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I sure hope so!! I have had sasquatch feet my whole life, and with my last 100 lb weight gain I have gone up a shoe size. Therefore, what goes up, must come down!

It's barely been a week, almost everyone has "buyers remorse" about this time, and many begin to suffer from depression. There are the hormone imbalances, after effects of the surgery and anesthesia-and of course the dreaded "full liquids" then "Mushies" diet. You are probably also struggling with water weight gain from the surgery. Fortunately my doctor realizes how sick people get of the soft foods and moves us right along quickly with a full regular diet at 4 weeks instead of the usual 6 or 8. Not advocating you go against your doctor-just saying different doctors have different programs. One thing that really helped me was to treat myself during this time. I went to Olive Garden and order soup to go. It lasted me about 4 meals. Well worth the cost. Many restaurants have good soups, go out to dinner and enjoy some time with your husband. I have seen that many people have good luck with Wendy's chili, you could even put some over your "liquidy mashed potatoes". Have you tried refried beans heated with cheese? There are some places here that have lists of protein shake ideas. Check out egg face's web site. She makes protein ice creams and tons of flavors of shakes. Anyways you are not the only one that has gone through this. Check out some of the forums for newly post-op people. Almost every post says the same thing. Good luck and hang in there.

I've always said, I will not listen to anyone giving me advice who hasn't been through the same journey. I hope that my story will add some credibility to my posts and inspire someone considered WLS. I'm on a quest to find the woman I lost years ago. She's somewhere in this body, I know that, I just haven't seen here in almost a decade. I'm almost 300 pounds on a 5 foot 7 frame. My family medical history is like Wal-Mart, you name it someone has it. I want to break the cycle of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc. . I can't get back the years I've already lost, but I can make the years I have left that much better. I have a carb addiction, disillusion about the amount of food I should be eating, and an emotional eating habit. I was taught as a child to clean my plate, I remember at 8 years old looking forward to going to my grandma's because she always had pound cake made, and dinner consisted of meat, a few veggies, heaping mounds of carbs (rice/potatos) and rolls. 20 Years I've been addicted to carbs. My mom and I could go to a restaurant and finish an entire basket of rolls before our food came and still eat everything on our plate, plus another basket of rolls. Needless to say, I've never had a good example when it came to eating. Fast forward through middle school, when at 5"7 and 130 lbs I was the tallest girl in my entire school. Talk about a complex. At 9 I thought I was fat. Junior high, I'm still tall and muscular but everyone else is catching up. Rumors start that I'm taking steroids. Hence another complex about being "thick" and muscular. High School, the Revolution Years. I rebelled against EVERYTHING! Stress at home= emotional eating. I remember coming home from school and eating half a loaf of bread, toasted with butter and jelly because it made me feel better. Nutrition? What's that? It wasn't taught at our school. Lunch for 4 years, FOUR YEARS, consisted of chili cheese fries with extra cheese and sweet and sour dipping sauce, juice or soda, and some other high carb or fried food. FOUR. YEARS. I do remember a salad but it was far and few in-between. I think back on this and I cringe. What the heck are we doing to our kids??? My saving grace was band. The amount of practice we did counteracted some of the weight gain. I stayed around 180-200 lbs. College, the fittest years of my life. I decided to major in Nutrition, the one thing I had no knowledge of. Freedom to come and go as I pleased means more time in the gym. HBCU band practice consisted of intense PT at 5 am and intense practice from 3-7. I was at my fittest ever. I wouldn't believe it myself if I didn't have pics to prove it. Grad school I continued my good gym habits, but even a nutrition degree can't combat the psychological condition of emotional eating. I started gaining weight. Then I got pregnant. My weight shot up to 230 with the first pregnancy and miscarriage and I gained 20 more from the stress. Pregnant again at 260 with the help of pills. I went up to 285. Lost 20 and have been stuck at 270 for 3 years. This brings us to today. 10 days from VSG surgery and positive about where my life is heading. I'm not one for sharing a lot of personal information, but I will try to keep this "blog" updated as I progress through. I need to learn how to let people in and break down this brick wall that I've built.

I can't believe it has been 7 whole months since I was sleeved! It has gone so fast! And yet it seems that right now time is moving SO slowly! I know that you loose most of the weight in the first year, and I am SO anxious to loose the last few pounds I have to go. And I am getting nervous, knowing that I am over half way to the one year mark, when I will stop loosing. I want to get those last few pounds off while I still have time. This past summer (when I was living/working in California) I swam for an hour every morning. Since moving back to (cold and frozen) Iowa, I can't swim on a daily basis. I joined a work out center last week, but am having trouble getting there on a regular basis. I work 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM, so evenings are out, and I sleep during the day. So have had to confine my work out times to my days off. I NEED to get off my rear end and get to the work out center on a more regular basis! The sad fact is that joining and paying your money does NOT do anything for weight loss or toning, IF YOU DON'T GO AND WORK OUT!!! I also am trying to come to terms with what I am eating. To often I figure "will I can only eat a couple of bites of it, so I can't do THAT much harm, so might as well eat it.", instead of trying to eat healthy. I don't want to be one of those individuals who loose dramatically and then gain most (or all) of it back! I have a very good life long friend who had a Roux N Y done 7-8 years ago, and now has gained back almost all of her weight. I don't think she changed her eating habits a lot, and now she is stuck with a weight gain back to her (almost) original size. She is such a good friend, I feel so for her. After all she went through to have the surgery and then to gain most of the weight back! I LOVE to bake and cook, so it is a daily struggle not to eat what I am baking/cooking. I am trying to follow the rule "always get my protein first". But some days the pastry, or cookies, or cake, etc seem to be shouting my name as loudly as they can! I know I have to STOP, but some life long habits are SO hard to change! The good news is that I SO love being a Size 8, and I don't want to endanger it with weight gain! I also love all the compliments I have received on my weight loss since the surgery. I don't ever want to weight 258 pounds again! I am beginning to think that maintenance is harder than weight loss! The loosing period has been a relative breeze, it is the whole maintaining thing that is going to drive me crazy (and believe me, crazy is not a far trip for me!). Anybody have any good tips for maintenance?

Just made it to ONE-derland! (Does anyone remember that song, Boogie Wonderland by Earth, Wind, & Fire??) Well, I been singing it all day. Yesterday, I weighed in at 200.0 pounds, but this morning I weighed in at 199.6. To celebrate, I bought myself a cute blouse in a medium (and I must say I look super cute in it); it's off the shoulders with a mixture of blue colors and I'm gonna wear it with my skinny jeans when I cook this Wednesday for my family. I must add, I didn't get here easily. It's been the gym 5 days a week (sometimes there at 4:00am), watching and logging what I eat, along with a mixture of stalls and even a few weight gain weeks, and of course I work full-time and I am pursuing a master's degree. When I don't hit the gym, the scale does NOT move (even with the sleeve). So I'm gonna celebrate my new super cuteness then hit the gym again to get the next 64.6 pounds off! ...dancing in boogie ONE-derland...

TGIF!!! Well good news, I am down 4lbs since my weight gain. You were right, I guess my body just needed to adjust. Tomorrow is girls night out and Sunday is family dinner. I plan to eat a little of everything (even a piece of cake) but not get out of control. Won't be able to exercise tomorrow but I am going to on Sunday morning. Have upped my Protein from 70g to about 80g a day, cals are at 1050ish. I feel like i have more energy. Breakfast - 6oz yogurt, 6 almonds, a few banana slices lunch - 1/2 pita with 2 tbsp Peanut Butter, 3 strawberries Dinner - 1/2c braised beef, 1/2c mashed yam snack - 5oz vanilla yogurt, 1/2 Protein Bar liquids - Water, 10oz skim milk Exercise - 20 min bollywood dance dvd, 15 min pilates

I was shocked. Before my massive weight gain I was 270lbs. Avg pant size 38. I started to develop sleep apnea which really got bad over time. When I finally got checked it was in the severe stage 65 episodes a minute. by time I was diagnosed I was 380lbs and pants size 52 (I like them loose). All this happened within 3 years. I had about 10 new pants I havent wore since weight gain. Im 10 weeks in, and now im at 287lbs. Im still very big, but the weight loss didnt hit me until I didnt have any clean pants (havent done laundry... I work 2 jobs.. dont judge im not lazy..lol). I had to attempt to try one of these pants on since I had a party to go to and all stores were closed. I jumped into a size 44 and it was still too big. I believe im currently a size 40 I jist havent checked. Its summer I been wearing shorts all summer and surgery was in jun. So we will see. Sorry for long story im just really happy with my surgery getting to sizes I havent seen in years.

Hello, Quick question. Did they require that you lose the weight you gained during the preop diet? I was recently denied due to my weight gain. No I didn't have to lose the weight for the appeal process... Mine went all the way to the external appeal they don't even look at if you gained weight

Hello everyone. On Wednesday, April 13th, I will be four weeks or one month post-op. I am a little shocked that as of today I have only lost 20 lbs. I hear about people losing thirty or fourty the first month and I can't believe that I'm stuck at 20. This makes me very sad, depressed, and dissapointed. I have 110 to lose (now 90) and hope that this is not a very slow process. A few things may be hindering my weight loss: now that I'm on mushy Protein type foods, I am only just now getting protein into my diet. I drink a lot throughout the day but it probably is not 64oz. I also decided during these four weeks to take myself off of my antidepressant that I've been on for years. I know it caused a lot of weight gain and kept me from losing weight. I decided that since I went to the utmost extreme of having the majority of my stomach removed, there is no way I'm going to let a stupid little pill keep me from losing weight. I can manage depression other ways. My depression will be terrible until I figure out a way to cope with it, but the weight issue takes precedence right now. I'm thinking that the withdrawal from the medicine may also be messing with my weight. Until my body is used to functioning without the antidepressant, it may be messing up the weight loss. What does everyone think about only losing 20 lbs? Maybe I'll lose a few more by Wednesday.

Well since I was in Mexicali, they don't do major pain meds like Dilaudid; they do the initial morphine spinal (an odd pain medication delivery system to me, but whatever) and after that you get under the tongue pain meds which aren't very effective. Most of my discomfort was from gas, bloating, queasiness, and everything associated with stomach upset rather than real PAIN. Dilaudid is a heavy-duty morphine pain med; I had it when I broke my leg as that was the appropriate pain relief medication for that situation. I had to have surgery to fix my fracture (and thus began my 10 year spiral of weight gain, but that's another story). For this type of surgery, in my humble opinion Dilaudid is way over-kill. Not that I would have turned it down, mind you, but apparently such a heavy duty drug is not the protocol at Hospital Almater.:laugh0: The liquids are going. I use a straw. The first 5 days (that's all I got so far) it still hurts a little when I drink. That supposedly goes away after a week according to Dr. Aceves. Hope so. I am sipping, not gulping (as if!) but I still feel that spot that the Water hits when it goes down, especially in the middle of night when my pump is not primed like during the day, if you know what I mean.

My weigh in is this Friday. If you are worried about the weight gain, just look in the packet they gave you and call the nutritionist and ask about it.

I feel as though this is a decision that I did not make lightly. It takes away time from my family and my life and I don't need doubt at this time. I have decided to tell 2 family members about my decision as I will need their support in getting to and from the surgical center. As I lose weight I will simply tell people that I have changed the way I eat, which is true. I have decided that people are judgmental and often negative when you're attempting to do something positive. I have even had people make adverse comments about my decision to get another degree. Those people aren't living in my shoes or dealing with the hurt and pain that I've experienced as a result of the excessive weight gain in the course of 3 years. I feel that this is a decision that will better my life not only for me, but for my son. I will share my experience in this venue as it is anonymous and highly supportive. Unfortunately sometimes those closest to us, understand us the least in certain situations. It seems that weight is one of those situations. I wish you all the best on your journey to a healthier you and may you receive all the support you require as this is a tough and often lonely journey. Glad I have you all and my two cousins because they are AWESOME!!

Wow, I just posted something similiar in my 1 yr bandaversary thread. very similiar stories. Dh and I got together after one of my starvation modes. I was thin all of 5 mins, but it was in that 5mins I met him. It took me about 6 mths to slowly work my way back up to the huge weight I was before and the poor guy didnt know what hit him. With the weight gain came all my fears and demons again. It was a terrible 4 years or so before I was banded, I dont know how we survived, but we did. I wish you all the best and I truely know how you feel. hugs

I am also hypothyroid, but seems well-controlled by synthroid for these many years -- and I have never noticed any weight gain as a result of the hypothyroidism (seems to have a different effect in my family, where many of the women have had to take it, but few of them are overweight). My resting metabolic rate is a relatively respectable 1880 per day, which is likely how I plateau'ed at my starting weight for over a decade. Now, I'm shooting for 800-1000 during the losing phase and mostly hitting in that zone every day. Working well for me so far, as I'm very sensitive to hypoglycemia. Mind you, my plan calls for three meals and three snacks per day, so I feel like I'm always eating something and trying to push the drinks in between. Should be interesting to integrate work into this...

I'm certainly no expert but if you went from 1200 cal to 1600-1800 cal and gained weight then maybe that WOULD explain the gain... I'm no doctor or anything but the addition of calories and the weight gain seem to be linked,... Perhaps a trip to the nutritionist might be in order... Good luck mate...

@@anthonyb It also depends on what you are eating. If you go from 1200 low carb calories to 1600-1800 carby calories, you are going to gain weight, just because your liver is going to be larger. Are you drinking alcohol? Did you exercise and stop? Are you going through a stressful time in your life? There are so many factors to weight gain.

Hi, I don't know if this is the right thread and this is my first post, but I am so impatient! I went to the info session on Aug 14 and have done the psych exam and visited the dietitian twice. I have been told that I need to lose 5 pounds prior to the surgery but have gained 2 so now I need to lose 7 pounds. I am so ready to get this thing on the road but don't know when my surgery will be scheduled. My next dietitian appt is this Monday and I'm hoping to hear good news, however; I know she's going to talk to me about my weight gain. Here's what I need to know... 1. How long from the info session to surgery does it take? 2. Does the weight loss affect when the doctor schedules the surgery? 3. Am I being unrealistic and need to calm down?

"Animal studies have convincingly proven that artificial sweeteners cause body weight gain. A sweet taste induces an insulin response, which causes blood sugar to be stored in tissues, but because blood sugar does not increase with artificial sweeteners, there is hypoglycemia and increased food intake." "One reference showed, in patients with Type II diabetes, that the reduction of plasma glucose and insulin levels during exercise was similar after a sucrose meal compared to an aspartame-sweetened meal.[49] These results were obtained even though the aspartame meal contained 22% less calories and 10% less carbohydrates." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3198517/ "Taste and reward signaling in the brain is immensely complex. Research is only beginning to understand how altered brain activity with prolonged use of artificial sweeteners may impact our health long-term." https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/tricking-taste-buds-but-not-the-brain-artificial-sweeteners-change-braine28099s-pleasure-response-to-sweet/ There is a ton of research on sweeteners, brain chemistry and satiety. The point is foods should be as natural as possible and sugar isn't a devil. Years of yo-yo dieting is the real problem and crap genetics.

I had lapband in January of 2007 and lost 50lbs over one year. I stayed about the same in 2008 and then in 2009 started having some issues, and at the same time moved from Texas to Arkansas. I couldn't find a Doctor in Arkansas that would take me (since I already had the surgery), so I had to see my Doctor back in Texas. When my problems began, it was after my last fill, and I couldn't eat ANYTHING, and was continuously stuck. I began to lose weight again, but also was having major spasms in my esophagus. When I was finally able to see my Dr. in Texas, he completely emptied my band and we left it that way for 4 months. Needless to say, I ate everything that I hadn't been able to eat for the last 18 months. In September, after X-rays and other tests confirmed that my band was fine, we started from the beginning and began filling again. Right now, I have some restriction (very minor), but my eating habits are horrible. I've completely forgotten how to eat as a bandster. My weight gain has stopped and I've held steady, but obviously I am not losing. It came to me early this morning that I hadn't utilized this website in a long time, and that I needed to get back here. I would love to have a mentor who can help me get back on track, and focus on the things that are important . . . my health!

I had one about a year ago and it migrated up in my uterus and would pinch every time I sat down so I had it taken out. You an have increased bleeding or spotting the first few months then once you have had it you might stop having periods. There was only a 5% chance of weight gain in a study they did an it wasn't conclusive enough to say mirena caused the weight gain.

Divorcing food is as difficult and emotional as divorcing a person. I am serious. I don't regret having this procedure done because I've lost 30 pounds and I'm 1 week post op. However, seeing delicious food in front of you and knowing you can't eat it because you're fresh out of surgery really burns. In fact, knowing I can't eat it because it'll make my stomach hurt and I'll probably throw it up is what really burns. I've been watching videos of food recently because I haven't seen solid food in pretty much 2 weeks. It's probably not a good habit but its already a habit so the way I see it, I can't eat but I can at least look at it. I thought that my stomach is healing fine and faster than usual, so the other day I had some tuna. It was about 1 spoon full of tuna. My bodies reaction wasn't pleasant. Long story short, my stomach is 100% not ready for solid food or even soft food but that doesn't stop food from looking good. I want to lose 100% of my excess weight. At this point in time, The reason I want to lose weight the most, is so I can eat. Is that weird? I want to eat lasagna one day and with absolutely no thought of my weight in my head. I want BBQ porked. I want to have Georgian, Armenian, Greek, Vietnamese, Chinese, Caribbean, Italian and more in my regular life. Obviously, not all at once. I'm very scared by love of food. People say you have to reset your mind with this surgery. I feel that, although i don't mind giving up sweets things like soda, candy, Cookies and deserts (not a fan of sugary things), I don't want to give up meat and carbs. After I reach my goal weight, I'm really hoping that I can find the perfect balance of eating things I love and maintaining my weight loss and health. This has just been on my mind all day. I think this is my initial shock to realizing that the sleeve is permanent. Unfortunately I have been feeling hunger as of late but It's definitely a lot more manageable than in my pre-op diet. How do you people feel about food? How has your day to day diet changed? What do you eat when you eat out? What foods do you find affect your weight the most? I know the VSG allows one to eat what they like in the end but I know many people cut things out completely because of the fear for weight gain. How do you guys feel about food?

From what I've read thats pretty normal considering the weight gain you have right after surgery. My doctor says 72 ounces of liquids, it seems like 100 gallons!

Hey Vicki, Don't be discouraged, all will be well for you after surgery. I lost 15 lbs the first 10 days pre-op, but by the time I had my surgery, I had gained 3 of it back and I was true to my liquids, I did not cheat at all. Since my surgery though I (March 15, 2012) I'm getting close to 35 lbs lost total. Every ones body loses at a diferent rate, and dependinng on metabolism and how much weight one has to lose. Trust me, if you have this surgery, and follow all the doctors instructions during your recovery and stay true to each post-surgery food phase along with proper excercise for what ever stage you're in, then you will lose the weight. Also, I've noticed that even when I had my first weightloss stall at 6 weeks out, I still was losing inches, because I was able to fit comfortably in clothes that were too tight just 2 weeks before. My doctor said that my body was adjusting itself to the weight I had already lost and that muscle was replacing itself in places where fat used to be. So even though the scale had not moved, I was still getting smaller. Remember, a pound is a pound, but muscle is leaner, so the couple of pounds you've seen return may be gained muscle or it could simply be water weight gain, you know, that happens to us girls all the time. Good luck on your surgery, and looking forward to hearing about your progress along this journey. Keep Smiling!!

Sensy, your doctor will have his own thoughts about how much to fill, but it has nothing to do with whether you're a piggy or not. Every doctor has a personalized approach, and even docs who are pretty aggressive with a fill probably won't be that way on the first fill. And you don't want him to be. Whatever fill you get will be more than you have, and will therefore take some getting used to. You may be hungrier than you thought you'd be at this point, but if you pay attention I'm sure you'll find that you are already eating less than you were pre-band. And that's the whole and only point. Many people do gain a little weight back in the period before a fill, but it's weight that you lost on the liquid diet, not actual weight gain. It's a sort of bounce-back effect and inevitable once you are off liquids and eating solids again. Don't worry about it! Just practice eating slowly and mindfully, so when you have restriction you'll be ahead of the game. So many people are ready to jump right in with mega-restriction right out of the gate. Those are the same people who come back later saying "I can't eat at all! All that goes down is ice cream!" Learning to live with restriction and eat healthfully takes time and we have to allow ourselves that time. As a very wise woman said, this process does not have to be drastic to be effective. Sorry for the lecture--it's not directed at you. But there is no specific amount of fill that's right for everyone, so there's no answer to your question.

Oh man, that sounds frustrating. It's so easy to beat ourselves up about weight gains. Yes, parts of it are within our control but so much of weight loss is a biological and psychological mind field. In other words - it's tough. Kudos to you for staring over and not giving up. Break your goals down into small chunks to help them become more attainable. Be kind to yourself and take your time losing weight the right way. The band should help you feel full with less food, rather than physically restrict you from eating. Good luck as you continue your journey!