Search the Community

The most common issues I've seen in report tracking people 5 years and beyond is weight gain and acid reflux. Some have an issue with a neofundus (part of the stomach regrows or stretches, allowing weight gain, acid reflux and other issues), but there is some debate about that being caused by poor technique when doing the sleeve. If you don't eat right or take your Vitamins, also problems with Protein, Vitamin or Calcium deficiency. Lynda

I'm up 4 pounds this week and I've been more active than ever, burning around 3500 cals on the 3 days I worked out. Because I weigh daily, I noticed a spike in my weight the day after an intense workout ( cardio+strength training). Is this normal?

A little over a year ago I took my hubby to his GP for a check up. While I waited.... in the waiting area (of all places, funny enough) I was looking over a board of pamplets... pamflets.... nope thats not it either.... info board:thumbup1: and saw some....info on banding. I had them in the top draw of my desk and would always look at them thinking 'there is no way I'm going to be able to afford this treatment' I would sigh and put them back. It wasn't till I was going through the info and found the part about being over 40 BMI (my BMI was up to 60 with only a 3 kg weight gain in late pregnancy, and is now at 50 7 and and a half mts later....swallows hard) that I booked an appt. with my GP to see if there was any way around it. I built a case of *yo yo proof* with photos at all stages of my life, none of which were "skinny", but you could see that this battle was going on for manyyyyy years (50kg here 30kg there) and never even come close to winning. My lovely GP looked at me and said that I was a perfect candidate and don't worry about the money as you should be able to access your superanuation to pay for it. I felt the biggest wash of releif/anxiety/fear/excitement/jelly legs/upside down belly like a child on xmas eve. ohhh did I mention anxiety??? I was then put on a public waiting list at catagory 2 waiting list which translates to, ohhhh about 3 to 6 months waiting list... adn thats only for an interview to be re catagorised again!!! (another 1 year waiting list so I'm told) *slumps in chair* Scratching around in all the sites I find a seminar for banding. gung ho on getting a band I went along and was amazed to learn of this sleeve. Instantly i was.....:thumbup1:. thank god I found this out before signing up for a band where I was prepared to take all the jackpots that come with it. Soooo back to the drawing board, and another mountain of hours looking into sleeve pros and cons. I haven't been able to find many long term sleevers but also haven't heard of many complaints for those who have had it. I am totally happy with my decision to have a sleeve. I was prepared to do a band with all the associated posibilities/disruptions, BUT now am all warm and fuzzy thinking that I beleive I saved myself a bucket load of heartache by choosing a little sleeve. I can't wait to see my doc next week and see what he has to say and what my next move is. Until then I will keep trying to loose weight on my own, wishing the days away.:001_rolleyes: roll on 19th!!! ****off with the fairies for the minute****

Had Mirena for 1 year and it was the worst year of my life! Bled nonstop for 6 months followed by 2 week periods every other month, cystic acne, hair loss, anxiety, depression, and weight gain. Got it out in June and I feel like myself again! Sent from my SM-G920V using the BariatricPal App

All the comments above are accurate. You may need to seek counseling as to the reason you "replaced food with alcohol" for me, food was my friend, my constant companion, my stress relief, and utmost, my anger/anxiety relief. I have had to redirect my emotional eating to something else. In the middle of my journey, i too turned to alcohol. Weight gain scared me and so i did some soul searching and decided i needed a healtier coping skill. Recently it has been the gym and i find that i get irritable when i cant make it there. This is not only a journey of weight loss, but a complete rediscovery of who I/we want to be. It is scary to face the world and reality without a comfort so learning alterative healthy coping skills is a must. You don't want to trade one addiction to another. It's a slippery slope. This site will be a great source of understanding and support, however, you have to search within you and find what you want to change. Good luck with your journey!

Hello All I Need Some Input and/or advice, Had Lap band in 2007 did really well on it and lost 122 Pounds 288 down to 166! Last 18 months My weight has gone up, but was unable to be adjusted, Radiology MD said I was to tight and would not adjust me. I attempted multiple adjustments and every time the Radiology MD said no Im to tight. Went to my Bariatric surgeon and he finally removed all the fill and said rest 30 days and lets try a fill. That was before Thanksgiving. From then until Mid January I packed on 30 pounds! Finally got a fill of 1.5 CC (my band holds 4CC) and... nothing. It should be noted that I have no problems with GERD, reflux or any other issues - just no weight loss. Went to a new doctor (only changed because he is closer to work/home) recommended revision to BY-Pass, but I was thinking sleeve. He says if I want to get back down to 166 by-pass is the way to go. I know some people that had By-pass started off great and then gained weight. Here are my questions: Which way to go Sleeve or By-Pass? If you converted from band to sleeve how much did you loose in total? Did you loose as much as you had with the lap band? If you chose By- pass how much did you loose in total? Im not worried about the surgery or recovery - Im just worried about living with my choice how it will affect my eating and possible weight gain - I do not want to have a third weight loss surgery. Thanks in advance for your help.

Oh goodness. My surgery is Sept. 13th. I went to the pre-surgery class on Tuesday and I gained 5 lbs. from the day I saw the surgeon. I have exactly one week to lose the 5 lbs. otherwise they will cancel the surgery. The pressure is on. I started having 2 protein shakes and a small salad for lunch and lots of water and hot tea (still sick I caught bronchitis).And I will start the back at the gym today. Any suggestions? Thanks

First of all, I just want to say that I am so proud of you for reaching out and getting the process started. Sometimes that very first action is the hardest but you did it and that's something to celebrate. I would say as you're working through the process of getting approved for surgery, it would be worthwhile to see a therapist. I also have abuse and trauma in my history which heavily contributed to my disordered eating and weight gain. Getting help for my mental well being was the single most important piece of my journey. The surgery is just a tool and it will only work as well as you learn to use it. Making sure that you work through trauma, learn new coping mechanisms, and have a solid support system in place will help ensure long term success. As for questions, I'd say keep a journal or notebook and write things down as they come to mind. Then, take that to your appts and ask them all as you're able to. Personally, I wanted to know all about my surgeons success/mortality/infection rates, the pre- and post-op diets, long term eating habits, vitamin and supplement requirements, and my personal health history and how it may impact surgery and success. Of course, other questions came up along the way, so I asked those too. Welcome to the WLS surgery club. We're glad you're here and we're cheering you on!

Generally people gain back some of the weight after they bottom out. If you are at 14 months, I suspect that you have worked through the loss stage and have entered the maintenance stage. Individuals tend to gain weight back because they graze. This allows their pouch to grow and thus there is weight gain. Focusing on carbohydrates does not tend to fill one up and promotes grazing. So I suspect grazing on popcorn could be a problem. Consuming sugar can also be a problem but in your case, you have limited that from your diet. Grazing on Protein is good. In my case, I have included fats back in my diet. I am 18 months post-op from RNY. Fats take away hunger and I use fats to control my urge to graze. For example I drink one cup of coffee each day and I top it with home made whip cream. I also use real milk, butter, meat that is not lean. I also use Adkin's treats. I was diabetic prior to surgery and pay a lot of attention to reducing my sugar (processed sugar) to next to nothing. But generally I can satisfy my sweet tooth with Splenda and Stevia. Exercise is important. If you are not up and about doing normal daily activities, it is important to try and get back on some sort of exercise regime. Walking is good.

anyone having problems with weight gain years after gastric bypass surgery? I need support! help please, we can do this together and lose that weight gain! Thanks in advance, Sharowna

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.

I am now 8 days post op. My doc required a two week pre-op liquid diet. Immediately after surgery, he wants me on a two clear liquid diet. Since starting my pre-op diet, I am down 25 pounds!!! But...I had gained 15 pounds from my initial consultation in November. I think the weight gain was due to numerous things since November...Christmas, Disney Vacation in January and the whole fear of not being able to eat a certain food ever again. I feel good. I don't see my doc till Thurs. for a followup and release to return to work. I'm looking so forward to full liquids and mushies! Never thought I'd say I was looking forward to cream soups, puddings, etc. Later.

Have you started your 3 month diet? I am 1 wk into mine, I must admit it's a total joke. I feel as if I am just jumping through hoops to please the insurance company. Plus it is rather strange that they aren't trying to get you to lose a lot of weight but rather notice your trends and the things you do that promote weight gain. For me my goals were things like drink more water, don't have tv on while eating or don't eat at my desk at work and look at the computer at the same time. St. Mary's has a program where they assist you with the process using their staff which has made it easier for me. Good Luck

I am right where you are in that I had surgery the same day and am currently on pureed food. The only things I would ask is are you (sorry) pooping well since backed up poop can cause weight gain and are you drinking plenty of water. You will retain fluids if you are not drinking enough. On the pureed front, I am only doing chicken, cottage cheese, cauliflower and greek yogurt so far so basically only a few carbs. Not adding fruits or any other carbs for a while. Hang in there!!

I was the same way. Just gaining with no change to diet and I wasn't eating terribly. I just didn't understand why I was gaining until my endocrinologist told me it was the PCOS. That's why I am going the bariatric route too. Mostly because of the other symptoms other then the weight gain. Facial hair drives me nuts! I just want that to go away! Sent from my SM-G965U using BariatricPal mobile app

LOL I will blame any weight gain on my bowel content.. Will make me feel better anyway hehehe... I had some mashed potato and pumpkin for my first meal I was so excited.. I recon I could have had alot more but I restricted myself which was hard to do but I done it

As others have said - check with your program. It could be intentional to help keep your blood sugar from crashing and keep you out of ketosis during a short period pre-op and/or post-op. I know my program advocates for small amounts of 100% apple or grape juice for those reasons (yes, my program tries to keep us out of ketosis which is different from others). If you are only taking in clear liquids the amount of sugar you are getting from a moderate amount of apple or grape juice is not going to cause significant weight gain. Moderation is the key though - I wouldn't drink gallons of apple or grape juice all day long.

So my surgery was on 1.8.18, and since I have had zero appetite. I will eat somethings ( still on phase 2 full liquids and soft foods) but most of my options are sweet ( yogurt, oatmeal,pudding, jello, premier protein) with the 2 exceptions of grits and mashed potatoes. I just rather not eat and drink water then to suffer through more sweet crap. Also has anyone else noticed a stall in weightloss after 3 weeks or even a lb or 2 weight gain? My husband says I'm stressing over nothing but idk. Sent from my SM-G930P using BariatricPal mobile app

My name is Leslie, i've been obese since i was a little kid, i weight over 200 pounds starting in fifth grade, never really had any friends, kids were always so mean...but my family was worse......my own grandparents don't even have pictures of me up on the walls in their home, and they only have 2 grandchildren.....and pictures everywhere of my lesser obese cousin....it really saddens me when i visit them and see that....when i was 18 and graduated high school i decided i wanted to loose weight, i stopped drinking sodas, and ate alot less, and only once a day, and stopped eating sweets, and i lost 80 pounds, weigthed about 250, was able to fit into blue jeans that didn't have ellastic that was like the best feeling, but it wasn't good enough for my famiily, they told me i had to keep loosing, and not to eat this and not to drink that, and them harrassing me just got me down, my entire life they harrassed me on my weight and they couldn't have just been proud of me that i lost 80 pounds in only 3 mothes, so i got what i wanted out of the weight loss ( a boyfriend) and then started eating and drinking whatever i wanted again, and gained all the weight back, luckily not right away, it was about a year or so before it all came back, and as i was in and out of relationships the weight would come on and off, i'd loose weight when i wasn't in a relationship and gained weight by being comfortable in a relationship, of course most of the guys i went out with were also overweight so they liked sodas, sweets, and fast food restaraunts, not a friend to someone trying to loose weight.....but then i met my husband moved from san antonio to dallas after knowing him 1 week, and after 1 month living with him i gained 30 pounds, weighing 300 when i met him, we lived with his parents the first month, and they had sodas galore in their house, and all the sweets you can imagine, and every chip available, i love them to death but the temptations in their house are awful to someone who needs to loose weight, so yea i started drinking sodas again, before i met my hubby i was off sodas for a while, and the first 30 pounds came fast....then we got our own place and started trying for a baby, we weren't having any luck getting pregnant, i wasn't having regular periods, i haven't had regular periods since junior high, so after we married in nov we went to the doc to find out why we weren't getting pregnant, and after being treated horribliy by the obgyn telling us there was "no magic pill i can give you to get pregnant" those are her exact words, and not what we were looking for......we had tests done....found out i had a thyroid problem, but oddly enough i had the thyroid problem that affects skinny people, which happens to also be the thyroid problem that the meds you have to take are not safe to get pregnant on, so that left us with only one option, to kill off my thyroid and have me become hypothryoid....so that happened about a year after we met plus a few monthes, and i was bed ridden for about 3 monthes, in horrible pain after i had my throid killed off waiting for the meds to level off and have normal thyroid levels....i could barely move, my neck would cramp up my back would cramp up, it hurt to lay down, to sit up , to do anything so this was another 30 pounds added to my weight gain.....so now the biggest i've ever been in my entire life and can't do some simple things that i used to be able to do i'm so misserable.....then all the meds i'm taking to get my hormones in check to give me periods and to make me ovulate cause me to gain another 20 pounds......so now i'm really uncomfortable, i mean i was always used to being a big girl but 80 pounds on top of what i was used to being is ridiculous and so uncomfortable, i told my husband a few weeks ago if the clomid didnt work this month to make me ovulate that i want to have the lapband surgery, and of course the clomid did not work.....so i talked with my obgyn and she said having the lapband surgery would be a very good idea.....and go figure a week later and i have my first period on my own in probably about 2 years, my husband was thinking about trying just in case i ovulate on my own too......but i told him no, i decided i want to have this surgery, i don't want to try till after i have this surgery and get the ok to start trying.....it was just so depressing all those monthes trying and thinking maybe this time....and then getting a negative pregnancy test, i just want to feel like me again, and if i loose more then the 80 pounds to get me back to the "me weight" the weight i'm used to, then thats just an extra bonus.....

Well, sure, but even a doctor isn't really likely to want to operate on a healthy patient "just in case." Once the patient really did start to gain weight rapidly a doctor might reband, as happened in Wayne's case, but insurance carriers have their guidelines and preventing future possibilities aren't in them. Personally, if my band slipped when I was at or close to goal I'd first want to see if there were any possible chance that my new behaviors could prevent weight gain before having the band replaced. The less surgery the better, IMO.

Depending on your insurance, you will have to do a 3 or 6 months supervised diet. My PCP followed me during mine. She said the diet wasn't so much for weight loss, but the insurance company is seeing whether you make the effort and keep your monthly appointments. The doctor who is doing my surgery (tomorrow!) did require that I lose any weight gained from my initial appointment with him. Meaning, when I had my first office visit on May 16th of last year, I weighed 242. I had my appointment to schedule surgery about 3 weeks ago and I weighed 248. I had to lose 6 pounds by today. I went to the office to weigh in today and weigh 240, so I am good to go! Good luck on your journey.....

I drank at 3 weeks post op. It was a week long work event that had nightly cocktails hours. And was otherwise very alcohol focused. I was really drinking just to fit in and to not draw attention to my WLS. i did not enjoy drinking. Which was very different from pre op! I felt no difference in the effect of the alcohol though. I never even got the slightest bit buzzed. After that week I have mostly swore off drinking because it caused a weight gain. That week I averaged 700 cals per day, including alcohol, and returned home to a 2 LB gain. That pissed me off, and made not drinking an easy decision. Since then I have had a couple of glasses of wine. One was forced upon me by my boss when we were out to dinner on my birthday. The other is when I was having a nice tapas style dinner w a friend that had an amazing wine by the glass menu. That was the first time I really wanted a drink. I had one, it tasted good, but not as good as before. These glasses of wine did not hit me harder than usual, in fact I didn’t feel any effect from them at all.

i had gastric sleeve 10-4-17 yesterday. I was discharged today and gained 8 lbs! Is that normal? I am also having what I decribe as waves in my abdomen that can be relieved by standing up. Is that normal?

We don't know how many of us sleevers will have regrets or need some revision in the long term. I mentioned my 3 close relatives with lapbands all of whom are doing great. We also know several people who have done just fine. In fact, we counted 9 people off the tops of our heads and I'm the only one with complications. And my complication (hiatal hernia) can come back with the sleeve. I just figured if I was going to have a hiatal hernia anyway, I might as well have it with a WLS that will (hopefully) allow me to lose weight rather than a band that can't be adjusted and weight gain. I guess what I'm saying is I don't have strong feelings about one over the other BUT I would not base my opinion of the Cathlic religion on a forum for "ex" Cathlics if I wanted to learn about it. I would probably give the "exes" a viewing but wouldn't consider that the experience of the majority. Though thousands of lives are saved by seatbelts every year, you will have people who are against wearing them because they think there are a few cases where someone was "killed because of the seatbelt." The sleeve may be the very best surgery for you and by all means ask people with bad experiences and good with various WLS. But in the end, it's your body and your life and you have to make a decision that you can live with. I feel like I'm a bit of a pioneer with this surgery. I don't know what the future holds 5 years out. I certainly hope it's all good.

I would need more information in order to have an informed opinion. You've lost 120! great! how much more do you need to loose, what is your BMI? what is your goal? then there are the statistics. pesky little devils. the vast majority of everyone who looses weight gains it back. the surgery is a way of moving the odds more to your favor. for me that's a tipping point in favor of the surgery. wishing you all the best!