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Nuvaring is my choice of BC. I have had no issues before or after my sleeve surg with weight gain... I do have an issue with a decrease in my sexual drive.. So that SUCKS. But, I can't have babies right now, so we have to work thru that issue.

I gained almost 20lbs during the 6 mo of insurance required weigh-ins. It wasn’t intentional but the weight gain took me from 38-40 BMI and insurance approved a sleeve.

I am so happy to have found this thread...I won't go into details...my story is like the original...lost all the weight...gained it all back...yada, yada, yada. I just "restarted" last week. Had several fills...finally have some restriction. Went and saw a nutritionist a week ago. I have lost 6 pounds over the past two weeks. I am looking forward to staying on track and working with my band. I would love to keep posting here for anyone that is "restarting"

Thanks so much Diane - I so enjoyed reading your post and how honest and open you were. I related on all sorts of levels and your child picture hit a cord for me too.... so right! Sometimes I;ve felt like just ripping the thing out and saying 'I'm over this!!!" The hard thing is I have a dear friend who had this done a year ago and seemed to cruise through it losing most of her weight in 9 months. Seeing her success helped me make my decision but our journeys couldn't have been more different. Also she was afraid of putting me off so never shared any of her struggles. I had a totally over optimistic outlook despite masses of research on the web prior to the decision. It never really prepared me for the uncertainty, bewilderment, confusion and utter frustration of not feeling what my friend told me to feel for.... She kept on saying 'Listen to your body and it will tell you when to stop" :sigh: - my body is mostly silent = the rebellious pizza incident of last week. My attempt and seeing if anything would happen ... still waiting. Only thing that happened was a weight gain. Haven't done that again though as I'm aware of band erosion and slippage. Do you have support groups there and if so did you use them and did they help?.... Bunny / Des

Thank you to all. I don't think I would have gotten so upset if he hadnt already said some rude things. Before surgery he said,"How on earth do you expect this to work? How are you going to keep the weight off? How did you gain so much to begin with?! If you're hungry all the time you're just going to gain it all back." When he met me I was about 30 pounds lighter than I am today. When we were dating he cheated on me several times with much older women. But I forgave him and we got married anyways. Ever since being diagnosed with Bipolar and having to be on all these meds with horrible weight gain side effects I gained a lot of weight. I've never been this big before. I'm proud of my weight loss and I know I will get back in shape. It just makes me so sad how cold he is. It's obvious he's not attracted to me. I guess I can't help but want to wow him and shock him with the new me. But another part feels like I shouldn't have to go to those lengths for him. He doesn't give a crap what I think about him.

I was in the same situation as you. I was banded on Sept 19th. I lost 10 pounds in the the first 2 weeks, but in the last 2 weeks, I have managed to gain 3 pounds. I have followed the diet, and I am eating very healthy. I go for my first fill tomorrow. I was freaking out about the 3 pound weight gain that I actually called the nurse. She did tell me that it was normal at this time frame. In the frist 2 weeks your not hungry due to the trauma to your stomach, but then your hunger starts to kick in. I don't snack between meals, and my calorie intake is low. She reassured me that once I started getting fills, the weight will come off. As for working out, my doctor said I was free to work out. I was told 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of strength training. I could not lift anything more than 20 pounds, and no abdominal excersizes for the first 4 weeks. The elliptical would have been fine for me to do. Every doctor is different. I'm sure you are doing everything right. The weight will start to come off. Do you use myfitnesspal? Would love to be friends if you do.

I'm scheduled for April 7. I'm nervous wreck. I keep going back and forth about it. If I should have it done or I can lose the weight another way. I had the lap band 2 yrs. then it slipped. so here i am again. weight gained back plus 10 more, since Nov. of 2013. Im afraid I won't take care of myself as I schould and end up worse. I can focus on everyone else but me. I pray I make it thru and dont back out. thanks for listening oceanswaves

I think one way to get an inkling of whether the band will suit you or not, is to look at your eating patterns. The band restricts you from eating large volumes of food. If your weight problem is more caused by over eating than by eating junk food and high fat/high sugar, then you are more likely to adjust well to it and be successful. If your weight gain is more from too much chocolate, the band will still help control your hunger pangs but you must supply the willpower to eat healthy food instead of indulging your sweet tooth. Unfortunately, the band doesn't stop you eating crisps and icecream :tongue2: Really take stock of what you eat and compare the meal sizes and frequency, including Snacks, with that of your skinniest friends. I've always known that my problem wasn't that I ate a lot of junk, I ate some sure, but not a lot. My problem was that I ate really huge meals and did absolutely no exercise. The point came home to me clearly after being banded when one night I was eating dinner with a couple of very slim girls from work. I was all proud of myself for my tiny portion and wondered if they'd say anything, when I realised that their portions were just as tiny - they ate like that all the time. What I had considered normal was the same portion that a large man doing heavy physical work would eat (and probably still gain weight on). The band works if you work with it. It has freed me from the hunger daemon and allowed me to make healthy choices because I am no longer compelled by a frenzied desire to wolf down everything in sight. Best thing I ever did for myself.

Yes, absolutely. There are many reasons you fall off the wagon, usually falling off the wagon isnt introducing a bit more lean meat, vegetables and legumes in to your diet to ward off hunger, its going off the rails and eating high calorie and nutritionally void foods too frequently. Nobody gets obese eating comforting portions of lean meats, vegetables and legumes most of the time and treating themselves occassionaly. If you dont feel good eating filling portions of nutritionally dense food then you have a phycological issue, you arent suffering physically from this. Its difficult to gain weight by over indulging in lean protein and vegetables, but you can by over indulging in potatoes or high calorie processed foods. So I dismiss the idea that people stop eating nutritionally dense low calorie foods because? What? they're starving? What is the pressure that makes them not able to do it anymore? How is it not sustainable? Are they low on energy? If you are saying they dont feel good because they crave high calorie foods too often and want to give in to temptations often enough that it causes weight gain then that is phycological and can be changed with persistance its like an addiction. You wouldnt be saying this to an alcoholic. I felt like I wasnt getting anywhere on wholefoods after a while, but in hindsight if I kept going I would have broke the plateu eventually, even if I didnt it would be a better place than I am at now. I take full responsibility for mucking things up for me.

So I was banded on the 20th of April I was down to 320 from 359 (347 surgery date). Today I stepped on the scale and its up to 324. So a four lbs weight gain in four days since getting a fill. I have 5.1 in a 14cc. My hunger has definately gone back up after the two liquid days last week. I find myself grazing and I don't want to start that cycle again. Breakfast was 1/2 cup oatmeal. lunch was 4oz salmon. Tough going down - think it might have gotten a bit stuck or I hit the fill point, not sure which, but I def. got the "oh crap.... something ain't right" feeling. It went away after awhile. What do you guys think? Eating too fast? Not filled enough? Just curious of your opinions. Steve

Yesterday was a tough blog post for me. Because I had a bad morning yesterday, it started bringing up all those old feelings. I made myself remember all of it. Not just Buffalo Butt, not just the bus, but more... There were so many times that I was interested in a boy that befriended me only to end up dating one of my (thinner) friends. It's very possible it was because they just didn't want to date ME, but all I saw was rejection of a fatty. As an adult, I had two long distance relationships right out of college and that is it. Nada in about a decade. I've only kissed one guy in about 6 years, I think? And that was a drunken hook up at a friend's wedding. Ha! Growing up, I was the same size as some of my friends, but I always considered myself the fat one. I look at pictures and that wasn't really the case. All my friends had dates and boyfriends, but I didn't. My mom said that I always pushed them away or cut them off. The older I get, the more I realize that might be somewhat true. You know that Rodney Dangerfield quote about him not wanting to join any club that would have himself as a member? That's me, I think. In my head, I don't want to date anyone that would want to date me. Wow. That's just kinda sad...like, really...sad. Did I mention that I love boys? I do. I'm boy crazy, in fact!! I just never get past the admiring stage. I know I'm smart. I know I'm witty (in person...not so much in writing, ha!) I know that I am a natural leader, have a good work ethic and I'm nice. Apparently humble as well. But all that is negated much of the time because I'm fat. I was driving with a guy friend one time and he told me that guys will choose the skinny girl over the better looking overweight girl every time. He said that he knew it sucked, but it was true. That has really stuck with me. Now, don't get me wrong, I know that fat people get married, fat people have sex, fat people date. I know all of that. While I can imagine a romantic scenario with a cute guy in fantasy, I have a hard time truly imagining it in reality. About 4 years ago, I think I had a pretty good chance with a cute guy. We would email, talk on the phone and generally made excuses to see each other. It didn't work out and I started to gain weight. I didn't stop for 80 pounds. All the weight gain wasn't about him, for sure. But I have no doubt that it contributed to the start of it. I know I feel better about myself now at 227 than I did at 285. No question about it. So, I do think that as I lose weight, I will continue to feel better about myself. I don't think when I am 185 that I will see myself in the mirror as if I am 285 or 225. Maybe the argument is that I should be happy with myself regardless of the number on the scale. But I don't think that is my reality. We'll see. One thing I do know is that I haven't stuck with anything this long and I have officially lost more at one time than I ever have before. I WILL lose 120 pounds and I WILL feel good about my body. I can't promise that losing the weight will net me a boyfriend. I know better than that. But if I feel good about myself, I know that will reflect and will at least allow for the possibility. I will work on a happier post for tomorrow!!

Sorry for my radio silence last week. It was a crazy week and I spent most of it exhausted. I was going to post on 9/27 which would have been 30 days since I started my pre-op diet but due to some strange water weight or something I didn't lose any additional weight until this morning. So here are the hard cold facts as of this evening, I am down 22 lbs and almost 2 pants sizes!! That is a total loss of 5 lbs last week!! Woo hoo!! It is so bad that I am going to have to either go shopping for some suspenders (real sexy I know) or some new pants this week. I have been actively logging everything that passes my lips into my mouth with www.myfitnesspal.com and also logging my workouts. It is really eye opening the calories in some items. I look at things before that I would have eaten without hesitation and now think, wow that is so not worth it. If you are watching your weight, I highly suggest getting the My Fitness Pal app, or you can visit them online. Sunday I trekked across town and made it to My Fit Foods, (www.myfitfoods.com) and picked up my meals for lunch for the entire week. I have to say that it is really nice to have healthy fresh choices. And I don't have to guess if I am eating well or have that anxiety standing in the kitchen in the mornings trying to figure out what I should eat. I know a lot of people eat the Lean Cuisines and such, but foods like that are usually very high in sodium. And as I learned last week, water weight gain is not your friend! This week also started my return to solid foods, I'd be lying to say I wasn't ecstatic. Had my first experience of food backing up on me, Wednesday at work we had some breakfast tacos brought in. I was attempting to eat one, sitting around the table at work chatting with everyone, when I stopped thinking and started shoving this delicious tasting taco down my throat. It didn't take long for my band to remind me (not so nicely) it was still there and that I was eating entirely tooooo fast. I felt like I was going to throw up at my desk, which I refused to do. If you know me, I HATE throwing up. I got up and walked around outside for a bit seriously contemplating if I threw up in the bushes who could possibly see me. I managed to keep it down and seriously logged that in my brain in the "DO NOT DO THIS AGAIN," file. This weekend I went out on Friday night and had a couple of drinks. I logged them on my tracker so all calories were accounted for. From trial and error I have discovered that drinking beer or carbonated drinks causes that funky gas pain in the middle of my back (which the only remedy is Icy Hot, which is not a great perfume choice). So I have been sticking to wine and mixed drinks. But for once I feel like I am resuming my life, but just a much much much better choice making, health conscious, working out maniac. For the first time in a long time I feel like I have control of myself and my body. I got a wild hair up my butt this weekend and signed up for a water zumba class at the local rec center. I've always wanted to try zumba at the gym, but quite frankly have been too chicken to do it in front of other people (I really am shy). And I am really not all that coordinated. Being in the water gives you the sense of security if you don't exactly get the move that no one will really notice. Its a 45 minute class and at about minute 20 I thought to myself, what in the hell did I get myself into. But at the end, it was awesome and a great work out. From all the running in the pool my big toes are sore and will probably make walking impossible tomorrow. I've ordered some aqua socks to fix this. I've mapped out when/where I am going to work out on a weekly basis, my goal is 5 times a week to work out. Aqua Zumba is 3 days a week. So I will be going to the gym the other 2. I plan on starting my Couch to 5K training on Wednesday. Lets see if I can make it one week through the workouts without killing myself. I am a terrible runner...swimmer for life. LOL. Anyways to wrap this ramble up, I had a big non scale victory tonight, I checked my food log and I still have enough calories left to go to McDonald's after work out tonight and get a sundae. I sat in the parking lot of the rec center debating, a creamy chocolate treat would really hit the spot, but ultimately I exited the parking lot and drove home. I sliced up an apple and had some peanut butter with it. And then when I still had an itch to eat something, instead of giving in to my mom's Klondike bars (she needs to eat all of them next visit) in the freezer, I made a protein shake!! By no means does this mean I've won the war but I have definitely won this battle, however, the light at the end of the tunnel is still dim. But I will win...eventually after all, Rome wasn't built over night and in spirit of my new running adventure, life is a marathon not a sprint. Until tomorrow, Amanda

The doctor's secretary stated that I would need to see a cardiologist, pulmonologist and a psychiatrist for medical clearance and I was fortunate enough to have all my appointments completed this week. If anyone is looking for a psychiatrist, cardiologist or pulmonoligist in the Northern NJ Bergen/Passaic County area, let me know. More than happy to reccomend. Each of them were great and all accept United Healthcare/Americhoice. The cardiologist had me undergo a stress test and echocardiogram. They also did blood work and checked my thyroid levels. The pulmonologist is sending me for a sleep test which wasn't a requirement but I am going to do it in 2 weeks. It will help address my snoring which has increased since my weight gain. As of today I am 268lbs. I also met with a psychiatrist whose main goal was to really determine if I have given real thought to the process of the lapband and if I FULLY understand the changes I need to make in my lifestyle and eating habits. He was very kind and after going over my history and making sure that I knew what I was signing on for with this surgery he did go ahead and aprove me. My recommendation to anyone would be that it should not matter if your insurance requires these steps or not. You should undergo them for your own safety and peace of mind not just for you but your loved ones as well. I think a whole lot about my family especially my kids and how they would be affected if somrthing unforeseen were to happen to me so for that reason alone I am taking all the precautions and making sure that I am clear on all angles. Dr. Vasquez is one of the few that requested these tests not just for his protection but mines as well. I have spoken with some people who had the procedure who said that they had the surgery without even having clearance on their heart, breathing or otherwise. Not good, not good I say. But I am glad things worked out for them. At any rate ...take the extra steps! the life you save may be your own.

There is a difference between weight related health issues that should be addressed by healthcare professionals and outright size discrimination. I think most of what the people described here was clearly size discrimination. Sorry, but you go to a doctor to TREAT your pain or illness. If they are unwilling to do so because of your size, then that is discrimination and they are not doing their jobs. These doctors make fat people unwilling to seek medical attention. This is something that needs to be addressed and I am sure this is a compounding factor in why obese people have health problems. They go to the doctor for treatment and are turned away! Duh, if you go to a doctor for help and don't get it, by the time you do get help, it has gotten to be a serious illness or chronic pain (and chronic pain contributes to depression and weight gain, derp doctors, derp!) I've been lucky enough to find a PCP that actually helps me when I need help and doesn't lecture. http://www.prevention.com/health/healthy-living/weight-and-obesity-discrimination-doctors This one made me laugh even though I have a hard time believing it http://danceswithfat.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/so-my-doctor-tried-to-kill-me/

I have figured out that a lot of the reason I use to eat had nothing to do with hunger. see something- eat it. Smell something- eat it. Board- eat Worried- eat Meal time - eat I ate my way to almost 250 and I knew it had to stop. Now I am much more selective about what and when I eat. I now eat 3 meals a day and sometime one snack. I still eat things I love, but I eat less or them. Today I walked into the breakroom at work, there was a smorgasborg or treats: grapes, cheese, crackers, pimento cheese, rolls, celery. While these foods aren't bad foods, I didn't eat them, I wasn't hungry. In times past I would have fixed a nice rounded plate and gone back to my corner office and ate up. While my mouth and mind were saying yummy, just one bite, my tummy was saying, but hey yo I don't want any, not hungry please don't. My eyes, mouth and mind get me in a lot of trouble when it comes to food. My husband in blind, but very strong resourcful, brillant wonderful man; but he can't see the foods laying around. He never picks and taste at things, he doesn't graze. He eats his 3 meals and about 2 snacks a day and that is it. He isn't tempted by the stuff laying around because he can't see it. Now at meals he eats well, but that is a different story. But, I think I need to become more like him; blind to the food just laying around. When I make a concious effort not to indulge I am fine, but when I uncounsiously peck I will pay with weight gain. In my wieght loss journey I need to get my mind, mouth and tummy all on the same page.

This fear is what has kept me from getting surgery when I first considered it at age 22. I'm (almost) 32 now and have only ballooned even bigger in the last 10 years!! I look back now and WISH I was the same weight I was at age 22 - and I thought I was at my max BACK THEN. Also, I have worked in health insurance for the last 10 years as well - In claims, pre-authorizations, AND in underwriting, so I've seen the good, bad, ugly and UGLIEST of things people have gone through with these surgeries. I feel like I've seen it all!! But on the flip side, I could also be one of those unfortunate people that strokes out or has a heart attack in their 30s simply because they're too fat. Would I rather give up cake for the rest of my life or be paralyzed? Uh, I'll pass on that cake... What really made me open my eyes and say this is the better choice is that I was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure. Despite lifelong obesity, I've remained relatively healthy. The only major medical problem I've had is gall stones and I had my gall bladder removed right away with zero complications. Other than that, good blood work, good bp (until recently), good everything else except being big. I just know that without this tool, I'm going to fail at losing weight as I have been doing for my whole life. Weight gain and/or complications are just bridges I'll have to cross when/if I get to them. In the meantime, the best thing we can do for our health is to THINK POSITIVELY! Whatever weight loss plan you ultimately choose, surgery or not, it's gonna require patience and commitment - and plenty of setbacks. That is what makes our journey our own. Good luck! You can do this!

I find this thread so interesting...I have never really followed the rules very well which has worked for me so I guess I am very lucky. At Year 3 I do still try to get my Protein in and I don't really drink with my meals, but I eat whatever I want, just in small quantities and I exercise faithfully. Still, I did have a 4 lb weight gain so I went to the 5 Day Pouch test and I am now 1 lb under goal. Very happy with that for Year 3. I just don't want dieting and food to control my life any more so I am just trying to be like a normal weight person.

My journey... My weight loss... My weight gain... My progress.... My thoughts... My feelings... My prayers... My beliefs... My faith... Noticing a trend here? My and by my I mean Me. This is the best thing I've ever done for myself. My journey is not yours, nor is yours mine. I wouldn't want it any other way. I'm here to encourage and uplift by my blogs, thoughts and comments. Spread love and encourage nothing else. I see/hear some comments and receive some that just leaving me with a blank look on my face and going *blink...blink*, your issues are not mine, feel free to share and comment but be careful to not try to PUSH/DUMP/UNLOAD your issues or feelings on me or anyone else, I wonder when some of you will stop trying to find yourself in others and find yourself within. That's when this REALLY works, when anything YOU really wants to do works. Whether it's weightloss, business, or something else. You have to find it within YOURSELF to do it, just as I have to find it within MYSELF to do it. We should all want those around us to be our very best, and we should encourage them and love on them until they reach it. Just my two cents.

I went to they gym and exercised my brains out for 3 years and never lost an ounce. I thought I was dieting, but my portions must have been too big. I was never successful without the band. If that were true, all the people on LBT would not have gotten the band. Those that could lose the weight, gained it back plus more. I don't get why Policeman does not go out of town. My dr. is charging 10,000 for the band now. Even with plane fare, it would be way less. His complication rate is the lowest in the entire Pacific Northwest. He is a center of excellence, which is almost unheard of for a town this small. They went over his records and stats with a fine tooth comb. There are probably a lot of great surgeons closer, who are doing this for a much better price that what you have been quoted. You can find someone cheaper. The recovery rate is going to be the same no matter where you go. It just depends on your body. It's getting fills that you need to figure out if you go out of town. Why finance a huge amount if you can get the surgery for a good price by another excellent surgeon?

Don't beat yourself up. It was one day, one slide. The weight gain was likely just due to sodium. Even if we eat according to plan, sometimes, the scale goes up (can't help myself I weigh every day). 50 lbs is fantastic! You will be fine, and if the time comes you have another 'oops', it's OK. As long as they are not every meal every day - you will be good. :-)

Your story echoes many of ours, just different names and places. Puberty is not an uncommon trigger for weight gain, many of us where rail thin till the big P and then BAM! It hits us, middle age widens us even more and before you know it we are morbidly obese. Most all of us here have a success story that we can share, there are a very few who have failures. You have to weigh the risk VS reward. We all wish you the very best as you start your new adventure in weight loss.

Indeed, its one of the reasons I have chosen to undergo surgery, although I could work at it myself, I cant garantee I wont regain at some point, and I am undergoing surgery in 2019 after which I will have to keep my weight down perminantly to avoid problems. So WLS for me is an added support to help me keep my weight as low as possible. My disinterest in cooking is currently greater than my need to satisfy my pallet. In recent years I have avoided cooking and rather look to quicker alternatives. Bread, rice and potatoes also store longer, and I dislike crowds and shopping, so keeping stocked with fresh vegetables is difficult for me. I have become reluctant to push myself out of my comfort zone, when I do it life is better, but It gets the better of me at times. Essentaily I have social disorders that make me more inclined to behaviours what would lead to weight gain. What I call lazyness is probably anxiety and avoidence. my bmi is only 31, took me a while to climb to this weight again but here I am. If it wasnt for my future surgery |I probably wouldnt be going through with WLS.

Alot of wonderful advice and great success stories here to help you. We've all been where you are at right now. You have to decide if you're ready to make the changes with yes...another different kind of tool for weight loss. No matter how we decided to lose the weight, we always use a tool of some kind....but bottom line, if you're not ready to make these changes, then you will fail! I'm almost 1yr post-op and yes you can lose at first while eating junk/fast food. But eventually, with the band, it will catch up and cause weight gain. You're doing great research and have the right questions...now...are you ready to ACCEPT the changes and challenges? Are your current weight and feelings worth it? Here's my honesty. I was DETERMINED to make it work when I decided to have the band placed. Yes I was concerned of failing and gaining it back (still am), but, I NEVER once complained about what all it will take to make it happen. And doubting yourself does not help. I'm not "bashing" you personally. I just hear from others "whine, whine, whine because of not weight loss here..." so I don't want you to get into that frame of mind at the start. Find the peace you need before if you do get the band. You need that peace to go to when things get tough/challenging! I wish you best and like I told my neighbor the other day, MAKE this happen...don't waste time pondering or you'll never get there!

Wheetsin I listed the most frequent comment he makes which is "you are gonna change" referring to me wanting another man. Let me tell you my husband is an extremely macho man who shows very little to no emotion. I have had some major insecurity and trust issues in my marriage, stemming from weight gain (approx. 100 lbs over the last 10 yrs). I have experienced my weight affecting our intimacy, not to mention we have four small kids which is a whole other battle in itself. Along with our intimacy being affected I have felt at times his attention has been elsewhere, you know how women have that gut feeling but no proof but you know deep down in your heart of hearts.... I am deciding to take back over the reigns of my life, health and marriage. I felt like big or small he was supposed to be ok with it, but now I know that's selfish. What's the saying, "the same things you did to get em' you gotta do to keep em'. So I guess I did leave some essentials out.