Search the Community

I suspect that some of the weight gain is due to Over eating a using the birth control as an excuse. No oral hormone tx can cause a 15 pound weight gain. That being said there are people who suddenly gain a great deal of weight with implants and chemical IUDs. This is not a normal side effect. The cause should be ruled out even if you change methods, a visit to an endocrinologist might be in order. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

You're still filled with fluids from surgery - you likely gained several pounds just from that. The only thing you should be concerned about is healing and getting in Water and any liquid nourishment you're able to tolerate. Weight gain/loss is meaningless right now. Stay off the scale for at least the next few weeks unless you can accept that your body's priority right now is healing and that may mean lots of changes in weight - fluctuations up and down are really and truly pointless to worry about until later.

Try to consider your new stomach as a new baby that has to be progressed SLOWLY. The food guidelines provided to us are to help our swollen and upset stomachs heal. Can you get down a few bites that aren't allowed? Probably. Will it cause damage or be a problem? Maybe. Should you talk to your Doctor? ABSOLUTELY! Try to stick to the diet so you heal properly and so that you don't being micro-stretching your stomach. The name of the game is to eat until full and not a drop more. That way you'll always fill up faster. If you stretch it out, you're going to run into plateaus and possible future weight gain. Stick to the program. It was designed this way for a VERY specific purpose. Just my 2 cents. J

Hi, has anyone had a problem with weight gain and staying on when getting on birth control? I took the birth control out in july. I had a baby, and after the baby continued my weightloss down to 216, then got on BC that has caused me to gain weight at 248, after I took it out up until now I have fluctuated between 245-250, but cannot get back on my weight loss journey. I wanted to get down to 180 and then go for my tummy tuck. Anyone have any suggestions? It has been 6 months and I just cannot get it off ???? Sent from my SM-N920T using the BariatricPal App

I too was supposed to fax in my last 5 years of medical records to my surgeon before my initial consultation...I told the nurse that it would be a blank sheet...she said well if you havent been to a doctor you cant make up the records...but you will have to go in anyway for a checkup so the sooner the better as that can be the start of your 6 months of dr. supervised visits that most insurances require as mine does too. My doctor was thrilled to hear I was looking into WLS and had started the process and was behind me 100%. Knew I needed to have a checkup as it had been 5 years since my last child was born so went ahead and made all the appts including my first mammogram and am on my way with my 6 months of supervised visits. Everything came back good to excellent (believe it or not) ! I just want to do something about my weight before I have any major issues...we have LOTS of diabetes in my family and am hoping I can prevent it if at all possible. On a side note.....my personal doctor was not encouraging at all about having lapband and is really pushing me to have gastric bypass...well outright said I should have gastric because better results...That made me torn between the 2 surgeries. I read so many people frustrated on the boards here about not losing etc but also the good too. I know that goes with both surgeries...good and the bad. I think it will be lapband for me....I just hope I can do it with the aid of the band when my time comes. I have been trying to eat healthier, cut the sugars ... trying to cut soda which isnt going the best yet but hopefully by the time I can have surgery i will be there. In a nut shell Kristy...I dont think the 5 years of records is really a big deal. I think you will have previous records that will show your weight etc if they want to look at it. I think they just really want to see that it has been an ongoing issue for awhile and not just a recent weight gain. Keep the process going...there are lots of things to complete in the coming months so time does go fast. I have 4 month left of supervised visits and hoping it will be approved then. You can do it....good luck to you and keep us posted

@@Kindle is right. The scale will drive you crazy. Especially this soon after surgery that "weight gain" could be the transition to soft food, Water weight, normal body fluctuations that come with being a female. Eat your Protein, drink your water and get your exercise. It will happen.

You're married, you're a mother and what does that mean? That you're no longer officially a woman? You've already done that one by bloating up, but you decided to give it up by losing weight. Men look at women. It's one of the things they do. Do you know that you're looking, too? How else would you notice that you're being noticed? If it really makes you want to turn and run, you'll be doing a lot of running and very little in the way of getting errands completed. As you continue losing, will it get 'worse?' You'll be noticed more? I promise it isn't terminal. It sounds, from your telling, that something changed when you were younger, hence, the weight-gain. You once were comfortable in your own body, but then hid it away under extra weight. Lots of people, women and men, have to adjust emotionally to losing weight and all that goes with it. You may have other things going on that compound it. Consider seeing a therapist, preferably one with knowledge of body issues. Your losing weight is a gift to yourself. It would be a shame not to enjoy it.

Hi CherieLynne~~ I was, and still am doing great with my band. I had a crisis....and amid it all regained almost 40 pounds! I have a history of nausea with anesthesia. I had 3 surgeries in a year, only related to my band in the way that one of them was a TT. I also had a thyroid tumor, and an intestinal torsion. So due to surgery, I was totally and completely unfilled. I managed fine through that. Was unfilled for over a year, without weight gain. Then my DD began having some issues with her outer ear swelling, and was soon hospitalized, with the most horrendous looking ear you can imagine. Her ear was tomato red, and was so swollen you could not see an ear canal. There was an abssess, that ate all the way through her ear. They were caused because it would swell until the skin popped. The diagnosis come in with it being a cartiledge destroying disease....which is fatal, life expectancy is no more than 7-10 years. I cannot tell you the devastation. I was keeping her 4 year old, who was scared at what was happening to her Mommy, and my DD was, well, like you would expect a 26 year old to be that was just told she would never see her child grow up, and the disease would be disfiguring, disabling, then fatal. The stress caused hives.....which would not go away, so they put me on high doses of prednisone, then tried repeatedly to taper it off, only for them to return. They operated on my DD, and eventually sent her to a different hospital, where they discovered the disease was only a psuedo disease----she too has RA, and this illness mimics the disease, but is NOT fatal. Is usually no more than what she had, but hers had been mismanaged for so long, they expected it to be disfiguring, and prepared to amputate the external ear. End of the story is happy, the meds made a HUGE difference. She had a PIC line at home for 2 months. But she has not lost any of her ear, only the lymph nodes below it which surgeons removed in diagnosis. But.....I lived in the hospital, eating LOTS of ice cream, because it soothed my acid ridden stress related tummy----and also tried to soothe my soul. I have not experienced hunger since being banded. But once the prednisone began, I was ravenous again! I am off the prednisone, and have no hives. Nothing negative to show for the experience except for about 15 pounds now! I NEED to exercise to get them off, I am just lazy about it. I could lose them just as well, by getting another fill, and eating less, but I choose not to go that route. I have a small fill in----less than 1cc---in a band that will hold 4cc.'s. But I do not have tight restriction, mild is good for me, I do not PB, but I cannot eat large amounts. I can eat roughage (salad) and meat, without issue. I can eat some bread. Mostly my portions are diversely different than pre band. I think if I had more weight to lose, I would be more motivated, but I am really OK with where I am. I began in a 22/24 pants, and now wear either an 8 or 10....without elastic! LOL Everything I owned before had elastic everything! I think since your body is used to the steroids, you are used to the things they do to your body----mine was not, and the hunger was so new, and I was so scared, I fell into old habits and tried to eat my way to comfort..... You should be able to get back in the pool as soon as your incisions heal, and I would bet you will be able to add other exercise as the weight drops. So sorry my post scared you----was not meant to!!! Good Luck to you on your surgery---it was without a doubt the best thing I ever did for ME!!!

Enjoy your holidays and just make your first appt Jan 2nd....And enjoy the BMI 40! Just kidding... Sort of?? Well I remember getting so frustrated with what seemed to be an unstoppable gain about 2 1/2 years ago. PCOS and hypothyroidism were taking a toll. Tried a dr supervised plan, WW several times and medifast. Each time I lost and re-gained. I Remember wishing I was heavy enough for lapband (remember the hungry lion Commercials). I wasn't. Fast forward prob another year the local bariatric office had a new dr/nut supervised plan. No surgery and no Phentermine (another failed attempt I didn't want to repeat) and I was pretty sure my insurance would pay. So I go for the introduction and get weighed and the coordinator asked, "so are you interested in surgical or non surgical?" I said non surgical I am not heavy enough for WLS. Oh your a BMI 42 and with bcbs it would be covered. Whoa I did a double take. I was totally disgusted with getting that big and shocked I was even considering it. But I had really tried HARD since I had my son 5 years ago and was just getting bigger. Fast forward I had the sleeve 9 Months ago and I am at my personal goal and a Normal BMI. My point is you are so close... Just normal progression of weight gain you eventually qualify without doing anything to qualify on purpose. That is just how obesity goes.

The general side effect of hormonal birth control is weight gain, but by no means is it enough to negate your WLS. My uterus was too small for Mirena (I wanted something with the greatest side effect of stopping my period) so I ended up with the Nexplanon. It totally beats having to remember taking a pill at the exact time every day.

I had a gastric sleeve on Tuesday, August 3. Have felt tired and drained since. Today was the first day I have weighed since surgery. I have gained 2 pounds since surgery. I am following the post op diet to the letter. Has this happened to anyone else?

Anyone have weight gain ?? And have all your weight come back on but started back to basics and it all worked out ?

I originally had a sleeve that I was told was done incorrectly. That info has still been upheld with current scans. The original surgeon did not cut enough of my stomach away to have enough effective weight loss. A couple of years later, I approached a surgeon in MX for a revision and they talked me into a MGB as opposed to the full bypass. So now I have two problems, one, my stomach is still too large and the bile duct is "basically dumping bile into my stomach" (dr's words, not mine). Only 2 months after the MGB, I started having reflux issues, but was just told to take medicine and it would pass. I saw Dr's while living in CA for almost 2 years before deciding to move to WA to be closer to family because I was in such bad shape over this and the CA surgeons were shady as hell and trying to just immediately push me into a revision without insurance approval. It still took almost a year for diagnosis and surgery scheduling in WA, but I have a huge amount of faith in the dr's I have here. It's been a long road and I definitely didn't want another weight loss surgery after the first two, but I've been assured that this will fix the issue and even help me shed some of the weight gain that I experienced. I did gain over the last couple of years because consistently eating food was the only thing that kept the acid at bay.

@@Comfy_Blue I also got all those comments, and more. How I responded depended on who was asking. I worked at the same place for 30 years, since I was a teen. They saw me go from a cute young thing to an old, fat woman. They never commented to my face negatively about my weight gain, and I think the comments and questions were born out of two reasons: 1)Genuine happiness for me, and/or 2) They wanted to know what my magic bullet was. Even my non work friends, who mostly are thin or at least not very overweight (but work at not getting huge), wanted to know what I was doing. I told the people I was closest to that I had WLS, and the not the others. In both cases, I was forthcoming about my diet and exercise. I think it's funny, because there was always a little disappointment when they learned (in both cases) that it was still just diet and exercise, lol. It is not socially acceptable for people to ask why we are so fat, but it seems once we start losing, all bets are off. It's just the way society is, and I think it's probably because losing weight is "better", ergo, a compliment to mention it. Right or wrong, I think it's a cultural thing.

I had the Mirena IUD put in me before surgery and have not had any problems or weight gain. Good luck and God Bless.

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.

Thanks so much for posting, I've been hearing people say that they didn't feel much restriction after having bypass and that weight loss was much slower than their original vsg surgery. Appreciate your feedback, Im very keen to revise from vsg to bypass due to weight gain after 8 years.

Hi Everyone, I realize that the menstruation issue was posted last month but I thought I would add to it anyway for anyone else out there who looks this thread up. My lap-band surgery date is scheduled for April 30th 08 - a little over 2 weeks away! I am currently showing signs of a period coming on, some spotting right now, but I too was told that should I have a period it will not stop the surgery. I have never been regular since I developed hypothyroidism 5 1/2 years ago. But the beginning of last year I started having extremely heavy periods, to the point where I could not get up from the couch. OBGYN placed me on various types of birth control where it would slow it down and I would bleed for weeks, or it would stop for a week or two and start heavy again, but none of the birth controls controlled the cycles. Labs were done and no signs of PCOS. It went like that for 5 months and then it was decided to have NovaSure done (Uterine Ablation) in July 07. That surgery made a HUGE difference for me as I really do not have periods. Stats show that women who had NovaSure done experience little to no periods. So in my case, I am having some spotting but this could be my only period. Last Summer I learned that insulin resistance/high sugar level, and/or obesity contributes to HEAVY and irregular periods, which was probably what caused all my problems last year. Only I didn't learn about this until I switch to a new endocrinologist after the surgery. She did a ton of lab work on me and explained the whole insulin resistance and how it affected my cycles before the NovaSure. See, my previous endo of 4 years never bothered to check my glucose levels and I had continued to gain weight while under his care. So in August of last year I decided to change endos because he wasn't doing anything to find out why I was gaining weight. Anyway, the new endo explained insulin resistance to me and it was learned that that was causing my weight gain and menstrual problems. So if anyone out there is experiencing heavy menstrual issues like this, speak to your OBGYN about the NovaSure. Its does improve the quality of life.

Congrats on your pregnancy! I had a band baby back in 2011, and he is now a 30lbs, happy healthy 15 month old boy. I want to be honest with you, because I know that is what you're looking for as well as support, that type of weight gain this early on in your pregnancy is a little much. The time where you should be gaining more weight is at the end of your 2nd trimester beginning your 3rd. I had to have most of my Fluid removed around the same time you did in my pregnancy, because I felt "stuck" every time I ate and I ended up losing 10lbs in my 1st trimester. After my band was loosened I started eating more until I found I had gained back 52lbs. There is nothing wrong with fulfilling your cravings, but do it in the same manner you would with your band. And if you excercsie regularly now, you can keep it up! I do want to say that its great that you did identify that you felt something was wrong with your band and how you felt, I do know a few people who didnt and really ended up making themselves quite sick for half of their pregnancies. Good luck to you and I wish you a happy, healthy pregnancy!!!

Precious Vsg and Miss Mac, Thank you so much. I have looked over my lab work and I know that my calorie intake needs to be increased especially in the protein area. I was not and currently am not able to tolerate protein drinks and powders, I do not eat protein bars like Quest bars etc because my tummy can't handle anything real sweet and heavy textured so I have to always eat my protein. I devised a plan to increase my caloric intake and increase my carbs to around 60 per day, I am also upping my protein to 80. I buy all high protein items in order for me to not feel as though I am missing out on anything by not being able to use protein supplements. This is a hard road, no amount of nutrition classes can prepare you for the real journey, I am a medical professional and I get lost in how our body works sometimes. I really was not as worried about weight loss but more worried about weight gain. I do believe it was because I was scared to take in a lot of calories and not realizing I need those calories. Looking at my labs I know that my protein definitely needed to be upped. I wish us all well. Peace to you all.

I wasn't weighed at all in the hospital -- not pre-surgery and not post-surgery and not before being released from the hospital. I know what I weighed before the surgery and I'm up -- which would be a major problem without this forum to turn to. Thank goodness I now know that what I'm experiencing is normal. There have been so many times in my life when I would try to diet and end up gaining instead of losing -- and seeing the numbers go up when I got home was deja vu all over again. I'll keep on keeping on, of course, but I think that people should be told weight gain is a side effect of having an IV. I'm finding that in order to get information from my medical team, I need to know the questions to ask -- and without a forum like this -- who would know what to ask? This forum is invaluable! Anyway, thanks for the information and know that you've done a really good deed today.

My Psych said it helped me gain weight Seroquel and other meds where lin.ked to my weight gain. I gained 45 lbs in about 4 months. We have switched my meds around a bit and have found a good combination to keep me well and not gain the weight,

I'm not sure how much direct help I can be, as our metabolisms are likely quite different (between a 5'10 man and a 5' woman) but I'm stable at around 2000 calories per day, give or take depending upon how routinely active I am, typically split up between about five meals per day. I do about an hour of dedicated exercise per day, usually split between a half hour or so of running the dogs woods or canyon in the morning (they run, I hike) and a half hour or so of swimming or strength training in the afternoon. I don't keep track of the fluids anymore, but it is at or above the typical 64 oz recommendation (I down a 1.5 liter bottle of water per day, plus ice and whatever other incidental fluids I have - iced tea or milk products; more if I am doing something specifically dehydrating during the day. There is a series of videos from one doc that has some relevance - I'm not entirely up with everything in his program, but he is one of the few that I have seen that discusses the increasing meal volume that we typically see over time, and offers a way to handle it. I do something similar in that I have a fairly vegetable rich diet, and do more of his "veg first" approach rather than the traditional protein first that we see in the bariatric world. It does make some sense in that veg is typically high bulk, high nutrition and low calorie, so does a good job of filling that extra capacity that we develop over time in a way that minimizes the caloric load that leads to regain. The more typical low carb (and worse, low carb, high fat) diets that are all the rage today have some weight gain built into them as they are typically higher caloric density which can lead to regain if one doesn't keep on top of the overall caloric load. So, that is something to consider if that can fit with your dietary personality (something that you can stick with long term.) He has some other vids on related topics that may also be useful. He seems fairly down on revisions as a solution, which fits my experience as there seems little that can be done to a bypass that isn't just a short term fix; a revision to a DS seems to offer the best results but is a very complex procedure that few surgeons can perform, so that tends to be a last resort.

Saturday marks my 2 anniversary and I have no regrets. I was just over 35 BMI with no medical issues. I was very tired of losing the same 20-25 lbs and never reaching my goal. Well, I am very close; I've lost 48 lbs, wear a size 8 pant and Medium / Large top. This has been a success and well worth the struggles and discipline it took to get here. Yes, I ate the wrong things because my mind wanted to and I suffered short term (weight gain, pain during digestion,etc.). Now, i think i want the peanut M&M so i buy and they sit in the cupboard. i might eventually open and eat a handful or my husband will eat them and i don't care. Today, i am focused on BMI and not weight. I am at 27.6 BMI today and the RN tells me 27% is maintainable level for me. I workout 4-5days a week. Primarily walking for 30 min and strength train using Yoga Booty Ballet. happy days are here.

OK.. so I just found this site and I think this might be a good thing for me. Its been a wild couple of years for me. I got a virus in my heart and wound up with a cardiac defibrillator. I was off work for 6 months in total. My blood pressure was giving me grief, way too low, then it would spike.. so my cardiologist did some investigations and discovered I had an adrenal tumour. It was secreting way too much adrenalin. So I had a Lap Adrenalectomy. No one told me that a side effect would be a weight gain. Yeah, I am older---55, so I anticipated that losing weight was not going to be fun.. but I was shocked at how much weight and how fast I gained it. Earlier this year, I was the heaviest I had ever been..310 . Life was really weighing down on me... unhappy marriage, unhappy with myself.. I started thinking about a sleeve.. One of the surgeons ( did I tell you I am an OR nurse?), so one of the surgeons who does WLS did a presentation for the local OR nursing group. It was a life changer for me. He doesn't do everyone who asks for it. You have got to really commit! His criteria? Lose 10% of your body weight. Keep a journal of your food, exercise, water. My cardiologist put me onto Fitness Pal... what a great site. I even went to Australia for a month and did not gain weight! Came home, kicked my husband out ( cheater) and got busy. I had an appointment to see my surgeon at the end of July. OK!! Since then I have lost 25 pounds.. down to 285. I am really excited to have the LSG done. And excited to find this site to help me along the way!!