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One thing I want to say, and not in an alarmist way, is that even if you follow the guidelines, it is possible to fail. That is one fallacy I need to point out as untrue. Some people don't ever get the right restriction, for some people the band exacerbates health issues, and for others, the band fails (and I should know, I have experienced band failure in the form of a leak - this is NOT something that is caused by patient non-compliance). The GOOD thing about the band is that you have options to try to resolve issues. If you have health issues and these are picked up quickly enough, unfilling may help. If you have band failure, you can get a replacement band. But the band can also be frustrating, high maintenance and requires more input (I believe) from the patient than other WLS. As for hunger, in my case, when I'm in the green zone I lose all hunger. I am actually choosing not to seek out being in the green zone again (after replacement band surgery) because I want the balance of being able to eat relatively normally and still maintain my weight, and yet, as of this morning, I'm still losing. I've dropped another lb in the last week since my last fill, and it's simply because I'm eating less and it's keeping me full for longer already, but without the potential for stuck episodes or not being able to eat certain things. And lastly, I got to goal in 7 months, maintained for 3 years with the band, and the minute the leak happened, my hunger returned and I started to gain. I eventually managed to arrest the weight gain and even lose a little just prior to getting my band replaced but damn, it was bloody hard work fighting hunger all the time. So I cannot imagine, despite my success to date, being able to maintain easily without the band. Nor do I want to.

Went for my first Doc appointment since my surgery. He said I was doing great and I will be ready for my first fill on the 17th which just so happens to be my Birthday so that will be a nice present to myself. He also said to be prepared to gain some weight between now and my fill date and to not worry about it and focus on finishing the healing process. He said the weight gain is totally normal and once I had the fill those pounds plus more would vanish quickly. So excited to get the fill.

My twins were natural and a blessing. I read that many woman that are in their prime stages 28-35 are the ones having the sleeve done get pregnant fast. Most that are in their early-late 30s have a higher chance of conceiving twins. I read something like that lol 5 mos today and ill be told their genders next Friday. No weight gain yet either so in Super Excited!!

Go for it!! Don't wait!! I'm 1 year and a month post op and today 5 mos pregnant with twins no weight gain yet. I'm not worried about the weight gain anymore. I can't wait to see my babies!! enjoy life. Don't plan out just go with it. These are my first babies. I wasn't able to conceive because I was so heavy. 150 lbs lost and finally here we are

Hello angry. I feel u totally!! I too feel like eating, not binging, but eating as I've always done up until my 2 week preop diet. But, my doc, after weighing me our first visit, both he nd his nurse said, from now on u can't gain anymore weight, why? Uk, I've been maintaining this weight for a while now, dropping her or there, but now since they've said that, I'm paranoid about gaining b4 my surgery and I don't have a frekn date yet!!! It makes me so angry, I'm gonna ask them about that my next visit! I'm glad I'm not the only one but I do agree that u shud stop drinking cuz that's prob harder to stop just cold turkey, smoking as well. I don't mind the two week thing so much, yet, lol, but to say no more weight gain and not have a date or finish the visits, what is his point? hmph!!

This thread is a breath of fresh air. I have had PCOS for about 10+ years. I have having to explain what it is and why I am getting the surgery (surgery Aug7th) People judge me because my BMI is a lower BMI 38. They feel like PCOS is just an excuse but I am believing it will help with regular cycles and the increased weight gain. It seems like most of the responders are Pre-Surgery. :-) wish I had more data. My doctor is going to take am ultrasound to get a baseline to see if it will really help. Good luck to all.

My journey has been life-long. I was overweight as a young child, medically obese by around age 7. Should you choose to read on, you will get a glimpse of the factors that contributed to my struggle in comforting myself with food and attempting to render myself unattractive. I had been through the tumultuous divorce of my parents and felt abandoned by my father at age 6. Within a year of my parents' divorce, I was molested by an adult male friend of the family. A few years later, I was molested by an older boy, another family friend. As a teen, searching for love and male attention to fill the hole in my heart, I began a sexual relationship with my boyfriend at 15. I became pregnant within a year and decided to abort my child. I believed the lies of the abortion industry, that it was a painless procedure, that my baby was just a "clump of cells," and went through with the abortion. Immediately afterwards, I knew I could never go through with, or put myself in that position EVER AGAIN! This is when I really saw my weight balloon, in what I now see was an effort to make myself undesirable by men. If no one was attracted to me, I wouldn't have sex, so I couldn't get pregnant, and would never again face abortion. This is when I graduated to morbid obesity. I had gained around 80 pounds within a year. My family excused the weight gain by comparing me to other family members who were large. It seemed natural to them, that because I was becoming a woman and there was a family history of obesity, the weight gain was unavoidable. No one relized that I was filling an emotional hole with food. No one saw the isolating behaviors I was exhibiting. Thirteen years later, at age 29, after having had four children, married and divorced, I had come to know God and started a process of recovery from all of my past hurts. Since then, layer upon layer of pain has been peeled away, and I am truly a new person! I won't say that the weight is the last thing I need to peel away, but I can say that I am ready to work on this part of me now! I had thought about gastric bypass many times over the years, since 1999, but never with the healing behind me and the mindset I have now. For me, shedding this weight is symbolic of breaking free from the shackles of all the pain that was holding me back. Thank you for taking the time to read my story!

I was led to believe that any carbonation was banded for life. Something about the carbonation irritating the sleeve and causing weight gain.

I think Sassygirl is right...stick to the program and realize you will have stalls and even occasional small weight gain...hang in there!

iam just starting to research plastic surgery. I want abd skin removal and breast augmentation. I want to have a large firm chest. I always had big boobs- even before weight gain. I don't know if i should just get a lift or get implants too. I want to be suuuuuppppper sexy now that I have lost almost 100 pounds.

It is 1:30 in the morning and I decided to reflect a bit on why WLS? Why now? My first memory of being over weight was around 10. Mind you, I was not very obese but my brother thought I was so I spent the summer running around my grandmother's house. After a year I grew into my body and kept active. I remember squeezing into jeans by laying on the bed. It was the 80's and even though I was not large, I always had "junk in my trunk" that made me self- conscious. Fast forward to the 90's. When I found out I was pregnant, I was thrilled.....and scared. I no longer had my mom around to ask advice. I thought I was being healthy. After all, I was eating for 2 right? Wrong! My insecurities about being a good mom and wife fed into that lie and I ended up gaining almost 80 pounds. I never thought really bad about myself being a larger person.....sort of. I used to joke about being the healthiest large person I knew. I still did a lot at 230 pounds. Skating, running(sporadically), etc. and I kept up with my family for a while. I went on diets. I went on exercise programs and gym memberships. I did not keep any of it off. I sabatoged my own weight loss while blaming it on my husband's little Debbie habit. I remember one time he said that he couldn't see why I didn't lose weight because I ate much less than he did and less than most of my friends. I did not understand I was constantly in a cycle of tanking my metabolism. Fast forward to 2011. When I move back to America after 7 years in Germany, my life spins out of control for a while. No job, teenager issues, money "adjustments", depression, and you guessed it .......weight gain. I went from 230-258 faster than the service at McD's. I finally got my head on straight. I remembered that whatever path my college age child took, it was not my path. I had no control over that. I was still a good mom. My other children needed me to remember that. I remembered also that my identity was not in my job. I am important even without a job. (I got a job shortly after that) I am remembering that one again.......no job again. Even with an eight month supervised diet with phentermine, I "lost" 25 pounds only to find it again within 3 months. (frustration....) Here I am today. My knee is keeping me awake because my weight has wreaked havoc on my cartilage over the years. (currently in PT). I have had to take 3tums in addition to the Prevacid for my GERD since lying down. Why do I want the lap band? I am tired of abusing my body. I want to hurt less. I want to be looked at seriously when I apply for a job. I want to be a good example for my 10 year old daughter who is already overweight and self-conscious. I want to cook healthier for my family. I want to live to see my daughter have children. My mom died at 43 of a heart attack. I want to go on a cruise and dance all night and lay on the deck all day. Yes, I know I want a lot. I want my life!!!

I don't know if this is common, but I see huge weight swings depending on my carb intake, even if it's higher fiber carbs (like Quest bars). I can see gains or drops of close to 10 pounds over the space of 7-10 days depending on how I'm eating. I think it's very much like the rapid drops most of us experienced on the pre-op diet, because super high protein, very low carb flushed fat out of our livers and changed the way our bodies retained fluids - you simply need more fluids on board to process carbs is what I've always read. So most of my up and down swings aren't really indicative to me of weight gained or lost, unless I've been consistently eating the same diet, more or less, as far as carb / protein / fat balance. Long term trends, yes, I'm most definitely up. (a lot, unfortunately). But day to day the scale's pretty meaningless. I think that's actually become a problem, because when I'm bingeing, and my weight starts to climb, I deceive myself into thinking it's not "real" gain. Uh huh..... Tell that to me with a straight face now that I can't wear last year's cute clothes. Sigh... Anyway, my point is, if your carb percentage is very different from day to day, I'd guess for many people that's going to mess with your scale number and you'll see swings like I do.

So I had some news from one of my dear friends...she is expecting. I am happy for her but I won't lie and say a part of me is envious and I even got teary. My last miscarriage was 3yrs ago which is what pushed my weight gain way over the edge. I know I have to wait awhile before even allowing myself to think about pregnancy and I will be 33 in a few days so...I know the risks will only get higher. I'm trying to think of how I'm using this yr to work on me and then can go from there. I went fabric shopping today after work and picked out some cute cheerful fabric to start working on a baby quilt. Trying to count my blessings. My sweet only child will be 10 on Sunday and he is truly my blessing. Every year i think how blessed I am to have that tiny preemie baby healthy & happy with me. So...goals for July...(1) lose 10lb (2) start running again (3) rock my 33rd bday Thanks for letting me vent!

It depends on how soon you get pregnant and it's very individual in any case. Most that wait experience a normal weight gain. For instance, I gained 32 pounds. Right on track with a normal pregnancy and the first time I gained a normal amount. I've seen posts from anywhere in the low twenties to more than fifty pounds. Much of it is individual and whether or not you have complications will effect your gain. Those that get pregnant while still in their early stages post op might continue to lose for several months of their pregnancy. Some simply stall out and start to gain. Again, it's very individual. We have a few cheerleaders here for just getting pregnant right away, and that's fine if you're willing to do it. I would not intentionally get pregnant if you still have trouble eating your nutritional guidelines, though. I'd very carefully weigh the pros and cons of where you're at in your loss as well as nutritionally and make a smart decision that will work for you. I was seriously deficient in several vitamins/minerals until more than a year post op. Additionally, I had tremendous restriction until almost 1.5 years out from surgery. I still get an overfull feeling from eating one hard boiled egg. Because I'm also lactose intolerant and developed an aversion to meat while pregnant (I had terrible morning sickness for almost six months of my pregnancy) I had a hard time eating. If I hadn't had the capacity to eat what few carb-laden meals I could manage I would have had a real problem. I'm actually amazed I gained weight at all because I felt sick almost the entire time. And my baby was born small - 6 pounds, 7 ounces and they induced me a week early because they were worried about IUGR. Again, it's an individual thing and you aren't going to know how it will happen until you've already made the choice. But weigh that against your fertility, too. For instance, if your fertility is definitely decreasing (say, for age or poor egg quality that will only get worse with time) you should move ahead sooner rather than later. I can say that it's always possible to pick up and lose weight again. However, weight loss does seem to slow down a bit once you pass a certain point. I am having a heck of a time losing the last few pounds from my pregnancy. They have come off and gone on again more than once in the past three months. It is not easy to transition back into losing weight once your body has been eating more and gaining, that's for sure. If you're close to a year out and close to goal I'd say jump on and do it. If you're still in the early stages of loss or having a sleeve it's one thing for it to happen unexpectedly and quite another to choose to do it. I'm just putting that out there, because there are a lot of women that have surgery to increase their fertility, and who knows who will wind up here reading this? Both of you are far enough out that you should be okay but make sure you're prepared. Good luck! ~Cheri

I was curious how much weight gain is expected during pregnancy. I know everyone probably has different numbers I'm starting to plan for my little bean and curious how much most of you have gained. I'm 8 months post op and down 76 pounds bringing me to 182. I know in my heart i should probably wait till I get down some more but truthfully I can't get this thought out of my head. I want a baby so bad this was the reason for my surgery..

I have no doubts that you will likely gain after an unfill, especially if you were barely eating beforehand. But what I also believe is: You CAN get back in the green zone and you CAN slow, cease weight gain and eventually lose while unfilled if you really want to. It's harder to do than when with the help of the band but it can be done. So don't throw your hands up and give up.

Hi all, I was banded in 2010 lost over 70lbs great! Had a baby gained back 57 and I'm trying to loose it again... However my husband and i just found out I'm pregnant again... We're excited but I'm scared that I'm going to balloon out out control with my weight... Anyone pregnant with the band and how did u control your weight gain

You look FAB! The weight gain could also be your period. Weight loss eventually slows down for all of us. Im losing 1-2 lbs. a week, and some weeks I don't even lose that. Just be patient! Good luck!

What should I be feeling when I am full with the band. I know this feeling may be specific to each person, but I need to know what you guys felt when you were full. As for me instead of just feeling full I feel pain, and I have spasms all the way up my neck. I havent had a choking feeling or anything, but I definately feel a pain in my throat. I have also noticed that my stomach growls and bubbles a lot. Is that normal? And my hunger has come back as well. I am 12 days post op and I have no gas pains or any pain near or around my port or any of my incisions, the only pain I have is when I am guessing I am full. Even though the scale says different I feel like I have gained all of my pre op weight back. I was down to 274 and now I am back up to 278 which really makes me angry. I have read on here that the hunger will return as you heal after surgery so I kinda understand the weight gain. I just hope I dont have to wait much longer on my first fill. I would imagine I'll have to wait until my incisions are completely healed up. My Doc said that by the #rd of July which is my next appt. with him, I should be eating fish and today I ate two pieces of fish from Captain D's so I guess thats following the Doc's orders. Anyways, what I am trying to say is that I feel like I have taken a step back instead of forwards with this weight gain. And I so dislike seeing the hunger return. Although I have enjoyed being able to eat somewhat solid foods I would rather the hunger stay away. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.,

Is anybody using birth control? I'm thinking about going back on the pill, but I'm worried about hormonal changes and weight gain. A friend of mine had better luck with the nuva ring. Any advice? HW 296 - SW 266.3 (4/1/13) - CW 219

I have to add that everyone's experience w/ the band is different. My band indeed restricts what I can and cannot eat. For example, heavy breads like pizza are impossibles for me. I have hard times with pasta and rices too...and I'm not complaining. I no longer crave it and it's helped me tremendously in the carb reduction department. Some meats can be problems like thick cut meats or dry meats so I take precautions and make slim cuts, marinate and ensure I don't over cook them. The band will NEVER prevent you from eating sliders and of course those are the culprits (ie milkshakes, icecream, cookies, cake etc) they dissolve readily and slide right past the band with some serious ramifications in the end (weight gain!). You still need to exercise self control. The plus side (for me) is that when you are in green the band does help limit the quantity you can eat and thus cheat days don't have near the damage it use to have

I had my band done at a BMI of 35. In Australia with many insurances, you qualify for the band at that BMI or more, and for it at a BMI of 30 and above if you have co-morbidities. This is because it has been recognised that most long-term overweight people do not go on to lose weight and keep it off so lapbands are used as preventative medicine to stop people from becoming even more overweight than they already are. The band is also very effective for lower BMI patients, as opposed to, say, bypass. I had steadily gained weight all my adult life, and I was heading for major health problems if I continued the way I was. I'm grateful to have arrested my weight gain with the lapband when I did. I have no doubts that if I hadn't I would have had it done anyway at a higher BMI and had to work a lot longer and harder to get the weight off.

I'm an apple too. Lost in my boobs first and have one less chin now. Surgery May 8th down 32lbs. I used to wear my hair really short, but weight gain made me look like a bowling pin! Will cut my hair when I lose the weight.

Good luck! It is no big deal, except for the monitoring that needs to be done during the study! I must have had 1000 sticky monitoring points on me! The good news is that getting sleep apnea under treatment can help with weight loss. Untreated, sleep apnea can result in weight gain, which ends up causing more sleep apnea episodes. Treatment can break the cycle and help you lose weight. Good luck to you!

I have a job which requires pretty extensive international travel, which partly contributed to my weight gain over the past 3 years (gained 40 pounds). Eating out on an expense account 3 meals a day for 15-17 days straight in countries where there is no such thing as skim milk or even artificial sweeteners on the table is challenging to say the least. Ths year alone, I was in Russia, Poland, Turkey and Indonesia (all pre-op) and am heading to Spain at the end of July, followed by the UK in september and France and Turkey again in October and possibly Greece or Malta in December! Now I am 4 weeks out, feeling good and obsessively tracking every calorie I eat which is way more managble with every meal prepared by me. I am stressed about eating out while traveling and I don't have that small of a capacity albeit much smaller than pre-op but I don't get full that easy (6-8 ounces of food is no problem). I do plan to pack Protein shakes and maybe some Protein Bars. I want to at least replace Breakfast and lunch and only eat dinner out. I should also mention I am a big foodie loving to experience fine dining and wine and always adored finding the most amazing restaurants when I travel and trying foods I have never had before. For anyone who travels abroad, how do you manage? Any other suggestions on food to pack?