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I've been on Wellbutrin for a number of years. Didn't need to stop for surgery and still taking. Wellbutrin doesn't usually cause weight gain. I also take Klonopin which worries me that it might interfere with weight loss. But without it, my mood gets unstable. Sent from my SM-T580 using BariatricPal mobile app

I had a paragard for 3 months. It slipped too low. After a lot of bleeding& pain, I got it out. My midwife didn't believe the bleeding was from poor positioning even tho the strings were much llonger every month, I've never had unprotected sex& made me pay for an std panel. All clear. I'm concerned about uterine scarring. The insertion was fine. I had the cervix softening med, but after that I had contraction like pain, bled 10 days the 1st month, 14 days the 2nd, & all of January. No time for sex & was really inconvenient. My normal periods were 4 days. I'm starting the minipill& praying for no weight gain or negative effects.

I was banded Nov. 24th so today will be 10 days post-op. As of this morning I've lost 12 lbs. Two days ago (according to the scale) I was two lbs lighter...but I blame the weight gain on Aunt Flow. Once she's outta town those two lbs in water weight will be gone, too.

I would appreciate if we could keep this thread from being hijacked to a "weight gain challenge". This thread is for weight loss and those who are serious about the challenge I'm sure all of those in this challenge will agree. Thanks!

Weight gain isn't always about overeating. Your weight depends on a lot of factors like what you eat, when, how much, your activity level, your metabolism and even genetics. I don't eat a lot, in fact I sometimes forget to eat if I don't feel hungry! LOL I didn't eat during the day, I was too busy, but then I'd have a good size dinner and dessert. My activity level has also been pretty low. I work on the computer for a huge part of the day, and do laundry, dishes and such. Regular housewife stuff. It took me a year of soul searching to make the decision. I am also 5'4" and weigh 255. I want to lose the weight for a variety of reasons, not JUST to look better, but because I don't want to end up with diabetes and a bunch of other bad stuff. I want to be able to go to the mall and walk from one end to the other without having to sit down half way thru and catch my breath! I want my hip and knee joints to stop aching. I want to stop having to take meds for high blood pressure. I want to be happier and healthier. I want to live to see my 6 grandchildren grow up! The doctor I'm going to recommended RNY gastric bypass because of my age and activity level. After a lot of discussion and research we decided the band would be better for me. I would suggest you have a long talk with your doctor and see what he says. Do it to gain health not just to lose weight!

I smoke a pack a day. I don't want to. I experience the same self-loathing over smoking, that I do over being fat. I hate myself for making such an unhealthy choice. I tell myself that it's "okay" because I don't smoke in the house or around other people, and certainly never inside a restaurant or any public place. In fact, if I find I HAVE to have a cigarette while I'm out shopping, I walk far, far away from the entrance to the building so that other patrons don't have to breathe in my vile cigarette smoke. Some may perceive me a hypocrit. I don't care. I want to quit and I did quit for over three years many years ago, and the last attempt at quitting last year had me smoke-free for four weeks. I gained thirty pounds in that month, so I rationalized starting smoking again because of the weight gain. Funny thing is, I haven't lost those thirty added pounds. My surgeon told me that I have to be smoke-free for two weeks prior to surgery. I already decided to have my last cigarette 11-22-06. I hope I can quit for good this time. I don't judge others for what they do -- or don't do -- with their lives. Sometimes I see the "debunkify the myth" commercials where they talk about "not everyone smokes", and the recent local elections here have banned smoking in ALL public places -- and while I think that's a very good thing, sometimes I think that this country is in a "Smoker's Bashing" frenzy. If you smoke, you're looked upon as a lower-class individual. Much the same way I'm treated as being an obese person. Because I'm fat, I'm regarded as "not as good" by the thin, "normal" population. I think both are wrong to do. Any kind of (fill in the blank) bashing is wrong. As long as my bad habits aren't affecting other people, I don't think anyone has a say in what I choose to do to my body. When and if I decide to quit should be MY decision, and I shouldn't be bullied into that decision. Same thing for weight-loss. It's MY decision. That's just my two cents....

The thing that led to me cinsiddering weight loss surgery was my last failed diet and weight gain that followed. At 346 lbs I was feeling doomed. After all my research this is what most strongly made me say "the band is for me!" 1. My Dr explained that there are different body types-- mine is the type that holds fat reserves and craves the kinds of foods that tend to put it on. My ancestors were the type that probably did hard labor, had lean winters or long boat trips and needed food stores to survive. Thusly there are high metabolism people with ancestors that wouldn't have survived those things. 2. I belong to a very large, supportive weight loss group that has many people who have successfully lost 100 lbs or more with dieting/life style change. They FIGHT the good fight against food every day. It can be done, BUT I'm so tired of FIGHTING so dang hard. I need some help. That's what the band is for me H-E-L-P. I want to hurry up and get with living!

Once I moved to mushies I did not get full from just a few bites! I had to carryfully measure everything. For week 3 I could have low/no fat cottage cheese and ricotta. I made a Italian bake cottage cheese, ricotta, grated Romano, some egg white with jarred spagetti sauce bake in the oven. The next week I was able to add egg whites. I would cook the egg whites and at the end add cottage cheese which would melt. Yummy. At that point I was also able to have canned tuna/chicken; which I mixed with low fat laughing cow cheese. I bought no sugar added apple sauce flavored with strawberry, raspberry to which I added splendra. Regarding weight gain if you are physically able start an exercise routine. I was back at the gym on day 4 and at day 14 I returned to swimming.

Firstly u wont have ruined anything by drinking tomato soup, I had never heard of clear liquids only here in the UK .. our post-op is liquids i drank my weight watchers tomato soup from day 5 i think it was .. i was on liquids 4 weeks post op, then mushies 4 weeks then normal food, just dont do any liquids that have lumps in or u couldnt drink with a straw( not literally) , thats a liquid then As for comtrolling mothers.. did u think maybe your relationship with her was responsinble for your weight gain or some of it, it might well be u have to change your contact with your mum in order to cope with making the band a success for you. If she tells your doctor about the tomato soup he would probably laugh at her so dont worry about it, but start thinking about what is best for you and what u need, u have to come first till u have lost the weight u need to

Are you a compliant patient? All the time, some of the time, or none of the time? This is a practice that matters to me…does it matter to you? What’s the big deal about it, anyway? WHAT DOES PATIENT COMPLIANCE MEAN? The term “patient compliance” is a funny one for someone like me, who in some areas of her life doesn’t have the patience required for compliance. Maybe that’s just my funny little brain playing with words again. What does patient compliance mean? A compliant patient is one who follows or completes with their physician’s diagnostic, treatment, or preventive procedure(s). For example, John Doe’s blood work shows high LDL cholesterol and triglycerides (diagnosis: hyperlipidemia). He’s a compliant patient because he faithfully takes the medication his doctor prescribed, avoids eating saturated fats, and increases his exercise in order to lose some weight. His mother-in-law has high blood pressure (hypertension) and is recovering from a stroke, so in order to prevent the medical problems that challenge her mom, John’s wife Jane follows her doctor’s recommendation to reduce her own salt intake and join John for a daily walk. Their obese son Mark, who is scheduled to have bariatric surgery in two weeks, is compliant as he carefully follows his surgeon’s pre-op liver shrink diet to prepare for the surgery. Their sun-worshipping daughter Mary just had a suspicious mole removed and complies with her dermatologist’s recommendation to use sunscreen every day and give up the tanning bed. A highly commendable family, aren’t they? What about you? Are you a compliant patient? All the time, some of the time, or none of the time? Compliance is a practice that matters to me…does it matter to you? BARIATRIC PATIENT COMPLIANCE Most bariatric surgeons agree that the #1 cause of disappointing weight loss or other WLS “failure” is patient non-compliance with the surgeon’s protocol. In contrast, many adjustable gastric band patients (the disappointed ones, anyway) agree that the #1 cause of band “failure” (however they experience it) is that the band doesn’t work, no matter what (if any) protocol you follow. How can we reconcile such opposite views of WLS failure? What can surgeons do better or differently to improve patient outcomes? We already know what patient compliance means, so let’s take a look at the term “protocol.” In a general sense, protocol is a set of conventional principles and expectations that are considered binding on the members of a particular group, be it professional, social, or political. It’s also the formal etiquette and code of behavior, precedence, and procedure for state and diplomatic ceremonies. Protocol is a big deal to the British Royal Family, as witnessed by the flutter over the Queen’s order that Kate, the Dutchess of Cambridge must, as a former commoner, show reverence to the ‘blood princesses’. She is expected to curtsey to those born royal, such as Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie – both in public and in private. Although the media did a lot of speculating about Kate’s putative humiliation over this order, the importance of royal protocol can hardly be a surprise to a British citizen who marries into the Royal Family. In the medical world, the term protocol refers to the plan for a course of treatment – a physician’s diagnostic, treatment, or preventive procedure(s) like those followed by John Doe and his family. And like Kate Middleton, a bariatric patient can hardly be surprised over their surgeon’s insistence that they follow that protocol. Any surgeon worth his/her scalpel educates patients about that protocol from the time of an informational seminar to the day of a band patient’s first fill, with updates as time goes on. That’s why I feel impatient when I hear (very, very often) that new bandsters are shocked and vexed over the requirement that they follow a liquid diet immediately before and after their surgery, as well as after fills. “How can that possibly be a shock?” I ask myself. Did the patient sleep through their pre-op education, or were they so focused on the vision of themselves in a size 0 that they forgot the work that must be done to arrive at that size? Or (please say it ain’t so!) did the surgeon or other medical professionals in that bariatric program not spell out the details of their protocol when the patient was preparing for surgery? And then there’s the whole “Why does my surgeon say eat only ½ cup of food when my friend’s surgeon says eat 1 cup of food at a time?” dilemma. As I explained in Bandwagon, surgeons establish (and fine tune) patient protocols based on their own experience with their own patient population. If band manufacturers hired teams of auditors to ensure that every bariatric surgeon in North America used the exact same protocol, no one would be able to afford a gastric band, and very few surgeons would bother using the band for their patients. And a brand-new gastric band sitting in its package is completely useless until a trained and experienced surgeon implants it in a patient. Allergan and Ethicon Endo aren’t surgeons; they’re manufacturers of medical devices. So while speculating about the great variation in WLS protocols might be mildly entertaining, it’s not going to do a whole lot to get you closer to that size 0. If you choose a surgeon you trust and respect, you also choose to abide by their protocol, and enjoying that protocol is beside the point. I spent decades enjoying my own weight loss and weight gain “protocols” so much that by the time I was 54, I needed weight loss surgery. So whose protocol is healthier or more effective, mine or my surgeon’s? I lost 92 pounds by following a surgeon’s protocol. Is there a problem with that? I think not. OK, hang on a second while I climb off my soap-box. Ah, that’s better. Here I am again, standing on the ground, surrounded by living, breathing (if distant) WLS patients. It’s not fair to generalize about any of us, is it? But generalize I must in order to make a few more points. THE DOUBTING THOMAS I think some of us are by nature more likely to ignore, question, or defy authority figures, while others accept authority without voicing or even thinking a question. In the former case, we need to cultivate trust in the doctors who want to help us, while in the latter case, we need to cultivate enough trust in ourselves to dare to ask those authority figures for better or more detailed explanations of their instructions. I’m more on the defiant, or Doubting Thomas, end of the patient spectrum, but a few years ago I read a statement that struck me (out of the blue) as very true: SOME THINGS MUST BE BELIEVED TO BE SEEN I extrapolated that statement from a religious context into the context of my WLS journey (at that point in my life, I could extrapolate almost anything into the context of my WLS journey). When I had Lap-Band® surgery, I was convinced that I was a total failure at weight loss. Going into that operating room, I had to believe something I’d never seen myself do: that with the help of my band, I could succeed at weight loss and maintenance. And I did. Because truth can take a while to reveal itself, I think people like me need to ask ourselves, “What possible harm could befall me if I do follow an instruction whose proof of efficacy I can’t see right now?” Let’s go back to a previous example: your doctor tells you not to eat more than 1 cup of food at a time. You know you can easily eat 2 cups, so if you really want (or think you need) to eat all that, and no immediate negative consequences result from doing that, why shouldn’t you just go ahead and do it? Why should you blindly follow your doctor’s seemingly arbitrary and unreasonable instruction to stop eating after you’ve consumed 1 cup of food? It’s your doctor’s job to explain the “why” behind that instruction, but if she/he hasn’t done that to your satisfaction, and he/she isn’t sitting at the table with you and that plate of delicious food, I suggest that you consider what terrible thing would happen if you put away the extra cup of food for now. Will you starve to death? Really? What else might happen? Will you surrender your liberty, be forced to vote for your doctor’s favorite presidential candidate, or (worse) be compelled to clean his toilet every Saturday for the next 20 years? Oh, no. No, no, no. He’s your doctor, not your teenaged son, so let’s consider another, quite serious consequence of following his instruction. Maybe, just maybe, nothing bad will happen at all. Maybe even something good will happen. Just because your compliance doesn’t yield an instant reward doesn’t mean it won’t yield a future reward. What might that reward be? How about weight loss and the avoidance of side effects or complications? Doesn’t that sound good to you? Sure sounds good to me. I do much better at following instructions if I understand them, but I’m here to tell you that in almost 5 years of banded living, I didn’t truly begin understand my surgeon’s and dietitian’s protocol until I’d been following it for 6 or so months, and the scope of my comprehension expanded more over the next few years. In the meantime, I lost those 92 pounds I mentioned earlier. The lesson there is that you don’t have to completely understand or believe in a protocol for it to work, as long as you follow it as best you can. THE BELIEVER Now I want to talk to the folks at the other end of the patient spectrum, the obedient ones who wouldn’t even think of defying the advice of an authority figure. Their WLS journey can be bumpy too, even when they slavishly follow their doctor’s protocol, and here’s why. One of the problems with blindly following instructions that you don’t understand is that sooner or later you’re going to find yourself in a situation no one thought to warn you about. You won’t instantly know what to do, and you may waste precious time on unnecessary blood, sweat and tears. You may even end up doing something harmful. Without at least an inkling of the principles behind your doctor’s protocol, you’ll have a hard time coming up with a stopgap measure to help you survive a surprising and stressful situation. If you worry that any decision you make on your own will be the wrong one, ask yourself: “What’s the worst that could happen if I do nothing right now? What will happen if I do the ‘wrong’ thing?” Will you die? Surely not. If you’re able to breathe, ambulate, drink water, state your name and what year it is, and blood isn’t pooling in your shoes, you’re going to survive at least long enough to call your surgeon, leave a message, and wait for a call back. So unless the decision requires someone to dial 911 to speed you to the emergency room (if you can’t breathe, move, swallow, talk, remember your name or the year, stop the bleeding, or if something else life-threatening is happening), take a deep breath! And another one, and another one. Ah, that’s better! People on the Believer end of the patient spectrum are often reluctant to ask questions of their doctors because they’re afraid they’ll look stupid or make the doctor angry. I can only repeat the old saying that the only stupid question is the one you think but don’t ask. It’s extremely unlikely that your doctor is going to spank you if you ask (again), “Why can’t I take ibuprofen for my headache?” If your doctor seems irritated by a question like that, it may be because you’re trying their patience, or it could be because they’re having a bad day (worried or annoyed about something completely unrelated to you or their job, wishing they hadn’t eaten the whole pastrami sandwich for lunch, didn’t sleep well last night, etc.). It could also be because their bedside manner needs work. If that’s the case, you can set out in search of another surgeon, put up with the original surgeon’s rudeness, or do your part to lead that doctor towards kindness. If the answer to your question starts looking like a time-consuming project that your doctor doesn’t have time for right now, it’s perfectly okay to say something like, “Is there someone else in the office who could work with me on that?” or “Would it be better to make another appointment to talk about this?” THE DOCTOR Doctors, like other people, come in all shapes, sizes, and temperaments, and with varying communication skills. They’re not all made from the eternally patient, smiling, avuncular Marcus Welby mold, and not all of them are motivated solely by the desire to help other people. They’re often just as fascinated by science as by altruism. Like you and me, they work to earn money, and if their pay seems ridiculously high, just ask one of them how much money they borrowed to get through medical school, and how much they pay each year just for medical malpractice insurance. In many ways, I’m a “you get what you pay for” kinda gal. If 3 doctors quoted band surgery at a total of $13,000 to $15,000, and a 4th doctor quoted only $4,000, I’m not sure I’d feel safe with a bargain basement surgeon (nor would I assume that the $15,000 surgeon was the best). Last I heard, no courses in Bedside Manner or patient communication are required of, or even offered to medical students. Doctors must exchange important information with patients whose own communication skills vary greatly, and they must take a patient’s measure, choose a treatment plan, and explain it to the patient using a minimum of enigmatic medical terms, all within a matter of minutes before they rush off to the next patient or task. Doctors must rely on support staff to do hundreds of things to keep the doctor’s boat afloat, and it’s entirely possible that they have no idea how rude or careless or wonderful some of those people are because so much of that goes on in a way that’s invisible to the doctor. And which would you rather your surgeon focus on: the ink cartridge for the Xerox machine, or the pain in your abdomen? In medical folklore, surgeons are infamous for possessing a God complex, with big egos, enormous self-confidence, and an excess of superiority. When you think about it, it does take a lot of chutzpah to cut into another human’s flesh and fiddle with their innards in the effort to fix a problem., so it doesn’t surprise or bother me much that some surgeons have a hard time coming down to the lowly level (perceived or real) where their patients trudge through the mud of ordinary human existence. In many types of surgery, that’s not a big problem because the surgeon sees the patient maybe 3 or 4 times: the initial consult, the surgery, and 1 or 2 post-op follow-ups. Then the patient goes on their merry (we hope) way and the surgeon scrubs up and dashes into the operating room to cut into someone else’s medical problem. General surgery is usually a fix-it-and-go thing. If your diseased gall bladder gets tossed away and forgotten, do you really care if that also means your abdominal pain is also a thing of the past? But bariatric surgery, which treats a chronic and incurable disease that’s a highly complex tangle of physical, behavioral, and emotional problems, is a different matter. Successful bariatric surgery is not a fix-it-and-go proposition (and that’s reason #99 that I would hesitate to ever have surgery outside the United States, knowing that I have no local surgical back-up or support). Bariatric patients need far more education, aftercare and support than most other types of patients. I’m convinced that one of the causes of WLS failure (however you define failure) is inadequate patient education, aftercare and support. And on top of that, adjustable gastric band patients need even more education, aftercare, and support than most other bariatric patients. While I believe that too many general surgeons have been jumping on the gastric band-wagon without fully understanding the needs of those patients, it’s not fair to say that they’re all being careless or negligent when they fail to give patients what they really need. Unless they’ve had bariatric surgery themselves, they just don’t know what it is to walk in our shoes. They might consider the implanting of a gastric band to be an interesting and possibly lucrative addition to their practice without realizing that surgical expertise is only part of what the band patient needs. Doctors and other people with very high self-esteem can be hard for us ordinary mortals to deal with, but it’s a mistake to assume that they’re looking down on us. They may not be looking at or thinking about us at all, not because they don’t care about us but because their minds are so enthralled by and preoccupied with medical science. My father was a brilliant scientist whose head was so far up in the clouds that I often wondered what planet he was on. At the same time, I know he loved me when he noticed me (and I know now that nothing I could do would change that). In a sense, doctors who get heavily involved with their patients are doing those patients a disservice. The Hippocratic Oath exhorts doctors to “do no harm,” not to mop up your tears or hug you when things go wrong. If that seems harsh, consider this: doctors actually need to keep some emotional distance from their patients in order to treat them well medically. Without that distance, it would be very hard for them to make rational decisions about patient care. That’s why it’s considered poor practice for doctors to treat themselves or their loved ones. I’m not saying that it’s okay for doctors to be cold and heartless and should be excused for bad behavior. None of them are perfect (and neither are we, the patients) and you won’t find me worshipping at the altar of the AMA or the ASMBS. I’ve encountered some wonderful doctors and surgeons in my lifetime, and some bad ones too. The average American bandster might see 3-4 doctors on a regular basis (a few times a year): a primary care physician, a gynecologist (if you’re of that persuasion), a dentist, and maybe a chiropractor or a specialist like an eye doctor. The average American bariatric surgeon probably sees 20-30 patients a day (perhaps a few thousand per year). Since I’m not a mind-reader, and no one cares as much about my weight loss journey as much as I do, I figure it’s my responsibility to refresh my doctors’ memories each time I see them. I might wish that I didn’t have to repeat over and over again that (for example) I’m hearing impaired and need my doctor to look at me when he speaks, but that’s a minor issue compared to some of the bigger ones I face as a mature adult.

I am down 1 pound this morning, and TOM has visited today. Usually, that means weight gain!! I am also back in moderate ketosis. Are you a nurse, Mamato?? Before i started staying home with all these kiddos I was a nurse. Well, still am just not working right now!! Way to go everyone!! Here's to another great day!!

What a great day Bonnie. What a great accomplishment. So much of this is about our thinking, not our eating. "As a man thinketh, so he is." I think my theory on my weight gain is right. I got up and peed a lot last night, and this morning I am down 3 pounds!!! That still puts me 2 pounds above my ticker weight, but man am I happy to see those scales going back down. I was beginning to freak out a little. When I gained a few pounds those fears of being obese forever crept back in. Suddenly I could see myself at 255 again, with little power to make good choices (the old me). Man the psychological realities of adjusting to not being obese.... I hope some day I don't fear "gaining it all back". Anyway, still working toward ketosis by morning!! Make it a great one everybody!!

Your welcome. I know I had a lot of questions at the get-go too. I went to two seminars with different surgeons, and there was a clear choice in my mind, and I went with that doctor. My seminar was in June, and my consultation was scheduled for a few weeks later..so late June early July. I could have surgery in late August, but I had a scheduling conflict, so I moved it to the first week of Sep. I am absolutely thrilled with my results. I'm on a plateau now, but I *never* thought I'd be this close to goal weight after struggling with weight gain and then obesity for the last 15+ years. I've gone the Weight Watchers route more than once, I've gone to a weight loss doctor for phentermine twice, and, of course, I've tried to lose weight on my own several times. All these attempts were met with failure. With the band, I eat normal foods; just much smaller portions, and I don't drink with my meals. I go to the gym for rigorous workouts 3 - 4 times/week. I went into this, not merely to lose weight, but to improve my health. That's one of the reasons exercise is such an important component to me. I didn't add it just to help with weight/inches loss. I want a healthy heart and increase in stamina. I'm planning to hit 50 yrs old with a body that matches my mind and attitude, and I'm getting there.

I just experienced the same thing except 10lbs in 3 days... I am so panicked right now. i cannot wait for monday to get here. I have never lost weight counting calories and always eat low carb.. Ahi tuna appetizer last night and 3 chicken wings = 5lb weight gain this morning Help!!!

hi, i'm brand spankin' new to the forum, yaaay me, lol, i have tons of questions just like any newbie, i'm getting banded ( am i using the correct lingo? lol) on july 24. ok anyways so i have to start my pre op diet on thursday, and i'm trying to slowly start into it now...so that i don't have some psycho pizza craving thursday night...ok now my question(s) my doctors office recommended myocel to use as a protien supplement/shake thing...sounds delicious! but i'm wondering if i could just use like a high protien slim fast or Optifast...you know something already premade? and i'll contact the office later but for those who did a pre op diet, is it just sticking to a low carb diet? and by low carb does it work the same way as atkins like i could have low carb tortillas because you subtract the grams of Fiber, etc....or is is seriously strict like nothing that even looks like bread, lol so here's my story. ok well anyways i'm totally excited about getting banded! i have been sooooo opposed to weight loss surgery, i was so active in my teens and early 20's i was just like oh i need to eat less, and exercise more...yeah i'd lose 40 gain 60, lose 20 gain 30, thats' the story of my life...i was sooo patient...but how many times can i bust my butt at the gym for a week lose 2 lbs, only to gain it back on one bad weekend...i believe that weight loss should be slow, but dang why does weight gain have to happen so fast!!! so now at a lovely 285-290 lbs and umphteen million diet tries and failures over the years....i think the band is just what i need...i know the weight loss is slow, i'm sick of being "fat" just as much as the next person, so yeah i thought about gastric bypass, um yeah for like 2 seconds i'm like, cutting what? putting what where? yeah the gastric bypass people will look awesome for the xmas party, ...but i'm not looking at where i'll be in december, i'm thinking wow, imagine where i'll be next july! holy cow! i'll be on a lap band commercial, and wearing shorts on spring break! ok expect many more super cool post from me! hmmm now to find a nice little tracking/ticker thingy thanks guys! nic

Mj did you get the revision bc of acid reflux or weight gain? How long did it take to get approved? If it was due to Gerd, did you have to do a lot of tests to get approved? I was told I would have to do like 3 tests; scope, swallow test and another test where a device is attracted to my esophagus , I wear a device around my waist and everytime I experience acid reflux I press a button and it takes a pic and measures the amt of acid

interesting concept there motherof4. . never thought about doing that. . maybe i'll try it next time a craving hits and i'm not really hungry. . .retraining really sucks. . . i struggle with it every day. . before surgery i thought it wouldn't be all that hard, damn it's hard! tomorrow i start my 5 day pouch test to get back on track. . .no weight gain yet, but it could happen any time soon huh?????? that would be a tragedy!

I agree it possible some gain could happen to me down the line.. but the essential thing is I’m leaving that up to my body. I won’t diet again because I’ve decided to allow my body to regulate my weight and not try and interfere. Dieting was making me terminally unhappy no matter how thin I became. I have accepted I may gain weight but I know I will love myself regardless and still be healthy because the weight gain won’t be from binging, dieting, or food obsession. It won’t be from eating things I don’t want or don’t make me feel good. It won’t be from eating things only because I feel like I shouldn’t eat them. If I gain weight I will embrace my new body and love myself. your post was fine. Thanks for the thoughts.

I relied so heavily on this forum and others in the months leading up to my procedure that I promised myself I would provide a 12 month update, FAQ and experience summary for others planning the same thing for the same reasons. I recently posted this to Reddit and bariatricpal rounds out the plan. My story is positive – overwhelmingly positive – but I think most importantly my story is not emotional. I don’t have a psychological problem with food. I was never tormented or made to suffer for my weight (beyond finding flights uncomfortable and shirts being too short). I made this choice on statistical grounds – it would extend my life on average and go a long way to improving my diabetes. I wanted to provide a vanilla story to remind everyone this pretty survivable and the majority of people have non-descript and unexciting recoveries. My lift is pretty much the same - I just eat a lot less, dont shoot insulin and hopefully will live longer. Forums tend to have an over representation of negative outcomes - that makes perfect sense and it's absolutely fine for people to use them to get some reassurance and communicate with people in the same situation. For everyone else - just remember you're less likely to jump on a forum and tell your story if nothing went wrong or it wasn't any different from other people and as a result it can seem like a higher proportion of people are suffering than maybe is the case. I was a lower-BMI diabetic, not quite type 1 or type 2, but insulin dependent nonetheless. My BMI was 31, my surgeryweight was 126kg (277lbs) and I’m 196cm tall (6’5). I was diagnosed at 100kg (220lbs) but assumed type 1 as I wasn’t visually overweight. However in the 5 years since diagnosis I’ve continued to produce some insulin suggesting I’m not a pure type 1 or 2 - but closer to type 2. I gained 26kg in a year after diagnosis once i started on insulin. I’m broad shouldered/chesty with skinny legs - like an apple jammed on some chopsticks. Maybe like the fat Mr Incredible. My intention for having the bypass was not solely weight loss – I suspected that my diabetes was closer to type 2. I suspected the improvements people see immediately in diabetes management post bypass may apply to me. It was a gamble that paid off, My decision making process was quite straight forward – I had a young daughter at the time (now have a son too) and had lost my father to a heart attack when I was 7. He was fit and not diabetic but had a heart condition. I new statistically I was due for a similar fate carrying excess weight plus diabetes onboard. This was the best way to knock out one of those (the weight side) and hopefully improve the diabetes. I went from 126kg to 83kg (180lb), my BMI is low end of healthy. My biggest positive is my immediate cessation of insulin shots and a current HBA1c of 5.8 with oral meds only. It took about 6 months to get to my goal weight of 90kg. I'm still slowly losing and need to stop. Lead-up and Prep I was not obese to look at visually. The majority of healthcare professionals I spoke to did not think surgery, let alone Gastric Bypass, was necessary. In the end – my PCP, endo and surgeon all agreed that, while not essential, bypass was a prudent decision with potentially long-term benefits. The surgeon did not want me to bother with a gastric sleeve – if the endgame was diabetes improvement then the gold standard was a bypass. In Australia you need to be over 35 BMI or over 30 with a comorbidity to be eligible. I had slightly elevated Blood Pressure - that plus the diabetes made me eligible. I paid $2000 out of pocket, my private health insurance paid the rest. No psych required, I had a few meetings with a nutritionist and everything was greenlit. From first enquiry to surgery was four months. The fee I paid includes lifetime consults with the surgeon. I did not need a pre-op diet as i was not that overweight and my liver was not a concern. Surgery My procedure was in June 2018. My anaesthetic recovery was rough, but otherwise the process was fine. The most discomfort was immediately in the 12 hours following – in part due to surgical site pain but mostly because the bed could not accommodate my height so I was forever crossing my legs or scrunching them up, only to have a nurse slap them and wake me up for fear of DVT. Nurses kept promising to find a bed extender - eventually I lashed out in a post-anaesthetic haze at a nurse who slapped my feet - she took the end off the bed with a flourish. My feet shot out, I cried in relief, apologised profusely and slept for eight hours. Day two was stiff and sore but i was mobile, able to shower and sipping fine. I went home the morning of day three. I had PHENOMENAL life ruining headaches from day two. I went home with some serious opiates because I lived 90 minuts from my surgeon and couldn’t drive to get a script if they hit again. On day four my dietician cleared me for coffee and it immediately wiped out the headache – turns out I’d been in caffeine withdrawal. So I really recommend you taper that off in advance if you have a problem with coffee like i do. If you're diabetic then buy a freestyle libre glucose monitor for the procedure if you dont have a CGM. They want hourly blood glucoses, instead of being woken and pin pricked every hour I could just show them how to use the scanner and they'd take it while i slept. I had some minor aches 6 weeks out and one of the surgery sites oozed a little clear fluid. It subsided immediately. I was home for two weeks. I could have gone back at one week. I'm an accountant though and my starting weight was comparatively low so i was mobile quick. I completely understand if you're starting form a heavier weight then you should plan to take the full time. Food/Eating The normal progression of foods was fine and unremarkable from what is described on most forms. I graduated to solids a little earlier than I should have. I cheated like mad and was feeling fine, it was only when I snuck a tiny piece of casserole beef and vomited violently did I start to behave myself. I was vomiting once or twice a week from eating too much or too fast. Savoury ricotta bake, hearty soups and coconut water were my saviors. The vomiting subsided, 18 months out I vomit maybe once every two or three months and only when I do something stupid. My problem before surgery was eating very fast and taking large bites – that has been hard to deal with post surgery. In fact I tend to still eat large bites and then sit unable to eat for extended periods. I was very sensitive to sugar post-op and frequently had dumping. That subsided in a month with changes in eating, changes in my appetite and better food/liquid rules. I currently only get dumping in the morning, and only if I eat something sugary. I do get nauseous easily in the morning too – it’s something I’m working with my nutritionist on to find out why. Otherwise I can eat whatever I want within reason. I don’t drink soda, but had quit it before my procedure. Milky protein makes me nauseous too (any type of creamy protein really) so I use a water protein additive from costpricesupplements. This helps me hit 2L fluids daily. I can eat about a cup and a half food. Liquidy foods – stews, soups, casseroles – I can eat a lot more than that. Tougher foods like steak or dry chicken much less. I gulp liquids. I had a sensitive stomach before the surgery and took Metamucil religiously to keep my gut regular. I have not had any issues post op with flatulence but have had looser bowels. Metamucil still helps – but no worse or in any way less manageable than pre-op. Diabetes I went off insulin immediately after my surgery. It wasn’t a cure – I’m still diabetic – but metformin and trajenta keep me in an aggressively managed hba1c. I have a so-so diet – I eat too much sugary junk food and carbs. I could go without diabetic meds I believe but my diet would be depressing so ive truck a compromise. On this basis alone this was the best decision I could have made for my physical wellbeing. My blood pressure is fine, my cholesterol is non-existent and I'm able to even job a moderate distance without discomfort. Random observations • I’m cold. So cold. It’s 35 degree outside where I am (90’s Fahrenheit) but as soon as I go into any office I need a sweater. I really became dependant on sweaters, long johns and socks this last winter. Im not cooler in summer – just as hot and bothered as before. Maybe a better way to describe it is that I feel the temperature more in general, like I lost my insulation. • I am too skinny. Clothes don’t fit that great – most men this tall have a bit more chest/gut on them. Australia has limited/no tall clothing ranges domestically so I’m importing loads of stuff from the UK/USA. i still think i look fat when i look in the mirror. • My bum is bony and I need cushions to sit comfortably. I also had a cyst on a butt cheek I didn’t know about – now im so bony there I’ll need to get it removed so I can sit on kitchen chairs comfortably again. • I gained about 1.5” of penis length. It was a welcome addition. I needed to learn how to be more gentle and patient using it. With a young family and little sleep it's yet to be fully road tested – but I’ll be ready when we start to sleep again. • I have a little loose skin. nothing dramatic. mostly around the gut and love handles. • I am very sensitive to meds and drugs. I'm not much of a drinker but i like weed edibles - what would give me a mild buzz before gets me quite high now. I sober up quicker now too. I take xanax on flights to help sleep - i take a quarter of the dose now. • I drink red wine socially and now cannot really get drunk. I sober up quite fast but get a mild buzz pretty quickly too. • Dumping sucks but it should not be a discouraging factor. Its not life ruining – anyone who’s had a hypo as a diabetic it’s a bit like that with some gastro thrown in. It resolves pretty fast (30ish minutes for me) and is a self-reinforcing feedback loop for shitty food behaviours. For this reason alone I consider the bypass as the better choice for me. • I’ve lost a fair bit of muscle tone and will need to somehow up my protein and start some weight training to recover it. This needs to be balanced with not losing for further weight. • I have to remind myself to eat. Not just because of low appetite, but because once my pouch shrinks for a day then eating again can be uncomfortable and time consuming. As long as I eat fairly frequently my pouch is all good and I can eat quite a lot pretty fast – forget about it for 2 or 4 hours and I’ll need to take some time to eat a bit and get my appetite back. • I was hungry for 33 years and bordered on a pathological inability to waste food. I ate my meal and anything my wife or kid didn’t eat. I’d eat a meal out, go home and have a sandwich. We ate at bars and pubs because the servings were larger. I would eat until I was very uncomfortable if the portion was large enough. Now I still can’t bring myself to leave food – so I have this silly aversion to ordering anything more than something off the appetisers list. I don’t like asking for to-go containers (it’s an Australian thing – it’s really stupid because we pay so much for food out we should keep every bloody morsel) but have started to now order what I actually want instead of what I think I can finish. It’s funny – I went from ordering what I thought would be the biggest portion so I didn’t feel hungry (instead of what I thought looked good) to ordering what I thought I could finish and not waste. Regrets? None to speak of specifically. In a very minor way travel is less fun. I looooove travelling to southeast asia and the USA and love eating all the different things. My appetite is so low now, and eating can be so inconvenient, that I don’t get to eat anywhere near as much variety when I travel. I was recently in SE Asia and looking forward to a huge array of currys. I ate only two in five days as I had no appetite at all. I just need to travel differently now - actually plan to stop for meals instead of just charging all over a city and snacking on the way. I wish id been more sensitive to my wife's emotional processing of the scenario. She's gone from having the tall, chubby guy that was the physical build she was attracted to, to having a skinny beanpole. This was while she was having our second kid and all the very natural weight gain associated. She's not overweight and is, objectively i reckon, absolutely gorgeous but definitely feels marginalised by the process and is quick to colour me as vain or obsessed with my image now I am buying new clothes. I think i could have been more mindful of what I said or did. She was overwhelmingly supportive though and agrees this was worthwhile. Closing thoughts If you are considering this process and maybe you're on the margins of eligibility my experience would say go for it. my hope here was to give a vanilla experience to the mix, unique only in my taking the more permanent bypass on despite my lower starting weight. Sent from my SM-A705YN using BariatricPal mobile app

I'd love to hear how I screwed up. I never ate off plan until I passed goal. I followed every instruction my doctor gave me. I have gotten 60g+ Protein and 64oz+ Water every day. (Except when I was so nauseous from a medication I was on for a C. diff infection that I couldn't even swallow my own spit...which of course led to dehydration and IV fluids at which point my doctor and I found an alternative solution to cure the infection. In other words, make sure you drink!). I take my Vitamins every day. I get my bloodwork done as recommended and adjust supplements accordingly. I am active everyday. I lost over 100% of my excess weight and have kept it off for 7 months. Sure, now I eat deserts and carbs and drink alcohol, but I'm in maintenance and I'm allowed anything and everything in moderation. Any weight gain I observe I immediately check by going back to strict protein and veggies. Again, where is my non compliance? But if I was, then good for me for being so successful despite all my cheating! My point to the OP is that this is a lifetime commitment and she struggled with just 7 days. food addiction is serious business and everyone needs to get whatever help they can to overcome it. Like @@VSGAnn2014 said, not everyone is successful with this tool and not taking responsibility for your choices and trying to validate cheating makes for a slippery slope towards failure. I consider myself a rockstar of WLS, and I'm on here to pay it forward. I'm a big proponent of everyone making a plan that works for them. My way is not the only way, just one of the many ways that works. But not being able to say no to sweets is generally not one of the plans that works.

I gained 3 lbs one month post op I’m kinda freaking out I was doing so well but I started eating normal! My stomach takes food well 😞 any helpers please 😞

What happens is.... once you reach your goal determine if you continue to lose weight/gain, or what. If you determine that you still lose weight you would go to your doc for a slight unfill. Somewhere between .2 and .5cc depending upon many factors. After a while, like 1,2,3, or 4 weeks you reaccess...are you gaining again? If so, go back for that fill. Are you losing still? Go back for a slight untill. Are you maintaining? Then you are done. I've often wondered what happens now. I met goal and had an unfill in January of the .3cc. I'm maintaining. I see the scales go up a few pounds but they tend to come right back off without dieting or exercise...just a fluke of sorts. But those extra pounds, like those w/o WLS...tell me to watch what I eat or drink. When I gain a few pounds the first thing I do is watch the soda pop intake. That usually does it for me. Fill Centers USA called to check up on me as they haven't heard from me in 3 months...but all is well. I'll call them when I need them!

Jody, I hate the temporary weight gain from the TOM, but since I usually drop 3-5 pounds after, it always works out in the end! You're doing great, keep up the good work!!!:scared2::thumbup::thumbup: I got another Couch to 5K session in tonight. Have a great night everyone!!!

Weight gain, bloating and bowel moments that u described, without he pain. I had to have an upper Gi done and the doc saw food was passing through my stoma way to fast. The area before the stomach was rounded like a ball. That made the food fill up and push through too quickly. That is causing my hunger to also be through the roof!

I had visit 3/6 yesterday with Ivan. My weight is back down. Initially I was 225.8 and yesterday I was 226.2 so not a big deal. Ivan said I was doing great and he was proud of me....ummm not really sure what he means, but apparently I just need to maintain my weight and he's not expecting a loss prior to surgery. My last appointment is February 17 and I asked about scheduling appointments for pre/post-op diet information with the nutritionist and a meeting required with Ivan/surgeon prior to surgery and was told that once Diana submits for precert and approval received they will schedule the apointments. I told Ivan I didn't want this to stretch into late March/April because there wouldn't be any appoinments available and he assured me that things move quickly once insurance approval had been received. He halso said there isn't a wait to get into any of the classes and that they are group classes. So now to make it through the holidays with no weight gain. Perk & chicken how are you feeling? I did ask Ivan about the size of the pouch they do and he said a 30, do you guys know what size your pouch is? Tssiemer, how'd you do overnight? Molly do you have heart issues? Did they send you to a cardiologist? I didn't have any pulmonary or heart appointments and just curious why you had to do them? It seems like the request for each of us is so different even though we are going to the same doctor.