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amyon2wheels 2 great things about your post you are proudly showing off your 200 weight loss showing newbies et that they can/will be successful with their weight loss you are also honestly admitting that anyone can gain weight but you are wisely nipping your weight gain in the bud newbies et al need to be aware that this is a life time journey once you achieve goal - you must continue to follow all the rules forever, and ever or you might/will gain weight back amy you know what to do, i'm sure you will lose those nasty 20 lbs, and once again reach goal then.............. as OP need to realize, they must continue to eat and drink properly for the rest of theif healthier, happier, life good luck kathy congrats

Total BS! My doc said to have your cheat days twice a month and thats it....Getting real tired of people telling me "well its ok to have this once in a while". Then you start thinking to yourself "hmm, you know thats right, I can have it once in a while". Next thing you kno, every thing ur eating becomes a "once in a while type food" lmao. This whole summer I messed up badly, BBQ's everywhere, hangouts, drinking etc. I was trying to focus on clean eating but everyones like chill out u deserve to have sum type of fun. So thats what I did, chilled out. My mistake bc ofcourse, I had to pay the price of weight gain! (Like 5-10 pounds) Which was a set back for me bc I was only 20 pounds away from my goal and just ended up prolonging it as we all know the last 20 pounds r the HARDEST to lose. A small stomache is a TOOL! You cannot exspect to be eating junk in small portions and believe that you will have your dream body in no time. I'm so glad I was able to get my ass back in check and get back to work! I now meet with my strength training coach 3x a week and then go to lucille roberts to take a few classes when I can. I focus on Protein protein protein and very little carbs. Two weeks so far and Im feeling FAB! Yesterday at work we had a pizza party. Everyone had pizza and I watched them while I drank my Premier Protein shake! Someone told me "You can have a slice, one slice wont kill you" I said "It wont kill me and it wont HELP me either. Today isnt cheat day, It can wait" I'm just feeling unstopabble and Im not tryna hear no one's peer pressure. Just thought I'd warn some of you. Dont ever get too comfortable and dont listen to others. Always do YOUR BODY good! Have a nice day

How Common is food Addiction? Although there is little doubt that food addiction exists, the question of how common this may be remains a matter of debate. Now a study by Pardis Pedram and colleagues from Memorial University, Newfoundland, examine this issue in a paper just published in PLoS One. I am a food addict. I found this to be confirming.... The study looks at 652 adult volunteers (415 women, 237 men) recruited from the general population. ‘Food addiction’ was assessed using the Yale Food Addiction scale (YFAS), a questionnaire consists of 27 items that assess eating patterns over the past 12 months. The YFAS translates the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV TR(DSM-IV TR) substance dependence criteria in relation to eating behavior (including tolerance and withdrawal symptoms, vulnerability in social activities, difficulties cutting down or controlling use, etc.). The criteria for ‘food addiction’ are met when three or more symptoms are present within the past 12 months together with clinically significant impairment or distress. Based on these criteria, ‘food addiction’ was present in 5.4% of participants (6.7% in females and 3.0% in males) and increased with obesity status. Interestingly enough, the clinical symptom counts of ‘food addiction’ were positively correlated with all body composition measurements across the entire sample (p<0.001) – not just in those with higher BMI. Nevertheless, “food addicts” substantially heavier (11.7 kg), had 4.6 units higher BMI, and had 8.2% more body fat than “non-addicts”. Furthermore, food addicts consumed more calories from fat and Protein than controls. Thus, this study shows that as many as 1 in 20 (or 5%) of the general population may have a diagnosis of “food addiction”. Those who do are substantially heavier than individuals who do not meet these criteria. Furthermore, individual symptoms of “food addiction” are associated with higher body weight across the entire range of BMI suggesting that even mild to moderate signs of “addiction” (below the threshold of a formal diagnosis) may contribute to weight gain in the general population. As with all addictions, simply warning about the “evils” or making consumption more difficult (taxing, banning, punishing) is of limited help in addressing the problem. In addition, given that total “food-abstinence” is not an option, the best you can hope for is “harm-reduction” – a rather conservative goal for any addiction. Clearly, not recognizing the potential role of food addiction as a contributor to the obesity epidemic means missing the boat on providing appropriate care to individuals with this condition. As with other addictions, “Simply say no” approaches are naive at best in addressing the problem. @DrSharma Edmonton, Alberta

Had my band three years and lost at little over 40 lbs. It slipped and was removed 5/23/13, no weight gain and in fact lost. Had bypass last Wednesday and was really lucky. Very little scar tissue from the band so surgery was less than an hour. My problem was both blood sugar and blood pressure but having CHF and diabetes that was all to be expected. Went home in 24 hours, doing great and losing a lb a day. You'll do well and in no time be back to where you were and then some.

Hi! I was sleeved on Aug. 22. I have bipolar. I haven't been sleeved for long and, if anything, I'm still really tired all the time. You raise an interesting question though - I am anxious to see what the future holds w/r/t weight loss and my bipolar. I know you didn't ask for this advice, but one more thing I will add, FWIW, the only medication that EVER worked for me in terms of stopping the cycles of up and down is Lamictal, which is a mood stabilizer. It is generic. And it doesn't cause weight gain. I'm throwing that out there to the extent you end up finding that you're "too high." Good luck - nice to know there are others on this journey!

The worst thing that any of us can do is pretend like everything is hunky dory. That is what I always did in the past, stopped stepping on the scale, ignored my clothes getting tighter, and just being in denial overall. Then, it would be like all of a sudden, I would wake up fat and wonder how it happened!! My best defense against weight gain is routine and keeping trigger foods out of my house. I really do not have any more self control than I had before, but if the food is not there, I can't eat it, plain and simple. I have said if before, and I will say it again, the only time we fail is when we give up. You already know what you have to do, you just need to do it.

Don is right. At 6 days I was just getting back to my surgery day weight. Gained tons with all the fluids. Why do you think you are stalled? A stall is when you don't move for several or more weeks and you have not a week out yet. I hope your expectations are realistic. Good luck to you but please don't think you will wake up lighter each day.

I am about a month and a halg post op and I have only been weighing myself once a week. Today when I stepped on the scale, I gained 5lbs. Is it normal to gain?

I think we (myself included) need to take a step back and stop stressing. I know that we are in this together, but I've found myself worrying over a stall, comparing my progress post op to others with surgery dates near mine, and at times wondering if I will be one of those people that the procedure didn't work for. If you are anything like me, I spent YEARS lamenting over my insignificant weight loss or significant weight gains. Now I have a tool that in three weeks has worked better than an entire year of weight watchers, and yet I'm all chicken-little-the-sky-is-falling because I'm not losing FAST enough?? Admittedly, patience is not my strong point. When I thought about it in those terms, I felt like I was poo-poo'ing all of the amazing progress I've demonstrated so far. Seriously, when have I EVER LOST 30 pounds in two months? So if I'm stalling right now, so be it. I know my weight loss will come.

Hey! I am Pre-sleeve. I have been with my hubby for 12 years (high school sweetheart) and I was really chubby then. I am now 70-80 pounds heavier and have had two children and he loves me just as much or more. A few years ago I was thinking 'what if I was a healthy weight..Would we have gotten together? Is there anyone else out there that would want me? Did I settle for the first guy who liked me?' But honestly he has NEVER made any reference to my weight gain. Makes me feel special at any size. He really thinks I'm the sexiest thing ever. He is just a genuinely carling and loving man. And I think our relationship is just going to get better post-sleeve. I'm sure it will be tough the first few months because I'm going to be a hungry, crazy, emotional disaster until I find that balance and routine. But I will be more comfortable with MYSELF which in turn will allow me to be more comfortable with him. I'm not doing this for him, I'm doing it for me. So I can have a better quality of life and be a better remodel for my young children. We are all going to benefit from it and Mike and I will be able to grow old together! <3 Sheena :-)

I have had a weight problem for over 10 years. It started out with just 20-30 pounds over weight but I grew older and stressed I ate more and more. I would lose weight but I never maintained the loss. The biggest gain for me started about 3 years ago when I made the decision to move away from my family for my career. At first I was okay no weight gain but as I began missing my family the more I pulled away from the life I had created away from home and dwell on how much I missed home. That's when I started eating more and more. Before I knew it I was 70 lbs heavier. I tried Zumba and walking to get the weight off but somehow I ended up with a cyst on my knee. Walking or even bending my knees have become painful. In Jan 2013 I made the decision to change careers and move back home. I started getting interview quickly and was able to obtain a job doing exactly what I wanted for a great company. So that brings me to now. I'm happy again but now I have all this weight that is still here. My blood pressure is only maintained with medicine. I received a call from True Results to check to see if I qualified for insurance to cover it. (I had tried once before but didn't have a high enough BMI). On July 30th I went in to my appointment expecting to go home disappointed but I left with the goal of an early September surgery date. Insurance approved my surgery late August for September 18th. I am not sure my goal weight yet I would like to be down to 140 from 269 but I'm not sure if that's too much. I am now 6 days from surgery day and I am getting excited. I have lost 7lbs since I started the pre-op diet. I have struggled with not eating and snacking but I have cut my portions down drastically. I have finally found some ways to make my protien shakes taste better. At first I thought this was going to be a hard time because no matter what I did I could only taste the protein in the skake but now I actually enjoy drinking a few of the flavors.

If you are not having complications why remove the band? Does not make any sense to me. If I want to eat "clean" and eat lots of fibrous type veggies etc, I will just get a small unfill. I guess if you have a tight band with no saline or slippage, or reflux issues, it would make sense to remove the band, but if you have a "healthy band" removing all or most of the saline will be the same thing as NO BAND AT ALL. For Me, removing saline in my band is like having no band at all, so if I ever wanted to eat "freely" I will just get saline removed. I am honest and not cocky, and I KNOW ME, it will be hell to try to maintain my weight without the help of my band, I can actually lose weight on my own, but I've NEVER been able to maintain my weight. If I run into a issue where I can't exercise from injury, or have a stress event in my life, I know I would put back every pound without the help of my band. I am almost 8 years post op and it does NOT GET HARD to maintain weight loss until after the 6 year mark, also I found that the lap band screws up the metabolism, and sometimes WE HAVE NO IDEA of how little our portions are until we get a total unflll or have no band at all. Most surgeons say 95 percent of lap banders will gain all their weight back if they remove the band, I AGREE, I got cocky too after 7 years and thought I could go it "alone" with hardly no saline in my band last year when I had a hernia and I gained back 50 pounds in about 2 months, it was rapid weight gain, and I ate like a "normal person". Also I like the "safety net" with the band, I can always reboot it and as they say..."filler up" as long as I have a band that can be adjusted, I can sleep at night..LOL. This is one reason I would not revise to any other weight loss surgery, the band can always be adjusted as long as there are no complications. Good luck with your endeavors!

I count my calories but went on a bit of a hiatus for the last month and stopped tracking. I did not stop losing but I ate whatever I wanted, just Protein first and always hit 80g. I have noticed that when I don't count, I eat very little and have a tendency to snack and not get in my protein. No weight gain but totally not good in the long run so I am back to tracking. I don't really count carbs and calories, mostly just track my protein and try to stay around 1,000 calories. I usually end up between 800-1,000. I got this surgery to change my relationship with food. One of the things I have to learn is portion control and to stop when I am full. Thankfully, this surgery makes this part easy. I never had a horrible diet of only fast food. I usually ate decent food, but too much of it and I snacked a lot on nuts and I did eat chips. Now I feel full with a portion controlled sized meal and I have had no problems with eating whatever I want (no dumping, puking, etc.) I feel so much more in control of myself. My main "bad behavior" is snacking/grazing so I try really hard to keep that under control. The one thing is that my weight loss has been "slow" compared to other people's. I am headed into my 6 month anniversary and I will clear a 60lb post-op loss. I lose a consistent 2lbs a week (about 10lbs per month) no matter how much I control carbs or calories so I eat carbs and have no regrets. I think my previous dieting experience of VLCDs of 500-600 calories is more the culprit in my slower loss. But hey, I will take it. I am actually quite happy with the way I look now even though I am still technically obese. I would like to lose another 40lbs but will be happy with 20lbs. My menu today: Breakfast: Premiere Protein shake Lunch: 3oz of costco rotisserie chicken Dinner: 3oz of salmon baked with mayo, dill, caper, lemon sauce Snacks: 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1 Kellog protein/fiber bar (like a candy bar!), 1oz harvest crisps lentil snack. I will have some cucumber with chili and lemon later tonight. 825 calories, 98g protein, 43g carbs (31g net) My menu on a "bad day" Breakfast: Premier Protein - vanilla Shake Lunch: pineapple - Raw - Fresh, 3 oz, Chicken Breast, 3 oz, Mayo 0.25 tablespoon Dinner: Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Icing, 0.2 slice, Pepperidge Farm - Garlic Bread - Texas Toast, 1 Slice, Chunky Blue Cheese dressing 1 tbsp, Spaghetti meat Sauce 1/2 cup, Romaine Lettuce, 0.5 cups, Cucumber 0.15 cup Snacks: Low Fat Cottage Cheese, 1/2 cup, Chardonnay, 2 serving - 5oz, Generic - Pineapple - Raw - Fresh, 3 oz Calories 979, Protein 90g, Carbs 96g

Absolutley! We have to accept at least a little......no really mroe than a little responsibility for our weight gain and subsequently ourweight loss. Naturally the surgeons would love to sell us more than one WLS. They will just keep getting richer and richer. Studies show the results are about the same at 5 years. I have a friend who had bypass and her daughter then her son then her husband had lapband. The 3 of them are doing great....she gained back about 80 percent of her weight back and consulted the surgeon about banding. He told her there is nothing wrong with her original stomach/surgery, she's just overfeeding it. We all know this could be our scenerio easily as well.

Hi everyone I'm new here my name is Amy I am 37 years old have 4 children 2 girls age 20 and 10 and 2 boys age 17 and 15 and a gorgeous grandson who is 3 months old. I am married just celebrated 11 years on Saturday. As my name shows i am from Alabama I currently live in South Carolina where i have lived most of my life. I am 5'5 currently 243lbs. I was thin most of my life after my youngest was born I started gaining weight and then had to have a complete hysterectomy at age 29 then the weight really started coming on. I've done uncountable diets lost weight gained back more. I've reached the point where I can't even look Ina mirror I'm just so frustrated with myself and my weight. So finally I decided I've got to change so here I am. I cannot wait to start my new life.

Maybe the stress is causing the weight gain?.. Try to ease up a little. By now you know what is and what isn't good for your sleeve. Stay with the program, but learn to live it instead of stressing it. (does that make sense?) Just an idea. I have not been sleeved yet, so I could be off base. But I know from what I have been doing (since I changed my diet) the less I worry the better. I wish you luck and peace.

I take valproic acid ( depakote) for bipolar and they gave it to me in a liquid suspension and it is more stable than the pill was and they had to cut my daily dose on half!! That was a good thing as depakote causes weight gain! So just check with your doctor as there may be a liquid form of the medication you take.

Agreed, <3 my nuvaring! I don't trust pills post RNY, WAY too many about to be new mommas around here!!! The shot can cause significant ant weight gain. I had a Mirena and didn't like the hormonal side effects.

Hey Everyone, If you were unaware of the situation basically I was supposed to have lap band on August 26th but a week in to my strict liquid pre-op diet I found the strenght to control my eating on my own so I post poned the surgery indefinetely. Majority of the members of this forum told me I shouldn't have post poned my surgery because I'd just end up gaining the weight back and needing surgery regardless. The week of that pre-op diet I actually lost 22 pounds and was 351lbs (started at 373), after I made the decision I started watching my portions and my decisions but actually gained 5 pounds back (356)... Immediately I thought "what the hell did I do?" but I didn't let that lose my focus and I understood this was a marathon not a race. Glad to say a week later I was back down to 351 and I scratched that 5 pounds to my body just going from eating absolutely nothing to something(literally didn't eat anything for the preop diet) and Water weight gain. Now that I'm a month in from this journey (started the preop diet on August 12) I do not have any urgers to binge eat at meals like I used to. I'm not even thinking of ordering that big lunch I used to have I'm always thinking SMALL SMALL SMALL. I had a cheat day on Sunday (football day) but my cheat day was nothing compared to what I used to do on a regular sunday! I found this will power and I'm pretty happy with my decision right now. This morning was my weight in day and I came in at 349, my first time under 350 in over a year which makes me happy. Of course the weight loss isn't going to be as fast as it would be with the lap band, but the ability to know I'm really doing this on my own (i used to only do pills for weight loss) is really uplifting. Thanks to all those who were supportive, still have a long way to go.

Sharon your story is all our story. You just hit it before some of us have. We will all find ourself at the crossroads of old eating behaviors, and I don't feel like exercising today. We all got overweight by doing that behavior for years. Your cautionary tale will help me. Thank you for your brave words and for taking hold of your weight gain, before you lose control completely. You just need to get back on the right way of eating and take a little walk from time to time.Find a place outside your home you like to be, go out and take in the beautiful sites, even if it is a mall.100 pounds amazing. Congratulations.

Congratulations on your pregnancy! Your health and the baby's health come first, and weight gain is part of the process. You really should look into getting your band unfilled. That is one of the wonderful things about the band, you can have a wonderful and normal pregnancy, and to help with the weight-loss, you can have you band filled again. Many Blessings! Nancy

Hello, I has surgery January 2013 and I lost 50lbs before I got pregnant this summer. I am only 11 weeks and I have gained 4 lbs and with the bloating sometimes 7. I'm not handling the weight gain well. I'm getting very nervous What are some things you guys did to not gain much? I have 5cc in a 10cc band and no unfill yet Help

Weapon. Sound like a true plateau. And yes, they can last for months. To go off of Lisa's comment. Tricking the body is precisely what you want to do. You've been so clean for so long that the body has acclimated, metabolism has shifted etc. This is a an old bodybuilder trick. They eat clean for 6 days than eat like crap the 7th. As soon as the body starts detecting starvation, bam, it has a huge rise in cals and it calls off the plateau (or hoarding of fat reserves). Since you are well into your plateau. Forget one meal, or one day. Try a week. Truly, kick the diet for a week. Let your body 'think' it's flush w/ cals. After a week, go back on diet. Typically any weight gained flies off but you will see the scale start to go down. At that point my recommendation is to have a cheat meal or cheat day weekly to keep plateaus in check. Hope this helps. (and yes cal cycling is effective), however, your 900-1100 cal range is what Im at and Im a woman. Most banded men are a few hundred higher like 1100-1300 and that may be playing a factor. However, you won't hear from me not to weigh or track daily..that's a must in my book <wink>

The sodium content in cold cuts can affect your weight gain/loss. As will the sodium content of any packaged food. Maybe try not to be obsessive with the tracking of the calories and splurge a bit, and trick your body into thinking differently and see if that helps break the plateau. Our bodies get used to and grow a tolerance to the things we do all the time. The same exercise the same food, so shake it up a bit and give your body something that you don't normally eat every day. Take a break from all the tracking for a day or a weekend and then go back to it. See if that works.

Try sprintec. I was on it for years before my surgery . Then placed on ortho-tri-cyclen lo and it messed my cycle all up after 9 months . I'm back on sprintec again and love it . It's cheap ( no co pay for my insurance ) and it's a low dose one so there's less chance of a weight gain . I've been taking it since January , even through my post op .