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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 one of those who originally was going for the lapband, mainly because I am younger and didn't want something permanently done to my insides. After researching thoroughly about all the complications, weight gain, etc that comes with a lot of lapband patients, I switched to the sleeve. My reasons for not even considering gastric bypass?: Didn't want my system rerouted. A lot higher chance of dumping syndrome. Malabsorption issues, which can lead to malnutrition. The weight loss is just about the same as the sleeve. Obstruction seems to happen more often, like with the lapband. Going to support group meetings, I notice that people who had the bypass looked more sickly than ones who had the sleeve. Not everyone did, but just a trend I noticed. Right now, I only get acid reflux when I have something with bad butter (like the buttery topping on popcorn), margarine is fine though. I don't have to take a daily pill for it, I just pop a couple of Tums when I have it and it goes away pretty quickly.

okay, gotcha, I misunderstood - I thought you were doing the revision in one surgery. So, here is my story - I had my band removed on a Thursday in September, I returned to work the following Monday. I was feeling poorly, I think reaction to the anesthesia (and maybe even a little depression over the whole band failure?). I was okay, sorta, but then got sick with a virus. I wound up working Mon-Wed that week and taking Thurs and Friday off. i think if I hadn't gotten that virus, I would have been okay with just the "long weekend" to recover. The port incision was sore for awhile though. The other thing that happened was that starting about a week after the band came out, my hunger went through the roof. I hadn't had Fluid in my band for years, but once it was removed, I felt like my stomach was a bottomless pit. I finally got control over the weight gain by doing a low carb thing with my family doc, just to kinda hold me over until I was sleeved. For me, the Sleeve was a much harder recovery. Part of the reason for that is you have very restricted fluid and calories - so in addition to all the surgery recovery you just aren't getting the fuel you are used to getting! Some people bounce right back and go to work in a week or so after the sleeve surgery. Many people needed more time, I am one of them even though I didn't have any complications. I am almost 4 weeks out, have been back at work for a week and am just exhausted. Some days are better, some are worse, but I am certainly not back to my normal self. Having said all that, I still think it is worth it. I am already enjoying being a bit lighter on my feet!

Hey..yes you will have to go through the stages and if anything it is stricter than the sleeve.. I had my revision on 29/7 for reflux and weight gain and I'm happy to say I've had no reflux since surgery. I have to take a Zoton tablet before bed for 3-6 months so whether that is controlling it or the surgery I'm not sure, but when I was in hospital I wasn't taking anything..[emoji4]

I had the band in 2010, revision to sleeve in 2014 due to major band slip (couldn’t even drink water with empty band), and now having acid reflux and weight gain following a hysterectomy in 2016 and looking for options to revise again. Anyone else have a similar situation and any success with insurance approval?

Alana, I am 8 months post op, and down 100 pounds. Everyday I struggle with the thought that I might gain it back. I am scared to death that I might gain. And somehow, my old friend--- food--- always pops up to comfort me. I struggle not to eat junk food when I am worried about weight gain. Doesn't make sense does it? I am trying so hard to break the habit of turning to food when I am stressed. It is a life long habit, and SO hard to break!!! I was 258 pounds at my highest. I am now 158 or 159 depending on the day. But some days I actually go up to 160 or 161. Those are the days it is hardest to stay away from the foods that have always comforted me. I tell myself over and over that I shouldn't eat ___________ (you fill in the blanks, it might be Twinkies, HO-HOs, mashed potatoes, ice cream, etc. But for sure it is a comfort food.) But somedays I just can't stop myself. It makes me worry about my long term success. Every one says how well I have done, but they don't know I am scared spitless that I might wreck it and eat my way back up to 250+ pounds. The main reason I continue to frequent this forum is that it helps me keep my determination to stay where I am and continue to lose. I am so thankful for the wonderful people here who encourage me to keep on this path I started in June. Best of luck on yur journey!

@@sweetnell I hope you are not offended by a newbie giving you advice. I am not a veteran, being only two weeks after surgery, but I have some ideas. These are some of the things I was taught will be lifelong habits I need to maintain. Are you drinking at least 64 oz. of fluids (preferably water) per day? Are you eating three meals, with half the meal being Protein, one-quarter fruit and veggies, and one-quarter other carbs? Are you watching your portion sizes (for instance, generally 3 oz. of protein at each meal)? If you are eating the recommended amount of protein, you should not be experiencing physical hunger. Could you be experiencing "head hunger"? If so, you will need to deal with that somehow, maybe through therapy or some other mechanism. They tell us that the #1 cause of weight gain after surgery is grazing. You need to figure out a way to stop that. Maybe talking to a NUT would help.

I've been on Nexplanon (implant) since about February. Been happy with it. No periods anymore, just a day or so of spotting every two months. I had it for four months before my surgery and I did not have any issues with weight gain with it. The only thing that is weird is that I have to use blood pressure cuffs on my right arm and everyone seems like they like to do it on the left arm.

Has anyone lost around 130 pounds, had breast lift with augmentation then got pregnant? What did your boobies look like after? did you need to get a new boob job done?did you already have kids prior to your boob job? I have a total of 130 pounds to lose, I have lost 92 so far and I hate my boobs. I have 3 children already and dont plan on having any more for another 5 years. When I get to goal I wanna get breast lift with augmentation but at the same time don't because I know they can sag. I cant help thinking how much can they possibly change though? with all the weight gain I stretched them out allot and 3 pregnancies . I never was able to breast feed so I wont be this time and Now that I have vsg I wont gain that much weight if I do get pregnant 5 years from now! is there anyone out there that has been through this? What do you think? what was your experience? Thanks

I've had 3 gradual unfils during my pregnancy. I had my first at 8 weeks which really helped, and then i had another one about halfway through. I was so scared by how wide open i felt and i literally thought i was going to start gaining uncontrollably, but eventually that fill started to get tighter and i settled back in. Then in the 3rd trimester i was too tight again, and back i went for my third unfil and that seems to have done the trick too. I've had very good success with this gradual unfil method. My weight gain has been very reasonable. I'm 35 weeks and have gained around 15 lbs which my doctor has been just fine with (my BMI before pregnancy was just a tick over the healthy range). This gradual unfil method has also worked for me because all my adjustments are 100% covered by my insurance so i have no pressure to limit the number of visits i have. I know others have to pay quite a bit or travel long distances so that effects their decisions. Anyway, i'm not exactly sure why my band has gotten tighter throughout, but i have assumed that in the beginning it had to do with the hormones, and now it's just the baby slamming my organs around and messing with my band. I'm curious to see what happens when i deliver. Part of me thinks that once the hormones die down a bit i might just be wide open! But i'm not worried, b/c i'll just go get a slight fill. My doctor and i are happy as long as i'm able to eat enough to nourish myself and my baby. Just wanted to share my experience with everyone. I've had a fantastic pregnancy with no morning sickness (if i had been throwing up i would have had to revise my unfil strategy for sure!) I'm just about in my final month and now everything is harder, but i feel like having controlled my weight gain has really helped me to feel good during this pregnancy (but maybe it's just been luck, who knows!) Good luck ladies!

I had revision due to weight gain a few months ago. I went from a sleeve to bypass. It was covered by my insurance but I still had to go through all the normal hoops to get to it. By the way it’s going very well and I’m happy I’ve done it

Jcool, I actually did the pre-op for 1 month prior to the surgery. I am 5'2" and my starting weight was 265. I was terrified my liver would not shrink enough. Also, once I booked my surgery, I knew if I didn't start the pre-op ASAP I would probably eat myself into more weight gain out of nervousness/anxiety before the surgery. I still had some 'cheat' meals. My last big meal before I started the Clear liquids only was sashimi and I even had some mochi (japanese rice cake dessert). I weighed 148.5 the morning of surgery. I had no complications, so I was really relived. When I did the pre-op diet, I did isogenix. I don't do them anymore, because they are 250 calories per shake, but I followed the isogenix program completely for the month of pre op, 2 shakes a day and one meal with grean veggies and lean Protein. It was easier to follow than I anticipated. The 3 days of clear liquids only I thought I would claw someones eyes out, lol, but it was over fast enough. Now that I am post op, I am drinking a variety of shakes. On this forum, under diet and nutrition, protien shakes, there are some forums about protien shakes and where to buy 'samples' I bought about 100+ different samples, and each day I have 2 different ones. I have a notebook I write down the name of each sample, and make notes about it. When I am done with all the samples, I will go back and review all of my notes and then order the powders I think taste best. I am doing it this way because I have read a lot of people who go and buy tubs of protein powders (which cost 40 to 60 each) and then don't like them. When I was on clear liquids immediately after surgery, I drank Isopure premixed drinks. They are interesting. My best way to describe them is they taste like bitter koolaide at first, and the after taste is like skim milk. They were not gross, they just weren't incredibly good, lol. They were 40 grams of protien each though. The main thing I focused on after surgery was getting my liquids in. I didn't want to get dehydrated, and yes, it was tough being sure I drank 64 oz of liquid a day. You can only sip at first. I am not quite 1 month out now, and can drink fairly normally again, but I certainly can't gulp anything down. Message me anytime with any questions! I am so glad I can be a resource and help! I am excited for you and your daughter!

Not a happy Justine . I KNEW I had bronchitis. It was brushed off to be allergies. So with surgery being on the 12th this freaked me out a bit so I went to the walk in last night and got my cocktail of drugs so I can be ok for surgery Bee sting: well I had to just mention it because I am the biggest freak when it comes to bees and it nailed me and then my arm looked all weird. Apparently bees are bad this year here. Yeeeeouch!!! One more feel sorry for myself moment- My aunt felt the need to tell me she was glad I'm Doin this surgery. I saw her yesterday and she said that "she couldn't believe it when I saw u - it's only been a few months" (Speaking of my weight gain). This would be the weight gain during my 6 month NUT appts that she is referring to. Feeling like a winner today

I have been doing Curves workouts from 5 weeks after my surgery to present....and I attempt to get in 5 hours a week. I'm really working hard to tone up and regain my center/core. Well, I was on the stretch out machine and this average weight women - started chatting up that the circuit really does not "do" anything for weightloss but that doing cardio makes the biggest difference. Well, I cannot completely deny that but I made the comment that I was attempting to build back my core and muscle structure. She asked why....well, I have not been shy about sharing that I had Lapband....so I said, well, I've recently lost 85 lbs due to lapband, nutrition changes, and working out. The woman started sniffling CRYING and asked if I just hated myself to get that big. I was dumbfounded - I've never been asked that, nor seen that reaction! I said that I did not hate myself but that the gain happened slowly over many years due to illness and it just got to a breaking point to want to do the surgery. She said that she could not understand how ANYONE could ever get to that point of weight gain. Has anyone else had this reaction from people?

WOW T thanks I've never heard of Seasonale. what about Weight gain with the pill? I will talk to my doctor SOON about this. My PCP mentioned medirean(?) maybe it's meridian, andyway it kind of scared me. Thanks for the info I will look into to further. We all need to post our pictures on our anniversaries coming up on this thread, don't you think!!

Ten years of seminars, learning, disappointments, frustrations, HBP, diabetes, more weight gain and other health problems finally got us to the sleeve. If you quit the cigarettes praise the Lord. What an accomplishment! Asthma helped me to stop smoking 4 years ago. Now I can walk and breathe thanks to sleeving. Your day will come. It will be so worth it!!! best of luck!

Oh Thank you !!! I think I'll go to my family doc ,now that I don't have to worry about weight gain !

In July 2010 I had three weeks were I was not able to eat nor drink. When I would try it would come back up. One night I started vomiting and could not stop the pain was so bad. I was rushed to the emergency room. They gave me pain meds and did X-rays they said everything looked good with the band. They contact the doctors office were I would get my fills informed that they needed me to come in. I went the next morning they also looked said nothing looked wrong with the band. Suggested that I remove the fluids. The fluids have been removed for six months now and I am able to eat yes I have gained back my weight not all. I am so hurt. My dilemma is I am having so much pain in my area were the band was place at the top of my stomach. When I eat it hurts still. Can anyone help with what is going on. I want to get my fills but I am afraid to do so with this issue still in play. Someone please help. I want this weight back off.

I don't know about how weight gain works. But I do know and have heard that u will never get a tummy again. I love my results. I'm 3 weeks post Op and I have lost 35 lbs. I am still swollen and will continue to lose . they said it takes a full 6 months for swelling to go down. I'm actually making me an appt for a fill next month. I just want to make sire everything is still in tack and I think I need a fill anyway. I'm very happy about getting a tummy tuck.

I know you're frustrated, but this is a good thing. If your thyroid is out of whack then you will need to be on medications to correct it. Otherwise, you won't lose weight even with the Lap Band. Unfortunately, just because you lose weight doesn't necessarily mean you'll be off all meds anyway. That's especially true when the damage to the body is already done or can't be fixed by weight loss. Thyroid issues are often not fixed by weight loss, in fact they are what causes the weight gain to begin with. Your doctor is doing the right thing. Be patient, it's all in your best interest.

i was on depo and have been for 7 years now. initally when i started the shot i had an intense nasty period which faded away as the months wore on to nothing now. the only negative side affects that i still suffer from are severe nightmares 2 weeks prior to the shot and also 2 weeks post shot. keep in mind that the hormones in depo are enough to make a woman batty and throw the mix of surgery into it, your hormones are off the chart. i think i would approach my surgeon and my gyno and see what their thoughts on the matter were though. as an aside, i have to say, i just went to see my gyno for my yearly, and she advised to get off the depo. she said she had a patient who had been on it for years and gained 100+ pounds, so now i'm switching to a non-hormone iud. i've heard this before but never had a doctor actually say it to me, and while i type this, i'm in no way trying to say my birth control was the sole reason for my weight gain. but i do have to say i honestly feel as if it helped to attribute to the whole thing. so the switch for me is just me doing everything i can possibly do to help keep this weight of as i fight the battle to loose more. :bored:

Hey everyone! I am getting sleeved tomorrow and I'm as nervous as all get-out. This will be my 6th surgery over all- when I was a kid, I had open heart surgery. Then I had a lap band in 2009. Two skin removal surgeries in 2013. And I had a lap band removal in 2014. Now, I'm getting the sleeve. I have this nervous feeling that my body wont be able to handle anesthesia for a sixth time. I know there are a lot of people who have had more surgeries than me, but my anxiety has to manifest somehow, I guess. I'm also excited, though. Here's a little bit about my back story: I was 385 lbs at 21 years old when I had the lap band in 2009. Lost 170 lbs and ended up being around 212 lbs at my lowest, after skin removal. I was a size 10/12, down from a tight size 28. In 2014, I had weird abdominal pain and swelling they couldn't figure out (turned out to be a kidney infection) so as part of the testing, they did a CT on me. When they did the CT, they found that the lap band had moved from its position. Explained the year and a half of upper abdominal pain I was ignoring and my weight gain. I had gained about 30 lbs by then. They removed the saline from my lap band and I instantly gained 10 lbs. So when I met with my surgeon, he gave me three options: (1) fix the band, (2) remove the band, (3) convert to a sleeve. He was pushing for the last option, but I was sick and incredibly gun shy about having another surgery. I was not ready to have them do anything else to my body. And my husband and I also wanted to start trying to have a baby, and I would have been postponed by at least a year. So I told him to just take out the band. I knew how to work out and eat right and I had worked my ass off before, so I didn't see why I couldn't do so again. Probably the worst decision I have ever made. I experienced injury after injury that led to more and more weight gain, compounded by the depression (triggered by a lot of things, not least of which was losing one of my biggest life accomplishments, weight loss). Two years later, I'm 322 lbs (as of today- my highest pre-op weight was 338, pre-liquid diet), I'm on a CPAP, my knees creak all day, I have a bulging disc in my back, I can feel my skin stretching around my plastic surgery incisions (which is another huge worry of mine- the plastic surgery recovery was far worse than the lap band itself, so I really don't want to have to redo it), I'm prediabetic again, my PCOS is back, and my life is basically on hold. My worry that I would postpone trying for a baby for a year became 2 years of weight gain that will lead to at least another year, if not longer, of postponing the baby. That's 3 years, instead of the 1 if I had gotten the sleeve 2 years ago. But hindsight is 20/20, I guess. And if I wasn't ready for the sleeve, then I wouldn't have done well on it. So I'm glad that I'm doing it now. And I already feel better after losing 18 lbs on the liquid diet. My clothes fit better, I don't hear myself breathing as loudly as before all day. It's only gonna get better from here. I can't wait to get back to working out 6 days a week. Besides the clothes and the confidence, the thing I miss most is being strong and working out. I was doing an hour of cardio 6 days a week, yoga 5 days a week, and strength training 4 days a week. At 212 lbs., I was fit, pain free, with a flat stomach and probably no more than 30 lbs to lose. I need to get back to that, and continue down to a lower weight. If you pray, please pray for me tonight. If you don't, send out good vibes into the universe for me. And if you need a prayer, I'm happy to pray for you too. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I to had a leak-scariest thing for me was the weight gain. I felt so helpless. Turns out I needed to have my port replaced. Surgery was a breeze, nothing like the lapband surgery itself. Almost no healing time. Things will be fine before you know it and you will start losing again.

@emleyrose https://asmbs.org/patients/bariatric-surgery-misconceptions http://www.healthline.com/health-news/bariatric-surgery-patients-see-weight-gain-after-honeymoon-period-080515#2 http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/fullarticle/2422341 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2174497/How-gastric-surgery-patients-ALL-weight-on.html

Honestly, I don't think I was beating down on FOG *at all*. It's reality that diets don't work if you are as heavy as you have to be to get a band. Exactly! People who come here and tell us that *they've* found the answer and *we're* stupid to having gotten a band when they haven't even gotten to goal yet are going to get exactly the reaction they deserve. Especially if they've been on a diet for a grand total of TWO months! Everyone is like this when they first go on a diet. Whatever diet they are on -- a commercial program, something they've come up with themselves, whatever -- is the greatest and they've finally cracked the code!. Then the weight starts not coming off so fast and it gets harder to exercise obsessively and they never even get to goal. Or they get to goal and the hunger is too much and they start eating a little bit more here and a little bit more there. The weight creeps back and at first you tell yourself that, hey, 10 lb. isn't so bad. You're still in normal clothes and maybe 10 lb. ago you were a bit gaunt anyway. And then 10 becomes 20 and 20 becomes 30 and the next thing you know, you've gained it all back. I know this because I've lived it. We've *all* lived it. Statistics show it. Scientists can even explain exactly why it happens. So people who tell me they've found the answer and I just wasn't dedicated enough when they aren't at goal and haven't been at goal for at least 5 years have absolutely no credibility with me. Not to mention, you don't tell someone who has beaten the odds (I've been in the 2% that those studies talk about.) that they aren't dedicated. I fought my weight gain like a banshee and I did way better than average because I was dedicated. But I ultimately failed for the same reason we all ultimately failed -- because my body was fighting me and my hunger would not be denied. The other thing is, I came here because I was looking into a band. I made friends here. So when I decided I didn't want a band, I didn't want to leave. I stayed and everyone was very nice. But I didn't run around the boards telling you guys how stupid you were for getting a band and that you should have got a sleeve instead. If I had, I would expect people to be upset with me and I won't blame them.