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Well please be patient, I don't know if it's typical (probably not) but i'm a super slow loser and I eat less than my 3 year old daughter! I just weighed today and I lost a pound but it's been 2 months since my last pound was lost!!!! I completely blame my PCOS and hormone imbalance because I know MOST people doing the same routine as me would show more results. I've been alot more active since summer is here too and I may be putting on more muscle but I thought muscle was supposed to HELP weight loss not JUST add weight gain (not that i've put any weight on) but on the plus side, my waist is smaller and the scale tells me i'm 1% less body fat than I was since May! I've been trying something new these past couple week (I eat a couple of almonds after each meal, only 2-4 nuts - not many as they have alot of calories) I read that the good fat is supposed to help weight loss and apparently it works as I lost a pound!!!!! Lets see if it continues to work....I also am trying to eat more (which for those of you with bands are aware is such a hassle) so what I do is when I feed my 3 year old I try to take a bite of her food and with that and MY meals i'm eating more often.

I made some poor eating choices 2 weeks ago (about 5 weeks after surgery) and experienced some weight gain. When I went for my fill the doctor was very firm about sticking to the proper food to eat & way to eat them. Also about exercise. It was hard to hear because I was already hard on myself. The fill has really helped & I have had an excellent week of eating well & exercising every day! I did have my first "frothing" episode a few days ago eating cantalope of all things. I think I ate too fast & didn't chew enough. I won't being doing that again!

Okay here goes nothing I am going to change my ticker to reveal my weight gain!! SCARY!!!!!!!!!!!

hi, i'm brand spankin' new to the forum, yaaay me, lol, i have tons of questions just like any newbie, i'm getting banded ( am i using the correct lingo? lol) on july 24. ok anyways so i have to start my pre op diet on thursday, and i'm trying to slowly start into it now...so that i don't have some psycho pizza craving thursday night...ok now my question(s) my doctors office recommended myocel to use as a protien supplement/shake thing...sounds delicious! but i'm wondering if i could just use like a high protien slim fast or Optifast...you know something already premade? and i'll contact the office later but for those who did a pre op diet, is it just sticking to a low carb diet? and by low carb does it work the same way as atkins like i could have low carb tortillas because you subtract the grams of Fiber, etc....or is is seriously strict like nothing that even looks like bread, lol so here's my story. ok well anyways i'm totally excited about getting banded! i have been sooooo opposed to weight loss surgery, i was so active in my teens and early 20's i was just like oh i need to eat less, and exercise more...yeah i'd lose 40 gain 60, lose 20 gain 30, thats' the story of my life...i was sooo patient...but how many times can i bust my butt at the gym for a week lose 2 lbs, only to gain it back on one bad weekend...i believe that weight loss should be slow, but dang why does weight gain have to happen so fast!!! so now at a lovely 285-290 lbs and umphteen million diet tries and failures over the years....i think the band is just what i need...i know the weight loss is slow, i'm sick of being "fat" just as much as the next person, so yeah i thought about gastric bypass, um yeah for like 2 seconds i'm like, cutting what? putting what where? yeah the gastric bypass people will look awesome for the xmas party, ...but i'm not looking at where i'll be in december, i'm thinking wow, imagine where i'll be next july! holy cow! i'll be on a lap band commercial, and wearing shorts on spring break! ok expect many more super cool post from me! hmmm now to find a nice little tracking/ticker thingy thanks guys! nic

Shesha!!!!!!!!!!! OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!! Sooo congrats! I have thought of you every time I log on to this thread! I'm sooo glad you had a wonderful lil baby boy...and he was big! Proof that babies can be had after the band! And big too! Pleeeez send us some pics when you get a chance! And you did absolutely wonderfully in regards to weight gain during it. You are my hero! And, I missed you! Welcome back...and again... CONGRATS!!!!!!:thumbup: Yay babies! :biggrin2:

OK... I just updated my ticker with the weight gain... I think I might be a bit more motivated now... The rest of that cake icing is baout to meet the garbage disposal!!!

don't stress about the weight gain! It's likely water weight- when you are sick your body produces all sorts of inflammatory cytokines that can screw with fluid retention! Glad you are feeling better (I agree with you about week 2) :biggrin: Bonnie- good for you for pacing yourself! Its better to do that then get frustrated and burn out. congrats on the 10k! whosya lyn- there is some good info about treating/preventing shinsplints on the coolrunning website feel better!

I started the program to get the lap band in Feb. and was able to lose my insurance requirement weight of 5% of my weight. I had lost 17lbs to get a surgery date this was in May. I got a surgery date of June 30th and was not put on any kind of pre op diet and was told by the surgeons office the weight lose requirment was for insurance reasons only. I have had 3 friends that have went through the same process and all gained back their weight before surgery. (they did have the by-pass surgery) so when I went to the hospital for surgery and got weighed I had gained back 8lbs. My surgeon came in and to my surprise canceled my surgery due to the weight gain then had me meet with another Dr in her office who told me I have to go on a 4 week liquid diet and lose 30lbs not just the 8 I gained. Has this happened to anyone else? Not only do I feel like a failure but if I could do liquid diets for such long periods I wouldn't need surgery. Please help I feel like giving up. I cried the whole way home telling my husband I am to fat to have the surgery.

suzpat. Yes I am very proud and for the first time in my life I am sustaining the weight loss and the amount of food intake. Don't dwell on the size of the opening as you will be responsible for that. Some people like the high fill level of the band but I don't. For instance my band is 10 ccs max. and I am at 5.5 ccs. I have enough restriction that tells me I am full, but the opening to the stomach is not so small that when I fail to chew every peice into watery mess, I don't vomit. Only when I forget and gulp do I have pain and then I vomit. The higher the fill level the more inclined you are to eat soft junk foods. Amazing how potato chips or cheese pops, cookies ice cream go down so easy. Generally, everyone is encouraged to eat hard protein such as chicken breast, fish or meat. With these foods, you must chew everything to a fine mulch. Twelve chews is approximately the amount of times before the relex is to swallow. So if you take large bites, after 12 times it is likely large chunks will be swallowed. My clinic encourages me to take small bites and chew at least 20 times. It is a bit of a challenge for me a gulper but most time I chew properly but old habits die hard. Although I am not dieting, I track what my intake is through FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal I personally find that keeping track keeps me honest. For instance, this week I had potato chips while watching a movie. I did not feel guilty because I had tracked all week and my average intake was 1,200 calories a day so one day when I zoomed up to 2,000 was not going to cause a weight gain.

Hi everyone, I have not been on the forum much in the last two months as I have been busy with seasonal work. In many of my posts along the way, you might have noticed I was always waiting for restriction and the right fill amount. Well, I had nine fills and 9cc's in my band and still had hunger and lacked restriction. Had an x-ray last week and the Dr. believes my band is unlocked! I don't know if it has been unlocked the entire time or came unlocked along the way. I have a surgery date for him to go in and lock it. Hate the idea of being opened again and recovery etc. He says recovery should be easier as no port incision or stitching, just lock it and get out. Fingers crossed he's right about it all when he gets in there. At least I know why I was struggling to lose any more weight and I know it's not my fault. Fortunately my walking has prevented any weight gain and I have been able to maintain what I lost previously. I guess I will have to start all over again with the fill process however and that I am not looking forward to. I will discuss the option of at least one fill with floro with the Dr. I have been checking new posts on the forum, so I am kind of following along with everyone still, just haven't had a lot of time to reply to many.

I think an "implant to help control hunger" is a pretty accurate description. I think that people need to remember that Lapbanders are learning to control their lives they are learning how to finally take control of themselves. To me, the only lap band failures are those who just continue to eat out of control. AND, they are only failures if they do not seek additional help and support to continue the process. There are lapband misfortunes such as erosion, accidental slips, body rejection, etc. Bypass and rerouting surgeries are usually successful, yes, but when you factor in the weight gain that they usually have at the end, to me, that is failure. There was no self control and no change in lifestyle and thinking about eating. I went to eat with two ladies one night, one with the band and one with the bypass. Both ate regular fat-laden food to the point of having to stop on the way home and BOTH women were out of the car throwing up. They eat what they want and then when they are too full, they throw up. To me that is failure. They did not learn to change their lives and how they eat to be healthy.

Hi all, I'm Lacey, 28, mom of a 6 year old little girl and a military wife. I finally got through all the TRICARE (insurance) hurdles and am scheduled to be banded by Dr. Nye at Baptist Hospital in Pensacola on the 22nd. I've been bigger almost my whole life, hovering ab=round 160-165 at 5'2" through HS and college. I got married and went off the pill, only to gain 60 pounds in 3 months. It was then that we discovered I had PCOS and infertility. More weight gained through treatments and then pregnancy. At my highest I was 265 but have stayed at 230-235 for the last 2 years. While we lived in the UK, I was offered gastric bypass but was unwilling to take a step that drastic with a little one. Once I discovered, TRICARE was now covering lapband, I promptly made an appt with my PCM. She was willing to put in the referral, knowing my history (I also have bcp induced high blood pressure) but we soon found out after some blood work that I have a form of leukemia. After getting all that learned about, etc, my oncologist gave her blessing for lapband and here I am. Looking forward to sharing with all of you!

Jorge, I have a very similar story at this point. I have had two fills and have absolutely no restriction. I think that my mind is panicking a little bit about getting to restriction and not being able to eat much so I'm binging in anticipation. I had lost weight when I went in for my first fill because I was still sore and swollen from surgery. When I went in for my second fill I had gained a half pound. I wasn't really worried about it because I knew I had probably gained a little and I knew I didn't have restriction. What I wasn't prepared for was my doctor was pretty cranky with me about it. I think he was surprised because up to that point I had pretty much been the model patient. I had lost my presurgery weight in record time and had been losing very rapidly. He started to lecture me about my half pound weight gain and I just sort of politely stopped him and said, "You know, this is a lifetime of habits I'm dealing with here. It was one bad week, that's all." He backed off a little after that but clearly was disappointed in me. When I left his office I was pretty discouraged and started thinking that I'd better get myself in gear and be sure I lose a ton of weight before my next appointment. That of course triggered a diet mentality and another binge. I then had to back up mentally and just realize that this journey is about me and not about my doctor or anybody else. I need to work on my food issues and my history with food and I need to take responsibility for my choices and the rest will take care of itself. I have stopped binging (which usually happens when I start to talk nicely to myself and quit pressuring myself to lose weight immediately) and I have started exercising again. My initial reaction was to be mad at the doctor and not want to go back. But that's not going to help me and it certainly isn't going to hurt him. It only hurts me. And he wasn't trying to be hurtful. He was trying to very firmly talk to me and motivate me to get back on track quickly before I spin completely out of control. My head just turned it into an attack and I responded with a binge. I think I heard my mother's voice in my head instead of my doctor's! When I could get some distance I was able to see that he was trying to talk to me about the importance of following the band rules, continuing to exercise and working on head hunger. I have committed to myself that I will exercise and I will try to eat only when physically hungry and only until satisfied. I have also committed to myself that if the binging and head hunger issues continue that I will go back into counseling. I will also always go to the doctor when I need to and try to listen to his advice without feeling attacked. I also remind myself that I will undoubtedly slip up from time to time. It's a process and an entirely new way of living. It's really hard because even though we all knew it was just a tool, most of us probably hoped for a magic bullet. I now know I did. Now I have to learn to work with the tool and not wait for the magic. Please go back to your doctor. Regardless of what he or she says, it's the only way to get to restriction and work the tool properly.

AN OBESE MIND I will give you some background about myself from becoming obese to thin. Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding, “Lapband” became part of my life November 10, 2005. Being fairly new in the United States, maybe the insurance companies didn’t know too much about it. I was approved in 3 weeks. There wasn’t as much then as there is today with Pre Op approval requirements with the insurance company that I went through with my job. I filled out a form at the doctor’s office and it was sent to the insurance company for approval for surgery. Requirements today consist of proof from your primary care physician that you have been obese for 5 straight years, history of co-morbidities, for some, needing to prove to the insurance that you can remain on a steady weight loss program for 6 months and to be able to keep that weight off. I really like that one………. If you can do that then why does a person even need to consider “Lapband”? Then to me the most important requirement in which I missed out on, the psych evaluation. Who could possibly have needed that? Well, I did, and I didn’t realize it until after I had lost all my weight and I now struggle with my new healthy self. Obesity is a psychological disease and not only does a person need that prior to approval but during the time of their weight loss process and in my case, aftercare in which I didn’t receive as it wasn’t a requirement for me. I forgot one more requirement and that is a nutritionist. I believe that a nutritionist should be up to the individual but I know the five basic food groups in which I was taught in elementary school. Not only that but I know what is healthy versus unhealthy foods. If you have an addiction with a certain food like an alcoholic does with alcohol, then you need to stay away from it. It is that simple. You may go through your withdrawals but you will get over it, as far as wanting to consume it. I had my surgery November 10, 2005. I weighed in at 251 pounds. The highest I have ever weighed was 254 pounds. By July 25, 2006 I weighed 140 pounds. It was hard to believe I lost 111 pounds in 8 months, but I did. During that time because of the amount that I was taking off on a monthly basis my doctor and nurse were concerned so they were wanting to see me monthly to be sure I wasn’t losing anymore weight but I went down to 134 and started to look sickly. According to my doctor the proper weight for me is 145 pounds. I joined the gym once I lost all my weight, in fact, not until January 2007 and that is when I began to put on weight, that was very scary to me but my trainer assured me that it was muscle weight. I am now 142 pounds and look very healthy. I have maintained my weight loss now for almost 2 years and my clothing size has not gone up since that weight gain so I am good to go, right? No, something isn’t right, I am very unhappy inside and I need help. Is it wrong for me not to know who I am? Actually is it possible not to know who you are? I question myself every single day and on each and every one of those days I get more and more depressed. I lost over 100 pounds and I should be ecstatic about my new healthy lifestyle. Is this me having the problem or my loved ones around me having the problem? Mentally I have changed with my eating habits for over two years now and have moved forward but others are troubled by it, or am I troubled by it. When I was obese I never questioned myself. I knew exactly who I was. I even knew exactly what I was going to do when I woke up the next morning and that was eat until I got a stomach ache even before I got to work. Those days were very easy for me as I had a habit and I was never going to break that habit because if I did, it would disrupt my daily routine and then I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. Eating was such an easy task for me to accomplish. I only needed to worry about when my husband would get home because I needed to finish eating before he got home or be sure I cleaned out my car of all fast food bags before anyone would see them. Don’t forget, I was unable to get the French fries that fell between the seats so every so often I would get caught in my web of lies. I was wondering when you begin to accept who you have become. When do you’re loved ones ever get used to the fact that you are who you are now and there is no going back. The countless times I have heard, you are not dieting anymore so why don’t you eat this now or you don’t have to drink all that water anymore since you are not looking to lose anymore weight. You still don’t eat anything so why do you want to go out to eat and spend all that money and you won’t eat everything in front of you. Did they forget the word, “doggie bag”? Now, I am able to get 3 meals for the price of 1 so why are they complaining? Talk about a cheap date. I don’t even drink alcohol anymore. I know that I am able to but I choose not to as it is empty calories. I don‘t even miss consuming alcohol. I have made a 360 in my life and it has become more of a problem for others than it ever has for me. How is it what I put in my mouth affect other people? Do you think that it is fair after all this time I should be worrying about such trivial things? Why should what other people think still bother me? Have I still not accepted my new self yet? My husband tells me now; in fact it has been longer than a little while that he wishes I was the same person mentally that I was when I was obese. He had no clue how depressed inside I was because of my condition. He said since I have quit smoking and that has been since December 25, 2006, and have lost all that weight, that I have become very short, no patience and somewhat angry. Also, I can’t cook anymore but on his defense I am afraid to taste the food in between meals. I have never been a patient person so I believe I need to work on being angry and very short. I do believe that when we are obese, and I should speak for myself that I will do whatever it takes to be accepted and if that was to be walked on then so be it. I guess my door has opened somewhat and I am not allowing that anymore. Unfortunately my husband is there and I guess he is taking the brunt of it. I am sorry for that. I need to curb that. He has been wonderful to me throughout all of this but has not listened to me enough though. He sees my outside but hasn’t a clue what is going on inside. I know I am not E.F. Hutton but someone needs to listen to me. Who can understand me especially if I can’t even understand myself? Damn, there is so much confusion. I love my husband very much and I certainly do not want to lose him. He just needs to take the time to sit down and listen to me. It is so hard for men to do that. No wonder they are looked at by a woman with distaste. It is also not fair being hateful to others as they don’t have a clue with what is going on in my mind. In fact, it is really none of their business to know what is going on in my mind unless I choose to tell them. Some people only think that I am a B….. and they have never even known my past where other people believe I’ve turned into a B….. since I went through my lifestyle change. Could it be jealousy on their part? I don’t know. Should I worry about that part or should I try to take care of myself? The only thing that I do know for sure is that it is very important for me to stay healthy from this day forward. I understand that mental health is just as important as physical health is, if not more important so this is why I am in search of answers. I want to know what is wrong with me. I do know that I have self doubt, I do not trust in myself nor do I even believe in myself and that I am somewhat angry at everyone because I am different and they are having trouble accepting me for who I am and have become. Is there a possibility of becoming normal to myself first and then everyone else? Will there ever be a happy medium without hurting the ones you love? I need help mentally to be sure that I am stable. I want to be able to tell people in a proper way that I am okay and they need not worry about me or themselves for that matter. Can I tell people to be themselves when they are with me especially when it comes to the eating part? They right away talk to me about their eating habits and they try to be like me when I make my food choices and I know very well that they are not like that, nor have they ever been like that since I have known them. I have NEVER expected anyone to make changes like I have. I will be more than happy to help someone or encourage someone if they are looking for help, but I would never initiate the conversation. We all know by experience that it has to come from within us first. Is it me or is it the others around me. Josephine 7/06/08

I really appreciate all of you responding to me so quickly. How long have you all been banded? Have any of you had any weight gain? And by the way, I am post menopausal! Tell me about some of your experiences. Gratefully, Cindy

Hey Kendra, great to see you posting again. I think about you all the time but don't want to bombard you with notes because I know you're busy with getting better. Sorry about your hair but as Linda says, get sassy with some wigs. Now what colour do I want to be today? :frown:) Your trip sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun and I bet you're looking forward to catching up with your daughter. Enjoy! Don't worry about the weight gain, you'll get it off before you know it. I was taking steroids over xmas because of my allergy attack and I was bloated and hungry all the time... horrible! :thumbup: Take care of yourself and keep us posted on the next stage. Have a great time on your break!!

I just thought that was cool. I had no idea that an individual could have a band like that. I think it should help with the weight gain during pregnancy. My daughter is considering it, but she is trying to work it out with diet and exercise right now. She just had a baby, but I think it scared her to get a lap band with the possibility of becoming pregnant again. That is why you peeked my interest.

How many of us have been "on a diet" for most of our lives? Too many, in my opinion. Not just because it's bad for our health or because diets don't work. It's bad for our mental health too. It leads to something I call "Dieter's Mentality." If you have Dieter's Mentality, you need to cut it out because it's going to sabotage your success. This is true whether or not you have had Weight Loss Surgery, are on your pre-op diet or are doing it the traditional way through diet and exercise. Diet Mentality is evil and it puts you in a bad place! What is Diet Mentality? It has four major components: 1) Putting food into Good and Bad buckets First of all, food is not Bad or Good -- it's just food. Some food is a better choice than others, but even then it's really just all food. If you are getting in enough of the essential nutrients and you account for your calories each day, you are doing good no matter if you have a bite of dessert once in a while or not. All food is bad food if you eat too much of it or only eat one kind. It's just as unhealthy to eat nothing but Protein as it is to eat nothing but birthday cake. A healthy diet is balanced and can even include a certain amount of junk food as long as it's a small amount and it doesn't trigger you into bad behavior. 2) Judging your worth by what you eat Making bad food choices does not make you a bad person. Your self-worth shouldn't be tied up in what you eat. Good people make bad choices all the time. Instead of beating yourself up when you make a bad choice, hating yourself, seeing yourself as a failure and otherwise engaging in destructive behavior, just figure out how to make a better choice next time. It's not easy to be dispassionate about your own behavior, but telling yourself that you made a bad choice and next time you'll make a better one is a good start and much healthier than telling yourself you are a bad person and you'll never lose the weight and you hate yourself. 3) Judging your worth by how much you weigh/how much you've lost this week The scale is just part of the picture. If you get too tied up in the scale, you get a distorted view of the world. Weeks where you lose are good weeks even if someone close to you died. Weeks where you don't lose are bad weeks even if you got a big promotion at work and did everything "right" in terms of diet and exercise. One of the dangers of measuring everything by your weight on the scale is that you can convince yourself that making bad choices is okay because sometimes you can make bad choices and still lose/maintain. You can also convince yourself that making good choices is pointless because some weeks you make all good choices and the scale doesn't move. But clearly making more bad choices than good will lead to weight gain in the long run. Anything thinking that leads you to conclude otherwise is destructive thinking. 4) Waiting until you are thin(ner) to start living Stop waiting until you get to goal to start living or loving yourself. Love yourself now. Live your life now. It's easy to fall into "when I lose 25 pounds, I will start..." type of thinking. It's a fine line between thinking about how you will reward yourself when you meet certain goals and putting your life on hold until you meet certain goals. Many of us have had the experience of thinking we were so fat back when we were in HS or college or a young adult and not being happy. But then we got even fatter and we look at those pictures from back then and we realize that we were actually pretty hot. In fact, we'd give anything to be "that fat" right now. Why not love yourself now while you're living your life instead of waiting until 10 years later to tell yourself how good you had it back then? What happens when we stop "dieting"? One of the best things I ever did for myself was to decide I was never going to diet again. It really allowed me to examine my relationship with food and to start listening to my body and figuring out why I eat what I eat. That would never have happened when I was caught up in "Dieter's Mentality". One of the things I found is that my approach to food was that of a child. I wanted people to make me or bring me food because I associate being fed with being loved. So I got myself to a point where all my meals were either quick things that require no cooking or can be zapped in a microwave or are made by my husband -- who does all the cooking -- or were purchased. In other words, other people had complete control over what kind of food I ate and how it was prepared! I never saw anything wrong with this until I decided to grow up about food. I realized that by approaching food this way, I was giving up tons of control over what I ate. Someone else buys the groceries so it's not my fault that there aren't healthy Snacks in the house. It's not my fault that I had that ice cream cone -- there was nothing else to eat and I was HUNGRY. Once I saw this pattern, I vowed to change it and start being an adult about food. I now plan out what I'm going to eat before I go to work. If I'm going to work late, I bring extra food so I'm not eating out of the vending machine. I don't eat lunch at the Cafeteria every day so my food choices aren't limited to what they want to make for me. I have healthy snacks in my drawers at work so if I do end up working late without having planned ahead, I'm eating a Protein Bar instead of a Snickers bar. This change in attitude and behavior has made a big difference. Which is not to say I haven't got much farther to go ... I still don't cook and I still eat way too much prepared food (because I don't cook). But I'm much better than I used to be and it's great to feel like a grown up! You may relate to what I said about having a child's approach to food or you may not. Not everyone gets fat the same way or has the same issues to work through. But one thing I can guarantee is that once you throw off the shackles of Dieter's Mentality, you will have the brain cycles available to see your relationship with food more clearly. You will be on the road to having a healthy relationship with food.

Hello. I had lap band surgery about 2 years ago. Tuesday I found out that I am pregnant. I am kinda worried about my diet related to my band and my baby. I feel very selfish because I DONT want to gain my weight back. I know some weight gain is normal and necessary but I have had 3 children and I have gained 50-60# with each one. I have only .75cc in my band I think that I would be ok but I dont know. Anyone out there that has been pregnant with their band??? What did you do??

Hello. I had lap band surgery about 2 years ago. Tuesday I found out that I am pregnant. I am kinda worried about my diet related to my band and my baby. I feel very selfish because I DONT want to gain my weight back. I know some weight gain is normal and necessary but I have had 3 children and I have gained 50-60# with each one. I have only .75cc in my band I think that I would be ok but I dont know. Anyone out there that has been pregnant with their band??? What did you do??

It isn't uncommon to gain weight before your first fill. Don't beat yourself up. Your doctor will not get angry. Hes there to help you. Remember that you are still down and lower than before. Get the fills started. Everytime I had a weight gain or stayed the same, my doctor told me that in my situration, who wouldn't have gained and gave me a fill. My doctor is not judgemental. If you have a weight gain or maintain your weight, thats the signal to get another fill. If it was so easy to lose weight and keep it off, there wouldn't be a need for Lap-Bands, gastric bypass, diet pills, WW, Jenny Craigs, etc.

Okay, I have read through this entire thread and my eyes are blurry. I would never want to be one of the people that someone would have to put on their ignore list. I have come to the conclusion that it's nice that we have so many intelligent people on this board. I could go on and on about addiction, mental illness, etc. but I don't see the point. One of the things that got me fat though, was anti depressants. I was on them for years. I didn't know until years later that one of the side effects was weight gain. It wasn't until they took mine off the market, that I discovered exercise was better than any antidepressant ever could be. I started exercising to try to lose the weight and found out I felt better than I ever did in my life on antidepressants. It's such a catch 22. If you're so depressed that you can barely get out of bed, it's hard to convince yourself that going to the gym would make you feel better. It's sad, really.

Hi I'm also at this stage I've already had my seminar, just got the call from the hospital, i guess to start the process, I'm so scared, i keep in mind i can always back out but all i have to look forward to is more weight gain, my knees kill me, don't know how much longer i can work like this, so i have to do something, this is my last hope. tammy

A lil FYI- Excessive urination and extreme thirst (especially for cold Water and sometimes ice or ice water) are typical for DI. Symptoms of diabetes insipidus are quite similar to those of untreated diabetes mellitus, with the distinction that the urine is not sweet as it does not contain glucose and there is no hyperglycemia (elevated blood glucose). Blurred vision is a rarity. Signs of dehydration may also appear in some individuals since the body cannot conserve much (if any) of the water it takes in. The extreme urination continues throughout the day and the night. In children, DI can interfere with appetite, eating, weight gain, and growth as well. They may present with fever, vomiting, or diarrhea. Adults with untreated DI may remain healthy for decades as long as enough water is drunk to offset the urinary losses. However, there is a continuous risk of dehydration. And I have 1 of the 4 types Central DI Central diabetes insipidus is due to damage to the hypothalamus or pituitary due to a tumor, stroke, neurosurgery or some rather rare causes (which include hemochromatosis, sarcoidosis, histiocytosis, diseases that can form masses in the vicinity like a tuberculoma or syphilis and some genetic disorders). If the hypothalamus is damaged, the feeling of thirst may be completely absent.