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@@smb1966 As far as artificial sweeteners are concerned, all have their disadvantages and research suggests using them sparingly. I have been told by both my PCP and surgeon that our bodies can actually process zero-calorie sweeteners as it would sugar, causing both weight gain and insulin resistance. I try really hard to use any type of sweetener in extreme moderation. I used to use Splenda for recipes, especially for baking as it worked great as a substitute for white sugar, even the BS Splenda was a great alternative to regular brown sugar. However, I have recently discovered Monk Fruit (in the raw) and it has made a wonderful substitute for Splenda and or white sugar. It doesn't have that licorice taste that Stevia has and it is much sweeter than white sugar. http://www.intheraw.com/products/faqs/monk-fruit-in-the-raw

During the weight loss phase most programs recommend staying completely away from bread, Pasta, potato, cake, crackers, and most carbs. I get "good carbs" from some veggies but avoid the rest as much as humanly possible. Some people can incorporate carbs back in during the maintenance phase, but for some people they are a slippery slope and can lead to weight gain through "grazing". It's common to have a stall. Don't be discouraged.

Melissa1987, I'm nervous and excited for you! Eek! Just think, you will already be down weight-wise by Christmas! I was told probably in March, 2016. I'm having a heck of a time trying to get any weight off. Right now I have a terrible upper respiratory infection and it is causing my blood sugar numbers to be very high. Therefore I have to use more insulin to even get to some decent area with them, and that just causes weight gain! The madness is never-ending! How are you doing on the complete Protein shake diet prior to the surgery?

I had mine a couple of years ago, because I was constantly exhausted, and snores loudly. It had gotten worse with weight gain. It's definitely weird.... You are all hooked up, and sleeping in a weird place. When I had my study done, they only woke you to try the CPAP if you had a certain number of apnea events per hour. I was just barely under the threshold, which must be high, because I "woke up" about every three minutes. No wonder I was so tired!!! My only advice is to try to do something relaxing before you are supposed to go to sleep. I was in the bed trying to fall asleep for like an hour, and I wished I had brought a book or something. Here's me, all hooked up, lol... ~*~ Find me on YouTube: Trisha's Sleeve Story ~*~

Google is your friend in an instance like this. I just searched "body shapers after weight loss surgery" and came up with a ton of options. I bet you would get the same if you searched for "Compression garments after weight loss surgery" as well. I am certain you will find something that will make you more comfortable. As far as being a "monster"? I am sure I would make young girls run away crying if they saw the state of my boobs, bits and belly after two pregnancies and a massive weight gain/loss. I can't afford surgery **and**college for my kids, so my choice is obviously to stay in the skin I am in. Fortunately, my kids, my husband, my loved ones care about me no matter what I look like naked. (Please note, my husband is the only one who actually SEES me naked.) I am sure your loved ones feel the same about you. I wish you well in your search!

honey everyone has that feeling of "what did I do" after surgery. I spent about 2 weeks feeling like I had made a huge mistake. After that I realized it was the best thing I could have ever done for myself. initially your eating while healing is definitely different from your normal. The new normal starts to give you more choices and you will start seeing the results of your better choices which will give you a good mental attitude and motivation. I was 66 years old when I made the leap to surgery, I was banded in January 2013. When I had my surgery I had diabetes, which was getting increasingly worse with my weight gain and lack of mobility, I was on the verge of starting insulin and my cholesterol and blood pressure were getting higher. Since surgery I am normal and do not take any medications . You will be able to eat normally, but it will be a new normal, you can eat real food and enjoy eating out but your outlook will change. Hang in there and remember to focus on why you had your surgery. We are all here and there are so many here who have had all of the same feelings as you just ask questions and make sure you listen to your body and ask your Dr. for anything medical.

You're getting ahead of yourself. The band absolutely has to be loosened. Being unable to tolerate even small amounts of liquid is bad. The alternate is being hooked up with IV. I have no idea what will happen once the band is loose for a while. That's why I say you're getting ahead of yourself. Speculating and worrying about events that are still in the future will only make you more and more miserable. It's not always easy, but try not to think about it at all. Just take each step with the doctor and see what happens with each. How much Fluid comes out depends on how little remaining will be best. Expect quite a bit. Put effort into eating as you should to avoid or minimize weight gain. Above all is dealing with whatever is going on with the band.. Your weight is secondary right now.

You're married, you're a mother and what does that mean? That you're no longer officially a woman? You've already done that one by bloating up, but you decided to give it up by losing weight. Men look at women. It's one of the things they do. Do you know that you're looking, too? How else would you notice that you're being noticed? If it really makes you want to turn and run, you'll be doing a lot of running and very little in the way of getting errands completed. As you continue losing, will it get 'worse?' You'll be noticed more? I promise it isn't terminal. It sounds, from your telling, that something changed when you were younger, hence, the weight-gain. You once were comfortable in your own body, but then hid it away under extra weight. Lots of people, women and men, have to adjust emotionally to losing weight and all that goes with it. You may have other things going on that compound it. Consider seeing a therapist, preferably one with knowledge of body issues. Your losing weight is a gift to yourself. It would be a shame not to enjoy it.

I went for an upper GI barium swallow this am as I have been having trouble with my band the past month and having almost everything come back up and feeling unusually tight. The upper GI was aborted after the first swallow as there appeared to be near complete obstruction and on the report the radiologist recommended urgent referral to a barbaric surgeon. I live two airplane rides away from my original surgeon, so he had set me up with a general surgeon who worked under him to do my adjustments. I see him first thing tomorrow morning to have fluid taken out. How much, I don't know yet (already freaking out about that and the possible weight gain and how long until I can get the fluid back in). I am also waiting on an emergency CT scan to check for band placement, position and possible slippage. My general doctor is putting this in place, so I am just waiting on that. For those who have had this happen before..... How much fluid comes out? Does it resolve on its own? How long until fluid can go back in? I need some reassuring answers please. I have been banded since 2008. Always been on the tighter side of restriction. Had some fluid taken out last fall and things were good. But a month ago, it got so tight that I can barely get liquids down some moments. But then in that same day, I can manage some food. Not without a lot of it coming back up though. Which leads my original surgeons office to believe there is a slip.

Weight gain is totally normal - I always gain about 2-4 pounds during my cycle, I gain Water weight if I eat certain things or gain/stall if change up my exercise routine. And don't forget that fat also acts as a storehouse for things like hormones (like estrogen), so as you lose fat (weight) it is releasing tons of stored hormones back into your system. That can not only can that cause weight fluctuations, it can also make you feel moody and screw with your general well-being as well. But it is all perfect normal!

How did you do in the time before this past month? Or was this your first month? Has your period historically affected your weight? Take a close, hard look at your food diaries. You may find some choices or quantities that, on paper, will elicit an "Ooooh." Show a week's worth to the practice RD; he/she may spot things that you're unaware of. Do you record everything that goes down your gullet? You're sure? I've never heard of weight-gain from eating to lose. All things are possible, but not probable. There's a reason that you'll discover. Surgery won't stop you from being hard on yourself if you're hard on yourself habitually. Separate out the facts. The purpose for surgery is to lose weight, that's it. The emotional, behavioral and other changes you'd like to make or see are under separate-but-related categories. I think you'll better focus on the first if you don't conflate the whole shebang.

Hey guys... Ok so i got sleeved on 10/06. As of 3 days ago. my weightloss was of 40 pounds. But today, when I got on the scale, I was up 4 pounds. Im freaking out a little bit... I hope it doesn't continue to climb.... Anyone had a similar experience? Thanks for sharing any thoughts or advice with me.

My Story: I'm from Chicago but now live in a suburb just outside of Chicago. I've been dealing with being overweight since my sophomore year of high scool. Prior that I was the skinniest kid in my home. My weight gain started with taking birth control to regulate my periods and from there it was all down hill. I am 39 with a husband and a step-daughter who just turned 18. I've been in her life and help to her raise since she was five. My husband and I have been trying for 13 years to get pregnant with no success. After going through surgery to remove my gallbladder I paid a visit to my new Gyne for the first time quite a few years back and I was prepared with tons of information on what I thought I have. After two sentences she looked at me and said "You have PCOS". All of the symptoms were in plain view including the embarrassing dark ring around my neck, horrible acne, and coarse facial hair. Finally I had a doctor who had a concrete answer for why I was feeling like crap and experiencing these emotional highs and lows. Fast forward I attempted to ask my PCP about Bariatric Surgery and she looked st me with a stern cold expression and said you'd have to be on a six month supervised diet and your insurance may not cover it. I was already having enough of a hard time so feeling defeated I gave up and kept suffering through attempting to lose the weight only to gain it all back and then some. Moving forward its been eight years since I've seen that PCP and I've been with my new PCP a couple of years. He keeps pressing me to lose weight and I want to but it is hard having PCOS. I am now on two blood pressure medications and Metformin for my PCOS. So thats infertility, insulin resistance, borderline diabetes (Pre-Diabetes), and high blood pressure that I am dealing with and all with a BMI of 51. Tall and wide is definitely not the look that I am going for. I just want my life back. I have alienated all of my friends, and most of my family. Most of the time I lock myself in my home and comfort myself by sitting behind a computer learning computer programming languages. I breakdown inside every time I see a baby and pray that its not too late for me. I recently looked back into having Bariatric surgery and discovered that BCBSIL no longer requires the six month supervised diet. With all that is going on with me I am not even sure which surgery is best for me. I don't know where to start or how the process goes but I am going to schedule an appointment with my PCP to discuss my options.

I can't decide if I'm embarrassed to write this post or not...So, I'm just going to go for it. I hit my 2-year mark without fanfare a few weeks back. I reminded no one, and didn't bother taking a picture. I'm completely bummed out and am grasping for...food (was going to say straws, but I might as well be honest). I've struggled - starting with a pretty darn high weight in the first place, having a stupid short honeymoon period, and ending up in November 2015 with so much extra stress in my life that I sometimes wonder how this all happened (this is the "woe is me" part, sorry)...so here I am today, weighing about 15 pounds more than my lowest weight at left (that I hit in May 2015) that I don't seem to be able to shake back off of me, and looking for support. I'm writing this post because first, I would like to hear from anyone who has actually been re-sleeved. FYI that I am not interested in converting to the bypass, because for probably the rest of my life, I must be able to take NSAIDs for arthritis (and after a bypass, medicating for that becomes tricky and appears to only involve cortisone shots. Yuck, ouch, and no). Second, I'm writing this as a reality check to myself -- I've written/deleted/rewritten/re-deleted this post a couple of times this morning because as I've typed, I've realized a few very important things I've changed in the past 5-7 months that I need to grab back onto - things that are now contributing to my weight gain and pushing my thoughts toward that 2nd surgery. With as much weight as I still have to lose (50 to 90 lbs), I had already been considering a 2nd surgery, because I felt like I would need one more big push toward goal (at more than 50 pounds away after 2 years). I checked into getting a bypass as a method towards that final push, but that's when I learned about the arthritis meds problem. My recent struggles are just causing the underlying reason for that surgery to change a bit-from a "push" to a "need" (at least in my head ). Hopefully that sentence makes sense. I'm looking for someone who can maybe shed light on what it's like to be re-sleeved (as a "re-do" rather than for actual medical complications, since I have read about those issues on this site), if there's anyone out there who has experienced it. I will be seeking a different surgeon to perform it, and if I end up going this route, I am hoping to do it in May or June 2016. I have faith that some will remind me of the 5-day pouch test, getting in my daily Protein and Water, and other great advice toward getting back on track (that's my plan for the coming week - doing menu planning after posting this). I appreciate this community for its experience and advice! Thanks! ETA 1: Thanks for the comments! But somehow I've possibly given the impression that I have just 15 pounds to lose. Ah, if only that were true!!! Clarification, my "first" goal weight is 199, and I'm currently 50+ away from that. My true goal is 180, and my reach goal is 160-165. The 15 lb reference is that I'm up 15 from my lowest "current weight" (listed at left in my profile info). In other words, I have more weight still left to lose than some people have when they walk in the door for their first WLS consultation. I've had a number of weight fluctuations in the past 6 or so months, but this is the first time I can't seem to adjust my diet and have that weight go away. ETA 2: I've had a Fit Bit almost 2 years, and have worked out for the past 15 or so months (per my doc's plan, which is very conservative and geared around losing fat not muscle) until recently 5 to 7 days per week. Where I'm off is on my food intake and choices, which is good to be aware of because I can effect change. The heart of my post is that yes, I can make better food choices and update my workouts (they are boring to me now so I'm less motivated) and could probably get back on track for another bit of weight loss. What I'm considering is whether to do a "drastic" step to get re-sleeved to assist with the large portion of weight still left to lose. And no, this is not a stall - I've stalled any number of times in the past year and a half - this is different. This is more of a meta moment of realization...and I appreciate everyone who is taking the time to read and respond!

I had my gastric bypass wls on 10/17/14 and yesterday I found out I was pregnant, yay! Me and my husband are so happy. I'm just nervous about the weight gain, getting the proper nutrition and having a healthy baby. I'm curious... is there anything I should watch out for, health tips, pregnancy wls advice?? I'm new to this and would appreciate the input. Thanx!!

I had gastric sleeve August 18th 2015. Currently I have already gained weight back and I wanted to know if a revision this early as possible.? I'm very upset with the weight gain I lost very slowly since August 18th. I had only lost about 48 pounds and then I started to gain. I'm considering making an emergency appointment with my nurse practitioner of my Weight Loss Center to discuss other options or to ask what could be wrong I know I'm doing everything right I'm eating great portions and great meals I have snuck a few sweet drinks in every now and then and honey bumn, yes don't reply with any bad messages please cuz I know I've done wrong but every time I had one of those sweets... I worked my ass off to get the calories worked off. I have accomplished over a mile of walking, I do Weight and I do spinning but no more weight is coming off its just gaining what do i do, what do you think?.

I had an epiphinay yesterday. I started blood pressure meds and then doubled the dose last week. I think that is part of the problem as I went online and see people complaining about the weight gain. It just doesn't make sense why I suddenly have so much extra but I'm down 5 this morfing so go figure. Maybe it's a conicidence but yesterday I only had half a dose lef and my wight is down. Hopefully the remaining 5 will vanish by morning! I don't think it's salt, I don't eat much salt and drink a ton of Water. Sorry, this probably should have gone in the support forum instead.

I'm bummed. I'm up 10 lbs from my last weigh in which was probably two months ago. Since then I have stopped swimming 4-5 miles per week and have had rotator cuff surgery, was in a sling for 6 weeks and am in third week of PT so very little physical activity. I have eaten more carbs than usual the last few days and in the process got glutened which also causes me Fluid retention. In addition I am also premenstrual, worth 5 pounds alone. So, it seems the perfect storm...my preop workup is Monday so I'm hoping some of the gluten or premeunstral fluid is gone by then. I have not gained anyting since the surgery and then all of a sudden BOOM. I hope fluid retention does not cause a delay to my surgery, if my pre-op were on Wed instead I'd probably have shed that whole ten pounds. I've never been given specific instruction about having to lose a certain amount of weight or anything. Through this whole process 'i lost some then gained a pile right after surgery which must have been related to the surgery because 5 days later I was weighed and it was gone. I just have a tendency to retain fluid. But WHY does it have to be now?????

Yes. Weight gain after surgery is normal due to all the fluids they pump you full of. Give it a few days.

That's it...I give. I can't... I've been struggling to not gain back weight. For a few months now, I've been saying each and every morning, 'today I will make good choices'. And more often than not, I am eating more than I should. I presumed it was stress eating, head hunger, happy new relationship overeating, blah blah blah. Turns out, I'm just plain hungry. Went to see my doctor and told her of my struggles. I've gained ten pounds over the last six months. Some of my clothes are getting tight. I refuse to buy anything that's going to accommodate weight gain. My doctor explained that the fat cells aren't gone..they're just dormant. And now, they are waking up again and my body is begging to gain weight back again. She swears it's biological and not emotional. I feel like I'm failing and she tells me that failing is not doing anything about this new found hunger, and not requesting a fill. So...Friday will get my first fill after nearly three years banded. I'm both troubled and relieved. This reminds me of when I recently had surgery and went off my anti-inflammatory meds. Was in so much discomfort that I couldn't even walk standing straight. All my joints hurt. I couldn't believe how much the meds were keeping me pain free. The band needing Fluid is sort of the same thing I guess. I'm not 'cured' from overeating and obesity. The band manages my hunger enough for me to make good choices. Without it, I'm back to square one. I have to think the same about the band as I do about the meds I take. Prevention in order to not suffer from my arthritis, or my obesity. It really is a disease...and not a vice.

UPDATE "after surgery I will get radiation my worries is gaining weight during treatment hope I'll be able to go to the gym" @@MeAndTinyTina hi there when is surgery planned? you mentioned December?? not a doc - below are just my thoughts, comments radiation is much different then chemo that i had i lost weight due to nausea, vomiting i don't "think" a side effect from radiation is weight gain!! not positive (covering my asssss if i'm wrong not sure - but i think you shouldn't be worried about weight gain "hope" I'll be able to go to the gym you said "I've been told I won't be going full blast like I usually do." if doc says its ok to go to gym, and you feel ok, great don't overdue, don't do more than your body allows' getting nervous, anxious, scared for surgery, wondering about when going to gym similar to your thoughts of having sleeve sleeve surgery (CA of course more serious) always great to receive updates thanx for taking the time to post my crystal ball shows 2016 to be a healthier, happier new year good vibes sent your way for the success of CA surgery good luck kathy hugggggs

I just got back to work after being out a month for surgery. I've been stuck at 220 for over a week and have even gained. Not sure how I eat 2 bites and I'm done. I'm eating mostly protein because that is all my pouch likes. I'll have a 30 calorie monster every once in a while for some caffeine. I don't understand this stall so soon. I walk but can't excersize a lot due to low energy. (which I will be talking to my surgeon about on Monday. ) Should I revert back to soup and protein shakes again? I'm getting water and I'm drinking 1 protein shake a day like my diet sheet says to at this stage. Any advice?

After RNY gastric bypass surgery, generally one loses weight quickly then after time, weight loss slows and then you bottom out and enter the "maintenance" phase. The goal in the "Maintenance" phase is to maintain the weight loss that you achieved thus far. A weight gain of 7 pounds in one week seems too drastic. During the weight loss phase it is important to consume an adequate amount of Protein. The daily protein requirement is a combination of the amount of protein obtained from supplements (Protein shakes, protein bars) combined with the amount of protein from meals. In the beginning of the process, one lives off of protein shakes to meet this requirement because the meal volume is extremely low. But as time goes on, one can begin to transition off from these protein supplements if one concentrates on high protein meals. These protein supplements contain calories. So when you say that you are increasing your calories to 800 per day are you counting the calories in the protein supplements that you are taking? So one strategy to continue weight loss is add up your daily intake of protein; concentrate on consuming high protein meals; reduce your protein supplements (and the calories they contain). That approach may help you kick-start your continued weight loss. I put together a short article on my experience in the "Maintenance" phase that you may find to be useful. It is available at this link: http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf

hair loss that begins a year after surgery(or later) is caused by nutrient issues or some other condition, not the normal side effect of surgery. Have you had blood work? I have had weight gains and losses that don't make sense but I think if you journal your food, for at least a month it will help you pinpoint the problem.

I think mucle weight would take longer to show up on th scale than that? I'm not 100% though so don't quote me one it. Weight gain and acne sounds like me getting my period, could it be reproductive in origin? Have you been checkout out recently?