Search the Community

All the comments above are accurate. You may need to seek counseling as to the reason you "replaced food with alcohol" for me, food was my friend, my constant companion, my stress relief, and utmost, my anger/anxiety relief. I have had to redirect my emotional eating to something else. In the middle of my journey, i too turned to alcohol. Weight gain scared me and so i did some soul searching and decided i needed a healtier coping skill. Recently it has been the gym and i find that i get irritable when i cant make it there. This is not only a journey of weight loss, but a complete rediscovery of who I/we want to be. It is scary to face the world and reality without a comfort so learning alterative healthy coping skills is a must. You don't want to trade one addiction to another. It's a slippery slope. This site will be a great source of understanding and support, however, you have to search within you and find what you want to change. Good luck with your journey!

Congratulations on your weight loss. The first stages Liquid soft puree can be a bit rough for hunger. . Make sure you are hitting your protein goal 60-100 grams It will help with hunger. Log your food . It gets better once you get to the "real food" stage. Hunger is a tricky thing to figure out. Sometimes it may be head hunger, Eating out of boredom or stress/emotional eating. With surgery you will still feel real hunger at times. You will learn strategies on how to satisfy your new stomach. Eating three meals and two snack throughout the day. Keeping healthy options for sweet and salty cravings on hand. Fear of weight gain can be a good thing. It will help keep you on track. Take it one day at a time. Work your eating plan.

I had lap band surgery 2014.. lost about 60 pounds. Started having problems 2017.Emergency surgery for removel in July. Dr would not convert to sleeve too thin.. I now have gained at least 25 pounds, is this normal?

You know, Sheryl, I do really find it amazing our much of the journey our minds play into it all. I believe someone said in one of the posts recently how crazy it is that we get down on ourselves with a small weight gain when we were OBESE before but I think maybe it also shows that we have turned the corner to true normalcy since I've heard others moan about having to lose weight and I would think, "Yeah, if I had that TEN POUNDS to lose..." ????. Now we are them! Ha! And Sheryl I agree on the visualization part too. 140 is an awesome number. I was Really Proud when I reached my goal of 150 the first time but boy, something about being 139-140 was truly Awesome! So awesome I just gradually slipped up and added too much junk back in and here we go again! BUT, what a great tool our sleeves have provided us! Got a fast day in today. Not pretty and not as low as I wanted (685) but I held on!!! Ha! And returning to good eating patterns feels really good too Glad we are all speaking up and helping each other out in the 5:2!

I have lost 72.5 lbs in 8 months and the first 6 months I ate pretty good healthy wise and followed the rules but now I am eating like I did before part oif the time but in much much smaller portions. I look at it like this..you get out of it what you put into it.If you want to lose much slower and are content with that, then Yes eating Mcdonaleds french fries are OK.. My weight loss has slowed very much ever since I have been making bad food choices..am I ok with that? Somedays I am and somedays I am not! The band is a toool we still have to do some of the work. I am ned of a fill so with that and making bad choices , Im seeing the results of it..no weight gain but very slow weight loss. The good thing about my band is I can still enjoy life and eat what I want but smaller protions without fear of gaining.

I just had the bypass surgery on Monday was discharged yesterday while walking today I stopped at the scale bc I was curious obviously, but I am 5 lbs more than when they weighed me before taking me in to surgery! Has this happened to anyone else? Should I be worried? I also have a low grade fever the nurses didn't think it was anything to worry about. Looking for feedback from anyone who has had the surgery. I wish the nurses were more knowledgeable where I was, my dr was great but they just started doing the gastric bypass at this particular hospital and the nurses did not know much about the proceedure, one even tried giving me a can of ginger ale to help calm my belly. I told her it's a good thing I did alot of research before hand or her giving me that could of caused big problems. I told her the dr had an order in for meds for nausea she was like "oh ok I'll get that from the pharmacy but in the meantime the ginger ale should help" I kept my cool but my husband was furious and let them all know it.. anyway off topic, weight gain after surgery anyone?[emoji36]

Your list most definitely hits the majority of the reasons I experienced the weight gain I did. When I first started having weight creep back in, I ended up ashamed of it and after a bad visit with my bariatric team about it, I left and didn't go back to them. Which sure the heck did not help matters! Those, though, are the main pitfalls for bariatric patients to look out for!

Hi Carlene, My weight gain came during the pregnancy of my first child. I gained 50+ with my first, 30 with my second and 20 with my third. In between the pregnancies I gained and lost. Unfortunately, I gained more than I lost. I think being under 130 is fantastic. I would be thrilled to be there. It is people like you who give those of us just starting the journey hope that we can succeed. As far as PS, if I am financially able to get a TT, breast lift down the road than I will. These are the 2 things I definitely think I will need to be comfortable with myself. I know I will never had that pre-pregnancy body. I can live with that. I will be happy just to feel better and fit into my clothes. My NSV is to be able to tuck my shirt into my pants without my stomach hanging out.

I'm amazed at how easy this process was. I was banded on 4/11/14. This, was after a four year decision process encouraged on by continued weight gain and insurance cooperation. I did a one week pre-op Adkins diet which provided positive results but I know I could not have done that one for long. I need variety. The surgery was minimally evasive which was plus. I was in by 6am and out by noon. This would include registration, waiting, surgical prep, waiting, visit from the anesthesiologist, chaplain (prayer is always good before surgery) and doctor. A bit nauseas post op, but a shot took care of that and knocked me out again. Then home to sleep it off. Went out the next morning to get Advil. Probably wasn't my best idea, just a little overly optimistic but, they said to keep moving. The gas used to inflate the cavity for the laparoscopic surgery needed to be reabsorbed in the body and eliminated. The process speeds up with movement. So, good time to kick off and exercise program. I've been walking a mile everyday. I have an awesome doctor (Dr. Shayani) and team. They check in daily and no question is minimized. I'm on a liquid diet until day 8 post op, at which time I can convert to soft foods and began to learn which foods I can tolerate. I'm beginning to feel normal again. Based on my home scale I have lost a total of 19lbs from 4/4/14 to 4/15/14. Amazingly though, I have more movement and none of the usual aches and pains. I'm usually dealing with arthritic pain in my knees and back. I'm thrilled about this. I am experiencing a persistent but slight headache. I attributed it to my body detoxing from all the surgical and post surgery pain meds in addition to all the crap I had put into my body prior to pre-op. My doctor encouraged me to have a cup of coffee. Which I am currently doing and will keep you posted. So there you have it, one person's experience after banding.

I'm 19 days out from surgery and I've gained 3 lbs in the past 5 days. I'm seriously discouraged I've read a lot about stalls, but actual weight gain ugh. This blows HW(9/3/13)- 284, DOS(9/11/13)-270, CW-257(9/25/13), GW-155(by 9/21/14...my 26th birthday!)

I've seen all the benefits of this lifestyle change just in pre-op so I'm not sad whatsoever nor am I missing the garbage foods like soda (what I was seemingly addicted to). My commitment to having a better life far supersedes the desire at this point to submerge myself back into the habits that result in misery. Part of it is I just had far too much disgust in seeing what this weight gain had done to me (180 pounds in 5 years), a lot of contempt for what I had done to myself when I looked in the mirror, and the desire to life a normal life after being lucky and catching this food-caused liver disease before it was irreversible. Never again.

Dr. Adeyeri, Thanks for this article for those of us (myself included) who can find the scale creeping up. It’s a good reminder to take responsibility and face reality instead of denying the weight gain or acting like we’re not sure why the scale is going up. Thanks for the great advice. Going back to the beginning always works. Reaching out for help at support groups and anywhere else is good, too, because it helps us hold ourselves accountable. I’d also suggest troubleshooting – sitting down to try to figure out where we might be going wrong. Small changes can creep in without us noticing beforehand, and make us gain weight. Thanks for the article!

Today is day 2 out of the hospital. Everything I eat, I’m dying of hunger like 20 min later looking for the next thing to eat. I feel like a zombie lol I’m hoping this is temporary! Scared of weight gain!!

Hi everybody's. I was sleeved 7 weeks ago. Starting weight was 239. After surgery I went up 10 pounds from air, Fluid etc. lost 28 pounds by 3 weeks and stalled for 2 weeks where I hovered at the same 2 pounds. Then I started to lose again and this past Saturday I was down to 207. Since then I have been creeping up and today I am 210.5. . I had been drinking a small decaf iced coffee with skim milk for past week so I cut that out 2 days ago. I am eating 3 meals and 2 Snacks Usually stay between 800 and 1100 calories a day and have 70-90 gems of Protein. I did go out to dinner on Sunday and ordered a chicken dish with a balsamic dressing. I only ate a very small part ( obviously) but then ate it 2 more times for different meals. Won't do that again. Been exercising but not enough it seems. So with all that... any advice, tips, words of wisdom?? I understand A stall but weight gain at this early stage but weight gain?? Very discouraging. I'm trying to look at behaviors and use this as a learning experience but I'm feeling down. I didn't go through all this to fail. Help!!! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I am so happy that you are taking steps to improve your health! Please don't lose faith that you can do this! I would definately get a second opinion and try the other clinic. Make sure if you are expected to lose that much weight, that you ask for a food and exercise plan that will assist in you getting there. Like someone else said, make sure their program includes a nutritionist and physiologist that can help you work through your eating issues. You need a solid support system around you including your surgical team. In the meantime it sounds like you lost 76lbs last year. How did you do that? Most of us have no problem losing the weight, it is keeping it off where we fall down. It sounds like you have experienced this as well. I would work really hard to move to a high Protein low carb diet now. It will only prepare you for what is to come. Also like someone else said, if you are drinking any calories stop that now, you won't be able to after surgery and many times this is where a lot of weight gain comes from. I know you can do this, you have done it before. Don't let yourself get discouraged to the point you give up, it will only cost you more down the road. I wish you the best of luck! I hope you are able to find a clinic that will give you the support needed for a successful surgery and recovery. I will say a prayer for you!

AGREED!!! I had it many years, along with my pregnancies too!! It came and went - never big issue - then little before surgery I was getting it - put on PPI's and kept on them till after surgery - I'm still on them all these years and it just never goes away - so now I'm up to 2 RX pills per day - protonix as well as Prevacid at night time until surgery - just to try and keep it at bay.. I've tried ACV too - seemed to help a little, as a natural thing - I've tried all different things and end up back on PPIs and I just turned 52, I do not want to take 2 pills per day for another 30-40 years, God willing.. It's horrendous being on vacation and having to not go anywhere, cause my chest is killing me... I've had so many work ups and it comes back to the belly/sleeve issue - I also need a umbilical hernia repaired and they won't do it right now, but possibly do it within the revision surgery, surgeon said. They don't want to do it and repair it if I'm not getting the revision, due to weight gain, etc... so I think they're thinking to do it at one time and then I have a better chance of the hernia not coming back .... One can hope!

To all who have commented.... i thank you for your input... but, i'm finding that many of those who have had the surgery seem to be a bit harsh and may have lost their understanding - or are just too different from me to relate to. TwinsMama - I have researched this EXTENSIVELY for three entire years. I would be a moron not to have done that. In fact, my knowledge base on both the physical and mental aspects of the procedure and lifestyle required are so extensive that two doctors I've spoke to thought I had a medical background. i've been on chat boards, blogs, seen nutritionists, doctors, and know I'm not "alone" - i was just hoping to find people who felt the same way i do, and have/had the same concerns. It is the "process" i find to be bu*****. it is the moneymaking i find to be bul****. THAT is what i have a problem with - along with the new statistics that show over 50% of people gain the weight back throughout a period of 5 years - and that those numbers are likely much higher considering the people that don't report back to their doctors and aren't included in the statistics. My own doctor's staff member has had staggering weight gain - along with multiple other people I know. Nobody is immune to the possibility that this weight will come back. Yes, I considered making changes prior to this. I tried making changes - and my inability to do so is what makes me a true candidate for the surgery. i have an eating disorder. i need help. it takes a desperate person to go get more than half of their stomach cut out and give up so much for the remainder of their lives. The fact that i'm fully aware nothing can prepare me is what makes me exceptionally nervous - exceptionally cautious - and exceptionally uncertain. If I could have gone through the prep easily I wouldn't be having this surgery at all. I'd be continuing the prep as a way to lose weight rather than having someone make me physically unable to overeat. No one can be 100% certain as to what their actions will be until they are in a situation. Accepting that as a human being leaves me room to be comfortable with my uncertainty. I'd be an a** to go into this saying "Oh Boy - this is going to be great! I'm going to be skinny and life will be grand." In short, everyone is entitled to their thoughts. I woke up this morning feeling very positive about the situation and after reading a few comments on this site i'm a little floored. Now I understand why a few people pm'ed me instead of posting publicly. There are a handful out there with the same concerns I have - they just didn't make them public. Good luck to all of you. May your journey be smooth and your goal come to you.

Today marks 5 weeks since surgery. I am down 35 lbs since start of pre-op, 25 since surgery itself. I’m currently going roughly ½ lb per day, so I am sure not complaining. I feel I have a normal appetite when there’s not food in front of me, in other words, I do get hungry. But once the food is in front of me I don’t really want it. I kinda do miss enjoying my food, but honestly, this is what I signed up for, and I prefer the way I am now. It will just take some getting used to. For 41 years I have been food-obsessed (yes even as an infant, according to my mom). It will no doubt take a while to learn to refocus my energy. I have an awareness that I need to really take advantage of this honeymoon period to change my habits, because I know eventually it will become physically easier and more satisfying to eat and therefore I will be in danger of over eating again. Actually, I think the real danger will be in eating the wrong things. Emotional eating was never my problem, I honestly feel like I was crazy-hungry (the grehlin monster?). Preparing for surgery, I was open to the possibility that I was an emotional eater – I really wanted to figure out the issues and deal with them head on. But apparently that wasn't my problem. My problem was a big appetitie for the wrong things, which exacerbates the cravings for more of the wrong things, which leads to weight gain, which leads to inhibited activity. And down goes the spiral from there. I finally feel like my spiral is turning upward! And, the point of my emotional eating tangent here is that yesterday I had a pretty nasty argument with my husband (we’re good now, thanks), and all I really wanted to make me feel better after our fight was………a cigarette. Ha! I quit in January, and I miss it. But I don’t miss all the icky things that go along with it, so I’ll deal. But I took a moment to acknowledge that in my time of stress I didn't want a chocolate bar. It was interesting to me. I’m also dealing with my impatience – it doesn't seem fair that I am practicing the habits of a fit & slim person, yet I will have to wait months and months (and possible more) to actually BE a fit & slim person. But I guess it's that instant -gratification mentality that got me here in the first place. A healthy weight is not something to be grabbed at the drive-through (figuratively AND literally) This will take time and it will be worth it. I vow to try to find ways to enjoy the journey. It’s going to take time, may as well find it entertaining on the way, right? Onward!

Kathy, you look cute anyways. Glad you are doing so well. I am doing much better. Had a 5 lbs weight gain and that really motivated me to not feel sorry for myself. Going back to the gym has been a HUGE motivator for me. I am looking forward to my fill on July 17th. I also start with a personal trainer on Wed. next week. So far I'm down around 12 lbs but I see the scale moving South again with the exercise jump start.

I gained overnight after surgery too. I think it was just water weight gain??

90 grams of protein=no weight loss, 65-70 I lose a pound! I was put on my normal diet 6weeks post op, I struggle to get in the protein.I didn't lose any weight since that day, 1 week and 3 days, I took in about 65 yesterday and lost a pound as of today. I also don't feel myself when I force that amount of protein. I am very nervous about sticking to what I was told. I am drinking lots of water (liquid, including protein shakes) about 70oz. a day! I don't want to cause trauma to my body or risk weight gain. what is the least you can do without risk?

yep! before this recent weight gain, in 2004, I had lost 180lbs (hw:346 Lw:160) with just diet and exercise (maintained for 15+years). At that time I was just 21 years old and not accustomed to the new found attention I had been experiencing. Intentionally, I got a job waiting tables to help me get (way) outside my comfort zone and learn to process people looking at me. Before when people looked at me it was to stare or make fun of me - or whatever. But suddenly, I had to adjust to what those looks meant. I have to admit, in hind sight, I enjoyed that experience. It helped me to grow as a woman. I remember I used to turn red in the face if I thought a man was attractive and talking to me. Waiting tables helped me to focus on my purpose for standing at a table and not be distracted by attractions - one way or another. Good luck on your journey to love yourself!

Welcome from the Land of Gracious Living -- that is what it says on the local license plates. I am watching the sun set after a full day of watching the NCAA basketball tournaments, 60 Minutes is on the HD flatscreen, and I am overdue for my delicious dinner: a chocolate Protein shake. I am scheduled for my surgery on Wednesday, March 24th. I won't know for sure until tomorrow afternoon. Last Thursday I went to my surgeon's office to meet with the surgery scheduling person; they weighed me as I had been on the liquid only diet for the previous ten days. To my chagrin I had gained four pounds; the young lady I met with informed me they would need to reschedule me because of this. I was totally bummed and confused. How did that happen? After a few minutes of protestation and dismay, I gathered up my crestfallen ego, took my wife by the arm and made my way back to the parking lot. My option was to lose this weight and a few more by Monday; my surgeon would decide then if it was a go or no-go. If a no-go, the young lady promised to reschedule me the first thing the following week.:laugh: Fast forward to the afternoon when I met with my Family Physician. We chatted about this situation and he asked what exactly was I eating. So I rattled off a litany of things including V8 juice, the broth from chicken Noodle Soup and Beef Noodle Soup, and at least 72 oz of G2 Sports drink/day. He started to chuckle and asked me to lift up my pant leg so he could look at my legs and ankles. He gently squeezed me just above the ankle for about 30 seconds, enough to leave a noticeable indentation. He looked me in the eye and said, "I am surprised at you. You are a college graduate, a pretty smart guy. Yet you didn't realize you were pumping yourself full of Sodium. The weight gain is Water weight." Pointing to the bottle of water I carried in, he said, "And your solution to losing that weight is to cut out the G2 and stick to the water." So for the next three days it was Protein drinks and bottled water -- interrupted by a few dozen visits to the WC. Hopefully, I will have something good to post tomorrow night. And if not, I am cool with that, too. It may mean another week of protein drinks and water, but I will lose the weight to improve my chances for a successful surgery. Enough about me. How are you ex-fatties doing now. I need to read some success stories!

Has anyone gained weight at the end of their 6 month supervised diet and were approved by your insurance company for surgery?

First and foremost, wanted to say a huge congrats to all who have made the decision to get surgery. There's a misconception that it is the "easy way out" and given the research I've needed to do in order to even get this far, I know it is no where NEAR easy. So congrats to y'all. A little bit about me: I've been struggling with my weight ever since I was in high school but most significantly since I entered college. Of course there's the "freshman 15" but I gained about 35 pounds that year alone. Two years later my boyfriend of four years past away and that set me on a depression that lead to even more weight gain. I've been unhappy with myself and completely lost self confidence. After a frank and honest discussion with my family, we decided that more extreme measures needed to be taken as diet and exercise wasn't working. Unfortunately, my health insurance will not cover the surgery (due to the plan we have) and it's too much to pay out of pocket in the US. So I have made the decision to go forward with surgery in Mexico and have already taken the first step in submitting the questionnaire. For context, I'm 24(soon to be 25) Female Cw:332 Height: 5"6 Long term goal weight: 140 I hope to have RNY Gastric Bypass Surgery. I am excited and nervous to begin this journey, so any and all tips, words of encouragement, advice or information any of you have will be greatly appreciated!! Looking forward to being a part of the community here!