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Got really bad news today. True Results does not accept my insurance. Now I start searching over again. Like you, I don't have issues with food. I was thin all my life until I went thru chemo. The steroids caused a massive weight gain. Sounds like you're on the right path.

I know the men may hate me for this but there is always the option of a vasectomy if it’s a long term choice to not have children. Obviously this wouldn’t be a solution for the OP for just dating but for those who are married reading this, the absorption and weight gain concerns are real and it may be time for the men to step up. At least it’s worth considering.

I think the issue is more the empty calories from regualr sodas. Like I said, I know the artificial crap in Coke Zero or diet soda isn't ideal, either. I also know that there seems to be some studies saying that artifical sweeteners can cause weight gain (the jury is still out on that). I like my little can of Coke Zero a day. So far I've maintained my weight for a year up or down 5 pounds, so for now it's working for me. When and if it's not, I'll figure it out. @@LipstickLady has maintained her weight for like 2 years, so it's obviously working for her, too. What works for me may not work for you. In the mean time, you'll pry my Coke Zero from my cold, dead hands.

I'm 6 months out and also don't/haven't felt hungry. I eat at restaurants with friends, but always end up taking home about 2/3rds of most meals. I do make wiser menu selections, but I haven't missed the old way I ate at all. No regrets. Still losing so will need to see what happens when I start to work on maintenance, but with the weight loss I have been able to become way more active and I believe this will help me prevent weight gain.

the best advice I can give is follow weight watchers type diet while you have no restriction. Of course, we've all had a hard time staying on diets and that's why we got banded, but most of us can diet for four to six weeks. At least you'll hold off the weight gain until you get good restriction. Track your Protein and be sure you get at least 60 gms. a day. Give up white carbs, like white bread and potatoes. If you must eat bread, change to low carb, whole wheat or whole wheat pitas. Substitute the bagel and cream cheese for a cup of Kashi go lean Cereal with 1/2 cup of skim milk. or try the Special K low carb cereal or how about the low sugar instant oatmeal. Milk should only be skim, yogurt non fat and if you're looking for easy to cook/microwave meals...lean cuisine and weight watchers are good choices. Look for the lowest calorie, highest fiber choice of any food that you are eating. A couple hundred calories a day really adds up. Restriction could take several fills, so you want to do the best you can during this time, so you don't get frustrated. And making the above changes will help you later down the road when you do get restricted and even later when you're in maintenance, as you'll have replaced a lot of the old bad habits.

I am trying to find the best birth control option after my sleeve. I don't want to take the pill due to the increased risk of blood clots and I have no experience with the IUD. I certainly don't want anything that will cause weight gain either Any suggestions??? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I agree with what Indigo girl said. the band is a tool it will not teach you to eat right but if you fill the band and you eat too quickly or the wrong foods it will make you uncomfortable. I only got my band the end of 2010 so it is new and like you I know I can get down the wrong foods. I am looking forward to going to the gym the beginning of February and having my fill. My doctors office gave guidelines that if certain food goes down or there is weight gain these are sure signs to go in and have a fill. The lapband wasn't made for you to have difficulty with the process. Keep trying and by the way just because you are gaining doesn't mean you need to take the band out.

Hey all. I had my VSG yesterday and I still can't believe I did it. I was supposed to have it done March 22 but Dr. cancelled due to a small weight gain. I was so paranoid about having that happen again that I was uber-rigid with my presurgery diet. I was supposed to stay overnight 2 nights until tomorrow, but I was doing well enough that he sent me home today. Glad for it since I could hardly sleep at the hospital. I have 5 abdominal stab wounds from the laparoscope and a JP drain. He didn't say anything about not returning to work (I'm a nurse in the same recovery room I was just in), he only said not to drive while taking the lortab elixir. I want to go back to work on monday. I'm feeling kinda sore, and I have been sipping my liquids. It still hasn't kicked in yet that I will be losing weight now. I feel like I will believe it when I see it. Anybody else felt like this before? I'm still kinda fuzzy headed.

I weighed in daily while on the losing part of the journey. As with others, I did not let a weight gain derail me as long as I knew it wasn't due to poor decisions on my part. Now that I've transitioned into the maintenance phase, I weigh weekly. If I find this is enough to keep me accountable, I may move to monthly as well. There's a wonderful thread out there...i wish I can recall the topic title but it's all about the NSVs and the positive changes that happen while you are losing. It's a much healthier way of looking at the journey rather than doing it by focusing on the numbers.

Boy Tammy... that really is a golden question that I think the whole world would love to have the answer to. Wouldn't it be awesome if just saying no was the answer? It's a struggle but for me... I notice that the more carbs I eat... the hungrier I am and the more carbs I want. Now... to just figure out how to stop the carb eating cycle? The only thing that I have found to be somewhat helpful for me is to keep ZERO snack type sweets in my house. If I have a craving... I wait... and if the craving doesn't go away or gets worse... I go and get a single serving of whatever I'm wanting. Someday a brilliant scientist is going to come up with a magical pill that allows us to eat all of the carbs that we want without weight-gain... until then... I guess we'll all fight the good fight.

Have you ever heard, misery loves company...well thats what is going on. I'm a christian woman who use to be very athletic, but due to a knee injury and weight gain..I'm unable to lose. I firmly believe God wants the best for us. Our bodies are a temple in which we need to keep in good condition. She is taking the word out of context and using it for her own reasoning. If it isnt for her so be it,,but don't make you feel bad. Do you!!! A real friend would support you not be judgemental. I'm having my surgery on July 12, and its about me not anyone else. Get your life...health back...l will keep you in prayer. Chanel

Hi group! So I'm just curious. . how did everyone do over Christmas? I did good. . stayed the same weight, didn't gain or lose. I ate whatever, not hugh amounts mind you. . . but at 1 year out I'm used to it. . i did eat fudge and cheesecake though and let me tell you it was yum. . . ginger snaps and some truffles too. . . of course alcoholic beverages and just had a good time. . . Christmas was really fun this year. . . more fun then any other year. . don't know why we did the exact same stuff. . . church for Christmas Eve, celebrating after church, Christmas morning open presents, start cooking for dinner, eat and graze all day long, had guests coming and going . . it was just really nice. . . and NO weight gain. . . loved that part!

Definitely round down the height. I was self pay when I did the band and would have made the insurance requirement but I thought I was a bit taller than i was! I still would have needed to gain a couple of pounds, but heck, I'm really really good at gaining weight It is really stupid what they make you do. Especially as while I've been working toward my revision the doctor said that recent weight gain is bad because that fat nearly always goes right to the liver and makes this surgery more dangerous. So if you do gain it, try to lose it again!

You are still in that perfect honeymoon period where you can turn this around!! I had the sleeve in 2014 and I did great. I got lower than my goal, but then life got hard. I ate “slider foods” as they feel better going down than dense protein. I became obsessed with frozen coffees that are full of sugar. I hurt my neck and I had an ovary removed, the other tied, and had major hormonal changes. Boom, 40 pounds back on. It’s a struggle!! I am converting to bypass due to damage from severe reflux, not the weight gain. I am also looking at it as another chance to do it right. I refuse to fail.

I don't know how accurate this article is but it seems reasonable. It is about glycogen stores depletion and Water. When you are on the liquid diet, your glycogen stores in your liver and muscles are depleted. Each gram of glycogen needs like 2.7 grams of water to be stored. When you lose the glycogen, you lose the water weight. When you start to eat again and re-add glycogen to your body, your body then retains the needed water. Hence, the sometimes dramatic up and down water weight gains and losses. http://justinowings.com/understanding-bodyweight-and-glycogen-de/

So...I've had to follow a strict calorie-counting-type diet. I had lost 10 pounds back in the beginning of December. Ever since then I've just been gaining. The surgeon and specialists have flat-out told me that they "WILL NOT" do my surgery if I have gained weight. My surgery date is 3/20, and my appointment with the surgeon is on 3/11. I've regained 7 of the 10 pounds I originally lost. I met my [new] boyfriend near the middle of December, and I've never been happier... -so- happy, that we've been making poor food choices . He fully supports me and says that we'll work together to eat better and get me back to where I need to be to keep my surgery. I'm stressing hard core and don't think I'll be able to lose the weight and -then- some in time. I'll never forgive myself if they cancel my surgery then-and-there because I've gained some weight after I've jumped through all of their hoops and scheduled my short term disability and completed all the paperwork. I don't know how to deal.

Hi everyone, I am getting a little discouraged. I have been post op for a month and the weight was coming off regularly, but for the past two weeks I appear to have gained weight. I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this and if so, how did you deal with it.

Went in and saw my nut and doc Tuesday. I'm thinking I need a fill. Still eating more than I think I should. The nut took pictures because I'e lost 110lbs since I started this journey in May of 13. 71 since surgery in November. We discussed my dietary needs and off to the doc I went. He comes in with my 100lb pin and tells me he doesn't give those out too often. We discussed my weight loss since my last visit 6 weeks ago. I was down 12lbs. So I broach the subject of getting a small fill. He shuts me down and says I don't need one. He puls out my chart and said look at this column. I looked. It was the weight gain column. He tells me you haven't gain an once since starting this program. You're doing great and that I have ecceeded his expectations. We discussed my weight loss goals and where I am now and where I want to be. I'm at 180, my personal goal is 150. He said lets get you to the the 160s and go from there. That I don't want to look gaunt and I don't. I told him my main goal is to get into a size 12. He asked me what size I was wearing and I told him a 16. I'm almost there he says. Ok I can go with that. Next comes check out time. I'm not going back for 2 months!!! Scares me spitless. Im used to the support of the doc and his staff. Luckily there is a support group in 2 weeks and I have this forum plus a Briatric Friendly FB page. I know all these things are good and positive in my head, but heart isn't rational right now. I know what to do to keep on track. I've done everything that I am supposed to and I am a success story. Why am I so scared?

I was never a heavy kid, although I was never skinny. I was fairly athletic, and also an “early bloomer” girl. By the time I was 12, I looked more like an 18 yr old, which caused my mother a fair amount of concern. My weight gain has been the result of a sort of “perfect storm” of three factors. When I was 17, I seriously injured my left knee in a silly accident. Five months later, I re-injured it playing basketball. I think I could have come back from the first injury, but the second injury pretty much meant that my knee would never be quite the same again. When I was 25, I began taking a medication that had a side effect of increased appetite. Around the same time, my first husband began to get seriously interested in cooking. He developed his skill to almost a professional chef level. He prepared amazing food every day, and we loved hosting dinner parties. Because of my knee issues, exercise was difficult. Sure enough, the weight piled on. The higher my weight got, the more difficulties I had with my knee. I attempted to diet, but my husband was not willing to compromise the quality of his food by adjusting his dishes to be low fat. It became a vicious cycle and I continued to put on weight. Eventually, due to all the years of compensating for my left knee, I began to have problems with my right knee. I’ve had arthroscopic surgeries, but those procedures really just ended up aggravating the damage. In 2006, I went through a divorce and decided to try online dating. I hadn’t had a date with anyone new since 1984, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. As it turned out, I met a wonderful man, and we married five years ago. He is very much a caretaker kind of guy, and he always made a point of doing the heavy lifting for me. I was already heavy when we met, probably around 270, but my weight crept up over the 300 mark. Because my husband jumps in so quickly to help me with tasks I find difficult, it took me awhile to notice how quickly my mobility was deteriorating. I love to cook, and I started noticing that I couldn't stand up all the way through preparing a meal. I began to sit down when I was doing all my prep work. At the end of cooking a big meal, my pain would be such that I couldn't even carry the plates to the table. Big trips to the grocery store, or walking through our local farmer’s market, became very difficult and painful. Going up stairs was not too bad, but going down stairs or down a slope would bring tears to my eyes. I am in school full time right now, and I have to carefully plan my walking routes to figure out the way with the fewest stairs and hills. My orthopedic doc has told me I need double knee replacement surgery, but he warned me that the replacements only last about 10-15 years. Carrying excess weight would put me on the shorter end of that range. The older I am and the less I weigh when I have my knees replaced, the better the outcome will be. I am 48 right now, and that’s way too young. About a year ago, my ortho's PA suggested that I get a handicapped hang tag for my car. Believe it or not, I was shocked. Me, disabled? No way! I just limp a lot, and have pain every day, and can’t stand for more than a few minutes at a time, and I can’t….oh, wait. Never mind. It was a very hard thing for me to accept, but that is exactly where I have gotten to. A few months ago, I sat down and made a list of all the things I could do 2 or 3 years ago, but can no longer do. The length of the list shocked me into action, and I began to investigate the different types of WLS. I chose the sleeve for many of the same reasons we all did...no malabsorption issues, no messing with intestines, etc. I know I will probably still need to have my knees replaced someday. However, losing a significant amount of weight will help me in many ways, including allowing me to delay the knee surgery for (hopefully) years. About a year ago, we became friends with a couple who have both had DS surgery. Although I have known people who had some type of WLS, they were never people with the same kind of food passion that I have. However, these new friends are even more hardcore foodies than I am. They showed me that WLS does not have to mean losing the passion for food that is so important to me. They have shared with me the ways in which they adapted their cooking post-op, and how they still enjoy amazing food in much less quantity. So, I’m approaching this surgery as a creative challenge. I already don’t eat a lot of crappy food, but I think I will have much less tolerance for it post-op. I am adapting some of my recipes for post-op life, and researching cookbooks for ideas. I don't really have a firm goal weight. I'd like for my weight to be under 200, but I won't feel like a failure if I don't get there. I want to walk without pain. I want to dance. I want to be able to work in my yard. I want to walk around to the shops and restaurants downtown and stroll through the farmer’s market. I want to go shopping with my girlfriends. I want to go to a concert or a sports event and know that I can walk around the venue. I want to travel, and be able to walk around exploring a new place. I want to burn the handicap sign in my car. I know there will always be limits to what I can do, but the restrictions in my life have become unacceptable to me. I just want to walk.

Hi all! So happy I found this site. Well to begin I have struggled woth dieting since my 20's. I turned 38 last year and had finally had enough. After 4 kids my max weight had reached up to 267 lbs. I couldn't believe it. It's like size 12 gradually went to size 20. While my hudbad is wonderful and loves me at any size I knew the weight gain was unhealthy. I read somewhere that losing weight after 35 gets more difficult and it was true. I had enough of 20 lbs here and there. So I consulted with my doctor after medication for weight management for 3 months I lost 20 lbs but in my heart I had decided on surgery. I have no medical complications and I actually love my veggies heck I evrn enjoy working out. The problem was the weight was not motivating and the habit of overeating was so entrenched. After weeks of classes I finally had surgery on 1/12/15. Let me also add that 4 months prior to surgery I stopped taking the pills and had gained 12 lbs back. So my weight a month before surgery was 263. At my pre op appointment doctor told me to lose 10 lbs in 3 weeks whuch was also over the Christmas holidays. Talk about stressful but I did it on the day of surgery I weighed 252.5 lbs. After surgery was horrific. I am 6 days past surgery and I still haven't mastered my water intake or my protein shakes. I will say that I discovered that warm or hot water with a ginger tea bag is my new best friend. I am also trying to do an once of protien at the top of every hour. I have no clue how I could eat food right now although I so badly want to be able to eat. Not over eat but have something of substance the past two weeks just seems so unhealthy I weighed today and I have lost 10 lbs since surgery. Not sure how I feel about that.

i am currently 17 years old and weigh about 180 lbs. Writing in this forum is especially hard for me because for first off im having to actually finally accept the fact that i am over weight. The weight gain all started about two years ago...and in 2005 i weighed in at 98 pounds exactly. I have been small my entire life untill now and it is extremly hard having to cope with the new way of life im forced to live with. Three years ago i was sexually, emotionally and pyshically abused, after living in that situation for 11 months i came out of it a wreck. I was diagnosed with post tramatic stress disorder and had to undergo extensive therapy,hyonotherapy and a wide variety of medications. All of which seemed to get me out of my depressed state. What i didnt notice was i began gaining weight like crazy and i had no clue why. My entire body is coverd with stretch marks from gaining around 90 pounds in two years. I feel and look completly disgusting. I was once a 98 pound, active healthy happy girl. Since the weight gain came on, ive found out that i have a auto immune disease called hashimoto thyroiditis which caused excessive weight gain. But once i found out i had it and began meds, nothing got any easier. I now have mild narcolepsy,chrons disease,major thyroid issues, and acid reflux. I also have back pains and joint pains. I continue to gain weight to this day and i am miserable. My mom was over weight and got the lap band surgery and it worked wonders on her...shes lost over 60 pounds and feels and looks amazing. I am really confused and afriad to even think about this surgery, or to even think that my weight is causing me to be unhealthy. Untill i found this forum i felt like no one would be there to listen or understand my situation. I have breifly mentioned it to my doctors and they said it would be really hard to get insurence to help out...did anyone else have that problem when trying to get the surgery? Do you think i would actually be a good candidate for the surgery?

Check with your Dr. to see if you need a "stretched sleeve" revision surgery. Its rare. 19 pounds in a week is a medical concern. Normal for the sleeve to expand with thime. It's not "stretched" this is the progression out from surgery. The restriction is still there. After surgery your restriction is tight. The restriction will change. How much you can hold years out will be different for each of us. Surgery few oz Might get 600+ calories first few months 4 oz five months to a year 6 oz to 8 oz 1200+ calories One year out half a plate. five to ten years a full plate "Grazing" is usually the cause of weight gain. You have a new point of volume and sensation of full. If you eat high calories throughout each day . (calories can be combination of good and bad food choices) It's the same effect as if you didn't have surgery. An excess of 500 calories will cause you to gain weight. Medical professional explanation on misuse of the term "stretched sleeve" to back this up below: Dr. Matthew Weiner Published on Mar 16, 2015 "Stomach Stretching" is the term used by many weight loss (Bariatric) surgery patients to explain the changes in their appetite and food consumption after surgery. Dr. Weiner explains what's really happening and how to prevent it.

The first thing I would do is try smaller bites. Really small, like the size of your fingernail. Also, chew it until mush and pause between bites. If you do this and still can't eat solids, it's entirely possible you're too tight and need a slight unfill. If that's the case, don't wait, call your doctor. Being too tight can not only prevent you from getting enough nutrients and cause weight gain, but it can actually lead to slips if left that way. It's always better to be safe than sorry. Best wishes.

A weight gain of something like 20lbs could actually make the band tighter again if u have put on visceral fat around your tummy, the same goes if u lose weight the band will often loosen .. i would contact your doctor but just onto liquids for a few days too.

I'm sure that he has seen holiday weight gain before. That said, surgeons are quite variable as to what they expect or want of their patients pre-op. Some are really into pre-op diets and "proving you can do it" efforts while others are not. My doc takes the view that "if we could do it on our own, what do we need him for?" and doesn't go in for any pre-op dieting. YMMV Does your doc even require a pre-op diet, or are you going off of what others here online go through with different docs?