lose every pound! So don't be like me and look back with regret on a failed bypass surgery. After the first couple of years, it becomes very easy to stretch your stomach back out and regain the weight if you aren't practicing healthy habits and making permanent lifestyle changes! The
bypass is a great tool but it is only that and nothing more.

It is great that you are using MFP! By developing sound eating and exercise habits and utilizing MFP to track your progress you are well on your way to maintaining a successful bypass. It's also great that you are a member of WLS because that can be another great tool to help you on your journey.

It looks to me like you are at a good weight at this point and should be focusing on maintaining, yet you said you had reached a plateau so it sounds to me like you are still trying to lose weight? Even if you do have more weight that you want to lose, this might be a good time to take a break and practice maintaining for a bit.

Best of luck to you. You look great!

Chopshopcop

I’m about a month away from hitting the 9 year mark, I had a gastric sleeve. Prior to the surgery, my heaviest weight was 295 lbs and creeping towards 300, I’m 5’6 in height. I was on blood pressure medication, cholesterol medication and my Dr. advised I was perilously close to being treated for pre-diabetes unless I took action.

Over the first few years, my weight and motivation fluctuated widely as I adjusted to my new lifestyle. I certainly made poor decisions in eating but time and experience taught me what my system could tolerate and what it couldn’t. Certain foods and drinks were completely off limits (coffee, beer, carbonated beverages, potato chips, crackers), dense food such as shrimp, some cuts of beef were literally painful to eat for a long time. The biggest issue was portion size, it took a while to adjust to that.

I had already been working out for a while prior to the surgery and as soon as the Dr. allowed, went back to it post-surgery. Since then I’ve tried to maintain a workout schedule of at least 30 minutes per session and most often 90 minutes per session 4 days a week. Weights, cardio, boxing, and especially yoga have worked best for me. My wife has been incredibly supportive throughout and has recently started doing yoga with me.

As of this morning my weight is 160 lbs and hasn’t gone more than 5 lbs in either direction for a couple of years, even during the lockdowns. I’m now at a point where I can again have foods that were off limits such as shrimp just in greatly smaller portions. Matter of fact I just finished a dinner of steak, scalloped potatoes and mixed vegetables. An 8 oz steak now provides two meals instead of one. A tablespoon maybe a little more of potatoes and about the same for veg. No bread with dinner.

Drink tea now instead of coffee (3 visits to Scotland helped that), drink at least a quart of water throughout the day, more on workout days. Sweets are a definite weakness and I do indulge but again, portion control is key. Tracked my food intake on here for a couple of years but gave that up and focused on tracking my workouts instead. Seeing the time I put into controlling food intake, time into the workouts and the slow but steady progress made has been my most powerful motivator to stick to it. I went from a 50 inch waistband to 32 inch, best of all, I’m not taking any prescription medication at all. Only multi vitamins, B-12 and calcium citrate, per Dr’s orders, that’s a life long regimen. For the gains I’ve made, that’s a small price to pay.

Sorry to be so long winded but my advice is track your food intake, no matter how small, even if you cheat. Find an exercise that you like, join a gym, take some classes, enlist a friend or family member, whatever it takes to get active and stay active. Track your workouts. If you don’t feel like working out one day, track that too but don’t beat yourself up over it. Even top athletes need time off. If I’m able to answer any questions you may have, I’d be happy to.

sophipattersonx

Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to reply. It’s clear to see that the people who change their food and exercise habits have the long term success. I think I’m worrying so much because even though my habits changed in the short term whilst my hunger hormone was disrupted, I know that I’m back on track for failure. Just like every other failed diet in the past. I’m an emotional eater and I feel obsessed with food again. I am eating small portions still but I’m eating very often. Sometimes every hour and my calories are way over for the day. My exercise has even started to slip. I’d be happy to stay the weight I am for the rest of my life but the research suggests that some regain is inevitable so I’d love to lose another 15lbs. I’ve signed up to take part in a charity boxing match so hopefully that will motivate me to eat well and train hard.