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Okay, here's the deal. When you're stressed (such as the worrying you're doing now), your cortisol levels increase. High levels of cortisol cause weight retention and weight gain, particularly around the abdomen. You're self-sabotaging with stress. Put away the scale. Cortisol is a steroid. Steroids cause weight gain.

Like it's been stated, this is your decision. Don't forget that there are also negatives about the sleeve: higher complications, longer recovery time, possibility of weight gain after the body learns how to reabsorb things. Have you thought about the Iband? It's a procedure where they take the stomach and suture it into the shape of the sleeve without removing the stomach portion, and then a band is placed at the top. From what I've read, this lowers the risk of slippage with the band due to the stomach shape and also requires less maintenance/fills because the plication of the stomach only allows for so much to be held. The negatives of the lapband are easily found too: hard to eat breads/rice/pastas, fibrous veggies, some leaner meats. You must go in for regular visits with the Dr. to get fills and check ups. You may get a leak, a flipped port, an erosion, or a slip. Recovery time is a lot less than the other WLS because you are not getting anything cut or rerouted. I just look at it like this: if any of the above complications occur with the band and prove it to be a tool I cannot use, I can always petition to insurance to have a revisional procedure. But, if it does work as planned, I have my whole anatomy and I lose weight. And, maybe in the future they will have developed an even better way to lose/maintain weight and I can upgrade then. Just really analyze the pros/cons of both.

I am just like Happy to lose! No way. Bread/tortillas are out of the question at this point. I took a bite of my daughters burro on Sunday, and it went down, but very slowly. It is so wierd the way it feels. Stuck, dry, sideways. It is almost as if though your esophagus rejects it! Very strange. Not trying to preach, as i am the begining of my weight loss journey....but.... bread/tortillas=weight gain. Try and stay away from those types of foods. When you are able to eat real food.. stick to Proteins and green veggies. I love turkey burger patties with a slice of mozz/cheese, and broccoli. :thumbup:

Thanks for those who have posted so far! I understand that bread equals weight gain but many fit people eat it in moderation so I was asking for this info once I hit that stage where I am at goal and wanting to just maintain. Again thanks everyone!

Currently: I am a 43 yr old woman. Mother of 1. Married for almost 10 years. I am 5' 5" & 242 pounds. From southern TN area. Past: Extremely thin all my life until around 19. Before that, I was the girl in H.S. that everyone said they were jealous of because I was soooo thin. 100-105 lbs. in H.S. Reason(s) for weight gain: All sorts of things. Bad things in my life, not exercising anymore, got a car so I didn't have to walk everywhere, got married/divorced, parents died...etc.,etc.,etc. But --- the REAL reason was because I ate. Period. MY FAULT. I own it. Surgery of choice: The Sleeve. I have a few friends who have had The Band with little results. The friends I have that have had the Bypass - well, they have all been sick since. So, I chose The Sleeve due to those reasons, along with the fact that it's the 'best' choice for me and it's the 'medium' surgery on the scale of WLS's. I've done loads and loads of research. Timeline: Time from calling for 1st weight loss seminar to the date of surgery - 34 days. Yes, very quick. Why? ....'cause I'm Self-Pay. Insurance doesn't cover ANY WLS's. Surgery is the 19th of this month. Just a few days away. I've been thinking about this for a long time though. Finances: I'm self-pay. I've read that many people ask how they have come up with the $. Well, my house is paid off...so I just went and got a Home Equity Loan and will pay it off in a few years (or sooner if my timeshare at Disney will sell!!!) My family: Supportive, but nervous. Husband is glad I'll be happy, but loves me the way I am. Son (9) is worried I'll look a lot different. Both are somewhat nervous that I'll stop cooking the 'good food'. My brother (and the only sibling I've told...and basically, the only sibling I'm close with) doesn't want me to get it. He says he loves me the way I am and wants me to feel better about myself. I told him it had nothing to do with that. He'd never understand though. He's 40 and has a 29 inch waist with a six-pack. Yes,....a six-pack and he NEVER works out. I know...it's crazy. So, overall.....support is there. All 3 men in my life will be there for surgery. Friends: The ones I've told are very supportive. Pre-Op plan: Magnesium Citrate 1 day prior. liquid Diet 1 day prior. Health Issues I have: none My reasons for wanting surgery: Other than the obvious reasons, ....I'm sure all of you can relate to my reasons. I want to feel good. I've been overweight for 20 years. It's time. I may be healthy now, but I will not be healthy for much longer if I stay this size. My fears: I'm not scared of the surgery. I'm not scared of the pain. I'm scared that I will hate eating since I've heard so much about the hard-to-swallow issue. For some reason -- that is my biggest fear. The fact that I will hate to eat. Also, I don't want to stop cooking for my family. I'll cook healthier...but I don't want MY plans to affect them too much. My schedule for surgery: Show up at 6am, surgery at 8am. In on Monday....and out on Wednesday. Preparation: I've bought EVERYTHING needed. Got all my RX's. food. I know the hospital I go through individualizes the plans and I told them that I would not do the Protein shakes. I KNOW I wouldn't keep them down. It would be of no use. So, we will be doing the bullets, and Isopure for the liquid phase. Isopure/bullets/non-flavored protein to put on mushy food for the other phases. Then, when I can eat...the protein will be taken care of. But I know me....and I'll eat loads of protein. So....that is me. I'm excited. I'm scared. I am prepared to run through every emotion possible (anger at myself, regret, guilt, happiness, relief, etc etc). My finances are in order. I have an Advanced Directive (already had one). House is spotless so I don't have to worry about it. Yard will be mowed 2 days before surgery.he he. Prepared my family. Told some friends. Researched and researched more. I'm new to this forum. Only been on about a week. So far, I've learned so much. I know I will rely on you guys a lot during my journey. Then, I hope to 'pass it on' to other newbies. Thank you for reading this. And I hope this helps you understand me a little better. I am soooooooooooooooo excited. I've been smiling the entire time I was reading this!!!!!:biggrin0::thumbup::thumbup1:

Count me as another roller coaster victim! I'd always been heavy, but after meeting my (now) husband, I put on another 40 lbs of "happy fat". We went to Cedar Point to ride roller coasters shortly after my weight gain, and walked up to the latest roller coaster. There was an operator at the entrance who stopped me and said, in a loud voice, "Miss, why don't you sit down on this sample chair to see if you'll fit." I was mortified by his comment and the large crowd listening, so I made up a quick lie, saying that I'd already been on the ride and fit just fine. He gave me a doubtful look and let me proceed. In my mind, it hadn't occurred to me that at 250 lbs I might not fit. After waiting in line for 2 hours, we were almost ready to be seated. The operator was loading a car with people, and I noticed him starting to argue with a man who was just a little too big to wear the seat belt. I looked at the man, then looked at myself and realized that I was about the same size as him. Surrounded by hundreds of people waiting, and with nowhere else to go but climb in the next car, I nearly panicked. When it was our turn to load, I pulled on the belt with all my might and barely managed to fasten it. The operator came over to check and I could tell he was about to argue that there wasn't enough slack on the belt, but I gave him a desperate look and he just passed by. Thank goodness. Nevertheless, it ruined the rest of the day, and I haven't been to a theme park since, to my husband's dismay. A positive thing that's come out of this long pre-approval process is, for the first time, I'm starting to tell my husband about a lifetime full of these embarrassing and anxious incidents. He's always been thin, so he hadn't realized what a terrible head-game it is to be obese. He's more thankful now than ever that the band might be a way to end it all.

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

I gained 9 lbs since I had my GBP yesterday. Has this happened to anyone else? Also, neck, thighs and calves all hurt. Thanks K Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Hi guys! I am in East Orlando and I had my surgery with Dr. Teixeira in March 2015, I'm having an endoscopic suturing revision done with him on March 1 to combat some weight gain from a stretched sleeve (my fault [emoji21]) I highly recommend Dr Teixeira and would love to get to know some local sleevers for support this time for sure, as I think it may have impacted my success to try and go it alone last time! SW-293 Low- 192 CW-218 Goal-150

Hi, I had a VSG on October 27th and have just been moved to soft food. I am following the nutritionist recommendations for food and portions. Over the last week I have not lost any weight and this morning am up 2lbs. Is this normal? Sent from my SM-G981U1 using BariatricPal mobile app

Oh, no doubt. I didn't mean to imply that it did. I can only speak from my experience, because my experience is all I have. I still look longingly at cheese. I love cheese. Cheese is like nirvana to me. But I know that if I eat it, I will pay for it, either in weight gain or in pain from the band. Does that mean I never eat it? No. It just means it's a treat, and not something I'd eat often, or much of. I don't even buy my favorites (salami-cheese or cracker barrel extra sharp) because it goes to waste. There's no sense spending 3 bucks for a package of cheese that I'm going to eat less than 1 ounce of before it goes bad. This band surgery doesn't make *anything* magically go away. I don't think I, or anyone else here implied that it does. As I've said a few times, you have to work with the band. If you don't, you're just killing time. I wasn't speaking in absolutes. No one - and I mean no one - eats perfectly from the time their band gets put in, until they reach their goal weight. Working with the band doesn't mean forcing anything for everyone. Working with the band, for ME, means giving up many of the foods I stuffed in my mouth without really tasting, enjoying or thinking about before. It means stopping when I feel full. It means that pizza is a treat, not a weekly dinner. It means that if I am committed to seeing the scale continue to drop, I can't eat many of the things I enjoyed before /shrug. I don't consider it deprivation. And I do occasionally (seriously occasionally - once every few months?) indulge in something that I enjoyed weekly before. But in much smaller portions and in much fewer instances. Really. I'm not being preachy. I know that sometimes fast food is the only option for folks. I know that sometimes, your body is screaming for ice cream. I know that sometimes it pays to give in to a craving in a small way rather than over do it by putting it off. But I also know that the less I give in, the better I feel. And right now, at this stage of my banding progress, I'd rather feel better right now than order from Pizza Hut because I'm too tired to cook. It's a personal thing. Everyone has to do it *their way*. Banding: The Burger King of Weight Loss Surgery. (Have it your way!)

Hi everyone! I am to be banded this coming friday on Feb 6 and am a little nervous! I think I am reading tooooo much! lol...Anyhow, the dietician told me that I was to do a liquid diet for 2 weeks but when i saw my surgeon on Thursday he said that I just needed to do high protein and low carb, low fat to shrink my liver. He said that the dietician uses the two weeks as a standard but everyone is different. I am 5'7 and 250 but I wasn't told I had to do a liquid diet. I did start yesterday on just liquids and am doing protein shakes and broth. I noticed a lot of people didn't like the shakes and is wondering if anyone ha stried Lean Body by Labrada. The ready to drink shakes are 260 calories, 40 grams of protein, 9 grams of Carbs, and no sugar. To keep my intake small, I drink half a shake at a time. It is a pretty large shake (about 17 oz). I know the Optifast is only 160 calories and about 20 grams of proteins and 20 carbs. But my shakes have less carbs and more protein. I know if I do half and half...that is still 130 calories, 20 protein, 4.5 carbs...and they taste really good!!! I am still pretty nervous about Friday though. I guess I wouldn't be normal if I wasn't even just a tad! I'm 37 and have been a size 8-10 my whole life and an athlete. About 7 years ago, I was diagnosed with LUPUS and have been up and down with my weight being on steroids. Each time I have gained and lost, gained and lost etc...but last couple of times have not lost and have been tired from the weight gain and not working out. My twenty year reunion is in July and I am stoked about getting back down and fit once again! Not too mention I am doing the Susan Komen 3 day 60 mile walk in November for Breast Cancer!! :cheated: Hopefully I haven't bored any of you by my long disertation, but I have been on the website a couple of months and only posted a couple of things and really just reading eveyrones posts. I must say I am touched and in awe of the amount of support I see for each other on here! So good luck to all you Feb bandsters! I'll be keeping you in my prayers! :tongue2:

I relate to what your saying. Having been in a bad marriage which largely contributed to my weight gain, feeling depressed and the lowest ugliest most difficult time of my life- getting out of that and losing weight was like getting out of jail. The relationship I was in smothered the hell out of me and it felt so good to get free. When I started dating again I went a little crazy. I did eventually end up with a boyfriend- not hard to do looking like this. But I haven't been a very good girlfriend. I crave men's attention. It makes me feel so powerful,so wonderful. When I was overweight I felt invisible to men which was crushing. Especially because I'd only been overweight for five years and I was used to being much more attractive. So to have that back now feels awesome!!! I don't play with men's emotions but I do enjoy letting them take me on a date and getting their appreciation. I think their are lines you can't cross here. Enjoy the attention of men, that's fine- but keep it professional. You don't need to sleep with everyone you meet. Look for one you actually want to be with, or keep it casual with all of them. You can enjoy sexy and your body, but make it clear to them where your at if your not looking for a relationship. There is nothing shallow about enjoying your sexuality, your beauty, and your freedom. I am woman hear me roar!! But whatever you do, don't forget about or screw over your female friends. They are the ones we need the most in life!!! Don't chose men over them or let men become a bigger priority.

Sheesh this has been a Rollercoaster for me, 6 months of weigh in, psych evaluation, etc etc, last weigh and I weighed the amount I was supposed come to find out they made a mistake i had to weighless so i stripped and went to the rest room and I was good to go with my weight rhen the waiting game for my surgery to get authorize, finally it happened then my surgery was scheduled a month later. In that month U gained 5 pounds and also lost that plus a additional 2 pounds,,the finale. ....... I get a phone call Wednesday saying I needed to come in the office, on Friday, that my surgery was being canceled but couldn't say why over the phone, I said I wanted to speak to the office manager, and she said if i come right now I could be seen, I left work early and race to the dr office, she says my iron was .5 too low, And my surgery was being canceled, I cried so hard, and told her I was on my monthly maybe that's why she said I could be retested on Friday (today ) I couldn't have no weight gain and my iron had to be up by .5 , I drank nothing but Protein shakes Wednesday and yesterday, double up on my iron pill while i drank a cup of orange juice as well. Plus ate a can of beets each day (yuck ) I couldn't sleep all last night , then today I nervously went in got weighed , my weight was good, lost a additional 2 pounds and then my iron got checked, and just goy the phone call my iron was 10.7 , I began to cry tears of joy, so on monday sept 14th 2015 , I will be sleeved, please keep me and your progress and I hope my story is inspiration for someone to NEVER GIVE UP !!!!

Out of the blue I looked up Star Jones to see how she was doing, since her successful gastric bypass. First news headline I see " Disaster after weight loss surgery" picture of Star from every angle wearing a white one piece bathing suit. I guess she had gained back 80 lbs and many articles ridiculed her for her weight gain. Now, I am not a fan nor hater... I just wanted to see how WLS can be maintained. I am 80% committed to having the gastric sleeve and my worst nightmare is gaining the weight back few years down the road and for people to make snarky comments. I feel bad for Star since she was so successful with her procedure and I am not completely sure why the restriction is eliminated with WLS after couple of years. Anybody else share the same fear?

That's good for you. My reflux went away for a long time after my surgery but came back after my last fill. I got an appointment this Friday to see what's going on. GERD is one of the listed complications from Lapband though. I just think it's weird that one of the benefits from the band is to reduce the amount of food intake but if you have GERD you may have to get unfills which cause weight gain in most. I am hoping I can fight the weight gain if I need another unfill. I think I have 4.5 or 5 cc's in my 10cc band after my unfill in December.

⚠️⚠️⚠️ I was in the army, ate right and exercised but wasn't able to do as much as I hurt my back but 15 years of service... and wanted to be able to retire. I got sleeved in jan 2006. Self pay 36 bouge. I was 205-210 at starting 5'6" I got down to 143. 5 months in I got PG and had a healthy baby boy 1 mo. before my 39th birthday. I stayed thin for years however in 2011 my cspine collapsed I had surgery and started taking neurontin. I had gained some weight back by then 160's and was able to eat what I wanted. I had to stay in bed and wasn't able to do much for quite awhile. I stayed doped up and eating more than usual before and after my surery total disk replacement and fusion in my neck. Pain meds do things to your body and the neurontin made me eat. Also drank red bull I think it was flavor and the b vitamins that made it so addicting. Long story short I have gained all my weight back it came on fast after I got to 185 and my back and hips started hurting so bad I could barely walk... Anyway. It happened to me and now I'm going to go through the sleev process all over again... This time I know what I'm getting in to as well I'm more prepared and hope against hope that I'll be able to get back to myself and exercising. For me the right amount was fast walking 30 min, 15 min sit ups and 15 min push ups on my knees 5 days a week. I just want people to know that this weight loss surgery is not permanent unless you make it that way. your hair grows back and you will be able to eat just about the same you ever did. Use your time to change what and how much you eat AND drink and pay attention to weight gain of 5 lbs. if that happens don't shrug it off don't buy bigger pants fit back into the small pants by exercise. You don't have to run a marathon but don't make excuses or wait because the weight can and will come back. I hate that I wasn't able to maintain my weight and I know that I could have done more to prevent it. Sad, 44 and I can hardly move because of my vitamin d and calcium deficient bones and this weight just makes it worse. Please read my words and heed my 5 lb. warning. Write if you have questions⚠️⚠️⚠️

Did anyone else gain weight after starting soft foods? and then go into a stall??

First, congratulations on quitting smoking. I'm an ex smoker too so I know how hard it is to quit. Do you think possibility anxiety from quitting smoking is making your band feel tighter? Or have you gained any weight because of the quitting smoking? I ask about the weight only because weight gain can increase the size of your stomach, making your band tighter.

I had gbp ten years ago. I lost 150 lbs and now am regaining like crazy. I saw my doctor and my pouch was fine. Has anyone done band over bypass.

You are not consuming enough to be worried about weight gain at this stage of the game...don't obsess.

thanks for the update.....can you give some specifics on the post-4cc band weight gain? I haven't heard much over the years about how a deBanded person transitions back to the old Bad Eating Habits. That's of concern in my own overeating history....'knowing better yet proceeding anyway'.... cheers on your new journey

I would really put down the crackers and the potatoes. That could be what is causing the problem. Also, I think you weight gain has more to do with that is going on with your period than what is going on with your food intake. You might have noticed that weighing around your time of the month sometimes makes your weight higher/stay the same. Always take that into consideration. If you are losing inches, but not pounds, it probably means you have quite a bit of Water weight going on. Also, please don't let anyone convince you that not eating enough calories puts you into starvation mode. It doesn't. Starvation mode is a myth! http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=35501 Good luck and definitely talk to your gyno. He may have some ideas of what might be able to help.

Wondering if anyone has any experience of having the lap band while being on tamoxifen. I am on tamoxifen, and am wondering if it will effect my Weight loss with the Lap band. A lot of woman complain of weight gain on tamoxifen, and while I dont know if I really gained any more weight while on it, I do know that it has made it VERY difficult to loose weight. I am currently on day 3 of my 2 week liquid diet. Surgery is August 16. I guess I am just worried that I will go through this surgery and still will have a difficult time loosing the weight. I know that's a common fear with newbies. Just wondering if anyone has any input. Thank you !