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I heard the same thing from my sister (who is a size 4 and doesn't excercise or eat right). Everyone is different and weight gain and loss is different for everyone. It's hard to get over - but just chalk it up to "they don't walk in your shoes". Do what's right for you!

My PCP wasn't as negative about the band, but she seemed against it. When I approached her about it, she said she wanted me to try more diets before she would recommend I even think about getting banded. I felt like standing up, yelling at her, and saying you have had me try diets for 10 years now, and all I have accomplished is a weight gain of 100+ pounds! So to make a long story short, since I am self-pay, I went to my surgeon, am being banded on Monday, and will return to her office in December for my physical a new person. Then she can say what she wants about the band and I really won't care. Although most of us value the opion of our PCP's, sometimes we have to do for ourselves what WE feel is best. They only see us maybe a few times a year, not every second of OUR lives. Just look at what YOU have done for YOURSELF! Congrats on the loss, keep up the good work!!!!

I have had my Mirena for 3 years and have no issues with weight gain, mood swings or anything else. I don't notice a thing different, even when I got the band last year. I used to be on the pills before I had my daughter and after I couldn't remember to take my pill everyday. I think everyone has different experiences.:tt1:

My primary Dr will send it to the Bariatric Surgeon for consult. My insurance requires more than one Drs Opinion for bariatric issues. Have you yourself had this issue that I'm speaking of? Also should I give my daily menu so that it's clearer for those of the group that are just going to try and imply I'm eating incorrectly. Again I'm quite clear in my above post.. this isn't about the WEIGHT GAIN. This is about developing a hernia after being sleeved and what others have done. This is my first post on here since 2012 and I can see why I left the group before.

I take small bites too. I don't have any issues with overeating; I'm just not making the best choices regarding WHAT I eat. Even if I eat bread, I can only take a few bites but I shouldn't be eating bread in the first place. While it may not be a huge issue now, I'm afraid it will lead to weight gain in the future when I am able to take more than a few bites.

Well the doctor submitted everything and the insurance company didn’t mention my weight gain...they did however say they needed more information before they will approve such as my A1Cs for the diabetes and my sleep study paperwork with my BIPAP settings. Please keep fingers crossed for me [emoji16]

Like with anything, practice makes perfect. I have been eating without drinking at meals for about 3 weeks now. I tell you it is easier then you think. The main reason you had to drink with your meal before was you needed the liquid in order to wash the food down. Without it you have to eat much much much slower which actually causes you to feel full eating a smaller portion. In my opinion the drinking with my meal contributed to my weight gain. If you take a bite, chew a couple times and wash it down with a drink, you can eat a whole plate in 5 minutes. If you have to chew enough (20 to 30 times per bite) to swallow without a drink, after 20 minutes you eat 1/2 of the plate and you are full. It's amazing. I wish I knew then what I know now.

I've been on phentermin (sp) a few times and it works pretty good unless I need to get more than 4 hours or so of sleep. This was ok for a month or so at a time and then I would get cranky... not focus at work or home.... feel disjointed. These are major symptoms of sleep depravation. I would go off them for a week or so and start again. Most people build up an immune to them after a few months hense the weight gain and then some. It is partialy a stimulant to the body...heart! I would ask the surgeon before taking it!

it has been nearly 4 years since I had my band. 2 years ago I started gaining a little weight - not much - but I know I was eating wrong. About a year ago I started having itching all across my abdomen and a bruse-like spot to the right of the port. Now I have gainede about 15 pounds back of the 75 I originally lost. My abdomen is tender and sensitive. Sometimes I get a sharp type pain. I have constant IBS symptoms - have not had a solid bowel movement in weeks. I went to my doctor and he says I am gaining the weight because I have learned how to eat around the band. I agree that I do that - but not constantly. My abdomen seems hard at times - not soft. Last night it actually felt like the band had moved because I could not sleep on either side. Today the tenderness is there constantly. I have tried to go to a different surgeon but they seem to have a club because none of them will see me since they didn't do the original band. Has anyone else experienced these types of problems? I worry that the band has eroded and that there might be some type of infection. What would infection symptoms be like? I don't want to overact but I don't want to ignore something serious. Does anyone else have any ideas? I am in the Louisville, KY area if you know of anyone I can talk to.

Weight gain is totally normal. I was depressed until someone on the forum encouraged me to really measure myself. My waist alone was 3 inches larger than before surgery. That was an eye opener. I relaxed after that!

Habla Espanol un poco! Estare en Barcelona por una semana. I'll be back in the USA before you leave though. I have flown the French & British Concorde ( last time was July 2002) and those seats were on the smaller side pre banding. My husband thought that it would be a problem for me but it wasn't at all. Now though I have to tighten the seat belt big time I know that Paella will not work and will probably just stick to Tapas and Basque style fresh fish and always a un cristol de vino and no pan y mantequilla unless crusty but helado always works. I will hopefully not get "muy gordo". I have been listening to some tapes but really need a course at Berlitz in French and Spanish. I have a large vocabulary in Spanish but can't put together sentences in the right tense etc. However, the Spaniards that I encounter are delighted with my trying and are pretty patient. My DH is fluent in French which doesn't help in Spain. I can do a mean lisp too. :bananajump: I wouldn't count of losing as much weight as you want to prior to your trip to Cuba. You want to be able to eat and not have a problem with PB's and being to tight out of the country. Realistically, I wouldn't be in such a hurry cuz it just causes loose skin which I don't have since my journey has been soooooo slow. I am still on a few medications that have weight gain as side effects and increased appetite which sucks because of my age. The weight loss has decreased the dosage but not eliminated them from my life. Hang in there. My team ( NYU) expects to see newly banded patients every month for the first year for weighing and fills. They feel that it is like a marriage in order to be successful. Check out the newletters on the site too because there are lots of tips for eating out etc. I won't be posting for a few weeks. Good luck.

Nykee - The purpose of the unfill is not only so you can eat more - but eat more healthfully. If your variety of foods is so non-existent at this point, but the purpose is to provide you with the ability to make better CHOICES by introducing more variety into your diet. Elfiepoo and the others have given you good solid advice. Honestly, I think your mental issues far exceed the physical at this point. I'm not trying to say it in a hurtful way, just that seeing a qualified professional therapist that specializes in addictions/food issues would help you get to the bottom of what's causing your self-sabotage. Do not equate an unfill with weight gain. That is something many do. It is a way to allow you to make better food choices, drastically eliminate any pb or vomiting episodes and take responsibility for your journey. The idea is to have this band long-term. I am a firm believer that with your current mindset, gastric bypass will not do you any good. Sure - maybe for 18 months or so - but then as your body adjusts to the "new" reality and malabsorption subsides, you will start gaining it back. I wish you the best, you truly do need help. But you have to be willing to do the work it takes to get there. Please keep us posted on your journey.

KWG, good luck to you on you journey, it's not always easy but if you do ever have issues you should feel free to come here. We're not blaming the band for our problems but we are all different and for a lot of people they seem to sail through this thing but for some of us it's a lot tougher and we have added issues. Our surgeons have not been our doctors for years they're are surgeons so they don't necessarily know everything about each individual and there are things that come up that we don't expect. But if you do come across a problem or a stalemate or a weight gain that is uncontrollable for whatever reason you should have a safe place to come and talk to people about it without being considered a "band basher" which is not what we're about. Thanks brandyII:thumbup:

Like I said, for now. Everyone will eventually find a method that works best for them, scales or tape measure. I know that as long as I am following my plan, I will get to goal. There will be stalls, I have the patience to wait them out. There will be weight gain, I know how to get ME back on track. You asked for help, I answered what works for me. I hope you can find what works for you!

First, take a deep breath. It's going to be OK!!! It is not at all unusual to gain weight once you begin to transition off liquids and onto mushies and solids. Generally these foods have more calories, plus I know that once I was allowed something other than liquids, my appetite came back with a vengeance, so I just wanted to eat more. You should almost expect to gain some weight between surgery and starting to get fills, because your band is not yet operational!!! This is very important to remember. The band is designed not to work with liquids and mushies, but to work with SOLID foods like chicken or other meats, vegetables, etc. Liquids and mushies rush right through the band so it can't do much to control those portions. It CAN control portions of solid foods because they take longer to pass through the band and spend time sitting in the pouch, thereby creating the feeling of fullness. Right now, your band isn't working, it's just settling in and your body is still healing. Once you're healed and your doctor begins adding saline to your band to tighten it far enough to give you restriction, that's when you can expect to really see weight loss. That's why this period (between surgery and fill restriction) is called Bandster Hell. It's a struggle. Trust me. Now, if you're really freaked out about the gain, there are a few things you can do. First, make sure you're obeying all your doctor's/nutritionist's instructions, but if you've got that covered you can and should also be tracking your calories (I use MyFitnessPal and I LOVE it). Your nutritionist may have given you guidelines for how man y calories to eat, but if not, most women do fairly well eating somewhere between 800-1200 calories per day. Keeping in that range might require you to chose alternative foods (fat free cheese, a baked potato mashed with skim milk as opposed to mashed potatoes with butter and cream, low-calorie cream soups, for example). Also, definitely make sure you're drinking enough Water for many reasons: it can help curb hunger, thirst is sometimes mistaken for hunger, it aids healing and helps your metabolism work more efficiently, and more. If you control your calories and drink plenty of water, you should be able to control weight gain until you have restriction, but I won't lie that it will be easy. Remember, it's Bandster Hell. But I think the most important thing to remember is that it's NORMAL to not lose or to even gain weight at this stage. Once you're healed, on solid foods, and have enough fill to restrict your eating, the weight WILL start to come off. Good luck!

Because of anxiety, I have been on Zoloft for the past two months and it has really helped. I know a lot of people gain weight when taking antidepressents and I have certainly noticed I have gained a little weight since I started taking it. I am hoping to stop taking this altogether after my surgery because I don't want anything to impede weight loss. I was just wondering if anyone else had a similar situation and good give some feedback.

Weight gain after 2 weeks liquids is normal! Hey, my nephew laid in a hospital bed without food for 2 weeks, and no liquids and did not loose anything! But, that is neither here nor there. anyway, it is normal because you are now eating, so gaining little is normal. But you have done fine and will start to lose. If I lost the 1st 2 weeks, I don't remember. But I did gain a lb or 2 after I started to eat. I was on liquids for 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after! Bets wishes to all , Karen

whole goods are the way to go, fake foods are not only full of crap your body cant digest, but the research suggests that fooling your body with sugar free and fat free foods actually lead to weight gain.

Update time, Hello to anyone out there. Just passed the 5 year mark. Have been happy with weight, not skinny but not getting any bigger. Complications a few months ago. Had a bout with vertigo and ended throwing up a few times. It was the first time for me to actually throw up from my stomach and not from eating too fast. From that point on I started to feel funny, I was able to "feel" my band and port more prominent. Was uncomfortable as soon as i started eating was always felt odd. I let it go on for a few months before going back to my Bariatric dr for a check up. Turns out it may have slipped. My dr immediately unfilled by band (weight gain started right away!!) and now I have to wait till August to get an X-ray to see if it moved back. If it doesn't correct itself I will get the option to have it removed and replaced with ru en y. Any thoughts from anyone out there???

I'm not sure if I had what you have, but in Dec. I got to the point of not able to eat hardly anything without it getting stuck and had to throw up. Not because of nauseousness but it was uncomfortable. Even applesauce would lay there for 2 hours. So I had an upper GI (barrium swallow with a radiologist) and he said I was too restricted. I hadn't had any fill adjustments for almost 2 years so it was weird that something changed in my band restrictions. So I wanted to have like 1 cc removed but no ....... they took it all out (about 6 cc), ever since that day I have been eating way too much and have gained back 12 pounds. I am very upset with the place I went to and they will only give me back tiny adjustments which are ridiculous. Take off work, drive 2 hrs and walk out with no restriction. I'm going somewhere else and hoping they will cooperate a bit more. Hope this helps. I know its uncomfortable to have food laying there but if I could do it over again I would just limit myself to protein shakes and liquids instead of back to square one and weight gain.

Plateaus are the body's way of reestablishing a weight set point. What that means it is resetting the metabolic rate at which you body works at. The reason for the stall, I believe, is the body is making sure that this is a set weight, not a flucuating weight. Everyone thinks that plateaus only occur during weight loss, not true, it also occurs during weight gains, it's simply we don't notice it because when we're gaining, we're usually not paying attention to the scales like when we were loosing. Many people (experts) believe that changing your eating and exercise routine during this time, often restarts the weight loss and waits until you reach what the body considers to be another set point. How, why and if the body deteremines the set point is something I am not familiar with. I only know this bit of information as I took a nutrition course in college and was quite fascinated with the metabolic process, wonder why :-] I do know there is not a particular amount like, 25 lbs, and then you go into a plateau. I believe it's as individual as we are therefore varies. I also believe that exercise plays a major role. If you notice, there have been some people on the boards lately that have been complaining of not being able to get the scale to move. Finally out of frustration they slightly elevate their caloric intake and boom they drop 4-5 lbs in a week!!! That's because the body realizes due to the slight increase in food that it is not starving and there is no need to hold at the present weight. This is only my opinion, based on a class that I took and further research I have done reading fitness articles and watching fitness shows. But as you know, these are most often contradictory, so who knows? Hope this helps. Cindy

Thank you! Prednisone is the worst drug I've ever had the misfortune of taking. If you look at the photos, all of the stretch marks are because of Prednisone. When it was first prescribed, I was on an ultra-high dose. I gained over 75 pounds in about three weeks. My skin never recovered. A couple of years later when the doctor said I needed to take it again, I said no way. That was when I opted for the first surgery back in 1995. It is the only drug that has ever made me rage. I was a mess when I was on it. Aside from the weight gain, I was so short-fused no one could stand to be around me. Once I stopped taking it, that all went away. IMHO, Prednisone is evil, plain and simple... As for the keto diet, I've tried it and the high fat made me ill and gave me acne really bad. I'm basically doing a modified keto, modified Atkins, which is high protein and low carb. It has helped so far.

Mandi, Welcome!!. I'm from Sydney and am being banded on 3 December. I think it's great that you are looking into this properly before making any decision. You may already have investigated this aspect, but have you been seen by an endocrinologist yet. Sometimes weight gain as a teenager is due to hormones. I am 47 and no one ever bothered to consider this until recently and it's been discovered that a lot of my problems are hormonal. This isn't a cure at my age so I'm still going ahead with the banding. I'm not trying to put you off banding - I think that whoever invented this surgery should be immortalised!! But please make sure that you have checked all possibilities for the cause of your weight issues first. Good luck with whatever you decide and let us know what you decide. Danna

You've reached you goal weight, which is fabulous. It's understandable that you think the three pounds are a huge change, but they really aren't. When there is apparent weight gain, there's a reason. There are also two possibilities that you haven't gained anything: - You were on a different scale. Not all scales are the same. - Your menstrual cycle might account for the gain. It doesn't necessarily happen each month. If the regain is real, your own words suggest that you may no longer be as diligent with food-tracking as you think. - Weighing "just about everything" is not the same as weighing everything. Have you not been measuring more often than you realize? - Depending on what the food is, "only a couple of bites" can be a whole lot. It matters how you define "couple". It matters whether you're biting broiled chicken or fettuccine Alfredo. The frequency matters, too. - There's a definite difference between "haven't had fast food" and "maybe a few french fries..." Those few fries can amount to a mountain over a short time. - To "try very hard" to stick to sugar-free candy is more of the same vagueness. Those extra bites here and there add up. They sneak up. While you're wanting to maintain your weight, it's just as important to keep exact records as it was to lose the weight from the beginning. It's fine to have some candy or fast food if you like, but whatever the amount, they should be included in your tracker. You know all of this because you learned how to lose weight. Keeping it off is an ongoing project. When it comes to my food, the only things I do not weigh are the items that I didn't forsee I was going to eat away from home. Everything I eat at home or pack for my lunches are weighed and tracked. Those items that I eat just a bite or two of are tracked as well. I've had a couple of fries twice in over a year. Sent from my SM-G935P using the BariatricPal App

You've reached you goal weight, which is fabulous. It's understandable that you think the three pounds are a huge change, but they really aren't. When there is apparent weight gain, there's a reason. There are also two possibilities that you haven't gained anything: - You were on a different scale. Not all scales are the same. - Your menstrual cycle might account for the gain. It doesn't necessarily happen each month. If the regain is real, your own words suggest that you may no longer be as diligent with food-tracking as you think. - Weighing "just about everything" is not the same as weighing everything. Have you not been measuring more often than you realize? - Depending on what the food is, "only a couple of bites" can be a whole lot. It matters how you define "couple". It matters whether you're biting broiled chicken or fettuccine Alfredo. The frequency matters, too. - There's a definite difference between "haven't had fast food" and "maybe a few french fries..." Those few fries can amount to a mountain over a short time. - To "try very hard" to stick to sugar-free candy is more of the same vagueness. Those extra bites here and there add up. They sneak up. While you're wanting to maintain your weight, it's just as important to keep exact records as it was to lose the weight from the beginning. It's fine to have some candy or fast food if you like, but whatever the amount, they should be included in your tracker. You know all of this because you learned how to lose weight. Keeping it off is an ongoing project.