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Thanks guys, it's amazing what a few encouraging words can do when you are feeling low. Every day is an opportunity to grow and learn how to make better choices. I can do this. The kids and I are going to a class today, I think I'll bring some extra Snacks and move out the chips that found there way into my kitchen. I hate this cycle, I make bad choices at the market, then give it to my husband to take to work or give it to friends to get the food out of the house. It's embarrassing to be wasting money on food I crave, then give it away because I can't just eat a small amount!

Danilax, interesting information. Thanks for sharing.

I'm 6 weeks out and feeling the same way. Lazy! I have been beating myself up about it. I feel (finally) fully recovered from surgery, so I didn't think it was from that, but maybe it's related. I seem to get a lot done one day, and spent the next day (or two!) tired and sitting on my butt. No fun!

Thank you all for sharing. I hope you find some help. I have a son who has never really had a desire to eat. From the time he was little. I joke (only to my husband in private) that he got the opposite end of my compulsive eating disorder. He is 14 now and still under weight. The worst thing to do is for anyone to say something about his weight or comment on his food. I still have to quietly remind the Grandmothers to keep their comments to themselves. That his body and eating are not a topic they are allowed to comment on. Ensure has helped him the past few years, but he only will drink 1/2 a bottle a day. I have heard many times about a three year mark after sleeve surgery. That people will start eating more. Maybe time will help you all. Good luck.

That's interesting, and it makes sense. It was my surgeons assistant that mentioned reusing the old sites. It never would have occurred to me to ask. So I was surprised to see new sites. I couldn't see the belly button one, the glue came off that one very early. I was imagining it being deep inside, like at the base of the opening. I kept worring about it opening, not healing, it being moist in there. I actually asked my hubby to look in my belly button and tell me where the scar was. Turns out it was just a small horizontal line just inside the top side of the opening. Then I relaxed!

They told me they would use the same incisions. They didn't, they made all new ones and they did one incision in my belly button! That freaked me out, I don't know why.

I had a hard spot the size of a golf ball at that site. It didn't hurt or bother me. My doctor said it might drain out the inscision site next to it. It didn't, and I think it was gone at two weeks out. Good luck.

I was told nothing heavier than a gallon of milk post-op. My paperwork says nothing heavier that 20 lbs for the first 6 weeks. I had recovery pain for the first 4 weeks. At 5 weeks I wasn't thinking and I pulled the coffee table closer to a sick son to reach his drink and ouch! I had a weird pain for the rest of the day about three inches above my belly button. It was gone the next day. But boy o boy, 6 weeks is a long time to heal!

I'm sorry you are struggling. Depression is no fun. Posting and reaching out are good. Vitamin D and fish oil are a must for me. I have some fears about this after reading about reduced absorption of vit D after sleeve surgery. I was doing so well with walking daily. The past few days have not gone well, feeling down, no energy, curled up in a ball. I'm hoping its just a bad case of PMS coming on. You are not alone!

I'm taller in the kitchen, shorter in the car, and my nose had grown. With my stomach out of the way I can reach things on higher shelves. And my husband and I used to be able to drive the van with the seat in the same position. I had so much natural padding in the rear. Now the more I lose the more I have to move the car seat up to reach the pedals. My face keeps getting slimmer, and now my nose looks bigger! I noticed these changes years ago with weight loss from my band. Now I'm losing more weight and I have to move the car seat up more. I'm feeling claustrophobic getting so close to the steering wheel!

I think when a doctor is unwilling to give a straight answer, it's usually because they are a bit flexible. I got that "well..." with a head tilt from my surgeon a few times. My surgeon has an excellent record and history, so I trusted him even when he was vague. So a good way to look at this is that he didn't want to give you a hard and fast rule in case you didn't reach it. And in my experience, my nutritionist says a lot of things that are not always correct. No sugar, no flour, South Beach diet types, seems to be the best way to shrink the stomach area, waist measurements. meat and vegetable. I wouldn't even worry about low fat for now. There is a great book titled "Why We Get Fat" the author is amazing. He was on Dr Oz and they didn't agree. Dr Oz thought his cholesterol must be through the roof because he eats eggs bacon and sausage every morning. But the author had it tested after the show and it was a fabulous report. I'm way off track here. I'm no doctor, so please do your own research. But you can do this. I agree with previous posters, don't get depressed. You can do this! It sounds like they will work with you, you can get there!

I only weigh at doctor appointments. I lost 50 pounds with the band, and then drove myself crazy with weighing. I learned scales are a huge trigger for me. I tried for years to work through it. Then a few years ago (at age 38) I got rid of the scale. My weight stabilized at my lowest weight and stayed there for years. Best thing I ever did. This doesn't work for everyone, but it worked for me. Best two years of my life I'm 4 weeks out from a revision and wondering how I will do it now. I have lost more weight and people are commenting. I have one more surgeon follow up appointment next week. After that I think I won't weight until/ if I drop down to a size 12 or something. I was a 16 in jeans pre sleeve. OP, Good luck finding a out what works for you. You will lose weight! If you think a certain number will upset you, you can just give it more time. The longer you wait the happier you will be. Like others said, there is no wrong way to do it. Just finding what works best for you.

Great thread. I have some experience with maintainence. I had the band in 2008, I went from 255 to 200 by the end of 2009. I kept that weight and was 202 on surgery day for sleeve revision on 8/19/13. Before the band I was never able to lose or keep weight off, I was overweight/ obese my whole life. It really was a miracle for me. I hope I can do the same with the sleeve. For me the restriction was a blessing. I can only get in a certain amount of food a day. That is just fact. So I ended up with a mental list of my must haves for everyday. For me it's yogart, Vitamins, eggs, some kind of chicken or fish, fruit and vegetable. So I would want a cookie or chips and I would think "ok, but I need to eat some protien first" then maybe I would have one cookie, but that is all. Because there was no more room. I do have a lot of learning still to do. Maintaining at 200 is not very hard at only 5'2". I did have sweets or a treat every day. Oreos and ice cream shakes were my favorite. I'm down to 188 and 4 weeks sleeve post-op. The last time I was this weight I was in high school. I think this limited daily capacity thinking is what has helped me the most about weight loss surgery. When I was a BMI of 45 I would wake up and go for sweets. That is how I started my day for 15+ years. There have been times at my lower weight that I grabbed a cookie first thing in the morning and I could see how I ended up feeling sluggish and then carried on making bad food choices the rest of the day. I would end up getting none, or very few of my must haves. So I stopped doing that. Starting with healthy food each day has probably been my biggest behavioral change, and I think it has helped a lot. I have done a lot of reading about increased capacity, stretching out a sleeve or pouch. From what I understand it is possible/common to increase capacity, but never anywhere close to what we used to have. So it really comes down to what you are putting in there. I have also found balancing helps a lot. If I did end up just eating junk (with the band, a slider food), I usually crave a protien immediately after. I think that helped slow down the blood sugar rush and stop me from getting more off track. I don't know what my future holds. But I know it will be better with WLS than without it. The sleeve will always be a reminder that I do need to manage my food, protien first will always be my motto. My intact stomach was a food addicts dream. My band and now sleeve are like putting that addict brain on lock down. That is how it works for me.

What a wonderful thread. Lunaya, you have helped me by posting and sharing, and all the supportive replies as well.

This is my life baby! I don't know if my boobs ever looked that perky. They started out shy and facing the floor. I had a rough post-op recovery and one day was crying to my hubby, "No matter how bad my boobs get, don't let me get surgery"! I am a terrible patient! He smiled and said, "Yes dear, no more surgery for you". Pretty soon I will have to move them out of the way to button my jeans. God love that husband of mine.

I went through this when I lost 50 lbs with the band. Lots of wool socks, wool hats and layers of fleece or wool. Everyone forgot what my hair looked like that first winter because I wore a wool hat all the time. Morning or night, inside and out. I got a down coat from LLBean last year and its pure heaven! Why did I wait so long to try down. Now I'm sleeved and losing more weight. I feel like a Stark from Game of Thrones. I keep pulling out wool and fleece. I have started knitting thicker wool socks and hats, and mumbling the Stark motto, "Winter is coming, winter is coming".

I agree. When I had the band in 2008 I was told it was in for life, like a hip implant. No worries, it was safe and could stay until I wanted it out. In April of this year, 5 years out, I started vomiting even more than usual. I started researching again and I found so much information about 5 year life span, 10 years tops. It was such a hard decision to revise to sleeve. Those were my husbands exact words, "So what are they going to say about the sleeve in 5 years? " My choices were band out and go it alone, or revise to sleeve. I kept changing my mind. Who knows what kind of procedures are comming in the future? Lose the band, work hard to maintain, and see what the future holds. The thing that pushed me to revise was insurance. We are going to be losing out good insurance next year for a self employed plan. Most likely a plan that will not cover any bariatric surgery. The first two weeks after revision I want to tell everyone pre op to run, don't do it, this is terrible, no one should have this surgery. I am 4 weeks out today and I'm adjusting. The funny thing is there is a question I never asked pre op. I never even thought of it till after. I guess I assumed that after my stomach heals it is a strong as before. But now I think not. Now I have read stuff that makes me think my stomach will always be weaker that my stomach pre op. Sounds silly. But it is just something I never thought about. And again I don't know for sure, I will ask at my 6 week follow up. And I read about sleeve constantly for months leading up to my revision. I am a strong believer in everything happens for a reason. I think if you had erosion after only two years, and could not revise to sleeve. Then there must be something even better in your future. Or if you do get the sleeve, then it must be happening later for a reason. Best wishes to you. For all of us on this roller coaster. Life is one wild and crazy ride!

Steph, I'm so sorry to hear this. I am almost 4 weeks out from a band to sleeve revision. One of the surgeon said my band was encapsulated in the stomach, but I don't believe it was eroded through the stomach. He also said they had to do a lot of heavy stitching. Honestly I didn't want to know anymore at the time. I spent the first two/three weeks post-op terrified of a leak. I have a 6 week follow up with my surgeon and I may ask more detailed question then. Hopefully you will find some good info about erosion healing. It must be so hard to wrap your head around this new development. But for now just focus on healing your stomach. I'm glad they got the band out now, it would have only done more damage. Take care

Good luck! I'm three weeks post op today, band to sleeve. It's such a a relief to know the band is out. That constant tightness in my chest is gone!

Hi everyone. Just a post to share my story. I was banded in 2008 and have had a love/hate relationship with this band ever since. It took a year and a half, and a dozen fills to get it right. I did lose just over 50 lbs and have kept it off. But my eating for the last few years seems terrible to me. So many healthy foods I can't tolerate. Eating out is miserable. Travel is the pits. The fickleness of this band boggles the mind! Sometimes I can eat my portion fine, the rest of the time I'm stuck and vomiting on two bites. The constant tightness in my chest and pressure when I eat. And don't get me started on the heartburn! I never had it pre band. and it has been constant these last 5 years. I am so grateful for these years of weight loss, but I am so ready to try the sleeve. We took a family trip to Disney in April and I ended up in the bathroom vomiting at almost every meal. I think our flight went up to a very high altitude, and the band was mad at me for the whole trip. I knew I had been having more vomiting episodes, but this just made it very clear in my mind that I needed to do something. When I got home I immediately went to my hospital website to see if they are doing sleeve now, they are, and I made an appointment that day. I was very interested in the sleeve back in 2008, but it was not performed at my hospital then, and no insurance coverage either. I did spend some time considering having the band removed and not doing another surgery. When the band was put in I was told it was for life, now it's a very different story. Based on that I can't help thinking that 5 years from now there may be a different story with the sleeve too. But in the end, I can't go back to 255 (at only 5'2"), and I'm pretty sure that is what would happen. So far I have met with my surgeons assistant who recommended me for revision. The psychiatrist and the nutritionist. I now have an appointment on July 18 with my surgeon. I am thinking there are tests he will want to do. And I am nervous about getting insurance approval. But one step at a time. I am hoping to have the revision in the next few months. We'll see. LapBandTalk and this site have been so amazingly helpful through all these years. It's been great to be able to read all the stories of other people going through this revision process. So a big thanks to all of you!!

My doctor prescribed Zantac post op for 6 months. It's not a PPI but a milder H-2 inhibitor (whatever that means). About PPI, I read somewhere that the stomach actually makes more acid producing sites in response to the PPI use to try and counteract the drug. So when you stop using it you have more acid than before. But with time your body will regulate again. I also read that you can alternate PPI and Zantac while weaning off a PPI.

I wanted to update my post. I had revision surgery on August 19. My surgeon submitting papers to my insurance, Unicare, in July and they approved in just a couple days. My doctor stated band intolerance as the reason. He did seem a bit surprised though that they approved so quickly. Surgery as much harder than I expected. I am 8 days post-op now and starting to feel better. I was told that the band was encapsulated in the stomach and that they had to do a lot of heavy stitching in my upper stomach area. That is why I was having so much pain in that area post-op. I am sipping constantly and walking better. I still have to sleep on my back and don't see that changing anytime soon. I can't bend over yet and still need help around the house. I'm taking one day at a time, and looking forward to a full recovery. Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck to everyone on a band to sleeve journey.

Day 8 post-op update, band to sleeve revision on 8/19. Feeling better every day. The first 5 days were so hard. I knew they would be hard, but it was so much worse than I anticipated. Not at all like my band surgery, more like my bad c-section 13 years ago. One thing I had not expected was the anxiety, I was terrified the whole first week that I was going to have a bad complication and have to go back into the hospital for months. Surgery was Monday, Friday afternoon I turned a corner and started feeling better. Now every day is noticeably better, drinking more, walking further and easier, moving better, less pain and less anxiety. I finally have some hope for the future! Keeping all my fellow August sleeve buddies in my thoughts and prayers for successfull surgeries and recoveries!

Wishing you so much luck on your big day! I have seen so many good luck posts you have made to others and I thought to myself I hope I get to wish you good luck when your day comes!

I feel your pain and could have written your post. Regret has been the word of the day for a few days now. I keep reminding myself of all the posts where people say, "don't worry, I regretted it too, it will pass, you will feel good again." But I am still so miserable, depressed, and anxious. Thank you for posting this. I am trying to stay positive, but its nice to know I'm not alone.