Weight Loss Menopause Post Sleeve

blackkitty73

I had a sleeve 2.5 years ago. Lost 45 kg which was fabulous and was able to do boxing and gym again. 12 months later had to have a complete hysterectomy and oophorectomy, so surgical menopause hit me hard and had to stop intense exercise for a while. I’d been in perimenopause prior to surgery (which caused a host of problems like a 20kg weight gain prior to sleeve surgery).

Anyway, I’ve gained 10kg in 18 months post hysterectomy which I am not happy about. I see a specialist Bariatric dietitian and Bariatric psychologist, as I know I need supports. Dietitian is not concerned about the weight gain and feels I am eating ok. I am a good 15kg (33 pounds) overweight still.

I go to gym now 5-6 days per week (1 hour/visit). I did a body scan six weeks after returning to gym and only lost 1 kg (2.5 pounds) in body fat and gained 1kg (2.5 pounds) in muscle (very depressing). I try to eat around 100g protein a day. I am tracking calories again (against dietitian’s advice), as I know I could potentially be eating/drinking more calories. I cannot eat a huge amount in a sitting (1 cup food max).

Any suggestions on what to do? I’ve asked the Gym Instructor to next time include weights and resistance in my training schedule , as I only do it in fitness classes currently.

yirara

This scan, was that an impedance type scan where you stand on a plate and possibly hold something in your hands? If so don't worry about the result. Those things are notoriously poor at estimating bodyfat and muscle. A bit more water, or a bit more dehydration and you'd get a totally different result. Scale, or just a tape measure will be a lot more telling.

blackkitty73

Yes it was exactly that. Also done at end of day when original scan was at beginning of day before I’d eaten.

kshama2001

blackkitty73 wrote: »

I had a sleeve 2.5 years ago. Lost 45 kg which was fabulous and was able to do boxing and gym again. 12 months later had to have a complete hysterectomy and oophorectomy, so surgical menopause hit me hard and had to stop intense exercise for a while. I’d been in perimenopause prior to surgery (which caused a host of problems like a 20kg weight gain prior to sleeve surgery).

Anyway, I’ve gained 10kg in 18 months post hysterectomy which I am not happy about. I see a specialist Bariatric dietitian and Bariatric psychologist, as I know I need supports. Dietitian is not concerned about the weight gain and feels I am eating ok. I am a good 15kg (33 pounds) overweight still.

I go to gym now 5-6 days per week (1 hour/visit). I did a body scan six weeks after returning to gym and only lost 1 kg (2.5 pounds) in body fat and gained 1kg (2.5 pounds) in muscle (very depressing). I try to eat around 100g protein a day. I am tracking calories again (against dietitian’s advice), as I know I could potentially be eating/drinking more calories. I cannot eat a huge amount in a sitting (1 cup food max).

Any suggestions on what to do? I’ve asked the Gym Instructor to next time include weights and resistance in my training schedule , as I only do it in fitness classes currently.

Like yirara said, the impedance type scans are notoriously inaccurate.

I know that it is sometimes recommended for patients with eating disorders to not track calories. I'm wondering why a bariatric patient shouldn't track calories. You gained 10kg in 18 months post hysterectomy and it sounds like you haven't lost any weight in 6 weeks.

If you're 15kg (33 pounds) overweight, want to lose weight, not losing weight, you're by definition NOT eating in a way to meet the goal of losing weight, and tracking calories is the most accurate way to address that. Eating/drinking MORE calories is not.

If you thought you were in a calorie deficit for the last 6 weeks, but did not lost any weight in that time, you are not in fact in a calorie deficit. Are you using a food scale?

I suggest you use a food scale and log everything for a month. If you still haven't lost weight, let us look at your diary. (We could do that now if you think there is enough data there to be useful.)

There are mistakes that people commonly make that cause them to not lose weight that we might be able to spot if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public.

In the app, go to Settings > Diary Setting > Diary Sharing > and check Public.

Desktop: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

I am almost two years post hysterectomy myself. I'm very confident in my food logging, so knew the reason I wasn't losing weight because I was eating too much. I finally got my appetite under control by changing my antidepressant to two 100 mg bupropion SA - bupropion XL and other ADs didn't help with appetite.

blackkitty73

They don’t want us tracking calories as most Bariatric patients come from a disordered eating background and can fall into food restrictive cycle that psychologically could be harmful. It’s not uncommon for Bariatric patients to develop anorexia or bulimia to try and avoid gaining weight again. Alcoholism also is a known issue (addictive nature).

I don’t use a food scale honestly because I use a Bariatric bowl or plate (which has measurements on them). E.g this morning I made a bacon and egg multigrain muffin for breakfast (they are small) . I can only eat 2/3 and throw the rest. It’s actually physically impossible for me to eat too much, so weighing does not seem like something that’s necessary.

However, in saying that, I feel logging is important as I do need to understand where extra calories may be coming from or possibly not coming from. It is quite possible it’s a snacking issue and I need to snack smarter or drinking alcohol (which is usually a weekly thing not daily). Which I suspect is possibly the cause. I also don’t think I’m drinking enough water. I tend to only drink it when I’m at the gym or in the car.

I’m also on Mirtazapine which are antidepressants and known for weight gain and the dosage has been increased. So, maybe that has an impact.

I have a job where I walk over 10000 steps per day, in addition to going to gym.