VERY DEPRESSED

I had my surgery 2 years ago and I just found out I have gained 30 of the 80 pounds I lost. I have gone back to all my old habits and I eat becasue I am depress, but I am depress because I eat. I know all the things I am suppose to do, eating right and exercising but I have no will power to say no. I can eat more and I can eat almost anything. My doctor told me I need to hang around people like me-so here I am asking for your help and support. I don't know what to do. PLEASE HELP ME

Hi Roberta, I understand how you feel. I am only 11 months post op and I am struggling with gaining and losing the same 5 pounds and I am about 40 lbs from goal. I am horrible at exercising and I have never eaten right. I can't seem to get on track and stay there. I am slowly falling into a depression as well due to some financial problems with my husband losing his job and taking a major paycut for his new job. I eat all the time. I can eat a whole sandwich with a small bag of doritos now. That is so terrible I hate to admit it. I also do not dump so I eat chocolate and whatever else I want. I just don't eat too much at a time. I can eat any type of junk food I want but when it comes to what I should be eating, I get gassy and It makes me feel run down. I don't know what to do either but Just know that I am here sympathizing with you. Good luck. Shannon Robbins

Hi Roberta I know just how you feel. I had my surgery a year ago May 7. I have lost a total of 70lbs. I am sos upset with myself. I have gone back to the way I use to eat before surgery I just cannot eat as much. I like you have NO will power. I have only dumped a couple of times and that was because i ate too much. I also get VERY gassey and I also get the runs when I eat junk food but it does not stop me. I feel like I am going to be one of the people that are going to end up having to have a reversion. done so that I can loose the rest of the weight that I need to loose. Where are you from? Now I do not mind waking but I hate to walk by myself!!!! And then it is trying to find the time to go walk!!!! It sounds like we are all three in the same boat and we need to jump back on the other boat. So if there is anyone out there that can help us get back on the right boat PLEASE HELP!!!!! Janette

Hi Roberta, I had my surgery back in March 2003 and my weight loss stalled a couple months before my two year anniversary date. Now I'm finding I weigh about 15 pounds more than I did during my last check up with my surgeon. I try to cheer myself up by saying I'm still 90 pounds lighter than I was before I had the surgery. But I want the scale to start going in the opposite direction once again. I've been having lots of fatigue probably related to my depression. I know I'm not eating right and more frequently than I should be. I even went out and bought some of those Trimspa pills thinking they would at least give me energy to exercise and maybe stop the weight gain. Except they make me too jittery. I'm also having problems with constipation. I've started taking fiber therapy caplets. I hear they have the added benefit of making you feel fuller. I feel silly to be taking any sort of supplement or pill. Here I go again searching for a magic pill! I know I need to address my head hunger issues like I should've done before I had the surgery. Coming on here to post and talk with others does help a bit. I mean I guess it's hard to snack while you are using both hands to type...lol! I'm also still considering the Overeaters Anonymous or TOPS meetings in my area. I'm just so embarassed to attend one of those meetings. I tried joining weightlossbuddy.com and pretty much got attacked on a message board. People there couldn't seem to understand why a gastric-bypass surgery post-op would still be having issues with food.

Roberta, I am almost 9 months out and struggling with some of the same issues you are. I have lost about 100 lbs. so far but for the last 3 months it has been almost non-existent. I go to the gym on an average of 3-4 times a week, about 6 weeks ago they started me using weights to build muscle. I thought that would get the weight loss going again but it hasn't really. I will be off work for the summer and I'm trying to find things/activities to do that will keep me busy. I have found that my pouch is a bottomless pit, it seems like I can't eat too much. I haven't dumped or thrown up at all. Good luck and if you have any ideas please share. Susan

Ladies, I hope we can all help eachother. I am 2 years out Sept 25 and have lost 123 pounds. I am 17 from the goal I set for myself and 11 from my dr's pre-tummy tuck goal for me. Check out my profile and you see that I desperately wanted to do something before I see him June 20th but I can't seem to get a grip. Thought daily blogging might help but it is not. I too can eat most everything and do. I am ashamed of myself and grateful I have not started gaining but this past month I lost nothing and the previous few months only a pound a month. I am healthy, had no complication and am very grateful for where I am at but still use food to cope with life. I have been in and out of counceling, tried overeaters anonymous, am in a tops group, go to the gym etc. I think its just a battle we have to keep fight. I almost dropped out of tops but decided I needed the accountability. Same with the gym-- I go through these times when I want to save money and decide I will exercise on my own and then I don't so I decided I need to be a gym member for life. Hang in there-- we can do this!!!! Lucy

I can understand how disappointed you are in yourself right now! But you have to not be so hard on yourself! We all make mistakes. If we had perfect eating habits we wouldnt have needed the surgery in the first place. I would only ask that you take a real hard look at what got you to this place. I would venture to say that it was more than just over eating. There must be issues that you are dealing with. Family, significant others, child hood abuse, low self esteem, frustrated with your current job, Etc. I have battled all of those issues before and now after my surgery. I am only 6 weeks post op but I have had to face some things that weren't easy. I can't eat when I'm bored and for me that was difficult. I've had to find ways to prevent being bored. I work out and I will be the first to tell you that I hate it! But I will also be the first to tell you that there is nothing about me being 30 pounds heavier (like I was 6 weeks ago) that I want to return to. I am a christian. I prayed to God that if he allowed me to make it through surgery (alive and with no complications) that I would take better care of myself. That is a promise that I must keep to God and myself. You deserve to be happy and healthy but sometimes we can sabotage ourselves more than anyone else ever could. I live in Philly also. My email is [email protected]. I would love to talk with you. Take one day at a time! Keep me posted on how you're doing! May god bless you!

Have you talked to your doctor prescribing you something to help with your depression. You should also maybe consider seeking the help of a psychologist, or counselor, that deals with eating disorders to help you better understand and deal with your cravings. they can also help you understand why you have cravings. Best of luck.

I feel your pain, I eat & east & eat & I am always sad becasue of it. Up & down the same 3 pds. makes me cry everty day. Of course all my stress in my life doesn't help. Why couldn't we just stay not hungry like in the begining??? Did we make that happen or does that happen to all? I guess a revision is to much to ask LOL Sharon

I think I was born depressed, if this is truly the reason I overeat. Which leads me to the realization that I think I am coming to: I eat because I love to eat. It is truly that simple for me. I've tried all the anti depressents, OA, TOPS, South Beach online, Weigh****chers, Hypnosis, Therapy...a gazillion things, you name it. It's all just a way to stall the inevitable. You must change. I know it is harmful if I am morbildy obese, to keep enjoying the ride, the moment that I choose to live in, those precious moments of joy brought to me by food, ignoring all consequences that I am very intellectually aware of. Well, the time to pay for it is now, all that joy came with a high price. It is now my job, to change myself, and that change comes from my brain first and foremost. I think maybe depression comes when you realize you have caused yourself harm and can no longer behave the way you grew so accustomed to, the happy way of life, carefree, until it caught up with you. It sucks changing eveything I love about life. For me , food was a way to enhance everything in my life. It always was. I hope that I can find something, anything, that will bring me as much satisfaction in such a short amount of time, with so little effort, to gain said satifaction, that food has proivided me with for so long. There has to be something else. I think I am finding it.... Awaken the Gaint by Tony Robbins is a great book. Give that a whirl, it has helped me see. I believe we have to totally reconstruct our thought process to achieve long lasting sucess here. Peace be with you all and good luck!