Search the Community

Hi personally I was/ am a sneak eater binger. FOOD ADDICTION Food addiction manifests itself in the uncontrollable craving for excess food that follows the ingestion of refined carbohydrates, primarily sugar and flour substances that are quickly metabolized and turned into sugar in the bloodstream. Due to those uncontrollable cravings, a food addict's quality of life deteriorates when he or she eats sugar, flour or wheat. It can deteriorate physically, emotionally, socially and/or spiritually. If any of the following symptoms are familiar to you, you may be a food addict: Physical Symptoms of Food Addiction • Do you think you cannot control your intake of food, especially junk food or high sugar foods? • Have you tried different diets or weight loss programs, but none has worked permanently? • Have you found yourself vomiting, using laxatives, diuretics, or exercising a lot to avoid a weight gain after you have eaten a lot? Many food addicts are obese and have tried numerous methods for weight control (diets, drugs, surgery, etc.) yet nothing has created a permanent solution. Other food addicts have never been obese. Their physical weight has been controlled by extreme measures such as excessive exercise, purging through vomiting or laxatives (bulimia), or the severe and unhealthy limiting of food substances(anorexia). No matter which version of food addiction fits you, all of these symptoms become more severe with time and eventually lead to physical problems that can create an early and sometimes painful death. Emotional Symptoms of Food Addiction • Do you find yourself feeling depressed, hopeless, sad or ashamed about your eating or your weight? • Do you find yourself eating when you are upset or reward yourself with food when you do something good? • Have you ever noticed after eating sugar, flour, or wheat that you become more irritable? Food addicts notice that their emotions become more severe, intense, or unreasonable when eating the addictive substances. For many food addicts, emotional life may deteriorate into despair, depression, or thoughts of suicide. Social Symptoms of Food Addiction • Do you eat in private so no one will see you? • Do you avoid social interactions because you feel you do not look good enough or do not have the proper fitting clothes to wear? • Do you steal other people’s food? • Are you more interested in what food is served at social gatherings than looking forward to the warmth of being with the people attending? A food addict’s social life is affected by intense obsessive thinking about food. Making eye contact with people and taking an interest in developing friendships or intimate relationships become secondary to locating and eating addictive foods. Food addicts often hide or steal foods and eat in secret.

My husband was supportive about my choice to have surgery. When we met I was not diabetic. Maybe a year later I was. I just didn't relish the idea of being on pills or insulin for the rest of my life. But still, I was very secretive about the whole process. I only told my boss at work to let her know I would need time off and two close friends. Sadly, I am not talking to one of those friends anymore. People are so judgey about it. "Oh, just eat less, put down the fork." I can't not eat. Gamblers can avoid a casino and drinkers can pour all their vodka down the drain, but every day, I have to eat. I lost 70 lbs by diet and exercise and it all came back. In turn all that weight gain just made me depressed and I ate more. I no longer take my diabetes pills, my blood sugar rarely gets up past 130. I don't wake up with blood sugar at 210 no matter how healthy my meal was the night before. It's my body and it was my decision. I don't regret it at all. Life is too short to not be happy.

Way to go with moderate ketosis!! I am not doing ketone sicks yet, as I know I am not in ketosis yet. I had a much better day today. Not perfect, but I finally feel like I am getting my head back in this thing!! I am still up 5 pounds from what my ticker says, but I am a little encouraged tonight. You know this all started when I was sick and greatly increased my fluids. Well, I noticed tonight that I have pitting edema (swelling where when you push on your skin it leaves an indention) in my lower legs and ankles. So... my weight gain is most definately fluids. I am drinking lots of Water. Here my nursing diagnosis. I think when I had the virus I became a little dehydrated and then my body held on to fluids like crazy. Now that I am well I am expecting my body to figure it out anytime now and release the fluids that it has been holding on to. Sorry if that was too technical, but I am encouraged to think I have figured out what the deal it. (if I am even right??) Anyway, I am back in it!! You guys are the best. I agree with Mamato, it is sooo great to have a support system to go through this with!! YOU GUYS ROCK!!!

Hi everyone! I was banded on May 13, 2008. I had my first fill on June 23 and after the first week with the fill the scale stopped moving. I am due for my second one on Monday July 21. I also suffer from PCOS, I was diagnosed 17 years ago when I was 15, so I have all of the classic attributes from it! Diabetes, high blood pressure, irregular menstrual cycles, infertility, and weight gain. I have never tried a high protein, low carb diet aka Atkins plan, so I may need some advise from some experienced people! I plan on starting next week after I get my fill. My doctor has me do 2 days of clear liquids and then 2 days of full liquids/soft foods before advancing back to regular diet. After my last fill I attempted scrambled eggs and that did not set well with me at all, I took 2 bites and I was running to the bathroom, I have been scared to try them since. Can someone please explain how to calculate a net carb? Thanks in advance for all of your help!!!!!

Hi good friends, You are all SO right about the weight gain. One of my biggest goals in life is to enjoy the truly memorable, rare moments. Being pregnant and getting to eat lotsa yummy food or justifying a bowl of Cereal every night before bed is one of those fun parts and I will not give that up. So I'm resigned to the fact that I may hit about 30 lbs before this over...that allows me to gain slightly more than a pound a week, very fair. Besides, there are weeks where I don't each much and don't gain at all, so hopefully it'll even out. I was like Heather and gained very little the first 4 months, so I figured it would continue that way. I wanted to say thanks for your remarks about my surgical scars. They bother me, but I'm more confident every day that it shouldn't be a big issue to keep them under wraps. I just have loved ones that won't understand, won't respect my decision, etc. As far as updates go, it's been kinda a crazy week. I had my work baby shower last Friday, it was a blast and we got tons of cute stuff! I will have one with friends and family next month. Also Friday, I had to rush to the OBGYN's office because I had gone 2 days without feeling the baby move and a blood test showed elevated levels of B12, which can put the baby in duress. Everything was fine, but it was a scary ride to the doctor's office! I've felt him daily since then, but the doc was great and basically said I could drive to the clinic every day if I wanted to hear the heartbeat and they wouldn't mind. Weekend was nice and pleasant, got a maternity swimsuit for those weekends at the pool that me and my girlfriends love so much, went out to lunch and shopping with a girlfriend. Late Sunday afternoon my hubby got in a bad car accident. He is completely fine, but he totaled his car. This actually works in our favor. We had 4 or 5 yrs left of payments on it, it was starting to have expensive repairs issues (it's an Audi), and he missed his Jeep days, so now that the insurance co has declared it a total loss and paid off his car loan, we get to find him a better car, more baby-friendly and less expensive to maintain. So it looks like we're both getting new cars soon, because my trusty old Ford Focus, while an amazing and perfect car for the past 10 yrs isn't the most baby-friendly either. I'm actually a bit sentimental and sad to see it go! Cherry, I am so excited to start post-baby weight loss support! I know we will do great. Fairy, how is life as a mom? I'm a first-timer like you.

WOW, this is very interesting information to know. Looks like my body did the sudden shift as you will see. I think I will be watching my moods. Well, after ending up in the ER, it changed a lot of things for me. I never want to be in that kind of pain again or have a gain. Since then, I started eating right and walking almost every night (i hope it will be every night soon). I went back to the doctor this week (2 weeks after my initial 6 lb weight gain, in which he gave me a fill and he later removed it). I stepped on the scales and loved it. Eating right, thinking positive and exercising helped me lose 14 POUNDS in two weeks. I could not believe it. I am down almost 50 lbs. I look forward to going on walks because I get a chance to think about all the choices I have made and need to make in my future. I am sure losing that much in two weeks was odd, so my goal for next month is to lose a total of 10 pounds. Keep your fingers crossed.

I'm thinking this is what "normal people do, see the 7 lb weight gain and then stop and get it off. My problem was always....1. I could not stop after the vacation. 2. I would buy new pants. I vow to never buy bigger clothes again!!!!

Nicolanz beat me to it...but I was going to bring up caffiene and tobacco. Many people are addicted to one or both of those substances, but I doubt all of those addicts steal, cheat and lie to get their fix. Some may lie to their spouses about not smoking, but who lies about coffee? If you do, you've got bigger problems than just being addicted. But the point is, addiction can certainly exist without these behaviors. I know more than one functioning alcoholic. They don't think they have a problem because they've never missed a day of work, or had a DWI, or wrecked their car. But they can't leave the house without a beer or 2. Where ever they go, they are drinking. They may never admit to "needing" it, but you won't catch them without it. Is that an addiction? I think it is but I'm no doctor. As for eating, here's what my life looked like for over 20 years. First of all, I never hid food or sneaked around eating food behind anyone's back. I never lied or cheated. But I ate all the wrong stuff. Basically, I ate fast food for every meal. I never cooked. If I bought groceries, it was cereal, cookies, chips, peanut butter and bread...not much else. The oven was for pizza box storage, not for cooking. I nearly set my apartment on fire once because I attempted to preheat the oven too cook a frozen dinner, but I forgot it was full of old pizza boxes. When I bought my meals at whatever drive thru I went to, I bought way too much. It was extremely carb heavy. My blood sugar must have been through the roof, and after a few years, I was on my way to being insulin resistant. If I tried to restrict my calories, I had massive blood sugar drops every 3 hours like clockwork. Anyone who has ever bonked knows exactly how that feels. That negative reinforcement trained me to eat before that happened...and specifically to eat carbs (sugar) because that was the surest way to avoid that awful feeling. I know now that eating those carbs caused the rise and fall of blood sugar, which caused my feelings of temporary satisfaction, followed by increased insulin production which lead to the inevitable crash...unless I ate again before it happened (which I trained myself to do). It was a self inforcing pattern that lead to massive weight gain and overall poor health. I made some poor decisions, in part because I didn't know any better...which is my fault, nobody else's. As the weight piled on, it became ever more difficult to give a crap about my health. After a while, you get to the point that you feel you're too far gone so why try? Again...I don't know if this was an addiction. It certainly fits the description of damaging behavior that I couldn't stop. Even when I made up my mind to have VSG I was still in the dark about this stuff. I thought I could have surgery and it would only allow me to eat half a whataburger per day. That 6 months with the nutritionist really paid off for me, she opened my eyes and lit a fire in me to educate myself on food and the damage certain foods caused. Now....if I could only have one....the knowledge or the sleeve, I'd take the knowledge. But there is no denying that the sleeve gave me a push over that insurmountable hump that I couldn't see around before surgery...a push that I continue to ride into a better way of living.

Well I can honestly say I've never had a food addiction or emotional eating issue. But I did have a huge problem that led to weight gain. There was a time when my diabetes was seriously out of control and anyone who is diabetic can tell you that one of the symptoms of uncontrolled diabetes is thirst. Well from the time I would get off work till late night I would drink anything with sugar cause I was so damn thirsty. Root Beer was my best friend and I miss him so much but it's been over a year since I've tasted anything carbonated. Anyway after pretty much starving myself all day about 2 hours before bed, I'd smoke a phatty and then eat a huge dinner. Dinner pretty much consisted of whatever was the quickest. Weekends were different in that sometimes I would eat healthier meals. That's pretty much what my routine was like for about 15 years. Now that I've had surgery I've had to trick myself into eating 5 small portions a day and it's been rough. Yea I've missed some meals mainly because I'm not hungry but I'm sure I will get the hang of this new lifestyle. Thanks for the thread

I know I may be accused of being in denial but I'm not addicted to food. I have always joked that I wish someone would invent people kibbles so I could just munch on a handful of something crunchy and move on. Moreover, anyone who has lived with me will confirm that I rarely overeat. So how the H...LL did I put on so much weight and have so much trouble losing and keeping it off? Unrelenting hunger. I don't eat much at one time but I am famished in an hour or 90 minutes. Headache, nausea inducing hunger. And if I do not have healthy food when that hits, I will eat anything to make it quit. And in this obesegenic world that is a very risky place to be. I did not have this problem until about 15 years ago after my daughter was born and I went into gestational diabetes for the second time. I have been told I have "borderline" hypoglycemia but I never bothered with testing as it is time-consuming, expensive, not covered by insurance, and inconclusive. One way I kept weight gain under control was lots of physical activity. But bad feet run in my family and my activities gradually became more and more limited until I needed foot surgery and the forced inactivity really blew my weight up. As my BMI approached 40, I decided screw it, I don't want to fight this battle anymore and with the blessing of my PCP, podiatrist, and Gyn, started looking at surgical solutions. So you could say that for me, the surgery was truly a metabolic surgical fix. And I am already amazed at the difference. I feel so great it's almost unreal for me. So that's how it feels from the standpoint of someone who is not a food addict. It does happen.

Perhaps you were obese for as far back as you can remember. Or perhaps you were healthy and fit and turned obese over time. The result is the same in either case — and many of the reasons for why we become obese are also the same. Why We Were Obese A few years ago I posed a question to the BariatricPal community. I asked how it was that people with no history of obesity eventually became obese. What had happened? The answers I got were both accurate and astute. Here’s what people had to say. “…I changed to a career which didn’t naturally burn thousands of calories/day.” The most simple formula for weight loss or weight gain is the balance between calories consumed and calories burned. If you burn more calories than you consume you will lose weight. If you burn less calories than you consume you will gain weight. Read, “Bad Eating Habits that Cause Weight Gain.” “I was sedentary for a long time and gained another fifty pounds.” Sedentary behavior (particularly watching television) can lead to sedentary snacking. Eating food while watching TV causes people to eat more calories, especially calories from fat. “…it became much easier to grab a quick ‘something’ instead of sitting down to a proper/healthy meal.” Time pressures from school, work, and other obligations can cause people to eat on the run or not get enough sleep. Both have been shown to contribute to weight gain. Read, “Healthy Chain Restaurant Meals.” “Low self-esteem. Possibly some depression…” Not only can depression contribute to obesity, but some medications for treating depression can cause weight gain as well. SSRIs often promote weight loss initially, but within six months of treatment many people report weight gain. Read all of the community responses on BariatricPal. Learn what Science shows are the reasons we become obese. The answers will surprise you! Continue reading this article on MyBariatricLife. Weigh-in with your thoughts. What is it that you do to prevent excess weight gain from ever happening to you again? If you have experienced weight regain after your bariatric surgery, what is it that you did to overcome it?

I think you need to watch your own video carefully. You will here yourself talk about food, eating, cooking for you. I believe you have a Food Addiction. Not to fear.... I have one too. The band makes it possible to cut your appetite, so you won't want to eat all kinds of stuff. Depression,, that comes from being overweight. So yep you were right about the weight. It throws your Hormones out of whack, so everyone in one way or another gets Depressed. When you lose weight, you lose the Depression. Alter your Digestive system, or shut it down ? You have the wrong surgery mixed up with the band. That does not happen with the band. You will eat at least 3 x a day, probably some Snacks, but it will be Healthy Food, not the stuff that you love to eat that got you where your at. Somethings will be altered, and some things are in portion control. Either way you will be satisfied. But that comes in time ! First you have to have enough adjustments, then the band kicks in and takes the edge off of eating. Until then,,, you will learn control on your own, like we all did... Does it work ? I would say YES! I was 356, and last time weighed I was 241. I'll see next week when I get weighed again. But yep it keeps coming off as long as I watch what I eat, count calories and Protein, 800-1200 calories daily, and work out 3 x a week. So I don't kill myself, or burn out. Weight Gain yep I gained it almost all back, this is my second time around.. Surgeon deflated me by thinking he blew the band. Well he was wrong. He overfilled me, and that was all. But he deflated me, and it took time to get another surgeon to look at it, and see that there was nothing wrong, then he filled the Band.This was a surgeons mistake that was fixed with a fill. THIS IS NOT A COMMON THING. The weight Loss on the Ticker is from January only. Actual weight loss is 115Lbs. So yep I know it's possible. This is not sugar coated either ! Shirley.

Congrats on the first 5k! Hey, those are the days you can see weight go in the wrong direction and still smile. When you exercise so much more than normal, your body demands exactly what it needs. Sure, you could have found better ways to eat, and hopefully next time you will, but just doing that activity is a huge accomplishment. You may take an extra week to lose the weight gain, but your body will be better for it. Stronger, more muscular and better apt to lose in the future. My brother is a bike racer and told me that all the cyclists agree you never lose weight during the race season. It's just too hard contending with what your body requires. But it's during e offseason that the racers get so thin they can fit into toddler clothing. What I take from that for my exercising is I don't expect to lose much on my most vigorous workout days. But it's exactly those vigorous days that set my body up for big losses on the more normal workout days. Two weeks ago I went on a monster ride, over 60 miles with a mountain. I burned almost 5000 calories, but only lost 0.2lbs that day cause of all the food, salts, power bars and shot blocks I consumed, not to mention a glass of wine that night. But in the two weeks since that ride I've lost 9lbs. Sure, I exercise daily, but 500-1200 calories usually. And I've been good on my food intake. But I personally think that huge workout day jump started my body to burn more calories and that's why the last two weeks have been so prosperous. I'm planning another huge days soon. Anyway, my point was, congrats on the 5K and don't let the immediate weight response mean more than it should.

Hello Amanda; Forgive yourself and make plans for next time you might be in a similar situation. We are creatures of habit. I still struggle 7+ months out and yes, I had a Peanut Butter egg today also. I might gain a pound (or two cause I had some jelly Beans to wash down the PB egg) but I will start fresh and follow nutritional guidelines more closley tomorrow. Your stress levels are high, so help yourself by plotting for success in all situations. At my last check up I talked at length with my doc and NUT about my battles with food. Being sleeved does not give us a miracle weight loss without any issues. I am so proud you understand the battle is not won by being sleeved alone. Seeking professional advice means you are serious about your wellbeing mentally and physically. Being sleeved means you can lose weight if you choose to take the right steps. Again, forgive yourself and plan ahead next time your might face a similar situation since you are not strong enough to say NO just yet. or be smart enough to plan your food ahead. Were you really hungry? Was it just the egg that caused the weight gain or what else occured? This is war honey and I know you can WIN.

I not a good example in a lot of ways because I put back the weight I lost on the pre-op liquid diet which was around 25 lbs, 10% of my body weight at the start. Actually I was around 253lbs when I started. Today I got on the scale and it was 245. something, no shoes though! Anyway a lot of my issues have been "head" related and not everyone has that easy of a time. But I refused to give up, jeese, after $30,000 for a little band I'm not going to revision because I haven't worked out all the "kinks", that's figuratively not literally. As many know I've had a few "fill" issues and are probably different for everyone. There have been some mistakes made in my fills which cost me some of my motivation. I'm also on some meds which tend to slow down my metabolism. I'm also almost 50, enough said. I have to move past this and even if I don't get down to what most bansters want as their goal weight, I'm looking at 200 lbs and am 5'6", I still am going to give it a try! Now if brandyII can get the GD scale moving on the down side instead of the wrong direction for a change then you guys can too. That hunger thing, is it around PMS time? I know it's my hardest time and I also have PCOS. It's the worse and when I want sweets which we all know miraculously go through the band like water!!!!! Or are you hungry all the time. I still get hungry and I think it's good to know what hunger feels like and if you have a band and eat food the hunger should go away. If this isn't happening I'd discuss it with your doctor and none of that I'm too embarrassed to see my doctor crap because I'm a failure. He gave you that band and he should seeing this thing through with you not against you! He's not the one that has to live in your body though so it's up to you to be proactive and get whatever help you need from your doctor. Fills are tricky things, believe me I know, getting one doesn't always help, it can work against you. Those that have hit the perpetual "sweet spot" are very lucky people because I myself don't necessarily know if it's possible, I believe they can change for many reasons anyway especially with weight loss it's going to change. Anyway we're here to support you, don't want you giving up by all means and if you need to talk and open up more about what you think is going on this is the place to do it. But don't forget your doctors are there to help you and I don't want anyone afraid to go discuss the weight gain/no loss issues with them because you don't want to face them. If they do have really, really bad bedside manners then I'd say get a new doctor but otherwise take control and tell him what you expect from your banding, you didn't go through this for nothing, brandyII.

Hi, my name is Theresa. Had my sleeve on Aug. 21, 15..I was a nervous wreak. I had been on several diets to no avail. I had several strokes and had to take a lot of meds; so help contrition to weight gain. I was disabled for about a year. Bed exercises etc. I just tried all any fad to get rid of the pounds. Unfortunately, I had no self esteem, no energy and felt total defeated and ashamed. I was asked to go see Dr. Barnett to see options were open to me..A year later, I was on my way. SW 250 CW 216...I am losing very slow. Approx. 1.5 pds per week. Any insight would be appreciated. I must be doing something wrong. Thank you for help and feedback.........losing, just slow

My name is Alex and I'm a 39 year old male living in Tennessee. I am divorced with three children. My highest weight was 323 and I became more and more concerned with my overall health condition. In 2007 I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, and just two years ago, atrial fibrillation. When it was suggested that all of these problems could be related to my obesity, I started looking for more extreme ways to try to lose weight. I have struggled with weight gain my entire life, trying all kinds of diets, losing 60 pounds when I was 16 but gaining it back by the time I was 22. My ex-wife had Roux en Y surgery in 2007, and had a dramatic weight loss. Unfortunately, she did not heed the advice of the doctors and dieticians and never took her supplements, so the weight came right back within two years. This has turned me away from having the surgery until a mutual friend of hers, a lap bander, had me speak to another friend who had recently had the gastric sleeve surgery, which I had not heard of until earlier this summer. I got very excited after researching the surgery and called my insurance company for physicians in network who perform it. I signed up for a consultation with the Vanderbilt Center for Surgical Weight Loss in Nashville in July and that is when I was sure this was the right time and the right thing to do. When the surgeon, Dr. Brandon Williams came in during the presentation I realized I went to high school with him and felt another sense of ease since we already knew one another. I had complete encouragement from my parents, my fiancée, and my personal physician, who wrote the letter of recommendation for me to have the surgery. And my insurance company was very easy to deal with, and only required a few standard prerequisites prior to having the surgery. (Psych eval, attendance of support group, evidence of trying other diets, etc). Four months later my surgery took place 11/21/2013. My only complication during the surgery was during post op; my heart went into atrial fibrillation while I was in the recovery room. I was moved to the cardiology floor at Vanderbilt for monitoring. The first night in the hospital was spent seeing many cardiologist trying to figure out how to get my heart rate below 130 where it stayed for hours. By morning, it was down to the 80s, since I was able to take my beta blockers crushed (yuck!). I was discharged the next day since my heart rate was back in the 60s. It has almost been 2 weeks since I had the surgery, and the only pain I feel is in my right side around the ribs, which is close to where they removed most of my stomach. I am now past the soft foods stage and can drink and eat ok, long as I resist the temptation to eat too big of a bite of food. I still crave the old foods I am no longer allowed to eat, but am putting in the toughest battle to stay with this diet by the book. I am 27 pounds down and hope to lose more and when I return to work I hope I can keep in control of my daily diet. That's enough about me... Good luck to everyone out there. I feel good about what I have done, no regrets.

Hi, my name is Nikki. I'm 39 yrs old and I'm from Mississippi. I have 4 children ages 22,15,14,and 13. I'm recently divorced and very happy. I'm a massage therapist that works for a chiropractor for the past 9 years. I've been overweight probably for the past 4 years. I started to seriously gain weight when my oldest son fell ill with complications from sickle cell disease. I had to stop working out and give him all of my attention and support. Emotional eating played a big role in my weight gain too! I've researched WLS for the past year and just decided that enough is enough in this weight gain/loss roller coaster. My surgery is set for October 21, 2014 and I'm very excited and nervous all at the same time. I can't wait to be happy with my self image again!

My VSG doctor required a therapist appointment prior to surgery. The main thing I remember her saying was the hard part starts at 18 months to 2 years post op. I remember thinking that after that amount of time, it should be routine and a habit, but she was right. My weight gain started about 2 1/2 years post op and got worse in 2020. Now I am also working on losing what I've gained using the 10-day pouch reset diet. I had been of BP for a couple of years, but got back on for the tips and support of the forum.

So my grief counselor has suggested I try Wellbutrin. Things have been especially bad for me lately because its coming up on the 1 year anniversary of my friend's suicide. We've also been exploring some buried emotions from my brother's death that I never really got over (apparently drowning them in alcohol didn't make them go away ;(. ). At this point I'm having difficulties experiencing any sort of emotion besides sadness.....most of my days are spent going through the motions and putting on a show for others and quite frankly I'm exhausted. She thinks the Wellbutrin will help me with the biochemical issues I may be having that are hindering my healing process. So I'm going in to see my PCP on Friday to get his OK for the Rx. So anyone else taking it for depression? How's it working for you? Just wondering if there are any weight loss/weight gain/appetite issues I could expect by taking this medication. Any other weird side effects? I've taken Prozac and other SSRIs in the past for anxiety and stress, but the main problem was I could not sleep while on them. Not sleeping was worse than the reasons I was taking them in the first place so I had to stop.

Not to be rude, but people with metal health issues can't always control their mood or always be positive. I am here because this is suppose to be a supportive community not one who that dictates how to feel or states I have unrealistic expectations in one sentence then that I don't know how to differentiate between temporary and actual weight gain. What I said was how I feel, the frustration and depression not a lack of understanding or intelligence I thought that is what these forums are for. I apologize, but I have really found your posts hurtful.

The further out I get, the more I adopt the attitude of Never Say Never. I have regular crap food in my diet. As I do healthier stuff (i love me some salad). I love food and can thoroughly enjoy eating in my much smaller quantities. Balance and portion control is key for me. I started eating bread again (the regular, non-keto, full-everything kind WiITH butter) about 2-ish years post op…and surprise, surprise, I didn’t implode. Warm, fresh bread is THE BEST (my Mr. is the bread whisperer lol). Now, I won’t eat 5 slices anymore, I’ll likely just have 3-4 bites (as it is very filling for me), but still. Other than excess sugar, I can enjoy a wide range of foods with no ill effects nor unintended weight gain. Im 3 years post op and been maintaining my weight consistently at 115-ish since reaching goal almost 2.5 years ago…non-healthy food choices (with portion control) and all. My most recent labs a couple weeks ago showed once again that i am the picture of health. I do understand that for some folks, some foods are triggers or potential starts of slippery slopes. I guess just know what your boundaries are and strive to stay within them. You may not be perfect, but u can be perfect ENOUGH. Indefinite denial and avoidance, especially if it causes you angst is a meltdown waiting to happen. P.S. For those early in the process, for me it helped to tell myself: “Not right now, but maybe later”; or, “This kinda sucks, but it won’t always be so”. Making peace with the fact that nothing is forever helped with accepting my present circumstance. and who knows? what u really want today may not even be on ur radar tomorrow or next week or next year. And if it is, you can always have it then. Good Luck! ❤️

You certainly can't base your calorie intake on mine so I'm not suggesting that. I am a large guy that even if I had zero fat on my body I'd weigh 250 lbs probably and I am 6'6". But I eat 2200 calories a day post-sleeve and the world hasn't ended. I still lose weight because it is below my BMR. I don't know your height, weight, age, etc... but I would imagine that 1100 calories is probably still under your BMR. You'll be fine. You can't live on 5-600 calories a day the rest of your life. The important things to do in this early stage, in this order and in my opinion are: 1. Make correct food choices -- protein, first. Healthy food first. If you get to the end of your day and still have calories left and you've hit all your macros then you can have a reward. I usually eat a half a cup of ice cream on days like that. Calories are calories. Don't buy the bull that there are 'bad calories.' It is all situational. If cookies are a building block of your diet then yes, that is bad. Not because the calries in a cookie are worse than the calories in a piece of chicken but because they are devoid of any nutrition. This is why you wait until the end of your day for any 'reward' food. If I have 200 calories left over on my day and I've hit all my macros, I use those 200 calories on whatever the hell I want. You should do the same. It keeps me from craving those things by occasionally enjoying them as treats. 2. Drink water, tea or some form of zero calorie liquid all day, every day. It will help with weight loss and constipation. 3. Log everything that goes into your mouth. You have to learn to do this because it makes you keenly aware of what you can and cannot eat. It makes you aware of what you are eating, too. 4. Get active. Don't squander this opportunity. For many of this -- at least, I felt this way for myself -- this is the last chance to live a long, healthy life. You don't want to go out without your best shot. If the weight beats you, don't let it be because you didn't give it your all. 5. Do not weigh yourself daily if you freak out about weight gain. If you must always weigh yourself at the same time every day. First thing in the morning, last thing before you go to bed and keep that routine. The reason being, your weight WILL fluctuate day to day and even during the day based on hydration levels and in the case of this surgery, constipation is cruel to your scale numbers too.

I am to be banded on the 14th also! While my doc doesn't require the liver-shrinking diet, he does require you to lose any weight gained from your first appt. with him to your appointment to schedule surgery. In a nutshell, I gained 6 pounded since May! I have to go to the doc's office to weight the day before surgery and I have to be 6 pounds down. I cut back tremendously this past week, but I think I will put myself on a self-imposed liquid diet next week! Good luck to you all!

I still have 22 lbs to lose before I'm at pre-pregnancy weight. Sigh...i have been bad all week too, so who knows if I've gained? Probably. Just dealing with hunger sucks. I know I need a fill, but I am not wanting to be tighter than I am right now! Lately I don't eat large meals, but I notice I get growly tummy after breastfeeding. It's food choices, pure and simple. Cravings for the naughty foods are worse at night, so I will try to work harder at that. The main reason they measure your tummy is simple, for easy, quick checks of growth. Your tummy measurement should match your week, so 37 cm should mean you're 37 wks along. However, the measurements are not as accurate if you weren't slender to start with, so don't worry too much about it. One of my pregnant friends has measured very large since about 24 wks, always measuring about 5 wks ahead. This has prompted several sonograms. Her last tummy measurement was done when she was 36 wks, however it showed her at 41 wks...she has not had a healthy pregnancy. WAY too much weight gain, fatty, salty foods, etc has resulted in gallstones and gestational diabetes. Her docs aren't too happy with her, as she was obese to start with. So basically, the tummy measurement is a good diagnostic tool to determine if other tests should be done. They estimate her baby girl at over 9 lbs right now, and she isn't due until Halloween...so it's looking like a C section might be the only option. I love her to death, just hope she's getting nutritional food for the baby. Even if the veggies are drenched in ranch, I wish she was eating more of them. Abe is 10 weeks old and doing great, smiling and laughing constantly! He is in the 75th percentile for height, so he will hopefully be tall, and 50th percentile for weight, so he's gaining perfectly. How are all of you out there? Excited for the new babies to arrive soon!