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I agree with Folly. There are many reasons people don't report in. Moving, weight gain, AND weight loss. When you've lost your weight and kept it off, why bother returning to the doc with no complaints. That's another more positive reason than just weight gain. Also co pays, forgetting, and procrastination are more reasons. Keep your glass half full is my attitude!

@@impact food addictions and old behaviors can start back up for any of us. You have lost weight before. You can do it again. Start back to where you began. Remove the food that trips you up out of your home, activity/exercise,Get back on your healthy eating plan and log food. Support and you might want to think about counseling. In the vets forum on BariatriPal there is information for people that are further out from surgery. Tips to get back on track after weight gain. Thanks for your honesty in your post. Just reminds all of us that the work never ends.

Im very similar. I had the band for 10 years, maintained my weightloss through vomiting every day all day. Unfilled for 2 years, gained 35 pounds. Have had the sleeve since July 9. Only down 13 pounds, 10 of which was the first 2 weeks. I go to the gym alot, mostly cardio, starting with some boot camp now. My nut says 80-100grms Protein and 50-80 carb. I never go over 50 unless I did alot at the gym. She says dont worry about calories. I do use my fitness pal and stay around 1000. I think my first couple months I was actually grazing and eating more carbs. I have no problems eating anything, even raw vegetables. There is no way in hell I could eat 1/4 cup and be satisfied. with exercising you have to consume more food otherwise your body goes into starvation mode. Now after my last appt I use mfp religiously and have lost 2 pounds. Im a very slow loser and dont have that much to lose to get to my original band weight. I have 25 pounds to lose and I dont care if it takes me 6 months. If I lose a pound a week its better than a 35 pound weight gain. Your diet I think looks like you arent eating enough carbs and calories for 4 days in the gym. I know its hard to believe it.

All the sleeve is before weight loss is a tool with which to do it. Once you enter maintenance, all the sleeve is after weight loss is a better opportunity to stay there. Nobody fails, including the sleeve itself. It's just not a guarantee of anything, it's just better odds of a lot of things. If you experience weight gain a year or two out, then just get back in the game. The sleeve should still be helping you do that at that point. For everybody who talks about how stats are unreliable because of re-gainers not reporting or following up, I'd point out those studies also don't point to weight "re-loss." The most important thing to me out there is that it appears that our set points definitely change, which is more important than the loss or gain of any particular pound.

I agree! Physicians as a whole tend to be dismissive of the mental aspects of our health. Not just bariatric surgeons, although one would think that doctors performing wls would be more in tune with the mental aspect of weight gain and loss. I'm disappointed with the lack of follow-up care with my surgeon. It's not bad, the center has monthly support groups, required visits with a nutritionist, and a patient coordinator who is available to answer questions. However, I find that the support group is more like a pep rally and doesn't give me much support. And my 3 month f/u was scheduled for 4 months, and I'm told by other patients that I won't even see the doctor. I'm ready to cancel it and wait for my 6 month f/u. Why pay the copay just to get weighed on their scale and tell them I have no questions? I've looked for support outside the wls community as well. I talk to a therapist and I've gone to oa meetings. It helps a lot.

I've finally reached a point where this is on auto-pilot and I'm not really all that worried about weight loss/gain anymore. I had a few stalls but fortunately no weight gains that were significant (I have a 2-3 lb gain and loss every month as I ride the hormonal broomstick). I got on a scale this morning and was shocked to discover I've dropped more weight. I sort of thought I was maintaining. :-) Life is different. Life is good.

I have my last nut apt Wed and then my stuff will be submitted to insurance. My bmi was 40.1 so they told me not to loose any weight. I weighed myself this morning and I am 3 lbs heavier. Should I reschedule my apt until I drop those pounds? I dont want to be denyed. The surgery cord did not say not to gain, just not to loose but I have read here that some people have been denyed for a gain.

I had gastric bypass on march 2013 I gained weight back how can I lose it again?

Ive gained 4 pounds in a day am so scared that my stomch has stretch

Weight gain

My surgeon warned me about the 3 week stall and said he found that many times it was due to you having too few calories. Being newly sleeved we tend to not get enough nutrition the first month due to several factors such as pain, nausea, fear of weight gain, etc and we tend to only get about 500-600 calories in our daily intake. He says that the bare minimum the human body needs for survival is 600+ calories, and when you stay below that mark, your body will go into starvation mode and will reduce its ability to lose weight as a protection measure. His advice to all his patients is to up your caloric intake to the 800 range if you can handle it.

Last year I went to my pcp for a physical. When I read the report I was described as morbidly obese. I weighed in at 303 lbs with a BMI of 43. I have tried many diets and lost, regained, lost, regained. I decided it was time to change my life and started researching WLS. This journey started in June 2014. I went to one Weight Loss center and felt pressured into having the surgery. At my initial consultation I met with the bariatric coordinator and she was already asking me what surgery I wanted. This raised some red flags and I moved on. My PCP recommended a dr at Rex Bariatrics in NC. I then continued my research and started reading posts on the various forums. I scheduled a consultation with Rex and was very impressed with their program and level of support. I decided to proceed with my journey and started the process. I was required to attend three pre op groups, have a psychological review, get an endoscopy, meet with the nutritionist, etc. With my insurance company there was a six month physician monitored weight loss requirement. While completing the requirements, the insurance company dropped the diet the six month diet requirement. After completing all the prerequisites I then waited for the approval letter from the insurance company which arrived after about two weeks. There was not turning back at this point as I was certain that this will change my life forever. I decided to have the VSG and had a surgery date of October 15th 2014. One day before my birthday. On the day of surgery I weighed 284. The surgery went well. It is imperative to walk as soon as you get back to the room. Unfortunately I tried walking and kept on passing out. That evening I experienced severe shoulder pain. I was told that this was from the gas used to inflate my stomach being absorbed into my body. I was able to work through the pain and the next day I was released from the hospital. I would say that the first three days were challenging. I had extreme pain where they removed my stomach. I was definitely tired. On the fifth day I was feeling much better and off the pain meds. I was out shooting pool by the weekend. For the first month or two I was loosing about a pound a day. One big challenge for me was getting my required amount of Water in. With the lack of water I experienced severe constipation. This was the worst complication from the surgery. I battled with this for many months. I was taking colace and also Amitiza for IBS. When I added Fiber into my diet everything got much better. DRINK YOUR WATER. My goal weight was 195. I was able to hit my goal in about six months. I then went into Maintenance at that point. From eating 500 to 600 calories during my weight lose phase I then went up to about 1000 to 1200 calories and 120 grams of Protein and 60 grams of carbs. I continued to loose weight and leveled off at 187. I thought this would be my optimum weight and stayed between 184 and 187 for about two months. Currently I am eating about 1600 to 1700 calories a day. 120 grams of protein and 120 grams of carbs. I am petrified of weight gain and having a hard time transitioning to real food. I am still having yoghurt, Protein Bar (Quest Apple Pie) and cottage cheese. For lunch I have a protein bar and some fruit. I make dinner my big meal and usually have egg salad, salmon or tuna salad or eggs. I have cooked some baked salmon and some casseroles. As I write this I am weighing 183 and trying to not go any lower. My optimum weight is around 187. Well that is my journey and I hope it will provide some insight on tips and details to help with your journey. Please reply if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer them. Again this was the best decision I have made in my life and I no longer have diabetes, high blood pressure and sleep apnea.

My counselor just got back from vacation. She called in my scrip... she actually thinks wellbuterin is an outstanding choice except there is a risk of suffering through anxiety while ramping up to thereuputic dose. She is prescribing something else to help with that in the short term. Reason she likes wellbuterin is that it doesn't have the weight gain, sexual killing side effects and is just generally well tolerated by people. I have an appointment with her monday, but I appreciated that she was supportive of me getting started on this ASAP. I have alot to talk to her about. The last week i have been driving my tractor, doing some earth moving, preparing planting beds for spring... and it is a time of contemplation. We shall see if she sees much into my recent epiphanies. I am going on a date tonight to listen to music. I am so unexcited about it... I better get my shit together soon... less than 2 hours and Prince Charming will be arriving to pick me up. I am sure I will have fun once i get there, but i somehow feel very tired today. My son told me that I have been grumpy for 2 days, although I don't think he means grumpy as we have had no altercations/arguments. I think he means that I am not smiling, not full of my usual pep and zest.... that is for sure.

Wow it's been so long since I've been back. Yesterday I celebrated my 5 YEAR Sleeve anniversary!!!! I started this post and I'm back to say I'm 27 lbs. over my normal BMI goal. And a total 33 lbs. over my lowest weight. I will tell you it's easy to do. My sleevie has been a HUGE blessing. I would totally have gained all my weight back by now. Like my surgeon told me, we can help you with this tool, however we can't fix your mindset. That would require some type of brain surgery which they haven't discovered for weight loss as of yet (well not that I'm aware of). I will tell you it's an AMAZING TOOL, but NOT A FIX!!! or MIRACLE. My problem is I'm a huge snacker at work. I tell myself I don't finish my meals or eat that much at all...and it's true. However when I sit and think about every item I put in mouth during the day IT ALL ADDS UP. For some reason, for me at least, my sleevie wonder loves and tolerates Snacks VERY WELL lol. I'm a huge lover of the weight watcher program especially TRACKING. I know what I need to do, and I will DO IT! I also stopped weighing myself thinking I would feel it in my clothes...I did and ignored it. I listened to others who said stop weighing. I don't blame them at all. I did this allllll by myself. I will admit I was a little crazy weighing all day lol. You have to find what works for you and stick to it. So here's what I know I must do: -Weigh daily or once a week (I will start tomorrow SUPER SATURDAY WEIGH in here I come ) -and TRACK MY food FOO -stop blaming my age/hormones for the weight gain LOL almost 48, no excuses try and continue to get my 10,000 steps in a day (love my fitbit charger)- Hope these tips help. I know they are going to help me get back to where I need to be . I'm pretty content, but would like to lose 17 lbs and maintain there. I can do it. I've done it before. 90 lbs. to be exact. I'm so thankful to my sleeve sisters who did random acts of kindness yesterday to Celebrate my anniversary. I also received a beautiful plant at home. I'm so thankful to have such a wonderful sleeve family through this journey. We can't do this alone. Happiness and Love to All! I wish you all Best wishes during your journey

Reality: I've had hypothyroidism for the past eight years and have been on psych meds. I never mentioned steroids, which I know contributes to weight gain. My last blood panel still showed my thyroid was still low and it does make weight loss a struggle, but not impossible. I had surgery almost 11 months ago and I remember how frustrating it was the first few months post op. Like you, I had to reduce my calories to around 600 for the first 6 months. I never mentioned that hypothyroidism and meds mean nothing. In fact, I mentioned that they do contribute to weight gain. If the two are combined with crappy eating (overeating, junk food), then it is quite easy to get 100 pounds overweight. The point I was trying to make was that there are SOME people that are somewhat reluctant to recognize faults or problems in themselves. In other words, denial. You have to be honest about the kinds and amount of food you ate before surgery. You have to come to terms with your denial. If you stay in denial, it may keep you from having the responsibility for yourself. If you fool yourself into believing that you don't eat much everyday, then it is easy to deny responsibility for your obesity. This will keep you from changing behaviors that are necessary in order to successful after weight loss surgery. Then there are those that rationalize their obesity (excuses, excuses, excuses) or create defense mechanisms. Unpleasant emotions are created when we realize what we have done to get morbidly obese and many create excuses (blaming morbid obesity solely so on genetics, society, a medication) to keep these emotions at bay. We all know that it is hard to lose weight and keep it off. Learning all those new behaviors and giving up your favorite food is difficult. A healthier body will result from your having a healthier mindset.

I am 52 days post op and generally have not been weighing myself daily, but started weighing myself every couple of days. I am up two pounds. I have been exercising in the pool daily for up to an hour, have been meeting my Protein requirements and fluids. This is so frustrating!

thanks I have an appt tomorrow morning. I just hope it doesn't come with a huge weight gain. The meds always made me gain and I have been doing so well in my 90 day program and don't want to lose any of that loss.

@@VSGAnn2014 Question...I talked with my surgeons office on the topic of weight gain after reaching goal. I was told they normally see a fifteen pound gain as your body adjusts. I have not seen anything out there that backs up that information. Anyone get this info from there surgeon's office????

Good stuff! Thanks for sharing! I do question #3. I've seen several veterans say that gaining weight a few years out is much easier and losing the weight gained is much harder. I don't believe all of these people are engaging in bad habits. How is that explained then? PS: I'm printing your post and sticking it on my fridge for when I hit maintenence!

I had a RNY gastric bypass surgery on 16 May 2013. As I worked my way through the recovery process, I decided to publish a short article called "How I Survived Bariatric Surgery". It is available at http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf This is my before and after photograph at around the 6 month mark. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Operation.jpg Since I am now 27 months post-op, I felt it was time to publish an update to the original document. It is called "How I Survived Bariatric Surgery, Part II". It is available at http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf I have been in the "Maintenance" phase for 20 months now. I know many people are wrestling with the fear of weight gain after they bottom out. This "Part II" article documents the approach that I used.

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.