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I keep meeting people that are morbidly obese, yet say that they hardly eat anything everyday. What? It really comes down to an overabundance of daily calories and lack of exercise when you are more than 100 pounds overweight. It just seems that some have the hardest time admitting that they are an overeater. Even on this forum, I have read posts from others saying they never over ate and got very obese from psych meds and hypothyroidism alone. Sorry, no. Meds and thyroid problems will not cause more than a 10-25 pound weight gain. Such denial will really get in the way of weight loss success after surgery.

My understanding is that it's somehow hormonal (and I'm assuming ghrelin is the hormone). At least that's what my favorite Dr Weiner says. He says while everybody assumes pouches and sleeves get stretched out and cause weight gain, studies show after the honeymoon period at around 18 months and then a year or two out, hormonal changes that happen naturally over time cause us to become hungrier and somehow allow a little more volume to be eaten. Though he didn't say WHY it happens. Anyway, he said there have been studies proving those are the causes of weight regain, not stretching (and obviously diet). I'll have to see how good my Google - fu is and see if I can find some of those studies to answer why it may happen.

I'm sure it's the Gabapentin that caused my weight gain. I say that because the scale would show a 2 lb gain when previous days, I had stayed on track the whole time. I'd like to try Welbutrin. It's one of the only ones I have not tried. I'm so afraid of weight gain. Everyone that starts an antidepressant tells me they have gained weight from it. A friend just told me she has gained 20 lbs since she started the Abilify 6 weeks ago. I bet I gained 75 lbs way back when I was on Amitriptiline (sp?) when the internet became available, I looked it up and it said as one of the side effects that it makes you crave sugar and carbs. I take Ativan if I am in freak out mode. I don't know what I am going to do now for a doctor since my nurse practioner left. It's really hard to get a doctor around here. They only want to take patients who don't have medical problems. People who only come in if they have a cold or need a physical. I think I am getting out of the hospital tomorrow. Now it's going to become really hard. I won't be able to drive and I can't sit on the couch or recliner. Of course I want to bone graft to take so I will follow doctor's orders, but I am going to be miserable.

Came across this article on FB today. It was exactly what I needed to see. I've gotten comfortable with the fact that I can still indulge in small amounts and not see any weight gain or experience dumping. Well, that's NOT a good thing for someone like me, because it will simply continue and then eventually I will see regain. I don't want to waste all the hard work I have put in and everything I've endured to take my health back into my own hands. Having said that, some parts of this surgery might strike chords. Please remember that I didn't write it LOL so don't attack me if something makes you feel some type of way, especially that last header/paragraph. That's a sentence we all probably will take issue with, but please try to keep things in context... http://www.bariatriceating.com/2015/05/not-what-you-want-to-hear-bariatric-nos/ Don’t eat bread! That latte has 35g sugar! No macaroni salad. NO tortillas. No rice. It won’t last without change There is no delicate way to say this. We have always set ourselves apart from other bariatric groups in that we don’t look the other way while post ops continue to eat the bad carbs. We try and bring them back to the bariatric reality. We coax you to knock off the Pasta, rice, tortillas or bread and often people get mad or try and justify it. For years we’ve watched people blow through this surgery and they all have the same story. Everyone thinks they are ‘Different’, that they can handle the bad carbs and the sugar (they don’t get sick!) and ‘because they have lost 100 pounds in 7 months they must be doing something right’. The first hundred pounds is the surgery Hate to keep making the same point, but your surgery did it, not you. Remember that you are not driving the car for the first year. Eating the same foods that grew you to 300 pounds, but in smaller amounts is not a good long term plan as eventually you will be able to eat larger portions. Ask yourself why eating the same bad carbs would be a good plan. No doctor has advised you to eat the same way post op as you did pre op. Post ops pick this up somewhere, latch on to it and defend it, often to the bitter end of a total regain. No one fights for broccoli carbs! It’s not that the bagel will kill you, it’s that these carbs make you hungry. They rapidly turn to glucose and burn… poof, gone, #Lookingformore. They don’t give you any nutrients. They don’t create a feeling of satiety or lasting fullness. The empty carbs work against what you are trying to achieve. If you were arguing for eating salad or green bean carbs, more power to you… but people are trying to hang on to foods without value. If this big argument was for VEGETABLES… well it wouldn’t be a debate as vegetables didn’t make us fat, it was those ‘other’ carbs. Did you ever meet an obese vegetarian and wonder ‘HUH?’… how’d they get obese if they are vegetarian? Same deal… its not the vegetables, its the other stuff… the carbs… the potatoes, bread, macaroni, rice, tortillas and sugar! Square peg… round hole Stop looking for slightly better substitutes for bad choices and find new healthier foods to love instead. We keep trying to force that square peg into that round hole. Stop EATING crackers and chips… don’t find ones that you can justify because they have fewer carbs. Enough with the terrible fishy shirataki tofu noodles. Learn to live without bread and pasta so it will not call your name. We aren’t changing the behavior or trend if we continue eating them, just slightly shifting it. Before long you’ve got your hand back in the Doritos bag & fork in the Mac and cheese. Look It’s Protein Cheesecake! Don’t add protein to muffins and convince yourself they’re good for you. Stop with the Starbucks Creme Brûlée Lattes because ‘they’re your one indulgence’; they have 500 calories and thin people don’t even drink them. Stay the heck out of Wendy’s. I read an article the other day touting all the ‘good choices’ in fast food restaurants. How about stay out of them. That’s the best choice of all! Why go to the place where you know there is danger. Before you know it, oops… there are fries in your bag! You know people gain back weight, right? In our first month of new Facebook Support group I have cried for new members who have gained back all their weight. I am not immune either after fourteen years, three bariatric books and knowing better. When life hit the fan, I comforted my bruises in the way I knew best and it has taken me ten months to lose fifty pounds of it. People are having revisions, a lovely sounding word for a second serious body damaging operation. What will change? Unless there is major change along with that new surgery, won’t it have the same result? Step away from the bagel! Own that there was and maybe still is something wrong with your food picker! Use surgery as an opportunity to change, not cheat. I used be bothered by the ‘word on the street’ that we were the carb or food police, but am now proud of it. If you want to promote the virtues of Everything in Moderation while eating half a Subway, there are plenty of groups that will help you do it. If you want to eat right and learn new behaviors to make the feeling of slipping on those skinny jeans last… we have a support group that’s a healthier fit. Bariatric Surgery IS the easy way out It’s a personal food cop that is always with us, that helps us push away from the table. We make it hard when we don’t live by the bariatric rules we’ve been given. There is nothing harder then gaining weight back after surgery. There is nothing better than losing it a second time. Control is empowering. If you need to pick up and start losing again… If you need to work off a regain… it’s not too late and your pouch works just fine if you choose the right foods. Clean those lethal carbs from your life and go back to Bariatric Eating – protein first and lots of fresh salad and vegetables. We’ve got the support for you to make that change!

I agree the cause of weight gain is not the size of your stomach, it is what you are eating and of course grazing could contribute to this.

I asked my nutricianist that question and she said that the cause of weight gain after surgery was grazing.

I am 1 year and 3 months out and am wondering is it normal for the pouch to stretch and how much should I be able to eat at this point. I feel like I can eat more but should i? Also, is there a picture to see what our stomach (pouch) looks like now. How usual is it that the stomach would stretch to a very large size and is that what causes weight gain and if not what causes weight gain after surgery. Thanks, Irelandgrl

I reached the lost 58/ 58 more to go stage a couple of days ago and even though I get stopped multiple times at work about my weight I still find it hard to not say I have ONLY lost 58. Its actually 74 from my highest but it is hard to not feel like it should be gone in a *snap*, even though I know like @@MrsKarenC2008 said the weight gain didn't happen in a *snap*. that's why I really appreciate my NSVs - those make it REAL!

I ate healthy and under 1500 calories a lot of the time and never lost weight. Some of the time I would go through periods of eating a lot more and most of it was junk, and strangely that didn't seem to cause any more weight gain. I will clearly state that I ate more than I burned. It's not a total mystery how I got to 300+ pounds, though I never ate as much or as bad as one would think to get to that weight. The sleeve allowed me to get my calories under 600 per day for the first several months, and then I kept it around 800 for the rest of the first year. I now know that I have to eat under 900 calories a day or I will not lose weight. That was a shocking revelation to me. I maintain at around 1400 calories, and gain at any more than that. I would like to lose that last 10 pounds, but can't seem to keep my calories low enough, long enough to achieve that. I look and feel pretty good, so I'm not too worried about it any more.

Please don't be discouraged. I know it isn't easy when you don't see the progress on the scale. It can be very frustrating!! I have found that my body goes through adaptation periods especially to something new. It's been 5 weeks and your body has gotten used to what you are doing. You need to confuse it to get it going again. Have you tried different cardio to change it up? Different muscle groups? I have had stalls and when I see that the scale is hanging up, I know its time to change it up a bit. I have numerous different cardio that I do, cross country walking, biking, Zumba, treadmill, Kinect with numerous DVD workouts, numerous exercise DVD's, Hatha Yoga, swimming, occasionally canoeing, and kayaking (I live by 2 lakes and multiple rivers). I try and switch those up and rotate them often so that my body doesn't get used to the same routine, which keeps my body guessing and get it jump started. I promise that you are still transforming and most likely losing inches!!!! During stalls, focus on how clothes are fitting and also how you are tolerating longer cardio, which feels amazing when you couldn't do something the week before and the next week you can! Celebrate and focus on the NSV's (non scale victories) during stall periods. Significant weight gain doesn't happen overnight and neither does significant weight loss, although wouldn't that be awesome because it would make our journey's so much easier right? One stepping stone at a time, 1 pound at a time. Don't worry, it will happen and you are just beginning!!! Keep going you are doing great!!!

I did EMDR - the flashy light/sound thing. It was very focused - I think I did about 4-6 treatments and I went from having full on panic/I am back in the moment of the trauma to being able to view them as memories without a panic attack. It was life changing at that time. In my experience it helped tremendously with post traumatic stress over specific incidents but not so much with the trauma childhood as a general concept. It helped me alot but I probably won't do it again. I can share more about this later if anyone is interested. I can tell you a therapy NOT to do - called Lifespan Integration. It made me sick. My girlfriend who did it developed hives and her hair started falling out. I come to the conclusion that there are some things the subconscious isn't really ready to share with the conscious world... better left buried. Interesting about wellbutrin - I was told that is an anti-depressant that is known to trigger anxiety but clearly for you it is very effective! One of the good things is it doesn't tend to cause weight gain. Is clonazepam one of the ones they say is addictive? That "group" of drugs helps me alot but my doc will only prescribe it like 5 pills at a time to deal with a specific anxiety event like my whole breast mystery thing. One of my best friend has a doctor who prescribes that type of drug generously and she uses them daily with no apparent ill effect, but I guess the current thinking is that we will all become anti-anxiety junkies.

Hi, A 2 lb weight gain in one day's time is most likely Water retention. If you review your food intake for the past two days, you'll probably see some high salt foods that were eaten. Remember that 3500 calories are needed to gain one lb so not likely you consumed 7000 calories!! One quart of water weighs about 2 lbs. Weighing every day can be stressful because there are going to be fluctuation, i.e., water retention, constipation, etc.. Consider weighing less often and focus on the exercise and healthy, lower salt choices recommended from the program. Good luck!

I am so sorry if I scared you- that wasn't my intention. I just happened to have a TERRIBLE experience with it. Even at it's worst, if you just fight the cravings you will be ok. I know it's probably scary because it happened to coincide with a stall. If you push through that I think you'll feel so much better about it. Just make sure to ignore the insane sugar cravings!! That was my downfall. I ate Cap'n Crunch for breakfast lunch and dinner. I even started to put extra sugar on top of it!! I grew up in a house where that is unacceptable. My cravings were just intense. Just stay on your plan and you will be fine. It's not the hormone itself that causes weight gain, it's the fact it causes hunger and therefore you eat more that causes it.

My husband and I are a couple that take advantage of the fact that the band is "adjustable". I love the fact that I am able to adjust the band to fit my life style. For an example, last year when my husband required hip replacement surgery he was able to un-fill his band enough to allow him to eat the amount of food and nutrition that he needed to help his body heal. When your band is at a certain restriction you may know that there are certain food intolerance that you might experience with fruits and vegetable and when you are recovering from major surgery it's good to be able to get those in without worrying about that and being banded he was able to relax his band during that time and concentrate on healing. The same has been true for myself. When I was sick with severe flu, I was able to relax my band to allow my body to eliminate the extra Fluid and mucus that my body was battling with. I have had to have several invasive tests and have had periods of high intensity stress that relaxing my band helped me to process and recover more quickly from. On the flip side going back to the Dr. once things are in balance I and my husband are able to add fluid back into the band to achieve that level of restriction where our food intake is lower due to lack of hunger and craving, and our weight loss continues. During the times when we have had our bands relaxed I can say that the most weight gained was about 2 pounds maybe 5 for hubby after hip replacement surgery but mostly due to IV fluids he lost that with in a week after discharge from the hospital. Slow and steady for us....the goal is at the end and today it's all about the journey.

@ Niki15 It's frustrating but don't fret too much over slow weight loss. I lost slowly with episodes of weight gain in between. My routine included daily exercise & following my low carb diet rules to the letter. It felt like a living nightmare. I lost the weight after 17 months but nothing I did would speed things up. Keep at it. You may not have a quick start but eventually it will happen.

Um, seriously? I looked back through the responses, and only one person responded that they didn't have a food addiction prior to surgery (which, yes, is possible--there are a few people on these boards who had significant weight gain due to a medical issue and couldn't lose on their own). Everyone gave thoughtful, helpful advice to your questions. Here is the relevant part of my own response: I'm not sure what you were expecting us to say--yes, of course many of us were/are food addicts, and because of that, we gave you advice that came from each of our experiences dealing with that aspect post-surgery.

You might want to go back to see your doc and your nutritionist. Don't let any negative feelings about the weight gain hold you back. It's their job to help you. They might decide to give you a fill or they can work with you on ways to help you start losing again. Good luck, let us know how you do!

Yes that what the clause in my insurance states"technical " failure!What does that mean?My band from what I can tell has not eroded.The CT scan indicated a mild hiatal hernia.What procedure detects erosion? Had an upper GI with barium....severe reflux.scheduled for an endoscopy and the surgeon is going in to u fill the band next week. My comorbities: post metatastic breast cancer with a high risk of reoccurrence because of weight gain...got a letter from my oncologist,PCOS,insulin resistance,pre diabetes,high cholesterol,and disc degeneration /osteo artrithis. at risk for heart disease stated as a result of the ct scan. Got a note from my gynecologist stating the PCOS and insulin resistance/pre diabetes.

Is it normal to gain weight in the hospital after surgery? Wtf?!

Thanks Amazon! Yes, we are all so different. I, myself, have PCOS and have gained weight REALLY fast this year. Which is what prompted me to have the surgery now. I had POSE (it's in fda trials now) back in 2011 at 230 lbs. I lost down to 168 but never got below that. POSE is sooooo not close to the restriction that you get from sleeve but back then being cash pay I was scared to do the sleeve. Well, fast forward 4 years, a baby, fighting weight gain for about 2 years but kept it off and then BAM! Blink my eyes and 30 lbs back on me since March. So..I know I've got some issues working against me but I also know my stomach is stretched back out and I'm not satisfied on the smaller portions any longer. I also have my head wrapped around the fact that if I push it, I'll regain again and I refuse to do that. This is it for me so I'm praying all goes well and I'll get to goal and be grown up enough to keep myself there However, it is good to see those without 100 or more to lose hitting their goal because I know we don't lose as fast as those with over 100 to lose so I wondered if that affected the end result.

I had Nexplanon implanted about 3 years ago. I have always gone up and down with my weight, but after getting it put in I gained almost 100lbs. I had never had that big of a weight gain before- not even close! Normally I can diet pretty easily and loose any weight pretty quickly. Not after the Nexplanon. I tried and tried and couldn't loose the weight. That is the reason I decided to get the sleeve. My doctor told me that I might gain 5lbs when I was getting it put in..... Lucky me I gained 100. After my ordeal I have found several people with the same experience that I had. So just be very careful- it can definitely hinder wight loss. Oh- I also wanted to mention that I craved sugary foods constantly. I would have been happy to eat sugary Cereal for Breakfast lunch and dinner. I lost interest in normal foods. Also I did loose my periods for quite a while. When they did return it was more like spotting. I used to have pretty heavy, regular periods before that.

HI there, My doctor just removed my band three weeks ago and will do the second surgery for the sleeve in October. I just completed a 6 month prep program for the sleeve that was required for my sleeve surgery by my insurance company. I had my Fluid removed in March and the band removed on July 29th. Per my doctor the reason for the two surgeries is due to letting the stomach go back to a normal size, this way when they do make the cut for the sleeve, they get a better shaped pouch, which in the long run makes a difference in the success of your weight loss. if they did the surgery all in one, the stomach would be misshaped. When you think about it, it does make sense. They have seen better results with the sleeve revisions when the surgeries are done in two steps. If it causes me to have better success, then I am for it. Since March when the fluid was removed I have gained almost 45 pounds back. It is very disheartening, as I have tried everything and have been watching my Protein and calorie intake and still gaining, I feel like there is nothing I can do to stop it. I know this weight gain is only temporary and look forward to starting my life with the sleeve. Having patience is hard, but will be worth it.

Re fear of weight gain ... I can't imagine each of us doesn't fear that. But I'll speak for myself: I fear it. I'm only four months into maintenance. There's no way I feel stable at this point.

@@SWEETTEA No, don't worry about it. I struggle with depression, and my mom was bi-polar, so I can recognize it pretty easily. I'm glad you're in therapy, as it sounds like you have a lot you have to cope with right now. Just be aware that you're walking a fine line with the fear of weight gain. Make sure your therapist knows about your fear and treats you accordingly.

I was sleeved also on July 20th. I experienced a stall from week 2-4. So 2 weeks stall. I even gained 2 pounds. In the past couple days I have lost the weight gained and lost another 1.5 pounds. It was a little frustrating but I knew it could happen.