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I am scheduled for surgery on Aug. 18th. I last seen my surgeon in April and weighed 239lbs. I was scheduled for surgery on 6/6/09 but was denied by insurance. We appelled and now i'm approved and almost there. Here's my problem...i got the i'll never eat again syndrom and ate EVERYthing in sight!!! I'm now at 250 and so nervous about my preop visit on Wed. with my surgeon. I'm scared he want think i'm serious about my commitment to this because of my weight gain. Did anyone else have this problem? I feel awful about this but am ready for my new life. I also was told origianaly i would have no preop diet.:cool:

I am scheduled for surgery on Aug. 18th. I last seen my surgeon in April and weighed 239lbs. I was scheduled for surgery on 6/6/09 but was denied by insurance. We appelled and now i'm approved and almost there. Here's my problem...i got the i'll never eat again syndrom and ate EVERYthing in sight!!! I'm now at 250 and so nervous about my preop visit on Wed. with my surgeon. I'm scared he want think i'm serious about my commitment to this because of my weight gain. Did anyone else have this problem? I feel awful about this but am ready for my new life. I also was told origianaly i would have no preop diet.:cool:

Something similar happened to me.. I have a 4 cc band and thought I had 3.3cc in it, but also thought that I could eat too much.. So finally after a small weight gain in a fortnight, I got the doc to check my millage, and it was empty.. so she used a thicker gel like sollution to fill me this time, and it seems to have worked.. Sometimes there can be a tiny leak that can be repaired by the thicker gel fill... Perhaps ask your doc about it.. Good Luck.. xx Nene

Judy-have fun this weekend :tt2: Kat-beautiful baby boy :laugh: Love his name too. Jenn-I am so proud of how well you are doing...I really am so happy for you. It gives me renewed hope in myself, thank you! Jane-sorry i missed your call. Call me again when you have time. Terry-I hear you on the falling off the wagon. Sorry for what you are going through. Suzie-an electric blanket? I can not even wrap my head around the idea of one of those right now! lol Guess what everyone...for about 6 hours today I am going to be without any kids!!! How cool is that? The only thing on the agenda is to go buy toilet paper :thumbup: Monday I go to the ob/gyn for my yearly visit and I love my dr so much and the thought of his disappointment of my weight gain has me kind of down. But, he will be proud that I am still a non-smoker. I will just have to suck it up and tell him i will re-lose it. Have a great day everyone.

Thanks for talking me off the ledge. :lol I did get that whoosh this morning and have updated my ticker. I am now at 34.9 on BMI, which takes me out of the 'severely obese' category for the first time in nearly a decade. And I'm at 70 pounds gone. So today I am happy. And Chris, you are right - at the VERY least, I should avoid the scale for a few days after I return from a business trip. Because the reading I get is never right - it's not true weight gain. I suppose that I've gone without a scale all during the trip and I'm anxious to make sure I didn't screw up, so I climb on. But this is a case where it does cause me negative anxiety, so perhaps my rule should be that I get on the scale 2 days AFTER I get home.

Hi Ashleysara - nice to meet you! Funny thing on the bagel - i NEVER eat them they really set me off on to too much eating. Far as the weight gain - i can gain it in two months and take a whole year to lose it... but i just gained weight into new territory and its like it changed my metabolism. My surgeons office was doing a study on this omentectomy helping diabetics lose weight faster but they froze the study. I am half thinking of calling them back to find out if they can do it anyway. It something about removing the free fat attached to organs.

Welcome hmarko and congrats :smile2:! I think that the amount of help question might be better posed on the post-band section. I am not really sure, I think that I will need help (LOL but I'm kinda a baby when it comes to pain and taking care of myself) but then you might be more self sufficient than me. I actually ended up moving home from college for a year so my mom can help me out and I can learn to eat healthily on the band. I wouldnt assume you are never going to be able to eat a bagel again, I think most people when they are maintaining can eat just about anything just in much smaller amounts. Hah, as for the weight gain, I am like you when I gain I seriously gain and when I lose I am pretty good about dropping fast (though never as much as I gained :confused:) I am very excited to start this journey and we can all support each other :thumbup:

Hello all - my date is Sep 11. Before I got approved I started liquid dieting because my decision stemmed from a 25 lb weight gain in just two months! W/ my insurance time - i have NOT been able to lose though I tried. Then i was going to go on liquid for a while but now that i have a date I'm kind of eating things I never ate before!!! Like bagels (had two this week).. because I will never have them again. I don't eat them for a reason! I am trying to exercise more than the two times a week that I ride my horse (but I have only gotten as far as restarting my gym membership, finding my card, and heart rate monitor). My excuse is working late but thats a bit of an excuse because i didn't work late today! I am single and only have a brother and his family (aside from some friends) and I hate imposing on people so I have a question. I am told I am not staying at hospital overnight. Does anyone know how much you really need to have someone with you? I live in NYC so everything is easy - can have a cab take me home... etc.

Greg: Hah! I totally know how you feel. I started my six month insurance diet and managed to gain 23 pounds. Somehow they still approved me... I jumped through all of the hoops though I guess maybe they thought that with the weight gain I really needed this. I am down 10.9 of those pounds already though and am hoping to go down to where I was 6 months ago just because I would feel safer for surgery at the weight. I may be only 19 but I already have heart problems because of my weight :scared2:. Mickey: Have fun at the party and tell the bday boy best wishes. IDK why but for some reason giving up things like bday cake and doing preop diet feel really good to me. I feel like I'm taking the right steps forward. LOL and I feel like I have control over what I eat which is something I rarely feel. You can think about that feeling perhaps at the party when you are watching everyone else eat cake :tt1: that and running with the grandkids and seeing them graduate from college and get married. I'm so glad to see more Septeberers joining this board we have to spread the word! ttys

Very interesting. Thanks for posting the link. The author's main point is that people generally overestimate the amount of calories that exercise burns off, and they drastically underestimate the number of calories in the food that they eat. People who reward themselves with food for their hard work-out usually cancel out any caloric deficite they had earned from the exercise. So the article's title is misleading (of course that's to get you to read it!). Excercise is good for you, but it alone won't make you lose weight. Personally, though, I don't think diet alone will make you lose weight. It's diet and exercise. Here's the author's last paragraph: "In short, it's what you eat, not how hard you try to work it off, that matters more in losing weight. You should exercise to improve your health, but be warned: fiery spurts of vigorous exercise could lead to weight gain."

Well I am really bumbed. I was not going to share my problem I am having but decided I am bumbed enough about it I would go ahead. About a week and a half ago I started taking calcium because I was told to. Well, now I can't go to the bathroom, you know..... poop!!!!! And today I weighed in with a 1.2 lb weight gain. :thumbup: I am so depressed. It was my goal to never have a gainl. But they assured me that if I take the benifiber I will start going again. What a hassle. Well okay I was told in group today that for every negative I say about self I have to say a positive so, this week I am able to drop one of my blood pressure meds and my blood sugar is staying around 100-115. So there we go. Oh and I had a pair of shorts on for the first time in 2 years today. yeeha!!! Man are my legs white.:eek: I'll have to work on that.

Well I am really bumbed. I was not going to share my problem I am having but decided I am bumbed enough about it I would go ahead. About a week and a half ago I started taking calcium because I was told to. Well, now I can't go to the bathroom, you know..... poop!!!!! And today I weighed in with a 1.2 lb weight gain. :frown: I am so depressed. It was my goal to never have a gainl. But they assured me that if I take the benifiber I will start going again. What a hassle. Well okay I was told in group today that for every negative I say about self I have to say a positive so, this week I am able to drop one of my blood pressure meds and my blood sugar is staying around 100-115. So there we go. Oh and I had a pair of shorts on for the first time in 2 years today. yeeha!!! Man are my legs white. I'll have to work on that.

O my goodness, :cursing: I know all that was exciting. I was thinking about you and keep checking your journal to see if you blog yesterday about it . U r a whole new different person and your family didn't even reconize you. That is awesome. I weighed myself this morning and I gain a pound. So that makes it back to 4 lbs gain. I'm okay with it. I have been working out really good. The weight gain is because two of my three kids is in St. louis, mo with their dad. (they been there for a month and 2 weeks) So therefore I havn't been cooking. And also I had a few drinks. But my energy level and spirit is back up with working out. Now since your family know u have lost weight. They are going to be bugging you and asking you how much more have you lost. People seem to ask me that every other day. I'm glad u enjoyed yourself. P.S. Don't worry about the 3 lb gain. U so deserve to treat yourself!!!:eek::cursing::thumbup:

I think it is because this is our sensitive point. If you have been jeered at nagged and ridiculed all your life about the one point it does make you sensitive ...no matter if it was not intended to be hurtful. It has been my observation that usual people who have an issue ( weight, facial features, whatever) and who have been singled out in the past because of it..rarely make such personal comments because they know how it feels and they have empathy. That is why we find it so surprising that people feel it is their duty to comment on our physical condition ...as if maybe we just didnt know we were fat... and once they point it out then we might do something about it. I have noticed this particularly with my husband's ethnic group. They are traditionally not prone to weight gain and they are constantly amazed how people such as myself cannot control themselves... so they have in the past said things such as "My you really are fat" or "isnt your husband nice that he loves you despite you being so fat..you are lucky" and the advice they can give you is priceless such as "you should try to eat less" or drink a glass of Water before each meal, or most priceless the specialist who I went to see re Gastroscopy said that I shouldnt waste my time with banding and that I should eat an orange before each meal. She was a Professor of her speciality who would have weighed 59 kgs dripping wet ( which I would have gladly made her except for the fact that I needed her approval for the band) So instead I thanked her for her wonderful advice and said I would certainly give it the college try. All in all I think this is why I certainly am sensitive:smile2:

Hello I am a new member.... I had a band done about 5 yrs ago and just had to have it removed this past March :ohmy: My Doc wanted to do the sleeve BUT of course the Ins co I have now did not cover it so here I am thinking about doing the weight gain and not feeling good about myself once again. I did lose about 160 lbs with the band over the 1st 3 yrs and maintained with very little Fluid. The problem I had was severe acid reflux and coughing all night as soon as I laid down. I would start getting sick and throw up the bile in my stomach.... so he said enough is enough. I was on a pill that helped with it all but just not a good thing to be on long term I guess. I think I may be having surgery the end of this month. Just wondering if anyone out their has had the band to sleeve and at what rate did you start losing agin. Thanks

I have taken Zoloft 100 mg in the past for about 4 years. I now have been taking Lexapro for 1 year. I had LB surgery on July 13, 2009 and it does not seem that the meds have any effect, I am losing weight pretty good without a fill yet. I also took Prosac for about 6 moths and gained weight also weight gain with Welbutrim. My Zoloft I loved but seem to do better with Lexapro 20mg. I am still hoping this surgery will help me lose weight which in turn will make me want to get out of the house I try to hide-a-way in. I would not suggest trying to wean off the Zoloft until after you go through Surgery process. I have weaned off a couple of times and it is too much to deal with while dealing with getting use to new things. Once I weaned off and stayed off for 6 months, worse 6 months of my life. My Surgeon knew about the Lexapro and I also take Xanax for Anxiety. He told me to take it as normal before surgery. BUT THAT IS JUST MY EXPERIENCE, ALWAYS CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR. Hope that helps some.

I believe weight gain/weight loss are pretty commonly listed as possible side effect sof SRI type anti depressants. I have taken 50mg of zoloft for years and prior to that I took 20mg of prozac. I have found that those times when I "decide" to lose weight, these medications have no real impact on my ability to do so. I have lost 18lbs since January. Good Luck!

Ok you guys here is another update, I went to my PCP today to get the additional info that they (the insurance co) requested. My blood pressure was up, they had to put me on BP meds (a plus for me). Now don't get me wrong, I don't won't high blood pressure, but if this is what's going to help me get approved. The acid refux yall is a very terrible feeling, they put me on meds for that as well. My PCP said she will write a letter regarding these issues, and will put on there that this is do to weight gain. Yall pray for me that this will help me get approved. I'll keep you all updated. So far as I know my dates have not changed for surgery, which is 08/13.

Hi Justbanded, I have had PCOS for 28 years. I have struggled with my weight and all the other "wonderful" things that go along with PCOS -- insulin resistance (and then, type 2 diabetes), hair growth, weight gain, infertility... I was banded to help with my insulin resistance/type 2 diabetes, because my understanding, after talking to my PCP and bariatric surgeon, that weightloss will help correct that issue. Once my weight is down and my diabetes improves (which it already has!) or resolves completely, the hormone, ghrelin should not be a problem. I am always hungry -- but it is as always -- head hunger or food-seeking behavior. It is my hope that once I am filled and find my "sweet" spot, that my body will get into the groove and my head hunger will lessen. Also, there is a forum for PCOS on here that is pretty good. Good luck my "soul cyster"!

Hey Suzanne. The headaches have reduced in number since starting the Prednisone. I am gradually tapering off of them, but I have a little over two more weeks left on them. I've been having them on and off every few days. I go to the doctor tomorrow, so I'll let ya'll know what happens. Unfortunately I've blown up like a whale since starting the steroids. My face and stomach is SO swollen and fat looking. I look 7 months pregnant! It's really embarrassing because people are noticing the weight gain. I guess I'm in a rut and just praying I can get out soon! Thanks for asking about me. How is your foot doing? I hope it is better.

They all speak truth -- every ounce of weight you lose will be from your own efforts. You *must* be willing to give up the habits that led to weight gain -- including certain foods and drinks and ways you spend your time -- and replace them with new habits you'll hopefully start developing.. now. The band, as noted is a tool. I like to think of it as a cattle prod -- it will complain if you abuse it, but there are ways to subvert it, just as with any surgery or diet. Consider it a conscience that is much harder to ignore, if that helps, that is there to help train you about a certain range of portion control. It won't help you if you drink all your calories, or spend all your calories on chocolate bars (though perhaps an RNY might), or nibble here and there all day, never giving yourself a chance to experience satiety. So the choice of treatment really is dependent on what underlying problems are behind your weight gain. It can be challenging, but even the pre-op phase can be worth it. I spent two months on a diet about halfway to what I'm eating now, and the improvements in my life just from that were just a preview.

Bull.. Plenty have been doing so successfully. It's just "difficult" because *everybody else* keeps pushing them, thanks to lobbyists. The same "common sense" that said the world is flat and the only thing you need to lose weight is obey Oprah and go to Weight Watchers -- enough of this surgery crap! -- has continuously worked to slander low-carb research to the point of engendering an environment hostile to getting folks clean of the junk. Use your brain: If you take someone addicted to drugs, get them clean, and then toss them into drug heaven, of course they'll have a hard time reverting. The same goes for food, the same goes for starch and sugar -- the very set of carbohydrates that the low-carb regimens are trying to avoid. I have canines. The fact is our species developed without agriculture -- agriculture is a recent phenomenon. We developed eating meat, with a few wild plants (not grown on -- or even adapted to! -- farms) thrown in. That is what our bodies expect of us, just as vegan kibble is not expected by the bodies of cats and dogs. I do quite well on about 45g carb/day. I'm nearly done for this day's eating and I'm actually around 28g so far; on a binge day where I have some mashed potatoes, I might get in about 60g. This is much lower the several-hundred recommended for my so-called "health". I certainly don't appear to need carbohydrates to live. My brain is certainly functioning *quite* well getting its energy from elsewhere. This claim that I need carbohydrates to live is pure and total, unmitigated lie, promulgated by an industry which stands to lose if people get off them, and perpetuated by an unwitting society of addicts. I know exactly where their recommendations got me when I was 220# (answer, a 130# weight gain), and I know exactly why my doc's pleased with my better-than-target weight loss. I also know why it is I don't seem to have problems with cravings for pizza or sub sandwiches or rice or Pasta -- it's an addiction, just as you would call food an addiction. Some of us have simply gotten clean of it. Just as I'm sure others wouldn't appreciate me pushing a buffet table full of their favorite foods from the past into their face, I know *I* would appreciate it if folks didn't try pushing them back on me, and I'm sure others would appreciate the same.

Hi All, I am Renee' from Washington state. I am a wife to a wonderful man (together for 17 memorable years), mother to 2 fantastic children, one beautiful daughter (who has given me 2 beautiful precious granddaughters and a wonderful son-in-law) and a handsome fun loving son. I think my weight story starts in my memory when I was about 10-11 and in 4th grade. I really was not extremly overweight just "chubby". I now do not even think I was that chubby but the teasing from the other kids assured me I was. Once I hit teenage years, I started dieting and got quite thin. I had my daughter at the tender age of 16 and after birth started the "Jane Fonda" craze. It was easy becasue at 16 and 17 you have all that energy anyways. I even got thinner then before pregnancy. At the age of 24-25 the weight started creeping up slow at first, then I was in a car accident that messed up my back and neck and the weight really started to pack on due to the lack of phyiscal excercise (which I really needed to lose and keep it off). I remember when I hit about 200 lbs, I was looking at my knees and I thought something was wrong with them because they looked different, not really realizing it was because they were fatter. From that point on, I think I blocked out my weight gains, even though I have weighed myself every week now for 26 years and have kept a weight diary just as long. I had joined Nutrisystem when I was about 27 and was able to lose about 35 lbs at that time. I joined a TOPS group about 1999 and got down to 246 at the time I stopped going. What a wonderful group of people. I have joined Weightwatchers at least 3 times, all with some degree of success, only to stop going due to finances or other reasons and gain it all back and then some. In 2003 I really started looking into weight loss surgery. I even attended a couple of seminars put on by the surgeons only to find out my insurance did not cover it. In August 2008 I weighed in at my highest weight ever, 305lbs, an extreme amount on a 5'4" frame. At this point my knees were so bad I was heading for a wheelchair fast. I learned in 2005 that I have Degenerative Joint disease in both knees and also arthritis in both knees. In October 2007 I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes. My father died at the age of 39 (when I was 12) from a heart attack. He was extremly obese as well. Being a long haul truck driver did not help his weight. All of these aliments and all the odds against me and having such a wonderful family, I finally got serious about doing something about my morbid obesity. Wow what a hard word to say about yourself, morbid obese, morbid meaning death. When the realization came, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was way too young to keep on living this way and my family watching me suffer, how unfair to them. In April of 2008 I started the battle with my insurance. Even with all my co-morbitities and several doctor recommedations and appeals, I lost. Talk about a punch in the stomach, it hurt hard and deep. It also did something else, it made me so determined to find a way to get surgery, that I was like a freight train with a vengeance! My husband attended yet another seminar with me that my surgeon Dr. Lee Trotter was putting on, this was in early September 2008. Out of all the seminars that I had gone to, this one was "the one", the one that really insipred me, informed me and gave me the strenghth to pursue a Bariatric Surgery. It was at this that I learned about the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. I had heard and read up to this point about RYN and the band. I was leaning towards the band until this seminar. After I got home, I researched the VSG and at first thought I must say I was like no way, I am not removing a good portion of my stomach! The more I researched though, being that I would have to self-pay, the band would have extra costs for fills and possible slippage (which would be extra cost which I do not have), and the RYN was way more extreme (and more costly) then I wanted to go. At the seminar the surgeon handed out the paperwork if you were interested in WLS you had to go out and get several tests. Within 2 weeks and the hard work of me and my husband we got the finance part figured out and I got all the tests that were required. I made my appoinment with Dr. Trotter. At the first appointmnt we discussed the different surgeries. I shared with him my research and felt that the VSG would be best for me, he agreed. I was able to make my sugery date for 2 weeks later on October 20th, 2008, a date I will never forget! The day of surgery I was at 292, down 13 pounds since my high at the end of August. I remember being so at peace, I knew this was for me. My surgery went well and I went home after about 28 hours. My surgery cost me 17,000.00 which included 1 year monthly followups with Dr. Trotter, labs done every 3 months and a BIA (Bio-electrical Impedance Analysis) at each visit. My experience from start until now has been phenomenal and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat! Within 3 months of surgery I was off of all my diabetes medication. I am still currently on Hypertension meds but only a half a tablet a day now. I can now walk more then a mile at at a time which I could not do for so long! To date (8/1/09) I have lost 93 pounds since surgery (just 9 months) and 106 lbs (less then 1 year!) since my high last August 25th, 2008! I am like a whole new person which and I am so thankful to have met Dr.Trotter and for his tremendous talent, experience and compassion, he helped me get my life back! My family is so supportive and I am so glad I am here for them and they for me. I wish each and every one of you reading this, the best whether you have had surgery or seeking surgery! Dont give up, you are worth it! Renee'

I think a lot of overweight people have used their weight at one time or another to create a sort of "wall" against lots of different things. Certainly some of your experiences individually might have triggered weight loss....rape? loss of a child? Some women who have come out of really bad relationships drown their sorrows in food. The main thing is that here no matter what triggered weight gain and supported keeping the pounds on, we've all come a long way! Congrats to you for stepping beyond your past.

Tina, so glad it's finally working out for you - you have conquered the band! LOL Nicole - Auds is adorable and I appreciate the offer but NO THANKS. Hey what hotel do you stay at? Donna needs a referral - she's going on Sunday to Marine World/Discovery Kingdom. You should PM her and give her the 411. i know it's sad that I live here and have no clue BUT... I live here and never stay at the hotels here LOL Tamra, I agree with Heather - as I posted before, I knew my body didn't work with carbs at all but tried it the 1200 cal way for two weeks just to be sure - I gained weight so Dr. Fisher told me to cut the carbs. Nobody knows your body like you do - I just know mine because of ALL the previous diets I've been on! Here is what I do know for fact though, sugar (carbs) are designed to make you want/crave more - that is why they put it in everything. Protein & fat keep you full longer and have no craving side effects. For some, sugar substitutes trigger the cravings - they don't for me. I'm watching discovory ID - they are just now telling us that lack of sleep causes weight gain.