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I have had my surgery end of June 2010 starting at 210 pounds and by June 2011 I was down to 114 pounds. From June 2011 until end of July 2012 I managed to keep my weight to 114-115 pounds. Well, starting August 2012 i started to put on weight and by September I gained 9-10 pounds( in ONE month), it is now end of January 2013 and I haven't managed to lose any weight and I have been careful about what I am eating, except the Christmas period where I had a lot of chocolates. So nothing in 4 months From surgery till August( 2 years 2 months) I could eat anything I wanted, anytime I wanted and I never been exercising except the day to day chores around the house and a bit of walking now and again. To explain better...I could have up to 3- THREE!!! ice creams in a day and I would eat crisps everyday and sometimes I could have extras plus my food. I never been too keen on butter, cheese or fast foods- actually after my surgery I found it really difficult to eat cheese bcos would make me sick some horrible green bitter stuff. Also when i would eat something too caloric( like 3 ice creams in one go- lol) my body will start shacking and I would be sweating alooooot, and I mean I could see the sweat running on my body in big lumps. Also would sometimes sweat just by doing nothing, I could watch TV and the sweat pours out. Oh since November I have been on Alli diet pills which didn't work at all, then I have tried Raspberry Ketones, again without luck, my body won't get rid of anything. Since my weight gain, I stopped sweating and I do not get shacky after I eat and what changed the most--- I'm craving foods I could not eat before, like butter, cheese, curry, lasagna, jam etc I am trying to cut down on sugar( my biggest enemy) and sticking to fruit but even so I sometimes go over my daily limit ( a small apple has 11 g of sugar in it, 10 medium strawberries has 6 g of sugar, there is sugar in milk, yoghurt, even vegetables). I did all the research I could find on the web, at my weight/ height/ age my body needs around 1300 calories just to keep me alive, If I was to exercise 1-3 times a week that will increase to over 1600 cal per day. if I want to lose weight they say to eat 1200 calories, which i did for 3 weeks( I've been mostly on 1000 cal per day) and again no weight loss, there actually been an increase for about 4-5 days but I got down to 123-124, this is where my body seems to be comfortable at. But I am not I have also took my measurements and from Dec 14 2012 to January 15 2013, I gained about 5 inches around my belly!!! But my weight its pretty much the same +/- a pound. I know this is crazy to read but its even more crazy when I see it happen, sooo frustrating. I still eat small portions of food and I weigh pretty much everything and I even started to exercise( long walks and sometimes I run also- which I never ever ever did before. HEEEEEELLLLP!!!

@@sleevingbeauty17 First of all, great name! The only part that was worrisome to me was a big saga about whether I needed a sleep study. The pulmonologist said it was completely unnecessary, the NP said she was getting confusing messages, the NUT didn't really care but tried to rearrange appointments because she wasn't comfortable holding sessions until that was resolved, and the hospital admin kept scheduling and rescheduling once it was cancelled in the system...even after the date of my surgery! Incompetence... I had some weight gain during pre-op that alarmed both the NUT and the psych, but by the time I was a few minutes into my psych appointment, I could tell he wasn't going to give me trouble about it, because I had come back down by the date of the psych eval.

Hey All. It's my first post. I was sleeved 5 weeks ago today. I've been weighing myself once a week. I lost fast the first three weeks then week four only 1/2 a lb but still a loss. Then today I get on the scale and I am up 3lbs!! It was very alarming as I've been following my diet to a T and trying to get between 600-800 calories a day (closer to 600 typically). I don't know what to think. I am at a loss -- a 3lb gain is not a 1lb fluctuation. Has anyone else had an early gain and it resolved itself or is this going to be it for me for weight loss and now I"m going to be fighting to keep even these few lbs off?

My surgeon relocated from my area but I am working closely with my primary care doctor. She seems to believe the thyroid medicine caused the weight gain my stopping my metabolism. However I stopped the medicine two months ago and still have been gaining.

My BMI was 36.6 barely over the threshold and, I did add about four pounds in the early months to make sure I was close. Each test I had, I prayed for a comorbidity. (Sounds so crazy). Each test came back darn good. A brother though, had survived a heart attack, and parents had some diabetic type issues. I had sore joints and a long history of slow and steady weight gain. My insurance approved with 48 hours. I felt like I won the lottery. So, muster up all the familial medical issues to document on your medical history and don't give up!! Good luck!

how much do tummy tucks range from? ALso I am in my early twenties and I want to have children in the next few years, at least before I am 27. SHould I wait to have a tummy tuck till after I have kids? My belly dropped due to weight gain. 5'8 and 282 pounds will do that to you. Now I am still obviously 5'8 but now at 210lbs and the stomach pouch has gotten significantly smaller. I just cant imagine it completely dissapearing and I am very self contious about it. considering i know my skin will need to strech again, is it a bad idea to get a tummy tuck. I am worried that removing the access skin will make the already stretched skin strech even more causing complications... or is the new stretched skin as tough as regular skin... if anyone has any ideas about this please let me know.

I've heard about some doctors doing "Cosmetic" Lap banding for anyone with only 40 pounds to loose. I was "stupid" and gained weight just to get my BMI up. After doing that it really took a long time for my weight lose to kick in. And I found out my doctor wouldn't have done the surgery anyway since i was self pay. (The first surgeon I saw wouldn't do it (even self pay) so I gained weight and went to another surgeon. - Later found out he would have done it without my extra weight gain)

OK ladies, prepare to feel tall: I'm 4'11", so quit complaining, LOL! I used to be a tall 5 foot, but with the weight gain (to 203 lbs) came the "degenerative disc" back problems and I lost an inch in height. :frusty: BUT in Oct I get my band, things are gonna change! I can't wait to buy clothes I actually like. Imagine not having to hem everything you purchase. And high heels will be so much fun again!

My surgeon feels that my band slipped during my pregnancy. I'm having it fixed 6/15. I do have a lot of symptoms but most discouraging is no weight loss since November, 2009. But at least no weight gain either. I'm still 100% sold on the Lap Band, but it's a journey and you need to be ready for anything.

Weight gain is a trap, and surgery is often the only permanent way out. Set point theory is a really awful thing to think about, especially when it is suggested that set point in the human body can only go up. Asking a morbidly obese person to resist hunger and stay thin after being large is like telling somebody not to breathe. Your body is smarter than your brain, and it will find a way to return to obesity. The brightest, most determined dieter in the world could not truly defeat obesity for life with just diet and exercise. We may have made mistakes to get here, but we are not weak-willed because we couldn't escape without arresting our bodies' ability to defend obesity. For some people, surgery may not even do it. And even then it is not evidence of something wrong with our heads.

Now...definitely check with your doc on this...but maybe look into the diet for women with gestational diabetes? I ate and ate when I first got pregnant. Then I found out I had GD. The diet actually stabilized my weight gain to where the baby was growing but I wasn't gaining.

I won't be having a baby in the next two years but it is a fear in the back of my mind. I would like to know how much those of you who had a baby after the surgery gained and wether it was too difficult to watch out for your cravings during pregnancy. How much did you gain?? At this point, I will starve myself to prevent myself from getting to the point where I was before. I know that is not the wisest thing to say but I will not let it happen again. My fear is that during pregnancy, preventing myself from keeping a healthy diet in fear of gaining massively, might hurt my baby. Which clearly no body wants... I am ranting..[emoji20]

i am scheduled for my second fill on may 10. i have lost 10, and the last couple of days i have gained back a couple. i dont think it is true weight gain, rather i think it is Water retention and lack of regularity. regardless, i hate not seeing the scales move. i MUST break the weighing everyday habit... Maybe my next fill will give me some restriction and i can get this party started!

I don't have any post surgery experience, but do have weight gain experience. I have a tattoo on my abdomen that I got before I put on 150 pounds. It has stretched a lot, almost to being unrecognizable. I imagine that shrinking would make the objects smaller, possibly less detail apparent but still recognizable. Let me know how it goes.

Hi wl fam! Hows everyone's mending going? Im still getting some swelling at the top of my belly. Still feels weird around my belly button sometimes, a little pain. I tried putting a marble in to shape it but it bothered me. Hopefully it doesn't close up. Sometimes i get an itchy sensation around area but when i go to scratch it doesn't help because the area still has some numbness. Maybe its a ghost pannus itch[emoji3] Feeling a little down tho. Along with the swelling and some weight gain i have to wear some of my old bigger clothes. Its disheartening. But i will get it together. And hopefully the swelling will subside. Hope everyone is feeling better!

I don't quite understand though... if the sleeve does not stretch much (or so i have heard) how will I be able to binge? it just doesn't seem physically possible Slider foods can be eaten in large quantities, such as ice-cream, chocolate, cakes, biscuits, chips etc. Also,even though the sleeve does not stretch, after it is completely healed (6 months) the hunger and capacity to eat more returns. If this is not controlled through strict portion sizes, like 1/2 to 1 cup max at a meal, the weight will come back on. Put "Weight gain" or "Regain" in the Search button, and you will read stories of people who gained or even regained weight. Another slider food/drink is Alcohol, full of sugar and calories. I can't give you scientific explanation why people can eat more after the sleeve, but it does happen if they stray from the diet guidelines. As someone mentioned earlier, yes you can eat around the sleeve. I can have a big bowl of ice-cream now, being 7 months post op. I can certainly eat more now. Some foods I had issues with early post op, I am fine now. I choose to eat healthy, because I want to reach my goal, and maintain it. Show me a person who binges on Protein ..... As far as I know, the binge foods are sugary, fatty, sweet and salty carb processed foods. Easy to binge on after sleeve as well.

Hey, I thot my family was nuts, but I am truly lucky. But from a psychological point of view, do any of you think that the abuse or just wierdness in the family may have contributed to your weight gain and obesity in the long run? I know that while I was little my mom was a little nuts because her mom (my Mama Di) treated her like she wasnt worth the dirt she walked on, so Mom pushed me to be the perfect little girl, especially since my Mama Di took away my sister from my mom after she was born and told everyone that she had had a baby when she was about 35 (which isn't old btw) but everyone saw Mom pregnant, and never saw Mama Di pregnant, but she honestly believes that everyone thinks that my biological sis is her daughter (weird huh?) My family is WACKY! That's all, when I was little Mom used to make me do pagents, to this day I dunno where that money came from because my Mom worked for Mama Di in her conveniant store making $50 a week, and Dad made about $6,000 a year. I am a natural blond haired, hazel-eyed girl, with dimples, and it was more than anyone could stand (I was soooooooo cute) but I started gaining weight when I was about 3 or 4 like CRAZY!! And have never lost it, I was born big, but I mean I blew up and Mom did everything she could to stop it which led me to being a Binge Eater from the ages of abour 4 until I was about 12, then I became a short-term anorexic (when school ended I started eating a lot in the summer). Now I am just huge and in a lot of pain, but I am so lucky to have the parents that I have, and you all have shown me that, thanks, you all are an inspiration Oh, wanna here something funny!!!! My other grandmother (Mamo) got arrested about 5 weeks ago for public intoxication, she had went to the doctor and faked serious depression to get Xanax and Trazadone and took some on the way home, and did not make it 2 miles before she hit someone in an intersection but drove off to Casa Ole (mexican food place) and hit someone else then freaked out, turned around and almost hit another person trying to back out of the police baracade!!! All they gave her was a PI tho, but we made her sit in jail until she sobered up!!! My family is just plain ZANEY!!

I actually only started gaining weight about 8 years ago after a serious back injury. I was a healthy weight as a child and in my teens, played ice hockey and soccer for years which kept me in shape growing up. Wrestled in high school and first year of university. I literally dropped off a 30' cliff and landed on my upper back. I was told to lay off any contact sports or lifting weights for awhile. I slowly started gaining weight once I couldn't do the physical activities I use to love. A few years went by and gained about 50lbs. I met my wife who is an amazing cook coupled with our love checking out new restaurants and before I knew it I was up another 40-50lbs... around 275. I have loss about 75lbs 2 times in the last 5 years only to gain in all back and then some. The last straw was when I hadn't weighed myself for a few months and was shocked I had hit 320. All the while I had known and research vsg surgery but always felt it was to extreme. The latest big weight gain caused me to serious consider it and that was history. I always knew I could lose the weight without the surgery. I did the surgery to keep the weight off for good.

Hi Tiffany. So sorry for what you are going through. I can tell you that I had similar feelings when I got a breast cancer diagnosis. I didn't have to deal with loss of my reproductive future, but the future was similar to yours in one specific way. My tumor was ER+ which meant I had to go on anti-estrogen meds to stop the cancer from feeding on what estrogen I still had even as a post-menopausal woman. So I now have symptoms of menopause again...hot flashes, sweating, etc. and I also was told I might gain weight from taking the meds. I actually was more afraid of weight gain than cancer re-occurrence. I begged my oncologist to agree to let me go on without taking those meds as absurd as that sounds. I actually went into therapy after the diagnosis because I felt as though my body was betraying me so please consider if necessary, getting professional help to assist you while you are dealing with such a devastating situation. It's not a sign of weakness, but strength when you know you need help. Good luck to you dear and know that we are thinking of you here on the forum.

WOW! high School Skinny! What a dream that is... Congrats to you- you must feel amazing!!! So thrilled for you... I know I can do it too but it won't happen without hitting that gym. I have my clothes in the car ready to go today straight from work. Yahoo! PS- weighed in this morning at exactly 250! OMG, can't wait til tomorrow and I can say Goodbye to that HORRIBLE # forever! LOL ***Even though I've done it before- it's still exciting for me, because all I could see was me going back to where I started. I'm so greatful to have stopped the weight gain & turn it around...

If you have a good relationship to start out with, I think you will be in for a wonderful surprise!!! My marriage was good before the surgery but what I didn't realize is that my weight gain bothered my husband so much. Once we started talking about it, we decided on the surgery together and we have gotten SO much closer! It opened so many doors about our relationship, being more honest with each other and making a commitment to help each other become better people. He has never had a weight problem but he has been very understanding, patient, supportive and loving throughout the process. We had a good sex life before, but now it's amazing! Yes, your sex drive will come back! And you will find yourself laughing and talking and enjoying life so much more because you feel better about yourself. I am 4 months post op and I have been doing a weekly (every Sunday) blog about my journey. Happy to have you follow along. I was encouraged by someone else's blog and it was a true inspiration to me. www.queenofcrop.com When I look at my 'before' photos now, I'm embarrassed that I waited so long......so come on in....the Water is fine! www.queenofcrop.com

I was sleeved Oct 17 in South San Francisco, CA. My journey has taken several years and I've had to switch surgeons. (The first required me to lose 85 lbs pre-op and even after I lost 50lbs he said to keep going, and stop eating fruit... needless to say I got a 2nd opinion) I was originally scheduled for June 20 but got sick, then I was put on steroids for my asthma, so my rescheduled date of July 22 was canceled also due to weight gain (due to the dang steroids!!!) So I'm now happily post op!

Hey there Cindy, I am so sorry you are going through this. I'm actually a bit worried I'm on the same trend. I was banded in Sep of 05 and like you lost nearly 100 pounds but ever since I had plastic surgery last fall I've been slowly gaining weight. Depending on if you add in the weight of the skin the doc says he removed I've gained as much as 25 pounds! I was closer to goal than you stated but am still beginning to get into a similar panic. After so many years of being banded I am starting to discover that running for a fill everytime the weight doesn't come off is not always the answer and in my case can sometimes be contributing to the cause. About a month ago when I went in for another fill to help stop this weight gain my doc actually ended up taking nearly all the fill out. I had approx 11 cc's in the lapband VG and he thinks that I had lived with a fill that was actually too tight for over a year. I hadn't been pb'ing but I've had bad heartburn and reflux almost nightly for over a year and had moved more and more away from solid Protein rich foods to softer carb heavy foods like mash potatoes (as they didn't give me heartburn as bad). I was also finding that I was slowly eating larger portions of food than I use to. The doc believes this is because I had stretched out my esophagus but that it should shrink back to normal after "resting" for a month or two with no fill. Sorry to give you a novel here and for not having any wonderful solutions to suggest. But I wanted you to know you are not alone and I'd be glad to "buddy" up and try to work on reversing our trends together.

I am told to stop taking BC two weeks before and 6-8 weeks after due to it increasing the risk of developing clots. My surgeon automatically gives heparin while in the hospital to decrease the chances. I have been on BC for many years to regulate and it is always given a bad rap about weight gain- if you read the fine print it says weight gain OR loss....AND is minimal, less than 5 pounds. So I wouldn't worry about it affecting your weight loss. My concern isn't it affecting my weight loss but more so my weight loss affecting my periods. Rapid weight gain or loss can drastically change menstrations....so to me.... The benefits outweigh the risks. So I will continue taking my BC when cleared to do so.

Studies have found that artificial sweeteners create a false dependency. They stimulate your appetite, Increase carbohydrate cravings and stimulate fat storage and weight gain. In short artificial sugars prepare your body for food that often is not coming and thus confuses your system while also making your body crave more and more sweeter things.