Gastric Bypass Surgery

Question
I had gastric bypass surgery in 2004 and i have gained about 20lbs. back.  I wanted to know what can i do to get back on schedule of losing these pounds?

Answer
I apologize for the delay in my response to you but I have been sick.  Thanks for your understanding.  :)

Congratulations on your surgery five years ago and being on top of your weight regain.  Many of the people that I have worked with have regained more than 20 pounds.  You should feel proud of yourself for reaching out to reverse your weight regain at only 20 pounds.

The answer to the weight regain is simple yet hard to do.  Return to the habits that made you successful when you first lost your weight.  Focus on the habits you are doing now.  For the majority of us that have experienced a weight regain, one of the habits is grazing.  If that is the case for you, that is a huge part in losing your regained weight.  Grazing is an easy habit to fall back into yet a difficult one to break.  (Can you tell I speak from experience here??  LOL.)  Continue noting what you are doing now that is different than what you did when you previously lost weight.  In addition to grazing, some of the common habits that have changed are larger portions, drinking with your meals, more refined carbohydrates, not logging food and exercise, either stopping to exercise and activity or decreasing duration and/or intensity.  Essentially, take a snapshot of what you are doing now that is different than you did before.  

When you have determined the difference from "then versus now" you need to change your habits.  Stop grazing, increase exercise, stop eating refined carbs and replace with complex carbs as examples.

Do you attend a support group or participate in an online support group?  That will also help you to get back on track.  

Another strategy is to check in with yourself to see if you are indulging in emotional eating.  Are you feeding your head hunger or your physical hunger?  Make sure that when you eat it is for physical hunger and not feeding head hunger or to calm and soothe emotions.

The great thing here is that you lost it before and you know you can do it again.  Granted losing 20 pounds will be a bit more difficult than the first time around but you can lose it.  You will probably lose it at 1 or 2 pounds per week but YOU WILL lose it.

All the best of luck to you.  Again, congratulations on your success.

In health,
Cathy, ACC, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach
Certified Back On Track Facilitator

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