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Picture from January 2017 : 231lbs Picture from July 2017: 183lbs Goal weight : 139lbs

Interesting question @MindyMe. I must tell you that I had a boyfriend...not a fiance, but nevertheless, we were a couple and he gained weight because he was eating his portion, and what I left over. I know he felt like he was out of control and it was a facet of our eventual breakup. My current boyfriend also eats some of what I don't, but he's learning to let me bring home leftovers and not always eat them. I know he's gained some weight and I've also told him I want him healthy...which is true. I don't care that he's chubby...it's not what he looks like, but who he is that makes me love to be with him. Other than that, I leave him alone and say nothing. Now having said the above, the takeaway is that you are not the food police....and you cannot make him eat less, and stay away from your leftovers. You can try to do more sharing if that works because we know how much excess food there is when eating out, but otherwise, leave him be because you can't do anything about it anyway and all that would happen is he'd start to resent you being on his case.

I'm guessing that you don't have any current GB stones or inflammation so your doctor didn't prescribe anything. There isn't a lot you can do to avoid GB issues. It just comes with the weight loss territory. If you do develop GB stones, then avoiding fat will help control the pain of a GB attack. Some people have problems in their teens with GB stones, but the "general" population that is likely to get GB problems follow the 5 "F"s (we learned this in ultrasound school) Fair, Female, Fertile, Forty, and Flatulent! LOL

I was doing really great at dieting after the band for a while, but then I had stressors that made me plateau and I found it really hard to lose more weight. Now I have a new boyfriend and when I am with him, I don't want to overeat at all. Not because I care what he thinks of me eating, but I feel like the love is so powerful that all I can think about is making out with him. So when we go out to dinner, I will order Soup and salad and eat about 1/4 of both. I have been dropping weight like crazy since I started going out with him, totally unintentionally. New love is a great way to break a plateau.:thumbup:

Last week was such a crappy week for me workout wise. I lost like 3 pounds but I had SH*TTY training sessions..like to the point I felt like I let my trainer down. He even asked me if I felt okay because I wasn't my usual self. So I am going to bounce back this week and remove the words "I can't" from my vocabulary! I am also needing to increase my calories, which is a bit of a scary thought for me..I am around 1,200 a day now at 6 months out. According to my TDEE which I adjusted for having less lean body mass I need to be somewhere around 1,500 calories a day to lose weight. Furthermore, I need more sleep. According to my UP band..I am only averaging like 6 hours of sleep a night. Anyway..that is my confession!

Yup, normal thought. I thought that too. But in less than a month you have lost 17lbs!!! THATS AWESOME. Ever done that before?? Probably not. If you follow your plan from your doc, you will not stay fat. Set realistic expectations, 10lbs a month, or 2lbs a week - something like that. Don't be hard on yourself -- that negativity and self defeating attitude and feelings of undeserving unworthiness are what keeps the weight on and if you're like me, caused the weight to pile on!! And, if you are a slow loser, so what, you are still a LOSER! Slow weight loss can help your skin, can keep nosy people from noticing rapid weight loss, help you cement and solidify good habits. There's a slow losers board. Read it, look at the tickers from people posting a year ago -- they all lost BIG amounts of weight. You'll get there too! Have faith in the tool you chose and use it to the best of your ability. That's all you can do!

I get my first fill on Wed and it's been (6-8) weeks. I went to visit my family for 2 1/2 weeks and pretty much ate what they cooked, trying to pick the best of what they had. I still managed to gain 5lbs which is off again no, just want to keep the weight coming off. I am excited about the fill, but it's under florscopy which I am not sure about. Wish me luck! Christy :biggrin:

Some people lost weight prior to surgery in the support group I attend and some folks didn't. I lost 20 pounds without even trying by cutting out the 6 diet cokes I drank each day. It is a good goal to lose some weight pre-op because it can add to your total weight loss after the operation. But this goal is possibly not set in concrete. But as you say Kaiser Northern California in Sacramento may be dictating that requirement. So drink enough Water and I wouldn't cut out all salt completely. Salt is important to your diet too. My mother cut out all salt from her diet and that drove her into the hospital emergency room.

Congratulations. I am going on a 4 day cruise at the end of the month and I am determined not gain weight. It can be done if you think before you react.

I understand that not all calories are created equal. The food plan I am on is pretty strict. I was provided a binder with a list of foods that I can choose from. Lean proteins, non starchy veggies, fresh fruit, very little fat, nothing processed and no sugar. I get in between 70-80 grams of protein a day, which comes from food, not supplements. I keep a food journal and I'm not hungry in between meals, and I'm not snacking. I know the crazy fluctuation has to be water weight, I just don't know why I'm retaining so much water. I would have to consume an extra 3500 calories to gain one pound of fat. A typical breakfast for me is egg whites, spinach and mushrooms, a slice of 40 calorie bread with a fat free butter and a small banana. Lunch is usually 3 oz of boneless, skinless chicken breast, mixed non starchy veggies sautéed in Pam, 3/4 oz of triscuit crackers and a small apple. Dinner is similar to lunch. I take my vitamins in the morning with 8 oz of skim milk. Am I overthinking it? Am I just obsessing/stressing myself out? I'm drinking myself nuts. Lol

Hello Everyone, I am new to this site and at the beginning of my VS journey. I am English, living in England and have been overweight all my life. I have a huge amount of weight to lose. I had been seeing a dietician for the past six months (with no real success) (had a lifetime of failing at every diet going) and the dietician mentioned WLS. She suggested I speak to my Dr. about this as I have type 2 diabetes and she thought I would definately fit the requirements for surgery (my BMI is 59). I went to the Dr. who was at great pains to point out that WLS meant you could only eat smaller portions and had I thought about doing that????? Despite this he did say he would fill in all the forms to see if I could get approval for funding for surgery on the NHS but not to get my hopes up. A week later I got a telephone call to say I had been approved. Another week later I got my first appointment at the hospital to see the Dr. there. During my time with the dietician (who was a lovely lady who actually listened to what I said) she put me on a 'milk' diet for three weeks. I lost 10lb the first week, 7lb the second and gained 2lb the third week! I have since regained all but 4lbs of that weightloss, even though I have been extremely careful with my diet. I know I will have to lose more before I can have surgery and am planning to put myself back on the milk diet next week. I am trying to lose that 5% people have talked about on here. I am hoping that if I manage to lose that magical 5% they will push me forward for the surgery. Although I only joined this site recently I have been reading avidly for the past fortnight. There is so much useful and interesting information here, and everyone is really generous with their own experiences and knowledge. I hope that my journey details will be equally beneficial to others as it progresses. I chose the name Phoenix Rising as I hope that people will begin to see the new slimmer fitter me rising from the ashes of the old fat unhealthy me. I know I have a very long way to go and look forward to having your help and support. Thank you

Hello gang, I had WLS in 2004. I was one of the early lap band recipients in Australia under Prof. Paul O'Brien. I did great and lost 46kg (101lbs), but then life set in and I had two kids and a suicidal husband so I let the weight creep back up. I had a revision in 2013 due to a hiatus hernia so large I was having esophageal spasms. So now, I'm at the heaviest I've ever been, and I've got a ventral hernia that goes from my navel to my sternum. My surgeon said he won't even try to fix it if my BMI is over 30 because it will just come right back. He then talked to me about how the lap band has fallen out of favor because it was not as effective as the original studies promised. He suggested a revision to a VSG, and set me up in my insurance's approval program for WLS. The first step is the removal of the band and port and recovery from that. Surgery is scheduled for July 7th. After that I'll progress through the "hoop-jumping" to qualify for the VSG, which providing everything goes smoothly, I'll qualify for in October. So far no one has stated any pre-surgery weight loss requirements, but I have been studying the various plans and doctor's programs I've found online, as well as reading personal stories from support forums like this one, so I can get an aggregate view of the entire procedure both pre and post-op. I must admit that the pendulum swings widely across what I've seen, both in program execution and in individual responses. Of course, I realize that there are outliers on every scale, and I'm averaging what I see. I got this little binder from the program introduction meeting (Dignity Health), and I've been adding my own research to it, things like print out of appropriate bariatric (or equivalent) vitamins based on their recommendations, worksheets for tracking eating and drinking, pre and post-op protein shakes, mixes, and recipes, motivational type posters, and text documents on things like how digestion works, how protein is used by the body, etc. Note, all the research is stuff from actual university or journal studies, I'm not taking answers from Reddit or Quora as facts! I've decided the biggest issue I've seen is the grief process that hits people after the surgery when they suddenly realize they can't eat what they want. I've read a lot of threads (not just here) of people rebelling and hating themselves and hurting themselves because of this. I do not want to deal with this. I'm already working on changing my eating habits, albeit slowly. I want to be more in control of this transition than I've seen, So, if you've read this far, my questions to you are: Did you make any effort pre-op to really change your eating habits? Did you experience grief or regret post-op if you didn't? Did you regret your surgery for any reason OTHER than the food restriction/complications? Thanks for discussing!

Yesterday I mounted my quarter horse mare without needing a mounting block!!!! Yes! I am finally light enough to pull my own weight off the ground and onto the horse without assistance. I am delighted and so is BR Star Baby, who (bless her heart) pulls both her weight and mine.

Welcome to VST! I found my own by googling for counseling services and found a clinic that listed weight loss surgery evaluations on their service page. I did a quick search for Seattle and this one doesn't say, but they do say they do assessments. Might want to give them a call and explain what you need. Sound Mental Health As it turns out I continued seeing the counselor who did my evaluation and it was really beneficial throughout the pre-op process and early post-op. Unfortunately I changed jobs and it was no longer feasible to keep going. Good luck and congratulations on your date! Keep us posted.

I think this last fill brought me to the sweet spot. I am now at 8.3 in a 10 cc band and I have been losing steadily for a month without any exersize. (Bad...I know). I have been working at last 14 hour days and I really haven't had a few minutes to even think about it...plus it's already almost 100 degrees every day here which isn't particularly motivating for a nice sweaty walk at lunch time. I have been watching my carb intake and am making sure I'm getting my protein although I was definitely slacking in March and April on the protein. I made a new mix which is almonds, shelled pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, white and dark chocolate chips, and a few other nuts and mixed up in a huge batch. Then split up into bags and put one every where I spend time so that I can snack on something high protein and fiber and relatively low in carbs. (keep the number of choc chips and dried fruit to about 1/4 to 1/5 of the total mix. This helps me stay away from the bad stuff. I am 9 pounds away from wonderland and I can't wait. Just cleared out another 50 pounds of clothes that don't fit me from the closet. IT's crazy! I find myself wanting to talk about my weight loss and most people just give me a crazy look. I realize that they don't care but I do!

I was able to get mine done in 4 months as long as you have documintaion from like weight watchers etc I did all my dr appt and gave my journals was approved by ins in 2 days my process started in April and my Surgery was Aug 4th

Just staying in from lunch while co-workers have burgers and stuff. I'm 8 days post-op and feeling pretty amazing. People have told me that they can already tell a weight difference in my face and I feel like I have a ton of energy. I started "puree foods and full liquid" diet yesterday and haven't even made good use of it yet. I tried to puree some Pasta salad yesterday but was so put off by the color and texture that I couldn't eat it - despite it being one of my favorite foods pre-op. You guys weren't kidding when you said tastes change after surgery! I had a 150 calorie yoghurt 5 hours ago and still don't feel like I want to eat anything. Of course the thought of stuffing my face with french fries sounds nice and familiar but I don't have that hunger feeling that I usually have and get distracted with other things.

All the appointmentsame for Dr visits to see even if you were eligible, orientation, nutrition and even a couselor appointment all count as part of your be months if they weighed you every time which they all do. So think back to when you first started talking about it with your Dr and it is probably noted in your records of the surgery and current weight.

You're doing great! Keep going! Try adding other exercises little by little. Do a sit up. If that doesn't feel good, you're not ready. If it feels okay, do two tomorrow, three the next day. Consider free weights & weight machines. If you can walk, try picking up the pace. There are so many options! Good luck!

The doctor wants to see you succeed , your questions and sometimes your answers to questions are very telling to a trained listener. The therapist is there to help you examine why and how you got where you are, to use surgery as your tool to finally get the weight off. Emotional reasons, or bad habit's are two main reasons. But only you know those. We all need to discover that to be honest and succeed by addressing it. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I sincerely doubt your surgeon would recommend this to you if he/she didn't think you personally would benefit from it. And I hear a few things here.....you've been twice, never for more than 6 months bc it's too repetitive, there's nothing to talk about, it's awkward so you just don't like it, and you like to do your own thing. If it's repetitive, what is it repetitive about? What keeps coming up repetitively? If there's nothing to talk about, how did you wind up in therapy before for 2 separate efforts? And now you're being recommended to a third try from your surgeon? It becomes awkward for you and you just don't like it.....no one likes anything awkward. That's life. Pushing through it is what you do, not avoid it. The only way out, is through. You like to do your own thing....how has that worked for you -- or for ANY of us here -- in terms of food and weight control issues? Typically if we are all here, we haven't done too well doing things our own way. I don't see what you have to lose by seeing a therapist and really digging in to see what you can learn about yourself. I can't imagine feeling like I had nothing left to learn about myself and how I move through the world. I am not trying to be harsh, I honestly think you should get all the help you can during this huge physical AND psychological transformation. And yes, I do have a bias. I have been in therapy (I am an abuse and trauma survivor), and when I look around at my family, the only truly functional ones are the ones who have faced their problems head on and fiercely through therapy....the ones who rejected therapy and did things their own way, who thought therapy was useless after a few months, who thought they didn't need anyone's help to learn how to change/grow .... they are all either addicted to something, codependent, depressed, or dead by suicide. I know that's harsh to hear, but that has been my crystal clear experience. Very few of us wind up on the operating table just because we thought food was delicious. People are more complex than that, whether we believe it or not. Please consider giving therapy a chance at this time....what harm could it cause to try? Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

17 lbs is amazing! Don't panick about your little cheats. You can jump right back on track. The pre-op diet is mainly for the purpose of shrinking your liver durging surgery to decrease bleeding and after a 17 lbs weight loss I'm sure you should be fine. I had my surgery just a little over a month ago and trust me, The night before the big op day..I broke down, and had anxiety, and cried. But the next day..I was up and ready to go. The surgery was such a cake walk. Easier than the pre-op diet. It went so smoothly and I have never ever regretted it. I think you are doing a great thing for you and your health and of course it's natural to be nervous but once it's done and over with you will be saying "Oh was that all?"

I am 6 months out since my surgery and had lose about 40lbs. Today I went for a follow up and found that I had gained 3 lbs. it was very disheartening. Just wondering if anyone experienced a gain and how did you get past it weight loss wise and emotionally? It really took the air out of my sail.

Fitbit company and the Dana-Faber Cancer Institute are teaming together to investigate the relationship of breast cancer reoccurrence and weight loss. Too bad they did not include the one group of women who undergo weight loss surgery to successively achieve substantial and long lasting weight loss reduction. This Breast Cancer Weight Loss Study (BWEL) [is a 2 year study that] will include 32,000 overweight or obese women who have been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. Each participant will receive FitBit devices: a fitness tracker that collects activity and heart rate information throughout the day; a scale that tracks weight, BMI, lean body mass and body percent fat, as well as access to proprietary software “which offers personalized video-based exercise experiences on mobile devices.” All these will link to an online dashboard to monitor progress and help the women stay on track. http://acsh.org/news/2016/06/29/new-investigation-will-examine-breast-cancer-recurrence-post-weight-loss/

I know stalls are common, but I'm just over a week into my first and quietly weeping in a corner. I actually gained weight the last two days, which is super sucky and not at all justified based on what I've been eating!! Which brings me to my question. Do you change your eating to break the stall, or stay the course and toss the scale in the garbage? Is a stall indicative of a problem, or is it just a normal bump in the road? I'm sure it CAN BE indicative of a problem, but is it always? After gaining yesterday and today, I found myself being hypercritical of everything I put in my mouth. Yesterday I was counting calories like it was my job, leaving me horrified when I saw I was at 1,500. That sounds like a lot, but I've been following the nutrition guidelines and losing weight like a champ until now. Today I tried to eat less, but I spent the whole day preoccupied by food and seriously hungry. Not head hungry. Actual, physical hunger. Then I would eat something, which meant I ate more times than I normally do today, and probably didn't change my calorie intake much at all. * sob * Thoughts??