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My doctor's office always asks me if I plan to be away in the couple of weeks after a fill before they administer it. I would let them know you are going to be away and then go and enjoy your vacation. Don't stress about weight gain etc. Try your best to make good choices and just enjoy! That's what vacations are for. You can always get a fill when you come back. Have a great time and a safe trip!

Was on it after my 2nd child. Thought it was great not having a period , Even though in the back of my head I always thought that wasn't "right" , but It was great. Then started having serious eye problems after about 2 years. Eye doc couldn't figure out why my pressures were so high and said I was going to have to be on drops for the rest of my life. After moving to another state and trying to find a new gyno. I missed my shot. Took over a year to get my period again and more importantly I went into a withdrawl causing me to miss nearly 2 months of work. I was a mess!!!! Emotionally thought I was going to wind up in an institution. Finally saw a new gyno she explained the pros and cons and the office of 5 doctors DO NOT recommend the Depo shot. They've seen way too many side effects. Inknow everyone reacts different and this was just my story. Good luck with whatever u choose:) ...oh ANd when I went off the shot I lost 35lbs!!! Weight gain was horrible. OH and the pressure in my eyes went back to normal as well.

I am 4 weeks out, the first 2 weeks I lost 27 lbs, on my 4 week checkup I gained a 1.5 lbs. How did this happen I can't even get hardly any food or drink in. Anyone else have this happen or any suggestions?

Morning everyone! I'm scheduled to get my gallbladder and lapband. Removed n Monday and I'm pretty scared. Not only of tge surgery.but recovery and weight gain. I feel this is the best decision. My catheter that connects toy port is disconnected so I have this tube in my body floating and causing pain. If anyone has had the band removal can you share tge experience and did your insurance pay for it?

Anyone out there that's had weight gain struggles post gastric bypass? I had my surgery back in 2009, did excellent with weight loss but over the past year I have put weight back on. I'm currently getting back on track and losing the weight but I'd like the support of a buddy who's gone down the same road.

I can eat about 6 to 8 oz. of protein in a sitting and don't feel satisfied sometimes. I have also been snacking in between meals which might be the reason for the weight gain. Sometimes at lunch I have a protein drink which is 11 oz and I can drink it all.

I cant believe it... I did a quick weigh in while I was at the nutrition center today for something else and Ive gained back 5 of the pre-op weight I have lost... so upset and I dont know what to do now... my next appt is the 3rd and I cannot go in there with a weight gain... any suggestions???

Hey girl you and I were sleeved on the same day. I'm 12 weeks pregnant. Congrats! I'm in a 3lb bounce no real significant weight gain. Had really bad morning sickness that lasted all day. But getting better everyday! How many weeks are you? Sent from my EVO using VST

Marfar, I have often thought the same thing.....was wondering if I was the only one thinking it LOL And for those of us with a round face, it just keeps getting rounder with weight gain LOL

There is a point where many may: have more capacity to eat more food/stomach relaxes get their hunger back weight loss slows or stops start gaining weight reach goal and navigate maintenance are past the "honeymoon" usually past a year or more may be earlier find themselves in a new "stage" different from the beginning stages after WLS finding the old methods used to take off weight may or may not work are finding a way to stay the same weight after gaining or losing too much the issues are no usually longer about what Protein drink to buy, the three week stall, the funny taste of food, gas pain, eating in public, hair loss, insurance approval..... come to the conclusion that the process NEVER ends, it is a lifetime of learning and doing and sharing and counting and moving... and that is the new normal. Realizing what is meant by "the sleeve is a tool" and it is only part of the process, you can gain all your weight back if you don't start forming a new life and just resting from the work and eating "normally" after getting to goal will result in weight gain for many. These are some of the issues I see arising for "vets" and distinguishes them from "newbies"... which we all were once... You can't know how the sleeve and the rest of the body and mind will be until you experience it for yourself over time. 1-2-3-5 years later, things change. We don't know about 10 years because there just aren't many out there with current style sleeves to talk to. But some at 6 months are getting some of this experience, I think after a year or two you really see the Vet issues even clearer. Some don't come back here, so hopefully they are doing great, are living life and not gaining or losing too much.... the ones of us that are still here are experiencing the stuff listed above... some are having NO problems at all. I love my sleeve and my life, and at this time (2 1/2 years out) I am still not at goal, but very close and believe I will make it to goal pretty soon, and have some plans on how to maintain I think I can follow. Taking the long view has been very helpful for me....If I took the view that if I didn't lose all my weight by 6 months without pulling all my hair out or I was a failure if I didn't lose 30 pounds in the first month, then this experience would have been hell. I have some good support friends here that have been here for years... we chug along together, and check in often, share research, worries and challenges, and we will share the pleasure of accomplishment as well. I plan on staying in contact during maintenance when I get there. Maintenance may well be the most difficult part of this journey. Keeping the weight off is the trick. Someone here said it best... reaching goal at 3 years feels just as good at reaching goal at 6 months. Who cares as long as you get there!

marfar 7, I have noticed the same thing! I have been thinking that they have to be new pictures after wt loss or pictures before the weight gain. That's so funny, I have been wondering how so many "thin" people are having this surgery........... vertical sleeve talk has really opened my eyes to how many people are having this surgery done EVERY DAY! This is more profitable for the surgeons than even plastic surgery! Hugh industry!

Well, to butt in (pun intended) where I do not belong. Here is a man's perspective. First off, know that I was thin for years and then blew up like a blimp. My wife married and lived for 15 years with a thin and fit Guy. Then I got big with a weight gain of well over 100 pounds. When I had my surgery and lost the weight (I am down to 205, with 10 -15 to go). I bought new underwear. Not tightie whities either. Colors - I call them my new look. Here is the deal. I am a weight loss Guy. I know how awesome it was to buy medium and not XL2. But with men it is just hardware. Trust me on this. If you have lost that weight and look good -- that sexy new underwear will be an awesome inticement. It's the girl we love, looking better than ever and in a sexy package. And trust me girls the package is important. Which brings me to my point (sorry a bit long winded). I don't care about your size. The joy of buying sexy when you hit goal is great. But for all the rest: thinking about surgery, just had it and a long way from goal, maybe just now looking into it --- regardless you are still beautiful. Please take the extra time to dress up for us. We love you. We want to feel good about our spouse or girlfriend. You may feel terrible about your appearance and not want to make the effort. But trust me it is appreciated. No matter how you look, no matter Where you are on your journey, no matter how you feel about your appearance : remember this - you are still beautiful and if you have some one in your life, they want to feel good about you. They want to be attracted to you. That is part of why they love you. So as I shut up and head back to the boring men's room, let me close with this. Get rid of the "holey" panties. Be beautiful. Look beautiful. All the time. Don't wait to hit goal. Do it now. And hey, is that lace ..... sorry, gotta run.

I was on it many years ago but had problems with reoccuring precancerous cells on my cervix. I went off the Depo and never had a problem since. When I went to my OB last year about birth control, she specifically said she wouldn't put me on Depo because of the massive weight gain it can cause. Just my experience.

So last week I turned thirty and celebrated by drinking and eating all week. For the most part I was eating a little more than normal. However the alcohol seems to have speed up my weight gain to six lbs. I pretty much only worked out twice last week. Point I'm trying to make is I thought since I hadnt gained weight I was good. Served as a wake up call that this is a lifestyle change I must make and adhere to otherwise it'd be easy to gain it back. Oh we'll back to the gym and healthy eating =-)

I had my surgery 8/14 and I am up a few pounds. Anyone else experience this?

First off, I think you have accomplished a great feat with that awesome weight loss since May, Secondly, you seem to be doing everything right. You seem to be at the green zone but it doesn't last forever. You'll sort of know when you're out of the green zone. I've been banded since Dec and still have not gotten to green. You will still have to go for fills but less frequently than you did in the beginning and that will be an ongoing thing. Your surgeon may require quarterly visits instead of monthly visits. Whatever you do, don't stop going to your surgeon all together that's when failure is bound to happen. Too many people get to the green zone and stop seeing their surgeon all together. Then they have a weight gain and say they're going back to the doctor because they are gaining weight. So keep in touch with your doctor and you are sure to keep losing weight and keeping it off.

Oh My yes, I lost most of my weight in 2007 - 2009 and then regain weight back to 250 by January 1, 2013. Came back to the Lap Band Board and had a fill and have lost about 35 pounds since January. I have no regrets at all, Any weight gained has been totally on me cannot not blame the band. Welcome Back.

I went to my surgeon in Feb 2013 and now I'm going back next week (post 6 month program) I don't remember how much I weighed but I think since Feb I've gained some weight. I've been battling 5-7lbs (which is actually an amazing improvement for me since I could easily gain 50lbs in a year if I'm not careful...) anyway... At this appointment I was told they will either clear me for surgery and call insurance for approval or they will require I do a few months of supervised diet. Do you think if I show a weight gain at all that I'm going to have to do more diet classes, or do you think I'll be ok? I'm so nervous.. This whole process has felt like its taken years and I'm just ready to be banded and start my new life!!! I know that it's a tool and I know how I should eat but without the tool it's so hard to feel satisfied so I eat too much. Hence the weight battle.. Nervous!!! Anxious!!

Okay I am not going completly crazy. I have been5' 7" for all of my adult life(even prior to my weight gain). I went to an appointment the other day and my height read as 5' 6". I wanted to mention that they made an error, but just left it alone. Oh my goodness.... I am shrinking.... ! WEIRD. But as they say, you have to give to get! If I have to give up a few inches in height to loose this weight, then I am okay with that. Thanks for this post.

Hit there! Congrats on your surgery!! Two things I can tell you: follow your doctor's directions the BEST you can. They will most likely put you on a pre-surgery diet. DO IT. I've lost 13 lbs. in a month following a very restrictive carb/high protein diet. Hard at first, but you become used to it. The 2nd advice is: you have to REALLY want this and keep telling yourself that. Be at a place where you are ready for change. Most of what people go through during weight gain is a mental game - losing it is just the same. Best of luck to you - you can DO THIS!!

Hi Tamie, congrats on maintaining! I, also, had port revision and have had a harder time catching up with my weight gain. I am about 30 lbs away from recapturing my goal weight, would be happy with just 20. I can no longer eat dairy, allergy I chose to ignore for years. So, my treat is so coconut ice cream. Best wishes, by the way, my lapband anniversary is Oct 30, 2009. And I had my revision surgery in November 2011, too.Karen

This is the first time that I have written on this forum. I hope that this is informative or helpfull in some way. I was at about 290 lbs and 5'9 in September of 2012. I am currently 224 lbs and feeling much better. I also found out through this process that I have celiac disease. Change came in a major way to my life when I began this process. Most likely some of my weight gain came from how completely off my entire system was from the celiac. I was deficient in every Vitamin and severly anemic. That has been corrected. Ironically the band helps me as much with the celiac disease as the celiac disease helps me with the weight loss. I have to avoid so many foods now. The band helps with that because I don't need to eat nearly as much as I did. Alot of people that have the band complain that they have had problems, slippage, vomiting whatever. I can tell you slippage comes from the fact that many of us have so much viseral fat when the band is installed that the band can't really be anchored. The person who recommended the doctor to me, went a year and had to have his band replaced. Now his new one is anchored, due to his weight loss, that was now possible. He will never need another surgery. I needed 40 percent a large fat deposit around my stomach to be removed in order for my band to be installed in the first place. That much viseral fat = no good. The up side is that viseral fat goes away first. The other problem, that no one wants to admit, is many people don't follow the doctor's instructions. That causes the majority of the problems. People think they can get a band and do whatever they want. It doesn't work that way. You need to make a lifestyle change. If you aren't ready for that then don't do it. You need to be a different person after the surgery. It will also take some time to master how to control the food intake with the band. You will need to learn about volume and speed at which you eat. I pause several times while eating as I feel pressure start. Also watch your Fluid intake while eating. That will get you faster than anything. You'll end up burping to try to get air out and possbily throwing up. I can manage this very well now. I am now at the point where I am beginning to realize that I look so much better than I have in a long while. I'm down 64 lbs and am 10 lbs away from where I was as a baseball player in High School. I was always a little higher on the scale than the average person my height due to muscle make up. I was always a weight lifter. I describe myself as a work in progress as I still have work to do. I get a lot of compliments now and it is nice to hear. My personal decision was to not advertise the fact that I have the band. Very few people know about it. I'm not embarrassed by it, I just wanted it to be personal. I wanted the battle to be won, but didn't want to feel that people were trying to judge my progress. There are only a couple of people at work who know and I do talk to them about it. Sorry to chew your ears off about it, but thank you. The few that know, I love you guys for your support. My immediate family knows and I talk to them about it here and there. That's about it. I'm not telling you out there to do that. It is just what works best for my personality. This is what I want to point out, at least to the guys out there. No one tells you this part. You will find new confidence in your new look, when and if you get there. I'm a married father of two. I have found myself recently thinking about other women that I encounter and even acting out like I'm gonna try to make that connection with them to make something happen. I sware I stopped myself, and have done nothing wrong. The problem is, you all of a sudden correct a problem, in a short period of time, that you've most likely had for years. You suddenly start feeling like you can do anything and like you've been reborn. It is mostly good, but just be careful and make decisions based on where you are at in your life, not where you are at in your weight loss and new self image. I actually started to walk over a talk to a very attractive girl, this week, a total stranger, who I was able to see showed interest in me. I was going to try to get her number or whatever. I then said to myself, "what is wrong with you, you're married." I then changed direction and walked away. I sware, this is what happens when you get to the point that I'm at. I'm sure it will fade, but I'm just saying, be aware that your thought process can be a little affected by your success. Just don't act without thinking carefully. You don't want to make a mistake that you will regret. By the way, some one showing interest in you is ok. It's kind of validation, especially if you haven't felt good about yourself in a long time. It helps you see that you are getting somewhere, but if you don't see that in someone, that doesn't mean that you're not doing well. Just remember you can see that type of attention come your way, that doesn't mean you need to act on it. For me, it brought me back to a time in my life where that type of attention wasn't so illusive, a time when I had a very different self image and level of confidence. It did make me feel good. The funny part is, that encounter made me realize that I'm well on my way to experiencing life with that type of self image again, just not totally there yet. Time will hopefully totally get me there, but I'm doing well now. If you're single, knock yourself out, have fun. If you're not single then remember the one at home who most likely helped you get through the rough part and helped you get where you are right now.

When you look in the mirror, what do you see and how do you feel about yourself (before and after surgery)? Last night I got a bit of a wake up call. I was at a party where there were lots of picture being taken. I saw some photos of myself, and was like "holy crap, is that really me??" Was not feeling too happy because I look really large in pictures, yet I never felt like I had gained so much weight back, and didn't see myself as being so overweight. Reality check, bigtime. I'm way larger than what I perceived. In the mirror, In my eyes I still saw that person that I was 10 years ago, but on paper (and on screen) the fact is that I am so NOT that person I was 10 years ago... and not perceiving the true reflection of the person I am in reality helped lend itself to the big weight gain (again) I now think. "But I don't FEEL that large, so I can't possibly look so fat in pictures..." Contrarily, I have a friend who had a full bypass a few years ago. She's dropped almost 200 pounds, yet she tells me she still "feels fat". She is far from that and looks good. I know I'm overweight, but don't feel it sometimes. Well what I mean is that I do feel it physically (because I'm uncomfortable) but I don't feel that people see me that way or that I look that way, it's very strange. I suppose I need to keep looking at pictures of myself to reinforce my reality and the fact that I really need this surgery to happen. And when it does, I don't want to fail at it.

Re: In-person Support Groups - I have only gone to support group meetings at Sky Ridge in Lone Tree...not every month, but 3-4 times this year. (I had surgery in late December 2012) This particular support group doesn't really do much for me. It seems like the main people who attend on a regular basis fit into two categories: people who HAVE NOT been sleeved/lap banded/bypassed and people who have had some sort of bariatric surgery but have had weight gain. There are almost no successful, POST OPERATIVE weight loss people to talk to. I don't find it as motivating, because it's almost like if people are not struggling post surgery (one year, two year, etc POST OP), they do not need the support group which kind of creates a vacuum. At the last meeting I went to, the only person there who had lost all her weight AND was maintaining for more than a couple of years spoke about being so regimented re: her cooking/eating, I just could not imagine that would be me. I have four kids under the age of 11...youngest is 3. This woman cooks all her food on Sunday and packs them in individual pre-portioned containers. I would need another refrigerator just to hold this much food, but more importantly, it just seemed kind of extreme...not a realistic way to live. But, I have very little to compare it to, because all the other post surgery people who are as far out from surgery as her have weight issues....Most of these weight issue people had lap bands and are struggling. If any of you have attended an in-person support group somewhere in the state, was it like this (as I describe) or did you find more successful, long timers in attendance?

I've had far too many surgeries . I have a rare type of brain tumor that helped contribute to my weight gain. I'm doing this, like everyone else, to try to reduce my morbidity. But with my underlying condition I'm virtually being a guinea pig in hopes it will help, but I guess someone has to be the first one to do it, so here I go!