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Ok it’s update Monday. I’m going to continue to post here regardless of whether or not anyone else is reading it, lol 😂. I need to do this and am grateful for anyone who joins in. My biggest accomplishment this week: (not really weight related but nonetheless): Realizing that my husband still thinks I’m attractive even though I’ve gained 15-20 pounds in the past few months. I’ve been so self conscious and only worn baggy loose fitting clothes to cover up my weight gain but he really doesn’t seem to be bothered by my extra weight. This is very good for my self image but is not going to stop me from moving forward with the esg. It is because of his nonjudgmental attitude that I want to be the healthiest I can be for him and for myself. On a side note— someone else in this forum mentioned that their husband has always been fit and lean and that bothered her, I think it was Mel?, in any case my husband is exactly the same. He’s been the same size for the past twenty years without ever “dieting”. It annoys the sh.. out of me but it’s true. However, he recently quit smoking and I’m so proud of him but he has put on like 10-15 pounds because of this. I could care less about those pounds. I’m so happy he’s quit. 🎉🎉🎊🎊 My biggest challenge: Realizing that I am getting closer to my procedure date and I haven’t changed my eating habits at all. ☹️ I have to start making an effort towards this. When do you guys think is the best time preop to really clean up your act? I have seven weeks left to go.

Hi Again, Not sure if anyone is still reading this thread but I thought a quick update might be useful. I have lost 2 kg so still not yet at my pre-holiday weight. But I am happy that the numbers are going down. This was exactly the danger zone for me in the past, becoming disheartened at weight gain and thinking, bugger it I may as well just keep eating. Have spoken with the awesome physio and dietician at the clinic who have been guiding me back to making better choices. I am trying to tell myself that I am only 6-7 kg away from my goal. Its not that much (compared to 20kg ago) but yet it is HARD. Currently working on increasing weight training and getting the snacking under control. I really want to be at goal by Christmas so I better get cracking!! Mel x

@chubrub Congrats! I'm glad your feeling better and doing better with the N/V. Did you have weight gain at first? I'm po day 3 and I'm 6#s up! RN stated it was normal since they pump you full of IV fluid to prevent dehydration once your home. But it was a bit disappointing to see the scale go up not down.

I'm ashamed to admit that I cheated. I was supposed to eat 1400 calories or less daily for the two week time period before surgery. I struggled terribly for a few days and went over my calorie limit with healthy foods. I did a lot of extra exercise then and with that considered, I was likely under my calorie limit, but I still felt guilty. I ended up telling the nurse who called me a few days before surgery. She told me not to mention it unless it came up. However, I felt the need to be honest, so I told my surgeon the day of surgery. I could tell by his body language that he was not pleased. Prior to this, during our small group pre-op meeting, his NP had warned us about gaining weight before surgery, saying that our surgeon had cancelled surgeries that week due to weight gain. According to my scales, I had lost 40+ pounds since I last saw my surgeon in January, so I pointed out to him that I had been working really hard to lose weight since I last saw him and explained that I didn't know what had happened to me on those days of the pre-op diet. He listened to everything I said, then asked how much weight I had lost. (The nurse who prepared me for surgery that morning had told me that my weight was not required on the day of surgery, so he truly didn't know.) I answered him while he wrote notes in my file. He is a man of few words, so that was the extent of our conversation. The next thing I knew, he told me we would be headed to surgery as soon as they had me ready. Right then, I felt like a horrible failure; he didn't say or do anything to make me feel that way but rather I chose not to follow his instructions and felt ashamed. Try your hardest not to cheat so that you can be proud of your pre-op diet efforts.

Hi fellow N.C.ers! I've got so many questions my head is spinning. I'm trying to weigh all my options. I'm in process of getting a job as a state employee and hopefully it will be soon. I am currently being tested and having physicals required for the job process. So although it looks like the job is in the bag, I'm not on the payroll yet. Before all this came about, I was contemplating going to Mexico for the surgery.Now that this job is on the horizon, I may take the insurance route. The only thing about that is the anexiety of all I may have to go through with the ins. co. : diet documentation, testing etc. I've read so many post from people that have problems and delays from ins, so much so that it makes the Mexico deal seem more appealing. However, if I go with the Mexico, then theres the aftercare delimas. Bottom line is I'm as ready as I'll ever be physically and emotionally right now. I have been sorting all that out a long time. My biggest delima is that I want to do something within the next few months. I struggle with weight gain, it is hard just to maintain and not gain. I want to do something before they have to make my back door bigger so I can get out and go anywhere for surgery. Yes, that is an exaggeration of the situation, but that is how urgent it feels to me. Anyone with any advice or information would be greatly appreciated. thanks for reading and Happy New Year to all.....and God Bless

Hi, A 2 lb weight gain in one day's time is most likely Water retention. If you review your food intake for the past two days, you'll probably see some high salt foods that were eaten. Remember that 3500 calories are needed to gain one lb so not likely you consumed 7000 calories!! One quart of water weighs about 2 lbs. Weighing every day can be stressful because there are going to be fluctuation, i.e., water retention, constipation, etc.. Consider weighing less often and focus on the exercise and healthy, lower salt choices recommended from the program. Good luck!

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!)

The reason why bariatric surgery is the most successful procedure for severely overweight people is because it resets your metabolic floor, to an extent. Normal dieting doesn't do that. Basically, if you're an identical twin and you gain to 350 while your sister stays at 150, if you diet your metabolism generally doesn't recover to match your sister's - you CAN diet down to 150, but to stay at that weight you'll have to ingest far, far fewer calories than your sister does to maintain and that means you feel like you're starving the whole time. It's a weird spooky piece of science that hasn't quite been cracked yet, but bariatric surgery seems to avoid that trap. That's why many of us get it; not just because we can lose weight and feel restriction, but because it means when we get to 150 we can ingest a reasonable amount of daily calories without gaining again. Your metabolism isn't at that stage yet, in fact your metabolism sounds like it's pretty manageable. And the issues you're describing sound psychological, like food addiction, or might be metabolic like PCOS. Both of those are manageable without surgery, especially if you're tackling it now when you're still young and close to a healthy weight. When people say they're having weight loss surgery to prevent getting ill or grinding down their knees, they're talking about something that is the logical trajectory of inaction from their current weight. You're not there yet, you're talking about the surgery to prevent getting obese and in turn prevent other complications. But you're not obese, so tackle that part first. It's called "weight loss surgery" for a reason, and is not "prevention of weight gain surgery" for that same reason. Don't get sliced up without exhausting all available options for managing your weight while you're still in a healthy range. This is not a quick fix and it definitely won't prevent you from eating enough calories to gain if you're still working through a food fixation. That's why YouTube is full of regain videos.

Well, that's a whole lotta new info. Once again, you experienced your experience. And you understand things from your perspective (based on what you think you know). But there's a lot you misunderstand and don't know. As others have noted, your lack of knowledge revealed in your OP about how WLS patients can retain most of their muscle mass (or even increase their muscle mass) while losing weight is unfortunate -- not just because it's wrong and sad, but because you're using it to rationalize your own experience. And that and your other rationalizations will block your future progress. Before I had WLS surgery, I did learn about the nutritional and exercise best practices for post-op WLS patients. I learned that post-op while losing weight I should eat a lot of Protein and exercise regularly to avoid losing a lot of muscle mass. And it turns out, because I followed my bariatric center's instructions, that's exactly what happened. Of the 90+ pounds I've lost after WLS only 12 pounds of it was muscle. I'm not guessing or assuming this. I've had pre- and post-WLS body mass measurements taken. As a result, my lean body mass has increased 15%. BTW, all of the things you started doing 1 week ago (3 years after your WLS) -- tracking your calories and other macronutrients and tracking your steps -- I started doing 2.5 months before my WLS. In other words, I never considered that WLS alone was going to fix me without me also changing my own behaviors / lifestyle. I'm sorry that WLS didn't work out for you. For that, you have only your own impulsiveness and your continuing lack of education about WLS to blame. But that's in the past. Looking forward, you'll be well served by not continuing to remain ignorant. More importantly, your rationalizations about WLS won't serve you well either. If you really want to debug your weight challenges, you'll need to keep trying to understand accurately what caused your post-op weight gain. For others reading this, the OP's posts here illustrate some important truths about WLS: (1) WLS should not be undertaken lightly. (2) WLS patients MUST take responsibility for understanding nutritional, exercise and other behavioral requirements for post-op self-care. (3) WLS can be a wonderful aid to losing and maintaining one's weight loss long-term IF patients don't suffer the delusion that surgery is all they need to achieve success. Best wishes to everyone out there who's considering WLS. Educate yourself as much as you possibly can. Seek therapy if you need it. As the saying around here goes, "They operate on your stomach, not your head."

I've been married over 8 years and have 3 children, a daughter 7 years old, a son almost 4 years old and another son 19 months old. I work as a medical biller, get to work from home which you would think is great but it's really what help added to my weight gain.

To the weight loss surgery patient slider foods are the bane of good intentions and ignorance often causing dumping syndrome, weight loss plateaus, and eventually weight gain. Slider foods, to weight loss surgery patients, are soft simple processed carbohydrates of little or no nutritional value that slide right through the surgical stomach pouch without providing nutrition or satiation. The most innocent of slider foods are saltine crackers, often eaten with warm tea or other beverages, to soothe the stomach in illness or while recovering from surgery. Understanding Slider Foods The most commonly consumed slider foods include pretzels, crackers (saltines, graham, Ritz, etc.) filled cracker snacks such as Ritz Bits, popcorn, cheese snacks (Cheetos) or cheese crackers, tortilla chips with salsa, potato chips, sugar-free cookies, cakes, and candy. You will notice these slider foods are often salty and cause dry mouth so they must be ingested with liquid to be palatable. This is how they become slider foods. They are also, most often, void of nutritional value. For weight loss surgery patients the process of digestion is different than those who have not undergone gastric surgery. When slider foods are consumed they go into the stomach pouch and exit directly into the jejunum where the simple carbohydrate slurry is quickly absorbed and stored by the body. There is little thermic effect in the digestion of simple carbohydrates like there is in the digestion of protein so little metabolic energy is expended. In most cases patients in the phase of weight loss who eat slider foods will experience a weight loss plateau and possibly the setback of weight gain. And sadly, they will begin to believe their surgical stomach pouch is not functioning properly because they never feel fullness or restriction like they experience when eating protein. The very nature of the surgical gastric pouch is to cause feelings of tightness or restriction when one has eaten enough food. However, when soft simple carbohydrates are eaten this tightness or restriction does not result and one can continue to eat, unmeasured, copious amounts of non-nutritional food without ever feeling uncomfortable. Many patients turn to slider foods for this very reason. They do not like the discomfort that results when the pouch is full from eating a measured portion of lean animal or dairy protein without liquids. Yet it is this very restriction that is the desired result of the surgery. The discomfort is intended to signal the cessation of eating. Remembering the "Protein First" rule is crucial to weight management with bariatric surgery. Gastric bypass, gastric banding (lap-band) and gastric sleeve patients are instructed to follow a high protein diet to facilitate healing and promote weight loss. Bariatric centers advise what is commonly known among weight loss surgery patients as the "Four Rules" the most important of which is "Protein First." That means of all nutrients (protein, veggies, complex carbohydrates, then fat and alcohol) the patient is required to eat protein first. Protein is not always the most comfortable food choice for weight loss surgery patients who feel restriction after eating a very small amount of food. However, for the surgical tool to work correctly a diet rich in protein and low in simple carbohydrate slider foods must be observed. The high protein diet must be followed even after healthy body weight has been achieved in order to maintain a healthy weight and avoid weight regain.

I use the depo shot. I love it. Go in every 3 months, for 15 mins and you are done. I haven't noticed any weight gain and I don't get periods anymore. I would recommend it but check with your Dr.

:lol0: Relax, your BMI and needed weight loss is low, hence the slow movement of the scales. The heavier one is the faster one sheds. I remember a quote from the book "Weighloss Surgery for Dummies"; it said "Sumo wrestlers who have a surgery will lose weight fast...". Then I take solace in the fact that I am NOT a Sumo wrestler and hence the slow loss, including some weeks of no loss but weight gain. Keep your chin up, the best thing that happened to me after the surgery was coming in to this forum. Such wonderful people around who laugh and cry with you. You WILL be a loser, just hang on there. Your body will eventually start shedding. I strongly recommend reading the book WLS for Dummies, it changed the way I looked at the post-surgery stall issues. We will win. All the best and stay cheerful, the weight loss starts with that !:blushing:

I was told 85% also. If they do not take enough of the stomach, then the stretchy part of the stomach will remain and can stretch back out again causing weight gain. They have to take out enough to get down to the non-stretchy part to keep good restriction. (I'm not very eloquent tonight, cheeeez!)

Welcome! On this site you'll find many differing opinions. As you can guess, most of us are pro-sleeve and couldn't be happier with our decision. In fact, there are many here who started with the band and then were revised to a sleeve. I am a low bmi sleever who was fortunate that I never battled weight until the past two years. I do have a very long family history of morbid obesity and comorbidities though so I knew that if I didn't eat right and hit the gym everyday they would come for me too. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia about 18 or so months ago and as my pain worsened my will power lessened and my drive to stay ahead on my workouts and nutrition took a nose dive. I slowly gained weight the first year. The next 6 months the pain became almost unbearable and I was put on a mix of meds that all had weight gain as side effects. Combined with my lack of mobility and my lack of heartfelt focus on anything but getting through the pain (I used food as a coping mechanism) I gained about 50 pounds in 6 months. My doctor took a radical approach and suggested WLS as a tool to keep me healthy. If I could get the weight off my fibro pain would likely subside a great deal now that we have found a med mix that works for me. Even though I had a relatively low BMI I was still obese and headed for danger (high BP, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, etc). Together we decided wls was the right move for me. After discussing the options we also decided that RNY was too extreme for my situation. The band also presented its own issues in that a foreign object may cause me to flare repeatedly. I also didn't like the idea of chasing the sweet spot and potentially having a visible port bump. That left the sleeve, which all around sounded like the best option anyway. One incision, no malabsorption, no adjustments, etc. Once we decided on the sleeve I was on the hunt for a surgeon and feel that I selected the best in TX. I know everyone says that and I'm glad they do. It's of the utmost importance that you have a GREAT relationship with your surgeon. I am a month post-op, have lost about 20 pounds, and more importantly am feeling about 70% less pain. I still have bad days here and there, but I think I might be able to go back to work full time pretty soon! You have no idea what a blessing that is. Prior to WLS my Dr was encouraging me to look into disability because even my part time contract position was often too much to bear.

Had surgery in January at 53 and menopausal. Have now lost 61lbs in 3 months so very happy. Hopefully no more monthly cycle water weight gain. Best thing I have ever done

I've been taking Wellbutrin for about 7 years (I guess 8 come this fall) for depression. When I first started taking it, it really decreased my appetite and I lost about 25 pounds. Then after I got a new boyfriend all of the weight came back... so many restaurants. But ever since that weight gain, Wellbutrin never helped me to lose weight again. Energy and motivation have always been big issues for me and I would say that even when I'm taking the Wellbutrin, I still struggle with them. I just know that if I stop taking it I get more of the depression symptoms (sadness, suicidal thoughts). On Wellbutrin I just kind of feel that I'm evened out. I rarely feel very happy and I rarely feel very sad. I do have anxiety and insomnia as well but the insomnia started before I started taking Wellbutrin and the anxiety, I believe, is a genetic thing (same with the depression). I do take other medication to help with the insomnia and anxiety but I won't get too into that. Just wanted to mention that I do also suffer from those things but I do not believe them to be caused by taking Wellbutrin. My PCP has recommended I try lowering my dose once the weather gets warmer out, but I really don't think I am affected much by seasonal affective disorder. My depression is a constant thing regardless of the time of year - so I most likely won't change the dose. In fact, I'd like to start going back to a real psychiatrist so I can maybe take another antidepressant in combination with Wellbutrin that may help with the energy. And lastly, the Wellbutrin doesn't affect my sex drive at all. I have always had and will probably always have a low sex drive. People seem to have much better or much worse experiences with it than I have, but I'm not sure if that's because I've been taking it for so long.

@@sallo Honestly, I'm glad I dump from rice and Pasta. I was a raging carb addict, and I am convinced that those were by far the worst contributors to my weight gain (especially pasta - I think I ate it every day). If I could have selected what I dump on, those definitely would have been my choices!

Well crap. So, I've been stuck at the same general area since October. Yes, there has been some movement, but it keeps going back up. Before leaving to visit family last week I had finally made it to 202.8 and was there for a couple of days. While away, I didn't weigh myself at all but I was doing fairly well about my eating. Typically, when I am back home, the stress of dealing with family BS makes me eat poorly. Well, when I got back home Tuesday night, I decided to weigh myself before going to bed. Well, guess what...finally onederland! 198.8 I didn't believe it, so I took off the PJ's and got back on. Still 198.8. Awesome! Logically, ince I had just eaten, that must mean I will likely weigh a little less or the same the next morning, right? Well, no. Wednesday morning I decided to weigh myself to see if there had been any change. Yes, there fraking had. 205.8. WTF!?! And tonight, 208!!! I am so f**king pissed right now. Bummed and eating horribly since Wednesday. Damn discount chocolate...I just don't know what the hell is going on. I work out and eat right, there's little to no movement. I eat farily well and don't work out, there's little to no movement. I imagine some of the weight gain in the passed few days has something to do with my period, but still...I'm just so sick of this. I need to go shoot something. Maybe my neighbors who blast their loud music in the middle of the night. Yeah...shooting them will make me feel better... Excuse me...I'll be back later. Okay...I'm back. How weird is it that this constant plateau has me feeling no different than how I felt before I had the surgery? It's as if I am still that 300lb woman who couldn't lose ten pounds to save her life. I look in the mirror or I look down at me and I see rolls. Not "smaller" rolls (because the fat rolls are smaller, of course), but just rolls of fat. I know these feelings will go away or at least die down once my period is over with and the hormones settle, but right now I just feel like crap.

How did you get fat? It's not as easy to answer as how did you get pregnant it is? I think it was many things for me and 45 years is a very long time. #1 Genetics. My father was 500 pounds and had his stomach stapled 2 times. He was 500 pounds again when the cleaning lady came and found him on the floor suffering from a massive stroke. It left him completely paralized. I guess he could only communicate by blinking. He died at age 63 from his obesity related illnesses. I was only 18 months old when he and my mother divorced and he was a deadbeat dad. I met him when I was a teenager. I did not grow up seeing his eating habits and my mother was very thin and ate healthy. So I am thinking genetics with that one. My sister is also obese. I was a chubby kid and did deal with teasing. I thinned out as a teen and was very mature for my age. That led to dating older guys and getting married at a young age. I had a baby at a very young age, but can not blame that for my weight. I only gained 19 lbs during pregnancy and it came off as soon as I had the baby. I ended up being in an abusive marriage. I divorced the jerk and started making it on my own with a toddler in tow. It was very hard because I was so young and wages were low for me. I got very thin because sometimes I could only afford food for my son and not myself. I couldn't afford cars that ran for long, so I did quite a bit of walking. I got too thin for my frame. I was about 128 lbs and size 7 jeans were baggy. I met the great guy I am married to now and he moved in. I was 21 by then and my son was 4. With 2 incomes we got on our feet quickly and I could afford food. This would be my #2 reason for the weight gain I guess. I ate because I could! Food was so darn good and going out to eat was such a treat. I treated myself a lot. I chose whatever I wanted on the menu no matter the cost or the calories. reason #3.....YO-YO dieting for years! I tried every diet on the planet and then some! Take off 30 lbs- gain 40 lbs, take off 40 lbs - gain 50 lbs .......... reason #4..... I gave up! I was FAT! There was no getting rid of it for good and no use trying. It only made matters worse! reason #5 ..... hysterectomy at a very young age. reason #6 .... fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndroms.......constant pain and no energy. I ate for energy. Fast forward to 2009. I weighed a whopping 264 lbs! Then I got banded! I have lost 86 lbs and now weigh 178! I want to get to 150 or lower and keep it off!

Well I will be banded monday and I have to say I have often wondered myself about the weight gain but my doc said as long as I listened to him and had my band in good working order I will be fine hope this helps

Wow this was quite the read. I've felt alone and as it turns out...I'm not alone on this! 1) I was late for work one day due to a doctors appointment. I always parked in the same parkade. The lady at the gate asks why I'm late. I say had a doctors appointment. She asks oh are you expecting. I just said no...drove to my stall and burst out crying. 2) at dinner with a bunch of family and complaining (quietly) to my mom that I had to buy a size 22 pants. My much larger cousin pipes up (very loudly) to the whole table...ya right a size 22!! Like I was lying about a plus size. 3) meeting my one true love again during his divorce. Called his house to speak with him only to have his daughter tell me he was at his girlfriends house. I was always the girl that was smart but not to be dated. (I will find him again after I've lost all the weight!) 4) my boss (who is short and.overweight) telling me that he was worried about my weight gain. I asked him that we must have met in a past life...my name used to be kettle and I'm sure that his name was pot? 5)recently vacationed to kauai with my best friend. She made a huge deal over me wanting dessert...embarrassing. I finally had enough and said you're right. Then I think she feels bad and requests the dessert menu. After all that!! We didn't end up ordering anything. There were three things I wanted to do but couldn't because of weight restrictions. Ziplining, tubing adventure, and a helicopter tour. 6) the best for last. Going to a retail store to shop for my mom with my dads credit card. A sales clerk walks up to me and explains that they don't sell anything over a size 14. (I was maybe a 16/18 at the time.) I left the store totally humiliated and in tears. I will NEVER shop in Suzy Shier...EVER! There are many others that come to mind now that I'm listing them. I'm going to focus on me now...and feeling great about myself no matter what. I will go back to Kauai and do all the things I couldn't do...including ordering a dessert...even if I only have one bite. Its my decision and no one will make me feel bad. Ever...again. I'm super pumped about my decision. Perhaps my friend was jealous about it and lashed out in kauai? I told her that it was my last kick at the cat and I was going to go out with a bang. She seemed upset...the one person I thought would be the most supportive has been the least supportive! Oh well...up and on...my true journey starts on May 14th...I'm currently on liquids to prepare! Thanks for sharing all...sorry this is so long.

to get back on track after being naughty? I read this statement a little while ago and well....after this weekend I can well and truely relate. I went to a bandsters lunch at an all you can eat. I had great restriction when I walked in I swear. I walked out after eating everything I had felt like the past couple of months. At dinner time I thought I may as well have junk since I had already blown it that day and start good eating the next day. Woke up Sunday and did the same and again today. *sigh* I just cant seem to get back on track and the 2kg weight gain since Saturday doesnt seem to be helping me. Any ideas? *Help*

A progress report on me - I stopped eating sweet things for a week and have lost weight - 62.5 kg now but generally I seem to be maintaining. I really want to get rid of this habit of having a cake for a snack as I know as we can eat more this will cause me weight gain and I DON'T want to get on that guilt road again. Can't wait to see my dietician so she can give me a slap on the wrist! Can't wait to get back to work so I have money to finally join the gym or step into life classes - I need to be pushed it comes to exercise as I don't enjoy it!

I have PCOS and this is the reason why my husband and I decided the surgery was the best way to go. My doc pretty much said my body needed a rude awakening and this drastic measure would help me achieve my dream! I've been married for 10 years and we are EXTREMELY excited about the many possibilities in the future.. I just recently had my surgery so I haven't been to meet with my doctor.. I kinda don't want to take BC because I have had many bad experiences with them (mainly weight gain) and I also don't know how long to wait for it.. Aaahhh... the many possibilities!! I see the light!!