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Sure, but it was ultimately his poor diet that caused the weight gain, not being hungry. He admitted to a poor diet. I don't often drink with meals because there just isn't room, but if I'm extremely thirsty, I will. I also have fountain diet coke sometimes now. It doesn't cause me to be hungry. IT just satisfies my desire.

I am on a pump have been for a year and have gained 50 pounds now 4 months into band process hoping to get rid of meds.I didn't know about weight gain before starting pump

I am 17lbs short of the needed BMI for lapband, I am a type 2 diabetic, and I'm starting on the insulin pump this week. I already take metformin and lantus, as the dr has increased my lantus I've started gaining, now the pump comes. I was wondering if anyone who is on a pump or was on a pump can tell me if gaining weight on the pump is more rapid that shots? I've heard it can be. I'm honestly not hoping for weight gain, but I'm so OVER diabetes and all that comes with it, I really wish I could have the surgery, I see so many on the boards talking about getting off most or all their meds and I would love to have that happen! Thanks Ren

I had my lap band put in on June 12 th. It was a long process. I finally decided to pursue it after being rejected by a fertility clinic due to my weight which at the time was around 150 and because I was 40. I started going through the process of getting the surgery authorized when I decided to get a second opinion from another fertility clinic. They were willing to work with us. I am using my younger sister's eggs. Thank you sister! Any way because I was fearful of failure of either procedure failing I went through the process of both without informing one of the other until I knew for sure. I had to go through several appeals and hoops to get the lap band approved and as luck would have it they both were coming to fruition in June. So it was time for disclosure and Decisions. I went first to the lapband team at park nicollet in mn. I had had a very brief conversation with a nutritionist ptior to my second opinion and eas somewhat hopeful. The response from the surgeon once ascertaining my reasonings for waiting was that life is complicated, that the main concerns with bariatric and pregnancy is directed at nutrition. My surgeon noted minimal nutritional issues with the band, that the females bodies put needed nutrition to the baby first, and that people in poverty have healthy births. also noted was the majority of healthy births to women with lap bands. It was also pointed out that with the band that less weight gain during pregnancy the healthier. The fertility doc didn't care as long as the surgeon stayed away from my pelvic area. So. Surgery was completed and I am feeling geat and in about 7 days I will ( hopefully) have my Ivf implantation. I wanted to share my story to give a different experience or prompt new conversations with your treatment team. I wish you the best. Sorry for the length of this. I just ran across this site and was so excited.

I'm 3 weeks out and I'm hitting 350-400 calories. I don't think you are going to mess up at your metabolism at this point. I spent my six month pre-approval doing 800 calories a day and hitting 80 grams of Protein and staying about 45 -60 grams of carbs a day and I lost weight, gained muscle tone during that time. That's pre-surgery with a regular sized stomach. I think you would be pushing it to try to get in more calories. I'm still on liquids. The body will use up the carbs you are using for energy and there are plenty of fat stores for the body to have to burn through before you start messing up your metabolism and blowing through your protein stores. This should not even be a concern at this time. ps I think most people stay at about 800 calories a day until they are in maintenance and those that are extremely athletic may go up 1200, but on a whole, maintenance is about 1100.

I thought about doing that, but I toughed it out. My doctor felt like it would be better for my sleeve surgery to have been unfilled prior to. His nurse said maybe two weeks before, but I went in a month before. It has gone fast, but the weight gain was fast too...

That's good for you. My reflux went away for a long time after my surgery but came back after my last fill. I got an appointment this Friday to see what's going on. GERD is one of the listed complications from Lapband though. I just think it's weird that one of the benefits from the band is to reduce the amount of food intake but if you have GERD you may have to get unfills which cause weight gain in most. I am hoping I can fight the weight gain if I need another unfill. I think I have 4.5 or 5 cc's in my 10cc band after my unfill in December.

dorrie - my husband is the same. His metabolism is still doing him a few favors, but he'll turn 40 next year and his luck can only last so long. He has recently crossed into thye "obese" threshold - he's between 6'4 and 6'5 and about 270, all if it is carried in his middle torso (stomach, "love handles", etc.) He is a horrible volume eater. We went to a bakery Saturday and I picked up 10 stuffed rolls - about 6 of which I planned to bring to people at work today. These things are about 5" across, so we aren't talking about small dinner rolls. Sunday when I went to pack them up they were all gone. He'd eated all 10 in less than 1 day, in addition to whatever regular meals we'd had. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to make something for dinner, but can't find it and when I ask him if he knows where the this or that is, he's like, "Oh I ate that..." There goes dinner! Now - I make him a week's worth of breakfasts every Sunday. So he has a nice, balanced breakfast. He takes leftovers for lunch most days, or eats out. And if I don't make dinner (which I do 95% of the time) then I make sure he has something. I also make sure he has Snacks at work (he has had bouts of hypoglycemia since he was about 8, controlled through diet). He still eats - usually another full meal - as soon as he gets home from work, and then I generally start dinner about 2 or 3 hours later. He thinks he eats healthy because his favorite snack is lowfat yogurt with granola, but he doesn't the quart-sized yogurt tubs should last longer than 3 servings! He truly doesn't care. He will refuse to eat lowfat products (other than the yogurt) - sour cream, milk, butter, etc. He has no idea how many calories he eats. If he's hungry, he eats what he wants, and as much of it as he wants, period. I worry about his health - but like you said, I can't make him care. I can just try and figure out ways to plant the seeds. (I can't really say much about his weight gain considering I used to make fun of how "tent-like" his pants were... you know... the 36x36 pants he wore that I used to be able to swim in... I may be a hypocrite but I have my limits...!) I guess the related point of all that is - splitting a meal isn't really an option. He doesn't do well with less than his entire meal, and then some. Plus we like completely different foods (he's a big red meat/steak eater, I'm not at all). Luckily I can split with DH, who eats whatever mommy or princesses eat.

Would you do it again? I know this is a topic that has been covered and then covered again. At the risk of boring long-time posters on this forum, I'm going to bring the topic up again. I saw my younger sister for the first time in years and she awed at me over the 45 lbs that I've lost and kept off over the past 2 years. I know this is not an admirable weight loss for banders over a 2+ year period, but it's the first time I've been able to lose weight and actually keep it off. Anyway, my younger sister asked me if I would have the surgery again. I could see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice that she's considering the possibility of this surgery for herself. I had to think about my answer. In fact, I'm still thinking about it. Would I have the surgery again? Some days the answer is yes. Some days the answer is no. Yes. I've lost 45 lbs and kept it off. This surgery put an end to the steady weight gain I was experiencing. My overall health has improved. No. Some days I feel defeated that my weight loss did not continue after the first 6 months. I fooled myself into believing that band surgery would make it so that I never had to diet again. This is not true. Let me repeat this .. You will have to diet following band surgery .. for the rest of your life. It is not a magic bullet that fixes poor eating habits and poor lifestyle choices. So my answer to my sister is yes, I would do it again but I would say that with a caveat. The band stopped my upward spiral of weight gain and my health is better for it. For that, surgery was worth it. The caveat is, if I want to lose weight after the initial weight loss, I still have to diet and exercise. To be successful, Weight Watchers or other diets are still in my future. So why not just diet and exercise without the band? It's a personal decision. Just be honest with yourself.

i have been going back and forth on rather i was gonna blog this today, but i must own up to my failures as well as my successes. well i am going in for a fill today. i got on the scale and it has been slowly creeping up. today it said 210!!! i had gotten to 202..that was from february till now. to some that may seem like not a lot, but mentallu to see that second number as a 1 and not a zero just sent me into a mental place i dont need to be. i just cant believe i let it go this far. i take full responsibility for my weight gain. yes i still was in the gym but my eating habits have become less than desirable..ok let me not sugar coat it..i was down right wrong. now i know i need a fill, but i found myself in the past few weeks thinking..it didnt matter what i ate cuz i was gettn a fill and i would just get back on track then. this is the same thinking that held me captive at a size20!! now my 12's still fit, but i know it's only a matter of time before that changes. i think i blogged this to show myself that even though i am one year post op i still have some mental changing to do when it comes to my weight loss journey. i thought that one year out it would be a walk in the park. i long for the day that i dont have to make a conscience effort to always think about what i am eating for the day. i long for the day that my weight is not always on my mind..but i dont think that day will ever come. so i've come to accept that my way of life is to be constantly aware of my weight and food intake. jennifer

Ohhh thank you all for the input!! Glad to know its normal to have sine weight gain!! Thank you all for the support!

Hello all. So I have Lupis as well as Fibromyalgia! I have been trying not to think of it in regards to my surgery. However, in the back of my mind, there is the fear that having surgery will cause a flare up! I had to go off of my Plaquinil for a month, until after my surgery, which is July 10th. Its been about two weeks and I've been good until last night!!! I could feel the rain coming, my joints have been aching. And my hips are absolutely killing me! Like to the point of tears, and it takes a LOT to make me cry. My hands and arms/elbows are hurting not from typing, I have to keep stopping. I stopped taking the Plaquinil once before for a week, and it felt like I hit a wall going 90mph! That time it affected my hands and elbows and shoulders first, then I was curled up in the fetal position in so much pain I could barely think! And now its started again! Calling the doctor in the morning. And I guess they will increase pain meds, but I have done that for the last two nights and it hasn't helped! And I can't even take motrin! I want to pull my hair out! I am afraid if the increase my meds now, will they be able to control my pain after surgery? I have two little boys to take care of!! I will be staying at my parents after surgery for the first two weeks, but I can't let them do everything! My guys can wear the most entergetic people out! Getting a little upset about this tonight! I told my surgeon that nothing about the surgery scared me at all, the only thing that scared me was coming off my Plaquinil! And he said "for good reason"! AAAHHHHHHHH anyone else dealing with these issues? I could really use some support! Can't wait to get it over with and go back on my meds!!!!! And scared they will try to put me back on steroids, which have contributed to my weight gain over the last two years! Hurting, nervous, upset!

Then you should talk to your surgeon about it and possibly get a slight unfill. Slider foods lead to weight gain and a band too tight leads to slips.

Phentermine, taken alone is safer alternative to using it in conjunction with fenfluramine, which was associated with some significant cardiac risks in the 80's. I had used it several times over the 10 years prior to my band surgery. Your body does build a rapid tolerance to it, so it was effective for only about 3 months, and then I would have to go off of it for another 6 months. A three month prescription was all that my physician would prescribe. I lost about 30 pounds during the 3 months, and did manage to keep most of the weight off after every 3 months off of it. "Rebound weight gain" is common, when the patient needs to go off of the medication. This can happen if the individual does nothing to maintain a long term adjustment in life style with changes to smaller portions and exercise. I have not taken it for several years now. I recall that I did like the increased energy associated with it, and though I took in in the morning, I did not like the insomnia which I also experienced while taking it.

I am sorry that you are so stressed but I agree, take your stress and anger out on the treadmill. Take a walk. Take a kick box class, a zumba class. Exercise is the best way to get rid of stress. I spend 50% less time on the internet now than I used to. I contribute a lot of my weight gain to sitting on the internet.

I don't understand why drinking with meals and drinking diet soda caused your weight gain. It was more likely your poor diet, but gl with your journey.

I'm almost 4 weeks post op and feeling great. I exercise regularly (3.5 miles 5-6 days a week & weights 3 days a week) which really keeps my energy up. My starting weight Pre-op was 250.5. After 1 week Pre-op diet, I was 235. One week post op, 225. Two week post op, 228 (wk I started adding mushies) Three week post op, 230. Ugh! Had first fill of 3 CCs at 3 weeks. I was required to do 3 days of liquids, now 3 days of soft foods, and then "normal." I was so discouraged by my weight gain before, I am working hard to avoid it this time. I made some poor choices when I could finally eat, not this time. Today, I am 3.5 weeks post op, weight 222.5. I'm very excited!!! Doing the liquids for days really jumped started everything. I lost 8 pounds in 4 days! Craziness!!! To help continue this weight loss trend (although I know it will slow back down) I have started a recording everything in a food journal. I need people's help! How many grams of fat do you eat a day? Calories? Carbs? My doctor recommends 60-70 grams of Protein, not sure about the others. Thanks for your help!

I hear ya! got on the scale tuesday (surgery was monday) and was freaking out with the 10lb weight gain...all water and gas though! back down to where I was pre surgery

Heya, Thanks for responding. Water weight would make sense for a few days, maybe even a week-- but 11 days after surgery?? I am getting all my liquid in, and my vegan soy Protein shake. Doctor has me on papaya for acid relief. So did you experience this weight gain/lack of weight loss immediately after surgery too?

Thanks Highland. I know I need to be patient. I am trying to make good food choice....no bread, no carbs, more protein, more veggies,but without any restriction my portions are larger, hence weight gain. I feel like I am battling myself right now....and losing (not weight but the battle).

(I should note: My highest weight ever, in life, was 293. That number is listed on my profile information. I lost weight when I went Vegan, then had to lose more for surgery. I was 227 when weighed at the hospital the day of surgery. I am 227 this morning.) I had surgery on Tuesday, June 12th of 2012 at Buffalo General Hospital. My surgeon was Dr. Alan Posner. My situation is different for several reasons: First, I'm Vegan. I've been Vegetarian since the age of 4 (going on 32 now), and Vegan since 6.15.2010. Dr. Posner had told me prior to the surgery that he wanted to make my sleeve bigger than usual, because of being vegan. He also stated that he would not have considered me for a gastric bypass, because of being vegan. There were concerns about nutrition and absorption- so that choice was out of my hands. The only area that I have not been perfectly vegan in, is vitamins/medications. It is near impossible to avoid all animal products with the medications I take.. Second, I have other medical issues going on (I need back surgery as soon as I heal up from this, for starters). They found a hiatal hernia during the endoscopy that was a part of pre-op testing. When Dr. Posner went to repair the hernia during the sleeve surgery, it was apparently "stuck." Dr. Posner told my husband that it appeared to have been there for quite some time, and that he really had to yank to get it out (the part of my stomach that had slipped through a hole in my diaphragm- that is a hiatal hernia). Then, he said all my organs were "squished" together in an abnormal way. Additionally, my spleen was bigger on top than on the bottom, and not sitting in the normal position. He had to hold it to the side through the entire surgery, and due to that, the outer casing of my spleen cracked ever-so-slightly. (So, not necessarily his fault, my body is abnormal).. Usually spleens are hyper-bleeders, but since it was an itty bitty crack on the outermost layer, he claims there were only two drops of blood and they patched it right away with some kind of fibrous lining (I cannot recall the technical name of what he said). Besides the pre-existing severe back pain, the hiatal hernia issue, and the spleen incident- apparently my diaphragm muscle started to bleed on the opposite side of where the hernia was when the last laparoscopic port was going to be closed- so more stitching. Meaning, I got stitched on *both* sides of my diaphragm muscle (equates to more pain) because of the hiatal hernia and then the muscle bleed. Now, to be fair to the doctor and in respect of full disclosure- I had gained weight prior to surgery. My Grand-mother died unexpectedly. She had been in spectacular health; I fully expected her to be a centenarian. She was the woman who raised me, and my only real parent. I did not take her passing well at all (so-called family forced her to be dehydrated and starved to death and dared to call it a 'compassionate choice'. It was the most traumatizing thing I have ever been through to watch her be killed. I thank God, and her, that I was the one holding her hand and singing Amazing Grace to her when she passed). Emotional eating ensued. I called the office to tell them I had fallen off the wagon, and was told to just get back on program, and come in on May 29th to see where I was, and we'd go from there. I was prepared for that. But instead, a few days later I suddenly got a call from Leslie (Dr. Posner's secretary) informing me that my insurance company had approved my surgery and that my surgery date was going to be June 12th, that May 29th would now be my final weigh-in appointment, AND that if I was even ONE pound over on that weigh-in appointment, that my surgery would be CANCELLED. Needless to say, I PANICKED. I had worked almost NINE months to get this surgery- I couldn't let all that hard work and time be thrown away now! So, I drastically reduced food intake and began walking despite enormous amounts of pain (due to my back). I thought that I had to make a miracle happen if I wanted this surgery. Leslie told me that if I was so much as ONE POUND over, MY SURGERY WOULD BE CANCELLED. She did NOT tell me if it was cancelled that it could be easily rescheduled when I got the weight down. Dr. Posner believes and says that I made assumptions, and that the entire situation was misinterpretation on my part, and stressed repeatedly that "no one in his office told me to starve myself." Dr. Posner was so personally frustrated that he raised his voice and (I felt) demeaned me upon hearing I had starved myself prior to surgery (at my first post-op appointment). He got so loud and animated that he felt the need to shut the door at one point, and the nurse tried to console me and my husband after the encounter, telling us repeatedly that "You handled yourself beautifully" and "I'm so sorry." To his credit, he attempted to apologize on the phone when a question had to be called in. I did not even want to speak to him- I had my husband call, I originally had NO intention of ever speaking to him again and was fully prepared to seek alternate post-op care. However, after my husband called in the question, and then Dr. Posner called my cell phone. He did attempt an apology, but it was the kind of apology where the person says, sorry I got frustrated- but everything I said and did was really justified. Felt gross to me, though his tone of voice seemed sincere. ***Additionally in Dr. Posner's defense (this part added Saturday evening, 6.23.2012) .. He has the added pressure and responsibility that if something goes wrong it affects his practice- and if something were to go wrong because I was undernourished at the time of surgery without his knowledge; it would put him in a bad spot. I spoke with him again tonight. He called back within 5 minutes, and even took a moment to ask me how I felt and how my eating was going. I think the entire situation described earlier in this post was an unfortunate misunderstanding. I like his overall disposition. He takes the medical aspect of everything very seriously, but also usually has an upbeat demeanor with a few dry delivery jokes (endearing). *AND NOW* for the REAL insanity........ I GAINED TEN POUNDS WHILE IN THE HOSPITAL (OVER ABOUT 2 1/2 DAYS) WHILE ONLY CONSUMING ICE CHIPS!!!!!!!!!! Depressing much??? Beyond. Dr. Posner says this is because I starved myself prior to surgery. Okay, I can buy that to explain the crazy weight gain Feasible. However, I am now 11 days out from surgery, and only just now got back DOWN to the weight I was immediately PRIOR to surgery!!! SO*** that means I have literally not lost one net pound yet!!! And all the while, I am VEGAN and have been Only been ingesting a soy based Protein shake (prepared with light soy milk), pureed vegetable Soup (only since the post-op appt when I was told I could progress to pureed), real fruit frozen bars (in lieu of 100% fruit juice,because I couldn't find sugar free vegan frozen pops- so the nutritionists agreed that was an acceptable trade off).... So, I'm 11 days out from surgery, on all liquid mush, AND I DON'T HAVE ONE NET POUND LOST TO SPEAK OF AND SHOW FOR ALL THE PAIN OF SURGERY (AND THE NINE MONTHS OF WORK LEADING UP TO IT)! OH* AND- I *ALWAYS* feel hungry! Which was the MAIN reason I had wanted surgery- to NOT feel hungry!!! I thought that would give me a fighting chance... But no- I STILL >always< feel hungry. And my stomach FEELS HUGE INSIDE. Now, clearly that could just be a weird physical feeling- however, I'm really nervous since Dr. Posner said prior to surgery that he was planning on making my sleeve larger just because I'm vegan.. that maybe it IS too big. What if the part of the stomach that produces ghrelin (hormone that tells your brain you're hungry)- what if that part of my stomach didn't get removed?? (I will have to remember to ask this particular question at my next appointment). I'm desperately afraid that I've gotten this surgery for nothing- that I will still have to work as hard as ever to lose the weight with no ascertainable benefit from getting major surgery. I mean, I'm only on liquids and all I've been able to do is break even as far as weight goes! HAS ANYONE ELSE EXPERIENCED ANYTHING EVEN REMOTELY CLOSE TO THIS???

So, to try and answer the questions, 6 months pretyy much only ground beef for meat, chickens , steak , pork would not go down and would cause me problems. 1 year out pretty much could have anything if I had sosda with it. What I believe is one of my greatest downfalls was stopping the exercise and drinking soda. I believe they started my down hill sprial. As far as head hunger not sure on that although I have been in emergency services for 25 years and have seen some pretty awful things so I am not sure if it is related to emotional issues. I am a very busy and usually a very happy person so I don't really want to hang it on that as well. Really I think it comes down to comminment and exercise as all weight loss does. It was a great tool to get my weight down to where I felt comfortable emotionally and physically to exercise and be active. When that changed and I relied on the vsg is when I started to fail though weight gain was slow at first so I just kind of lived with it.

Ok, folks I am new to this forum, I want to share my story to hopefully help some of you stay on track and to hopefully get myself back on track. In May of 1999 I had the VSG surgery, I was at 350 lbs and in less than a year I was down to 255 when I stopped losing weight. I should back up and tell you I was a police officer fro 20 years, when I cam out of the police academy in the early 1990's I was 267 with 12 % body fat, running 5 to 7 miles a day and very healthy. Overtime the drive throughs and my constant schedule chages helped me to gain weight. After I had the vsg I felt great, I was back to exercising, but I still didn't eat the best. I will say I pretty much hate the color green oh and I didn't metion yet that Diet Pepsi is like crack to a crack addict for me. So over the last 15 years I have been putting the weight on once I got back to my orginal start weight I pretty much through in the towel and didn't really care. I marked it up as a failure which has never been my norm. I am up to 473 pounds and I have had enough. I have contacted my local hospital and will be meeting there staff to see what I can do. I am hoping to be able to get a vsg pouch back to working if that is possible. What I want to say to all of you brave people is DO NOT DRINK ANYTHING WITH YOUR MEALS NOT EVEN A LITTLE. AND NEVER QUIT YOUR EXERCIS EVEN FOR ONE DAY. AND NO MATTER WHAT NO SODA. I will keep you all posted as I will look for stength and encouragement as I start this journey again. Steve

I had an early menopause brought on by cancer treatment - OMG it was HORRIBLE. The hot flashes, I would get major panic attacks with them, and want to rip my clothes off. At home, I did rip my clothes off! It upset my sleep markedly too I was absolutely bug eyed, totally depressed, having major sugar cravings, etc. I went onto HRT. I know the risks, but I'm only 44, have early osteoporosis, was miserable and not coping with the menopause symptoms. HRT has been an absolutely life saver for me, I will be on it for a long time yet. I also had to start testosterone treatment and THAT was incredible. That's the fountain of youth. It took away all the aches and pains, the belly weight gain, the declining libido, the mood issues. The little break you had might just be a coincidence, I think a more natural menopause can sort of come and go, cant it?

I agree with tmf above me , maybe drinking water with your meals contributed to your weight gain. Why cant u just drink before hand, out of all the things people miss i cant imagine drinking with meals getting a higher prority than ones health and wellbeing ..