I had an open gastric bypass 9/16/03. I had lost from 285 down to about 170 but have crept up to 190-195. I am really struggling with this - no one ever seemed to mention that after so long you stomach holds about as much as before surgery and this has been a problem for me since I was used to eating 5 small meals a day now I stay hungry all the time and want more, more, more at each meal or snack. Anybody else coping with this one? I know I am one of the 3FC's but I am just like everyone else - making mistakes over and over!

oh amy. i'm SOOOOO glad to see you!!!!! and congrats on catching this issue sooner rather than later. i know one woman who has regained about half of the 150 that she'd lost, and she doesn't really notice!

and yes, we're all coping with this issue. i've had to go back to basics. i've found - and this is for me - that i do MUCH better with a 15 gram protein shake in the morning [approx - the scoop holds 23-25 grams of protein, and i fill it up a little more than halfway].

this seems to keep the munchies away pretty much all day. and then i settle into a pretty much standard 3 meals and a snack around 5 [i always eat dinner late] schedule.

and my meals tend to be 40% protein, 40% veg, 20% carb, the high quality ones. of course, eating chocolate doesn't help!!!!

with this schedule, i'm losing again, and not suffering.

try not to think of it as 'making mistakes over and over.' view it as 'an experiment that didn't exactly work.' don't beat yourself up over this.

Amy, it's so good to hear from you. I think about you all the time and wonder how you are doing. OleAlvin's surgery was between Jiff's and your's. It was April 2005. And yes he struggles with the same problems. He like you ate small meals through out the day, (and didn't follow all the rules, no matter how much I fussed) He can now eat almost as much as before, and still wants to eat every few hours. He has gained back some of his weight, but not nearly all of it, but the thing that is his saving-grace it the fact that he is so faithful with his exercise program.

And my friend Pam who had the surgery in July 20004 has lost about 180 pounds. Her struggle is not eating too much, but the same old mental problems that put her weight on in the first place. She want to eat all the wrong things, candies, cookies, chocolate. She said the other day that she wished she was one of the ones who had the "dumping" problem, because she can eat anything and nothing makes her sick, so she keeps making the wrong choices.

As we said when we first started this thread back in 2002, some folk look at WLS as a quick fix or the easy way out, but those people have not lived through it. WLS patients face all the same choices and struggles as those who have never had the surgery, and still have them all of their lives. The difference is the choices we make.

:wave: Amy :D

Hi Amy! I'm a newbie, and just had my surgery 3 weeks ago (lap RNY). I think it's great you're trying to get back on track ~ and what better place than here, eh? ;)

Nice to meet you!

I appreciate hearing from all of you.l I am glad to know that others struggle - it makes me feel a little better about my self. I would rather die than gain all this weight back - I know my main problem besides emotional eating and that is I have no excerise program. Shame on me I know but it seems I think of every excuse in the world not to get started.

Amy, when you're feeling good about the way you eat and things are under control what is your primary style. As in GI, Zone etc. ?

One thing that was done differently when I had my second surgery, was wrapping my entire stomach with mesh. This was to prevent stretching of course. The problem with that was that the mesh fused my liver and stomach together. They adhesed after the first surgery although I'm not sure why. The second time they got stuck for life because of the mesh.

I never lost weight at all with my surgeries due to my endocrine issues, so I go through these agonies for nothing today. I haven't heard of any other surgeons wrapping the stomach with mesh like my second one did. I'm wondering if this was his own innovation.