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I would love for someone to explain to me how to do a food log. I know the purpose, but I have no idea how to do it. I haven't met with the Nut yet, so this is still a learning process for me. I also use My Fitness Pal but others on the forum give Spark People very good reviews as well. The first thing you'll do with any of the apps is your settings. You'll enter height, weight, gender, age, etc. etc. and then you'll enter your goal weight and (at least with MFP) how much weight you want to lose per week. From that data the app will calculate a recommended daily calorie intake. Remember that number is just a "one size fits all" calculation based on the info you've entered. Every one of us is different and there are a lot of variables like exercise, calories burned in your job, raising a family, duties around the house, etc. Do not hesitate to experiment a little. Make adjustments to your calorie goal until you find "your" number - the one that works best for you and your lifestyle. So let's say that MFP "recommends" 1200 calories a day based on your settings. That's a good starting point but what you want to do is follow the recommendation for a week or so and see what happens. If your weight loss goal is a pound a week and you lose a pound, great. If you don't lose or even gain, then adjust the calorie goal down by say 100 calories and try it for another week. The point is that with a little experimentation you can fine tune the app for the calorie count that produces the results you're looking for. You're just a few weeks post-op. Perfect time to start logging! The longer you use it, the more you learn. But you're unlikely to be able to consume the number of calories that your app will recommend. That's fine - just adjust your calorie goal to either the number of calories your doctor recommends or if he or she hasn't made a recommendation, adjust the goal to whatever number you think you can achieve based on where you're at in your journey. Perhaps the most important thing to understand is what I call "The Law of Average". It is crucially important to understand and treat your calorie goal as an "average". Regardless of what your calorie goal is, you are not going to meet that goal every day for the rest of your life. Ridiculous. Unrealistic. And unsustainable. More importantly, you don't need to! When (not if) you exceed your calorie goal for a given day, all you need to do is reduce your goal by 100-200 calories for a day or two and you're right back on track with your - AVERAGE. It's easy, it's fast and it works like a charm. I've done it not once or twice but many times. And you don't have to do it too many times before your confidence soars. For what may be the first time in your life, you're managing your weight (and your diet) instead of your weight managing you. Food logs also make you accountable to the only person that matters - YOU. Logs educate you regarding the effects various foods are likely to have on your weight loss or weight gain. Logs "train" you to recognize what meals will lead to weight loss and which ones will lead to gain - and how much. They also allow you to track the macronutrients (Protein, fat and carbs) and see what effects (good or bad) increases or decreases have on your weight. They also allow you to track your exercise as well as many of the micronutrients aka Vitamins. That's a LOT of information all in one place and the app doesn't cost a dime. Finally, it has been proven again and again by countless studies that folks who maintain a food log lose more weight, lose it faster, and are more successful at maintaining their goal weight than those who don't log. Versatility, confidence, education, accountability and greater success in less time - all pretty compelling reasons to use food logs. You're gonna love the new you!!

Hello all! Hard to believe it's been one year this week! Crazy! Wanted to see how everyone is doing. I bottomed out at 209 in August while working on my 5K training (the race was in October). After November, I stopped running, and did elliptical inside more. November and December were my first two months post-op when I GAINED on average! Yikes! I had been averaging 215 in August, September, October...a little up some weeks, a little lower on others. In November, I averaged 216 and then averaged 219 in December!!!!!!! I started off 2014 at 220. It's a little disconcerting to see how it can come back, but not surprising. Work, life, holday stress, etc. Food's been our "friend" for so long. I joined a '365 miles in 365 days' group to recommit to activity (which, truthfully, I never gave up on, which makes the weight gain even scarier!). Now, I just need to focus on the head battle. I'm still far below my own goal, far below my nut's goal, still wearing clothes in the size range from high school, but this monkey never will leave our backs...the modest weight gain has been a mixed blessing in some ways to recommit to this path we've chosen. Rock on January sleevers!!!!

As mentioned in Satiated vs Stuffed, satiety is not quite the same as being full. Full means your upper stomach has reached its maximum capacity: that you have overeaten again – an old habit that made you obese enough to qualify for weight loss surgery. Satiety happens on your way to being full. With a properly adjusted band, you will be comfortable if you stop eating when you're satiated, but you’ll experience discomfort if you eat until you're full. This third article in the Satiety 101 series discusses the signals your body gives to tell you you’re satiated, but that’s only half the battle. The other half involves heeding instead of ignoring those signals. That subject could fill a book (which that I might write some day). Today we’ll focus on recognizing your own unique Stop Eating Signals. Because of its anatomical position (near your diaphragm, and pressing on the vagus nerve at the top of your stomach), the band’s presence (but not your band itself – which we must remember is an inert piece of plastic without any magic at all inside) can give you quick feedback about your eating behavior. The feedback is written in a language issued and understood by your brain, with assistance from your endocrine and digestive systems. Even if you were lousy in your high school French class, you will have to learn how to get directions in that language, so you won’t end up on Weight Gain Road instead op Weight Loss Avenue. Those directions come in the form of what I call Soft Stop and Hard Stop signals. To understand those directions, you’ll need to slow down and pay attention while you eat. It takes 15 to 20 minutes for satiety signals to reach your brain and to be broadcast to the rest of you. If you usually eat with a crowd (family, friends, coworkers), you might need to try eating by yourself for a few meals so you won't be distracted. Stop signals can be subtle and they can come from unexpected parts of your body. It's better to heed a gentle reminder than wait for a hammer to hit you on the head. SOFT STOPS are your early warning system, gentle reminders from your body that it's time to stop eating. Because they don't hurt much, they're easy to ignore. They include: · Mild queasiness (an icky, but not about-to-vomit, feeling) · Fullness or pressure in the back of the throat · Pressure in the chest or just below the breastbone · Throat clearing · Some difficulty swallowing · Burping (or the urge to burp) · Taking a deep breath · Mild coughing · A sigh · Hiccups · Watering eyes · Runny nose · Left shoulder pain · A sneeze · More saliva in the mouth than usual · A sudden distaste for the food you were enjoying a moment before As soon as you notice one of these signs, stop eating! I don't care if your stubborn mind is insisting that it's okay to continue (because it thinks you have room for just one more bite, or the food tastes good, or you haven't cleaned your plate, or you deserve the food, or whatever's going on in there). If you go on eating past this point, you won't be changing your eating behavior and you're likely to get into trouble…that is, a hard stop. HARD STOPS are the equivalent of running into a brick wall. They can happen without any apparent warning, but usually you have sped heedlessly past a soft stop before you hit the wall. Hard stops are the painful and sometimes embarrassing reminders that you have eaten too much, too fast, in bites that were too big, without chewing enough. They include: · Chest pain and/or painful pressure or tightness in the chest · Feeling like you have a rock in the back of your throat · A burning sensation in the throat · A “stuck” feeling, as if the food you’ve eaten has nowhere to go · Productive burps (PB's) – regurgitation of food, kind of like the way a baby erps up milk · Sliming (excess saliva and mucus that's so profuse, you have to spit it out) When you experience a hard stop, STOP EATING! It's not at all a good idea to keep eating after you experience a hard stop, even if the discomfort goes away and your plate of food still looks appealing. You may feel fine and may in fact be able to eat some more, but you should not eat more. The hard stop has irritated your upper gastrointestinal system. Continuing to eat will just perpetuate the problem, getting you into a never-ending cycle of eat-hard stop-pain-eat-hard stop-pain. Cycles like that tend to turn into complications like band slips and esophageal and stomach dilation. That’s the reason for my next piece of advice: follow a liquid diet for 24 hours after a hard stop episode, then transition carefully back to pureed then soft then solid food. If you’re like me, you did not have WLS in order to live on liquids for the rest of your life. That’s yet another reason to learn how to prevent hard stops in the first place, so that you can eat and enjoy real food at every meal. Now here’s one last chunk of information before the bell rings and today’s class ends. You may not experience any or all of these stop signals any or all of the time. At breakfast you might get one signal and at lunch, an entirely different one. At dinner, you may notice no stop signal at all. As time goes on and you lose weight and the amount of saline in your band changes, your stop signals may change as well. All that can be frustrating, but it will force you to go on eating slowly and carefully for the rest of your life, and that’s actually a good practice for anyone, banded or not. That plate of food before you is a blessing that some people in this world can only dream of. Those small portions may look puny to you, but would be a feast to someone else. So treat your food, and your body, with the care they deserve. Learning to recognize satiety over and over again is an ongoing process because our bodies are not statues made of marble. We are all marvelous, unique, and complex creatures who change by the minute, every day of our lives. Click here to read about how those changes can affect soft and hard stop signals. http://www.bariatricpal.com/page/articles.html/_/support/post-op-support/restriction-riddles-r93 This is the third and final article in the Satiety 101 series of articles.

Do you know when to stop eating? To learn the when, you must pay attention to your “stop eating” signals. How do you know when to stop eating? Do you eat until you're full? No, you don't. You should never again try to eat until you feel full, not just because that’s how you became obese enough to qualify for bariatric surgery but because if you’re like me, your stomach (or soul) is an endless void that no amount of food will ever fill. You’re going to have to figure out a new stopping point. As mentioned in Satiated vs Stuffed, satiety is not quite the same as being full. Full means your upper stomach has reached its maximum capacity: that you have overeaten again – an old habit that made you obese enough to qualify for weight loss surgery. Satiety happens on your way to being full. With a properly adjusted band, you will be comfortable if you stop eating when you're satiated, but you’ll experience discomfort if you eat until you're full. This third article in the Satiety 101 series discusses the signals your body gives to tell you you’re satiated, but that’s only half the battle. The other half involves heeding instead of ignoring those signals. That subject could fill a book (which that I might write some day). Today we’ll focus on recognizing your own unique Stop Eating Signals. Because of its anatomical position (near your diaphragm, and pressing on the vagus nerve at the top of your stomach), the band’s presence (but not your band itself – which we must remember is an inert piece of plastic without any magic at all inside) can give you quick feedback about your eating behavior. The feedback is written in a language issued and understood by your brain, with assistance from your endocrine and digestive systems. Even if you were lousy in your high school French class, you will have to learn how to get directions in that language, so you won’t end up on Weight Gain Road instead op Weight Loss Avenue. Those directions come in the form of what I call Soft Stop and Hard Stop signals. To understand those directions, you’ll need to slow down and pay attention while you eat. It takes 15 to 20 minutes for satiety signals to reach your brain and to be broadcast to the rest of you. If you usually eat with a crowd (family, friends, coworkers), you might need to try eating by yourself for a few meals so you won't be distracted. Stop signals can be subtle and they can come from unexpected parts of your body. It's better to heed a gentle reminder than wait for a hammer to hit you on the head. SOFT STOPS are your early warning system, gentle reminders from your body that it's time to stop eating. Because they don't hurt much, they're easy to ignore. They include: · Mild queasiness (an icky, but not about-to-vomit, feeling) · Fullness or pressure in the back of the throat · Pressure in the chest or just below the breastbone · Throat clearing · Some difficulty swallowing · Burping (or the urge to burp) · Taking a deep breath · Mild coughing · A sigh · Hiccups · Watering eyes · Runny nose · Left shoulder pain · A sneeze · More saliva in the mouth than usual · A sudden distaste for the food you were enjoying a moment before As soon as you notice one of these signs, stop eating! I don't care if your stubborn mind is insisting that it's okay to continue (because it thinks you have room for just one more bite, or the food tastes good, or you haven't cleaned your plate, or you deserve the food, or whatever's going on in there). If you go on eating past this point, you won't be changing your eating behavior and you're likely to get into trouble…that is, a hard stop. HARD STOPS are the equivalent of running into a brick wall. They can happen without any apparent warning, but usually you have sped heedlessly past a soft stop before you hit the wall. Hard stops are the painful and sometimes embarrassing reminders that you have eaten too much, too fast, in bites that were too big, without chewing enough. They include: · Chest pain and/or painful pressure or tightness in the chest · Feeling like you have a rock in the back of your throat · A burning sensation in the throat · A “stuck” feeling, as if the food you’ve eaten has nowhere to go · Productive burps (PB's) – regurgitation of food, kind of like the way a baby erps up milk · Sliming (excess saliva and mucus that's so profuse, you have to spit it out) When you experience a hard stop, STOP EATING! It's not at all a good idea to keep eating after you experience a hard stop, even if the discomfort goes away and your plate of food still looks appealing. You may feel fine and may in fact be able to eat some more, but you should not eat more. The hard stop has irritated your upper gastrointestinal system. Continuing to eat will just perpetuate the problem, getting you into a never-ending cycle of eat-hard stop-pain-eat-hard stop-pain. Cycles like that tend to turn into complications like band slips and esophageal and stomach dilation. That’s the reason for my next piece of advice: follow a liquid diet for 24 hours after a hard stop episode, then transition carefully back to pureed then soft then solid food. If you’re like me, you did not have WLS in order to live on liquids for the rest of your life. That’s yet another reason to learn how to prevent hard stops in the first place, so that you can eat and enjoy real food at every meal. Now here’s one last chunk of information before the bell rings and today’s class ends. You may not experience any or all of these stop signals any or all of the time. At breakfast you might get one signal and at lunch, an entirely different one. At dinner, you may notice no stop signal at all. As time goes on and you lose weight and the amount of saline in your band changes, your stop signals may change as well. All that can be frustrating, but it will force you to go on eating slowly and carefully for the rest of your life, and that’s actually a good practice for anyone, banded or not. That plate of food before you is a blessing that some people in this world can only dream of. Those small portions may look puny to you, but would be a feast to someone else. So treat your food, and your body, with the care they deserve. Learning to recognize satiety over and over again is an ongoing process because our bodies are not statues made of marble. We are all marvelous, unique, and complex creatures who change by the minute, every day of our lives. Click here to read about how those changes can affect soft and hard stop signals. http://www.bariatricpal.com/page/articles.html/_/support/post-op-support/restriction-riddles-r93 This is the third and final article in the Satiety 101 series of articles.

Andy here. Me family knicked named me Beamish coz I love it so much. Tis probably me weight gain right there. I'm a farmer, which some people would think being on a farm would help keep the weight down but tis hard. Me wife thinks its the pints. My wife kept giving me rabbit food (salads) and soups for a while but i got sick of it. Didn know there were so many different options to weight loss surgery. Now now, its only a thought in the mind now but still, it is something I need to think about. My doctor said i've a BMI of 43.4 and I should be around 25. No chance o that happening naturally. I'm out of breath just bending down to tie my shoes. I'm going to have to give up my farm if I dont loose weight. i've diabetes II, blood pressure and recently been told ive sleep apnea. my health is getting worse unless sometihin is done.

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.

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.

I have Mirena and so far so good. All MD's I've discussed this birth control with seem confident that it does not cause weight gain.

I have the Para Guard and had no problems, then again the paraguard doesn't contain hormones or weight gain. I had it before surgery 1 1/2 years ago and a few pounds from goal.

I also have a struggle going on with my weight gain. I would also suggest talking with someone regarding your sleep issues. I also want you to know that is NEVER too late! I'm not giving up and you shouldn't either! It isn't going to be easy, none of this has been. I've lost, then I gained. I'm going to loose again and you can too. I need to do better at logging what I eat...no matter what it is...good or bad. I will write it down so I can see it and then make better choices, I hope. I am hoping the good eating habits will lead to better exercise and less stress. We can only give it our best and try and try and try.

Today I got bold and curious about a drawer of "skinny " pants I haven't been able to wear for over two years from my days of obsessively working out and taking Phentermine ..would you believe they all fit? Some with room to spare?..for a day that started out with a crummy 5lb water weight gain I sure feel Greeaaat now! Thank God for my sleeve!

Hello Boomers, I want to wish everybody a Happy New Year. It has been awhile since I have been here but I am now back on track after the past holiday. Too many dinners and Cookies and I see that I have gained 3 pounds over the holidays. This holiday weight gain is the lowest of my life so I am thankful. I gave myself a few treats and did not work out like I usually do but I am back and focused so I can complete my weightloss journey. I started to get my Water intake up today. I made a pitcher of water and added the slices of 2 fresh lemons. I let the water set for almost an hour before I started and I must say it tasted great. I have also bought a bag of red grapefruit and will use that in my water tomorrow. And, starting tomorrow I will start my Protein liquids again. Take care and it is good to be back, Cheryl

No period. Not expecting it for a few weeks. Just don't understand, weight gain. OHHHHHHH I am frustrated.

Hi all and Happy New Year - great to hear from you Aussie girl! I too have put some weight on after maintaining for nearly 6 months! I have been eating crap over Christmas and it has finally come home to roost! I have also noticed that over that last month or so I can eat larger quantities so this has probably got something to do with it. So my goal now is to cut out all rubbish and watch my portion sizes and snacking between meals ( I obviously don't need the Snacks if I am eating more at meal times). I have finally joined the gym but have lost momentum over Christmas. I think I will buy myself a personal training package to get me going again for the year. Unfortunately I can't blame muscle gain on my weight gain as I just haven't been doing enough! Regarding stalls - I have come to the conclusion that some people's bodies just hold onto weight more than other people. I agree with everyone's advise on just sticking to the program - even if you are only dropping and average of 500 grams a week, if you add the weeks up it is a significant weight loss and more that most people could hope to achieve without the sleeve. My only advise is focus on developing healthy eating habits now as when you get to maintenance it is that much harder to break any habits you have formed over the great weight loss window of 6 months or so - I am learning the hard way and my surgeon did warn me about this (but who listens to the doctors all the time right!). I think it is nearly time for another Sydney Siders get together - Kelli - when did you say you would be in Sydney? Hope you can make it Aussie girl and Susan? All welcome of course!

Glad your back....been worried about you..... Florinda I'm glad your back too, sad for your loss and proud that you sang at Larry's funeral..... the weight gain from the exercise is inflammation from working those muscles and your body is working to repair those muscles...such a process and very frustrating to see a gain after such hard work.... I actually lost a lb from yesterday most likely due to my body not being able to tolerate lactose any longer. I get stomach problems about 15 minutes after drinking it. Sorry for TMI.....But I'll take it and continue working on losing some more..

BelindaK hit the nail on the head. My doctor says that our biggest problem with being overweight is portion size. From my own personal experience. This is true. We need to eat healthy this is true, but not all carbs are bad. Your body needs carbs also. You just have to define what is good for you versus whats bad. If you do eat carbs just know that you must exercise because even good carbs can have an impact on weight gain as far as calories

A couple of weeks ago I started experiencing tingling in hands and fingers (peripheral neuropathy) - I have had this to much lesser degree before I have read many causes of this - Diabetes, nerve damage etc. I really feel this is due to my weight gain and I'm interested to hear anyone else's experiences with this

Really curious about this as I've seen it mentioned on a few of the weight gain forums!! Everytime someone mentions a weight gain someone says watch ur sodium intake! Can someone explain why?? As after weeks do water and protein I love a bit of salt on my scrambled egg :(

I am 6 months out, so as the others said, I can't speak for the weight gain in the long term, but as with any weight loss surgery, there is still a lot of work involved with exercise and making good choices. You could easily put the weight back on, I'm sure, if you don't stick to a high Protein low carb diet. At this point, I still can't eat more than a 1/2 cup of food at a time and I was told by a year I would be able to eat a cup, so the stomach stretches but that is not anywhere near the capacity I had before surgery! As for the Vitamin deficiency, I take a Multivitamin and vit d with Calcium once a day and my labs have been perfect every two months since I had the surgery.

I am starting to research the gastric sleeve surgery. I have been reading that there is weight gain between 3-6 years. I have also read about a lot of vitamin deficiencies. Can anyone give me some info on this??

We are doing this thing! Stress is a killer. Literally, it's not just the weight gain there are so many areas of our body that chronic stress and emotional upset affect. My wish for us all in 2014 is that along with making our personal goals, we all take the time to take care of and love ourselves. When we do that, we combat stress. Speaking from personal experience in the face of extreme trauma and stress, taking the time to care for and show yourself some compassion and love is a hard thing to do. In 2014 make time for YOU as well as others. That is my personal goal this year Happy New Year to All.

I'm trying to get perspective on the big picture of 2013. I started the year at 155, which has been my weight give or take 3# since about 10 mo post-op. In March I found out I was pregnant. I debated having my band adjusted early because I couldn't imagine the discomfort of doing it with a distended belly. My OB didn't think I should adjust it at all, but I wanted to ask a band surgeon. I moved 500 miles from the city I had my surgery in, so I had to find a new dr. She agreed that we should let it out and so we took 2cc. I had a couple weeks of ridiculous indiscretion when I realized I could eat more than a bite of hamburger. I wasn't junking out on bad food, but portion sizes were not modest. At any rate, I realize that started a really negative spiral. I miscarried in May and had my band retightened the second week of June. I'd put on 10 pounds between March and June. Since then I have been back to much more proper habits, but my weight is still gradually coming back. I'm hovering around 170 in spite of moderate portions and a primarily vegetarian/whole food, mostly home cooked diet. I spent all of Nov and Dec being all the more hyper vigilant. I indulged in desserts 2-3 times. Had a few extra glasses of wine than normal and still saw the scale creep up 3 pounds. I don't know if this sounds absurd or not, but I'm wondering if my indiscretions of spring have permanently reset something. The other concern is that this dr used a different technique for accessing my port and I can't help wondering if something went wrong quietly. Since my refill in June I have made a serious effort to moderate portions and such but I am hungrier than I used to be and things that used to get stuck don't anymore (like bread...but I'm still not eating it often, just experimenting because of the confusion). Any insight? Other than weight gain I can't say there are any other "symptoms" of something serious.

If I may weigh in... The breakthrough bleeding will happen no matter what bc you're on, bc losing a ton of weight so quickly does crazy things to your body & hormone levels. It was the most frustrating part of this process for me. I tried to get my dr to put me on depo & she used the "weight gain" deterrent. Honestly, after this long, & all my stalls & losses...I just still cannot see how it could affect weight so much. I was on it after my 2nd son was born & gained a TON of weight (80# or so). BUT I certainly wasn't eating like a Sleever, nor was I exercising or even eating healthy foods. Honestly, when I go back for my annual physical in April, I'm going to have her put me back on it bc I keep forgetting pills! Oiy!

I need to cut back on the sugar.... I havent seen any weight gain from it yet but I find mysekf reaching for it a LOT mor often than I had been.... I never really limited the other carbs as long as I ate Proteins first... I recently had hysterectomy and studies show the aveerage weight gain 1 year out is 20 pounds...THAT CANNOT HAPPEN FOR ME so I need to monitor my habits....

Thanks for the encouragement, it is just what I need. I know I won't go back to smoking because it has been a year and I just don't want them. What I do need is help with the weight gain so I hope it will be okay to come here for that special kind of help that only people that have been through the same thing can understand.