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Thanks for getting back on track all you May bandsters! I think the farther I get out of surgery the harder it becomes. I tend to lose some of that rigidness and can become softer in following the rules. Listening to your stories/successes/struggles help me out tremendously. After all, we are all going on this journey together. I, myself, just had a 1 pound weight gain following vacation. I could look at it as a failure that I didn't lose weight but I can also look at it as it could have been a lot worse. Back in the day, I would have had the mindset that I could eat anything because I was on vacation. I didn't this time, or rather, I couldn't. Did I make the best choices? No, not 100% of the time but I did make much better choices than I would have had I not been banded. Thanks to y'all for your support.... Katie

So I just got home from being dlweved. Stepped on the scale and im 12 lbs heavier than I wad when I went in. Anyone else have this happen. Im so bummed

I'm on one of the biggest culprits for meaningless weight gain, lithium. My psych doctor said that for some reason his patients who get wls don't have the weight gain effects after the surgery, but I don't understand why that would be possible.

The decision of whether or not to proceed with WLS needs to be carefully considered, because the lifestyle changes which are required are made for life. No one but you are able to process your motivations and priorities for your life but you. There have been 3 other times in my life when I lost significant amounts of weight; after 2 pregnancies (first time I lost 85 pounds, then I lost 65 pounds after my third son), and once after gaining weight with medication I was prescribed (lost 60 pounds). Between those 3 episodes, I was able to maintain a healthy weight of 130. About 10 years ago, it was medication again which caused the weight gain which stayed with me until having my WLS this past February. I had tried to loose the weight on my own, but being post menopause, my metabolism would not help me the way that it did when I was younger. What caused me to move forward with the surgery was finding out that my A1C levels had crossed the threshold of a diabetes diagnosis. I successfully lowered the A1C with diet and exercise, but then I was in a serious car accident, and could not be active except for physical therapy for 5 months. My insulin resistance was worse, and I knew that I would never be a compliant diabetic. The band provided the opportunity to regain some of the health that my excess weight was taking from me. The weight loss journey is not an easy one, but one which I strongly feel that most everyone is pleased with the results of their hard work. Loosing the excess weight while you are young, you should be able to avoid many of the health issues which present when you are older. IMHO, your mileage may vary. Good luck with your continuing deliberations!

That's is so inspiring, and I am so happy for you:) do you mind sharing how you went in the earlier weeks? I'm really struggling with this purée diet thin and have started seriously sneaking in normal food... Granted I only have 1 week of purée left to go, I'm just surprised that I can mane it with no issues plus I now feel like I am hungry all the time?? Like iv stretched my pouch whereas before I could survive hours in between the liquid shakes and stuff??? Is this normal or have I messed something up already.....Hi yummy mummy, thankyou so much :)The first few weeks were hard, I remember the first night in hospital after I had it done I would of killed for a ham sandwich with bowl of pumpkin Soup haha..I honestly believe there is no way you have ruined it so dont stress about that when you say normal food what do you mean? How many weeks out are you? I don't really remember what I ate but I know there was some trying times where I did sneak a bite of my children's food and would chew it until my jaw hurt! If you body is asking for more and sleeve excepting it you should be fine just make sure you don't touch the naughty foods just yet or pushing the limit if foods you def shouldn't be touching(steak, bread ect) longer you stay away from sweets the better your tolerance will be! I still to this day feel sick if I have more then I should I junk like chocolate chips ect, my sleeve hates maccas thankgod it feels like I'm swallowing a sponge lolMy biggest motivation was the fear of doing damage to my stomach, I was petrified of leak!!Please don't let me scare you that's what's going to happen cause you ate something a bit soon but that's what helped me stay in track..now it's still my fear that helps me to stay eating well but it's a fear of weight gain. It will be hard for awhile but eventually you will see food as fuel and when you can eat more you will realise why we are so over weight the portion sizes that out society has made us think is normal is crazy! I survive on eating as much or less then my 4yo would at a meal, always serve my food up on a bread and butter plate eating my meat and veg first then carb if still hungry. i will still have a little bit if dessert alot of the time but i have an even smaller serve then my kids or just a bite so I can still have treats and enjoy food but it doesn't rule my life anymore.Your still very early out so Water is very important, right now it's a mental challenge and you have the fear of doing wrong which is good as your conscious of your old habits meaning you wont slip back into them. Keep doing what your doing and if the hunger hits have a nibble of something healthy there's nothing wrong with that, itl keep your metabolism moving.Sorry for the novel lol but ask away I'm happy to answer any questions

If you gain, they won't do it. I know some will say you can't gain, some 10% weight loss, but no matter what, any weight gain on the period before, no one will do it. I'm sorry.

Actually, a band too tight often leads weight gain. When your band is too tight, people often resort to slider foods or develop "soft calorie syndrome" leading to weight gain from not eating the right foods. Have a look at this article: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/page/index.html/_/support/post-op-support/tighter-isnt-always-better-r118 Plus, reflux is a major red flag sign of a band too tight. You don't need a fill, in fact you still may need some Fluid removed. I would recommend seeing your nutritionist to get back on track by eating the right foods in the right quantities. Best wishes.

I'm afraid of depo bc of weight gain and the pill makes me sick. I've done nuva ring with success in the past. It's easier than it seems!

I have Aetna. I was denied due to a 3 pound weight gain. My problem is, I'm right at 35.1 BMI. I am not allowed to lose OR gain. I basically had to maintain. My denial is being reviewed. The Aetna medical director told my dr if I can lose ANYTHING within 4-6 weeks I would be reconsidered. That was 4 weeks ago. I lost the weight. I am on pins and needles waiting to hear back from them! My dr submitted the paperwork Thursday. I called Aetna Friday and I should know something Monday. I will be calling Aetna today (Monday) if I haven't heard from them. I'm so nervous I can't sleep!! ????????

I was just approved last Friday!! I did have the Lindstrom Obesity advocates (Kelley and Walter Lindstrom) fight my appeal after my first appeal denial. They submitted it to Aetna (I continued going for NUT visits and weigh in and showed a steady loss) and was APPROVED!!!! Just waiting on a date now! U can fight it if u get denied. I had a weight gain and no weight for 2013. Still got approved. It's all in the way the appeal is written! Please keep us posted on how u make out!!! If YA need any info from me feel free to contact me!!! Fingers crossed for you!!!!!

I think they denied you because you hadn't done the 6 months of nutritional meeting alone, I don't think it had nothing to do with gaining 2 lbs. That would make no sense, maybe once you've completed the 6 months of meetings it will be a different outcome. I mean people gain weight all the time I hardly doubt the 2lb weight gain played a factor in their decision

I went from a (tight) 40DD to a perfect 34-36 full C my orignial size...but me and the girls have been through a lot together LOL. 2 kids, 2 biopsy's, and weight gain/loss, but I'm so glad to finally see them again after 21 years. I LOVE my size, just wish I could give them a lift (sigh).

The three most important elements after RNY gastric bypass surgery are to meet your daily protein, fluid and vitamin requirements. Food is secondary because your body is converting your stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. Weight loss is achieved after surgery through meal volume control. You begin at 2 ounces (1/4 cup) per meal and gradually over the next year and a half increase the volume to 1 cup per meal. With this minuscule amount of food, it is next to impossible to meet your protein daily requirements by food alone, so therefore you need to rely on supplements such as protein shakes. I am assuming that you are following your surgeons directions on daily protein, fluid and vitamin requirements to a tee. Since you are several months post-op, one thing to do now at this stage is to assess your protein intake. Your daily protein requirement is met by a combination of the amount of protein you obtain from food combined with the amount of protein from protein supplements (protein shakes, protein bars). Right after gastric bypass surgery, the volume of food you consume is minuscule (2 ounces) per meal. But as you get further along, the meal volume increases. Therefore you have a very important option available to you. As a result, you can begin to reduce your reliance on protein shakes if you concentrate on consuming high protein meals. I went from 3 protein shakes a day, down to 2, down to 1 and eventually none when I reached 1 cup per meal at a year and a half post-op. This is important because protein shakes contain calories. If you can reduce your caloric intake, then you can end a stall. At least that was the approach that I used and it worked for me. In your case, I would recommend that you do not weigh yourself daily. Limit it to around once per month. Checking your weight daily seems to be causing stress. Stress can cause depression and weight gain. So avoid stress.

i have fibromyagia also ...although i have never had a weight problem until i began a medication for fibro...lyrica...i am concerned that if you have have a by pass surgery and begin taking lyrica for your fibro you may gain weight again...some Water weight and some just regular old weight gain...i gained 40lbs...30 of it was in the first 3 weeks of taking the medication...i just thought this was something you should be aware of...wingnut49421

We can't really say for sure whether you need to do more ab exercises without knowing what you are doing now. But one thing you can do to make your workout more effective if you are not already doing it, is to make sure you keep your ab muscles tight as possible during your entire workout routine whether you are working your abs, legs, arm or doing cardio. It is hard to remember to keep up but it is effective. It helps to tighten your abs and improve posture. I actually had the opposite problem, my scale wouldn't budge but I was noticing my clothes getting looser. But the same problem as far as losing last in the stomach. It has always been the first area to show weight gain and it has been the last area to shrink and it is mainly genetics. My decision to continue to lose weight past my goal is because I still carry a little bit of a gut but I have been persistent and it is slowly going away.

They are right... you probably have no restriction in your band.. i know i dont... I also know the scale can easily show five pounds weight gain around period time. Once it passes and its over.. the scale will go back down.. I just went through it. Right now i am hungry like i was prior to surgery.. I feel like i am on a diet and strictly on will power. i have no restriction in my band...and honestly i cant wait to get some :mad:

Thanks for sharing your story. I so understand how you are feeling right now. This has been an extremely LONG process. After I completed my 6months of NUT visits(Sept2015), I called his office and could not get in to see him for 2 months! During this time I found out that I actually needed an additional NUT visit (my insurance requires a certain number of days from start to finish and (I think mine was 180) I had just under. I verified this with my dietician and had to make an additional appointment. That was TOO CLOSE...I would have been HEATED if, after 2 months of waiting, the office submitted my paperwork and it was denied by insurance. Luckily, a co-worker who was also going through the process gave me the heads up. This was their oversight and I was mad enough to make an appointment with the my New Self Program at Des Peres. I paid a mandatory 75.00 program fee, signed a medical release for my records to be sent from Dr. Eagon's office and met with Dr. Ricks. He was extremely nice but then a few things happened... 1. At this point I had not decided between the bypass or sleeve. I had been holding out to receive a medical opinion from Dr. Eagon. Dr. Ricks told me he only did the lapband and sleeve and when I asked him why he told me that the malpractice insurance was too high. 2. When the program coordinator called to tell me that my insurance would cover bariactric surgery (i already knew it did but I assume every program routinely checks) she told me that I have an out of pocket max deductable of 1500.00 and would have to pay this amount subtracting any copays made thus far in the year to Des Peres. 3. They wanted me to have an EGD which was another 150.00 deductible. These were the major deciding factors for me...I decided to be patient and just wait. Dr. Eagon attended Harvard Medical School and did his fellowship at Mayo Clinic. He is the only WU/BJH bariactric surgeon and does many of the most complex surgeries that most other surgeons can't or won't. I would argue that he is the top in the St. Louis area. I work for WU so I may be biased but, I have also spoke to many of his patients who say he is worth the wait!!! After the disappointment and shock wears off you will feel better. During the seminar, I remember someone asked him a question regarding gaining and losing weight pre-surgery and he said that he would cancel surgery if there was weight gain. As I can recall it was a specific question and not something included in the presentation. It sounds like the issue of weight gain was not addressed during your seminar. Im so sorry and feel your pain. Loose the weight quick and get on the schedule fast!!!

Hello, I was sleeved on Sep.7th, 2013. I am 7 months post-op and have gone down from 232 pounds to 153 pounds that's 80pounds since surgery. This Sunday I found out I'm pregnant and eventho I'm excited I'm also very concerned since I can't eat enough for one person let alone another human being. I also have struggled with my water intake and protein. But anyways... I have questions for anyone who has been sleeved and been pregnant! can u share with me your experience, your struggles, the weight gain, the weight loss after birth, was it easy was it hard... etc... Thankyou!!!

From what my insurance coordinator told me, Oxford/UHC are not big sticklers to weight loss. They just want to see the 6 months of nut visits. Try not to gain obviously but it's not a big deal if you do. I had periods of weight gain also but I got approved

I got sleeved 4/10. I'm not able to answer your question precisely but I'm kind of in the same boat. Currently I don't eat with my family, but I do eat with my friends. I simply check if the menu offers soup or ask if they can accommodate me. If all else fails, I order herbal tea with artificial sweetener. I've only went out with my best friend, who knows I had the surgery. It's definitely not recommended to do so now but I just had my graduation ceremony. My aunt did the gastric sleeve years before I did. I don't think she began to eat "normally" until after a year. She never fully finishes a meal but will want a small snack afterwards (yogurt). She can't handle spicy food for anything, even now. She doesn't follow the rule of 30 anymore. Almost every time she eats out, she gets heartburn, indigestion, etc. When she finishes eating, it's not because she's happily satisfied but because she's uncomfortable. That's not to say that she doesn't enjoy her food. Obviously, this is when we would go out for rich, once-in-a-while type food. She doesn't really experience this with home cooked foods. Bear in mind, she also fell into some of her old habits. Thankfully, she didn't have too much weight gain. I've also noticed she's a lot pickier now, taste wise. Downright acts like a food critic. Overall, she definitely eats enough that it isn't obvious she had WLS. She just appears to be finnicky with a sensitive stomach. Her initial recovery was a month long so that spared her from dealing with people who didn't know she did the procedure. When she went back to work, her coworkers were all up in her business demanding to know why she was eating so little (and not out of concern). They would bring her sweets even though they were fully aware she was dropping weight. It was clear they were trying to sabotage her. Outside of work, the only people she's had to deal with were family and her husband's friends. So, she only had serious social gatherings around the holidays, and she was sleeved in the Spring. WLS is obviously not ideal if you have a robust social life. For me, even when I get to my soft food stage, I'll still order soup at restaurants because I'm not going to ask them to make my food nursing-home soft in front of who I'm having dinner with. If anybody has an issue, I'll say I ate earlier. Can't drink after WLS. I'll say I've gone sober. Drinking ages you, anyway.

I am 4weeks post op tomorrow and I just went a week long vacation where I struggled with my Vitamin regimen and did not eat enough - but my Water was very very high and I exercised extensively I actually was able to do a 6 mile hike (cleared by my surgeon) I came home and I gained 3lbs and my body fat percentage went UP 1%. I am ready to cry. I know how important Protein is my goal is 100 grams a day and I hit 70 for most of the week bc of food options I was relying on Protein shakes and tuna (plain) a lot. I averaged 100 oz of water daily and exercised daily for 30 min to an hr. Has anyone experienced this? I assumed I might have gained muscle until I saw the body fat % & my calorie intake was around 5-600 a day. Please help. Sent from my Z970 using the BariatricPal App

I have PCOS and few weeks back I was in the same dilemma to choose Sleeve over Bypass after reading some of the sleevers here having lost the same weight to reach their normal BMI. But then some more research showed how Bypass patients in the long run have it little more easy to maintain the weight than sleevers. With PCOS I wanted 1 surgery to give me the maximum benefit, don't want to return back to the OR either! Ofc there's no guarantee what may happen in future and how many surgeries one may need. Plus many Bypass patients have also struggled with weight gain while many sleevers have kept it off. In the end this surgery is a tool and we definitely will have to work hard at it. But I feel more comforting with the Bypass decision than have a *what if* moment in future. Plus the risk of hernia and GERD is more with sleeve than Bypass. So I am in a happy place with the decision by mine to go with Bypass!

I have been on Paxil for GAD since 2000 when I was 120 lbs of solid muscle. I've tried weaning down my dosage or changing meds and never been able to come off it. But, since it's cheap now, I don't think it's a bad thing to be on. It had nothing to do with my weight gain, btw. You should see your GP about trying a SSRI/NSSRI. You may be able to take it short term, as most people do. It should not medically affect your surgery in any way. Self medicating is always a bad idea, especially since (#1. you're not a doctor and #2.) valium can cause hypotension and reduce the amount of oxygen to the heart muscle, so if you were having a heart attack, would be more harm than good. p.s. I'm not a doctor either!

1. General practitioner weight loss appointment 1 x every month for 5 months. Never gained but showed a loss. Dr had me on phentermine for 3 of the months so I wouldn't gain during this time period. Btw this was a new Dr that I had just obtained last October so no two year weight history was necessary. 2. Nutritionist 1 x every month for 3 months. 3. Psych doc approval. Already had been seeing him for 1 1/2 yr. So only 1 visit was necessary. 4. 1 overnight sleep test to establish sleep apnea. + Established knee problems + Meds for bi-polar cause weight gain. Make me extra hungry! I was approved in 4 days after paper work submitted. Hope this helps. Good luck!

It seems it may be related to an excess of all vitamins not just B12 . A lot of foods are fortified with vitamins to supposedly improve people’s health. Everyone eats more, but generally eats poorly then they take vitamins to make them ‘healthier’. I’d question whether the weight gain is from too many vitamins or too much poor food or both. Apparently though, having a B12 deficiency may lead to weight gain. As I said in my earlier post, if your bloods show you are lacking in a specific vitamin or mineral, a supplement is a solution (as is modifying your diet to include good natural sources of the lacking vitamin/s). But if you have ample, you don’t need it. Two articles I found you may want to read: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-b12-deficiency-and-weight-gain#deficiency https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3932423/