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these were the rules given to me.... but go on and do what make you happy Lap-Band: Rules To Live By For The Rest Of Your Life Eat 3 small meals per day. Eating 3 meals per day will provide the proper nutrition your body needs. Eating more than this or "grazing throughout the day is unconsciou eating and can lead to excessive calorie intake. Limit portion sizes to 3-4 oz. Portion sizes should reflect the size of your new pouch. Eating more will eventually stretch the size of the puch and lead to an increased calorie consumption and weight gain. Eat slowly - when you are comfortably full... STOP. Eating too fast will cause pain and can lead to overeating or vomiting. No snacking in between meals. Snacking in between meals will only add additional, unnecessary calories. It may also revive bad habits of unhealthy snacking and grazing. Do not drink and eat at the same time. liquids will speed up transport of food through the stomach, decreasing the sense of satiety (feeling of fullness) and giving you the ability to eat more. Drink fluids 30-60 minutes after eating. Consume adequate fluids-sipping at all times. Fluids should always be sipped. Gulping can cause pain and lead to stomach stretching. Drink at least 64 oz. of Fluid every day - in between meals in order to prevent dehydration. Eat well-balanced, nutritious meals - Protein first! Providing yourself with the proper food is important in order to provide your body with the necessary Vitamins and minerals you need to survive. Eating your protein first will ensure that you are meeting your protein needs of at least 60 grams per day. The rest of the meal should be balanced with small amounts of fruits, vegetables, and whole grain carbohydrates. *see the protein guide* Limit high calorie food and drinks. Consuming high-calorie food and drinks such as soda and high-fat foods will only increase your calorie intake, leading to less weight loss and possibly weight gain in the long run.

Thank you for responding I did do the post fill protocal Liguids purees and soft foods. back to really watching my Protein and measuring my food intake along with a food diary. I am glad I found this site and am looking forward to seeing your blog. I don't feel so alone! I needed to clarify that I didn't have the "prolapes" just the dialation of my esophogus. I blaim myself for not watching the signs and eating wrong. the band was too tight I have an appointment on 21 Feb to see where I am at . Although the Doctor said I may see a slight weight gain, stay away from or watch the carbs and not go crazy! I had to get my head wrapped around that! My biggest fear is having the band removed but now that I know what I need to do I will be okay! I haven't gotten sick since some of the Fluid was removed and I still feel a slight restriction which is good. I have lost to date 75 pounds and since the defill have gained 3 pounds. anyway thank you again! Elce

2 of my 3 children are prone to putting on weight but seem to maintain most of the time. They are now 20 and 18. My 15 year old is a skinny thing. Any way every so often one of them will complain about weight gain and talk about dieting - my reply is always - no diets , just cut out some of the junk and get out and exercise. I think this has worked quite well. I believe my weight gain got out of control from my mother putting me on every fad diet that came along and restricting all my food intake - this led to sneaking food and as i got older, instead of that one piece of cake with everyone else i would sneak off and buy a whole cake and then have to eat it all so i wouldn't be found out. With 2 kids prone to weight gain and one who is skinny i really believe genetics play a big role, cause i don't feed them any differently.

Hi Connie I am sorry to hear about the emotional rollercoaster. It is good that they found out you have it becuase that can account for some weight gain. I'm sure they will give you meds to balanace out the hormone levels for the thyroid and then band you to help you loose even more weight. This is a good thing. I wish I did have a reason that I have gotten so big, other then me not closing my mouth. Has big sis gotten her thyroid checked, is it a hereditary thing? I did see the Vinesqueen has thyroid issues. Maybe she help with some of your questions.

Well of course she did... After all... I am the good twin!!!! Kewl on the eDiets charts... I used mine from the last number of years there as well!!!! Hey... are you still a member there??? There is a support group under the WLS heading there that a gal named Sanda started and it was ALL about GBP/RNY. I barged my way in there and said that I thought it would be important for people to know that there is a safer option for those that can't "stomach" the idea of GBS. I whined when she went to other posts and did a promo for the support group without mentioning the Lap Band and she nicely added to the info. (o: I would love to have another pre-bander there... the dynamic pre-band duo!!!!!! Lets let all of those folks know that they have a safer option! I promise to be the evil twin if ya come and join me! Good luck with re-submitting the "proof" ... I didn't have all of my booklets from WW but I was able to get my old info from Jenny Craig and of course the LOOOOOOOG print out from eDiets showing my huge weight loss and then my HUGE weight gain. I am keeping my fingers crossed for you and hope we can still manage a bandarama with dates that are close! Okay... can only hold out another hour before I call... pretty soon I'll just be able to tell them my name and they'll be like... OHHHHH you again. (o: Darcy

JC, You know, I had a boyfriend in my 20's named JC. I wonder what happened to him hmmmmmmm. I am sorry to hear of your weight gain. That has to be hard. I can't remember why you got unfilled. I need to read back. I wish I had some good answers for you. I am just now starting to lose again, after a very long plateau, from not having the right fill. I wish all of us could get together. They are talking about a lapband talk get together someday. Alysa, My advice to you is to start exercising. I had a very easy recovery, or actually none at all. I think it's because I was in good shape from exercising prior to surgery. I went into day surgery at 7 am and was home posing on lap band talk byt 11 am. The next day I was out walking 3 dogs. I had surgery on Fri and Mon was a holiday, but I could have gone back to work easily on Mon. I think being in good shape makes a faster recovery. As for what to do with ourselves, I am with you. I spend so many weekends alone, renting movies, wondering what other people are doing. If you have any answers, I would love to hear them.

I would appreciate your prayers for me for tomorrow. I am having a nuclear stress test. When they did the routine EKG on me for the lap band they saw an irregularity on it. They then did an electrocardiogram and saw something else. I had breast cancer in 1989 at age 39 and it seems the drug they gave me for chemotherapy might have damaged my heart. Great huh? Take this drug to save your life from cancer but it might give you heart damage. 12% of patients that get that drug have damage in their left ventricle. That is the main pumping chamber of your heart. So, tomorrow they are doing the stress test to see how much damage I might have. I don't have a lot of the symptoms (except weight gain and I'm not sure that's why I gained) that people with severe damage have so please pray there is no damage or minimal damage. I'll post when I know more. Blessings, GG

Oh, that's SO true. Me too. I was always always always going to become obese. I managed to hold it off for a long time, but having a couple of babies was the final straw for my body, the weight really began to pile on after that. As it was I really DID get banded to prevent future weight gain but this little band would have been a big help to me earlier on. I just dont see it as "so extreme" the way others do. I just cant understand why its OK to have fake tits and cut your face to bits and inject yourself with botulism, all in the name of looking better but a lapband is suddenly EXTREME. There's pills to lower our cholesterol and our blood pressure and its OK to take drugs all your life to prevent health problems related to those, and to start them when you're not already so far gone that the damage is done, but to get a lapband at a BMI of 35 is EXTREME? It does the health prevention job of about six drugs in one drug free solution! One can never be sure, you dont know what's round the corner, but in all probababily getting on top of this problem now will improve the quality of my life for 50 years to come. I'm going to be that marathon running granny! I just think its completely blind not to be able to see the virtue of preventing really serious obesity in the first place.

So true the cleaner/healthier we eat our bodies hate junk /processed food. Yes the cruise will have good choices as well as for me I'm packing some Protein powder and bars for mine. I can't eat in the am until late morning so I Make protein lattes n back a bar for the excursions just in case. I found my band has been tighter the past few weeks and when I went for my annual check up he said it looked good but a but a tad tight and asked if I wanted an slight unfill I was scared about gaining weight do I sad no after a horrible weekend of not keeping much down I'm going Thursday to get a slight unfill just to make sure I won't be sick on my cruise. I already eat right and work out so a slight unfill hopefully won't cause weight gain . I think it's in my head so the first year was great I'm going to make the lifetime band living better than great so I'll take a few bumps as we adjust to living together forever . Lol not sure if it's the weather or some stress I'm going through (who doesn't have stres) but I must do what's necessary to keep my band and myself in sync with the help of my dr

Sadly, I noticed his weight gain as well.

Sunday, October 11, 2009 Celebration! Fun Without Fighting Fat and Food! Went to 125th Anniversary celebration of Roseland Christian School yesterday. Sang in the gospel choir and led the congregation in a song as an alto in a women's trio. Great speaker, great music. The 5th grade girls did a praise dance that was beautiful. I had to wear a black bottom and bright top for the choir. I wore form fitting low rise charcoal pants and a form fitting sweet-heart necked top. I couldn't believe it fit and I looked good. I had to wear an old strapless bra I never thought I'd fit in again. Then I went straight to my 40th class reunion. Fun in a different sort of way. However, hardly anybody I ever hung out with was there. I was not exactly Miss Popularity back in high school. However, three people I'm friends with on Facebook (though I never hung out with them in high school) did come up and mention how much they enjoy my blog. One of them is having LAP-BAND®® himself in December. His wife had a band which had to be removed and now she has a sleeve. She looked great. Like me, it was only 70 lbs but it was killing her emotionally as well as physically. I did my 2 protein shakes and nothing else so that I could eat normally at the banquet. By which I do not mean I ate the way I used to. But I ate some of everything served that I liked and went ahead and drank punch, water, and coffee while I ate, took tiny bites, and thoroughly enjoyed my food. No weight gain this morning so I must have done well. However, I will walk again today (once it warms up, brrrr) and will really watch my food as well. I'm going to tell the Dr. on my next fill that I want it filled to point where the food squeaks on its way through. I have no desire to ever go back to the old me. Celebration! What fun when you're not fighting fat and food!

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

Good point but be careful! My "extended vacation", 15 months of emotional eating, poor choices and drinking while I ate again got me no where but a 30 pound weight gain. The band doesn't fix it all unfortunately. I hate to put a negative spin on things but I don't want others to make the same mistake as myself.

Like many of you, I haven't checked in in a while myself. So HI again everyone! Congratulations to those who are doing soo great! Thats really awesome! keep it up! Those who are struggling, don't give up! It may be slow, but at least you are not gaining! Think about if you did not have the band, would you have lost any weight, gained any or stayed the same. I know I would have gained more. Personally, I am down 29 lbs. Of course it could be better but I am certainly not complaining. Its 29 lbs less then I would have been if I didn't get banded! Im finally seeing a difference too, in the mirror and in my cloths. And other people are noticing now too. It seems like up to 25 lbs, no one noticed, but now people are commenting. 29 down, 35 more to go! Oh and yeah... its been a with a lot of work to lose just this amount. Im not at full restriction either. I think I have 3 or 4 or 10cc. I go back to the doctor, after 2 months, on March 22. So I will request another fill and that should work better. And yes, exercise is included! But I do admit, I am not perfect, I do eat junk food sometimes, thats why I know I can't blame anything but myself and just be satisfied with what I allow for myself. Keep it up people! Don't give up! WE ARE WORTH IT!!

Today has started off not so good..................First I start my morning by stepping on the scale and it reflected a weight gain of 3lbs since yesterday morning. I was devastated!!! From there everything started going downhill. I went in for my first fill (after the surgeon made me wait what seems like a year) and he only gives me a 2cc fill. When I first went in I told the nurse and surgeon that I hungry ALL the time. After he did the fill and told me how much he put in, he must have noticed my expression because he went to explain that he normally only give 1 1/2 cc on the first fill, but since I was hungry all the time he gave me a little more...........WOW thanks doc (sarcasm)!!!! And that if that does not do it and/or I am still hungry to come back for a fill in a month. Seems my "bandster hell" shall continue. I pray that I will be more optimistic tomorrow.

A lot of insurance carriers have paid for the revision with out a hitch and others drag their feet. I'm thinking it depends on yours. I was self paid because my insurance doesn't cover wls at all. As for weight gain between band and sleeve.. UGH... I gained 75 lbs, but because of severe complications and damage from lapband I had to wait 18 months to be cleared for sleeve. Good luck!

I am about a month and a half post-surgery and things have been going well...have had energy, losing weight at a decent pace and seeing a difference but literally all my happiness went away yesterday and struggling to find it again. Just like many of us, my weight has been up and down for many, many years and I actually have a lot of clothes (some even new) that I haven’t been able to wear in the past 2 years or so bc of weight gain (again). I’ve been as small as a size 4 in the past and I have all those clothes, plus some other sizes Even though I told myself I wouldn’t do it just yet until I lost a little more, I decided to go through my closet. I know I am not a size 4 so I didn’t touch those clothes and felt ok waiting for the near future to even look at them. But what really bothered me is that I tried on a shirt I wore in 2015 when I was literally the same weight i am today (I know bc i kept track on my Fitbit the last time I went through a major exercise and diet plan and lost a whole bunch)....and it didn’t fit!!! [emoji20][emoji20] i even went back to find a picture Back in 2015 when I had the shirt on and it looks good! I am so confused. I know bodies change and all but I really thought it would and it completely crushed me. I know it shouldn’t and I should be happy with where I am at but now I am super depressed and trying to understand why. You would think that if it fit then it should fit now right? Just needed to vent bc I hope some of you understand how I’m feeling. It’s amazing how one little thing can completely take away all the positive thoughts I had about this journey and my way forward. Btw, I have lost a total of 43 lbs.

Indeed I am a father again and it FREAKS me out. Just kidding, it has been hard having a newborn again but it’s cool. I think some of my weight gain might have been stress related. At any rate, I am down 5 pounds and sticking to a plan. I have cut out diet soda as my psychiatrist told me that apartame is really bad for you. It’s highly addictive and it causes mood issues. I noticed it makes my anxiety worse and my depression worse.

Hi ladies! Has anyone had any experiences with getting the depo shot post-surgery? My surgery was Nov. 23rd, 2018. I'm terrified of the weight gain aspect and I was thinking of switching to the patch instead. Any advice would be much appreciated! Thank-you. [emoji3] Sent from my SM-G960U using BariatricPal mobile app

Sleeved on Valentines Day. Came home from hospital on day 4. Stepped on scale to monitor progress...I was up 14 pounds after being down by 27 on day of surgery! What the heck...? Today I was down 5 of the 14. I had IV's while in the hospital and could understand a little water weight gain, but 14 pounds? Anyone have a similar experience or any answers?

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

I was sleeved Feb 25 (1 wk, 1 day ago) and now that I made it through "hell week" feel like I might survive lol. In the hospital I was nauseous and wobbly and once home I was in pain, my legs swelling and tingling and couldn't get more then a couple tblspns in a day of water or nourishment. Definitely couldn't stomach the shakes and had trouble finding anything that tasted right. I think my taste buds are finally headed back towards normal now- whew! Hubby was sleeved Dec 17 and sailed through everything with no problem, followed the diet with no problem, very little pain, was riding an exercise bike within a few days- basically the best possible outcome. I on the other hand was the complete opposite. I finally just decided I was going to have to eat a bit outside the norm or I was not going to make it and for me that made me start healing. So for example last night I had 1 oz of salmon mixed with a teeny amount of healthy mayo and this morn i am working my way through a scrambled egg and then will have a couple oz of OJ. Including my 2 wk pre-op diet I've now lost 22 lbs including all that fluid weight gain from the IV and surgery. Hubby and I both use myfitness pal- easy to use and nice to see the protein and calorie numbers. TMI: My 3rd day I pooped (hey, we all do it, lol) normally but then for the next few days I had diarrhea everytime I managed to eat something. Thankfully that seems to have passed. Maybe it was the Lobster Bisque, lol. I did have trouble bending over to wipe from the belly pain and hubby bought me this stick thing you attach the TP to but it really didn't work. Not worth the $15. Actually he had bought me a bidet attachment thing for the toilet but our toilet wasn't compatible- darn. Twice I wasn't sure I'd wiped well so I made those "shower now" days, lol. I'm a great tooter and happily no sharts Last night was my 1st night that I was able to sleep in my bed all night without having to move to the recliner. Yes I had a ton of pillows but I made it happen! Still looking forward to being able to curling up on my side for sleep but for now this is good My first week I had a tummy that would just spam and jump on it's own and an awful pain left of my belly button. That pain I was convinced was from splitting something inside because my 2nd trip to potty in the hospital I bet over a little and coughed and felt something there go POP all the way over to my bellybutton! I told the nurse and I told the surgeon but they didn't seem concerned. That was the pain I thought was going to do me in once I was home because I couldn't stomach the liquid pain med they gave and they told me to take tylenol and couldn't handle more then 1 pill a day at that point. That pain, just today is finally easing up- yay! My other big pain was my left shoulder. I had a (surprise) hiatal hernia repair done also and they said that shoulder pain was from the repair. Today I can breathe and not wince as that pain also is fading away finally. One thing I wished I had known sooner was it's really ok to take Aleve and gosh those pills are TINY and last longer! I am finally starting to get my meds and vitamins in but it's slow going. Still haven't had a day where I got them all in. For me besides Tylenol or Aleve, it's - Losartan pill for hypertension, Prilosec capsule to protect the tummy, Ursodial capsule to control the gallbladder (I do have a tiny gallstone), Multivitamin with iron (2 jumbo chewables daily), Calcium Citrade softchews with D3 (4/day), and Sublingual B12 once a week because I don't want the dreaded intramuscular B12 shots. I haven't started exercising yet other then a bit of walking but once I do I will use the exercise bike we have here at home and then move on from there. Hubby goes to Planet Fitness which he says is nice because it's not the kind of place where already fit people go, lol. They do have people there to show you the ropes too and it's only $10 a month and no contract (or $20 and you can use more then 1 location and bring a guest). Unfortunately it's not that close to home. He uses one at lunch near work and on weekends uses one in the next town over. So I was considering Curves for women which is 5 minutes away from home and do their 30 min circuit. My exercise specialist at the weight loss clinic said I could but that he didn't recommend it as a first choice. So I'm not sure.

Good morning I had my surgery on Wednesday2/27/2013 with Dr Garcia He was gr8 and so was his time I am sill in Tijuana Mexico I will be leaving @12 on Monday , I am feeling great I will not get on I will not weigh in maybe for 2 weeks I know because I am a nurse that being in the hospital and getting IV that I may have Water weight gain. And I really don't need to see that. But over all coming to Mexico was gr8 I did not take photos but I dod enjoying shopping had some nausea for the first 2 days that was it .I did a lot of walking and sipping on h20

How is it that one can go from being skinny and seeing herself as fat to being fat and still see the skinny person inside? When I was a teenager/20-something year old, I was thin and thought I was fat. It makes me sad to realize just how warped my view of myself was. How could I not hear my friends when they called me "Barbie"? They even tried to explain to me, sincerely, why they called me that... How could I not hear the company commanders in boot camp when they called me "Miss America"? I always thought to myself - they are doing something like calling a huge man (tall AND wide) 'tiny'. I was the opposite of what they called me in my eye. How could I not understand and realize and see for myself what my mom always told me. When I walked around a mall - I'd leave men turning their heads. She always thought it was pretty neat walking around with me - because I didn't know I was even doing that. All I REALLY heard was the rest of my family. My uncle told me at the age of 15 I "was getting too pudgy". My aunt slapped him. Harm was done, nonetheless. My dad called me "thunderthighs" because he "thought it was funny". Maybe it was a "joke" but harm was done, nonetheless. My grandmother told me "I would never be able to attract a man if I continued to look like I did" (at 132 pounds which was technically underweight for my height.) Apparently she wanted me to be a waif - which I consider unhealthy. I was smart enough to know then that waifs are unhealthy. I was not smart enough, if you will, to know that I was being pressured into "society's norms". I was an athlete. I swam for miles. I was also in drill team. So when I wasn't swimming, I was marching for miles or dancing on football fields. Between the two activities, I had something going "all year long". And in my spare time I was in choir and drama. And in my "leftover" spare time, I was never sitting down. I look back NOW and I KNOW I was healthy and fit and JUST FINE! Is it wrong of me to just be mad mad mad at this family of mine? Because somewhere in this weight gain journey I began to realize EXACTLY how off base they all were. But. BUT. NOW....I look in the mirror...and I still see my skinny self. I look at pictures and I cannot be deceived in those cases. So I don't take pictures - and if they are taken for some horrendous reason - I DO NOT LOOK AT THEM. Who wants to see a puffed out hideous puff ball when in the minds eye, there is still a waist line? In the minds eye there are still muscular legs? In the minds eye there are still curves where curves are supposed to be. I can still see who I used to be. Don't get me wrong - I'm not entirely delusional. I AM fat! I DO need to lose weight? I DO have fat sitting on top of muscles that used to show through easily. I DO have curves where curves should not exist. I just know NOW that once upon a time - I WAS ok. I'm ok, you're ok, right? :smile2: I don't want to forget that this thinking has evolved like this. I want to remember when I am at a healthy weight that HEALTHY is what looks best. I want to remember when I am at a healthy weight that I must follow my own heart. Forget my grandmother who worked in the fashion industry. Forget my uncle who thinks that women cannot be athletes and who considered muscle "pudge". Forget my dad who just didn't know better. Forget them all. It's what I think about myself that matters.