Search the Community

I think I had several things that got me here. First, I was always overweight, even as a kid, not a lot, but some, but I felt huge, because I was always the fat girl in school and my mom was petite and skinny when I was little. (Althought looking back, I wasn't nearly as fat as I thought I was!) I weighed about 160-170ish in high school, dropped to 140-150 in college/early marriage but always thought I had to be 120ish to no be "fat" (I'm 5-7). When we had kid#1 I weight 180, and gained 20lbs, 200 with Kid#2, and gained 30ish, then gained maybe 5lbs/year afterwards. But what really got me started was my DH who had struggled his whole career in the USAF to keep his weight down retired from the AF in 2000 looking totally hot and fit and completely lost control. He gained nearly 200lbs in about 2 yrs and it freaked me out. He was already having some health/stress related problems before his weight gain but the extra weight made everything worse very quickly. I soon realized I had better start taking care of myself because he was putting me on the road to widowhood. (Our kids were just 11 and 6 when he retired, now 20 and 15) I decided I had to lose weight so there was at least one healthy parent! I also hoped if I lead the way, DH would follow, if not, I still needed to do this for me. So I tried dieting on my own for a couple of years, but just couldn't seem to lose anything. I finally went into see my doctor for an annual exam and told her my problems and she figured out I had PCOS. Put me on Metforin, BCPs, and Xenical and I dropped 40lbs with diet and exercise over the next year but couldn't seem to get any farther and in researching the PCOS I started reading about people who were having lapbands. So I started researching the surgery. I knew I'd never consider RNY but this looked like it had potential. So I tried to get approved for surgery and my insurance came back with an approval for RNY but not Lapband. I opted to wait. In the 2 years afterwards I gained back the 40lbs. Meanwhile my DH's health has continued to worsen, HBP, lots of pains, can't even climb the stairs to bed without being out of breath. One day last year I got an newletter from Tricare saying they were now paying for Lapband procedures, and I called for an appointment that same week. While DH would never consider surgery for himself, he was supportive of me (not that I gave him much choice). Got approved, had the surgery, ran into post op complications (the surgeon accidentally perforated or burned my stomach leading to an infection), so she removed the band the next week and I spent 2 weeks in the hospital on antibiotics. DH was terrified he could lose me and I was probably about 24 hrs from being dead when I was admitted to the hospital although we didn't realize it at the time. I've now spent 6 months recovering and my surgeon thinks I'm ready for another try. I'm scheduled for surgery March 4th. I'm going in to talk to her next week and discuss if she thinks a lapband or a VSG is the best option for me. Either way, starting next month I'm taking control of my personal health. On a happy note, my DH who has been super supportive of me even while he lived in denial himself, has finally come to the decision that he has to lose weight. We're going to the educational class for him on Monday to start the process for him to get surgery too. This is a huge step for him because he was always against having surgery, and when mine didn't go smoothly, I though he'd never consider it. Always Hunzi

I have to agree, the reset tickers don't tell the whole story. But, I do understand why some people do reset them. I have long noticed that thin people think of weight gain in terms of 1-10lbs, while us heavier people think of weight gain in terms of 10lb increments. It is kind of a state of mind thing to me.

Ok, ok, I surrender!! Y'all are the only ones I have met that like the name -- you'll not hear another peep out of me about it!! I too am struggling with food and weight gains right now. I made it through Christmas with flying colors, but that was because I was so tight that I pb'd every other day. A little looser now and finding all the 'bad' foods that go down so easily anyway. I've been bouncing around the same 6 pounds for a month. I'm going to try to eat fruit and yogurt for breakfast, drink the protein shake between b'fast and lunch. The dietician says I need at least 1250 calories. I'm finding that hard to do with only 3 cups of food a day...suggestions?? I HATE to cook and usually have a frozen meal for lunch. Oh, btw, Good morning!! Still no server....I need to go see what's going on. Or should I say not going on. Kat and Judy -- still thinking of you and your families... Thanks everyone for the welcome!!

Judy, I had never heard of the Percocet causing weight gain before....hmmm....I wonder if that has anything to do with my extremely slow weight loss lately. I take 6 or so a day depending on the day as well as 60mg of Morphine 2 times a day, not to mention the Relafen (muscle relaxer; kind of like Motrin) But to be honest I take the smallest amount necessary just to get through the day right now. If I took anything less I wouldn't even be getting out of bed in the mornings. What now? I guess I have to work EXTRA hard! Sorry to hear you have similar problems, I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy it has been a crazy time in my life since these back problems started. I hope you are doing well, keep on top of what you need to do with Richmond Kaiser and Take Care!

i really like this idea, though i still don't think the purple team water loaded. very well could be (daughters) TOM, or body just saying - taking a break this wk. i just refuse to go on the scale during PMS because i can be up 7lbs on any given day during that time & it's not real weight gain because it's gone the following wk. i think water loading takes place - just dont' think so w/the purple team....i also really like them along w/blue. the crying just makes me annoyed @yellow. so the mouthy one (can't remember names) who barked at joelle last wk - who lost 2lbs lost what this wk 1lb???? yeah, how about run & shut up...she was still bossy at the after "weighing" mtg. still pulling for brown - that kid had an emotional wk, and he pulled thru - very happy for him.

It's been 2 weeks since my last update. The first week, I was on liquids and the second week soft foods. The two drain tubes were pulled leaving only the feeding tube and G-tube into the stomach. Both have been capped off and only left in as a precaution. Today, I have an appointment to remove these remaining tubes. I am also supposed to get the go ahead for solid foods. I think it will still be months before the wounds stop leaking completely and close up/heal. The only scare I had was after 7 days of liquids and 2 days of soft foods, I gained 18 pounds!!! Who gains 18 # in 9 days?!!!! I panicked and paged the doctor. He explained that this was a reaction to my body from being in "starvation mode" for several weeks. Previously, I was only able to get in 600 calories each day. I wasn't so concerned about the weight gain as I was about whether or not food or liquids were still leaking out of my stomach. The doctor said that if that was the case, I would be violently sick. Fortunately, I am still healthy with no fevers. He said my metabolism should stabilize. I think it has because I dropped 4 pounds already. Apparently, there is a ton of politics in my doctor's office. My doctor left the business (with no notice) and moved to the opposite side of town. I sought him out so he could remove these final tubes. My follow-up care will be at the Mayo Clinic. Hopefully, there won't be any further complications.

I posted this on my blog, but I thought it might be important to share here because I am sure I am not the only one who is experiencing this: I know I've been raking on DH a bit here, and usually he's a decent guy, but I don't know exactly what's happening here lately. It's either time for a sit-down or to really get this before a counselor to make it a bit more neutral because, frankly, I don't believe he'll see what he's doing. Since the "coming to Jesus" talk we had (okay, I had with him) a couple weeks ago, on more than one occasion he has made some bizarre comment when I've complimented him after making dinner. I'll say, "Oh, the chicken was good," and he'll reply, "Nah, it's okay. It's just food." The first time I asked what he was talking about and he said he needed to look at food as just sustenance and nothing else. Um, that's NOT what I said. What I said was that he lives to eat and makes everything about the food. So that's been going on a few times since that day. Tonight I said that he needs to stop it, to which he replied that he was only being supportive. I said no, what I feel like he's being is mocking, like he really doesn't get this whole thing I'm going through. I said that it's not bad to enjoy what we eat, it's just that he was so consumed with the act of eating that it was wharped. I said that I wished he was as into me as he is into food, and he thought I was being silly. Uh-huh... *eye roll* Another thing that just started on Friday is that I'm getting a blow-by-blow synopsis of the weight HE has lost by virtually doing nothing. I'm exercising four days a week and eating good meals, every meal, and he's lost over 20 freakin pounds by just not eating all the junk after dinner -- in front of me. And again, he attributes it to "supporting me" -- almost like, "Look how I'm suffering for you because I'm losing weight too." Okay, he's lost almost as much as I have, and now I feel like he's crowing about it (his weight has NEVER been discussed before). The problem with DH is, even if I try to discuss it with him, he is totally lacking in personality or person skills (read: he's very immature). He is not always good with other people, and he seems to lack the ability to understand anything or anyone beyond the end of his nose. Compassion is virtually nil. As Jennifer Aniston would say, there's a sensitivity chip missing sometimes. So when you explain something to him that he's doing, he only knows how to deny. Comprehension doesn't seem to be his strong suit -- especially when it comes from me, unfortunately. I always knew he was going to be the hardest part of this journey, but I guess I never realized just how hard. In the past when I was just dieting, he eventually got his way and we'd start back to eating out again, leading to my weight gain. I'm not blaming him, per se, but still -- if I was doing this only own, I'd have done lost it by now, I feel. But now it's as if he's pulling out all the stops. I dunno, maybe I'm just being sensitive or reading more into it than I should, but I'm not even three months into my journey and we've already had waaaay too many conversations over this. I think that's why I spend so much time on LBT and here -- because these are the places I get support, these are the people that understand what I'm going through. I find it sad that I can get that from people I've never met, yet a man I've known 17 years is either so self-absorbed or so clueless that he doesn't get it.

I am wondering if anyone else has had this problem....I went for my first fill on Thursday, 2/5, and I weighed in at the doctors at 274, but today I got on the scale and I weigh 280. I don't know what happen, I hardly consumed anything the last couple of days cause I don't feel hungry at all, I have all I can do right now to drink my shakes. :thumbdown::confused: I don't know what is wrong.

The lap band is only going to help you if you've gained weight because of eating too much and not being able to stop. All the lap band does is force you to eat less. So if you think there is some other reason for your weight gain then it probably won't work. On the other hand you could be in denial. I was never overweight and then I had babies. I exercized a lot but could never lose the weight, I honestly thought it was because of my thyroid disease. I was 210 when I got the surgery and I am 5'7. In 7 months I lost about 40 pounds. It wasn't until after the surgery that I realized I had been sabotaging my weight loss by the amount of food I ate. I had no idea. Having the surgery was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Karey, I am so sorry to hear you are having trouble. DH and I were talking about this very thing yesterday. My weight gain was eye opening fo rme too. It is sooo easy to put it back on. I told him that if I ever have to have my band removed I think I will do a sleeve. I am so fearful of gaining the weight back. I used to wish that fear would go away, but after the holidays I think it is probably necessary to keep the weight off. In one of your posts you said that someone told you (your daughter I think) that skinny people are skinny because they watch what they eat. That has really stuck with me. To be healthy we must watch what we put in our mouths, and that is for everyone, not jsut us banded people. Anyway, hope things get better for you real soon!! Keep me posted!

At one of the three seminars I attended at the beginning of this process, a nutritionist gave out information on a study that was done on successful weight-loss patients. I thought it was interesting to hear that one of the indicators for being successful is getting enough sleep at night, but she didn’t really explain why. This paragraph is about my sleep, you can skip this and go to the next one to hear about you. I’ve always had a lot of trouble sleeping; takes me a minimum of ½ hour to fall asleep, I have to use a sound machine because I’m such a light sleeper and I wake up during the night several times. Add to that, that I’ve had frequent migraines that usually wake me up in the wee hours of the morning, and I wasn’t getting enough sleep. After having a crippling migraine for three days one week I finally sought help and am now on a medication that has been a miracle for me…and one of the side effects is that you have deeper sleep. I’ve had a few episodes where I’ve woken in the night with the beginnings of a migraine, but then I’ve fallen back to sleep. That NEVER would have happened before. It doesn’t help me to fall asleep, and I wake up groggy, but I’m getting more hours of sleep, which is good. OK, here’s why it’s good. The Today Show featured a story today where Glamour Magazine looked at all the studies that showed a correlation between lack of sleep and weight gain. People who don’t get enough sleep on average eat 200 calories more per day. Glamour got women to change their sleep to at least 7.5 hours per night…and whataya know…they lost weight (they had more energy during the day to do more). When you don’t get enough sleep the body is under stress and craves carbs and fats as an energy source. When you get enough sleep (called sleep hygiene) the leptin (hormone that regulates how hungry you are) in the brain is kept in balance. Leptin goes down with sleep deprivation, which increases your appetite. If you Google ‘sleep deprivation and obesity’ you’ll find an avalanche of recent studies on this issue. The obesity epidemic has gone up at the same rate that average amount of sleep has gone down. So get your zzzz’s!!! Here’s the Today Show segment: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/29098028#29098028

At one of the three seminars I attended at the beginning of this process, a nutritionist gave out information on a study that was done on successful weight-loss patients. I thought it was interesting to hear that one of the indicators for being successful is getting enough sleep at night, but she didn’t really explain why. This paragraph is about my sleep, you can skip this and go to the next one to hear about you. I’ve always had a lot of trouble sleeping; takes me a minimum of ½ hour to fall asleep, I have to use a sound machine because I’m such a light sleeper and I wake up during the night several times. Add to that, that I’ve had frequent migraines that usually wake me up in the wee hours of the morning, and I wasn’t getting enough sleep. After having a crippling migraine for three days one week I finally sought help and am now on a medication that has been a miracle for me…and one of the side effects is that you have deeper sleep. I’ve had a few episodes where I’ve woken in the night with the beginnings of a migraine, but then I’ve fallen back to sleep. That NEVER would have happened before. It doesn’t help me to fall asleep, and I wake up groggy, but I’m getting more hours of sleep, which is good. OK, here’s why it’s good. The Today Show featured a story today where Glamour Magazine looked at all the studies that showed a correlation between lack of sleep and weight gain. People who don’t get enough sleep on average eat 200 calories more per day. Glamour got women to change their sleep to at least 7.5 hours per night…and whataya know…they lost weight (they had more energy during the day to do more). When you don’t get enough sleep the body is under stress and craves carbs and fats as an energy source. When you get enough sleep (called sleep hygiene) the leptin (hormone that regulates how hungry you are) in the brain is kept in balance. Leptin goes down with sleep deprivation, which increases your appetite. If you Google ‘sleep deprivation and obesity’ you’ll find an avalanche of recent studies on this issue. The obesity epidemic has gone up at the same rate that average amount of sleep has gone down. So get your zzzz’s!!! Here’s the Today Show segment: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/29098028#29098028

Hi Everyone, I had my surgery 3 years ago, I had about 110 pounds that I wanted to lose, I went down 55 pounds in about 6 months and the last time I went to her (my surgeon) I gained a pound and she yelled at me.:thumbdown:...(i'm probably old enough to be her mother!! anyway after that, I didn't go back. so I am really mad at myself, I stalled right there and then slowly started to put weight back on, now with i've gained 20 pounds. So now it's back to the old feelings how stupid i am, I can't believe I'm doing this again (the old I'll start eating right on Monday!!! Remember that one, and the other one is no more sweets after that cake is gone....It is totally my fault, i'm a sweet eater, I have never been sick after eating sweets, and i'm always sick after eating any meat at all, so instead of a soft or crunchy diet I eat sweets...that was always my problem and it still is. I went to my regular doctor, (she shoots right off the hip, if you know what I mean) so she looks at the weight gain and says "so I guess the lapband didn't work for you, now what are you going to try" I told her that i'm so sick of my weight gain and loss, that I just don't want to talk about it anymore. And I gained the last 10 pounds since Thanksgiving, and I can only say that this is all my fault, all the old insecurities and hating myself for being so weak are here with me in full force. Something kind of good happened, a friend of mine recently had lapband surgery and when I talk to her, she is so excited and so thrilled, she has me thinking about changing....notice I said thinking:confused: What is up with me!!! I'm hoping some of her excitement will rub off on me:unsure: So please don't think i'm whinning oh poor me, I know this is totally my fault and I just wanted to write it down in case someone is in the same boat and needed to know that they are not alone. nanadi1118:frown:

Thanks you guys. I'm really not blue. I am kind of laughing about it, actually. I have not really allowed myself to eat stuff like "real" candy or those forbidden foods for many, many years. My weight gain has related to overeating, but it has usually been healthier foods. Not that it makes a difference, though. My BMI is around 36, and I have the disabling health problems nonetheless. I guess I feel like I have struggled with the urges, fighting them daily for so long. Now that things are going to change, maybe I can just relax for a minute and have that Milky Way bar. I think dinner tonight will be a Malibu and Coke, some uncooked bread, some popcorn, and a grilled chicken salad. I will enjoy these on your behalf, and when I'm on the flip-side, I'll feel like I've said my last goodbyes properly.:thumbdown:

hello everyone, my name is maria but i like to be called mer. been having a rough time lately with the weight loss. i had my band surgery on june 18, 2007. the surgery was easy, hardly any pain and i healed fast. i haven't lost that much weight and in fact the past month or two i have been gaining. at first after the surgery i did lose because i was in that zone to lose and with the restrictions from the band helped. exercised alittle too. everytime i noticed i was eating more than ishould i would go in for a fill. after the first couple of months everytime i went in for afill i would make an appt for my next fill. the first 13 months were free fills so why not and if i felt i didn't need afill then it was no problem cancelling. by the time my first year aniversary came around i had lost about 70 pounds. which is good but not good enough in my mind. i stayed at about 70lb loss for afew months then i had foot surgery so i was unable to walk around for acouple months and so i became bored. for me bored equals eating. while i was recovering i started to gain but then when i was able to walk on my foot the weight gain slowed, alittle. i thought when i would return to work it would get me back on some sort of routine but no. i just made an appt for a fill. i'm alittle embarrased because of the weight gain and almost didn't make the apt but i need to get back into eating better so i worked through that fear and called. any way just wanted to say hi and let you know where im at in my laplife. sorry it was so long:smile: mer

Glad I helped. Don't worry about the weight gain. I at first was upset about the lbs coming back on. But I knew I had my lapband to help me afterwards. Keep us posted/updated as you go along. Nadine

Hi Digg, Yes, I experienced weight gain from the surgery,... but I could see it in my swollen hands and feet ... from the IV they had me on to keep me hydrated. It took a few days for the swelling to leave, and to show the weight loss again.

Okay.....just had surgery 2-4, did fine, feel pretty good, on full liquids, trying to drink water etc.....my question is, when I came home from the hospital I was up 10 pounds! --- as of today 2-7-09 I am still 4 pounds heavier than my weight before the surgery at the hospital...initially I thought it was fluid retention from the operation, but enough is enough, I am eating (or should I say - drinking) very little, today I had water about 20 oz, yogurt, and a little tomato soup...I'm not really hungry, but did anyone else experience weight gain right after surgery?

It makes sense to me as a woman that there would be a double standard. Reproduction is such an unbalanced bit of business. The male's contribution is a spasm of pleasure and then he is out of there. The female's contribution, on the other hand, is enduring the pregnancy itself, the steadily deforming body, morning nausea, weight gain, the expense of needing to eat more nutrients in order to feed the growing foetus as well as her own body, the expense of buying garments which will accomodate her new body, and of course the medical expenses. These costs do not end here, much later in life, she may suffer from a prolapsed uterus, incontinence - why, the poor woman may dread sneezing - all because of that pregnancy. There is the considerable pain of childbirth. In earlier eras, before the current advances in medicine, childbearing itself was a risky business. My brother was told in his first year of med school that historically more women died in childbirth or of its complications than men in war. One of the major birthing bed killers was puerperal fever. Then antibiotics were discovered and that put paid to childbed fever. Fortunately this was a killer bacterium and thus vulnerable to death by antibiotics. Because pregnancy leaves women so very much wide-open and vulnerable to a whole bunch of nasty consequences, I believe that when it comes to the women's right to choose, it really is that; women get to call the shots and if she is anxious to have a baby or feels that killing the foetus sits badly with her particular moral compass then the man should have no say in this matter. I chose to have an abortion even though the man involved wanted to have the baby and wanted to settle down with me. I simply do not like children and was creeped out big time by pregnancy and its effects on the body both long term and short term. You may call this a phobia, if you like. I also think that if a man wishes to avoid the consequences of having a child to support he would be wise to wear a welly on his willy whenever he enters.........! That is called taking care of business!

I think carbonation is only one part of the equation... The fake sugars in diet soda are a whole other animal that contribute to weight gain and slow weight loss... Those fake chemicals are just bad news... and I am not sold on that 'Truvia' crap either...

Wow, what was it about yesterday? :thumbup: I had two cookies, no reason for it, didn't even need them I just wanted to be a little rebellious. :biggrin: I also went out to eat last night with some friends and ate much more fried food than I should have. Today I'm up about 2 pounds. But I also realize that I had a bunch more sodium yesterday so part of me is wondering if that didn't contribute to the weight gain as well. But you are all right, today is a new day and I'm ready to make good choices. Thanks guys :tongue2: Christy

What kind of fish do you eat? I really do like fish, and I like it baked rather than fried. But, I have to have tartar sauce! The rest of the stuff you mentioned, is exactly how I eat too. I have always been done a big freak out if there is any fat on my meat. I eat a lot of chicken breast and veggies with no butter, just a tiny bit of salt. I just realized I have been taking a medication that may cause weight gain. I looked on the info that came with the prescription last time I picked it up. It says it causes an appetite increase. I don't notice that, but I know some medications make it hard to lose weight. I am going to look into that.

Hello Everyone! I just wanted to share this information with anyone else that may be suffernig from PCOS. I saw Pulmonary the other day and they suggested I try metformin for PCOS. He said he was afraid that seeing PCOS causes weight gain, that I may have trouble keeping the weight that I loose from the surgery off, he said Metformin would help me do that. So I brough the name of the medicine to my Primary and she liked the idea and prescribed me 500mg once daily. In addition to letting you all know about it, can anyone else who may be on it tell me how it is working for them? THANK YOU! :biggrin:

Hey guys.. for those of you who pray.. I really need some prayer.. I have been having this mild pain in my ovary area as I shared earlier.. well today it was getting a little more constant.. and have heard that sometimes people get this kind of pain when they are pregnant.. plus I had that wonkie 6lb weight gain in one week with no explaination.. well its like 5-6 days before I would start my cycle.. and I thought what the heck i will take a PG test.. well... it was positive!! the 2nd line was really faint.. but the test said it doesnt matter and because its like 6 days early that could be why it was faint. (baby number 2 possibly!! whoo hoo) well the reason I want prayer is.. because I am having this pain.. it could also be a sign of a tubial/ectopic pregnancy.. or something else being wrong.. it might not be.. but it could be.. so I am going to the doctor today at 415p to see what they can find out.. so if you think of it please pray for me. ( I am only telling you guys and my hubby at this point :bananalama:) thanks and I will let you know as soon as I find out anything.

Hi Flirtlass, I'm due to get my op on the 17 march. I just read that you have lost 4 and 1/2 stone since September, that just seems like a dream! I weigh 16 stone 12 at the moment and I'd be happy to get down to 11 stone 8lbs which will give me a BMI of 27 and then I can get a tummy tuck!!!!! I hate my tummy, after 6 kids, the last 2 were twins and weighted 7lb5 and 6lb13, my belly was enormous and has never been the same since! I put my weight gain done to being depressed about my belly, so to make me feel better.....of course I COMFORT EAT all the bad things of course! Do you mind telling me what you weighed when you started and how often you had fills. If you don't want to write it for all to see I can give you my email address. Reading all these chats from everyone is very inspirational and I am beginning to get excited! :bananalama: Although sice I booked my surgery my husband has started looking at expensive bikes, which is pretty worrying as this op is taking all our savings and the rest, I hope he doesn't think he can buy toys to the equivalent value on our credit cards!!!!!!!!:cheers2::present: Fatpants