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My first week and a half was amazing I saw almost 2-3 pounds a day and lost over 20 pounds and then it just stopped. Week 3 and now week 4 I have not lost a single pound and I noticed that I have gained 3 pounds and I feel like it is mostly my fault. I don't drink enough water because I am not thirsty and I am eating soft solids now and I don't eat enough I think or I could be eating the wrong foods. I am just feeling defeated. My support from the surgeons office tells me its probably my body going into starvation mode and possibly constipated. I just feel alone and it is making me depressed. I don't binge eat but during Thanksgiving I went crazy on the stuffing I might have eaten that stuff in bits throughout the day I really wanted to feel normal for a day but now full regret since I saw the scale go up one pound. Is there anyway feeling the same way or has been there and was able to overcome it?

Weighed 204 @ 8 Months. I finally look pregnant...like really pregnant. Baby is 4 lbs. 2 More months give or take to go. So total weight gain so far is somewhere between 40 and 44 pounds. Some days are better than others. It is true if you just stick with protein you crave less carbs...add that sugar or bread...man...talk about cravings. The fact that the heartburn is getting serious makes me not want to eat so much at one time. I am exhausted and have cankles at the end of the day. I am actually so excited about losing it. I will take prevacid as soon as I pop her out. I hope the hunger goes away, but if not I just feel like it won't be as strong. My hunger is OUT OF CONTROL. If I don't eat something...I will kill you! LOL. But...I still can't eat a lot at once. I will check in again soon. I am going every two weeks to the doctor now.

I had the bypass and am now 6 years post op w complications. My new dr is going in and removing the hormone producing part of the stomach along when redoing the cut on my stomach. He explains back when I had it done they cut the stomach different which proved in many patients around the 3 year mark for their stomach to start stretching and taking a new sharp which resulted in weight gain. Since then they perform of differently.

Hi all! I'm at 6 months down and I'm discouraged by the sagging tummy. I know, the weight loss is most important, but I do the Vitamins, tea, creams and exercise, it isn't shrinking in like it used to. Before I put on the massive weight gain, I used to have a flat belly at this numbered weight before, now I have a sagging belly What are some things people are doing to maintain a tighter body during weight loss? Everything else is going in perfectly, my neck, arms and legs. Just my stomach and thighs are kinda bumming me out.

Let me drop my two cents into the bucket... ching ching. So coming from an old woman that had ran the gauntlet when it comes to BC .... Lets see.... First of all i got pregnant the first time at the age of 16 and im 47 now... so oblivious.. i have had many years to do some trial and error.... First was the pill... ONova 150ies... for those young woman, these were the best but were taken off the market. So the dr tried me on many diff strengths....all had issues. Plus im terrible at remembering. Then at 18 i got divorced and opted to do Condoms. this worked... no unwanted kids and no STD's win win. Then i met my husband and we dated for a few years and decided we were going to get married and stopped the condoms.... BAM. Jason... After Jason, i gave pill another try.. nope, so then came the Diaphragm... Oh Holy hell... anyone who has used them will tell you... the UTI's because you have to leave it in place for a while after sex... NOT GOOD. Then came the Depo shots.... I gained 50lbs in Three months on them and said... oh hell no..... THEN cam the IUD... I liked the IUD. Mine was inserted during my cycle and i thought the insertion was Not terrible. I had cramps worse then that... But i do have a high tolerance for pain. My issue was the heavy bleeding... it was bad... not going to lie. Then upon an ultra sound my GYN discovered that my IUD was implanted (not by her) wrong and i could have gotten preg at anytime.... OMG... Thank you Lord for knowing that giving me another kid would not have been good..... So then we did the Nuvaring, I don't care what anyone says. This one, for me, worked the best, this was the lesser of all the Evils..... I didn't have to remember to take a pill, didn't have to hope it didn't break, NO Uti's, No weight gain. I could control when my cycle started.... During sex (how little there was) i would remove and then reinsert after. The Bleeding still happened, as i had always been a 7 full day heavy bleeder.... But it worked. and after a few years on that we, my dr. and i decided on a partial Hysterectomy... Due to the bleeding. So i still have my ovaries .... Just no more babies... no bleeding.... Can you say HEAVEN.... Truth is i didn't know what kind of pain i was putting up with until the pain was gone. Now im home free..... yes LORD and thank you Jesus... Free at last free at last, thank God oh mighty im free.... at last...

Hi Mallory it's Karen. I hope you are feeling a little better today. I found that one day can really make a difference. Meeting was good. A couple of people had band to sleeve revision. I was the newest post op there. Others had over four years! The topic was weight gain. You and I aren't on that side but it was great to be around fellow surgery people. I ate 1/2 a scrambled egg today. Was sooo full. Still trying to get in enough fluids. My allergic reaction to the dermabond is subsiding thanks to the steroids. No more itch. Looking forward to meeting you.

Let your doctor advise you on what's best in YOUR case. Sometimes (in my case) that isn't determined until he can actually see what's in there (xray is helpful but not a substitute). Scar tissue won't go away because you have two separate surgeries. I would guess there could be more at the time of the second surgery because the band removal surgury is going to have it's own set of scars. I'm glad mine could be done in one surgery because: 1, I was under anesthetic once instead of twice 2, only one recovery period (less work days missed) 3, once going through the pre and post op regimes 4, not having to deal with excess weight gain (therefore risk) between the two surgeries. That being said, if the only SAFE way would have been with two surgeries, I would have done that. Actually I wouldn't have a choice, my doc will only do what is best for his patients' health. I suppose if it didn't matter I had a choice, I would prefer all in one. Hope this helps.

True or False: If a product says no added sugar, it’s sugar free. That statement is false. It just means the manufacturer didn’t add sugar to a product that may contain naturally occurring sugar from milk (lactose) or fruit (fructose). Foods with natural sugars also provide other nutrients like vitamins, minerals, fiber and anti-oxidants that are healthy for us. A revision to the Nutrition Facts Panel may include added sugars, which will be a better way to determine what foods to minimize. This change won’t be for another year or so. True or False: If a product says no added sugar, it’s sugar free. That statement is false. It just means the manufacturer didn’t add sugar to a product that may contain naturally occurring sugar from milk (lactose) or fruit (fructose). Foods with natural sugars also provide other nutrients like vitamins, minerals, fiber and anti-oxidants that are healthy for us. A revision to the Nutrition Facts Panel may include added sugars, which will be a better way to determine what foods to minimize. This change won’t be for another year or so. For bariatric patients, eating too much sugar after surgery can lead to dumping. Sugar is considered “empty calories” because all you get is calories without the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants or fiber that are good for your health. Other problems from sugar include increased triglycerides, decreased HDL (healthy) cholesterol, increased respiration rate, fatty liver, increased blood sugars, cavities and weight gain. Research is beginning to link too much added sugar with heart disease, inflammation, gout and premature wrinkles. Recent research points to people consuming too many added sugars dying from heart disease at twice the rate as for people with low sugar intake, even if the diet is otherwise healthy. Obvious sources of sugar are the sweets: cookies, cakes, candy, ice cream, desserts and sugar sweetened pop. Sugar sweetened beverages like regular pop, sports drinks and energy drinks account for about a third of the added sugars we consume. Added sugars can also creep into your diet through condiments like catsup and barbeque sauce, salad dressings, canned tomato products, coffee drinks, pastries, smoothies, crackers and ready to eat cereals. When reading the ingredients label, look for words like anything that ends in “–ose” (sucrose, fructose, maltose, dextrose, xylose etc..), syrup, juice, agave, honey, molasses, caramel, corn sweetener, high fructose corn syrup, evaporated cane guide, cane sugar, brown sugar, barley malt, and beet sugar. You now have information about how to read the label to see if what you are eating or drinking has added sugars. Next week, you’ll find out how to compare products to determine how much added sugar is in something you are eating or drinking.

So I decided to drop a friend who literally told me I was "taking the easy way out" if I got this surgery and all the months leading up to it would say I was "pathetic" and "lazy" just threw a slew of disgusting insults my way which made me feel shitty Little back story: I'm 22 and struggled with my weight my whole life (due to PCOS and other medical things) from 13-19 years old I suffered anorexia and got down to 80 something pounds (I was literally on my death bed)so right when I graduated high school for an entire year after I was inpatient in the hospital and recovering from the anorexia when I got out I guess I just couldn't stop gaining weight? (PCOS, hereditary etc)It started triggering me a lot and I would try everything to lose weight! I'm a vegetarian I work with dogs running around all day with them constantly moving very active job so you can imagine my frustration so I decided to go this route and I'm 3 weeks out and 25 pounds down and I'm doing very well this is kinda going all over the place lol sorry to whoever reads this Anywhoooo my "friend" would just put me down constantly and they knew me during my anorexic days they knew me during the recovery days they saw how much I struggled with weight gain and loss and still had the audacity to say if I went through with this procedure I was taking the "easy way out" and they'd "never be able to look at me the same" so a couple days before my surgery I dropped them and I gotta say I don't miss them at all if anything this surgery is HARDER than doing it on your own it's a fucking surgery for fucks sake #1 and #2 there is no going back you gotta learn new ways to eat you gotta take vitamins and minerals you gotta make sure you get a certain amount of protein everyday this is by no means "easy" and it still fuckin annoys me that people have the audacity to say some dumb shit like that Sorry this went like all over the place I'm just annoyed at the moment and I had to vent about it

I really believe it is a multi-layered issue - I know that I am much better to able to control my own, as well as my family's weight gain and moods by eliminating processed carbs and sugar from the house. I read a great book last year about these issues called The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite - by David Kessler, former head of the FDA. http://www.amazon.com/The-End-Overeating-Insatiable-American/dp/1605297852 He himself wanted to lose a few lbs and found it quite challenging, as a scientist he started to do research as to why humans have been roughly the same body composition since the beginning of time (with considerations for improved hygiene, advances in medicine etc.) and why in the 1980's obesity numbers began to skyrocket. He talks about how the combination of sugar and fat is one that does not exist in nature - two substances that we are genetically hardwired to want to consume in quantity when available - our biology has not had time to catch up with our industry in nutshell. Lab rats consume 'rat chow' as their main form of nutrition, when scientists started to feed them layered combinations of fat, sugar, salt (as restaurants such as Cheesecake Factory, Red Robin, and the like do.) these rats no longer would eat their nutritious yet bland rat chow - their dopamine centers lit up like a Christmas tree, setting up a cycle of addiction - so much so that these rats would cross electrified floors that would almost kill them to get to the bad stuff. These substances do the same things to us. It is a good read. One thing that the nutritionist at my surgeon's office said is that there are no essential carbohydrates - our bodies will make what we need from Protein and fats. I have noticed that when I drop the carbs down to 20g or less a day - which is akin to Atkin's induction levels and my pre-surgical recommendation - I am always satisfied with very little and do not have hunger cravings like I do when I consumed carbs, sugar, caffeine, and diet soda.

Can coffee Cause Weight Gain? By The Daily Meal | Healthy Living Flickr/epSos.deGuess this means we'll be holding off on the daily cups of coffee from now on: A new study published in the Journal of Agricultural and food Chemistry has found that too muchcoffee can increase weight gain and fat cell retention. Researchers at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research and the University of Western Australia's School of Medicine and Pharmacology examined a compound called chlorogenic acid (CGA), found in coffee. Researchers were hoping that CGAs would specifically increase insulin sensitivity, reduce blood pressure, and decrease body fat thanks to previous research showing that coffee reduced the risk of type-2 diabetes. Unfortunately, the study did just the opposite. Researchers fed CGAs to obese lab mice that were put on a high-fat diet for 12 weeks; the animals were fed enough CGAs to account for six cups of coffee a day. Instead of losing weight, however, the mice gained weight; the results were either the same as feeding mice regular food, or worse. The CGAs "had no beneficial effect on their blood sugar levels and also, a little bit more worrying, the mice on this coffee compound tended to accumulate fat in their liver," University of Western Australia's Kevin Croft told The Age. So the results? Assistant professor Vance Matthews says that three to four cups a day does still decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes, but more than five or six cups a day could reverse the process. In fact, it might actually case an "abnormal retention of fat within cells." No wonder the FDA is worried about crazy kids binging on caffeine. -Jessica Chou, The Daily Meal

Well, let me tell you, as someone who uses the brand name Canadian version of your medication, Cipralex, that's exactly why. If you can get the generic of escitalopram, generally cheaper (especially if your insurance doesn't cover all of it), it tends to have the same potency. The apnea induces anxiety and panic attacks associated with obstructed breathing. These mimic a few symptoms of a heart attack, but rest assured, if your EKG is showing normal (make sure you get the long version of one if they didn't do that) your heart is fine.. for now. In the short term, apnea won't cause any problems with the heart, but over time the oxygen deprivation (even seconds of it is a shock to the body, hence the reaction) will cause significant heart damage, especially of the left side. So, your apnea goals.. the average person has 5 or less apneas per hour. In order to be on a CPAP I would hope you had a sleep study done. In my case, I had 55 apneas per hour. That's bad. My Fitbit watch also revealed this in "interrupted sleep" patterns. I will point out I'm not a doctor and cannot substitute for doctors advice, but as someone who suffers the same as you, I will give my advice as follows: Short term: - Use your CPAP - If you're a back sleeper, as I was before my weight gain, try sleeping on your side.. I personally find the right side easier on both apneas and anxiety attacks. - Elevation Long term: - Get your weight down, obesity causes this, you're doing great.. keep going - If normalizing your weight doesn't help obstruction, surgery on your airway to remove the obstruction should resolve - Given it's clinical significance toward preventing heart attacks in the long term, make sure your family doctors, physicians, and specialists related to this are aggressive in treating it as the underlying causes are treated A good idea to stay on the escitalopram until your apnea resolves. Its nothing to be terribly worried about as it's being treated.. just keep up the weight loss.

From what you said this is emotional eating. So you may want to lower your stress levels or obtain some professional help to achieve this goal. Some people opt to weight themselves daily and the ups and downs can weight heavily on stress levels. So if you do this, it might be better to weight yourself once per week or once per month. You have lost 110 pounds so far and that is a good thing. Generally advice is to eat Protein first in your meals. Snack on protein or fats and minimize carbs Snacks. You may be nearing the maintenance stage and in that phase it is important to maintain your weight loss and not gain some of it back. A few months back I asked my nutritionist "Why do some people lose significant weight after surgery to gain some of it back?" She said it was due to grazing. So it is important to keep your grazing (snacking) in check. When I reached the maintenance stage, I reasoned that I needed to be happy with my meals in order to achieve long lasting effects. So I experimented a lot. I weighed myself daily and gave myself some freedom both in meals and snack. If I noticed any weight gain, I pulled myself back and fine tweaked my eating habits in order to remain stable.

HI Carol, Today is 19 days after surgery and I am down 31 lbs...... Yes, your corect it a very personal decision. I hope your husband changes his mind. Wendy (My wife) has been overweight since I know her about 25 years. She's been on every diet that as inventered. She did the best on Richard simmons. At one point she lost 50 lbs but gained it all back with more. We have been maried now for 20 years and I had small weight gains each year. I topped out around 340lbs. I know I needed to do something. Out of the blue, I asked my wife which is the least agressive weight loss surgery and she said Lap-band. I told my wife to make an appointment with a lap band doctor that I wanted to have the surgery. We met with the doctor and I liked what I heard. The next day, my wife said she wanted to have it too. So we schedualed them three weeks apart. Good luck with your surgery in June and if you have any questions e-mail me. I would be glad to answer any questions. Mark

So I finally have a surgery date (3/10) and I guese it's time to tell my story. I have not been overweight my whole life. I was an athlete in high school and that carried over into my adult life. I've never been "skinny" just fit and curvy. Then suddenly about 10 years ago I couldn't eat whatever I wanted without gaining weight. Ok no big deal I ate better and exercised more and lost the weight but since then it's been a struggle up and down constantly dieting. The final straw came when I had to quit smoking for a job I wanted. I gained 50 pounds in less than 2 months and no matter what I do its here to stay. Since the weight gain ny self esteem has plummeted. I no longer leave the house because I'm ashamed of how I look. I go to work and come home. Because of this I feel every aspect if my life has suffered. I dont feel like a good wife, because I never have the energy to do anything with my husband and I always feel like im just the fat employee. In short I was tired of sitting around watching my life pass me by. I started with research to find out what my options were and settled on the lap band for 2 reasons. 1. Less invasive and 2. Its reversible. I understand the lifestyle changes I need to make and bad habits that need to be broke. I feel like this is the start to finally being able to look at myself in the mirror again.

Hi all, so glad they added this forum! I was sleeved in 2017 and lost 90lbs. Unfortunately I experienced great loss and trauma in 2019 to recent and find myself meeting the criteria for weight loss surgery again. I’ve done a lot of work on myself since and learned how to cope without using food. I’m starting the approval process for a revision on 11/19/20. Anyone on here get a second surgery due to weight gain? I know they do revisions for GERD and other issues but I want to hear from anyone who had a revision for gain. Did you sleeve to bypass? Resleeve? Sleeve to DS? Bypass to...? Did insurance cover it? Make you do a diet program first? Did it take months? tell me all the things!

There's a difference between losing weight during your 3/6 month supervised diet and following your pre-op diet. It sounds like Melissa is talking about her 6 month diet, not the preop diet designed to shrink the liver. I didn't loose more than a few pounds during my 6 month supervised diet and by the end had actually gained a few pounds. (I'm sure my family doc thought I was crazy.:001_rolleyes:) Anyway, I knew this wasn't an issue for insurance approval (by my insurers guidelines), but it was a problem for my surgeon's guidelines. So, I started my preop diet early knowing that I needed to loose a few pounds or risk having my surgery cancelled. I did so well that I lost 15 pounds preop in 2 and a half weeks. So, Melissa you will probably be fine with insurance, but may have a problem with your surgeon if you've gained. If they suggest that they might have to cancel your surgery due to weight gain, ask them for a chance to start your preop diet early to loose a few pounds before surgery. Then you can come back in to weigh before the surgery. I think most doctors will work with you on this. And I don't think this is any indication of how successful you will be after surgery. You will just have to be aware of what you're doing and eating and you'll be fine.

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?

So, I am thinking of revision too. I think for insurance (overall) you can get it if you get heart burn/ulcer, or had significant weight gain, which I think 40 pounds would cover it. Or if you never got to your goal weight. I wouldn't suggest gaining weight. the most common revision which is just tightening the pouch and stoma, typically people lose like 20 pounds with that. Are you thinking of like a more malabsorption gastric bypass or duodenal switch?

I am almost 5 years out from surgery. I lost around 155 pounds and kept it off for about 3.5 years. But in the past 1.5 years, I have suffered from depression and started drinking alcohol excessively ( I typically would have ate food excessively in the past). In the past I could have several drinks and be fine; however post surgery the side effects were much more severe (depression, a feeling of real dependency, blacking out suddenly with no recollection of where the cutoff point would be i.e. 2 drinks now was just as strong as drinking 5) The alcohol goes so quickly into your system that it is a real danger if not properly monitored. Although my eating habits didn't change, without daily exercise and with the added calories of excessive alcohol consumption, I regained around 60 pounds. In addition to the weight gain I have struggled with the affects of alcohol dependency, which I never had experienced before. As VSG patients we were all cautioned on drinking and how it affects us differently after surgery. I didn't really take heed to those warnings until it had become a problem for me. I am working on it daily now and also am struggling to lose the weight all over again, which feels pretty much like as difficult as it had been prior to surgery. I think this is not talked about enough and I'm sure I am not the only VSG patient who has experienced this. As a community being open with one another, and as individual seeking out help earlier, I probably wouldn't be struggling with these 60 pounds now. Anyone who's been through it should reach out sooner than later. Not only have I suffered from this issue, I have had to deal with the fact that I messed up my own progress and success and now have to deal with the ramifications of starting all over again so to speak. This I can say for certain, staying in a support group and dealing with your issues is imperative to continued success in this journey. I'm not sure if I'll loose all of the 60 I've regained again, but I am willing to fight the battle to do this all over again and to warn others of how dangerous alcohol consumption is for us post surgery!

Hi, My name is Melonie, and I am from Calgary Canada. I am having my surgery in Toronto. I have struggled with weight most of my adult life, but have recently struggled more due to an injury to the cartilage in my knee. I have developed osteoarthritis and my lack of mobility has really fueled my weight gain. I am at my highest weight ever, 5'1" and 258! I only made my decision last week, and as I am self pay, they gave me a date of august 11th. I was in shock. A lot to get my head around in such a short time, but probably for the best as I would worry too much with a long wait. Good luck to all of you fellow August bandsters, I am looking forward to seeing how we all get along. Melonie

I was banded in Milwaukee May 12, Dr. Chua. I live on Milwaukee's south side. I am male, 61, single, and determined to lose at least 100 pounds and keep it off. I did the Lap Band because I have seen the co-morbidities creep into my life--sleep apnea, worsened asthma, gout, heart risk, high blood pressure, pre-diabetes, etc. I have six children and would like to stick around to see how they do. Plus I am sick of being a whale. Up and down all my life, but always a little more weight gained than lost. Now I sincerely hope I will never see 300 again (I am now 297, after losing about 10). Anyway, a once per month meeting in Milwaukee somewhere would be lovely, if we can get critical mass. I would like to benefit from veteran lap banders and over time I would hope to be supportive to others.

A lot of people revision to a bypass from a sleeve due to suffering ongoing GERD with medication doesn't help. Others due to weight gain. If you already suffer a lot with acid reflux you may want to chat with your surgeon. I suffered with acid reflux but mine was definitely related to the type of foods I was eating and the amount of food I was eating. If my food intake and portions were healthy I was fine. I discussed with my surgeon and I went with a sleeve. So far so good.

I am 34 months RNY gastric bypass. I chose this type of surgery because I have severe acid reflux (GERD) prior to surgery and this is the recommended approach for that condition. I was in the weight loss phase for 6 or 7 months and then transitioned into the maintenance phase. What you are requesting, I believe is how to minimize your weight gain prior to surgery. This is somewhat similar to the maintenance approach, perhaps the following article might provide you some clues. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf

I have bipolar and I’m on trazadone, lunesta, trileptal, klonopin and seroquel. Seroquel is known to increase appetite and cause weight gain. No problems here! VSG on 5/10, don 25 lbs