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I'm sure there must be more than 1 psych in your area...try getting into a different office. These meds are extremely important as being depressed can cause you to gain weight (IMO). I personally think you're better off trying a medication at least until you're able to go in August OR finding another dr. I have been on diff meds and 1 of them caused a lot of weight gain, but they weaned me off of it and I'm not experiencing the cravings like I was. So if they put you on it "temporarily" to relieve other side effects, that may be best. I can't speak for you...but I know I wouldn't want to be without my meds for several months. They help me feel better and think more clearly.

I went through my whole pregnancy and never had to have an unfill. I was able to have only small weight gain. I have just struggled to get back on track after baby. My biggest complaint was the baby kicking my port when I got further along. It's not necessarily painful...Just uncomfortable! And those people that always run up and rub your belly always mistaked my port for the baby's foot! LOL....My port started to show a little bit at the end. Overall you should be fine. I think the band helps us form not gaining a ton of pregnancy weight! No telling how much I would've gained without the band! Just listen to your body. You will know if you need to unfill. Some doctors recommend totally un-filling during pregnancy...I highly discourage that! Congrats on the baby!

It has been soooo long since I posted here, probably not since I was a few months post op back in 2016. I am now 6 years post-op (July 26) and have found myself really really struggling. I have gained 15 lbs. I know that may not seem like a lot to some people but I feel like I have made it so far and damn, why is this starting. I mean I know why. I'm eating poorly, I am relying on my sleeve to trigger my full feelings but I am def eating whatever I want, dumping, and doing it again. I am going through a rough time emotionally and I have restarted therapy but man I am finding it hard to not to eat my feelings. And what I eat is what I call punishment or self hate food: anything fried, fettuccine Alfredo, pizza...etc. I'm just so in it right now and the weight gain is compounding it. I stopped working out because of the pandemic, my studio shut down...sorry feeling so sorry for myself but I am scared I will end up looking like I did 6 years ago and hating myself even more.

Interesting dilemma. A few perspectives. Would you tell if you had planned knee surgery? Or would you make up a story about getting run over as the day came? In a lot of ways, and forgive me for being frank, I think your own approach to WLS has been influenced by the idea that suffering from obesity is a moral failure, not a medical issue that can, in fact, be managed. If you read any of the latest scientific studies on the subject - and avoid people who make money from you suffering perpetually from obesity like weight loss programs, fitness coaches on Instagram, diet products etc - you'll find that some of us simply never had a chance. Rat populations who get put on too few calories start seeing obesity in the rats lowest in the social order. Isn't that food for thought? Studies where you put subjects under complete caloric input/output control (literally measuring exhaust 24/7 to monitor expenditure) and feed them 1000 calories too much a day see vastly different weight gain rates. Huh? Didn't we just learn calories in - calories out? Often, and even worse, the societal idea of obesity = moral failure leads to eating disorders, which compound the problem. --> You need life-saving medical intervention. You're not 'taking the easy road'. Does this influence your thinking on who and when to tell? For me, it made it much easier to share. And my attitude towards it has been this story, more or less, for my close-to-kinda-close people: "Hey, nobody loses 100+ lbs by going to a dietitian. And I have a life to live, so I got my head in order first, did the work of getting rid of using food as a stress relief mechanism, and then I was ready to take the road with the best chances of success: minor bariatric surgery, a planned diet, and moderate but frequent exercise. It's been great, really great. I'm now finding my balance point, I think most people gain a bit, so I'm expecting that and frankly, I could stand to gain a few" Surprisingly, people love this story and it definitely adds social points. Even among people not known for their empathy. Notice how this story is peppered with all the things that don't involve surgery. I want their story to be much more than surgery. Do you share intimate medical details with everyone? Or do you feel that's nobody else's business? The other - or rather, third - side of this is that it's your body and only you are entitled to learn about it. Medical information (yes, also in 2021 and 2022, freaks) is private. You don't owe anyone any explanation on what goes on inside you. I have a few co-workers who know, and who have kept it to themselves, but I don't think it's "office news". It's my body and my life and despite the time I took off (six weeks!), it doesn't concern them. Period. Remember that. As much as you shouldn't be ashamed of having WLS, you shouldn't feel the opposite of shame is self-exposure. Reality time: you'll end up telling her. And it won't be a big deal. Here's a good outcome, and there's a million variations on this, but I think you'll want to tell someone you share an apartment with. At the end of the day, we need people on our journey. Some of them will let us down, but we'll need to keep reaching out and accept the fact that sometimes, we get burned. That's the price for social connections. I think you'll tell her some time before, and that you'll tell her in a confident manner that actually, you've decided to think about your health and in a new way. Instead of beating yourself over the head about your weight, you realized this only helps sell more WeightWatchers classes. And here you are, back at square 1. So you've started the road to WLS, you've done your homework, you know outcomes aren't guaranteed, but you want a shot at something that will give you a better life. And dear Emily, we're close, we live together, and I want you to be a confidant on this new chapter because I like you. I trust you'll know that this is my information to share or not share; it should obviously go without saying with any private medical decisions, but I'm just saying it to avoid any confusion. I'm really excited for this, and well, you're probably going to see kitchen scales, mini-meals in the fridge, and a lot more weird protein products in the cupboards. Feel free to try them! I don't think it'll be a big deal. I think how you approach it will set the tone for it. Make sure you take the stress OFF yourself in that close-in living situation by managing expectations subtly like "hey, most people lose 50-60-maybe 70% of their excess weight, I'm not doing this to get a BMI of 25, just so that's clear. If I wanted a guarantee for that, I'd have to go with much more drastic surgery types and for now, I'm going with the first line of procedure recommended for people in my situation to avoid unnecessary complications". This removes the pressure and hey, anything above 60% will be a shared celebration. I told my close people I wanted to get to 220, but that the surgery on average would get me to 230ish. So getting to 220 was a huge milestone and well, I'm at 197 now. People react how you set them up to react is what I'm saying. Alright, sorry this got long. I hope some of it is helpful.

WHAT DOES PATIENT COMPLIANCE MEAN? The term “patient compliance” is a funny one for someone like me, who in some areas of her life doesn’t have the patience required for compliance. Maybe that’s just my funny little brain playing with words again. What does patient compliance mean? A compliant patient is one who follows or completes with their physician’s diagnostic, treatment, or preventive procedure(s). For example, John Doe’s blood work shows high LDL cholesterol and triglycerides (diagnosis: hyperlipidemia). He’s a compliant patient because he faithfully takes the medication his doctor prescribed, avoids eating saturated fats, and increases his exercise in order to lose some weight. His mother-in-law has high blood pressure (hypertension) and is recovering from a stroke, so in order to prevent the medical problems that challenge her mom, John’s wife Jane follows her doctor’s recommendation to reduce her own salt intake and join John for a daily walk. Their obese son Mark, who is scheduled to have bariatric surgery in two weeks, is compliant as he carefully follows his surgeon’s pre-op liver shrink diet to prepare for the surgery. Their sun-worshipping daughter Mary just had a suspicious mole removed and complies with her dermatologist’s recommendation to use sunscreen every day and give up the tanning bed. A highly commendable family, aren’t they? What about you? Are you a compliant patient? All the time, some of the time, or none of the time? Compliance is a practice that matters to me…does it matter to you? BARIATRIC PATIENT COMPLIANCE Most bariatric surgeons agree that the #1 cause of disappointing weight loss or other WLS “failure” is patient non-compliance with the surgeon’s protocol. In contrast, many adjustable gastric band patients (the disappointed ones, anyway) agree that the #1 cause of band “failure” (however they experience it) is that the band doesn’t work, no matter what (if any) protocol you follow. How can we reconcile such opposite views of WLS failure? What can surgeons do better or differently to improve patient outcomes? We already know what patient compliance means, so let’s take a look at the term “protocol.” In a general sense, protocol is a set of conventional principles and expectations that are considered binding on the members of a particular group, be it professional, social, or political. It’s also the formal etiquette and code of behavior, precedence, and procedure for state and diplomatic ceremonies. Protocol is a big deal to the British Royal Family, as witnessed by the flutter over the Queen’s order that Kate, the Dutchess of Cambridge must, as a former commoner, show reverence to the ‘blood princesses’. She is expected to curtsey to those born royal, such as Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie – both in public and in private. Although the media did a lot of speculating about Kate’s putative humiliation over this order, the importance of royal protocol can hardly be a surprise to a British citizen who marries into the Royal Family. In the medical world, the term protocol refers to the plan for a course of treatment – a physician’s diagnostic, treatment, or preventive procedure(s) like those followed by John Doe and his family. And like Kate Middleton, a bariatric patient can hardly be surprised over their surgeon’s insistence that they follow that protocol. Any surgeon worth his/her scalpel educates patients about that protocol from the time of an informational seminar to the day of a band patient’s first fill, with updates as time goes on. That’s why I feel impatient when I hear (very, very often) that new bandsters are shocked and vexed over the requirement that they follow a liquid diet immediately before and after their surgery, as well as after fills. “How can that possibly be a shock?” I ask myself. Did the patient sleep through their pre-op education, or were they so focused on the vision of themselves in a size 0 that they forgot the work that must be done to arrive at that size? Or (please say it ain’t so!) did the surgeon or other medical professionals in that bariatric program not spell out the details of their protocol when the patient was preparing for surgery? And then there’s the whole “Why does my surgeon say eat only ½ cup of food when my friend’s surgeon says eat 1 cup of food at a time?” dilemma. As I explained in Bandwagon, surgeons establish (and fine tune) patient protocols based on their own experience with their own patient population. If band manufacturers hired teams of auditors to ensure that every bariatric surgeon in North America used the exact same protocol, no one would be able to afford a gastric band, and very few surgeons would bother using the band for their patients. And a brand-new gastric band sitting in its package is completely useless until a trained and experienced surgeon implants it in a patient. Allergan and Ethicon Endo aren’t surgeons; they’re manufacturers of medical devices. So while speculating about the great variation in WLS protocols might be mildly entertaining, it’s not going to do a whole lot to get you closer to that size 0. If you choose a surgeon you trust and respect, you also choose to abide by their protocol, and enjoying that protocol is beside the point. I spent decades enjoying my own weight loss and weight gain “protocols” so much that by the time I was 54, I needed weight loss surgery. So whose protocol is healthier or more effective, mine or my surgeon’s? I lost 92 pounds by following a surgeon’s protocol. Is there a problem with that? I think not. OK, hang on a second while I climb off my soap-box. Ah, that’s better. Here I am again, standing on the ground, surrounded by living, breathing (if distant) WLS patients. It’s not fair to generalize about any of us, is it? But generalize I must in order to make a few more points. THE DOUBTING THOMAS I think some of us are by nature more likely to ignore, question, or defy authority figures, while others accept authority without voicing or even thinking a question. In the former case, we need to cultivate trust in the doctors who want to help us, while in the latter case, we need to cultivate enough trust in ourselves to dare to ask those authority figures for better or more detailed explanations of their instructions. I’m more on the defiant, or Doubting Thomas, end of the patient spectrum, but a few years ago I read a statement that struck me (out of the blue) as very true: SOME THINGS MUST BE BELIEVED TO BE SEEN I extrapolated that statement from a religious context into the context of my WLS journey (at that point in my life, I could extrapolate almost anything into the context of my WLS journey). When I had Lap-Band® surgery, I was convinced that I was a total failure at weight loss. Going into that operating room, I had to believe something I’d never seen myself do: that with the help of my band, I could succeed at weight loss and maintenance. And I did. Because truth can take a while to reveal itself, I think people like me need to ask ourselves, “What possible harm could befall me if I do follow an instruction whose proof of efficacy I can’t see right now?” Let’s go back to a previous example: your doctor tells you not to eat more than 1 cup of food at a time. You know you can easily eat 2 cups, so if you really want (or think you need) to eat all that, and no immediate negative consequences result from doing that, why shouldn’t you just go ahead and do it? Why should you blindly follow your doctor’s seemingly arbitrary and unreasonable instruction to stop eating after you’ve consumed 1 cup of food? It’s your doctor’s job to explain the “why” behind that instruction, but if she/he hasn’t done that to your satisfaction, and he/she isn’t sitting at the table with you and that plate of delicious food, I suggest that you consider what terrible thing would happen if you put away the extra cup of food for now. Will you starve to death? Really? What else might happen? Will you surrender your liberty, be forced to vote for your doctor’s favorite presidential candidate, or (worse) be compelled to clean his toilet every Saturday for the next 20 years? Oh, no. No, no, no. He’s your doctor, not your teenaged son, so let’s consider another, quite serious consequence of following his instruction. Maybe, just maybe, nothing bad will happen at all. Maybe even something good will happen. Just because your compliance doesn’t yield an instant reward doesn’t mean it won’t yield a future reward. What might that reward be? How about weight loss and the avoidance of side effects or complications? Doesn’t that sound good to you? Sure sounds good to me. I do much better at following instructions if I understand them, but I’m here to tell you that in almost 5 years of banded living, I didn’t truly begin understand my surgeon’s and dietitian’s protocol until I’d been following it for 6 or so months, and the scope of my comprehension expanded more over the next few years. In the meantime, I lost those 92 pounds I mentioned earlier. The lesson there is that you don’t have to completely understand or believe in a protocol for it to work, as long as you follow it as best you can. THE BELIEVER Now I want to talk to the folks at the other end of the patient spectrum, the obedient ones who wouldn’t even think of defying the advice of an authority figure. Their WLS journey can be bumpy too, even when they slavishly follow their doctor’s protocol, and here’s why. One of the problems with blindly following instructions that you don’t understand is that sooner or later you’re going to find yourself in a situation no one thought to warn you about. You won’t instantly know what to do, and you may waste precious time on unnecessary blood, sweat and tears. You may even end up doing something harmful. Without at least an inkling of the principles behind your doctor’s protocol, you’ll have a hard time coming up with a stopgap measure to help you survive a surprising and stressful situation. If you worry that any decision you make on your own will be the wrong one, ask yourself: “What’s the worst that could happen if I do nothing right now? What will happen if I do the ‘wrong’ thing?” Will you die? Surely not. If you’re able to breathe, ambulate, drink water, state your name and what year it is, and blood isn’t pooling in your shoes, you’re going to survive at least long enough to call your surgeon, leave a message, and wait for a call back. So unless the decision requires someone to dial 911 to speed you to the emergency room (if you can’t breathe, move, swallow, talk, remember your name or the year, stop the bleeding, or if something else life-threatening is happening), take a deep breath! And another one, and another one. Ah, that’s better! People on the Believer end of the patient spectrum are often reluctant to ask questions of their doctors because they’re afraid they’ll look stupid or make the doctor angry. I can only repeat the old saying that the only stupid question is the one you think but don’t ask. It’s extremely unlikely that your doctor is going to spank you if you ask (again), “Why can’t I take ibuprofen for my headache?” If your doctor seems irritated by a question like that, it may be because you’re trying their patience, or it could be because they’re having a bad day (worried or annoyed about something completely unrelated to you or their job, wishing they hadn’t eaten the whole pastrami sandwich for lunch, didn’t sleep well last night, etc.). It could also be because their bedside manner needs work. If that’s the case, you can set out in search of another surgeon, put up with the original surgeon’s rudeness, or do your part to lead that doctor towards kindness. If the answer to your question starts looking like a time-consuming project that your doctor doesn’t have time for right now, it’s perfectly okay to say something like, “Is there someone else in the office who could work with me on that?” or “Would it be better to make another appointment to talk about this?” THE DOCTOR Doctors, like other people, come in all shapes, sizes, and temperaments, and with varying communication skills. They’re not all made from the eternally patient, smiling, avuncular Marcus Welby mold, and not all of them are motivated solely by the desire to help other people. They’re often just as fascinated by science as by altruism. Like you and me, they work to earn money, and if their pay seems ridiculously high, just ask one of them how much money they borrowed to get through medical school, and how much they pay each year just for medical malpractice insurance. In many ways, I’m a “you get what you pay for” kinda gal. If 3 doctors quoted band surgery at a total of $13,000 to $15,000, and a 4th doctor quoted only $4,000, I’m not sure I’d feel safe with a bargain basement surgeon (nor would I assume that the $15,000 surgeon was the best). Last I heard, no courses in Bedside Manner or patient communication are required of, or even offered to medical students. Doctors must exchange important information with patients whose own communication skills vary greatly, and they must take a patient’s measure, choose a treatment plan, and explain it to the patient using a minimum of enigmatic medical terms, all within a matter of minutes before they rush off to the next patient or task. Doctors must rely on support staff to do hundreds of things to keep the doctor’s boat afloat, and it’s entirely possible that they have no idea how rude or careless or wonderful some of those people are because so much of that goes on in a way that’s invisible to the doctor. And which would you rather your surgeon focus on: the ink cartridge for the Xerox machine, or the pain in your abdomen? In medical folklore, surgeons are infamous for possessing a God complex, with big egos, enormous self-confidence, and an excess of superiority. When you think about it, it does take a lot of chutzpah to cut into another human’s flesh and fiddle with their innards in the effort to fix a problem., so it doesn’t surprise or bother me much that some surgeons have a hard time coming down to the lowly level (perceived or real) where their patients trudge through the mud of ordinary human existence. In many types of surgery, that’s not a big problem because the surgeon sees the patient maybe 3 or 4 times: the initial consult, the surgery, and 1 or 2 post-op follow-ups. Then the patient goes on their merry (we hope) way and the surgeon scrubs up and dashes into the operating room to cut into someone else’s medical problem. General surgery is usually a fix-it-and-go thing. If your diseased gall bladder gets tossed away and forgotten, do you really care if that also means your abdominal pain is also a thing of the past? But bariatric surgery, which treats a chronic and incurable disease that’s a highly complex tangle of physical, behavioral, and emotional problems, is a different matter. Successful bariatric surgery is not a fix-it-and-go proposition (and that’s reason #99 that I would hesitate to ever have surgery outside the United States, knowing that I have no local surgical back-up or support). Bariatric patients need far more education, aftercare and support than most other types of patients. I’m convinced that one of the causes of WLS failure (however you define failure) is inadequate patient education, aftercare and support. And on top of that, adjustable gastric band patients need even more education, aftercare, and support than most other bariatric patients. While I believe that too many general surgeons have been jumping on the gastric band-wagon without fully understanding the needs of those patients, it’s not fair to say that they’re all being careless or negligent when they fail to give patients what they really need. Unless they’ve had bariatric surgery themselves, they just don’t know what it is to walk in our shoes. They might consider the implanting of a gastric band to be an interesting and possibly lucrative addition to their practice without realizing that surgical expertise is only part of what the band patient needs. Doctors and other people with very high self-esteem can be hard for us ordinary mortals to deal with, but it’s a mistake to assume that they’re looking down on us. They may not be looking at or thinking about us at all, not because they don’t care about us but because their minds are so enthralled by and preoccupied with medical science. My father was a brilliant scientist whose head was so far up in the clouds that I often wondered what planet he was on. At the same time, I know he loved me when he noticed me (and I know now that nothing I could do would change that). In a sense, doctors who get heavily involved with their patients are doing those patients a disservice. The Hippocratic Oath exhorts doctors to “do no harm,” not to mop up your tears or hug you when things go wrong. If that seems harsh, consider this: doctors actually need to keep some emotional distance from their patients in order to treat them well medically. Without that distance, it would be very hard for them to make rational decisions about patient care. That’s why it’s considered poor practice for doctors to treat themselves or their loved ones. I’m not saying that it’s okay for doctors to be cold and heartless and should be excused for bad behavior. None of them are perfect (and neither are we, the patients) and you won’t find me worshipping at the altar of the AMA or the ASMBS. I’ve encountered some wonderful doctors and surgeons in my lifetime, and some bad ones too. The average American bandster might see 3-4 doctors on a regular basis (a few times a year): a primary care physician, a gynecologist (if you’re of that persuasion), a dentist, and maybe a chiropractor or a specialist like an eye doctor. The average American bariatric surgeon probably sees 20-30 patients a day (perhaps a few thousand per year). Since I’m not a mind-reader, and no one cares as much about my weight loss journey as much as I do, I figure it’s my responsibility to refresh my doctors’ memories each time I see them. I might wish that I didn’t have to repeat over and over again that (for example) I’m hearing impaired and need my doctor to look at me when he speaks, but that’s a minor issue compared to some of the bigger ones I face as a mature adult.

I have decided to get the Lap Band after many years of weight gain and loss and now am looking for a place to do it. I have had a consultation at CIBO and they can do the procedure very quickly which kind of scares me...shouldnt there be a longer wait...regardless I am looking for positive stories from CIBO patients

It does matter. They want to see no net weight gain.

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

I know exactly what you mean. It is like a switch has been flipped in my brain that just had it makes sense very suddenly. I've only been overweight/obese for the last six years (gained 100lbs in a single 12-month period, very rough year). The last 30-40 pounds came on over the subsequent years being frustrated with the initial weight gain. Joints hurt every time I tried to get into a routine again, I could not find sports bras that fit me in my new large size. It depressed me, so my eating habits actually got much worse after gaining that extra weight. Funny, I had to gain weight to eat worse than I did before. Not to mention hitting my 30's and what that does to hormones and metabolism. I wasn't really eating differently than what I ate when I was 28 years old, but I wasn't exercising at all and I was older. It was terribly difficult to see that I needed to adapt. Even the year or so before surgery, I was eating so healthy. Salads, lean meats, no soda, avoid fried foods, etc. -- except I wasn't journaling and even healthy foods in "too large" quantities can be high in calories. I know the healthier eating habits staved off getting any higher than I was (I stayed at 265 for a long time), but I was still working myself like crazy 60+ hours per week and not getting active. I have two very healthy doctors in my family, many friends who are trainers or do triathlons, and yet I just couldn't get it. I had the knowlege of "calories in/calories out" and nutrition, sleeping well, killing soda and avoid refined sugars and carbs. But I wasn't always applying it. The other odd thing is that even though I went from buying 4/6 and XS clothing all the way to buying 22/24 and 1-2/X clothing, I never perceived myself as fat. I always saw the skinny me when I looked down. Then I'd look in a mirror and it felt like I was looking at another person. Or I'd get in an airplane seat and the belt wouldn't fit. Or some innocent kid would ask me if I was having a baby. These little innocuous events seemed weird to me, like I truly thought the airlines were making their belts shorter and taking away legroom. The brain is really funny that way, how it can be your worst enemy. Now that I've had the surgery and dropped nearly 55 pounds, I get it. I totally see what I was missing. Now that I journal and measure my foods, I see how the large portion sizes eating out are not smart. I understand how staying hydrated helps the body shed. And it's amazing how much I want to tell other people now what they're doing wrong. I see it in their eyes when they're ordering in restaurants how they are keeping themselves unhappy. They see surgery as extreme, but I see it as having on of the healthiest relationships with food I've ever had in my life!

I look in the mirror sometimes and have to take a double take. You may want to get some counseling so you dont gain the weight back. Sometimes still feeling fat can prompt weight gain so be careful. Try and love yourself every day no matter what.

You should realllllllly consider BC. After the sleeve so many hormones are being released that you become extremely fertile. I have heard of women who were "sterile" for 15 years getting pregnant months after surgery. If you do get pregnant it is very dangerous for you and the baby to continue on, some women have done it with no problems, but the likelihood of having problems is huge. I am one of the few who is on depo and loves it, every 3 months I get one shot, no weight gain, no headaches or nausea. I guess I lucked out.

Yep I always keep my sodium under 2000 (I have high BP) and try to keep my potassium near 3000. I never take laxatives. There's nothing wrong with your muscles holding water. It's their response to stimulus. You just have to wait it out and not freak out over the temporary weight gain. It's not fat.

I sent an email to the woman who wrote the article. She responded to me within twenty four hours and admitted that maybe he was not the best subject. She asked me if I would like to participate in a followup story about someone who is success ful with the lapband. I gave her referrals to Century members and three different lapband support groups. I told her to get back to me in a few months, so I really have something to tell since I am a newbie with slightly less than 30 pounds in the last 6 weeks. Here is my letter I sent to her: Dear Ms. Martin, I was thoroughly disappointed with your article on the Lapband procedure. Most of the information about the Lapband in your article is inaccurate and has no real substance.You also make a mockery of all morbidly obese people by choosing a photo of a candidate with 10,000 calories of food at his table ordering the waiter to bring more. Most Lapband patients achieve longterm weight loss percentages similar to bypass patients without dumping syndrome, malabsorption and without permanent damage to their stomachs and intestines. The process is slower at a rate of 6-8 pounds a month, which is a much healthier approach to weight loss and requires less plastic surgery (or none)for the person who is morbidly obese. We are a society of quick fixes to long term problems. Obesity is a serious problem in the US and many will choose numerous other tortuous procedures that will permanently damage their bodies over one that is slower, but more healthy. I should know because I was banded and I am successfully losing the weight I want to lose slowly and in a healthy way. I have learned that it is true that the band is just a tool and the patient must eat healthy low carbohydrate, low caloric food and exercise as well to achieve the desired result. However, it is not true that negative reinforcement in the form of food getting stuck in the band is what is keeping me away from the fast food. I eat without much restriction and definitely without pain, which could be said about most Lapband patients. I now take the time to chew my food and taste what I am eating instead of inhaling it. Most of the banded people I know have lost 50 to 100% of the weight they want to lose within 2 years. Many bypass patients will lose 60-80% of their desired weight and many will gain back 20% or more of their losses. Banded people who learn to eat properly and healthy and get regular exercise have just as much of a chance to lose the same amount of weight and keep it off as bypass patients. It is my opinion that bypass patients never really get the chance to eat normal portions, since the amount is not adjustable. I eat about 6-7 ounces of food, Protein and vegetables and then leave the table. People in other countries have been banded for the last 10 years and these statistics are more accurate than the most recent US ones. In a European study, it showed most banded patients lost between 47%-75% of their desired weight loss. What I want to know is why you would choose to write about a man who obviously has a compulsive eating disorder? Anyone who eats three Breakfast meals and is still is thinking about lunch (despite his profession) has a bigger issue at hand. I am sure if a licensed psychologist did a self inventory eating disorder panel on such a candidate, they would not recommend any surgery.One should try to tackle the eating disorder first before considering any bariatric procedure. There is a difference between eating too much and being a compulsive eater. There are also other factors such as genetics, metabolism, lack of exercise, hormonal and glandular disorders and many other factors which contribute to weight gain. These are people who might make better candidates because they are willing to make changes to improve their health. If you would really like to learn about the Lapband, I would be happy to put you in touch with at least three different support groups that are national and regional who would give you more accurate information for a future article.

I keep coming back to these boards because of posts like this. I have almost stopped a couple of times because of super sensitive people or people who feel its there duty to tell me when they feel I am being "mean" to someone (I am direct when I detect people trying to "bargain" their way to poor behavior or having a pity party!) But this post alone has made it worthwhile for me. I have had 2 long stalls in the 29 weeks since I had my surgery. Both lasted for a month. The first one was the dreaded 3 week and was very frustrating. However, I could read here how this was normal and to quit worrying about it. I put the scale away and stopped weighing myself everyday, and instead just checked every week or so. After the stall ended, the weight fell off very rapidly. My waist went from a 48 to a 36 in a matter of 5 months. Stalled again around Haloween and just weighed again this morning to find I was losing pounds again. Am actually looking to lose about 5 more pounds and then start adding weight gain shakes into my diet to stop losing weight. My doctor doesn't want me to lose anymore. Weird place for me to be to say the least!

Thank-you everyone for your words of encouragement. Yes, I did sign on to change my eating habits for life. "Gowalking" was right on. I need to stop weighing myself and have more realistic goals. I kind of relapsed and took on the habits I had while dieting "before" surgery. A way of life that created the weight gain in the first place. I will now focus on eating healthy and not the number on the scale. Believe me, I have learned my lesson and will never do it again. I do not want to end up in the hospital or cause a harm to my body!

Hypoglycemia is on track because I had to eat alot of fat and carbs to get it there because of low blood sugar and now a ton of weight gain. This surgery is NOT for everyone and I say that unapologetically

I was self pay in Mexico. I read on here and dozens of publicly accessible medical journals through NIH, NHS and Health Canada before even making contact with the surgeon in Mexico. I started receiving preop emails around the time I was to begin and have received weekly post op care emails each week since surgery. I also fortunately had a long history (of success) with low carb and ketogenic diets, and unfortunately also with drug and alcohol addiction and other self destructive behaviours. The latter contributed to my weight gain, and I made a decision to get totally clean and chart a new path for my health and sanity. Perhaps that's why I don't mind straight advice. I can't get down with Jesus or higher power BS and thus 12 step programs were never on my radar. I indulged myself in information and tried to educate myself as well as possible about any and all possible outcomes. This has always been my approach, and I totally accept that it's not for everyone. Some people want information presented to them personally on a silver platter and some of us need to be muckrakers and find it ourselves to believe it. What I can't accept is anti-informational people. People who don't want the truth and are happy subsisting in an echo chamber of what they want to be true instead of what is true. People who want sympathy instead of empathy.

A little test, it may seem odd but try this. Close your eyes and relax (Make sure you remember these steps because you need to keep your eyes closed as you do this) Imagine that you are going to take a journey wherever you and your imagination choose. Lets do a short test flight, imagine that you are going to travle back to yesterday, you will travel on a scooter that is guided by a line that intersects your body. Imagine this line as it intersects your body allowing you to travel both to the past and to the future. Now answer this question Where does this line intersect your body and in what direction does it point, head or flow. You can use this visualization technique to travel back in time in your mind and re-visit the significant events in your life that impacted your weight gain. You can also travel to the future and see yourself as thin and then travel back and view all of the things that you must do to achieve your target. By traveling to the future in your imagination you can adjust your subliminal vision of how you think being thin will change your life. If you truly do fear being thin your imagination will take you to a place that is not positive, if you then force yourself to change this vision by imagining a positive scenario and if you continue to do this your subliminal view of being thin can be modified from a more negative to a morte positive view. I use this technique more as a tool to help me prepare for stressfull work assignments. I visualize the event being completed in a positive way then I travel back to today and record all of the tasks that I needed to complete to bring about that result. I would never suggest that this will cure or resolve any major internal issues but it can change you attitude about being thin from negative to positive. It is much harder to complete a task if you believe that a negative outcome will result. Now the $64000.00 question, where does that line intersect your body and in which direction?

congratulations! i, too, suggest a slight unfill. regarding the weight gain, try to be careful, but just know that after delivery, you will still have your tool in place. good luck! :cursing:

Try not to be too discouraged. These are the hurdles that your insurance company hopes will make you give up so they don’t have to pay for your surgery. Keep getting treatment for your depression and do the best you can with your weight. I bet once you have a surgery date you will be able to lose a bit if you want to. Be kind to yourself though. Depression is real and weight gain or loss is not at all uncommon. I have actually had it present both ways in myself. When I was younger I would lose weight during bouts of depression but now that I am older and also on medication it makes me gain (not sure if it’s age or the meds that cause it but I can’t change either so I just accept it). I have my fingers crossed for you that your consult appointment goes on as planned and you are able to officially start this journey. Once you are on the other side of surgery looking back you will realize it goes faster than you think. But definitely keep getting treatment for that depression because you want that under control before surgery to give yourself the best chance at losing all your weight post surgery. Keep posting on here too. This is a pretty special community. It’s been very helpful for me. Congratulations on your decision to pursue WLS and best of luck on the next few hurdles. You’ve got this.

It's really frustrating! It happens to a lot of people; it took me 7.5 months to have the surgery, but your delay sounds really unfortunate. As @ShoppGirl said, you will be there before you know it. Work on the depression the best you can with therapy and medication if needed (If you start medication for depression, make sure the doctor tries a medication that is less likely to cause weight gain). I found that once I was set to have surgery, I tried to live a more "bariatric" life, by eating more protein and fewer carbs and exercising more. It's so hard to do any of this when you're depressed, but at least try upping your protein. It will help you feel less hungry, or at least it did for me. If you can take a walk in the fresh air, it might make you feel better for a bit. (Of course, that depends on your weather... I live in Boston where we have crap weather a lot, so I often walk in the mall!) Stay strong!

Getting old sucks! I have had a radiotherapy induced menopause at age 43 2 years ago and started HRT a bit over 12 months ago due to horrible symptoms of hot flashes, insomnia and anxiety and depression. In the last year, whilst I've recovered well from rectal cancer I feel my health has steadily declined in a non specific way. The worst thing I've noticed though is my rear end and thighs have balooned and I'm certain its the HRT. A recent CT scan also picked up that a fibroid (we think) in my uterus has grown very quickly over the past 12 months. I've also had horrible heartburn and stomach pain and have been depressed to be on regular Nexium. As well, I dont think the HRT has done all that much for my mood (or libido). I had a tummy tuck back in march and it seems like this normal menopausal weight gain now cant go on the tummy and I'm really really unhappy with my shape now, I'm very very pearshaped, even though I'm still slim. All I can say is thank god I was virtually skeletal after cancer treatment since the 20lb that has come out of nowhere has just brought me back to a BMI of 22 or so but its ALL in my rear end! I really need to shift 5kgs, I'm a fine boned build and 154lb is just too heavy for my 5ft 10. I've also noticed my athletic ability decline sharply. I cant run as far as I want to or could and dont recover. I've taken up strength training due to bone density issues and it wipes me out completely. I'm not used to being this weak! It really sucks. I've not taken my HRT for the past few days and wonder of wonders, I've not needed Nexium either. I wonder if I stop will the fibroid shrink (thus avoiding a hysterectomy) and will my ass do likewise? Or will I just become an axe weilding homicidal maniac again?

Hi! In my opinion, binging doesn't mean that you're not ready. I binged quite a few times before surgery, too. But it is important to wean yourself off of the binging behavior as much as you can (I know, it's hard!). One important reason is that you really do need to lose some weight before surgery and exercise to make your surgery recovery easier. Also, most doctors tell you to lose weight before surgery, and I've even heard of surgeries being canceled because of weight gain. One bit of advice I would give is to not try to make all the changes all at once...do one at a time until you're comfortable with the change, then move on to the next. Especially since you have six months to do it in. This is the absolute best thing I've ever done for myself, and I was a binge eater...it's really a good thing that you have the time to make sure this is the right decision for you. Good luck!!!!

Peace with food and weight loss that lasts are possible, and yet, these aren’t the places where most women who struggle with overeating end up. Emotional eating and overeating can feel like a never-ending battle and a roller coaster ride of diets, gimmicks, and “new” approaches that don’t take you where you want to go. It doesn’t have to be this way. Here are some common traps that even the smartest women fall for and the success strategies you can use to avoid them: 1. Getting too focused on what to eat. Cycles of overeating and weight gain are rarely fixed by focusing only on the food. A focus on what to eat doesn’t address or fix the situations, feelings, or relationships that may be triggering overeating. Yes, portion size matters and sometimes food intolerances or metabolic difficulties cause weight gain. However, even these situations become clearer and easier to sort out when you start listening to yourself and paying attention to how you feel, instead of focusing your attention on every bite, calorie, or fat gram that you put into your mouth. 2. Disregarding what you really need. You know yourself better than anyone. Instead of focusing on what “should” work and what you “should” do, take this bold step that many high-achieving women skip: Ask yourself what you really need to be successful—and then give it to yourself. You’re likely to spend less time, energy, heartache and even money in the long run when you trust your inner wisdom. Do you need the help of an expert? Be honest about that. Better tools to deal with stress or difficult emotions? Do you need some one-on-one mentoring or support? Don’t cheat yourself. Investing in what you know to be true and getting the targeted help you need will likely make more of a difference than all the self-help books you can’t figure out how to make work for you. Too many women spend too much money on solutions that aren’t comprehensive or individualized enough and don’t really meet their needs. Not only does this lead to failure, it burns up your hope and your sense of effectiveness. Do you feel like you know what you need but it isn’t possible? Don’t let that stop you. Ask yourself what it would take to make it happen and ask what is do-able that would start allowing you to have more of what you need. Start believing that you deserve to get what you need and start asking for it. You might be surprised what shows up. 3. Refusing to ask for help. High-achievers can fall into the trap of believing that lifestyle change has to happen solo. Many women who are successful in other areas of their lives feel embarrassed and even ashamed of their struggles with overeating. They feel like they are alone in their struggles. Unfortunately, not reaching out for help increases the sense of isolation and decreases your potential effectiveness. Asking for help might be the scariest step you take in order to make peace with food, but stepping outside of your own head, your own mindset, beliefs, and traps, can start change happening—and quickly. 4. Not addressing time issues. My heart almost broke when I heard an outwardly successful professional woman tell me that given the hectic state of her life, she believed that she wouldn’t be able to focus on her own goals for the next ten years. Really? What kind of life is that and what kind of example are you living? Change requires a commitment to making it happen. Whether it’s taking the time to attend a class, listen to audios, create a plan for healthy meals, or meet with a coach, if you don’t create the time, it isn’t really a priority. Honest truth. If you need help learning how to make or find the time, or how to put yourself first, make this your first action step. Coaching Challenge: What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to making peace with food? Where do you get stuck or thrown off course? Please join the conversation by sharing a comment. I’d love to hear from you. Then, be bold and share one step you will take to start doing it differently. Peace with food is possible. I challenge you to go for it.

Emotional eating is one of the biggest causes of overeating, weight gain, and weight re-gain. April is Emotional Overeating Awareness month and to commemorate this, I'm offering a free teleclass to answer your questions about how to take control of emotional eating and struggles with food, weight and healthy lifestyle. The teleseminar will take place on Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at noon Pacific and 3pm Eastern. Creating change isn’t automatic and it isn’t always easy. However, it DOESN’T need to be a struggle. Join me for this free teleseminar where I'll answer your questions about how to end emotional eating battles and make peace with food—once and for all. Just go here to register and submit your question.