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Will your hospital put you on days temporarily just to get the surgery? That's underhanded but, my gosh, he's an idiot. An educated idiot, but an idiot. Lack of SLEEP contributes to weight gain, but working nights doesn't contribute to weight loss. Where's the proof? Where is he getting his data? From the gnome who lives in his closet? good grief.

I thought I would stop by and say hello. I've been enjoying reading through this forum and reading up on some of your experiences. For example, I had no idea that I'd pretty much never get to drink diet soda again! Fascinating! Anyway, I got banded on Feb. 27, 2009 so I'm about 9 days into this. I started my Medifast pre-op diet on January 2nd at 224 (I am 5'2) pounds and I have lost 24 pounds so far. I'm only a pound from my "triple digit rollover!" I've a had a little history with yo-yo-ing weight. I was pretty much large all my life, but when I was 21 I decided to go to a doctor and get some help. He put me on a medication diet (Phentermine, Adipex) and I lost 50 pounds! I felt the best I have my whole life. I then moved to New York to go to graduate school and moved away from my doctor and started to gain weight gradually again. I tried SO HARD to keep the weight from coming on. I went to the gym 6 days a week (combination weight training and cardio). I had a personal trainer. I watched what I eat. I counted calories, carbs, fat, Protein, etc, like a maniac (kept everything written down in my food journal). I saw, oh, six doctors to try to find someone that would help me, to no avail. I tried everything I could to lose weight the "normal" way, the healthy way. No matter what, the weight just piled up. Finally, I asked my regular doc if she would recommend Lap-Band surgery, and she said yes since I have tried everything else to try to lose weight. I just barely scraped by on the minimum BMI requirement (40) so the bariatric center accepted me, and my insurance agreed to pay for it too! Like I said, so far I'm 24 pounds down, and I'm feeling VERY HOPEFUL that this will help me finally lose weight and embrace a life and lifestyle that I desperately miss. I am extremely active and love all kinds of sporty things like volleyball, rollerblading, mountain climbing, hiking, canoeing, etc....my weight gain has kept me from enjoying some of these things that I want to do. Hopefully this will be a year of change for me! I look forward to getting to know everyone here!! Here's a pic of me just for general reference:

Today Tell Newyear's Day The Average Person Will Gain 7pound's Of Weight. Due To Over Eating And,( Also Liquid Calorie's ) Add Up Fast. Putting Off, There Daily Walk. I,will Do It Tomorrow. Mine Is Over Eating Candy! That Is My Down Fall! I'allow My Self To Eat Some What Of Junk Food One Day,a Few More Hundred Calorie' Intake That Day Then Fight The Calorie's The Rest Of The Week! I Hope Every One Out There In Band Land Will Have A Safe And Loving Time With Your Family's And Friend's Over Christmass!!! And Also Remember To Think About All Your Choice's Of Food,however If You Been Fitting A Few Pound's For A While Now Is Not The Time To Let Your Self Go With Eating As You May End Up Fighting For Another Month.weight Loss. Well Good Luck Most Of All God Bless You All! Have A Safe Hoilday! And No Drinking And Driving "i Want To See You All Here Back After Christmass.johnq

I love beer myself but have not had one since my birthday (08.12.06). I knew going in that I couldn't drink beer and it was almost a deal breaker for me. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it but have actually started drinking wine or frozen drinks instead. It wasn't easy giving it up but I was drinking way too much (hense the weight gain) so it probably isn't all bad. I guess you have to ask yourself which is more important . . . beer or getting healthy! I am happy to say I can even watch friends having beers without crying or craving a cold one. As long as I have something in my hand, I'm good. : ) PatU

Hello everyone, So this is my first post here and here is my story… I am 29 years and I will hit the dreaded 30 next month. Not that I think 30 is old, I just can't believe that I am gonna be thirty and after all these years I have not be able to successfully manage my weight. Right now my scale is tipping at about 250. I haven't always been this fat. I would say that back in my high school days I was a little chubby. The last lowest weight I can last remember was 165 lbs in 2001. So I have gained 85 lbs in 8 years…wow. I have been happily married to my high school sweet heart for 6 years now and he is absolutely wonderful to me. He loves me as I am, no matter what. We have a awesome 18 month old son, who is the center of our universe. I was diagnosed with a under active thyroid (hypothyroid) when I was 16 years old. Both my mother and grandmother were also hypothyroid and overweight as well, so my all of issues are definitely built into my genetic make up. But I will admit that I have contributed to my 85lb weight gain by eating improperly and being lazy. We moved away from our family and friends right after we got married, so I have spent the last six years some what isolated from our loved ones. We happily spend every weekend lazy, in love and alone on our sofa. Fortunately my husband has been blessed with a amazing metabolism, and he is the same 160 lbs that he weighed on the day we got married. Now I will admit that I do have a food problem. But I am not a emotional eater. I actually lose my appetite when I am really upset. I am a 'bored' and 'lonely' eater. I snack when my husband isn't around. And I have no shame when it comes to making poor food choices…buffalo chicken, cheese burger, fries, pizza, chinese food…none of them any good. I have tried to lose weight in the past but always became easily discouraged and distracted when I didn't see any immediate results. I have always simply blamed my failed thyroid for holding me back. Although I know that is not 100% true. My life style certainly contributes. I saw a new endocrinologist a few years back and asked him if he had any insight on how I can approach weight loss while living with hypothyroidism. I mean, obviously he has seen plenty of patients with my condition…he must know someone who has had success. I just wanted him to share their secret with me. Should I give weight watchers another try…should I try jenny craig…should I see a nutritionist…can he give me a magic pill?!?!?! And then he gave me the old diet and exercise talk…as if I was stupid and never heard of it before. Ugh, whatever…thanks for nothing! I then decided to start seeing a new endocrinologist just because his office was closer to work and it was convenient. I asked him if he knew what the secret to weight loss was. Now before I tell you what he told me, I want to paint this visual for you. My endo is a 5 ft tall chinese man. He is straight from china and I really have to focus when he talks so I can understand his words clearly through his accent. He speaks very abrubtly and to the point. So when I told him that I don't believe I eat a lot but I just wanted know what he thinks I need to do, he told me…"it doesn't matter what you eat, just eat half! If the only thing you eat all day is a peanut, then only eat HALF a peanut the next day!" What?!?! As if that was even possible. I felt defeated again. But he actually seemed to take more interest in the health of my thyroid. He gave attention to a 2 cm nodule that my last endo identified and did nothing with. My new endo conducted ultra sounds and a biopsy. The biopsy results revealed that my nodule is non-cancerous but it was also not begin. My nodule cells are just irregular. They could remain irregular for the rest of my life or there is also the potential that they can become cancer at some point. Thyroid cancer is very, very slow growing. Regardless of what they are or would be, the option of having surgery to remove that part of my thyroid was completely in my hands. I could chose to monitor to the grow or I could choose to cut it out. So this is the part of my story that brings me here today...the whole idea of any type of surgery scares me. I don't want to be put to sleep and I know it is vain but don't want the scar on my neck. But I know that I want to live the rest of my life free and clear of the potential of cancer. My thyroid is sick to begin with and hasn't been working probably since I was 16 years old. I already take 224 mcg of synthetic thyroid replacement medication. I came to the conclusion that my thyroid is useless and they may as well remove the whole thing. My total thyroidectomy is scheduled for Feb 3rd. So I have been thinking about my endo's "half a peanut" theory and began to seriously consider lap band surgery. My mom has gastric bypass surgery a few years back and it has given her a new life. She has no regrets other than not doing it sooner. I want to live the next 30 years of my life differently from the way that I currently do. I want to run and play with my son. I want to look good standing next to my hubby. This posting is long enough, I am sure I don't need tell you guys everything that I want because I am sure they are same things that you want from life. So spoke to my husband, my mom and friend and I think I feel good about pursuing this. I am going to attend a Introductory Bariatric Meeting on 2/13. I know that this isn't the going to be the final resolution I was searching for. It is not a magic pill. But I believe that it a tool that will put me in the rigth direction. Thanks for your time!

Hi, I had my gastric sleeve done in August of 2010 and i weighed my heaviest at 324 on June 28 of 2010. I had a complication in my surgery that left an open wound for a month...I also started having severe stomach spasms in November of 2010 that kept escalating to where by May of 2011 I had every X-ray and test known to man and surgeon did exploratory surgery..said he found nothing but after surgery I never saw him or his NP to tell me what might have been causing it except scar tissue. Okay but despite that I managed by May of 2011 to get to my lowest wt of 216..slowly through summer after drama of surgeon vs me & not hearing from him at all after exploratory surgery to see how i was...I decided not to go back to my surgeon bc something wasn't right ...I was very happy and feeling good about myself but i gained a few pounds got up to 222...In September 2011 I was fired from my job which was a major upset b/c i was so shocked..and I was completely heartbroken. Started seeing a therapist in August before b/c of work but after fired could not afford and didn't feel like he was listening to other things I was trying to speak about..Fell into worst depression for 3 months bc could not find a job...I did have one thing keeping me up my NO Saints bc i had season tickets bought before i lost job. But gradually we get up to 229....Did not get a job until February of 2012..And got thrown into a shark tank where i didn't get lunch break and was eating junk and not sleeping right (that had been happening since September..staying up all night sleeping all day to get through pain)...wt gradually creeping up to 240...lost 10 lbs to 230 now back up to 240... I am devastated not only have i had failure in my job area but i failed at having my surgery..I paid lg sum of money and a year ago i was very happy...needless to say this is my fault i have not exercised and the stress and depression has taken over. I am so embarrassed to see some friends b/c they are very critical (only b/c they want me to be successful with wt loss) and I just feel like a big loser. I am trying to get back on track. Then a week ago I had to put my cat of 15 yrs to sleep...I had first severe attack that lasted 2 hrs since February of 2011 (had gallbladder out before sleeve so not that)in which i became so weak and nauseated from pain I almost called ambulance ...then another one last night. Its almost as if my stomach knew that i had insurance so i can continue investigation on why this is occurring b/c I have met so many wt loss its that NEVER had this and they drink carbonated beverages on daily basis ( I may have 16 oz a week if i have any) and its not food instigated..Its like someone is trying to rip something out of me. Has anyone else had wt gain? Did you feel embarrassed and like you failed once again...am I alone in this ..I am trying I have gone back to eating my Protein bars and making my drinks..Trying to be more consciousness (sp?) of all i eat..About to start walking in the morning bc i have to exercise for stress and to get metabolism going. Going to my medical dr Monday and embarrassed b/c i have gained 20 lbs. But I will not go over 240 I will NOT go back..I have to get myself together refocus on ME...i lost that at some point. I have had so much negativity that now instead of feeling good for looking a lot better that i did at 324..i only see that severely obese person. I plan on also going to counseling..which i should have done a year ago when i was having issues with my surgeon and stomach pain..b/c it was a horrible experience.. Anyway, not whining or blaming anything but myself and bad circumstances but you always read about all the success stories ....is anyone out there having any issues like myself or have any words of support..I really need someone who has been through wt loss surgery who understands b/c people who haven't don't although they mean well.. Thank you for listening/reading Tami

:omg: at 2 Philly steak sandwiches a month out!! That is crazy!!! :confused: Warning: Tough love coming.... Re: drinking during meals. We all CAN do it. We choose NOT to do it for maximum results. Re: eating everything.... The band does not make healthy choices for you. If you choose to shove carbs and crap down there, the weight will keep coming and you have wasted your time, money and energy. You have to make healthy choices!! If you can eat eat eat a lot.... then fine. Eat 4 boiled chicken breasts if you want to. Eat a whole package of steamed carrots. For munching, grab a plain yogurt or a banana. I think you were seriously misled if your surgeon told you that the band will do all the work and choices for you. The band is NOT bypass and is a dual partnership in which you must diet and exercise and use the band as a tool for weightloss. It will not be a catch all and it will not stop you from eating stuff that causes weight gain. Re: a month post op.... When did you start eating hard solids like that? What week? What were your post op instructions? Who is your surgeon? Where were you banded? Take your small bites slowly, chew well and rest between each bite, about 15 full seconds. DON'T drink before, during meals or after meals. Eat for maximum of 20 minutes and stop. Give it time to settle in your pouch first. The band WILL work and do its job. You have to work with it. :hungry: Once you deal with the head hunger, life will start getting better, I promise. Just hang in there!:clap2:

Hi everyone! I have a cold and didn't feel like going to a party that I was invited to. Plus I didn't want to deal with all the forbidden foods that would be there. Wouldn't you think being on a liquid diet would be the same as Phase 1? While I was on the liquid diet, I was using Slim Fast Low Carb which has 3 grams of carbs. I need to go grocery shopping to start the South Beach diet. I am having a problem though because my doctor doesn't want me to eat fresh veggies until 6 weeks post op. And no red meat. But I can still do meat and cooked veggies. But that means no salads. I don't know what his reasoning would be for no salads for 2 more weeks. The problem is I don't feel well from this cold so I don't feel like going grocery shopping. So far today all I have had is a slice of deli turkey and a slice of Provlone cheese. Last night for dinner I had a lean cuisine chicken that had chicken and cooked spinach. Besides that, I had a can of slim fast. I got 64 oz of Water in. I haven't lost any more weight in the last week. I am not happy about that. It was so nice to see the scale moving down. Audree Congratulations! I knew you would have had to have lost at least as much as I did, from being on liquids. I am anxious to get my first fill. I have a medication that I sometimes take for sleep, because I have horrible insomnia. It is known to cause weight gain. It makes me crave sweets horribly. Well, another weekend here. I am glad I don't have little kids in the house eating sweets in front of me. I feel like I don't have much willpower left. Yesterday I wanted a cookie really badly!! I hope I lose another lb soon. If I don't, I get in that mood "I might as well eat since I am not losing anyway" That's old thinking. I am glad all of you are here. It's encouraging to have all of you, and being able to read the board.

Hello all, My name is Lisa and I live in Brooklyn, NY. I am considering lap band surgery and I wanted to hear about other's experiences on the process. I lost 100 pounds on my own 2002-2003 and have unfortunately gained ALL of it back in the past two years. :Banane37: This new weight gain is causing many health problems and my doctor has only one answer - lose weight. Which is annoying in itself (I'm sure you all can relate). One of my initial concerns is that I live alone and I am wondering about the recovery time and how others did it if they were alone. I also wanted to just commiserate and maybe get local referrals. I have been VERY hesitant to do this surgery - but I feel that I am too young to be feeling the way I do and feel that it would be a nearly impossible feat to lose the weight on my own. Look forward to hearing from you! Lisa

I was just thinking about my life and how many times I have lost weight. I then was wondering after losing the weight how often did I put it back on plus more...... After repetative weight loss and weight gain the final DIET I was on was the Adkins Diet and I lost 55 pounds and then after 6 months of losing I gained 75 pounds in 5 months. I couldn't take it anymore..... I truly believed that I was a lost case and just believe that I am supposed to be 251 pounds and DEPRESSED..... Whether it was the band or finally my 41 years at the time and the respect for life I began rethinking my health and how badly I wanted to live without medical issues. I have kept my weight off for almost 3 years and I think that I am finally cured of the addiction of food but I will still never trust myself. How many of you have finally realized the meaning of food and the necessity of it. Has this experience helped you with keeping your weight off? Are you still afraid of the past coming in front of your eyes again? Have you learned from the band or hve you just always relied on the fills to make you eat less? I am terrified to go backwards and to some (my family) they believe that I have become addicted now to the healthy life and only know how to promote that..... I have no right to judge anyone who is different than myself but if you question me about my experiences and my new found knowledge of healthy living I will promote it. Josephine

So I am waiting in the lobby of my surgeon's office yesterday for my 2 week post op appt. After a long, hard road, I finally got my Lap Band on April 10th. This attractive obese woman sitting next to me speaks up and warns me that the doctor is running approx. 45 minutes behind. We engage in small talk and when one of the staff members notice me and comments on my recent weight loss, she asks me when I had surgery. I tell her, and she was amazed that I was looking so "full of energy" so quickly. She is clearly obese, but tells she had the RNY surgery...6 years ago! (Not done by my surgeon, but another in a different town) It made me wonder what weight she may have started from. She is bundled up in a sweatshirt (it's 74 degrees) and I ask her if she's cold. She tells me she is just trying to hide her fat rolls. We laugh and I tell her she is in the safest place to not worry about that at the moment! She goes on to share with me that although she had orginally lost a significant amount of weight, she had started gaining. She said her weight gain was now out of control. She warned me..."whatever you do, make sure you change the way you eat!" "I could eat anything I wanted and still lost weight. I never learned to make any changes". I told her how the Band works, and how we must change our eating habits immediately after surgery. I told her that we still have absorbtion of all the calories and fat, etc. We are 'forced' to change our lifestyles as this is only a tool. She thought that was wonderful and wished that dietary changes had been stressed to her for long term success. She had come to see my surgeon to see if there was any further surgery that could be done to correct the stretched out pouch she'd created and hopefully get her back on track. I felt bad for her. I can't imagine going through all of this (or any other kind of WLS) only to gain it all back. How sad. She knew she was going to have to change her lifestyle. I have been struggling with hunger since surgery, but have so far found the will power and strength to resist eating too much, too often or the wrong food. I hope I am able to do this until my first fill or however many fills it takes to keep my Band working hard! I am so grateful that we are told up front that this is not easy. That we will have to work for it. That this is only a tool. I'm glad that I will get the satisfaction in the end of all this, knowing that I worked for the weight loss. That is didn't come easy. That I had to exercise and choose healthy foods. So meeting her, I realized that I don't want to see myself in a surgeon's office in 6 years warning someone else about watching what they eat and taking care of the gift we were given! So I just wanted to share and encourage everyone that we can do this! We were given this wonderful tool to help us get healthy, not just skinny. Let's make the best of it! Learn from the wonderful staff of doctors, nurses and dieticians! They are there to help us, and keep us accountable. And of course, we have eachother! Have a wonderful day and a great life! ~C

Jess are you sure about the Syntrax matrix I mean at your stage this could be totally way off base, congratulations by the way you have done wonderfully! As is said I do a lot of taste testing and the people that make the syntrax products , Si03 is the name of the company, they sent me tons of syntrax nectars to try I had asked for matrix but they said in an email " Syntrax Matrix Products are not Weight Loss supplements, they are Meal Replacements, and as such do not meet Bariatric guidelines for post surgical usage." Now you are well past normal post surgery so It probably doesn't apply to you. Blerdgirl- first, every surgeon is different evidently. I know in the hospital and for the first 2 days after surgery I am not to have anything besides Water or Clear liquids. No Protein or anything until day 3. My surgeon even went so far as to tell me the nurses in the hospital may offer me Protein drinks, but do not take them. Now again that's just me, but It seems that a lot of people on here do not take protein on the first few days. I know you asked about sugar and carbs the issue I have is if a mix has say 10 carbs per use that could put you at s high as 40 carbs for the day, which is a lot for a bariatric surgery patient. Sugar and carbs derail weight loss faster than a drive through window. Also sugars and carbs are a huge contributing factor to dumping as well. Basically I can tell you 3 things my team ( surgeon and nutritionist) are adamant about. 1. Always protein first then carbs or sugar if you absolutely have to. 2. Weight loss supplement protein mixes and drinks are different pro Meal Replacement shakes or powders. ( more on this, 90% of protein powders are marketed to weight GAIN, They are designed to add bulk to people doing bodybuilding and heavy heavy weight training. Which is something a bariatric patient most certainly does not want. Many protein powders etc will say on the back in small print..This is not a weight loss product". 3. stick to whey Isolate protein only, hemp, soy, and other Proteins are not readily absorbable in a sleeve patient, they take too long to be absorbed and by the time they would be they have already past the point of digestion, they can also make traveling through your intestines and lower GI tract , rougher than you would like. You may want to post a question to the forums in general, and ask " how much sugar and carbs should I have? I think you would get a lot of good answers. Just as a caveat, I take in less sugar and carbs in my pre op diet than whats in those shakes.

I am 3 weeks post op and from when I started my pre op diet until now, I had lost 17 lbs. I weighed myself this morning and I have gained 3. I have followed the doctors instructions and diet very closely :-(

Hello everyone, Well my name is Angel and I just recieved word from our insurance that they approve Lapband and I had seen the commercials almost everyday and just decided to see the doctor to see if I qualify, I did! I have been battling my weight now for 4 yrs ever since I had my eptopic pregnancy I have just been getting bigger and bigger no matter what diet or new exercise I did. Well we finally got stationed here in Jacksonville and I went to meet my new doctor and tell her everything that has been going on, we did the blood work and also found out I have PCOS which not only explains the weight gain but my infertility as well. So now I am medicated for that and again was approved for the lapband so I go and meet with that doctor. I am really excited and have read through some of the forums on this site and I just feel more ready to get this done so I can start my new life too. Well I will let u all know how my appointment goes! Talk 2 u then!Oh i did forget to mention I weigh 240 and am only 4'11 so yeah it is time for this new life to come already!

Tmrrw makes 1 week postop for me. I gained 4.2lbs while being in the hospital for surgery. I’m down those extra pounds & 2.6lbs on top of that. I know that the extra weight came from IV & probably also water retention. I woke up out of anesthesia burping & the following day, started to pass gas. I was finally able to poop this morning with the help of milk of magnesia. I’m able to get down 2 protein shakes a day, crystal light & other fluids. Can’t wait til I see the true weight come off. I’m big on taking measurements & celebrating NSVs, but it was a shocker to see the weight gain after surgery. You can keep up with my journey on IG @CurlyGirl_GetsFit

Cheryl is an obesity health activist who writes as My Bariatric Life on Health Central and PM360 Online. She recently launched her new site, My Bariatric Life, and you can follow her on social media, including on Twitter @MyBariatricLife and on Google+. Weight Gain, Gastric Bypass Surgery, and Lasting Weight Loss Cheryl was an active teen, but she went from “fit to fat” as she turned to processed food. At 5’7”, she got up to a weight of 285 pounds and a size 24W. Cheryl got the gastric bypass surgery in 2003. She had diabetes, celiac disease, depression, acid reflux, asthma, and hypertension. She lost over 100 pounds, managed to get off of 9 of her 10 prescription drugs, and does not have chronic back pain anymore. You can see before and after pictures documenting her transformation by watching this video. A Typical Day in Cheryl’s Life As proof that you can follow a diet without red meat and stick to a high-protein weight loss surgery diet, here is a sample day’s diet in Cheryl’s life. The following day has 1,789 calories, 165 grams of protein, and 79 grams of carbohydrates. Breakfast 2-egg omelet with homemade creamed spinach (dairy-free) and turkey bacon Snack Coffee with coconut milk, roasted coconut juice, and egg white protein powder Mineral water Vitamins/supplements Scivation Xtend intraworkout drink with branched chain amino acids Lunch Tuna salad Baby spring mix and grape tomatoes with lemon vinaigrette Terra Real vegetable chips Dinner Smoked turkey leg, no skin 1 cup turnip greens Snack Egg white protein powder in water Getting Rid of the Traces of Obesity After losing over 100 pounds after the gastric bypass surgery in 2003, Cheryl had a lot of extra skin. In 2006, she met a plastic surgeon whom she really liked. In 2013, she decided to get a tummy tuck. The extra skin hadn’t gone away after weight loss surgery, and she wanted to get rid of it. As she describes below, she was delighted with her surgeon and the results of the tummy tuck, and decided to go further. I went from a size 14 jeans being tight to a perfect size 8 in just 4-months. I was so thrilled with the transformation that I decided to do "all of me." In October 2013, Dr. Joseph F. Capella revised the tummy tuck to a lower body lift, and performed a medial thigh lift, extended arm lift, and breast lift. Dr. Capella removed 11 pounds of skin and one liter of fat, and this enabled me to get active in ways that I was unable to with my hanging pannis and inner thighs that rubbed together. I ran my first 3k with my daughter and granddaughter and eventually I was running 5k. What's more, the muscle plication from the tummy tuck placed renewed constriction on my pouch so I am full with less food, as well, I tightened up on my diet by doing Whole30 [a strict 30-day low-carb diet] and going Paleo. In total, I lost 50 inches and 50 pounds after my body contouring plastic surgery. Today I am a size 2, down from a 24W before my gastric bypass surgery. You can go to HealthCentral to read about Cheryl’s decision to get total body contouring after her tummy tuck. She describes the emotional rollercoaster of the experience, the surgery, and her long road to recovery. She is still dealing with complications from her brachioplasty, but stresses the end goal and her luck in finding a fantastic surgeon who cares about her. She didn’t stop there, and instead decided “to reach for the stars” and see a facial plastic surgeon. In one surgery, Dr. Catherine Winslow took about 15 years off my face, restoring the once pretty face that I had when I was thin. I had a total of 10 procedures: deep plane face lift, neck lift, upper eye lid lift, SMAS (superficial muscular aponeurotic system) to tear troughs and lips, lip lift, chin implant, 35% TCA peel, Botox and filler. I go back from time to time to Nurse Triste at Dr. Winslow's practice for filler and Botox. I look at this maintenance routine along the same vein as maintaining my hair cut and color. Destined to Be a Healer Do you believe in fate? When Cheryl visited Guatemala in May of 2011, a Mayan shaman told her her Mayan symbols showed she was a healer. She could, he said, heal herself and others. As Cheryl tells it below, she wasn’t so sure at first. Then she figured it out. I visited a Mayan Shaman when I was in Guatemala back in May 2011. He said my Mayan symbols told that I am a healer. I can heal myself and I can heal others. He said that I needed to heal others, to not keep this gift to myself, or else I would experience sickness or pain and that this was the only way to cure my chronic back pain, which I had suffered with for years. The Shaman said that I need to realize my true self. The Shaman also said the symbols revealed that I am creative — that I knew for sure, but I wondered was he right about me being a healer? So I tried to heal my beloved mother who was stricken with a rare disease. And I tried to heal my beloved boxer dog, Cindi Lu, who was stricken with an aggressive cancer. But I could not save them and felt that I had failed my destiny. Then in 2012 during a personal development training, I discussed this matter with the instructor. And he replied that maybe I was meant to heal people with my words. I did not give much thought to it after that until one night in 2013, I bolted up from my bed and realized that both the shaman and the instructor were right! Healing with Words Cheryl’s work has exploded. She describes the growth of her writing and advocacy career since finding her voice. I began writing as My Bariatric Life for the HealthCentral Obesity vertical in March 2011, nearly eight years after my gastric bypass. I started out writing just a few articles per month as a health guide -- a patient who would share her real world experience in defeating obesity, diabetes, hypertension, asthma, and GERD. My work grew legs. I now write 18 articles and develop two recipes per month for HealthCentral where I have a following of roughly 75,000 unique monthly readers. I also write a quarterly patient advocacy column for PM360 Magazine under my name, Cheryl Ann Borne, and I am a long-standing member of their editorial advisory board. Cheryl also makes her voice heard by posting as My Bariatric Life on social media, including Flickr, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest. She is active on BariatricPal and a site for cosmetic procedure patients called RealSelf. Her goal is to provide fair and trustworthy reviews. And this month I will begin writing a monthly opinion piece as My Bariatric Life for BariatricPal. I also am exploring opportunities with the Obesity Action Coalition, and in the past have partnered with Obesity PPM and the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). ! Daring Move to a New Career as a Digital Health Strategy Consultant Cheryl has been in the health industry since before her surgery. She explains her career as a digital health strategy consultant. My career has been as a promotions strategist, writer, and designer in the healthcare space with the last 12-yrs in digital marketing. I’ve worked with pharmaceutical and biotech companies and digital health ad agencies and non-CME medical education agencies. I help them to understand the evolving digital health ecosystem and, based on their unique market circumstances, specifically how to communicate with patients and physicians in meaningful ways via digital channels and to ultimately achieve better health outcomes. Cheryl is determined to help people improve their lives. Transforming healthcare is important to me. It's is all about the patient. I want to make a difference; I want to help people live healthier lives. When her company cut her position in 2013, she took a positive approach and decided to focus her energy on fighting obesity. She developed a business plan as a digital health strategy consultant with an emphasis on growing My Bariatric Life, her obesity health activist brand. Paleo Follower and Recipe Developer Cheryl believes in the benefits of the Paleolithic Diet. It is a high-protein diet that you can follow after weight loss surgery. It emphasizes meat, fish, poultry, fruits, vegetables, eggs, nuts, seeds, and oils. It forbids grains, processed foods, dairy products, and potatoes. She plans to help others follow this way of eating. One aspect of my business plan is to launch the brand Borne Appétit in order to teach healthy eating habits and show busy families/couples/singles that it is easy to prepare real food, real simple, and break the cycle of time starvation and over reliance on convenience/processed foods and obesity. To truly understand what it means to eat healthy and break this cycle was something I had to achieve in my own life, and I want to share with people what I have learned through years of experience and experiment. I find the Paleolitihic Diet works best for me…and I enjoy the art of creating delicious recipes within those constraints. I also eat no red meat, only fish and fowl, so this adds an extra level of complexity, which I find stimulating to develop recipes that are not mundane or repetitious. Valuable Life Lessons You can be sure Cheryl has learned a lot of valuable lessons from her weight loss surgery and plastic surgery experiences. She knows the value of maintaining her results, living life fully, and challenging herself to live a life she loves. She also recognizes she has gained freedom and an ability to grow. Beyond the physical transformation are (very unexpected) emotional and spiritual transformations. I’ve returned to some of my roots: ideals and philosophies around the nature of existence that I had walled off (or perhaps ate to insulate myself against) when the emotional pain became too much for my sensitive nature. Plastic surgery was very freeing for me; it freed my jailed spirit. I’ve never been a wallflower but when it came to my body I was timid because I lacked body confidence. And this trickled over into other areas of my life. There were parts of my life that I hid, or situations in which I could not share my feelings, because I was inhibited by the fear of being rejected or judged. And that’s no longer true. I am now able to be my true self, comfortable in my nakedness both physically and emotionally. I am still learning and growing in these areas, particularly in understanding soul relationships and the expression of real love. We are here to play and experience as much as we possibly can. We are here to grow. Often it is through times of adversity that we grow the most because these times force us to get out of our comfort zones. I have come to understand that there are only two emotions. We are either acting out of love or we are acting out of fear, which is the opposite of love. All other emotions are a derivative of love (compassion, forgiveness, self-sacrifice) or a derivative of fear (selfishness, retaliation, deceit). From now on I choose always to act out of love. Do I let go of control and trust my intuition and follow my heart even when it defies my rational faculties or can’t be proven? If I am to act out of love, then yes. Otherwise I return to acting out of fear. As well, I have learned that I need to protect myself from the negative energies of toxic people — those emotional vampires who can turn my love into fear. An Exciting Year to Come Cheryl is expecting a big 2015 in addition to growing her presence as My Bariatric Life and working on Borne Appétit. At the Pharma Marketing Summit in Palm Beach in May, she will be presenting as My Bariatric Life and sharing her story of defeating obesity and its co-morbidities. Also new for this year, I'll finally launch my websites, a dream I've had for a couple of years. I've already launched MyBariatricLife.org for transformative information on defeating obesity and co-morbid diseases. I'll also launch my healthy recipe site BorneAppetit.com and my eating healthy on-the-road travel site BorneVoyage.com. These sites will help a lot of people. It definitely looks as though the Mayan shaman was right when he said Cheryl is a healer. She has come a long way toward healing herself through weight loss surgery, plastic surgery, and healthy living, and she is dedicated to helping others become healthier. Don’t forget to follow Cheryl on social media and through her channel on HealthCentral, and watch for her new monthly opinion piece to be published on BariatricPal! Please click here to read My Bariatric Life's articles in BariatricPal's Weight Loss Surgery Magazine.

I was sleeved May 30, 2013. I lost 80 lbs and had never really had any problem with weight gain until last year. Then my husband retired and a month later found he had prostate cancer then successful surgery. I eat when stressed and surprise..... Before I realized it I had regained 40 lbs. Now I plan every nite to get back on track and fail before 10:00 each day. So disappointed with myself.

first of all, pouch resets are discouraged by most dietitians. It just puts you back into "diet mentality". Just go back to basics - protein first, then non-starchy vegetables, and then, if you're still hungry, a small serving of fruit or complex carbs. And log everything you eat so you know how much and when you're eating. secondly, the vast majority of us have a rebound weight gain of 10-20 lbs after we hit our lowest weight. It's just your body settling in to a weight it's comfortable at. I used to "attend" Unjury's Zoom support groups occasionally, which often feature speakers. There was a really interesting dietitian on once who said at her clinic, they don't even consider it a regain unless the person has gained more than 15% of their lowest weight (so for you, that's 25.5 lbs). I regained about 20 lbs in year 3 (it usually occurs in year 2 or 3, after you hit your lowest weight). It really bothered me for a long time, but clearly this is where my body wants to be. I could always go lower by cutting my calories, but then, I've been sitting at this weight for quite awhile, so it evidently is not as important to me as I think it is, otherwise i'd be doing exactly that (cutting calories). I know it'd be a struggle trying to get down to my lowest weight again and staying there, because my body seems to be comfortable where it is. Do-able, but it would be a lot of work and then a challenge to stay there. I've kind of given up the ghost at this point. if after tracking you find you're taking in too many calories and are doing too much eating while you're not really hungry, then do what you need to to get back on track (the suggestions people had of going back to your clinic for support - therapy and/or dietitian is a good one). But if that's not really the case, if this is just the normal rebound that most of us experience, then know it's just that...normal - and also, expected.

I am five months post-op and have chronic sinusitis. I asked my surgeon if I could take Flonase (an inhaled corticosteroid) and he said I could. I was very concerned about potential weight gain but he simply told me to take the Flonase. Has anyone else post-surgery used inhaled or topical corticosteroids? If so, did you have any weight gain or other side effects?

I started Nuvaring because I was getting nauseous with birth control and it is working great. No weight gain and all of the benefits of being on BC (greatly minimized TOM issues). I highly recommend it. I should have gone with this option years ago.

I am so happy to have my lapband. I am down around 37 lbs since June . I'm considered a slow loser at 1 lb per week. But I am super happy with not being hungry and slave to food. You can gain weight back but you just have to make sure you are at optimal fill level. That helps you restrict your calories. I think gastric bipass patients have more weight gain long term. That is what I have read anyways. Hope this information helps you. I cannot live without my band now. I love it.

Lately I have been thinking that this will never really be over for me. I have been reading about people who had bypass surgery many years ago and needed a "tune-up" or an over-stitch, which is apparently pretty simple and done on an out-patient basis. Personally, I would rather submit to some kind of surgery every ten years or so than further damage my body with out-of-control weight gain. At age 48, I am finally done beating myself up over this. I truly believe that if intelligence, my best effort and a powerful desire to do be healthy were enough, I would be at my goal weight without surgery right now. Best wishes to you all who are trying so hard to get this very heavy monkey off your back!

I went on a cruise the week before my weight in and I wrecked everything. there was so much food around 24/7 came home with weight gain ???? Sent from my SM-G928V using the BariatricPal App

I think genetics play a huge role here- like with stretch marks. I have HORRIBLE stretch marks from pregnancy and weight gain on my belly, so I'm going to guess that because of those I'm most likely going to have a lot of tummy wrinkling once I'm done. I also think it's dependent on how your fat is distributed. I imagine someone who is 300lbs who carries weight mostly in their abdomen is going to have a much worse tummy than those who are 300lbs but the weight is evenly distributed across their body.

I would not worry to much about the weight gain. I would attribute that to like post op when you go from liquids and mushies to regular solid food. You see a lot of people on here who gain during that period. Give it a couple of days, make the right food choices and exercise. Wishing you positive thoughts and good health.