Happy I went to a local group last night.
fit_chickx
Posts: 569 Member
What do your local support groups look like? (if you have them)
For years that our local groups have been centered around new or people in weight loss phase. They were afraid to go off the bariatric script. One instruction fits all. Patients in maintenance just told to add healthy carbs...Senior patients have stopped going.
I was happily surprised.
They talked about phases into the long term. People in the group that had gains were actually addressed and given information. They discussed the pros and cons of pouch reset. They handed out information on the back on track program.
The largest change in our group was they finally admitted this is not a one size fits all. Especially after goal. The dieticians had new information on the bariatric diet. They found high protein and low carb are not as effective for weight loss patients after a year.
She gave Information on how to tweak and dial in your diet to fit what works to maintain or if you hit a point of weight gain.
Can I get an AMEN!
For years that our local groups have been centered around new or people in weight loss phase. They were afraid to go off the bariatric script. One instruction fits all. Patients in maintenance just told to add healthy carbs...Senior patients have stopped going.
I was happily surprised. They talked about phases into the long term. People in the group that had gains were actually addressed and given information. They discussed the pros and cons of pouch reset. They handed out information on the back on track program.
The largest change in our group was they finally admitted this is not a one size fits all. Especially after goal. The dieticians had new information on the bariatric diet. They found high protein and low carb are not as effective for weight loss patients after a year.
She gave Information on how to tweak and dial in your diet to fit what works to maintain or if you hit a point of weight gain.
Can I get an AMEN!
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Replies
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I'm curious, if they found high protein and low carb are not as effective, what are the recommendations, in general?
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I attend my monthly meetings but at 2.5 years post op, it seems I'm the only one post op still going. I go because I've tried in the past to go solo after getting to goal. This time I'm using every bit of help I can get. Today we are taking a field trip to the grocery store. In the meetings, we talk about pre-op and post op. I think the dietitian who leads the groups does a good job of talking about maintenance even when I'm the only one present at goal.3
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I have only been to one through my surgeon's office as they are quarterly and I was out of town for the last two. At 3 weeks out at the time, I was the newest person there. Everyone else was much further post op. I was struck by how only one of the people was no longer overweight, yet some were up to 2 years out (the one at goal follows Whole30 religiously, which I thought was interesting). The others all talked about struggling with eating crap left out at work, loving doughnuts, emotional eating, etc.
It'll be interesting to go to the next one in a few months to see if it's the same people and how they are doing 3/4 of a year later.
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I went to my group meeting last night at the grocery store. Out of 295 people invited only 5 attended. We were 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 2.5 years (me), and 3 years post-op.
We did a tour of the produce department, deli, and cheese area first. Basically, unless you go to produce and buy nothing but potatoes you're in good shape. The main discussion was how to increase fiber in the diet by eating members of the cabbage family of vegetables.
In the deli and cheese area, we read labels looking for low fat and sodium items. She recommended low-fat string cheese if you have to have it but said to still look and read the labels before selecting cheese. In the lunch meat area, the Walmart brand was the lowest in fat and sodium. I was surprised with those results. I asked about feta, goat, and laughing cow cheeses. She said those are great choices because a little goes a long way.
We also looked at yogurt, milk, and cereal. She likes fair life because of the extra protein. She recommended bran buds for more fiber and one serving does meet half of the daily fiber requirements. She mentioned an Uncle Sam band of cereal that is good but was not in the store we visited. I bought the brand buds and added it to my yogurt this morning. It's not as good as granola but if it gets me more fiber I can probably learn to love it. You know how it is, you eat some things just because they are good for you.
We looked at frozen entrees, she said to really look at the fat, sodium, protein, and fiber. She said not to worry about the carbs unless we were eating them every day. She did say they are good to have on hand in case of an emergency and that eating half of a frozen entree with few raw vegetables makes a good meal.
All in all, I thought it was a good meeting. We did go over stuff I already knew but it never hurts to reinforce your skill set.7 -
I'm curious, if they found high protein and low carb are not as effective, what are the recommendations, in general?
Forgive the length of this.
My surgeons office study is showing what they see in their office statistics. Know that they are not the end all and be all of bariatrics. So much information out there. It makes my head spin.
I've been frustrated for years with the one size fits all at my bariatric office. When I got to goal, My instructions from my surgeon's dietician was, add two tablespoons of healthy carbs at my meals. No change in 1200 calories. Second year, I still had hair loss. I started burning muscle It was not a good or healthy look for me. Third year, the weight loss is definitely different. I have been holding on to weight when I gain.
To your question...lol
If you are over a year out and you see that your body is not responding well to the "bariatric plan" They suggest to try new macros. If low carb is working well, no need to change.
It gets back to the TDEE. The calculation gives you low, moderate, and high carb options.
(Funny I've been using TDEE at the suggestion of other bariatric patients. Now my office is on board with this info )
It's tweaking your diet to find out what ratio works for your specific body physiology.
Not saying to do as I do as I do Trial and error figuring this out, I'm still tweaking where My body loses weight.
TDEE calculator suggestion for my macros are:
1,454 to 1500 calories
120 ish carbohydrates
Fats I don't worry about as long as they are healthy fats..Nuts avocado etc.
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I attend my monthly meetings but at 2.5 years post op, it seems I'm the only one post op still going. I go because I've tried in the past to go solo after getting to goal. This time I'm using every bit of help I can get. Today we are taking a field trip to the grocery store. In the meetings, we talk about pre-op and post op. I think the dietitian who leads the groups does a good job of talking about maintenance even when I'm the only one present at goal.
I started going back for the support. I have a "bariatric husband" He is a friend that has the same surgery date. He has gained about 40. I'm at 18 from where I want to be. I also need the support. I have tried not logging and eyeballing what was on the plan. Indulging on a weekend...It didn't work..my way has never worked..lol3 -
I have only been to one through my surgeon's office as they are quarterly and I was out of town for the last two. At 3 weeks out at the time, I was the newest person there. Everyone else was much further post op. I was struck by how only one of the people was no longer overweight, yet some were up to 2 years out (the one at goal follows Whole30 religiously, which I thought was interesting). The others all talked about struggling with eating crap left out at work, loving doughnuts, emotional eating, etc.
It'll be interesting to go to the next one in a few months to see if it's the same people and how they are doing 3/4 of a year later.
I would like to be 4+ years out and have maintaining my weight figured out...I'm still obsessively logging.
I looked up the whole30. I can see where that would work. Being consistent in any plan that is working for you is going to help for the long term.
I have about 20 in my group. It's a bit shocking when I'm the smallest person in the room. I'm glad to see people with gains stay connected. It's a reminder that any of us can gain. Many in my group have not come back out of shame. My hope is other people have been maintaining well and don't feel the need to stay connected.2 -
fit_chickx wrote: »I'm curious, if they found high protein and low carb are not as effective, what are the recommendations, in general?
Forgive the length of this.
My surgeons office study is showing what they see in their office statistics. Know that they are not the end all and be all of bariatrics. So much information out there. It makes my head spin.
I've been frustrated for years with the one size fits all at my bariatric office. When I got to goal, My instructions from my surgeon's dietician was, add two tablespoons of healthy carbs at my meals. No change in 1200 calories. Second year, I still had hair loss. I started burning muscle It was not a good or healthy look for me. Third year, the weight loss is definitely different. I have been holding on to weight when I gain.
To your question...lol
If you are over a year out and you see that your body is not responding well to the "bariatric plan" They suggest to try new macros. If low carb is working well, no need to change.
It gets back to the TDEE. The calculation gives you low, moderate, and high carb options.
(Funny I've been using TDEE at the suggestion of other bariatric patients. Now my office is on board with this info )
It's tweaking your diet to find out what ratio works for your specific body physiology.
Not saying to do as I do as I do Trial and error figuring this out, I'm still tweaking where My body loses weight.
TDEE calculator suggestion for my macros are:
1,454 to 1500 calories
120 ish carbohydrates
Fats I don't worry about as long as they are healthy fats..Nuts avocado etc.
There really seems to be a one size fits all approach for bariatric patients. I always hear "low carb, low fat" etc. My macros these days are similar to yours, not quite as high in carbs though. I definitely don't look at fats as evil. Adding more fat to my diet doesn't prevent me from losing at all. I totally get the trial and error aspect, even at four years out I am a work in progress and constantly tweaking things. I don't know if you still experience this, but sometimes a certain food that I have been good with starts to disagree with me, and foods I didn't care for start to taste good to me. I wonder if my tastes are going to keep changing??2 -
I went to my group meeting last night at the grocery store. Out of 295 people invited only 5 attended. We were 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 2.5 years (me), and 3 years post-op.
We did a tour of the produce department, deli, and cheese area first. Basically, unless you go to produce and buy nothing but potatoes you're in good shape. The main discussion was how to increase fiber in the diet by eating members of the cabbage family of vegetables.
In the deli and cheese area, we read labels looking for low fat and sodium items. She recommended low-fat string cheese if you have to have it but said to still look and read the labels before selecting cheese. In the lunch meat area, the Walmart brand was the lowest in fat and sodium. I was surprised with those results. I asked about feta, goat, and laughing cow cheeses. She said those are great choices because a little goes a long way.
We also looked at yogurt, milk, and cereal. She likes fair life because of the extra protein. She recommended bran buds for more fiber and one serving does meet half of the daily fiber requirements. She mentioned an Uncle Sam band of cereal that is good but was not in the store we visited. I bought the brand buds and added it to my yogurt this morning. It's not as good as granola but if it gets me more fiber I can probably learn to love it. You know how it is, you eat some things just because they are good for you.
We looked at frozen entrees, she said to really look at the fat, sodium, protein, and fiber. She said not to worry about the carbs unless we were eating them every day. She did say they are good to have on hand in case of an emergency and that eating half of a frozen entree with few raw vegetables makes a good meal.
All in all, I thought it was a good meeting. We did go over stuff I already knew but it never hurts to reinforce your skill set.
Refresher on the basics and updates will keep me connected. I do have a few people from group that I have become friends with. We have coffee before meetings. We also text each other when we are struggling.
I also appreciate this site. We share the experience of living as overweight to healthy.
I'm glad it was good information. I would have loved the grocery store field trip. Our dietician told us to shop the outside of the grocery store. It's where the whole foods are. Veggies, meats, and dairy. She also brought in local restaurant menus. It helps pick out better options when I go out to eat.
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This was so helpful. I am 1 1/2 years out and starting to struggle. Would like to get 10-15 more off. Missed a few weeks of weighing in at Weight Watchers due to vacation and a hurricane but been back since. Was up 4.6, then up and down and last weekend lost 3.
Won't make it this week and next week because we have my daughters bday party Saturday and the following Friday we are going out of town to the state fair where my daughters barn is showing. They told us we should come since my daughter wants to start competing.
Going to keep doing what I have been and eating more satisfying foods. Had an apple with 2 TB of sunflower seed butter - I felt like having foods I wanted and not restricting myself kept me more on track. My daughters bday is today and she wants to go to Longhorn. Already tracked the kids sirloin but I don't like broccoli - I may have a plain baked sweet potato or plain baked potato as my side - I probably won't be able to eat it since I will be stuffed off of the steak.
@fit_chickx I haven't bumped up my calories and macros since last week and this week I had to take a break from the gym (thanks hip bursitis!). I plan to get back to it next week. I do like the gym and miss lifting weights...sounds crazy..lol.
I do want to get back to my group meetings - they are about 45 mins from home which sucks since they are on a Tuesday and I get up at 4 am every day...but I can imagine it would help 2 -
I’ve attended a couple support meetings, (post-op.) A few people that go are post-op, but many are still in the 6 month waiting period and doing all of their pre-requisites.
Basically at the meetings people vent about what’s on their minds about surgery or the process. Our dietitian is there for people to talk with. People go over goals and make plans. Attending the meetings seem to be beneficial.
A cool thing about the meetings is that the director of them tries to have a fun activity planned every few months. Last month the group met up somewhere to do a work-out that involves sticks or something. I missed it but it sounded like a great time.4 -
Mandy_1982 wrote: »I’ve attended a couple support meetings, (post-op.) A few people that go are post-op, but many are still in the 6 month waiting period and doing all of their pre-requisites.
Basically at the meetings people vent about what’s on their minds about surgery or the process. Our dietitian is there for people to talk with. People go over goals and make plans. Attending the meetings seem to be beneficial.
A cool thing about the meetings is that the director of them tries to have a fun activity planned every few months. Last month the group met up somewhere to do a work-out that involves sticks or something. I missed it but it sounded like a great time.
It does sound like fun. I wish ours did more than a discussion on workouts.1 -
Never been to a meeting, my hospital was meant to hold them every 2 months but the bariatric nurse and dietician kept cancelling last minute and eventually the hospital just scrapped it
I do however get a little frustrated to see those newly done making remarks about those further out having a regain. Happens to the best of long termers
At 9 months out I fell pregnant, over the next year I had a miscarriage, another pregnancy, hypoglacemic attacks that the dietitian told maternity I should be made to eat every hour of the day ( I was hospitalised both before and after giving birth at 25 weeks )
Led to a regain that I like countless others have to work off. Breastfeeding hormones are making that a tad more difficult
Weight loss surgery isn't a miracle guaranty that the weight will be lost and stay lost, its a tool to aid in those efforts to reach a healthy weight2 -
ruqayyahsmum wrote: »Never been to a meeting, my hospital was meant to hold them every 2 months but the bariatric nurse and dietician kept cancelling last minute and eventually the hospital just scrapped it
I do however get a little frustrated to see those newly done making remarks about those further out having a regain. Happens to the best of long termers
At 9 months out I fell pregnant, over the next year I had a miscarriage, another pregnancy, hypoglacemic attacks that the dietitian told maternity I should be made to eat every hour of the day ( I was hospitalised both before and after giving birth at 25 weeks )
Led to a regain that I like countless others have to work off. Breastfeeding hormones are making that a tad more difficult
Weight loss surgery isn't a miracle guaranty that the weight will be lost and stay lost, its a tool to aid in those efforts to reach a healthy weight
I'm sorry for your loss of a baby, I've never lost a child but I know it has to be life-changing.
I agree with you about regaining when you are further out. During the happy phase where every day and every week you see weight loss, you never crave anything unhealthy, and life is perfect you believe once you get to goal your job is done. It's hard during that phase to understand why anyone regains. Then life happens and everything turns upside down. It's easy to say just stop eating the bad stuff and exercise but if were that easy no one would be overweight.
I do sometimes feel overwhelmed about having to plan every bite that goes in my mouth but what can I do. There are some people that say they just eat clean, don't track, and their weight stays off. Unfortunately, that isn't the DNA I have. My DNA says you have to work at it every day if you don't want to put the weight back on. I do worry that the day will come when I just give in to the urge to stop tracking. It's a scary thought and right now fear keeps me on track.
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My surgery is in 12 days and I have to admit I’m nervous about it. I have been overweight my whole adult life and hoped this was going to be my saving grace. To go through this surgery and to lose weight and have to battle to keep off sounds a little discouraging. Are y’all glad you had the surgery and would you do it again.1
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I would do it again in a heartbeat
Ive lost 150lb so far
At my heaviest i couldnt even walk the length of a room with a stick (i have a joint condition)
Now i can hike for miles, i can run 5k
When i hike and walk i do it with my baby boy on my back, i was told i was infertile a decade ago and would never have any more kids
My son is worth every pound i regained, 2 stone of my regain is back off now, i regained to the weight i was prepregnancy, in the 25 wreks i was pregnant i lost near 4 stone in an unhealthy fashion by vomiting and constant hypos, i dont reccomend that way, the slow and steady pace its going at now leaves me with energy and less walking corpse skin colour lol3 -
I would so it again even knowing what I know now. It's much easier to fight the regain from a lower weight. Physical activity is much easier. The people that are successful are the ones who keep fighting to lose the weight even on the weeks were the scale stays the same, where you see it go up a few pounds, and you're not sure what to do. I'm just not willing to give up because I don't want to be part of that statistic of people who regain all they lost. Time4Nana, there is a beautiful life on the other side of surgery, that doesn't mean we don't have our struggles because life happens to all of us but we support each other because we all know where we started at. Good luck and I look forward to seeing your success.6
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I go to every support group here. 2 times a month. My program has 2 groups.
One is for pre-op and post op and meets twice a month (currently the one I attend). The facilitator is GREAT and really digs into the root cause of issue we may be having. Sometimes it can feel a little "one size fits all" but they are also open to alternative suggestions. We have a good mix on regular post ops and always rotating preops (and some regulars). They dedicate the first hour of the group for Post ops to talk about stuff and the second hour is for pre-ops. This kinda forces the preops to hear what they can expect post op instead of only hear the 3 famous question (hair loss, loose skin and constipation come up every time)
The other is open to only those who are a year plus post op (also meets twice a month). I am not allowed in this group yet but I cant wait to go. Thats where they really get into the emotional *kitten* and also work on diet adjustments and other issues around regain.
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Wow, just found this thread, so glad I did!
I'm almost 5 years post RNY. I would do it again in a heart beat. I'm down 151.6 pounds, as of this morning, and I'm still losing. I want to lose another 65 pounds, then have a full-body tuck. (I'm 64, the loose skin ain't going anywhere on its own.)
I lost in the first Golden Year with no trouble, then essentially did nothing for three years, lost a little. Last year I thought "Get off your ***!" and started tracking and exercising here on MFP, and have lost around 50 in this past year. (I started at 430 pounds. Doctor gave me less than five years to live if I didn't do something. I used a walker, and had to sit down every twenty yards or so. I no longer use either a walker or a cane, and walk 30-60 minutes every day for cardio.)
I'm not a meeting-person anymore, I get too impatient. It's too bad, because my surgical center has meetings three times/month - two evenings and a mid-morning - and topics are excellent. Meetings are well-attended; there were probably 200 people at the last one I attended, about a year ago. I just learned that the meetings will now be available real-time on FB; I need to look into that (because I can multi-task while I listen in.) I'm active on my center's secret FB site.
I met with a bariatric dietician yesterday; I'll go copy that information from another thread I posted on, and post it here.1 -
I saw my bariatric dietician yesterday; very interesting! Please note that the following information is specific to people who have undergone RNY (gastric bypass) surgery. I'm almost 5 years post-op; I'm now down 151.6 pounds, and working to lose another 65 pounds prior to having a full-body tuck. (I'm 5'6" and 64 years old, currently at 278.4 pounds.) Anyway...
She advised me that my calorie count is good, I should be staying between 1100-1400 calories per day, and NOT to eat back the exercise calories! We discussed carbs; she advised me that people react to carbs very differently, which I know, but we decided that I would start at around 100 carbs/day and possibly lower that further, but absolutely no lower than 40 carbs/day. (My nurse practitioner told me to make sure I do not go into ketosis by using the UA ketone strips. Ketosis is bad for me because a) I was diabetic Type II up until my surgery, and b) I need to protect my kidneys. Ketones are large molecules and can strain the kidneys to filter through.) (My father is sensitive to carbs, so I suspect I am sensitive to carbs also.) Protein is a minimum of 63 (but up to 90) grams/day. The rest of the calories is fats. We discussed saturated versus unsaturated fats, and right now all the experts are arguing over this, so we dropped it. Finally, I need to verify that I'm getting in the right amounts of B12, Calcium, and Iron.
I found this reassuring, to know that I'm on the right path and only need to make a few tweaks to my current plan. Unfortunately, those tweaks include dropping to 100 grams carbs / day, which I suspect will be a challenge for me. I'll see.
Now to establish a consistent exercise program. I get in the cardio each day, but that is about it; I know I "should" have some sort of strength program and some flexibility too. Ugh. I may have to resort to a session with a personal trainer. Nope, not ready for that yet!1
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