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I was drinking, even chugging, until after my second or third fill. You are not going to hurt yourself, but there will come a point when you just can't take it in as quickly. And I have nothing to add to Janet's advice about solids and weight gain (or weight-loss-stall). DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT!!! You are already way ahead of the game, and this is all about your health not numbers on a scale. Just be good to yourself, take the solid food slowly, and stay calm!

I am starting to research the gastric sleeve surgery. I have been reading that there is weight gain between 3-6 years. I have also read about a lot of vitamin deficiencies. Can anyone give me some info on this??

Do you know that God loves you? Do you know you have a purpose on this earth? Do you know that we all fall down at something? Your strength lies in your ability to get up. A 20lb weight gain is not enough for your friends to be ragging on you about. Maybe, you use the term friends to loosely. You've had your share of struggles. Exhale and love you. You deserve a good, healthy life and it is worth the sacrifices you've decided to make.

Carbonated drinks (sodas, beer, etc.) is a real no-no. It's not the calories that are a problem, but rather the carbonation. The carbonation swells and stretches the pouch. Do that enough times and stretch the pouch, then it takes more food to fill you up and make you feel full. Eat more to fill you up = eventual weight gain.

Kelly, I have mine done at my band Dr's. But reputiable gyms or universities should be albe to do this for you. Bell sells a body fat% checker for about $15 or so. I find it is slightly off from what the doctor's scales says. but we are talking a difference of a point of a percentage. The difference was .3%, big whoop. Just make sure you are really well hydrated to get an acurate reading. One of the other things you can do is find someplace to get weighed under Water. I believe there is a scale that was on one of the threads has this option as well. But even if you turn out to be 27% as opposed to 25%, is that added stress worth it? Especially since there is some research that shows that stress causes weight gain? Penni, I'm going on the bone thing based on what my doc said. It is possible that he was refering to my personal genetic weirdness and I misunderstood him. I do know that my DH had gi-normous leg bones... and he's been MO and beyond since he was a teen.

I agree, we are all different, and we all gain or lose weight different. I don't have the chatter in my head, I don't wake up in the middle of the night to get something to eat. And I don't agree that I am sick because of my weight. When I was five years old, we were on our way to a Sunday outing, my Dad, Mom, and my three brothers. A car crossed the line and came over and hit us head on. My father broke one leg into 50 pieces. He was in a cast from his chest to his toes for over a year. My mother broke her kneecap and hit her mouth and lost all her teeth. One of my brothers hit his mouth, knocked out his teeth, and two of his teeth went down in his lungs. He also hurt his knee and broke his jaw, and had pins in it. One of the other brothers lost his front teeth, and my other brother and I was just bruised up. We had no money coming in our house at all for a very long time. My Mother was a great cook, but everything she cooks was southern and very fattening. We lived on pots of Beans, stews, and every Sunday we had fried chicken. Most of all, almost every meal we had was based around what kind of potatoes we were having. Potatoes was the base of all our meals, and most were fried or mashed with gravy. food was hard to come by since money was so scarce, so we had to finish our plates of food, and couldn't waste any. I learned to cook exactly like my Mother, and once I got married and had children, I started gaining weight. I didn't lose the weight between my children, which started me off on a huge weight gain. I didn't exercise like I should have, or eat the right foods. The only way I knew to cook was how my Mother taught me. Just like the old saying "You can't teach old dogs new tricks" I just didn't realize the way I was cooking was causing me to gain so much weight. Losing weight has been extremely hard for me because of the way I cook, and because of lack of exercise. I am learning I can fix meals without the potatoes or the other starches. I am learning just because I fix my DH those things, that I don't have to eat them. I am learning I can fix some veggies and fill up just as good on them as the starches. I am learning I have to exercise to get this weight off. I am learning that no one except me can do this, and I am also learning that I have to want it bad enough to do all of that. Do I think I am sick because I have gained this weight and have problems getting it off? NO! I just think I have to learn the right foods to eat and the right way to cook without all the grease/oils. My dear Mother, bless her heart, didn't even realize that cooking with lard was bad for her. She cooked with it right up until a couple of years before she died at the age of 83, and she was in such bad health I finally told her it would be best if she didn't use it anymore. She grew up eating lard sandwiches because of the depression, so using lard to cook with was a natural thing for her. I followed her footsteps using lard and cooking just like she had, so now I have habits to break too. I think almost everyone on these boards has a reason why they gained weight if they go back and really think about it. And yes, I do believe it can be a sickness for some people, but not everyone. It took me a long time to realize it's my problem, and I am the one that has to work at getting the weight off. If I sit on my lazy butt and don't do anything about it, then it's my fault. I have chosen to get this band to use as a tool, to move my butt and to eat the right foods, and guess what? It's working, and I feel great! I am lovin life again for the first time in a long time.

BB I had 2 weeks prior to surgery as well. I chose to quit earlier in case I had a hard time with it. Not really understanding the weight gain that comes with it I wish I would have waited but I've come to far to start back for a couple months to just quit again.

I found this article on AOL about food and genomic interaction. There's not a lot of new information here, but it's never a waste of time to possibly gain a new perspective - maybe turn on a lightbulb over our heads! Awaken Your Fat-Burning DNA Dr. Mark Hyman discusses the interaction between genes & weight-loss. Listen to Dr. Hyman's Podcast Dr. Mark Hyman, author of 'UltraMetabolism,' talks with AOL's Book Maven Bethanne Patrick about the role genes play in your diet and weight-loss plan. Here are excerpts from the interview: Bethanne Patrick: Oh, it's great to talk with you and this is so exciting. Your book is about nutrigenomics, can you explain to us what that is and then we'll talk a little bit more about your background. Dr. Mark Hyman: This is a whole new wave of medicine that's emerging based on science and nobody's hearing about it. It's really how food talks to our genes and turns on messages of health or disease, weight loss or weight gain, and it's called nutrigenomics. Get More Health Advice Mark Hyman discusses how to achieve greater health and vitality and lead an age-defying, disease-free life. Listen to Dr. Hyman's Podcast Interview Podcast Interview: Read Your Body's Manual How Does Inflamation Affect Your Weight? chocolate and Other Fats to Help You Slim Down Download a Free Sneak Preview of 'UltraMetabolism' Buy ‘UltraMetabolism' Get More Health Advice From Dr. Hyman Find More Self-Help & Wellness Interviews More Tips and Advice From AOL Coaches Bethanne Patrick: Wow that's something I don't think any of us ever really thought about. Is that why I love bacon so much? Dr. Mark Hyman: Probably not. I don't know if it's sending the right messages. Bethanne Patrick: So explain to us, when you say 'food talking to your genes,' what kinds of messages are you describing? Dr. Mark Hyman: Most of us think of our DNA as sort of locked in our body, waiting to be passed onto our children, but in fact your DNA at every moment is interacting with your environment, interacting with every bite of food you take, interacting with your thoughts, your feelings, and various things, so when you take a bite of food, literally, the information -- beyond the calories in the food -- goes right into your cells, into your DNA, and switches on genes, or turns off genes based on what information is in that food. Bethanne Patrick: So, DNA is interactive. Dr. Mark Hyman: It's like the software for your body. If you are not giving it the right messages to start the gene activation that leads to your metabolism, it's going to lead to weight gain and disease. The whole book Ultra Metabolism is based on the notion of this revolution in medicine -- that if we live in a way that's in harmony with our genes, we can fit into our jeans. Bethanne Patrick: You use the analogy that putting the wrong food into your body is like putting diesel fuel into a regular car. Dr. Mark Hyman: Exactly. I mean, would you think of feeding your dog French fries, a Big Mac and a Coke? No. We know that there's something wrong with [feeding] that to a dog. Yet we feed that to our children. These foods are not what [we have] adapted to from an evolutionary point of view. So if we live in a way that's more akin to how our bodies were designed then everything takes care of itself. Bethanne Patrick: Tell me about how you found out about nutrigenomics and ultra metabolism. Do you have a lot of experience in this field? Where does it come from? Dr. Mark Hyman: Well, I always call myself the accidental weight loss doctor because I never started out seeking to help people lose weight. People came to me with health issues, and I saw people who tried everything. My job was to be a medical detective to figure out the underlying causes of their problems. When I took care of the underlying health problems based on this new science nutrigenomics, the pounds took care of themselves. People just lost weight, without even trying. For example, yesterday I saw a woman who came to see me in November because she was tired and fatigued, had digestive issues and had many, many, many other issues and she was overweight. Three months later she came back and she lost 37 pounds. Bethanne Patrick: Wow. Dr. Mark Hyman: I didn't even recognize her and I didn't tell her to lose weight. I never tell people to go on a diet or lose weight, I said 'here's how you eat in a way that works with your body, rather than against it' and when you do that the natural intelligence and wisdom of the body takes care of the rest. Bethanne Patrick: [What are] these seven myths about obesity? What is the starvation myth? Dr. Mark Hyman: The starvation myth is the idea that if we eat less and exercise more we will lose weight, and unfortunately, when we do that, when we starve ourselves or restrict our calories, we trigger a primitive survival response that drives us to compensate by overeating. We all have the experience, for example, of starving yourself all day, skipping Breakfast, light lunch or maybe not at all, and then you get home and what happens? You clean out the refrigerator. Bethanne Patrick: Exactly! Dr. Mark Hyman: And then you feel sick. Of course, we've done that over and over again. Now the first time you might do it you might think, 'Oh well, I shouldn't do this again because it's going to make me feel sick.' But how many times have all of us done that? Why? That's how our bodies are programmed. So if you eat less than your basic needs, if you starve yourself, you'll always backfire, you'll gain the weight back, and you'll probably gain back even a little bit more. People gain an average of five pounds for every diet they go on. Bethanne Patrick: The second one is the calorie myth. What's that about? Dr. Mark Hyman: If you look at how calories actually work in your body, different foods have different properties beyond [their] calories. For example, if I [drink] a Coca-Cola which is pure sugar, it goes straight to my bloodstream. It turns on messages that make me gain weight. If I eat a diet that's full of Fiber and whole foods that has the equivalent amount of calories it has a different effect. Doctor David Ludwig, one of the top scientists and researchers in obesity in the world at Harvard, did a study with three different groups of kids and gave them three different breakfasts: oatmeal, field cut oats and omelets, exactly the same calories. What's fascinating is that the kids that ate the oatmeal were hungrier, they ate 80 percent more food that day and their biochemistry was different; their cholesterol was higher. Bethanne Patrick: Really? The oatmeal eating group? Dr. Mark Hyman: Oatmeal enters the bloodstream quickly. The omelet group had sort of a slow-burn effect. In other words, the calories were released slowly into the bloodstream and they didn't trigger these hormonal responses and these genetic responses that trigger us to eat more and be hungrier. Get More Health Advice Mark Hyman discusses how to achieve greater health and vitality and lead an age-defying, disease-free life. Listen to Dr. Hyman's Podcast Interview Podcast Interview: Read Your Body's Manual How Does Inflamation Affect Your Weight? Chocolate and Other Fats to Help You Slim Down Download a Free Sneak Preview of 'UltraMetabolism' Buy ‘UltraMetabolism' Get More Health Advice From Dr. Hyman Find More Self-Help & Wellness Interviews More Tips and Advice From AOL Coaches Bethanne Patrick: The third one is the fat myth. Dr. Mark Hyman: The fat myth is the idea that if we restrict fat we will lose weight. The Women's Health Initiative shows us that low-fat diets don't really help. And I think that the real important point here is that it's the type of fat that you eat that makes the difference. I think one of the things we don't realize is that if we eat a diet full of trans-fat or the steak fats that are in processed food, it really goes to a part of our genes, turns on messages that make us gain weight, that slows metabolism, that makes us have more inflammation, that makes it more likely that we get diabetes. If we eat the right fat [like] Omega-3 from fish oil, flax seeds, walnuts and seaweed, they will turn on the genes that make us lose weight. Bethanne Patrick: The carb myth is sort of is the same thing. Dr. Mark Hyman: I say to people that carbohydrates are the single most important thing you need for long term health and weight loss. That goes in the face of what a lot of people are saying right now. The reason I say that is carbohydrates are the source of all the Vitamins and minerals and what we call phytonutrient or plant chemicals that help us stay healthy. Things like fruits and vegetables, whole grains, Beans, nuts and seeds -- these are all carbohydrates. Bethanne Patrick: But they're good carbohydrates. Dr. Mark Hyman: Absolutely. It's the ones that are processed and refined and full of sugar that are bad for us. Bethanne Patrick: The sumo-wrestler myth is about skipping meals. Love that name. Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah, well sumo wrestlers are made, not born. The way they're made is actually the way most Americans live. Like a sumo wrestler, they wake up, they may skip breakfast, they do a little activity and then they eat a huge meal and go to bed. When you skip breakfast and eat dinner before you go to bed, you're going to gain weight because your metabolism slows at night. When you fall asleep with a full stomach you're guaranteed to gain weight. Bethanne Patrick: The French paradox myth is myth number six. Why is that? Dr. Mark Hyman: Well, we think that the French are healthy and don't have heart disease because they drink wine and eat butter, and that's not true. Actually, they're getting more sick and more overweight because we're not only spreading Democracy, we're spreading obesity across the globe, including in Europe. What they used to do was eat real unprocessed and whole foods. Bethanne Patrick: So that's the key -- the unprocessed. Dr. Mark Hyman: They ate fresh food. They went to the market place every day and walked, because that was how their villages were set up. They also enjoyed their food. They didn't have the two minute lunch, they had the two hour lunch, and when we have pleasure and enjoyment with food our digestion and metabolism is geared to burn more calories than when we're stressed. When we eat at our desk, we're actually going to shut down our metabolism. Bethanne Patrick: The final myth is the 'Protector Myth.' What is the protector myth? Dr. Mark Hyman: The protector myth is the notion that government regulations and policies around the food industry out there is helping us to stay healthy and protect us from harm. I think that's unfortunately a very sad notion. The food industry makes up 12% of our gross national product and employs 17 percent of the labor force. And it spends 33 billion dollars a year marketing junk food to consumers. Only 2% of the 33 billion dollars is spent on marketing fruits, vegetables and healthy food. We're in a crisis because the only thing you can buy when you go on the road is food that's highly processed, devoid of all nutrients, that's full of calories and that actually turns on genes that make you gain weight and get sick. The entire food industry – the restaurant industry, the diet industry, hospitals, drug industry -- everybody profits from people being sick and overweight. The whole system's backwards. We need to stand up for policy changes that can help, such as getting junk food and vending machines out of schools and stop advertising of junk food to children and so forth. Bethanne Patrick: If people are interested in this, where can they go to get more information? You've got a great website. Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah, www.ultrametabolism.com/aol, they can actually download a free sneak preview of the book. I've convinced my publisher to offer this online which allows people to get a sneak preview. If they're interested then, they can go ahead and get the book. My DVD is available for the UltraMetabolism PBS show, which they can watch on their local stations or get a copy as well.

Dr told me not to weigh for a big. A weight gain is expected from surgery and fluids. One week out I am losing weight now.

I'm thinking along the lines of Leatha, there are lots of weight gain supplements that lifters use. One is even called "weight gainer". I have no idea how they taste, or if he'd like them, but with a metabolism as high as his obviously is, maybe they'd be worth a shot. Maybe he'd even like the idea of a being on a weight lifter's diet, lots of meat, potatoes and pasta... I'm sure if you researched it you could find tons of weight gain ideas from muscle building sites. I wish your family the best, You deserve some good news after all you've all endured.

hi tiger from australia...sorry to hear about the problems with the lapband....what was the main problem ...was it weight gain?

When I was first banded, the rule was Women 50-60G. Men 70-80G. of Protein a day. He also told me not to drink to much protein, because it can cause weight gain. Now the numbers have changed..... I still try to stay around what he suggested though, cause he could be right.

Many of us are having the same issue 3 years out. Many threads on here of what people are trying. https://www.bariatricpal.com/search/?&q=weight gain https://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/1205-wls-veterans-forum/

Glad you can balance the good and bad experiences Many of us had no complications and are maintaining. Most of the vets and people that maintain leave the site because life has become normal. Many of the people you talk with are new, in weight loss phase, had a weight gain or complications. IDK about this being expensive. Almost 5 years out and that’s not my experience. Once I got to real food stage it's cheaper on groceries. You ditch the shakes and meal replacement products with whole foods. I eat less and my family eats pretty much what I eat. Example: Chicken fajitas. I give the family tortillas and I go without. Vitamins are my only expense at $29.00 a month. Some have found better prices. Congrats on your surgery date.

I am a month out as of today and i had a stall for 2.5 weeks but it just broke. I actually gained 2 lbs (my NUT warned me this might happen) but i weighed in this morning and I am down 1.5 lbs from the lowest I was before the 2 lb weight gain. In total since surgery I have lost 13lbs and compared to others that is slow! I will take 13 to 15lbs a month though which is ALOT more than I was losing before. Everyone is different and it all depends on your age, metabolism, starting weight and how much you lost prior to surgery. As for the stall your having at week 4...thats normal. For some people it lasts up to 3 weeks but then your body readjusts and starts losing weight. Make sure you take your measurements!! This will help you during the whole process to see your losing inches but maybe not seeing it on the scale.

Hope they didnt spend a fortune on this study. People with major depression use all kinds of substances to numb out...food, drugs, alcohol, sex, ...food releases endorphins (ergo comfort food) it affects the hypothalmus the pleasure center. You can feel, numb. sleepy, coma like, comforted for the moment. All addictive substances work the same way. However a person with a MDD will not overeat lettuce and an alcholic will not overdrink milk. Each chooses chemically altering , brain altering things Psych med hugely affect weight gain and metabolism. I added a med that I totally forgot about and then gaimed ike 60lbs. But I wasnt eating more. I went to all kinds of doctors, who either ruled out hypothyroidism or frankly didnt beleive me that I was not overeating. "Calories in Calories out" PAHLEEZE. They I remembered this drug that was added, research it, caused weight gain, removed it and weight came off. It affect sex drive too...so save that study money. Depression can make people eat..then eating wheat flour and sugar for an addict will set up a chemical dependency and then the depression/wt gain vicious cycle is in motion. Then your in chicken or egg territory. Basically its addiction and when you a depressed you want to alter your feelings fast and often. And if you are a sugar addict, the quicket way to get the sugar craving going is drinking alcohol. Its like injecting sugar right into your veins. If you are not an alcoholic, you will then be off on a food binge from a drink. . HOW DO YOU GET PAID TO DO THESE STUDIES???? HIRE ME PLEASE

What should you eat to lose weight? How much energy have you devoted to this question? Low carb? Raw food? Jenny Craig? Have you ever considered that it might not be "the diet" that is the solution? Read more to find out! What should you eat to lose weight? How much energy have you devoted to this question? Low carb? Raw food? Jenny Craig? Women spend billions of dollars on weight loss, and create a lot of stress making decisions about which diet or weight loss plan to try this time. It’s ironic, because deep down, we know that diets don’t work. And in fact, many of us have lived out the lesson that diets can lead to binge eating and weight gain and bigger problems with food than we started with. It’s not hopeless. Healthy weight loss and what I call peace with food are possible, but they don’t begin with a diet. Here’s the important truth: The battle with overeating isn’t going to be solved by a diet because the root battle with most overeating isn’t about the food. If you want to break free from overeating cycles and weight loss battles, the critical question you need to be asking is this: What are you using the food for? What’s triggering you to overeat? What propels you towards the vending machine or sends you straight for the comfort food? What role does food play in your life? How does your current way of eating serve you? THESE are the million dollar questions. The truth is, you are smart and resourceful and you better believe that you are turning to food for a reason. The way you are currently eating does something important for you. Maybe your eating distracts you or comforts you. Food might momentarily boost your mood or your energy. Maybe you use it to procrastinate or hide out or reward yourself. Are you eating to cope with stress or frustration or exhaustion? Be curious about your hunger and the reasons that you eat. Understanding the meaning of your overeating changes everything. Understanding the purpose of your overeating helps you move beyond unhelpful self-blame and shame and guilt and into a place of compassionate understanding. From this place it’s possible to start addressing the real root causes. Because it’s probably not about the food. If you are a stress eater, you’ll want some more effective tools for addressing the stress in your life. Comfort eater? With the right tools, you can definitely find a better way. Exhausted? Overwhelmed? Nervous? Upset? There are better tools and strategies to address these feelings. And the truth is, once you have the tools and strategies to feel effective, food just doesn’t have the same appeal. Really. Effective weight loss doesn’t start with the food—and—when you address the root cause of your overeating, you don’t just change your weight. You change your life.

There are many examples of when self-sabotaging behavior around food continues after Weight Loss Surgery. It seems that the more people who commit to surgery without fully resolving their emotional reasons for bingeing, compulsive sugar cravings, zoned out or mindless grazing, and disordered eating in general then the more people who post-WLS will continue to struggle with emotional eating. Weight loss that stalls, plateaus or ends in a person gaining back more weight than they originally lost are all forms of yo-yo dieting. This see-saw pattern of weight loss versus weight gain can go on for years. It is never about being greedy, and never about a lack of willpower. It is, however, a repetitive cycle of behavior of the emotional eater who self-sabotages their weight loss success due to a number of key habitual, responses many of which exist below conscious awareness. There are many examples of when self-sabotaging behavior around food continues after WLS. It seems that the more people who commit to surgery without fully resolving their emotional reasons for bingeing, compulsive sugar cravings, zoned out or mindless grazing, and disordered eating in general then the more people who post-WLS will continue to struggle with emotional eating. Therapists Sally Baker and Liz Hogon specialize in resolving emotional eating. They see a growing number of clients post-WLS in their individual practices in London, England and Melbourne, Australia. Endless over thinking about food, and a whole range of compulsive behaviors can continue after surgery. Even the feelings of dissatisfaction about amount of weight lost post-WLS is just an aspect of the negative self-belief that can dominate the thought processes and feelings of someone in the grip of emotional eating. Changes can take place, and belief systems that no longer serve a person can be released and replaced with a more positive, and helpful framework. Sally and Liz have found from their work that as many of the emotional drivers, and reasons for carrying excess weight in the first place are below conscious awareness then that is where the therapy work needs to happen for change to really embed and be sustained.

What should you eat to lose weight? How much energy have you devoted to this question? Low carb? Raw food? Jenny Craig? Women spend billions of dollars on weight loss, and create a lot of stress making decisions about which diet or weight loss plan to try this time. It’s ironic, because deep down, we know that diets don’t work. And in fact, many of us have lived out the lesson that diets can lead to binge eating and weight gain and bigger problems with food than we started with. It’s not hopeless. Healthy weight loss and what I call peace with food are possible, but they don’t begin with a diet. Here’s the important truth: The battle with overeating isn’t going to be solved by a diet because the root battle with most overeating isn’t about the food. If you want to break free from overeating cycles and weight loss battles, the critical question you need to be asking is this: What are you using the food for? What’s triggering you to overeat? What propels you towards the vending machine or sends you straight for the comfort food? What role does food play in your life? How does your current way of eating serve you? THESE are the million dollar questions. The truth is, you are smart and resourceful and you better believe that you are turning to food for a reason. The way you are currently eating does something important for you. Maybe your eating distracts you or comforts you. Food might momentarily boost your mood or your energy. Maybe you use it to procrastinate or hide out or reward yourself. Are you eating to cope with stress or frustration or exhaustion? Be curious about your hunger and the reasons that you eat. Understanding the meaning of your overeating changes everything. Understanding the purpose of your overeating helps you move beyond unhelpful self-blame and shame and guilt and into a place of compassionate understanding. From this place it’s possible to start addressing the real root causes. Because it’s probably not about the food. If you are a stress eater, you’ll want some more effective tools for addressing the stress in your life. Comfort eater? With the right tools, you can definitely find a better way. Exhausted? Overwhelmed? Nervous? Upset? There are better tools and strategies to address these feelings. And the truth is, once you have the tools and strategies to feel effective, food just doesn’t have the same appeal. Really. Effective weight loss doesn’t start with the food—and—when you address the root cause of your overeating, you don’t just change your weight. You change your life.

Congrats on your surgery success! Weight gain during pregnancy is largely under your own control. If you don't eat too much, you won't gain much weight. You'll want to work closely with an OB/GYN and/or nutritionist to come up with your dietary plan. Since you aren't underweight, you don't need many extra calories. An average of 200/day over the course of the pregnancy (100 extra the first trimester, 200 the second trimester, and 300 the last trimester) should give you the right amount to grow your baby... you mostly just need plenty of vitamins, protein.. general nutrition stuff. This minimal caloric increase should result in only a 15lb gain, which will come right back off almost instantly. 15lbs isn't much, I know.. and your doctor may want you to gain more than that (always listen to your doctor!).. but at least this gives you one way to look at things, and something to compare the doctor's recommendation to. If the doc wants you to gain 30lbs, then you'll eat 400 extra calories a day (again, fewer at first, more later). (If you said you were a size 4, and struggling to maintain your weight, I'd be giving very different caloric advice..) Talk to a doctor before getting pregnant, so you'll know the plan and can start supplementing early if necessary. Good luck!

:drool:Has anybody on this site had a thyroid issue hypothyroid/thyroid cancer/ and had a thyroidectomy? The reason I ask is I wonder if it effects how a lap band will help you lose weight? I have had a thyroid removal due to cancer and I weighed 148 before its removal. I now weigh in at 226 and I can't seem to stop my weight gain. I am so scared that the lap band won't help me cause of the thyroid thing. Is anyone out there going through this or blazed the trail. I really need to know if this is worth going through if it will help me.

Hi Chad, You were right to say that everyone is different. as is weight loss for everyone, We all lose weight at different paces. Expect on the average with the band to lose anywhere between 1-2 pounds a week. Also, on a note immediately after surgery some have experienced a small weight gain due to Fluid retention. Are you banded or plan to be??

I can identify to a degree, I recently finished a six month course of 5 FU for rectal cancer. I have begun refilling because six weeks out hunger has picked up enormously. My.fill doc was reluctant because I lost a fair bit of weight through surgery, radiation and chemo but I yelled and screamed a bit - I am aftetall in the normal weight range, it is my body and my business how much I wish to weigh and she herself said everyone gains when unfilled! Coming back to this now I'm on my computer and not my phone, I'll add this: I did find everything tasted disgusting, but for me, that led to me not wanting to eat rather than eating and eating trying to find something normal tasting. I was also so conscious of being unfilled that I was extremely careful and actually lost TOO much weight. I really became quite afraid of food for a while there. I was pretty nauseous too so that had an effect. I think you've done pretty well, weight gain on breast cancer chemo treatments is well documented and can be pretty significant and very hard to shift, so you've contained it pretty damn well. the bad taste went away for me immediately chemo finished, wish I could say the same for the aching sore knees, shoulders and hips - I feel like I'm about 80 these days. I've started refilling my band as I mentioned, but it doesnt feel anything like the same as it did the first time round, I've got way less restriction than I had. I'm not too concerned, since I did a pretty good job of keepign the weight off whilst being unfilled for 8 months and I have to leave it anyway because I'm having another surgery next week and I dont really want to be tight at that point, but its what I feared - once you start mucking round with your band filling and unfilling, it can be hard to get back to where you were. Cancer sucks, its not fair and you shouldnt have to face these problems but we do and have to just accept that and do the best that you can in the circumstances. And dont be hard on yourself over a small weight gain.

I am a low bmi bandster and had to self pay. My BMI was only 35 at the time of surgery and I did not have any co-morbidities either so I didn't even try to get my insurance to pay. But I KNEW I had to get this done because I was a mere 30lbs away from a BMI of 40 and everything that goes with it. I called the doc's office first and tt them about it--they still had me go to the seminar and then I went thru all the rest. Bottomline-- it will be your surgeon's decision if he thinks you're a good candidate. It's not just about BMI. Also-- my doc made it clear that I would not lose as fast as someone with a higher BMI and more to lose and I would have to really learn to eat right and exercise. He also said that there is a lot of research out there that the band is a great tool for low BMI patients as to prevent further weight gain and problems while losing weight too..... Good luck!

If this is your plan, I would strongly suggest you consider another form of WLS. The lapband is a "crutch", or "tool" as many will say, without which one is merely dieting (and hungry, frustrated and sad). Many who have had bands removed will testify to regaining the weight lost with the band (plus additional pounds, which is similar to what happens when a non-surgical dieter stops dieting). Most former bandsters on this platform post that when they had their bands removed, they went on to do a revision surgery such as bypass, sleeve or RnY. So based on that, if would suggest that if you plan to get banded, and then have the band removed, you should also include in your plan a budget for revision surgery, or an acceptance for the rebound weight gain. I've never read about a bandster who kept their weight off after band removal.