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My journey has been life-long. I was overweight as a young child, medically obese by around age 7. Should you choose to read on, you will get a glimpse of the factors that contributed to my struggle in comforting myself with food and attempting to render myself unattractive. I had been through the tumultuous divorce of my parents and felt abandoned by my father at age 6. Within a year of my parents' divorce, I was molested by an adult male friend of the family. A few years later, I was molested by an older boy, another family friend. As a teen, searching for love and male attention to fill the hole in my heart, I began a sexual relationship with my boyfriend at 15. I became pregnant within a year and decided to abort my child. I believed the lies of the abortion industry, that it was a painless procedure, that my baby was just a "clump of cells," and went through with the abortion. Immediately afterwards, I knew I could never go through with, or put myself in that position EVER AGAIN! This is when I really saw my weight balloon, in what I now see was an effort to make myself undesirable by men. If no one was attracted to me, I wouldn't have sex, so I couldn't get pregnant, and would never again face abortion. This is when I graduated to morbid obesity. I had gained around 80 pounds within a year. My family excused the weight gain by comparing me to other family members who were large. It seemed natural to them, that because I was becoming a woman and there was a family history of obesity, the weight gain was unavoidable. No one relized that I was filling an emotional hole with food. No one saw the isolating behaviors I was exhibiting. Thirteen years later, at age 29, after having had four children, married and divorced, I had come to know God and started a process of recovery from all of my past hurts. Since then, layer upon layer of pain has been peeled away, and I am truly a new person! I won't say that the weight is the last thing I need to peel away, but I can say that I am ready to work on this part of me now! I had thought about gastric bypass many times over the years, since 1999, but never with the healing behind me and the mindset I have now. For me, shedding this weight is symbolic of breaking free from the shackles of all the pain that was holding me back. Thank you for taking the time to read my story!

Hello guys, I haven't been here in the longest time. I'm worried about my band and my weight gain. A few months ago I got a fill and I felt the effect of it the next day, while eating. Tighter, nice. Since then, I've only felt it in the mornings once in a while and I've been eating truckloads of food. I've not maintained my diet and I have gained 20 lbs in the last 3 months. I don't feel like I have any restriction and I eat as much as I did before the surgery (almost). This is HORRRIBBLLLE. I feel so extremely guilty and depressed, but I know that I need to snap out of it in order to get myself out of this hole. My question is: Can there be something wrong with my band? I've never had the "full in the esophagus" feeling. The least amount that I've ever eaten with my band was 3 string cheeses with meat and an apple, which is a good amount. Now I eat bigger portions and I am hungry all the time. *Adult Sentence will follow*...My husband and I do have sex a lot and he folds me into positions that hurt my band area and we re-adjust. But it often feels like a dull pain over there when I just breathe. Kinda like it's a mass of dull-gas that never goes away. Plus, no restriction and I've been banded for a year and a half now, I think. But it feels like I've done nothing but gone downhill after my last fill. I must have anywhere between 4-5/6 ccs in a Realize Band. Last fill was 1.5 cc. I've done a horrible job lately, I know this. Yeah, it would be nice if I had the band to blame. But maybe I just want to get opinions on whether or not I am crazy for thinking something might be wrong. I thought slippage because..something must be wrong. But I don't get sick... Leakage, maybe? Probably sounds like the most possible, right? My dr. referred me for an Xray, so I am waiting to be called in for one, some day.:biggrin:

I've been told it is not an issue if there isn't dramatic weight gain. Most people fluctuate 5 pounds in a day so I would not worry about it. If insurance gives you trouble see if you have an employee assistance program or advocacy service through your provider that might help. They've been a huge asset for me

Been reading through a lot of the comments for the past week. I know everyone's situation is different. About 4 years ago I went on the Optifast diet and did the Kaiser diet program. I lost about 40 points overall. I have unfortunately gained it all back. I know beer and inactivity (cubicle job) plays a good role in my weight gain along with snacking after work. From what I have read on here, a lot of doctors require you to go through a weight loss program like Kaisers. I think part of the problem with going to the class I had with the Kaiser program is that I was the only male in the class of 12. I know about portion control and triggers. I really want to plan on having this surgery next year. My insurance (Blue Cross Colorado) will cover the surgery minus my deductible or about $4k out of pocket for the sleeve surgery. I am wondering what other costs I should plan for. I am going to max out my FSA contributions so that most will be taken out of my paycheck. Few questions for the group: 1. What other costs should I anticipate for the surgery both, before and after. 2. What is the average recovery time after the surgery? (Need to schedule this off work.) 3. How soon did you return to work? I know I will have more questions. Need to go to my primary care doctor and let them know I am interested in this program to get the ball rolling I know. Thanks for the help and responses!

So... I'm following my eating plan and exercising a bit less than usual. I got on the scale today and have gained 2lbs in 2 weeks. The first gain since surger. I just happen to have a horrible UTI... not responding to antibiotics and causeing me all sorts of trouble. I assume there is some inflamation with this. Do you guys think this could be the gain? thanks stacey

I have regained a ton of weight back after Covid. I would like to find a great doctor, Nutrionist to help me evaluate my diet and get back on track. It would be nice if they did hormone evaluation too, but not required. Any referrals in Dallas, Richardaon, Plano, Frisco, Allen, or DFW metroplex is appreciated!!!! I want an accountability physician or Nutrionist or dietician. I want to hear your stories. Thanks everyone! Melanie Kirk

I was reading your other post about gaining 4 lbs and just wanted to let you know your weight gain is almost surely caused by this time when you didnt intake protein. Your body goes into starvation mode and now that your eating mushys it is holding on to every calorie you eat! SO hopefully a little more time on the mushy stage will kick your body into weightloss mode Best of luck!

The weight gain is probably just from the fluids they give you when you're in the hospital. I know I got at least 3 bags of fluid when I was in there a month ago. My pain was in the center of my chest/stomach area, a few inches below the bra line. I thought it was just gas pain and I had at least 5 episodes, probably more like 8, over several months with pain lasting 30 minutes at a time and suddenly stopping. The last episode I had was the worst because a stone had gotten stuck and I was in pain for 24 hours before I finally broke down and went to the ER. I'm a real trooper when it comes to pain but after being at a high pain level for long periods of time I start having trouble dealing with it mentally and have an emotional breakdown. lol So after having a short crying spell I picked myself up got dressed and went down to the hospital. lol I lost a few pounds after surgery because I had no appetite and could only eat very little amounts. I was out of work a week (desk job) and had to take it easy for a while. It wasn't that bad of an experience - better than if I kept having those episodes I was enduring!

HI! I had my band removed in September of this year after 3 years, but not for erosion. I'm sorry yours has eroded. It's good they found it early (or at least before you started having ugly symptoms). I chose to not have any more weight loss surgery. My insurance covered the removal as it was medically necessary. It also paid to have it implanted. Your idea of continuing to eat as though banded is good, in my opinion. It is what has helped me. I continue to lose weight or hold. At first I lost 8 pounds pretty quickly. Now it is slow and I sometimes stall for a while before it drops again. I want to lose at least 40 more pounds. Having your band removed is not an automatic sentence of weight gain! Not at all!!! Keep your goal as your top priority, no matter what. I feel so much better without the band because my body was rejecting it; so it helps me to feel how wonderful I feel being at a lighter weight and continuing on from here. I eat mostly protein and vegetables. I'm finding recipes from www.health-bent.com are helpful. My surgeon suggests a modified Mediterranean diet and also promotes the cook book found on health-bent called, Primal Cravings. I also take a high quality probiotic from Metagenics called, Acute Care. Banded or not, keep heading in the direction of your goal! I feel very fortunate to have found a surgeon who realized my band needed to come out. Your surgeon may have saved you a lot of pain and grief by getting to the problem before things got bad (as other people have described on this site). I had 3 years of discomfort, the last 2 quite miserable, before finding someone who could see clearly what needed to happen. I am so grateful. I'm glad you're being proactive about diet and thinking about how to proceed! ~hiddn~

Does anyone has Aetna or other insurance with this problem.....My daughter was denied due to weight gain only 4 pounds and she has sleep apnea..her doctor stated he is going to appeal it.....so far she lost 8 pounds. Do anyone know how long is the process??? And did anyone go through this and won?

Today I started my two week post-op diet. I was doing really well until lunch when I was completely famished!! Luckily some steamed vege did the trick - I wonder how long before I crave something terribly naughty! I took my 'before' photos which was very brave of me. Braver still was going out and buying a new sexy set of scales (if you can call scales sexy... somehow I don't think you can). Later in the day I finally plucked up the courage to jump on. I had prepared myself for it to be bad but I obviously hadn't prepared myself quite enough!! After not weighing myself for about a year I thought I would be around 115kg/253pounds. (which would have meant I had gained 20kg in a year) BUT NO!! I was shocked to find I had eaten my way to 121.2kg/266pounds!!!!! A weight gain of over 25kg/55pounds. My boyfriend weighed himself too and he was a mere 76.8kg/169pounds. Ahhhh!!!! I am nearly twice as heavy as him. So my goal is to get to 70kg... well and truely under him. And there you have it. I just need to make it through the rest of the day and there will only be 13 more to go until the op that will totally change my life. I just can't wait!!!!!

How did you gain? I know it sounds silly, but I've been eating crap for two days and I guess you are what you eat because I feel like crap! Ive only gained 3 lbs. usually i can just look at bad food and gain weight. I usually eat very healthy, just too much, thus the weight gain. I know I'll gain it eventually, but this sucks! I've never purposely gaîned weight!

Admittedly I have been more sedentary than i ever was. Couple that with feeling awful from GERD and depressed about the weight gain, I have been spiraling for awhile now. My sleeve was very successful and I even if I only gain the benefit of my GERD being gone, it will be worth it. My doc doesn't want me on omeprazole any longer. You are only 8 days out of surgery...are you feeling ok? I assume you are still on liquids. Keep in touch.

Your body will need more sustenance to maintain your exercise levels, you will need to eat more. The balance will be how much more. If you aren't losing weight eat a little less than 1600cals and keep adjusting down. There may be a pause on weight loss at the moment which is not related to weight gain due to additional calories, but if your muscles are really sore after each workout, your body is very likely retaining fluid to help repair the muscles. If you are really sore you may also be building lean body mass but this wouldn't be happening as fast you'd think it would and hopefully you are losing body fat at the same time.

Having a glass of wine that her surgeon approved doesn't require a kick in the butt by someone else. I found the multiple posts to be over the top and they had no value at all. I stopped reading the ranting - so if there was something educational for us to get out of it - it didn't come through. Not everyone has the same issues that caused weight gain and we all don't have to follow the same path. If someone enjoyed a glass of wine - good for them! I don't think it will derail her weight loss! We don't need to be yelled and treated like a child for admitting to having a SURGEON approved drink. :-(

Warning this is a bit rambly. Wow. My insurer just announced they are finally covering the band. I have researched and tried to get it for the past 8 years, but gave up hope after being denied twice. So for the past year or two, I've just been drifting along, not overly paying attention to new info on the band, or thinking much about what life would be like being banded. So, now that I have the opportunity, I need to decide if this is still the best option for me (yes!), and if the timing is right (I hope so! I've been praying for a while that the Lord would help me to reach a healthy weight and live a healthy lifestyle, so I would like to believe this is the answer to those prayers), and remember everything that I've forgotten (like everything about being banded, how to deal with food) Here are the things that have popped into my head since yesterday when I heard I had a chance to get the band. Timing - I'm just making a breakthrough with my Mary Kay business, doing everything right, taking it seriously, moving towards a leadership role, so I'm a little worried that having to devote a lot of energy towards get surgery, and dealing with any challenges will distract me from my goals. Some little stuff - Vitamins - I've been taking a fairly good amount of vitamins/supplements each day. I take a multi-Vitamin, 2 flax oil capsills, 2 osteo-flex caps, 2 Vitamin D pills, a chewable vit C, a baby asprin, 2 Calcium chews, a green tea cap, a zinc, and 2 magnesium tablets. Yeah I know it seems like a lot, but it really does make me feel better when I take them. But I take them all at once, usually with a big glass of Water. I was taking them today and realized this was probably a habit I'd need to change/adjust after getting the band. I could probably take the smaller pills (D, Mag, Zinc, baby asprin, BCP) with just a couple of sips of water, but I doubt I'd be able to take those bigger horse pill types with out gulping down water.... So my question would be, what do you take vitamin/nutritional supplement wise? and how do you take them? On the fitness front, I've been walking regularly on my treadmill since January. I just started walking for 30 minutes on my treadmill at whatever pace I could manage. At first I was only walking about 0.7 or 0.8 miles. I've been fairly consistant about exercising 3-4 times a week, and I'm now up to 1.5 miles in about 40 minutes. My goal is to add a quarter mile a week until I'm walking 3 miles and then get the time under 45 minutes. Then maybe I'll add in 1 more mile, and shoot for an hour. I've always wanted to be as fit as possible before I had the surgery in the hopes it would help my recovery. Back 3-4 years or so ago, when I was trying to get banded the first time, I tried out a bunch of Protein drinks, and found several I liked. I wouldn't have any problem having one or two a day. I know protein is a big issue, but I have always worried that I wouldn't eat a balanced enough diet if I had to focus so much on protein....how do I get enough Fiber? I really like veggies, salads, and granolas! In fact, I enjoy having a bowl of vanilla yogurt and granola (BareNaked brand Fruit and Nuts with extra dried fruits mixed in - whatever I have around - cranberries, dried cherries, raisens, apicots, you get the picture!) for Breakfast a few times a week. And if I have any, I'll top the bowl with fresh raspberries. I think I'd miss having that bowl of crunchy, chewy delishousness! Does anyone here eat something like granola for breakfast? I don't have a problem with reducing the portion, but worry I'd have to give it up entirely. I'm a little worried about how well my family is going to support me on this. DH and DD14 will go along with me (DS19 is off to college so not really a concern), but they may whine a lot about the changes in dinners etc - I do all the shopping and cooking, and I know they aren't ready to give up a lot of the "goodies" that make losing weight harder. And I'm the primary cook in the family - and tend to cook large amounts - so not only will I need to rethink WHAT I'm serving, but how much I'm making since there will technically be one less adult at the dinner table. I guess that means my foodsaver will get more of a workout and I'll just put things in the freezer for other meals. Mental Health/Head Games (Deep thoughts alert!) . I've always been overweight, from maybe 20--25lbs over when a young girl, being around 170ish in high school, picked up around 40-50lbs with each kid, to now being MO at 5'7"/300lbs but am quite healthy. The best weight I've ever been is about 145 when I was in college/about the time I got married, and I thought I was still fat even though I can see now that I wasn't. So I'm going to have to work on retraining my brain a little. More importantly, I'm not sure how well DH is going to handle me losing a lot of weight. He's over 400lbs, and while he professes to want to lose weight, he feels helpless to do so. I'm hoping that I will lead with a good example and he'll opt to get the band himself, or choose another way to lose weight. He was relatively fit until he left the Air Force in 2000, and then he gained weight at an alarming rate - 150-200lbs in probably 2 years. He's developed all sorts of health problems related to being MO. What I'm worried about is that DH will subconsciously sabotage me and feel threatened by my weight loss. Big stuff to think about! Would it stop me from getting the band? No, but I recognise that it's not out of the realm of possibilities that I'd end up divorced. I'm also worried about me - how I treat, or would treat him when I lose weight. We've known each other since high school and he was always the fit one, the high school athelete, the one who biked 15 miles to work. He struggled with the AF weight standards since he's only 5-6, but he always managed to get back into standards (often using poor dieting habits - working out like crazy while nearly starving himself) until he got out of the AF. He got out and went on what can only be described serious binge streak. I was horrified. He gained and gained and gained, and while he'd give some lip service to wanting to lose weight, he made no real efforts. I've always just had a little creeping weight gain - a little here, a little there. No major gains at once. Over time, I realized that a lot of my weight gain/problem eating habits stemed from trying to "Keep up" with him. We'd order a ****a, he'd eat half so I'd eat half, otherwise he might eat the leftovers. Not rational but it was the thought process. He also eats "by the clock" and would pressure me to join him, even when I wasn't really hungry. Now that I've realized a lot of these poor habits and pressures, I'm able to work around them, but he still feels somewhat rejected if I don't want ice cream, or if I declare I'm not hungry just because it's 5pm. His health problems are also causing challenges. He can barely walk a few feet without being winded, and is in a lot of pain in his joints. He isn't able to do many of the things we used to do for fun or that were his tasks/household chores in the past. I have to work at being patient. We realized a few years ago that he was both too busy with work and not physically fit enough to go on big vacations like going to Disney World where we would often walk 10 miles a day. So now DD and I go on those sorts of trips without him. So you could say that we now vacation separately because of the weight problems. I'm pretty sure that my frustration over that has made be act unkindly towards him at times. (I do however really enjoy taking the just-the-girls trips!) So I am worried about the larger ramifications of losing weight. and the pressures it may put on my marriage, but at the same time, I know I deserve to fit and healthy, and I WANT to be healthy. So, we'll just have to deal with the challenges as they come. Ready to get healthy! Hunzi Think Pink! www.marykay.com/jfloyd

That video is ridiculous. She is not taking responsibility for what she puts in her mouth. She is looking for the easy way out. I have gained some of mine back and I take complete responsibility. Nobody held a gun to my head screaming "eat!". I did it of my own accord. I have a friend who I love dearly and she had the DS done. She lost 140 pounds and can eat *anything* and not gain...but, that is because the DS is based on malabsorption. And, while she has had no weight gain in five years, she is so severely anemic that she has to have IV ferrous sulfate pumped into her every single week for the next two months! And, was told last week, she will need this about once every 2-3 months for the rest of her life.

Thank you for the reply...actually i DO have sleep apnea, asthma, and high blood pressure...all of which my doctor believes is related to my weight gain. So should i just contact him and have him resubmit the paperwork?

I haven't found any Protein Bars that are high protein, low carb, so I haven't taken to eating them. If you are tired of them, then by all means you should switch. Can you not get in your protein by eating meat, cheese, eggs etc? Also, look here http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/ . she has great protein rich recipes. I'd say the weight gain is from TOM - I gain about 5 lbs . oh well, c'est la vie!

Hey everyone- I got authorized to start working out last week from my doctor. I'm three weeks post op and have been going to the gym every other day. I noticed a 1lb weight gain this morning. Now I'm worried if I keep working out, will it slow down my weight loss? Should I hold off for a bit? I'm also coming up on the 3 week stall so I'm just thinking about everything. Based on your experiences , what have you determined about working out?

I have read that having your gallbladder removed can cause weight gain has anyone experienced this at all or any changes in digestion?

@@Pinkberry2 I don't believe weight gain can be associated with gallbladder removal.

Sure, you can gain it back. As was stated above, it will depend upon your eating habits. If you do not work to overcome the causes of your weight gain to begin with, then you will gain weight. I have been sitting at the same weight for a few months now and I know it has more to do with my stress related eating habits than anything else. Pull myself out of it, get back to something healthy and exercise more, that's what will get me back on track. I met a woman a few months ago who told me she had had the bypass surgery 12 years ago. She seemed happy with where she was (good for her!) but my visual assessment of her classified her as obese, if not morbidly obese. With the sleeve, I doubt we will get back to our morbid obesity stages, but I can see it as being possible. If all you do to get your calories is drink them (mocha's, milkshakes, etc) then no weight loss regimen is going to work for you, whether it's diet or surgery.

As others have stated, this is an extremely personal decision that only you and your husband can make. (well, and your surgeon if you go for surgery first, since many require 2 years, but you'd want to know what your specific surgeon has to say about it). Since you did follow up and ask specifically what we would do - personally, if I was healthy enough to conceive and carry a child before surgery, I would do that. If I had 'baby fever' now, it would be excruciating to wait to have surgery (especially if there was a 6 month diet, like my insurance requires), then 2 more years on top of that (as my surgeon would require). Then, time to conceive, 9 more months until delivery, etc. I also have a fear of regain post-surgery, so I'd rather be done with intentional weight gain, like with pregnancy, before having surgery so there won't be any other instances looming in my future where I KNOW I'll need to gain some weight. But again, this is an extremely personal decision and only you know what's right for you. Good luck with whatever you decide!

I agree, something here does not make sense at all. I wonder if you either have a serious medical condition or a serious eating disorder. You are the only person that can actually make yourself eat and timely. It has to become your priority if you want to stay healthy in the long term. With RNY you really do get your hunger back, I am not sure why that hasn't happened for you but I am guessing when you are hungry, you are ignoring it because you are busy. If you don't want to keep dropping weight you need to pay attention and act on it. It sounds like you can pretty much eat whatever you want without the repercussions of weight gain. The only issue is some foods you dump on and others that would likely make you dump, you don't. I will say that I have met many RNY patients who still dump many many years later so I am not convinced at all that ever stops completely. They just learn how to live with it differently. The same is true about the malabsorption factor. I met a guy that had RNY 15 years ago. He eats small meals all day long because his body still malabsorbs. He looks great, still has a lot of restriction which requires that he eats small amounts all day long. I know my pouch is definitely on the small side which means to get to my Protein count and about 1000 calories a day, I have to eat 3 good meals a day and snack in between. I have to really concentrate when I eat or I might just eat a tiny amount and be hungry a short time later.