A year ago I asked all of you via a survey what keeps you up at night, what you are most concerned about. Seventy percent of you responded that you fear weight regain more than anything. And that is understandable. After years and sometimes a lifetime of battling morbid obesity, through surgery we have been able to experience weight normalcy and we fear that it will slip through our fingers. 

Before surgery we heard stories from concerned family and friends about all of the people who died from the surgery.  Now after we have had surgery, we hear all the stories about people who have regained all of their weight.  You can’t help wondering if that will be your fate. 

So why is some weight regain so common after surgery? Here are some thoughts:

1.  Problem: After gastric bypass surgery, weight loss is so easy that we don’t learn the lifestyle changes necessary to maintain our weight.

Remedy: Recognize that weight loss will never be this easy again.  Lose as much as possible during the Window of Opportunity period which is the first 12 to 18 months. Don’t delay your weight loss during that period because of a cruise, the holidays, vacation, a party or wedding, a stressful period, or a host of other excuses. Your job during your first year is to eat properly and exercise. Do everything you can to reach your goal.

Remedy: Get nutritional counseling on how to eat in order not to regain weight.

Remedy: Journal.  Writing down everything that you eat is recognized as the most effective way to control weight.

2.  Problem: We don’t exercise often because our excess weight has made it impossible. We have bad backs, bad knees, or bad feet. We have learned to associate exercise or even movement with pain. To now embrace exercise is difficult.

Remedy: Make a list of exercise possibilities for you. Some of them might include to hire a personal trainer for a few sessions, join Curves, walk through the mall, dust off the old exercise equipment and use it, take an exercise class, do water aerobics, or buy a WII Fit.

Remedy: If you aren't accustomed to exercise, do it in baby steps.  You will not be able to exercise like a pro for a long time.  Start slowly - just a few minutes a day. Exercise is something that you have to build up to.

3.  Problem: We don’t deal with emotional eating issues. Part of why we are the way we are is that we eat our way through our problems. We live to eat.  Eating is such a part of our lives that not having what we eat as the center of our world is a hard place to get to. Although right after surgery we have it under control, after 2 or 3 years the emotional eating issues can return.

Remedy: Seek counseling to deal with those emotional eating issues. Get to the bottom of why you deal with problems through food. Read about emotional eating.  There are a lot of books to help you.

4.  Problem: We get to a point where we are hungry. This can be from eating too many carbohydrates which will start carbohydrate cravings. It can also be because we have stretched our pouch or stoma.

Remedy: Avoid simple carbohydrates which are found in sweets, white breads, white pastas, etc. After protein, diet of complex carbohydrates is important.  Complex carbohydrates include fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Build your diet around these.

Remedy: If your pouch and stoma are stretched, there are surgical remedies that will make those smaller. A lap band can also be put around the pouch.

Whatever the source of weight regain, the most important thing is to catch the problem as early as possible. Don’t let it get out of control and don’t panic. You can find a way to deal with the issue no matter what it is.

I want to offer Faye Harbin a special thanks. Here is her story:

All my life, I was very small and petite, very active and full of energy; however, when I turned about 40 years of age, I put on a little weight-not too much, but more than usual for me. By the time I was 46, I was wearing a size 12, whereas I had always worn size 5 and 7.

Then in 1992 my husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. I was able to care for him at home; however, we were confined for a couple of years.  During that time, I starting gaining weight due to the stress, depression, eating junk food and sweets which is all he wanted to eat.  My husband passed away in 1996, but I did not lose the weight.  The stress was still present in my life because for the first time in my life, I was alone.  I left my parent’s home when I married and then I was married for 33 years, so I had never been by myself.  Needless to say, I did not prepare and eat the right foods.

I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, acid reflux, a heart murmur, and finally diabetes.  My blood pressure was so high, I had to take three different medications a day to keep it down, but never normal.  Then I was placed on a breathing machine for sleep apnea.  When all the diagnosis was complete, I was taking 13 prescription pills a day and was only able to do water aerobics because of the arthritis pain in my lower back, hips, and knees.  Needless to say, I did not lose any weight, but gained additional weight.

In 2005, I starting thinking intently about losing weight however, I had tried every diet that came along, with no success.  With Weight Watchers, I did lose about 20 pounds, but quickly put it right back on.  Then I decided I would check out gastric bypass surgery as I had known several people who had this surgery with complete success.  I researched the procedure and talked with everyone I saw that had the procedure.  I approached my family physician to see what he thought about it.  After seeing that I was serious about it, he agreed that it might just work for me.  He then referred me to a wonderful surgeon who agreed I would be a good candidate for this procedure because I was morbidly obese.  I was 5’ 1”, weighed 224 pounds, and wore size 20 women’s clothes.

On November 14, 2006, I had the procedure done at Piedmont Medical Center by Drs. Espinal and Bohanian.  In my opinion, I was a textbook case because I had no complications at all.  I immediately felt better; probably most of it then was psychological, but I knew I was going to be fine.  It seems like the weight just fell off, but of course, I did everything by the book.  I wanted it to be a success.  I didn’t want to have gone through all that for nothing.  I started to exercise as soon as the doctor gave me permission.  At first, all I did was walk.  Then I started back to water aerobics because that was all I had been able to do before.  Shortly though as the weight started coming off, I was able to do more exercise.  I joined a step aerobics class and started dancing.  I have always loved to dance, but the arthritis had stopped me from doing much of that.

Now, that I have lost 112 pounds, I am able to dance a lot.  I belong to 2 dance clubs and dance at least one night a week (3 – 4 hours).  I also do step aerobics for one hour, three times a week.  Sometimes I dance for 2 or 3 nights a week.  I feel great and have tons of energy.  I now weigh 112 pounds, which means I have lost exactly half my weight.    My clothes are now size 4 – 6.  I no longer have sleep apnea, high blood pressure, acid reflux, or diabetes, however I still have the arthritis, but no problem with my knees or hips.  I can walk 2 miles easily.  I am able to keep up with my two teenage granddaughters.

I can truthfully say my life has changed dramatically and I am so happy, and feel that I am very healthy now.  I am planning on a long, healthy life

Faye T. Harbin
ftharbin@comporium.net

Congratulations Faye

“Reprinted from Barbara Thompson’s free e-newsletter featuring helpful information and research material to help patients succeed following weight loss surgery.
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