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Welcome to the site, Many of us struggle with weight gain. We can give some tips and be your cheerleaders. Take what is useful and ignore the rest Some options for getting your diet back on track. I'm sure these are things you already know... Go back to your plan - Log your food hit your protein goal...May help to set it higher 70-130. I use myfitnesspal to track..Many other trackers out there Get rid of temptation foods in the house: Go grocery shopping cook your own meals. Salty and sweet healthy options. Take your own meals to school/work You may have noticed your restriction is less. Eat vegetables with your protein to fill the extra space and keep calories low. The bulk and fiber will help with hunger. Head hunger, snacking or when you are at the end of your calorie allotment for the day. Buy a veggie tray.When hunger kicks in eat as much of the tray as you like. If you try to bargain with yourself for other options..Ugg thats head hunger. Find your discipline to not go to the other options... Motivation: Finding motivation will be your walk...What motivates me may not motivate you. what has worked for me: We all have things to overcome in life - Sometimes it's not motivation it's perspective. A person in hospice care would gladly trade places with our weight loss struggle. Never give up !This video has been around a long time. I still like it.

Small but significant thing to ponder: stress and anxiety is linked to weight gain/retention. Stress >> increased cortisol >> body’s resistance to insulin >> weight gain and/or weight loss resistance.

Hello everyone, here's where my story begins.... 1994 is when my weight started becoming a problem for me. I already had both of my children, one in 1990 and the other in 1991. I was about 189lbs after I had my second son and things were pretty much stable at that weight for me. I wanted to lose weight but it didn't become a serious problem until about three years later. I put on about 30lbs from 1991-1994, and it just continued to increase from there. Of course I decided to begin taking weight lost pills (phentramine/and the other phen). I both pills for about two months and quickly lost 50lbs. I thought the battle was over at that point until I gained the weight back about 6 months later (as I stopped taking the pills). I tried some of my own remedies like exercise and all types of diets. I walked and did lots of activities with my children but the weight just wouldn't go anywhere. Looking back at my weight lost journey there were a total of 11 years that I have been trying to lose weight with all types of attempts. I've taken so many diet pills and shakes that I can't even count. My husband and I attended a seminar for day one surgery in Chicago Illinois in March of 2008. In April of 2008 @ 232lbs, I decided to start working on a supervised diet plan with my doctor, I told her that I wanted to attempt a lap band procedure and she let me know that most insurance companies require that you have at least a 6 month history of a medically supervised diet. In addition to that my doctor had just started seeing a patient of hers that had the procedure done, she called her and let me speak to her to see how she felt about the surgery. I decided to go with the same doctor (Dr. Klem out of Central Dupage Hospital, in Winfield IL.) that she has since here experience was so positive. So the 6 month program began. That included Phentramine, water pill and a 1200 calorie diet plan. I lost about 10-15lbs over the 6 month time frame, which wasn't very sugnificant to me. Once I stopped taking the pills I was right back at square one.... back to 230. In September of 08' I began seeing Dr. Klem, he has been performing this type of surgery for the last 17 years, he gave me all of the pro's and con's of the procedure and told me I was a candidate for either surgery, the bypass or the lap band. My husband and I decided that the lapband was the best choice for me since I didn't have any pre-morbid conditions. The process began the next week after being catagorized as morbidly obese. By the way when I started seeing Dr. Klem I was up to 242lbs, this was barely enough to be considered for insurance (why I'm not sure...). By the time my scheduled appointment for nutritionist came I was a all time high of 247.6lbs. That was a depressing time for me, I cried when I left the office and spoke with my husband about the weight gain that I was experiencing. We decided the I should try Weight Watchers to try and work on the problem immididately, as I had developed high blood pressure by this time and my doctor decided to put me on blood preasure medicine. I began Weight Watchers which I started doing very well with and dropped about 15lbs. Unfortunately I put the procedure off because I thought maybe this would be the fix that I was truly looking for. That did not last for more than a couple of months because of the high amount of sodium that was in so many of the meals. By now it's December and I'm right back in the same visocus circle that I've been in and now my weight has really gotten out of hand. by January I was a whopping 252lbs and had a very low self esteme. I didn't want to go to any social settings and couldn't fit any of my clothes. I was up to a size 18/20...I'd never wore this size clothes even when I was 9mo pregnant with either of my children. Life seemed very glomy for me. In January I decided to get back to business with Dr. Klems office and get the show on the road. As most of you know this can be a very long process because of all of the steps you have to take to be qualified for surgery. By March of this year I was finally finished with all of the steps that I needed (so I thought). My Information was submitted to my insurance company and I thought it was complete but of course my insurance company Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois denied my case. They claimed that I didn't have enough previous documented diet attempts for at least 5 years. When I submitted 7 years straight of failed diet attempts with one diet (Dr. Greenspon) doctor. My case was taken on by the Attorney that handles lap band denied cases, which took almost two months to get resolved. Finally got approved (this was a very stressful time needless to say).:tongue_smilie:As I was waiting for the approval I decided to try another dietary option, Weight Watchers (This was so costly, but my husband wanted to make sure I tried absolutly everything.....) by June of 09, I was finally approved... Now to set the date...July was full for my doctor so I opted to take August 12th. I'm now scheduled....:thumbup:... Kept doing Weight Watchers for a minute until I ran out of thier food and I'm now at 239.5. My liquid diet starts July 29th, which does consist of some food. I am to have a protein shake for breakfast, a morning snack (which will be a fat free yogart without fruit), Protein shake for lunch, mid lunch snack (which will be sugar free jello), and then a dinner (I've opted to use a Smart One's meal which is approved by my nutrutionist as long as it has meat in it.) and I can have up to two sugar free popcicles or fudgecicles. This doesn't seem like a liquid diet but the doctor knows best and it's ment to be 1000 calories. My nutritionist said it was good that I've been on the Weight Watchers diet because it's comparable to what I will be doing except it's 200 calories less. I will continue to post after my procedure but I can say that I'm happy that it's all most time for me to get this part over with....It's been a long time coming. Start Weight: 252lbs Pre Op Weight: 239lbs Pre Surgery Weight: ??? Goal Weight: 145

Well, I love sugar and carbs, that is where my weight gain came from. This is horrible, but I'm going to put it out there, but it was nothing for me to eat an entire cherry/chocolate/you name it pie by myself in a day. I was getting tired of buying bigger clothes and continuing on this downward spiral. I'm not even that old yet, but felt like I was 80. Years of in dabbling in raw foods, optifast, weight watchers, so on and so on, I finally decided it's time to do this and I did. My insurance did not pay for it, so I did and really want this to come up with this big chunk of change. The first few days of liquids are rough and personally I went through withdrawal, I was not a happy person without my sugar and carbs, but I powered through and here I am almost 6 months out and 69lbs down and could not feel better. I'm smiling a lot more and am happy for a change in a long time. I too got in the bad habit of drive thrus, I'm too tired to cook, it's too late, blah, blah, blah. But now, I want to cook and find it hard to eat at drive thrus. I'm not saying lap band is a super miracle, but it sure as hel* did something to me to get away from those sugars and carbs and the cravings have calmed down big time. Just giving you another perspective on things. I would make a goal for yourself to do the liquids for a week, instead of just a day and make yourself do it. Read success stories on here, whatever works for you to keep you motivated, or just shoot me an email, I'm on here every day and I can check on you and then you have some accountability. Then see how you feel after that week.

Hi, I need help! I had the sleeve in March of 2015. About a year ago I started gaining weight back. I've gained about 25 lbs back. I recently got a personal trainer and have been working out consistently for 2 months. The problem is the scale hasn't moved. My trainer focuses on strength training. So 4 of the 5 days we workout we are lifting and 1 day is cardio for about 30 minutes. He wants me to eat more because of this but physically I can't ( you guys can relate). He wants me to eat more than 1200 calories a day but I'm only getting in about 600. Maybe 700 or 800 on a good day. I just need advice. I don't know if I should cut back on the strength training or revamp my eating (which I don't know what I should do with my eating). I just want to lose the weight I gained so that I can feel better in my body like I did year 1 and 2 after surgery. Any advise who would! Thanks in advanced.

My stepson has a masters degree in coaching, he told me that for weight loss I should stick to a 65% rule. Walk on the treadmill or use the stationary bike and keep my heart rate at 65% of resting. For me at 40 years old, that is 117 bpm. He said this uses slow twitch muscle fibers which burn fat for fuel. Cardio is 80% of resting heart rate and burns sugar that is already in your bloodstream for fuel and this helps prevent weight gain. He said you need to keep your heart rate in this zone for 1 hour for results. Maybe try substituting this for your cardio for a week and see if it gets you better results.

For as long as I can remember I have always had a faster than average pulse. With recent years and of course, continuing weight gain, it has increased. My average is 95bpm. When I am stressed or at the doctor's office it is usually up around 120. Has anyone had this? And has WLS helped it at all?

Here is a great article on what's happening - http://www.dsfacts.c...or-plateau.html You will note that she mentions that the depleted glycogen and the Water that keeps it soluble accounts for about ten pounds of body weight, so there is that much in play that your body is trying to restore, so a bit of gain is not unexpected. I routinely gain 3-4 lb when I travel for a week, which is primarily water retention from (presumably,) the higher sodium in restaurant food and my altered exercise and activity routine - there is no way that my caloric deficit has shifted the 10-14,000 calories to account for that being genuine weight gain (and it drops off a few days after resuming normal routines at home.) Glycogen and sodium influences are just two factors in our biochemistry that influence water retention that can create temporary scale weight stalls or minor increases. Stair step loss is usually the word of the day - some will lose more smoothly while others will be a 2-3 down, 1 up type of loser. Ensuring that your water consumption if in good standing, (the classic 64 oz per day, more if exercising or in hot, humid conditions) will counter-intuitively help relieve such water retention as the body tends to hold on to water more aggressively when it is in short supply. These early stalls do tend to break themselves since it's hard to get the calories high enough to stop the genuine weight loss. Later on, the main thing to watch for is that your calories haven't crept up to the point that you are putting yourself into maintenance before intended. There are all kinds of advice on how to break stalls and I don't know if any of them have any real validity (it's tough to measure the effect of a change when it takes some time to recognize that you are in a stall, take some action in response and allow some time for it to take effect - how much of the break was your response to the stall and how much was your body's normal response had you done nothing?) Lots of ideas are out there - ultra low carb, higher carbs, carb or calorie cycling, increasing or changing exercise routines, etc. From my experience (with a study sample of one!) I never really had any stalls (my definition being a week without loss,) and I maintained a moderately high carb intake (relative to the classic low carb under 40g rule) in the 70-100g range, and somewhat higher later on during loss when I selectively added a bit more complex carb to improve exercise endurance, Speculatively, I never let that glycogen level totally deplete and maintained a more constant fat burning rate - the hypothesis behind the Atkins/ketogenic diets is to keep the glycogen levels at a minimum so that it depletes and forces the body to burn more fat more quickly to make up for it. As I was also a relative lightweight (5'10" and 290 to start) I didn't feel the need speeding things up any more than what the VSG already does on its' own, and didn't want to get involved in the common side effects of those diets (I lost the 105 lb that I needed to lose in about seven months, and have been maintaining that for the past year.) A further note - once you do start losing again, your loss rate will be somewhat lower as the glycogen that you burn initially burns quite quickly, while the fat that you start burning after the glycogen depletes burns more slowly, but you will be doing what you are here to do - burn fat! Good luck!

Id wait and do both at once. Cosmetic surgery is a big upheval with a band and brings quite a risk of weight gain. I didnt unfill for my TT nine weeks ago but have suffered suchdiscomfort since that i advise doing so. Ive unfilled my band once for a major surgery and it has never been the same, i definitely would not choose to unfill it twice. Its taken me a loooooong time to be running and spinning and bodypumping again at anything like my previous schedule. Avoiding weight gain has been HARD. Alo, its common to get a little depressed after. Your new body is still not perfect, and changes take a long time to see. Nothing else in your life changes eithet, you kind of have a post surgery letdown. I also ouldnt want that twice. Then theres the money. Cheaper to have one anaesthtic.

I got a tight fill about 3 months ago and it got the last 30 pounds off. I had been at the same weight for 1 year. I am now get a little losser after the 30lbs loss. I hope to loss a little more in case of weight gain.

I was sleeved on 12/19/11 and had my post op check in today. Down 15 lbs! Advanced to stage 3 diet, and I was in heaven eating an egg and some deli turkey meat for lunch when I got home! It has kept me more full than the liquids. The hardest part is feeling really tired every afternoon, the best park is fitting into smaller clothes! I wish I was losing faster, but have to remind myself that I have undone 6 years of weight gain in 2.5 weeks!! Yay! Kimmie

I had to pay out of pocket for fills too. I was frustrated too. I would be really hungry, get a fill and then get sick even on protein shakes. That required another hour drive to the doc. and another payment to have some of the fluid removed. I did have months here and there where I had "restriction", but it overall wasn't the tool I hoped it would be. I did manage to loose all my excess weight by sticking to a lowcarb/lowfat diet and working out almost every day. Unfortunately I have gained quite a bit back. Struggling to get back on track. My band is not filled much, had a bunch taken out after I lost the weight. I wanted to be able to eat a real breakfast, not just a shake et.. I know I should go in for a fill, but my experience with them is not great as I've said. I also have to admit to being embarrassed about the weight gain. My plan now is lowfat, good carbs and lots of protein and work out regularly. I think I was too strict with myself and lost the weight too fast (107 pounds in 10 months). I never really made a "lifestyle" change. So far it's been a really good week. I am sorry the band isn't working as well for you as you would like. My doctor was really good about listening to me and giving fills when I felt I needed one. We talked together about it. You may want to have a talk with your dr. about more aggressive fills. .3 really isn't all that much. Go in with a record of what your eating when and how satisfied you are for how long. As mentioned, it may be that the previous issue you had is making him conservative with the fills. It's worth a heart to heart I think. Explain that also you have lost weight (which is awsome) but that you are dealing with a lot of hunger. Best of luck! Veronica

hi so it wasnt until about 4 months ago i started thinking about the land band, someone who i know but not to well got it almost a year ago i believe we are close in body type i might be a little smaller but i also feel given my weight gain in the last 3 years ill be another 10 pounds heavier by next year. i saw her on Sunday after not seeing her for a month and she looked like she had lost another 10 pounds! i feel like its so unfair, i work out 6 days a week and lose nothing! ive been doing weight watchers a month and ive only lost 2 lbs. i had my blood work done its not my thyroid. the doctor told me to count my calories better and it was my genetics i would always have this problem with my weight. i have gained 35 pounds in 3 years, i seem like i cant control a diet strict enough to lose weight i already work out more then most people i know. the last two years of my life have been a constant battle with my weight and every day i am constantly feeling self-conscious about my body, disgusted and saddened with how i look. while on vacation 2 months ago i felt this the worst i ever have. i was so uncomfortable i didnt get to enjoy the beach the way i should have. i couldnt wear shorts nor a swim suit i was constantly trying to cover up while the other girls in family ran around in there small outfits i was sad. so here are my questions. is this right for me. i am 31, 170ish pounds, 5'2 with a bmi of 31. the Quest for lap band grew even more stronger in the last few days when lauren manzo came out about her surgery, for the past few years i felt i related to her best we have so much in common including career. i think she would wonderful with her 30 pound loss, i would like to be 40-50 pounds lighter without the constant yoyo of weight loss and gain.

Hi EJones2 I' probably quite late into coming into this conversation, have you had it removed already? How are you finding it? I had my band removed 2 years and 1month ago. I sustained a number of band problems prior to having it removed due to the fact that the surgeon over filled the band and I also got ill causing me to be sick a lot. This then meant I had a band slippage and it caused me ongoing esophageal damage and damage to my pouch including a pronounced area of my abdomen and inability, eventually, to eat without severe pain. When I went into A&E, they had to call my surgeon who came the next day. It was actually supposed to be corrective surgery but he decided to take it out. This was really hard for me as I'm sure you are anticipating for yourself. I very much needed the band and was not finished losing weight! After the procedure I was sore and was on liquids for about 8 days before moving to mushy foods, very small portions and eating regularly as you might when you had the band. Due to the soreness going back to the gym was not possible for about 6 weeks so I just went on really long walks each day, sometimes two or three hours a day so that weight gain would not happen to fast. Most of all i just want to reassure you that everything will be okay, and I hope you are able to get your health back after removal. It's a scary thought going without the crutch of the band to prop yourself up, and undoubtedly weight gain will happen over time (I think I've gained 25(ish) pounds since) but I've learned there is more to life than deprivation and being thin and in control. Try to do the things you enjoy, get outside and be in the company of others. It all helps, it's going to be okay. Best wishes and I hope all goes well, Bryony

My surgery is scheduled for July 23rd and I got my packet in the mail today. It says in there that if you gain weight during the process your surgery could be canceled. I quit smoking almost a month ago and I'm sure I have gained about five pounds or so do you think I will be ok???? Really hard to quit smoking and lose weight to

I called my weight loss clinic and spoke with the insurance coordinator. She said I could definitely be denied due to weight gain but to have my doctor for my 6mo diet make notes about my medications changing. I have Carefirst BCBS. Now I'm even more nervous.

I have bcbs of mississippi. I started my documented weight with my surgeon at 272. In December I weighed I at 258. Today I weighed in at 261. My doctor is submitting my information to bcbs of mississippi tbis week. I am worried that the 3 lb weight gain will cause a denial. Should I be worried? If I am approved how long will it take? Worried. ... VSG Ready

I'm in the same boat as you. I've been on liquids/mushy since the beginning of March and now I am starting to slowly introduce solids into my diet. I know I don't even have a fill yet but I'm scared of the weight gain. I think we'll be fine as long as we watch what we eat and get our exercise in we'll still see the scale going down. Good luck!!!

When I gained weight, I noticed my height went from a solid 5' 2.5" to 5' 1.75" which was sad but I knew that as we age our vertebral discs loose elasticity and we get shorter. Sun of a gun, I've been in two doctor's offices this week and both measured me at 5' 2.5" again! I had no idea my weight gain had put that much pressure on my spine. Also, I've gone back to my normal shoe size of 7.5. I was an 8 at my heaviest!

I am new here, I haven’t been on a public forum in a long time (and for a reason) but I thought it might be helpful to write out my bariatric surgery journey as best I can. I don’t know anyone who has had the surgery with chronic illness, disability, multiple medical conditions, etc. let alone anyone with M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) which is a kind of immunodeficiency. I’ve lived with this from childhood and also battled with my weight longer than I care to remember. This is long and hard to talk about without going into intense detail. I wasn’t not diagnosed with M.E. Until I was in my early twenties. It was a long road to get there and led to many questions and many other medical conditions down the road. At some point my weight skyrocketed out of control and I was at a loss as to what to do. I was diagnosed with metabolic disorders but meds made me sick and doctors don’t discuss weight. They only vaguely agree that the metabolic disorders cause weight gain. And at most prescribe risky weight loss drugs. At some point I was just too sick to know what to do. The reality is I always will be sick. It was easier to eat carbs when I didn’t feel well enough to tolerate much food. I was always a clean plate person and hate waste. My weight grew to over 215lbs and my body couldn’t take it. I needed to do something even if it took every ounce of my being. I didn’t know then what I know and doctors know now about M.E./CFS. But I studied holistic health and nutrition, trying everything to no avail. I ended up trying a combination of low carb/Atkins and calorie counting (weight watchers points) slowly I lost weight (I was 5’ 4” then 5’ 2” I kept losing inches due to degenerative disc disease and arthritis in my spine , I’m now about 5’) I got down to the lowest I’d ever been at 123lbs. But it crept back up by 10lbs. But I had to accept it. I started having trouble eating certain foods and feeling very sick. I had some major stress events happen, several surgeries on my feet and tendons, and also Major surgery (hysterectomy) I wasn’t eating the best I could for reasons I couldn’t control. Eventually my weight hit 160lbs about when I moved with my mother to a new state. I was on a beta blocker and reduced my calories further and did strict low carb again. But reached about 134lbs. I couldn’t sustain it. Not that long ago, months, my sense of time is terrible I can say what happened but not the order or time. I fought as hard as I could and would go on nature walks until I learned more about the birds and became a birder and took to loving photographing them. I went as often as I could and it wasn’t often enough. I found out the hard way that Myalgic Encephalomyelitis causes something called post exertional malaise. Doctors only now are starting to understand it and it explains a lot. Activities from simply writing out this message, taking a shower, making a meal to exercise, make my medical condition worse and cause lasting damage that I lose bits of my self. And doing no I enjoy hurts like a punishment. My weight started a sudden drastic climb from 134lb to 160+ and I went to doctors and specialists hoping for an answer why. And then again it continued to climb to 180lbs. I had thought about bariatric surgery the first time but wanted to do it on my own. But this time I couldn’t, my body just wasn’t burning enough calories and how little could I eat without getting too sick. I was eating healthy the same portions as my mother, almost the same meals, I prepared us lunch almost every day and she is the same height but at most 100lbs. It was fight for surgery or nothing. The first time I saw a bariatric surgeon he talked at me and didn’t listen, my weight was slightly below BMI to qualify with comorbidities, i had plenty. But nothing acceptable by my insurance. I had just had to have surgery for another problem and could hardly eat. But I kept gaining. And I gave up on that doctor. I forgot to say I found out at some point that the reasons some foods made me sick was my gallbladder and surgery was recommended so I decided if I have to have that then I should pursue bariatric surgery since recovery is quite similar. eventually it reached 200lbs and I was on the edge of being nearly 40 BMI. I decided to see another endocrinologist about my medical conditions. She couldn’t help me since the meds make me too sick and I explained how I eat and count calories and yet my weight skyrocketed. I was about to quit when I decided to say I was fighting for bariatric surgery. She said go to Cleveland clinic. It’s a far distance from me and I needed medical assistance for rides there. But I got in to see Dr. Szomstein and he right away was ready and willing to help me, I was a hair from 40 BMI at the first appointment. He didn’t quite understand all my medical conditions if at all but he knew what to do. He said I should have RNY Gastric bypass due to severe GERD and I was thankful for that since it would reduce calorie absorption as well. I was almost not expecting approval from my insurance. I had months of my doctors noting my efforts to lose weight and letters from the endocrinologist and surgeon. They had me go for pre op tests and medical clearance. I still didn’t expect anything. i was in target when my mom and she got a phone call. Scheduling surgery in two weeks and for me to start the liquid diet that day. The surgery date was April 29th. I was so unprepared my gastroenterologist had wanted me to have a colonoscopy before surgery and that didn’t happen (he wasn’t happy with that) I knew I was possibly in for hell with this, but it was either surgery or give up. surgery day I was like this is easy. But I hit a bumpy road. Without going into too much detail right now. I didn’t expect it’s impact on my chronic illness. Waking up from surgery was like a long tunnel I couldn’t get out of. I was partially aware of things around me during the entire surgery just sped up like a weird dream. In the hospital room when most people get up and walk, my body couldn’t move at all. And when I tried once I crashed hard. Every chronic pain in my body was screaming all at once in the hospital. I was having severe pain in my chest, they blamed on gas I knew it wasn’t. I was struggling to breathe and needed the oxygen longer. My surgical drain kept getting full too fast. The catheter hurt. I high pain tolerance and yet this was slamming me everywhere all at once. They tried me on liquids by day three and I just wanted out. I got home and had trouble breathing and was very weak. I struggled to do laundry and get groceries. Then I started spiking fevers. My body doesn’t react with fever when it needs to, my lungs are sometimes too weak to cough when I need to. My temp went over 102 at night then dropped to low grade by morning. I ended up being told to go to the ER but I couldn’t get to Cleveland clinic. Long story short it was another long three days in hospital, pneumonia, acute uti, and critically low potassium. My temp was normal. They pumped me with potassium and antibiotics but had no concept of pain control and knew nothing about post bariatric surgery diet of protein drinks and liquids. They brought me a regular meal for breakfast. By day three I wanted out. I left with a diagnosis of Aspiration pneumonia, and esophageal dysphasia and told to see an ent (who then told me to see a neurologist) and a incidental finding of a pelvic adnexal mass that I am see my euro/gun about. Swallowing is painful, the pain in my chest never went away it waxes and wanes and gets out of control painful at night. I am still mostly liquids. I was supposed to start purée some time ago. I tried some things that were palatable but the first tiny bite I got Nauseous and couldn’t push it even sitting drying to consume either liquid or purée took nearly an hour and the purée was just not working. I don’t regret it yet I do yet I don’t. I’m still trying to get answers to some things. Other things I won’t go into detail now. This is much too long. I saw the doctor for follow ups twice. This time he ordered a upper GI fluoroscopy, and then a endoscopy. The first is this Wednesday. I’m struggling to get in at least 50 grams of protein a day. I lost around 27lbs but am in a five day stall. I think that’s as much as I can describe for now. But my one issue no one ever addressed is no nsaids aka Ibuprofen for life. I took it three times a day to take a bit of the edge off my chronic pain. My muscle relaxer doesn’t do much and it’s impossible to grind and swallow tablets. Thankfully diphenhydramine comes in sleep melts. But I have no pain management now. And I can’t function to walk as much. I try to keep on my feet as much as I can to at least do what I need to do. But now when I crash each day I crash hard. I got extremely sick doing laundry when I had to do three loads and threw up more than once. (I have a bit of ptsd when it comes to throwing up) but this is too much to write here and now. I just am finding myself alone in this, my mom can’t quite understand how it is. And I don’t know anyone else who has chronic illness that has had gastric bypass surgery. I’m not worried about food, I can make my mom a meal and not want to eat it. Actually my taste is nonexistent. I had trouble with it prior as well as my sense of smell. But so much just tastes nasty and bitter. (Didn’t help I ended up with nasty oral thrush I can’t shake) i feel weird putting this all out there. So I hope that sometime say can relate to someone somewhere in some way. christine

Ok I'm extremely frustrated right now and would like to know if anyone has had a similar experience. I was banded in Sept of 2009 and had several fills and all of a sudden this past December I lost restriction. I was supposed to have close to 9ccs in my band and when I went in for a fill I only had 2cc so they determined I had a leak. My Dr. just assumed the leak was in the port and didn't offer to do any testing to confirm it. So I went in for a port replacement 2 weeks ago and just had my follow up and fill appointment today. The PA was having problems finding my port so she had me stand up for an xray and then asked me if I had done anything strenuous. I replied no and she then told me my port was flipped!!! How in the world can I have a flipped port when the Dr. just put it in 2 weeks ago?! Furthermore, I am self pay so the replacement surgery cost me $2300 out of my pocket and I'll be damned if I'm paying for the same surgery AGAIN because I now have a flipped port instead of a leaking one. The most frustrating part is the weight gain. I've gained 10-15lbs since I lost restriction and was looking forward to getting back on track and now I'll have to get surgery all over again! I haven't had a chance to speak with my Dr. yet but I look forward to raising some hell when I do. I've been generally dissatisfied with him throughout this whole process as it is.

Yay! Its going to be a good august. Not only that but hopefully no holiday weight gain. I'm super excited to get this done before the holidays. I don't want them centered around food anymore! Good look to both of you too!

Hey everyone! Just got back from the hospital today after receiving my magic sleeve powers on Tuesday 8/28. My only fear going in was that they were going to peep inside and find that my liver was too gigantic and slippery to proceed with the surgery, at which point I would have promptly yanked the IV from my arm and lowered myself onto the nearest corndog in defeat. I stayed very faithful to the food and calorie intake as prescribed by the 2-week pre-op diet to make sure I did all I could do to avert disaster. What I didn't do apparently was drink at least 64oz of water during those days to ensure I was properly hydrated for the moment. The surgery went well, but they IV'd the crap out of me afterwards and when I hopped on that scale yesterday I had gained 14 lbs of water since the surgery! The team didn't seemed bothered by it, though they would have preferred that I were hydrated to begin with. Looking back I think I focused way too much on the weigh-in going into surgery and became paranoid about not shrinking my liver enough that I loss track of the water. Just thought I'd throw that out there so people can avoid my mistake. A few other takeaways: - I was so delirious and distracted after the surgery that I didn't even question when one of the nurses gave me apple juice as a first drink attempt. What resulted was intense and completely avoidable. Nothing like the choke-dump combo to start things off! - I'm finding that room temperature to hot fluids are the way to go. When I sip something ice cold I feel like my pipes seize up and the drink takes the slow elevator down to Sleeveville. - That GERD feeling is so real. I just get this vision due to the sounds and the pressure that everything I consume is falling into a natural geyser. I found that rocking myself to force a burp was the only way to survive—reminded me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and made me wish I had practiced my burping skills in high school. I also had a family member pound my chest and my back at the same time after a hard swallow so I would burp like a baby. It triggered many a cardiac alarm in the hospital, but I didn't care. It was worth the relief.

Your Dr is crazy. You are doing great and you are supposed to be healing now, not losing weight. Most Dr's tell their patients to expect a small weight gain between their post op check up and their first fill. Just concentrate on healing and follow the post op eating instructions making sure you get plenty of good Protein.

So, last Friday was my 3-year surgiversary. I had good intentions to post on that day, but this is the first day that I haven’t been slammed with work or other stuff. This in itself kind of makes me smile because while I was busy before I had surgery, it was never because I was away from my desk for huge amounts of the day and not really thinking about weight at all. On surgiversary day, I woke up at my goal…I was 129.2. I have been at goal for about 18 months now, although I do fluctuate down to 127 and up to 133, depending on the day. The only way I have been able to stay at goal is to weigh myself every day and take immediate steps to correct any weight gain. As an example, while 9 days ago I was 129.2 and 3 days ago I was 129.8, this morning I woke up at 132.8 (yikes). This happened because I spent two days eating sweets. I had a mini scone from Starbucks…and then two more. I had a pumpkin spice latte, several pop tarts, a cake pop, and I’m sure I’m missing something in there. I really didn’t eat much more than that, so I wasn’t much over my calories for the day, but sugar and sweets are one way that I gain weight almost instantly if I eat them more than occasionally. So, this morning I’m back to my normal routine where I can have sweets sometimes if I want to, but I’ll be more careful for the next few days and I will be right back around 129 by about Tuesday. In the event any new person happens to be reading this, getting to goal is difficult, but being aware of the fact that you never get to just ignore the scale and think you get to stay skinny once you’re at goal is also not exactly the most fun realization. I am fine with it because my size 2 clothing makes me far happier than cupcakes, but it is a sobering thought to know that if I want to be thin, every single day for the rest of my life I will need to be aware of my weight and the actions I take to maintain it. On that note, maintaining is not terribly difficult as long as I don’t eat too many sweets. I was one of the people who didn’t follow the vast majority of the rules after I hit the 6-week post-op mark, and it worked for me. When I want cake, I eat cake…I just make sure I weigh myself and then if I gain weight, I eat carrots instead of cake the next few days. Most days I don’t workout anymore. When I was losing I worked out for 1-3 hours a day- now I don’t have time for that and to be fair I’m kind of lazy. I eat about 1200- 1500 calories on average, which means that on days where I am out of my house all day I eat about 800-1000 calories and days where I am at home all day I munch my way through probably about 1600-1800, but it all averages out to roughly 1200-1500-ish. Most days I have sugar free Red Bull and a Bevita bar for Breakfast, I snack on goldfish crackers throughout the day, and then I will have either half of a pick 2 from Panera for lunch and the other half for breakfast (ex: a cup of chili for lunch and half of a sandwich for dinner), or a turkey and cheese lunchable for dinner without much lunch, a few bites of a Chipotle salad as kind of a lunch-dinner ongoing chew-fest at my desk, or some other variety of something that usually involves some form of meat, vegetable, and mild carbs. Past that, I drink coffee like a fiend and I mix in the full fat caramel from Starbucks with skim milk, I drink diet soda, I never use a straw, and I drink and eat during all my meals. If I want to have alcohol, I do, although to be fair I think I’ve had a few glasses of champagne and a few sips of wine once this summer and that’s about it in probably over a year. At three years post-op, I know what foods my stomach doesn’t like (too much sugar, dairy, oil, fat, fried stuff), so if I want to eat something like that I know I get a few bites and if I eat more I’m going to get sick. Basically my diet is one that works for me and is something I can do for the rest of my life. I don’t care that I don’t eat Pasta, burgers, pizza, chips, brownies or Cookies anymore, because I know if I want them, I’m allowed to have them, so I don’t have much interest in having them often. I don’t care that I can’t sit in front of the tv and enjoy a giant pile of food like I used to or that I don’t really get to fully enjoy the going out to dinner experience because some food just makes me want to barf looking at it. I am just fine with not being able to eat heavy foods in the morning- no more eggs and waffles, because just thinking about that made me feel woozy, and I am ok with walking through a grocery store and feeling no real interest in actually buying and eating anything. My relationship with food has become one of necessity as opposed to friendship. I eat when I am hungry (and sometimes when I’m bored), but not when I’m sad or overly happy and I don’t wander through the grocery store after a bad day and throw everything that looks good into my cart because I can console myself with it later. Food and I are friends now, because it keeps me healthy, not because it makes me happy. Beyond that, my life is totally different now. When I first debated having this surgery, I was horrified that I was cutting my stomach out FOREVER. What in the flip was I thinking?! The first few weeks after surgery I was sure I had made a mistake and I read all of the stories on here in the hopes that I would feel better. I looked for those of people who were years past surgery to know that I wasn’t making a mistake. I can honestly say at this point having the sleeve was the best thing I have done. For the first time in my life, I am not obsessed with my weight. I had been thin in the past but it required exercising everyday and constantly feeling like I was starving. I very rarely even feel hungry now. I had put so many things on hold in my life because until I was thin, I had no interest in doing anything else. I now own two successful businesses, I am in law school full time (a dream I have had since I was a kid but never even considered seriously as an adult before) and I am working on my MBA. While work was good before the sleeve, any pursuits outside of that were entirely oriented toward being thin. I had no time to improve my education because fat people need to be on treadmills, not in law school (my thoughts at the time- not now!). When I leave my house in the morning, I look in the mirror and 90% of the time I think…damn, you look good. Never once in my life have I felt that way before. When I have a bad day, when someone is not very nice to me, or when something doesn’t go right…my first thought is no longer that it happened because I am fat and worthless, and in fact, it doesn’t even cross my mind. I shop in stores where 3 years ago I couldn’t fit in their biggest sizes and now I am in their smallest sizes. I spend money on makeup, shoes, watches, clothing- things to make me feel pretty, whereas before I never bothered because I didn’t think I was worth it. Although this is kind of a long post, as a three-year update, if anyone is thinking about the sleeve, I wanted to explain how much it gave me my life back, how I really do get to eat normal food and live like a normal person, and because of this surgery, I have SO much more in my life than I ever did before. I am happy, I am healthy, and every bit of misery along the way after surgery was worth it to be at the place I am now.