Search the Community

I think the weight gain was from the air installed in my tummy as well as the huge amounts of Fluid they infused in me. And last but not least, TMI - but being constipated by the pain meds. But all is well now. I'm pretty darn happy! The doc said that surgery would probably be 2 hours but I was done in an hour! Started walking around as soon as I got to my room later that evening and never stopped! The walking was key to being discharged and getting my body woken up from the anesthesia. I was discharged two days after surgery! In on Wednesday and out on Friday. Not too shabby! I've not had any issues keeping fluids down or drinking, and I've had to remind myself to take it slow. Pain has been minimal, but of course, if you move the wrong way too fast, you'll feel incisional pain. Not a big deal. I have had a "upset tummy" at times, but I think that is partially from drinking too much at a time. That subsides, and the Omeprozol helps. Happy to answer any other questions! Best wishes to all and I'm so glad I did this! Crash!

I see my surgeon team today for a follow-up. Last month was my initial visit with his team and I have about 1 more month of nutritional follow ups with my PCP before it can all be submitted to insurance. I quit smoking 3 wks ago (after smoking for about 10 yrs). It wasn't hard when they told me I had to for the surgery. Believe it or not, I am very motivated! But now I've gained about 15lbs in 3 wks ????. I'm nervous about seeing the surgeon team today because they told me in my initial visit not to gain any weight. I was told to lose 10-15lbs before surgery. I still have 2-3 months before I go under. Did anyone else gain during the 6 month diet stage? I am busting my rear to lose that and the 10-15lbs before I go down but I'm freaking out a bit about today's weigh in! ????

@@CowgirlJane i admit. Carbs are a slippery slope to me. It seems to be wheat thins. I know i need to get them out of the house. All they do is trigger more hunger. I'm thinking of trying plant based to see if that changes things. I know none of us are exempt from weight gain. Still trying to find a balance. My fear of gain is keeping me on task right now. But I'm hearing it is harder after the two year mark. I'm thankful for the vets and their honesty.

I take this mainly because I need the Wellbutrin part of it, but am terrified of taking a depression/anxiety medication on its own because of potential weigh gain side effects. My doctor thought this would be a good fit because I would still get the wellbutrin benefit without having to worry about weight gain. So far so good and I was able to lose the last 10 pounds I wanted to get off.

I was 46 when I had my surgery in February. I needed to lose 100 pounds, so right as the cut-off point of your question. I have lost 72 pounds of that in 7 months. I would do it if I was a few years older, I would do it if I had only 65 pounds to lose. I had looked into WLS 6 years ago. I did not qualify since I did not weigh enough and didn't have the right co-morbities for insurance. 5 years later I was now heavy enough to not need the co-morbities but now had those too. I wished I could have had the WLS 6 years ago. I was taking diabetic meds off label for PCOS and was pre-diabetic. No more. I was taking meds for high blood pressure- one week after surgery and no more high blood pressure meds. I was taking Nexium for GERD for years prior to the sleeve. I stopped taking Nexium after my 3 month visit. I am down to Celebrex and I no longer take it daily, just as needed. Only you can make the decision but I would not cancel it 2 weeks out. If you are going to cancel wait until the last moment. Look back over your personal history of weight loss, weight gain, weight loss and decide whether you can take it off and keep it off. Many of us have proven we can take it off but we can't keep it off. Are there things you want to do and can't do because of your weight? Write up a list of pros and cons. Is transitioning to by-pass the worst thing? I don't know. But there are plenty of people on this board that their WLS of choice was by-pass and they are happy with the results. Does anybody want to go through the extra revision? No, of course not. GERD is a real concern. I had it before the surgery. My surgeon fixed my hiatal hernia during my sleever surgery. No more GERD. Losing the weight helped with that too.

In order to give birth to a healthy child, it is important to have some weight gain. When my wife and I went through Natural Childbirth classes 40 years ago, the nominal number was 35 pounds minimum at full term. My wife is short. She is 4' 11". At the time she became pregnant, she weighted around 95 pounds. At full term she had gained 52.5 pounds. She had no problem losing the weight with the first nor the second child. Both my children were born without any physical defects or mental retardation. The directions for food during pregnancy are very similar to those for weight loss: Protein, and plenty of Vitamin C and stay away from unhealthy foods such as potato chips. And plenty of exercise.

I revised from lapband to RNY in July 2014. I ended up Preggo in October and had my son June of this year. Well I was pre-op for a tumor removal and found out I was Preggo AGAIN!! I didn't gain much weight with the first pregnancy and I'm trying not to gain again. I'm 40lbs from goal weight. Anyone have tips on how to keep weight gain at a minimum with baby #2

Challenge starting weight: 107 Goal: 107 Labor Day weight: 104 I did not achieve my goal, but I have learned a great deal by following my weight and food intake. I know that I'm under eating out of fear. I believe that as time goes on, I'll get used to being thin and will become less fearful of weight gain.

Thanks for the replies. Since my band has been un-filled, food passes through like I was never banded. All the food I did not or would not eat when my band was working I am now able to eat (hence the huge weight gain). I went into a full blown panic when my doctor told me they had to un-fill the band completely. I know myself and I have no self control with the amount of food I eat, that is why the band worked for me so well. It put limits on the amount I could eat. I am glad to hear that with the sleeve it has pretty much the same food limits as the band. As much as I tried to eat the same way as being banded it just does not work. The longer time goes on and the more weight I gain the more depressed I get. I have started hiding the amount of food I eat again. I have pretty much stopped going out (except when absolutely necessary) because I am embarresed with my weight gain. You know how you hear "you dont play well with others" well..... I dont play well with food. My doctor warned me about the scar tissue and such and although he is going to try the all in one surgery from band to sleeve there is a possibility I will wake up and only have the band removed. This thought alone drives me crazy. As for my insurance, my doctors office filed an appeal to get both the removal of the band and the sleeve surgery both covered and my insurance stayed steadfast with the fact they have a "lifetime weight loss benefit limit" and getting my band took 75% of that "lifetime limit". I did GOOGLE "Bougie Size" and found that information very interesting and helpful. Did anyone else go from band to sleeve and have that LONG period of time where they could eat anything they wanted and gain a whole bunch of their weight back?

Next challenge.....I had surgery August 24. After that initial hospital weight gain I started seeing 2-4 pounds fall off every day. THEN I started on full liquids. The weight is slower to come off. Like 1 pound every other day or so. That can mess with your head just a little.

I have pretty much every one as well; the weight gain, the difficulty losing it, the stupid little hairs that grow where they shouldn't, the skin condition, the messed up periods, the hormone imbalance, the thinning hair, the fertility problems... The list goes on.

You know I never really thought about it. But I am on ALOT of meds that can cause weight gain. Prozac Depo shot Steroids and steroid shots Tizanidine An OAB medication that causes Fluid retention sometimes. And I'm sure there's more. I take 15 prescriptions all together. What happens after my surgery? Should I switch medications? I definitely want to switch out Depo I started the shot in March and have gained 40lbs on top of my steroids. Thoughts? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've actually taken both Effexor and Prozac (not at the same time) as well as many other SSRI's and antidepressants. Most SSRI's can make you gain weight (5-10 pounds), but not near as much as the psychotropic meds (Seraquil, Zyprexa). I switched to Welbutrin a few weeks before surgery because its doesn't cause weight gain and is suppose to decrease cravings and binge eating. It seems to be working okay for now. Some psychotropic and antidepressants actually increase your craving for carbs and effect blood sugar (Abilify) so be careful. I don't remember exactly why or how, but ask your doctor or read your drug warning sheet if you want more information. Not everyone experiences the same side effects on these drugs, so only time will tell if it will cause weight gain. The best you can do is stick to the guidelines and Bariatric Eating plan.

I would talk to your coordinator. That's what I did. Pre-op at my first appointment, I was 260. At my 2nd nutritionist appointment I was 265. I was worried about the weight gain. I e-mailed my coordinator. With my insurance, Aetna, if I had kept the weight on, they wouldn't have approved me. I spent the month working the weight, and more off. The only thing that will totally ease your mind is asking your coordinator, they'll have all the answers.

I'm 2 years out and here recently have noticed I can eat a whole lot more, including bread. I've been good for 2 years about not eating bread and rice, then one day recently I tried a breadstick and it was like a gateway drug for me. I had gotten down to 160 from 330 but I think the last 20 was from the gallbladder surgery I had to have due to rapid weightloss, for the last 7 months I have struggled with 16 pounds weight gain and even went back to weight watchers to try to lose and hit goal. I understand that eventually your body catches up to the weight loss and I found out by joining weight watchers that even though I was eating small meals I was still eating pretty bad. I feel that it happened over night and I never pushed it to stretch out my stomach but I can eat so much more now and it scares me because I don't want to put the weight back on. Has anyone had this problem? Any suggestions or tips to get it back off? Obviously working out and stop eating the carbs would help, I know this.

Perhaps this is a normal stage of the process for us, but I am having trouble dealing with even the small weight gain. My workouts are more stringent than ever, but my snacking has definitely increased. I'm snacking on Cereal, but still logging/counting calories. Carbs definitely higher, but still not too bad. I'm thinking of just stopping the cereal, though, as that seems to be a trigger for more eating ....

I'm having a hard time stopping my desire to keep losing weight. I'm at 122 pounds, I'm 5'6. I'm very thin. But I just keep lowering my goal weight. I love the feeling of seeing the number go down. I'm terrified to see it go up. I feel like I'm not safe unless I am at the very bottom of what I can weigh. I'm so scared of weight gain!!!! But this is getting crazy. I'm going to start looking anorexic. Is anyone else going through this??? Also I reached my weight loss goal in eight months so fast, so my brain hasn't caught up yet. I still feel fat sometimes

If it happens again, throw something at her, like a gym shoe. That should work. Seriously, steer clear of toxic people. She obviously has some personal issues. The majority of people would NOT make that statement. If your doctors increased your calories and carb consumption, it sounds like there was a good reason for it. Have you talked to them about the weight gain ? This may only be a temporary set-back as your body gets use to the change.

I'm in the same boat as Misha. I'm pursuing it for other reasons, but have my fingers crossed that it will also help my PCOS and its ugly symptoms. I think at most we can place hope in the potential of WLS to aid with PCOS+symptoms, but I'm personally too pragmatic to get my hopes up for 100% resolution for 100% of all PCOS symptoms/side effects alone From my understanding and time spent googling studies and such, the odds are in our favor to see a lot of the irregularities and problems brought about by PCOS disappear (i.e. regularity, fertility, hormonal re-balancing or w/e...), but nothing indicates that PCOS+symptoms are resolved 100% of the time. I think stats I found were roughly around 70-85% resolution following WLS (note: none of the studies I found seemed to be conducted on more than 1-2 dozen subjects w/observations generally spanning 2-2.5 years). It may be worth noting that none of the studies I came across gave any detail regarding whether or not patients developed PCOS following weight gain or had symptoms prior to obesity... I think this information would be valuable to know -- since you don't necessarily have to be overweight to develop PCOS in the first place... **This is where I try to keep my hope for 100% symptom resolution, lol. Like "Maybe the 15-30% that didn't see improvements in their PCOS were just genetically predisposed to it in the first place"? If anything - I'd like to think: "since my PCOS developed in correlation with inches on my waist line and lbs on the scale" and as my androgen levels and other fun hormonal things went out of balance, that tilting the scale back in the opposite direction should logically reverse some of these effects. I think it's good to hope and to know that if concerns are for fertility/regularity -- that things are in our favor. However, one grey area that remains for me is with the smaller stuff such as break-outs and even worse - the unwanted hair growth I believe that acne problems should subside as my body changes and as I improve my health. I can actually place more blind faith in this. However, I have known 2 people who have had bypass 2+ years ago and know that while fertility and stuff did improve, they still have problems with unwanted hair growth... If anyone has seen resolution of this symptom as well following weight loss or WLS, I'd really like to know!? At present, I've retained a shred of hope that the hair growth will slow/disappear based solely on me preferring to think that maybe these two women were just genetically prone to growing fur or bristles... Another part of me thinks that while the hair growth may have been encouraged by PCOS, that getting my hormones and stuff back in check isn't necessarily going to tell those already established hair follicles or w/e to go away. For this reason, I'm probably best off planning to pay for laser hair removal on these areas after PCOS (hopefully) is resolved D: Note: I'm only pre-op though and know we would all love to see a collection of responses from post-op patients that had great success from hair to fertility

Welcome to BP @betterlife7. The above post is absolutely correct about GERD. However, RNY has more complications in general and is far more notorious to what we all refer to as "dumping syndrome," which is a feeling of sickness caused by eating something that cannot be digested by the pouch, most commonly sugars. I would say that unless you have a serious problem with sugar and you feel that is primarily responsible for your weight gain, I am a strong advocate for sleeve (although you need to sit down and discuss this intensively at your consultation and also see what your insurance has to say). Eventually, we can eat just about anything we want with impunity, albeit with dramatically reduced portion sizes. Even years out, we will become full just on hors d'oeuvres, but eventually, the ultra-vigilance can stop, because the volume restriction helps us lose and maintain our desired weight. And, perhaps most important to me, the hunger hormone ghrelin, which is produced by the part of your stomach that is removed during a sleeve, no longer causes the unbearable hunger sensations that occur when you lose weight with diet and exercise.

I'm not sure which to choose? I am waiting on a referral to go see a WL doctor. I'm nervous! I keep gaining weight! I think in the last year I've gaine 100lbs. My blood tests show no abnormal levels to explain weight gain! It's so hard to lose the weight! My knees and back hurt all the time! My self esteem is down in the dumps! I have no energy! I feel trapped in this body of unhealthiness! I feel ashamed I've become this way! I weigh 282 and am 5'6.....45 BMI! ???? So frustrating!

Many people experience a fear of failure when it comes to weight loss. This is cemented into their minds by the failures they experienced by years of "yo-yo" dieting. RNY gastric bypass surgery is a whole different experience. After surgery I completely lost my hunger. I found that it was not hard to lose weight when hunger was not constantly and incessantly gnawing at my bones. Back to your problem, weight gain during the pre-op stage. Here are some recommendations: Begin attending Bariatric Surgery Support Group meetings. They are generally free. Walk 30 minutes every day. Give up all carbonated beverages. I lost 20 pounds on giving up my 6 diet Coke a day habit pre-op alone. Read the calorie labels of everything you consume, especially at fast food restaurants and try and pick low calorie foods. I use to love milk shakes at "Steak and Shake" but after reading the number of calories in a milkshake, I gave that up for life. On the other hand a crunchy taco at Taco Bell isn't bad nor a bowl of chili at Wendy's.

Hello Everyone ! I was sleeved a year ago after going through gastric band first 6 years ago. I am finding it hard to eat. I have major heartburn so still taking Omeprazol each morning, i am kind of under weight now and still cant get food down easily. At time even liquids are hard to keep down as something is blocking the passage. Anyone has experienced this before ? and will it ever get better ? I hear people talking about weight gain and some people can eat all kinds of things few months after surgery, which makes me wonder why i am suffering this much a year after my surgery? What is your experience and what do you think???

Hi! I am about 2 and 1/2 weeks out. I recently went through a break up of my own. I decided when it was over that I was going to start taking care of ME and focusing on me (hence the screen name). I did not do the surgery to meet someone else's narrow expectations, but rather for my health. Around the same time of the breakup I went to visit my 87 year old dad in the hospital which was further motivating for me not to wind up in the same place. I decided then and there I was going to take care of myself and my own health now that I didn't have to care for the other person's health issues. I started going to weekly therapy and after about 4 weeks of that I decided that weight loss surgery was the way to go, and THE BEST THING I COULD DO to take care of myself. While you may feel now that the marriage ended because of the weight gain, do not be surprised if what you find is that you gained the weight because of a marriage that did not meet your needs. My mom even made a snarky but true comment to me that if I was "really" happy that I would be losing not gaining weight (when I was in the relationship). One of the things I am working on this year is getting my needs met without being in a relationship and then at some point seeing if there is someone who fits into the life I choose, rather than twisting myself into a pretzel to fit into someone else's life. And in all honesty, I'm sick of being such a martyr. It was exhausting. Now that I'm off the sugar and caffeine rollercoaster, I have a lot more energy too. At the beginning of my journey I felt resentful that I had to go through this surgery "alone" when I had "been there" for him through many health issues of his own. My sister came to stay with me during the week of surgery, and my neighbors have been great looking after my pets when I was in the hospital, and helping me carry in "groceries" ie liquids that I could not lift post-op. Everyone I work with who knows has also been extremely supportive. Honestly, I have never felt so loved and cared for in my life, and want to know why? Because I am loving and caring for MYSELF. At the moment I could not be happier that I was liberated from that relationship (don't get me wrong, I licked my wounds for a while first). In addition to therapy, I also come here to bariatric pal to hear others stories, I spent a lot of time on you tube following sleevers Clusie and Kstar, and I attend support groups and OA. What else I have learned? I am not alone. You also are not alone. Be the change you wish to see in the world. Take care of yourself the way you wanted your husband to take care of you, and you will be amazed at the results INSIDE and OUT. I recently have been reminiscing about those Whitney Houston lyrics from all those years ago about the greatest love of all: I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's shadows If I fail, if I succeed At least I'll live as I believe No matter what they take from me They can't take away my dignity Because the greatest love of all Is happening to me I found the greatest love of all Inside of me The greatest love of all Is easy to achieve Learning to love yourself It is the greatest love of all I wish you peace, joy, happiness and love throughout your journey!

Until recently, I had been in an 18 year relationship, married for 10 of them. Sadly, part of the reason the marriage ended was my huge weight gain. I've read a lot of posts about amazing and supportive partners/spouses and I wonder what it is like to go through this alone. I do have close friends but it's just not the same and most of them live other places. Where did you get your support? Does it feel lonely? I have to admit one of the big reasons I'm doing this surgery is so I can find a partner again. (Where I live in NYC no one would touch me with a 10 foot pole (or anyone for that matter, unless they are a size 6 (?) or below!)) Anyway just looking for inspiration from some others!