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I weighed myself one the third day after surgery and pretty much daily from that time forward till just a few weeks ago when I broke past 250 pounds. At this point I weigh weekly on Sunday mornings. You probably shouldn't do this as you can get very discouraged during stalls and weight gains. I know I did. Now I just have a real sense of accomplishment and feel and look really good and consider myself in the home stretch and am not as concerned.

I think the reason people tell the ones closest to them very simple are looking for approval that they are making the right decisions. Unfortunately, negative responses upset the person asking. Even telling most family doctors, the reaction is negative although that scene is changing slowly. If I had to do over again my decision, I would tell absolutely no one. The decision would be mine and mine alone. Negative responses almost turned me from having the band, thank God these negative people did not succeed. I find the band a wonderful tool. I loose weight when I follow the program, maintain or regain slowly if I don't. But the bottom line is I am loosing weight. People I told about the band make snarky remarks or hint at my "failure" or try to push food at me to make me fail. I feel I am not failing, I am just having a weak moment but the band will get me back on track where in the old days, three weeks and I was in free fall with weight gain and nothing to stop me. Again,my advice, don't tell anyone but your fellow bandsters.

I've had a mirena in for over a year. I use it for heavy periods and after the first few months of spotting it's been spectacular! I'm not anemic for the first time ever. I haven't noticed any weight gain or trouble losing. Just one other perspective. I've never taken birth control pills so I wouldnt know about that.

Meliwriter you make some really good points! Thank you! I'm not banded yet, but I AM starting to eat less, and already I've noticed that some people seem upset if I don't have seconds and thirds... they actually argue with me if I say "no thank you." and this really is all about a choice I've made for me and my health, and sticking up for that is something that folks that know me definitely are NOT used to. I can see already this will be an interesting ride, but I am positive that it's gonna be better than the slow suicide of weight gain I've put myself through. thanks for your comments! Stan

Hi All, Well as a very unhappy bander who had a sleeve surgery date (6/20) Passed nutritionist appt.. pysc evailuation, and was waiting to take the sleeve class tomorrow I received frustrating news today. First, I am self pay, I was self pay in 2008 when I had my band put in. Used the same Dr. here in VA who was to do my sleeve. The call I had today was to tell me that Blis, the co. for self pay catastrophic insurance ( part of my surgery fee now may not approve revision to the sleeve because of all the complications that can occur). My stats are below but I have kept off most all of the 85 lbs. (all but 12-15) in the 3 years I have had my band. Despite all the problems this band has given me. So my BMI is lower than someone who will be a new VSG patient. I have no major health issues, no diabeties, no history of clots, no HBP, I really am healthier than when I had the band surgery. The revisions my DR. has done from band to sleeve have all been paid by health insurance. They have not done a self pay revision. His results are good from what I can tell and he is a Blis participating DR. My question is have any of you had this issue? Scrapping up the $ again was no small feat but now to hear they may not approve it means I might have to sign away permission to pay any and all possible complication costs if he will still do the surgery. Or just have my band out and nothing further done, which scares me of further weight gain. Despite my constant gerd, esophageal spasms. and not being able to eat solid foods well, I need this restriction!

Well my dietician emailed me back and it seems that I am on the right track and everything i'm experiencing(small weight gain, increased appetite) is perfectly normal. WHEW!!! I was about to lose it this weekend. so the dastardly scale now lives in the basement in a box is only allowed out on friday morning. I went to the gym for the first time today and i did one mile on the treadmill and one mile on the cross trainer. i'm tryn to work my way back up to a full hour of cardio. It actually felt good to be back in the gym. It seems that walking on the treadmill helps get rid of this gas i'm still struggling with as well. i know TMI! TMI! so i'm hoping it gets out of my shoulder for good! my incisions are healing very nicely, starting to itch a little, but i've started scar massage with mederma. well let me stop rambling. smooches!!!

Hi Christie, what you are experiencing is a bit common. I've seen many come through here mentioning weight gains right out of surgery. It is from your IV fluids mixed with the trauma of your surgery. Right now let your main concern be getting all your fluids in, getting plenty of rest and being sure to get up and walking every so often. If possible, try to stay off the scales for about a week. I'm sure by then the weight will have gone and then some. No need to stress yourself more when logically the weight is not particularly fat related. Hugs!!!

WOW! high School Skinny! What a dream that is... Congrats to you- you must feel amazing!!! So thrilled for you... I know I can do it too but it won't happen without hitting that gym. I have my clothes in the car ready to go today straight from work. Yahoo! PS- weighed in this morning at exactly 250! OMG, can't wait til tomorrow and I can say Goodbye to that HORRIBLE # forever! LOL ***Even though I've done it before- it's still exciting for me, because all I could see was me going back to where I started. I'm so greatful to have stopped the weight gain & turn it around...

I gained all my weight quickly, thanks to a rare and horrible side effect of depo provera, the 3-month-lasting birth control shot. Sure, my lifestyle contributed, but I went from being a totally healthy size 8/10 to being a size 26 in a year and a half. I've struggled to lose that weight ever since, but I just didn't have it in me. I went thru a period of radical acceptance (and embracing) of reality, and myself, and learning to love myself, so the weight hasn't made me feel *bad* about myself for a long time. I figured that if I didn't force it, when I was ready, I'd work up the dedication to do it, but the guilting wasn't going to work. I never did, though, and now it's 11 years after the weight gain. (I was 16; now I just turned 27.) This year has been a big one for accepting my needs & limitations, and one of the big ones has been "I'll never be able to lose 120lbs on my own... and that's okay, because I'm not superwoman." The turning point was when I developed chronic fatigue syndrome/fibromyalgia after I came down with mono in July 2009, and my life has been one hellish rollercoaster ever since. Most days I am too sick or tired to exercise, and if I do, I suffer for DAYS afterwards. Since April, when I discovered that it is CFS/FMS that I have, I've been able to start treatments that really help. But I still am much lower energy than a normal person and my muscles are easily "damaged." I can pinpoint exactly when I decided to have surgery: I have chronic sinusitis, and because of the CFS, my body just won't fight back, so my sinus cavities are almost swollen shut. As you might imagine, that's no way to go thru life! So I saw a great surgeon for it, and he looked at me and said, "I can operate on your sinuses, but unless you lose a lot of weight, you're going to be back here in 2 years." He told me about one of his nurses who had the lapband done -- like me, she had recurring pneumonia and sinus infections and so on, and losing the weight cured her. So i started researching. That led me to the sleeve. That was October of 2010, and as of today I'm 1 week out from having the gastric sleeve done. I hope he was right!

Jenn, I feel your pain, but what Miss Mary said is 100%. Since you're obsessed with the scale (like I am :-) you should get a tanita scale that measures your fat, water, and bone density; this way you can see where the weight gain is (and weight loss for that matter). It will give you a peace of mind, because our bodies will hold on to water, especially when there is a drastic change. Even exercise can make you retain sometimes. Drink plenty of water to flush out the water and you'll be fine (physically and mentally But I do feel ya on the appetite, I have been sooooooo hungry and NOT for a damn protein drink either, I want to CHEW!

Hello all, I'm Karen. And I am new to all of this, so I hope i do it right. I am a 33 year old wife and mom living in gloucester point VA. Kind of secluded spot, but I have lived in Gloucester most of my life. I have a husband (14 years and counting) and an 11 year old son. I have always been well not skinny. In high school i was a size 16 which to the kids then was practically the size of a house!!!! I am also legally blind, which does tie into my story because I have been that way since 1990. After being married, I had to have knee surgery on both knees from an acident. That is when the real weight gain began. Having no weight bearing for 6 months, no matter how good your diet is, really does bad tricks to your body. I gained most of my weight then. Since then, I have been in and out of the orthopedic ofice. Being almost blind, i can't get out and excercise as much as i would like. I do things close to home, but i can drive, and everyone works so it is difficult to get a ride to the gym. I tried to keep my diet good, but i gave in sometimes. I think thte real deal breaker for me was when last year, I had lost 30 poundsand i was so excited!!! I was getting ready to head out the door and i tweaked my knee, well poop!!! I was in a knee immobilizer for a month,a nd all the weight i lost came rushing back. Even though I kept to my diet, the inactivity killed me. I was SO mad!! Then the orthopedic said the next fix for my knees would be replacement. Um....NO I got in touch with the weight loss surgery center here in Newport News and went to the first seminar in January. I was scared, but I pushed through with it, and had my Sleeve Gastrectomy on May 19th. My doctor is Dr. Terracina at Mary Immaculate Hospital. I have had no ill effects from the surgery thus far. Everything seems to be going well. I can say i don't care for the liquid diet lol, and am not looking forward the the puree either, but if it leads to a healthier me, I'm all for it. So, my weight loss so far is 23 pounds. I was scared really bad as I thought fast loss was bad, but after talking to my doctors I am assured it is normal for rapid loss in the beginning. Well, that is my story up til now. I am getting ready to go and work the treadmill for a while. Karen S.

I have complained enough about it but I am on the same path you are! I wouldn't wish this on anyone BUT in finding the bright side: 1) I went ahead and bought a new pair of walking shorts and capris (we're talking Kmart here so no big $ invested) because I know that I won't be out of them in 10 days like some people. And I am a thrift store shopper by nature so this was a big splurge as an atta girl for doing what I needed to do. I also bought 3 new tshirts from CJ Banks. Again, on sale, but they are ELBOW LENGTH!!! and with my flappy arms just what I needed. 2) As you said, it won't come back. I know some folks have rebound weight gain but this first 20 are gone forever. and 3) Here's my biggie. I did this on the DL. I AM SO GRATEFUL for that decision. I knew I would be a slow looser. I was only eating about 2k calories a day when I was "pigging out" so I knew. When I did Weight Watches I had to undercut my allowed points by about 1/3 to lose the 1 pound a week once I'd gotten past that first 2 or 3 weeks. That's the main reason I kept this private. I will admit that in 2001-2002 I basically went on a long term fast and lost and lost fast so this is going a bit slower than even I expected. But still, it's going. And it will eventually be gone. And I am so glad I don't have to be explaining to people why I'm not losing weight. The one friend I told asked me last weekend when I was going to have my surgery. :(Yep. After 2 week pre-diet liquid fast and over 1 month post op, she wondered when I was going to finally get it done! And she's been in Florida for 3 months and not seen me everyday so it's pretty obvious it's not showing yet! Hang in there. We'll get there too. We're just walking instead of running.

i had to come back to this post. i am addicted to the scale and couldnt stop thinking about this post yesterday. i started mushies on friday and weighed myself and i have gain almost 2pounds since friday!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm trying to not go jump out the window!!LOL! i do know that i have really stop drinking my liquids like i'm supposed to and my dietician just told me on friday that a lot of people fall off from liquids once they start mushies cuz they have been drinking them for 3 weeks and are pretty much sick of them.(me raising both hands!!!!) I'm praying that is why the weight gain and i am returning to the gym next week. Is this normal or am I crazy!!!

I know exactelly how your feeling but dont beat yourself up, a lot of the weight gain would have been fluid to rebalance your dehydration, and thats why your pooing more and getting ride of your toxins. I can only have a max of 4.5ml in band on a permanant basis and put 1 stone on when my fill levels had to be reduced. however it does rebalance the important thing is now not to over eat (easier said than done) and to re educate potion sizes again easier said than done I dont know how your financially situated but I found diet chef where everything is precounted and delivered to you door around £5 a day ish helps to guide you on what is a normal level and the food is band friendly The worst thing you can do is do nothing and worry, take control, and help your band, your going to renourish your body for an important event and afterwards you can always have your band refilled in the future enjoy yourself, nurture your self and the very best of luck with the next faze of your life love mmm xxx,

Weight gain can cause testosterone levels in men to drop significantly. Pair that with the fact that many blood pressure/cholesterol and depression meds can jack with both sexual interest and equipment functioning and it's a recipe for disaster. I am like you and went through a similar issue with hubs. I finally convinced him to have his testosterone checked and his was ridiculously low. He found that embarassing for some reason but he also felt better knowing there was a reason for the lack of interest. The gel actually didn't work for him and he has to take injections once a week right now. The good news is that testosterone therapy has greatly improved his mood, his energy level and he dropped 50lbs. in three months on it. Oh yeah, that not interested issue cleared up pretty darn quick. FTW!

I came into this world a 9 pound baby, and have been heavy most of my life. I was always the "fat" kid in gradeschool, and thought I was fat when I graduated highschool at 135 pounds (I'm 5'4"). I gained weight during throughout college and when I started working (although would lose 30 pounds with Weight watchers occasionally). I married at 24 weighing 175 pounds. Even though I was too heavy, I was healthy for amany years. Then I started gaining weight every year. Finally - in the 1980's - before Oprah lost with Optifast - I lost 90 pounds with Medifast - lost to my lowest adult weight of 118. Even though I was a regular gym rat and watched my food intake, I couldn't maintain 118. My weight crept up, and I felt like a failure again. I did Optifast again in 1990 before my hysterectomy - to get to a healthy weight before I underwent surgery. By then I was on bloodpressure medicine, and cholesterol medicine. In the late 90's I did a doctor supervised (weekly) program where I took ~ 85 pills a day of vitamins, minerals and supplements - along with folowing something similar to the south beach program.By now, I had a heart they wanted to "watch" for future problems. Never felt better - and got to a nice size 12 - but taking 85 pills a day is a BURDEN and I finally stopped them. (cold turkey - BAD IDEA - threw my immune system into a severe downturn and I got shingles as a result). I gained weight for the next 3 years, and finally in 2002 at 237 pounds I started a weight loss program with a hypnotist. Best way to lose weight except for the sleeve! I lost 103 punds in 9 months and kept it off for about 2 years - during which time I watched my intake, exercised and listened to my hypnosis CD's. Then, I was in a car accident and screwed up an ankle and foot (couldn't exercise), started travelling 80% of the time for work, not listening to my hypnosis CD's and eating on an expense account. Hello - weight gain! Since then, I continued to gain weight and get more health problems (sleep apnea, shortness of breath, worse blood pressure and higher cholesterol problems). WIth my family history of serious heart problems, I was a heart attack waiting to happen. My absolute highest weight was last September (263) - on a trip with my two sisters and my 85 year old mom. We were hiking up a hill in a park to go to a balloon fest. My mom was out-hiking me. My chest hurt so badly I thought I was having a heart attack right then. I guess I had an epiphany that I really needed to do something. When I got home, I seriously started pursuing the sleeve. I had been working to get certified before that (because my insurance would pay for the surgery) - but wasn't "serious" about it. I am absolutely serious now! Three months post surgery, I have lost 54 pounds. Best thing I ever did for myself.

I believe the amount of excess skin depends on several factors, genetics, weight gain and loss over your life, pregnancies and natural elactisity of your skin. I have had 2 surgeries (tummy/boobs and face) with one to go (arms). It's not for everyone, luckily clothes hide a lot.

never heard of insurance being affeccted by weight gain during the process - but have seen elsewhere on this site where particular surgeons have refused to do the surgery if the patient gained "x" or more pounds during the process - that is rare from what i've seen you should be fine - just get back on the wagon....

Do a split again? WOW! For ever doing one! I forgot a major one- my engagement and wedding bands were stuck on my hand for years due to my weight gain- and in the pre-op area they managed to get them off using a VERY painful method with wide dental floss tightening the finger and pulling them little by little. I have them on a gold chain now but want to lose enough to put them back on. And I can now weigh on my scale from childhood!!!! 249 today....

I was "sleeved" on this past Friday - feeling better just low low energy. I've been on a all clear liquids diet since then - just jello and broth til tomorrow and then I can add protein shakes back (yay - substance!) I was in the hospital for 24 hours and came home weighing 7 pounds more than I went in with! And it's not like I binged on anything other than iv fluid. Slowwwwly that weight has come off and I'm finally at where I started - 6 days later. I was expecting to have dropped some weight this week - it's very discouraging. Has anyone else experienced a weight gain right off the bat?

I've been through it, I know how you feel. I had to ahve all my Fluid removed for a big surgery to remove my rectum and part of my colon and to form an ileostomy. Part of this was several colonoscopies and bowel preps, a fair bit of fasting pre procedures and a whole lot of fear and stress, then it took about seven days to get back onto solid foods following the surgery, followed by a couple of weeks of very very high stoma output, diarrhoea. As you can guess, i dropped a fair bit of weight during this time, and had also done so during the pre op chemo and radiation so all in all, I finished up at a BMI of 19, from my previously healthy 21 or so. I've been in contact with my lapband clinic regularly. From telling me when they emptied my band that I could begin refilling 3 weeks after surgery (and then unfill again for the second surgery to close the ileostomy some months down the track), my doctor has steadfastly refused to give me ANY fill at all because of my low weight. I get this, I havent truly asked for it, but most people will need fill to maintain their loss and I'm no exception. Anyhow, today I finally got some, six months later. I've worked so so SO hard over the past six months to not gain weight and all I've regained is just enough to bring my BMI up over 20, but with chemo finished, full recovery complete, my appetite is returning to normal and its been getting easier and easier to gain and I've had several weeks of "dieting" after small gains to get them off before they stick around. Today I had to absolutely do my block in the surgery because my doctor didnt want to give me any because she said "you're a healthy weight". Well, duh, it was that same doc who told me to expect a weight gain with the unfill, that virtually nobody could keep the weight off long term without it. I wasnt looking for tight restriction to lose, just enough to maintain my weight. After I kind of yelled a bit and said that I had this damn band and I wanted to use it, she gave me a 1cc fill, with another 1cc sheduled for 3 weeks time. So...... it IS possible to keep the weight off for quite a long period of time. I simply "dieted" the whole time. I finished eating when I knew I should, i stayed away from bad foods, I filled up on fruit and salads, I exercised, and overall tried to eat not much more than I did with restriction. I found I moved from a pattern of little and often eating to 3 square meals, but overall calories remained about the same. You can do it, its simply a matter of how much you want it, harsh as that sounds. But six months was stretching the limit of my abilities, I'm finally starting to crack and am very very glad to have had some fill. Good luck to you!

Actually the trauma from childhood was something different, my parents were killed several years ago while I was an adult..but that's beside the point..but just wanted to clear that up. Shirley, you made alot of sense and you're probably right. I just didn't feel like I should lie, it's not in my character. I did want to make sure I was making the right choices and answering all questions as honest as possible. I was under the impression they would help me through everything and that any tests wouldn't rule out surgery but help them to help me???? The psych knew most of my weight gain was because I quit smoking 8 years ago (35 pound gain) then I developed a rare autoimmune disease and was on steroid treatment for a long time and gained 70 more. So why he felt my past trajedies were related, I'm not sure. I do want to have the right mind set, therefore the therapy. I just still have issues with the fact that I haven't met my surgeon who should have already followed up with me about the procedure I had that will determine if I even get to have lapband or not and they won't return my calls. I think that's unprofessional and makes me wonder what my follow up care would be like.

I have the Mirena IUD..Had it two years before surgery. The hormores relased are localized in the reproductive tract....not like taking oral contraceptives. I had no problems, weight gain or other issues. Love it. My periods are just spotting at this point. The only down side is that it must be inserted while you have your period....very gross.

Today is my 4 month surgiversary. I can't believe how time flies. I am down 47 pounds as of today and need to lose another 28 pounds to get to my goal. I am very happy with my sleeve, it is a great tool to weight loss. The only thing I wish is that I was more of a fast loser. This last month, I have only lost 6 pounds. I would be happier with 10 pounds a month loss. But I will take any loss over the weight gain I used to experience. I am very thankful to God for this opportunity to make my health, life and happiness sooooo much better. I feel sooooo good. Thank You everyone for all of the sharing in this forum it has truly made my journey much easier.