Time marches on.  You have lost 100 pounds, or more, or less - at any rate you have lost a significant amount of weight and now you are living life as you choose, free from the burdens of obesity.  You are no longer sidelined because you can’t _________ (fill in the blank - fit on a roller coaster, in an airline seat, hike for a few miles, ride a bicycle, play tennis, scuba dive, tie your shoelaces…….).  You are traveling, playing, participating 100% in life when suddenly you notice your jeans are a little bit snug, or the top button of your favorite shirt is pulling a bit too much for your taste.  What you do next can alter the tenor of your life for the next days, months, or even years.

Here are some of your choices as I see them:

• Ignore it - it must be water weight since you ate out last night
• Blame it on everyone around you - spouses, friends, co-workers, bosses, moms, dads - after all they put all that food in front of you
• Get extremely sad, cry, and carry on like a two year old, blame it all on your surgery - it just isn’t working any more, right?
• Get depressed, fall into a funk and stew on it, but do nothing
• Face it, get on the scale, own the number, and figure out what comes next

The last is the most difficult to do and alas is the only one that will give you benefits in the long run.

So what does come next?  Do you start belittling yourself for gaining weight, calling yourself names, identifying yourself as a failure?  This stinking thinking will get you nowhere but to a higher number on the scale because once you have decided that you are a failure, that’s exactly what you’ll be.

Let’s look at what’s going on through a different set of eyes.  Let’s go back to the beginning.  You have lost xxx pounds.  You have regained xx pounds.  You have kept off a significant amount of the original weight you lost.  GOOD WORK!  Take out those pictures from the beginning of your journey and take one today.  Do you see the difference when you put them side by side?  YOU ARE A SUCCESS first and foremost.  Never lose sight of that, and you are ready to figure out what you need to do to get back into those jeans and that favorite shirt.  Look at what happens next as just another day, week, month in the life of a weight loss surgery patient.  Another page or chapter in your journal.  You still have your weight loss surgery tool, you still have your brain, you still know what actions to take to get to where you want to be. 

So what’s been missing and where did that extra weight come from?  Complacency, stress, lack of planning, eating your feelings, choosing to put yourself into a carb coma to escape from your day to day.  These are all of the same things that created your need for weight loss surgery in the first place.  Those nasty little habits are slipping back into your life.  STOP RIGHT NOW!  What can you do?  Many things starting with:

• Make an appointment with your doctor for a check-up and blood work to make sure there is no medical cause like being low on a particular vitamin or supplement or to see if any of your meds need to be adjusted;
• Make an appointment with a counselor or psychologist if you are feeling down or anxious much of the time.  There is absolutely no shame in asking for help
• Take out your food scale, measuring cups, measuring spoons and food journal and begin planning your meals, prepping them and keeping track in your journal of everything you eat and drink and your feelings.
• Get out and get some exercise.  This doesn’t mean 3 hours at the gym.  It could mean beginning with walking for 5-10 minutes a day at your break and working up from there.

The one thing I know for certain from my own personal experiences is that when I forget that I am a weight loss surgery patient first and start acting like I did, before I had surgery, regarding food choices, etc.  I begin feeling like I did before I had surgery, which is not very good.

Take 5 minutes each day and “catch” yourself doing something good.  What did you do today that has supported your health and well-being?

Come on up out of the dark side and step into the light.  You can do it!  You’ve been doing it and have done quite well.  Never forget that, and never give up!