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Re: Protein shakes. I have been trying them and cannot stand them. I was sleeved the 24th and went for my 2 week appt yesterday. Dr put me in the hospital overnight because I was dehydrated. I assume that will mean a weight gain because now my wedding ring, which was loose, is a little tighter on me. Oh well, I feel so good today compared to the last 5 days.

I finally found some time to write about how I got into this mess to begin with. It's a very long story told short, believe it or not, I know it looks long already, lol, but I did cut out a lot of unimportant stuff, I wanted to focus on things that were direct contributors to my weight journey. I hope you enjoy the read I was still skinny in my young adulthood, when I met my husband 15 years ago I was at about 115 lb. As we dated we would go out a lot but I never worried cause I also worked out a lot, yet one day I noticed weight creeping up (my x-small clothign felt too small). Doctor diagnosed me with hypothyroidism and that took a while to get under control. When we got married a year later my weight was about 140 and I started worrying. Felt huge and tired and disgusting, so we decided to move to Florida in hopes of being able to spend more time outside and helping me to get back in shape. That backfired, cause I didn't realize the severity of daily levels of humidity in that state. I was miserable outside and sweating more than I should, just for being out there. I did join a gym, but somehow my motivations were shut and although I liked to spend time at the pool or splashing around in the gulf of Mexico as I had to keep upgrading my swimwear from x-small to large size I also lost confidence to wear it out. My body was changing and I didn't like any of those changes, while my thyroid kept getting worse. We also were trying to get pregnant and that seemed to be very frustrating and put additional toll on me. Eventually I was informed I wont be able to have children, cause of other issues within my body. We accepted the fate and on top of 2 older cats we already had we decided to add 2 kittens. About a month after that I got pregnant (and I was at about 160 lb then), and my doctor worried about me a lot, reminding me that it will be a tough ride and I will have to see him often to make sure all is good, cause I was in high risk category of losing the baby, especially towards the end of the term. I took it very seriously and easy on myslef, but kept active as much and as smart as I could. Unfortunately problems started appearing very soon. First one observable and related to rapid weight gain due to pregnancy (I was also showing very early on) was pain in my feet, both of them. I noticed it while durning my morning jog/walk time on the track behind my house. It was my heel spurs pain that went on undetected for months. Then I started having problems with my hips, did PT for it, but since I was pregnant I didnt have any x-rays done. I was recommended to take it all even easier, to rest a lot, do simple exercises but not to overdo it. Then other pregnancy related issues popped up, like gestational diabetes, preeclampsia and I was eventually put on bed rest. Weight only kept creeping up and when at one point I took a longer look in the mirror I cried, cause I didnt recognize the person in it. I was about 250lb shortly before delivery, felt miserable and unable to do anything to help the weight, my sole focus was to make sure I can carry to term. With preeclampsia my doc didnt actually want to wait till my due date and suggested earlier c-section, cause that condition was dangerous for me more than for the baby. Since I was also breastfeeding my baby I coudlnt go on diet asap, nor deal with the heal spurs the way my doc suggested (I had only one cortisone shot in both feet - which was super painful and did relieve some pain, but cause it was meant to last for few months and wore off after 3 weeks I decided not to go through that pain of it anymore). Finally when I could I started dealing with those spurs and signed up for nutrisystem delivery. I was doing ok, and moved onto the steroid treatment of my feet, but as it failed and the doctor knew I had already suffered enough we decided to get on the track for foot surgery. That's when my husband announced his office will be closing and we were faced with a decision to either stay and look for another job or move within the company (relocation) and keep the employment. With 4 cats, new baby and my health issues we thought we cant afford to lose the income or insurance, but on the other hand we had just refinanced the mortgage in our house, and did a lot of major renovations, including new windows, new AC system, pool and backyard upgrade (basically making it safer for the baby, adding a safety fence and replacing existing concrete with nice pavers). So we were in a catch-22, either way we'd chose to continue we'd lose a lot of money, and in the still very unstable market then (my son is 7 now) having a steady income won over huge losses from sale of the house. After we moved my search for a foot doctor started and it was a painful process, not only cause I was still hurting a lot every time I walked, but also cause of the type of doctors I happened to come across. After a year of seeing 3 different ones I gave up and thought the universe is against me. With nutrisystem I came close to 200 lb but never under, and as I continued to have my food delivered to new place I saw that it eventually wasnt helping me at all, so I decided to quit it. Then as I became less and less mobile cause of pain and weight gain I also became a recluse, didnt want any pictures taken, avoided family gatherings and descended into the world of online gaming and constant snacking. Finally 3 years ago I had some eye opening facts presented to me, as my weight got close to 300 lb and I was moving out of the pre-diabetes stage. With my reg doctor we tried to fix my diet and habits, but the foot pain prevented me from most activity, it got so bad that I had to line up chairs between sofa and bathroom so I could make it there. That was no way to live, another huge wake up call was that I wasnt fitting on my son's school bus to get him strapped in (he takes the short bus cause he is autistic - and that diagnosis was also as if someone was putting up more obstacles in my way to recovery, my full focus - or whatever was left of it, cause I wasn't really myself anymore - went into trying to help him instead of helping myself). During the year of work with my doctor I slowly changed my diet, and although I didnt lose any weight I also didnt gain anymore, but other problems came to light, like sleep apnea and high blood pressure. I finally had to also do somethign about my feet, and took it very seriously to find a doctor that will want to operate on them and I finally got lucky. She had actually listened to me, and only suggested one type of therapy that I didnt try before - laser, but when after a few weeks the results were not what she expected we moved fast track into surgery. I had one foot operated on before thanksgiving 2 years ago, and the other before christmas (chose those dates for 2 reasons: 1. cause my son woud have time off from school and hubby some vaction too and I could rest post op, when I couldnt really walk much at first and each foot was beign kept for safety in a postsurgical boot, 2. another "good" excuse to not join any of the family events). Those surgeries gave me a green light to living, but as I started walkign again I noticed other problems I had no idea about their severity before, cause I was never up long enough to notice. My lower back was a mess and my knees were useless, I couldnt kneel at all, not even on the sofa while leanign over to reach for the blinds behind it. My life was pretty much a constant pain ever since pregnancy, and I felt liek trapped in a vicious cycle: one step forward - 2 steps back. I also didnt take many of the pain pills, cause they didnt really help much, and when I took the harder ones I was basically sleepign all day and I coudnt do that either cause I had to be awake for my son, besides sleep apnea was affecting my awake hours enough and often when my husband came home I was asleep on the sofa. It was a really tough time, but very slowly I was making some progress. Eventually it was a conversation with my doctor which made me realise that my problems can only get bigger if I can't lose any weight, and staying at or around my current number (I was fluctuating between 285-298lb) wasnt an option either, so she strongly suggested I looked into bariatric surgery. I finally did so a year ago, Nov 2016 and cause my insurance then didn't allow for the surgery to happen without a monitored and documented prequalification process that was supposed to take 6-8 months, I did some research to find better insurance and get accepted when I was ready to go through with it, after completing one sheet of steps. Ironically cause getting some of those required appointments was very time consuming I ended up having my surgery done 9 months after initial visit, but I was glad to have spent that time researching it thoroughly and learning about how it actually works. To think back then I struggled with the thought that it was an easy way out, lol, there is nothing easy about it, it takes commitment, discipline and a complete lifestyle change, but I knew I had to do it, I coudln't live like that anymore, avoiding people, family, having trouble to keep up with personal hygiene, and most of all not being able to assist my son when he needed me - that hurt me the most of all the pains I ever had. So here I am now, 4 months post op and feeling great. I'm still having some pain, mostly in my knees, but also in my hips and back. I had finally taken the x-ray of my hips and the reason for my back and knee problems emerged, and am currently working with 2 doctors to treat it. Still not there health wise, and not skinny yet, but feeling hell of a lot better then a year ago and a world of difference from 2 years ago. I'm glad to have had people in my life who inspired me, guided me and made me want to see the beauty of life at the time when I was ready to give up. Also ironically I met some of those people while playing those stupid online games. Isn't life funny that way? I guess in the end all that happens in our live is somehow fated, and we are constantly faced with choices, and its only up to us what we chose to do. I'm happy to be alive and to be here, and am looking forward to skinny and healthy me2.0 Thank you all for reading, I did write this once before and cause of a misclick I lost all progress right before posting it, and since the site didn't save what I typed I didn't feel back then to type it all up again. Today I used wordpad to save the story as I write it Lesson learned

Hi everyone! I was banded Nov 08. I had great success until last summer when it was discovered that I had a dialated esophagus. I had a complete unfill and gained 25 lbs. I have been getting refilled over the last year and have lost 10 lbs of the weight gain. I am doing great, but my doctor is suggesting that I get the band removed and get a gastric sleeve. My guess is that he knows something I don't? I still love my band and will keep pushing forward with it.

I do log my food intake and I am sure it doesnt help that I take diabetes medicine that clearly states it causes weight gain. It is just frustrating that when you fix one thing another pops up. I cant possibly eat anymore than I already do. Thanks for letting me vent:tt2:

As you get further out, you might find you do a little better with dry food. But I totally had to laugh about it the rules being like being Catholic. So true! As a born and bred Catholic, that's probably why the rules and following them feel a little non-negotiable to me! I try to follow them best I can, and I feel so guilty when I don't. I guess if breaking the rules equals sinning, then the subsequent weight gain from breaking rules equals the purgatory/hell from sinning, lol! Don't know about you, but morbid obesity felt like hell on earth, to me. I really hated it.

Hi everyone, I have been struggling with weight gain weight loss for the past six years. My highest was 230 and was able to loose about 20 lbs with diet and exercise but then the weight loss stopped despite of changing the entire diet and exercise. Currently I am 210 pounds, 5 3". There are multiple factors that have caused this of course... Eating habits and exercise habits but also I was diagnosed with resistance to insulin and at some point was told I had hypothyroidism. Over the years as I have struggled to lose weight while trying everything possible, I was told my thyroid was back to "normal". However I still cannot seem to lose weight... Several of my friends have had very successful Sleeve stories and I have been thinking about the surgery for the past two or three years. I already spoke to a surgeon but I am still feeling pretty nervous about this as it is a lifestyle change and commitment. A friend told me about this forum, so I was wondering if you guys could help me out and tell me what your success has been and if you have any regrets to your decision? Please don't sugarcoat it Thanks in advance to everyone and good luck on your progress!! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Awww I wouldn’t stress out too much! That little amount of gain could be hormonal, retaining water, or just a bit of constipation. My weight fluctuates about a pound throughout the week. I weigh myself every morning. After strength training, I’ll see a small weight gain the next day. Then it will go back down. Then after a cardio day, it’ll go down a bit more. But it is not consistently going down every single day. Just stick to your plan and it’ll come off!

Welcome welcome, whiteo6. I am SO GLAD you found us!!! I can definitely tell you that for me, posting regularly on this thread has done one thing for me - it has allowed to get back up quickly after I fall, rather than letting that fall consume me for months resulting in weight gain. I think it has helped keep me accountable and can do so for many, many of us strugglers. I think you should eat until you are satisfied. For me, that usually equates to a cup or a cup and a half, depending on what the item is. On some items, i can only eat half a cup and be stuffed. So it really does depend. Personally, I think if you can eat a couple of cups and not feel satiety, then perhaps you should speak to your surgeon and consider a fill. Have you ever asked your nutritionist about the calorie quantity you should stay at? this really varies based on your height and weight. For me it was 1500 calories and it helps to have a number i can actually focus on, on a daily basis. How many fills have you had??? What are your goals for the next 1 month? I am so excited for you and excited to go on this journey with you. Again, welcome!!!

I'm sorry if this offends anyone but this makes me want to cry!! I do not cheat, I am not eating over 800 calories a day, I get in all my protein, I stay as far away from carbs as I can and fat is the devil!! But yet I'm only down now 31 lbs!!! I was down 38 lbs but it went up and now I've stopped loosing completely! I was 333 lbs day of surgery and was told people over 300 lbs loose really fast the first 3-6 months, evidently not me! I have no clue what to do, I can't even eat 3 oz at any meal time! I I have to repeat I never cheat and this is just horrible! My surgery date was July 13, 2013 As of September 13th it will be two months!!! I should be down 60 lbs by then but it sure doesn't look good! What's my point of all this your probably asking?? Well it really upsets me severely when I read about people eating slider foods, and high carb foods and complaining about their NUT going crazy! See there's a reason, you must learn to eat differently in order for this to work!! You MUST change your lifestyle and eating habits FOREVER!! If not you will end up like the lady that goes to church with my aunt... All weight gained back plus some!! Yep it can happen, she started gaining it back within a year of her surgery!! PLEASE THINK BEFORE YOU EAT!! I mean some people may not care but if not why have the surgery to begin with?? I paid for my surgery completely 100% out of my pocket and I'm certainly not rich, really I couldn't afford it but I needed this for myself and my kids!!! Anyway now that I've probably made everyone mad on here I guess I will apologize, I rally am only trying to help but yes I had to rant too! I guess what bothers me most is the fact that I was told I'd loose fast bc I needed to loose more and I took it literally! I was hoping to be down 100+ lbs before Christmas this year maybe something will turn around for me and I'll suddenly see the major loss I'm waiting for!

NATALIE forgive yourself honey your doing great and when it my time of month i eat all the wrong stuff my skin gets spotty and i blame hormones rather than my increase of chocolate........i bet weight gain not too bad you probably feeling 10lb of guilt...lol BRANDI you sound like life alot of fun at the moment !!!dont worry about knowing how to cope with the attention just go with the flow you will soon know if there is just one you want to be with all the time then concentrate on seeing where that goes ...dont pressure yourself youve taken an amazing journey and this just part of the trip so relax ...enjoy and take control ..it suits you to be confident ..you rock girl ,il be popping in for updates. well im fine now just odd nausea ..not many pains still feel a little gassy but feeling lighter and better...i cant tell though as my son soaked my scales and im praying they dry out and work again .

Hey Suzanne. The headaches have reduced in number since starting the Prednisone. I am gradually tapering off of them, but I have a little over two more weeks left on them. I've been having them on and off every few days. I go to the doctor tomorrow, so I'll let ya'll know what happens. Unfortunately I've blown up like a whale since starting the steroids. My face and stomach is SO swollen and fat looking. I look 7 months pregnant! It's really embarrassing because people are noticing the weight gain. I guess I'm in a rut and just praying I can get out soon! Thanks for asking about me. How is your foot doing? I hope it is better.

Well hello there!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just posted on facebook that I'm getting a fill next Wednesday, I'm fed up with the weight gain, my round face. So lets seeeeeeeeeeeeee Life......... Life is good. Robby is still Robby...... however his ped.. said his ODD is FAR outweighing his ADHD so I'm on a waiting list for KU to call.. to get him into their program...... You all know that Charles and I are done........ been done for a while.......... so ok.. who out there saw it coming? LOL My V'sssssssssss been there for me since before..... Robby needs counseling....... he has lost the only dad and brothers he's ever known, although he is happy.... he misses them....... misses the chaous......not me. All I feel is relief and peace when it comes to that part. I recently put myself on the online thang........ mainly for grins...... and some funny stories have happened..... OH and you might remember that I no longer work for nuns..... and I have to tell you...... IT IS WONDERFUL! To be free of Charles and the judgemental NUN(s) I am now the Business Office Manager at a small skilled nursing facility, and it is sooooooooooo nice to have the red carpet rolled out for me and to have everyone say how fast I'm learning it all........... FREE...... Robby and I have also moved out of the old depressing house with tons of bills............. ( I filed bankrupsty, and was able to start fresh) in yet another way............. We now live in a very nice apartment (4plex) in a small town and the best thing is I have no trouble making ends meet... so I guess now its time for me to get back on track with this gained weight............ time to take on the next step again. My violets have never left my heart........ SO HEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY:w00t:

I had my lap band done in 2008. Since then I have lost weight, gained it back, lost weight again, and then gained it all back again. I believe the weight loss that I have experienced has been due to me starving myself, not to the band. Starving myself is not sustainable and as soon as I start to eat regularly again, I gain about 30 pounds. I am currently at my highest weight (even pre-band. I was banded at 202 lbs) 206 lbs. I have had some trouble with my band. I can only be filled about half-way before I have trouble getting food down. My band doesn't have much liquid in it and it causes me to vomit/pb frequently. Right now I still vomit a few times a week even though my band isn't filled much. Food gets stuck daily for me. I used to have terrible guilt feeling that I had failed my band. Everyone knew I had the band done, so why hadn't I been able to lose a substaintial amount of weight and keep it off? Why was I such a failure? Well, after doing some research, I have come to the conclusion that I haven't failed the band, THE BAND HAS FAILED ME!!! Surgeons are starting to find that the band isn't as successful as they thought it would be. Many people are having their bands revised to the gastric sleeve and some RNY gastric bypass. My surgeon is at the top of the field, a famous weight loss surgeon. His staff is nice to me, but they make me feel guily when I go in. I need to eat less and less, they say. My surgeon recommends for me to eat 900 calories a day. 900 calories! This is madness!!! I am now in the process of contancting a different surgeon about gastric bypass and gastric sleeve. I have severe obstructive sleep apnea, high LDL cholesterol, and have stopped menstruating (I'm only 32). I believe my weight is a contributing factor in these issues. Ladies, I know that some of you feel you could have done better. You feel you could have followed more of the rules, eaten less, snacked less, starved yourself, whatever. But, I want you to seriously consider this idea that maybe the band isn't all it is cracked up to be. Maybe it works for some and not for others. Maybe, the band has failed you!

Hi I am being banded March 12, 2010 and the time doesn't seem like it is flying by fast enough, but I know it will be here some day I'm 38, mother of 2 boys, an LPN in nursing school as we speak to get my RN. On November 6th, 2009 I herniated my L4 disc and have been in and out of agony ever since. My doctor suggested I take off at least 100 pounds, but told me that it would all have to be done by diet or at least until I could get the pressure off my spinal nerves, yeah RIGHT!!! Anyways, all I am waiting on now is for my income tax return to get here as I am flying in to El Paso and going into Juarez MX for my surgery to be performed by Dr. Jose Rodriguez as I do not have insurance and his reputation seems pretty good. I am using BeLiteWeight to facilitate my surgery and they are very nice. My biggest problem with my weight seemed to come after my children were born and I had double oopherectomy operations after tubal pregnancies. I just started racking up the weight until I am so out of shape, my metabolism is shot, and I can't seem to get it off. My weight gain is making me hurt everywhere and I am to the point I won't look at myself in a mirror anymore. My S.O. is a little reluctant and thinks I might leave him after I lose the weight, but with reassurance he is actually starting to get excited and showing me a lot more support. My family, who is all in the medical field, are very hard headed and continue to believe that I should just eat right and exercise and it will come off and feel that what I am doing is a bit self-serving and I could use the money somewhere else. I will be very happy to join the March-banders and wish each and everyone of you the best of luck!!

Hi I am new to this website. I was banded 11/15/10, I love it! I always had a weight problem but if I put my mind to it and followed a diet and exercised I was able to lose weight. Right before I got married I was doing just that watching what I ate and exercising like crazy and not gaining weight but not losing at all. I went for a physical and found out I have hypothyroid. For eight years I had gradual weight gain, surprisingly was able to lose pregnancy weight twice (I attribute that to breastfeeding) but after losing that the gradual weight gain continued. So in complete frustration I talked to my PCP about weight loss and he said his wife who is in practice with him has been working with a bariatric surgeon and he recommended I see them about lapband. He is a pretty conservative guy so for him to reccomend that I took it pretty seriously. I started seeing the surgeon in July 2010 since then I have lost almost 60 lbs, 20 lbs pre-surgury and the rest since. I had my first fill a week ago (2/1/11) and I remembered how being on liquids was like torture, hungry all the time. Back on regular diet now and doing ok. The holidays were difficult because I discovered there wasn't much I couldn't eat. I am having a difficult time getting back to the diet I was doing so well before the holidays but I have started exercising. My hardest times are the weekends when we socialize with others, I need to figure out something to help me eat what and how much I am supposed to. My biggest concern is not causing my band to slip. I realize when I do eat a lot it is nowhere near what I used to eat without the band but still I have the moments. I am looking forward to checking out chat areas on here and learning more and getting and giving support when possible.

hello! Im confused about where to post for February, is it here or on the monthly forum? I am hopefully getting my surgery date soon, the surgeons office says it will be in about 3 weeks. I am getting excited. I am not telling anyone, just my husband obviously. I do not want any judgement put on me ( which has been my whole problem since I was a child, and has most likely contributed to my weight gain.) I am currently 190lb, and 4ft 11. I may not be as heavy as some of you here, but 190 at my height is very bad! My surgeon would like me to lose 80-90lbs. I have hypertension & sleep apnea. I am a stay at home mom to my amazing 19 month old son, he is our miracle baby, we endured 6 years of infertility, un explained. It was never mentioned that my weight had anything to do with it but I suspected it. After several rounds of ivf, he came along! My main reason for the surgery is so I can be around for him, and hopefully have another baby. Well, that's me, I hope to get to know all of you better, and will post my surgery date soon, I hope!

Because of my horrible band experience, I was pretty scared that I'd never be able to enjoy a good steak again. Funny thing is that steak (any cut) all work fabulous, and I eat some form of steak about 2-3 days a week. The band made it impossible for me to eat most meats, and salads were a big no go as well. So, I was not optimistic about ever being able to eat normal foods again. I honestly eat everything under the sun. Today, I had chicken fajitas with jalapenos, sour cream and guacamole. Grant it, it was only 1 fajita with a smear of refried Beans, about a tablespoon of rice, smears of the sour cream and guacamole, lots of salsa, 3 little strips of fajita chicken breast, and hoards of sauteed onions and green peppers. I tear off the entire top part of the folded tortilla so there is not really a lot of bready tortilla to take up room. We went out to my favorite Mexican place for lunch, I had 6 tortilla chips with salsa, then ate 1 fajita, came home took a nap for about 1.5 hours, woke up did some laundry, ate another one just like I did for lunch(about 3 hours later), and then ate another one for dinner made the exact same way the previous two were made about 3 hours later again. I didn't eat Breakfast today, and needed to make sure to eat something decent today. I'll probably eat some turkey pepperonis with cheese chunks before bed to get in some more Protein for the day. I am 22 weeks pregnant, that 3d sono is just a random picture attached to the little pregnancy ticker. I won't get my 3d sono until August 8th, but me and Miss Tatum are doing fabulous. I've gained more weight than what I wanted to gain by this point with a 12-13 pound weight gain in 22 weeks. My doctors want me to gain 30-35, and at this point, I don't see that being a problem. I'm tweaking my intake this week to see if I can stay the same weight. I'm having to eat 300 more calories a day than what I was eating in maintenance, I'm not allowed to work out, or exercise, and I have to eat 100-200gr of carbs, with a 100gr of protein per day with 1700-1800 calories. It's frustrating, but Tatum is growing and thriving, is 100% healthy, and actually weighs about 1/2 pound heavier than other babies her age. So, I'm definitely able to support myself and a baby. It's just a weird place to be to be gaining weight, and all the physical changes that come with pregnancy. My labs have remained stellar as well through the pregnancy so VSG has not negatively effected my pregnancy, or the baby in any way. Once you get to maintenance, and a good grasp on food after your losing stage, you can literally eat anything you want that your body will tolerate. I do still avoid a lot of junk food. Sometimes I cave and have chips and dip, or a small slice of cake or cheesecake, but I also know that overdoing those foods will get me fat again.

Hi all! I am 56 years old, wife, mother (of 2 college-age kids), dental office manager, Episcopal deacon, and sick of my weight. Sick of pain in my knees and feet. Sick of missing out on so much that I want to do in life. I've struggled my whole life long. Lots of dieting, lots of weight loss and then weight gain. The frustrating thing is that every time I lose weight it finds me again, AND it brings friends with it! So I was only 15 pounds overweight the first time I went on a diet when I was 15 years old. Now I'm 150 pounds overweight! I started thinking seriously about WLS more than a year ago when my husband and I met with a retirement planner and his first question was, "Tell me what you want your retirement to be like." I had a million ideas - all of which involved me fitting into airplane seats and hiking all over exotic locales. I was in so much pain (knees and feet) I realized that, unless I made a signifiant life change, in 7 -10 years I wouldn't be hiking exotic trails but I'd be in a wheelchair! I spent six months working out with a trainer and watching my eating (tracking every bite, etc.) and only lost 10 lbs! Seemed like I was going to be fat forever. Then, one day, my daughter finally came clean with me and tearfully told me how worried she was that she was going to miss out on having a mom for important events in her life - like college graduation, wedding, children. I realized I had to do something drastic or she would be right. I had VSG on June 2, 2015 at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon, after having completed the 3-month medically-supervised diet required by my insurance company (lost 17lbs in the process!). So far, I'm doing well - 63 lbs gone from my highest to now, 40 since surgery. I feel AMAZING - knee pain is gone! I keep thinking, "If I feel this good now, IMAGINE how I'm going to feel at goal!!" Can't wait to experience that because exotic locales are waiting!!

Hi Notorious Novembers! DD - glad you are doing well - like the others said, don't worry about the weight gain, it will come off and even MORE before your wonderful vacation... You have such a great attitude, and I KNOW you'll be hitting the exercise hard once you're cleared - just remember to follow Doc's orders so you don't have any interruption to your healing. Keep us informed - and have a wonderful Saturday!:thumbup:

When I was in my teens I wasn't fat but thought I was!! I weighed 125 to 135#'s but I wasn't like the other girls I wasn't tiny and petite. So even when I was thin I always felt out of control. My mom never had veggies, or potatoes. We lived on meat and gravy on bread. I never developed good eating habits. Then I met my hubby and got married when I was barely 17 and he moved me away from my mom, I couldn't wait to feel normal. I got prego but still, my weight gain wasn't bad. I started eating whatever I wanted, you see my hubby and I had one giant thing in common FOOD!!! He weighed 350#'s when e were married. Years passed I gained weight, pound on top of pound!! Had my 2nd child at 23 but I became a Diabetic on pills then shots. Losing weight wasn't a problem but I never learned how to keep it off. At one time I weighed 285#'s. My diabetes just kept on getting worse until I could not control it at all. We both have a little more in common now, food isn't our main focus!! We have 8 grandkids that fill our hearts to the brim with love!! We are closer now than ever. So I have a lot to be happy with. I had my WLS and I have been in maintenance for 3 and 1/2 years, hubby has lost 200#'s total. Life is AWESOME!!!

My surgery is scheduled for May 9th. It has been a long journey, and I am over the moon. I am 48 and married to my wonderful husband for 20 years (June 27). I have never been thin but was always healthy and athletic. My body was beautiful, and I never had any issues. My husband has loved me and supported me at every size I've been. I have two amazing sons. One who is heading off to college this fall, he is 17. My other son is 15 and a sophomore. My husband is active duty USARMY and like both my sons, wrestled when he was young. All three of my "guys," actually four (my 90-year-old father lives with us after my Mom's death last summer) guys are in great shape. I am tired of being the fat one on all of our family photos. I do avoid photos, but every once in a while one sneaks in. After menopause, my weight gain has increased, and I have not had success losing weight using the tools that worked for me in the past. I have other health issues that are impacted by my weight gain. My Mom passed away on May 11th of last year. She was only 72 but did not take good care of her health. As I sat with her in her hospital room after all life support was removed, just talking to her and telling her how much I loved her, I promised her that I would take care of my dad. I promised I would take care of myself better and that I would lose the weight. She could not talk, but I know that she heard me. It is so fitting that my surgery will be almost one year to the anniversary of her death. I know she will be with me.

I have a questions, what size is your Bougie? I'm wondering if that's the reason that we experiencing weight gain. I know that I requested my doctor to use a smaller size for me. I believe my size is a 30.

You can do it! I am currently 24 weeks pregnant and I have been freaking out about the weight gain. I've gained 10 pounds so far. I know that isn't a lot for a baby, but I know more is to come. I am trying to still stick to the basics as well. I am still working out 6 days a week, but not near the intensity I was before.

I am so glad that I found this thread! I am 13 years out from my bypass and 35 lbs have crept up on me. I just barley found this website. I have support at home but since my bypass I have had no follow up with my Dr (i feel like i went to a meat factory) and no support system there. My regular Drs are not as familiar with bypass so being this far out I have no idea what to do or if I should have anything checked. So since my surgery I have had three pregnancies and 4 kids (i have a set of twins). I was really good with my weight gain there only 15 lbs for my son and daughter and 30 lbs for the twins. My weight gain came after the twins. I started to drink pop again. Big mistake. my portions have increased and my exercise was zilch. I hate the way I look. I feel like I did before my surgery when I weighed 272 lbs. I have set a goal to loose that darn 35 lbs the healthy way with diet and exercise. I am going to cut out carbs as much as I can and have quit drinking soda. I have also increased my workout to at least 45 min every day. I love the fact you chose to do this! I look forward to joining you on your journey. Current weight 172.4 Goal Weight 140 Thank you again!

So glad I found this website!! I had my Roux-N-Y in 2008 and have gained 13 lbs back since this past April. I had a Full Hysterectomy and went through some pretty crappy life events but I am just now noticing the weight gain and I'll be damned if I'm going to go back to the very same habits that almost destroyed me and my mentality!!! Let's join hands ladies and conquer this..once and for all!! The Food WILL NOT win....