BariatricEating.com Health & Nutrition

Post-Ops - Born-Agains

Whoa, my skinny jeans are too tight!

It is easy to get too comfortable in our new shoes and push our limits. I have experienced that feeling of panic when I pulled up my ‘skinny’ jeans and they were too snug on my thighs. It is hard to grasp that at this smaller weight even 5 pounds can make such a difference, when we are used to 30 pounds at our former weight, hardly making a dent. Don’t get upset or beat yourself up if you find yourself gaining a couple of pounds. We have a surgically created tool that will remain intact and work for the rest of our life if we use it properly.

By choosing solid protein foods we retain control over our portion size. It is easy to eat a whole bowl full of smooshy carb comfort food, but even at 4 years post op it is tough to eat an entire chicken breast. By making an intentional choice of the denser protein, we can control our serving size and thus our calories. The bottom line is if we burn as much as we take in, our weight will remain constant. Once this balance is disrupted, something has got to change, we will either gain or lose weight. So either use your pouch to eat less, or burn more calories through exercise, or use a combination of both.

If you find yourself gaining more than just a couple of pounds… regroup, and immediately go back to the basics that got you to the lower weight in the first place! We can quickly forget how we lost the bulk of our weight. Revert back to protein first, healthy vegetables next, and cut out all the simple carbohydrates such as the ‘white carbs’ of sugar, flour, rice, bread, and potatoes that have wormed their way back into your diet. Start drinking plenty of water again and get some exercise. You didnt go through all of this to gain back weight without a fight!

This surgery is all about control and thankfully we have been given permanent control but we have to use it.