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Thank you so much!! I cant believe how much support this board is giving:) and yes I am always afraid of what am putting in my mouth as u said! and yes I am eating so little!! and finally after speaking with many and receiving ur awesome posts!! I have come to conclusion that it will be so different and so healthy with the sleeve! and that the first 2 weeks are days from hell! but they pass! and that I can get to my goal weight!! u all put so much optimism in my way:) I also had an appointment with another doctor for just a second opinion!! and he told me that I am considered a band success story!!! which really made me feel over the moon.. as my band doctor somehow considered he failed me somehow.. he is a friend to my dad and he mentioned that one day to him that he feels that he didn't do well with me! well the other doctor really said that my doctor was a great one! and he really did a great job with u! He is also convinced that I am gonna get through the sleeve as I had my band to practice some part of what I have to do with the sleeve too. He also believes that the human being should work on their band for maximum 6-8 years as it is very dangerous to keep it in for the rest of our lives.. supposedly the human being is then adapted to new life style and eating habits! My other doctor " the one who didn't perform the band but did the check ups with me and suggested the sleeve" is the one I am having the sleeve with. But my consult doctor is the one who brought up a nice point about WHY U ARE GOING TO LOSE WEIGHT ON UR SLEEVE! He told me .. as we get rid of the gherlin in ur body there is a hormonal balance that happens.. as much as the gherlin is not produced by large amounts in the stomach as before other 2 hormones starts to be produced which are the biggest help to higher ing ur metabolism rates! With the band the gherlin is there and may be always produced in highly amount as u are never ever satisfied! except for feeling restriction.. so by the time.. what ever u do !! the gherlin block the production of the other hormones with good quantity to help your metabolism and thats why some or more ppl experience weight-loss plateaus or may be weight gain! Hope I did well explaining what he said!! AND THATS WHY I AM HAVING MY SLEEVE!! and I will be hoping and praying the first 2 weeks pass so quick!! SO MUCH KISSES FOR ALL OF U HERE XOX

I haven't made my decision which surgery is best for me. Has anyone started to regain or not lose the desired amount of weight before 1 to 2 years post- op Sent from my 5056N using the BariatricPal App

I was never athletic, but I have always been pretty active. I lost weight on WW years ago, and got to be pretty regular at the gym. Unfortunately I got out of the habit, and then lost my mom and generally wasn't taking very good care of myself. It was harder to get started because of my weight gain. I walked after surgery and then joined the Y about a month ago (8 weeks post op.) Now I've added strength training and I'm starting to see results. I don't have the same aches and pains with working out that I used to. I look forward to my trips to the gym. It seems to me that if you have a history of exercise, it will make it easier for you to return to it after surgery. I think it is harder for people who haven't been in the habit of being active. Good luck!

I am new to this site and I am wondering if anyone has gone to Dr Aceves or any other doctor in Mexico? Not many of us think outside the box or venture out when it comes to surgery. I have no choice...my insurance company wont pay unless i have a BMI 50 or >. I cant afford a us MD and I need to do something because my life has stalled due to weight gain. So i am considering other options to having surgery abroad. If there is anyone who has gone to mexico or seen Dr Aceves I would love to here of your experience.

What changed? Did you stop eating healthy, not working out, or??? I'm asking because I'm newly banded and want to understand what contributed to the weight gain. Thanks and best wishes!

I did not have to do the six month diet before the surgery, so I can't give any advice for that or changing doctors midstream. But here is what I can advise you: CHANGE DOCTORS!! 1. Any doctor who "can't be bothered to read the reports from other specialists" is NOT someone that is focusing on your health and your best interests!!! A doctor should not only try to gather as much information about you and your health, but definitely should READ the information he does get! 2. He is your doctor - which means that the specialists are giving their reports to him with the idea that there is one person who is reviewing the info and able to create a complete picture of your health. There are many diseases, disorders, syndromes, etc that can cause weight gain. That can prevent weight loss. That can cause other irregularities in various way. So one specialist might only have 2 pieces of a ten piece puzzle. They will never know if there is a piece missing. Only the main doctor having all the pieces will know right away that there are only 9 pieces or there are 11! That is his job!! 3. Weight loss is a very complicated science and they are discovering more and more that there is so much more to weight gain/loss than simply calories in vs. calories burned. The idea that if you "simply eat only 1500 calories" it is guaranteed that you will lose weight is NOT true. And a good doctor should be working with you on that. Helping you, not berating you! The fact that you are seeing a nutritionist - someone whose only job is diet and nutrition - and the doctor is contradicting their advice should be a huge warning light in your head! 4. If the s**t hits the fan, you are going to have to rely on this man to help you and your family through an incredibly difficult time. Is this the man that you really want to hold your hand through the rough stuff? You don't have to be best friends or anything, but you sure as heck better feel that your health and welfare are of the upmost importance to him. He has already shown that isn't true with him by not reading those reports. 5. You and your doctor are supposed to be a team! He has extra knowledge and you are paying him for that expertise. He works for YOU!! Together, he and you are supposed to be trying to get you in the best health possible. He is no different than any other service industry employee. Would you buy a burger at BK and allow the guy behind the counter to belittle you? And when the order came over and it was wrong, would you just take it if he said, well I just couldn't be bothered to actually listen to your order! That would never fly! And you have to try and think that way. You have a right to be treated well. I'm not sure what the deal is with switching doctors now, and I do realize that the last thing you want to do is start from square one again, but I really have to say that you need to switch doctors. I just can't get over that he didn't read those reports. Keep looking until you find a doctor you are comfortable with. There are tons of doctors out there and at least a few must be covered by your insurance, right? Find a GOOD one!! :cursing:

I too was banded on 9/21.. Yesterday was the first time i really felt hungry. I have added 2 protien shakes between meals. I also bought some creamy Soups, they seem to fill me up more than regular broth base soups. Campbells has a large variety of flavors, so you don't have to eat cream of chicken all the time. I know they have more carbs,but since I am still on liquids I am not getting any other carbs. I am also worried about weight gain before my first fill, which isn't until 10/21. I have lost 41 pounds so far and don't wont to gain it back, but without some restriction I don't know how much longer I can keep it off.. Good Luck to you and don't be so hard on yourself..it will be ok..:drool: God Bless

Best Wishes Sheena!!!! Now you said you had the band removed? What happened? And what form of wls are you planning on next month? Goodmorning, The last 20 months offered me nothing but fill/unfill:drool:...I could never go more than 3 weeks with a fill..which for a while would feel great and one day I would just wake up it no that it was yet again time for an unfill....sometimes this was a trip to the ER in the middle of church, sometimes I could hold out a day or two, sometimes it was an emergency call to the doctor to fit me in to do an unfill...It was progressive gradually. Below is a summation of my lapband experience from implant to removal, I have indicated the symptomatic issues that were experienced which led to the unfills. I did not indicate that the first 2 unfills were resultant of having been too tight and having flown. Lots of doctors and other bandsters will tell you that this is impossible, but I found research that speaks to a few bandsters being impacted by flying if they are already too tight--that indeed was my experience. :thumbup: Although I had these issues, during the process, I did not see them as complications--I loved my band. :tt1: I would advise everyone to be your own medical health advocate, challenge the opinions, research--become your best expert on yourself and this life transforming process, document your process...it was my only comfort in tracking my progress and ultimately seeing the regressive pattern. Dont just leave it up to the doctor to know and track everything with your progress/process. Everytime I got an unfill, I was asking is this normal, should I be concerned. By year 2, I figured that I was going to regulate the amount of fills that I was getting b/c what I had learned from year 1 was that the doctors had been too aggressive in my fills administration. From that I saw progress, but each time it was short lived..it did not make sense (levels that I had been at before were now too tight). Pay attention to your body, monitor your progress. At my last unfill, I was adamant in being concerned about the steady pace of fills/unfills/deflates...so much so that my doctor had to admit it too...and then we began discussing the option of getting an endoscopy done in 1 month....needless to say we didnt have that time...as 2 days later I had been admitted to the hospital and the emergency call had been made to remove my band. :regular_smile: At those fill appts., insist on knowing how much of a fill is being administered and knowing what your total balance is. Document this every visit. It cant hurt..it can help in the accountability process in the long run. During those periods of unfills being needed, I would lose 5-8 pounds over night.:tt2: Even if I could do this all over again, I know that lapband would have been my first choice & vertical sleeve my second. At the time of my decision I had not heard about vertical sleeve. I am hoping to have the vertical sleeve gastrectomy next month. And if that dont work I will go back for the second stage of the sleeve; however, I doubt if I will need it. I lost 46 pounds with the band & hope to lose another 30 pounds. I am hopeful!:w00t: November 16, 2006--surgery performed; weight: 247 December 2006--weight: 225 January 3, 2007--weight: 211; first fill administered--1cc in 4 cc band February 2007--weight: 215 March 2, 2007--weight 207; 2nd fill administered--1cc added--total 2cc in 4cc band April 23, 2007--weight: 204; 3rd fill administered--1.1cc added--total 3.1cc in 4cc band May 23, 2007--weight: 198; 1st unfill administered--2.3cc removed---total 0.8cc in 4cc band (acid reflux, esophageal spasm, stoma occlusion) June 26, 2007--weight: 209; 4th fill administered--1.2cc added--total 2.0cc in 4cc band July 10, 2007--weight: 212; 5th fill administered--0.8cc added--total 2.8cc in 4cc band August 2007--weight: 212 September 2007--weight: 212 October 4, 2007--weight 212--2nd unfill administered--0.5cc removed--total 2.3cc in 4cc band October 30, 2007--weight 212--6th fill administered--1cc added--total 3.3cc in 4cc band November 6, 2007--weight: 206--3rd unfill administered--0.5cc removed--total 2.5cc in 4cc band (acid reflux, esophageal spasm, stoma occlusion) December 2007--weight 215 Year 1: 6 fills; 3 unfills; weight fluctuation range: 247-198 weight loss: 49 pounds; weight gain: 30 pounds ************************************************************************************************************************************ January 22, 2008--weight: 217; 1st fill administered--0.8cc added--total 3.2cc in 4cc band February 12, 2008--weight: 213; 1st unfill administered--0.5cc removed--total 2.7cc in 4cc band March 2008--weight: 217 April 29, 2008--weight: 216; 2nd fill administered--1cc added--total 3cc in 4cc band May 6, 2008--weight: 207; 2nd unfill administered--.02cc removed--total 2.8cc band May 18, 2008--weight: 204; 1st deflate--(acid reflux, esophageal spasm, stoma occlusion, dehydration) May 27, 2008--weight: 204; 3rd fill administered--2.5cc added--2.5cc in 4cc band June 26, 2008-weight: 204; 3rd unfill administered-.8cc removed--total 1.7cc in 4cc band July 2008--weight: 204 August 19, 2008--weight: 209; 4th fill administered--.5cc added--total 2.2cc in 4cc band September 15, 2008--weight: 201; 2nd deflate--(pouch dilation, esophageal spasms, dehydration) September 17, 2088--weight 201; lap band removal Year 2: 4 fills; 3 unfills; 2 deflates; 1 band removal weight fluctuation range: 217-201 Max. weight loss: 16 pounds; Max. weight gain: 9pounds

I've never been on an anti-depressant but my mother is on Prozac and is doing very well with no weight gain. Interestingly, Prozac is now being prescribed for people with rheumatiod arthritis so, if you have that condition, you might see an improvement in the pain from that condition. I hope the Prozac helps you and that you feel better soon.

I agree with the others ... find a replacement outlet for the emotions. Just following my surgery I went through a pretty rough patch with family illness and a (separate) death in the family. My normal go-to would have been food. However, someone here recommended that I find some other way to ease the emotion and I started to walk more and more. It was a GREAT outlet for me! I would put in my earphones and just go until I either physically couldn't (shorter distances closer to my surgery) or else I felt the weight start to lift off of me. Ultimately, the fear of weight gain or even making myself sick from eating too much after my new sleeve was enough to help me to re-focus on something other than food. Best of luck to you!

I was concerned about a weight gain as well. They told me it was because of the IV given during and after the operation.

To be honest, I feel that the US should allow the sleeve surgery at lower weights than 40 BMI. I struggled with weight gain for so long until I was over 40 BMI and finally qualified plus another 6 months of pre-op weight program. My doctor feels the surgery is the best treatment for obesity and it is sad that the BMI has to be so high as I now have several friends stating they wish they could have surgery and yet they are a few points lower in BMI. Hopefully in this case the doctor will make the best decision for the patient, however I do think that 40 BMI is too high as the threshold. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Portion control, and getting enough Protein are necessary to maintain weight loss. I know that if I am not getting enough protein, my weight loss stalls. Try not to get angry at yourself; the scale will fluctuate. You're doing the right thing to look for the reasons and the solution for the weight gain. Follow the rules, measure everything, exercise, and the weight will come off... Best wishes...

My reflux was extreme with my band, so I removed the band, then had the sleeve put on 2 years later...NO RELFUX! I can sleep without junk coming up my throat--it is sooooo nice, . I agree that the sleeve has very little stretching, and very little ability to stretch--I know serveral people (most in my family) who have done gastric and the weight gain is one reason I went with the sleeve this time...it just made more sense to keep the digestive track intact as much as possible.

Then you should talk to your surgeon about it and possibly get a slight unfill. Slider foods lead to weight gain and a band too tight leads to slips.

I personally don't believe you can stretch your sleeve. But I do believe that eating the wrong foods and eating when I'm not hungry can lead to weight gain. After 2+ years, I still only eat about a cup and 1/2 of food per meal, but I can eat again within an hour. So it's up to me to recognize when I'm truly hungry and when I want to eat out of boredom or just because it will taste good. Here is the article about possibly stretching your sleeve: http://obesitycoverage.com/weight-loss-surgeries/gastric-sleeve/gastric-sleeve-will-my-stomach-stretch And here is the 5 day pouch test, which is sometimes used to get back to basics. http://www.5daypouchtest.com/plan/theplan.html

I'm finally getting back on track...decided to go back to liquids for a few days...I'm leaving for Florida Thursday morning...spending the weekend...so I know that I will be eating out a lot...hopefully, I'll make good choices and eat healthy. I do NOT want to come back with weight gain...

Could I have avoided years of weight gain and the pain of surgery by eating a little moo-moo? I realized not only do I not get enough Protein in my current diet on WLS, I never ate protein! My food intake was Pasta, pizza, and smoothie \ in that order. And maybe popcorn daily 100 calorie pop. I always stayed under my calorie count and I walk 3 times a week, but the scale was broke, it would only increase!! Now that I'm forcing myself to eat these (sorry not to offend) yucky animals snd chalky shakes, the scale seems to be fixed?? Ok I had to vent realizing I hate protein and miss my love of carbs, but they no longer taste the same. Sent from my iPhone using RNYTalk

Omg i am not the only one i am 10 months sleeved and i found out yesterday i am 6 weeks pregnant. I am 41 and now i am worried about weight gain and keeping the baby healthy. As well as making sure of keeping my sleeve small.

You have time to lose the 5 pounds. What are you doing to lose? Perhaps you can add a Protein shake as a Meal Replacement for 1-2 meals and do some like exercise like walking. I'm sure you'll be fine. Most insurance companies/surgeons is more concerned with weight gain opposed to weight lost. There could be a number of reasons why you haven't lost so Im sure they will factor that in. I was told if I didn't lose as long as I didn't gain I would be fine. You'll do it. Let us know how things work out for you. Good luck.

haha...that is so funny. there are some days where I have no desire to eat at all, and my kids are like.....mom whats for dinner? the good part for me is that my kids are old enough to cook some things on their own. most of the times I manage to feed them just fine. the thing that is really hard for them to deal with is that I am not buying junk anymore. they are going through withdrawls. haha I used to spend about 600-800 a month on food for a family of 5....now I spend about 300! my grocery bill is definatly better now, but they are like.....we dont have anything good to eat. I say....um yeah there is tons of good stuff to eat, just none of the junk anymore. my husband has involuntarily lost 20 pounds since my surgery. lol he was not overweight at all btw, but now he is at the low end of healthy weight for his height. my kids are not losing any weight though...as a matter of fact my son has put on 30 pounds this year! he isnt fat, but i am always on him about how much he eats, and exercising because i dont want him to have the same problems with weight that I did. he is 13 now and going through puberty, and that is the only reason im not totally freaking out about his weight gain. good luck in making sure your kid doesnt starve lol

I'm really glad you got some Fluid removed. It sounds like you were definitely too tight. Here's a really great article Jean McMillan wrote called "Tighter Isn't Always Better". She explains why a too tight band isn't only dangerous but how it can hurt weight loss and even cause weight gain: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/161269-tighter-isnt-always-better/ My two year band anniversary is coming up in January but I personally haven't had any of those issues. I tend to be extremely cautious about my band and not over filling it. Thankfully, my surgeon is too. Best wishes.

I had to quit for the surgery as well or my surgeon would cancel and they make you sign an agreement that you would quit and that they would test you for nicotine and cancel surgery if you had it in your system. My mother died from complications of COPD from years of smoking and I was sounding a lot like her so I had a double reason for quitting. I quit in February of 2008 and can honestly say that I have no desire to smoke again. I used the prescription Chantix for about 2 weeks and did'nt like the side effects so I basically did it on my own. You have to stop altogether, not even a puff and once you get past the two week mark it bets much easier. You will have enough metabolic changes in your body after surgery that you don't want another one with quitting, so I would do it before surgery and get your body used to being smoke free, it takes about 3-4 months for the metabolism to stabilize after quitting (my doctor told me this is why the weight gain after quitting, but it eventually evens out). Hope this helps! Think of it - THIN AND SMOKE FREE IN A YEAR:tt1:!!!

I have the same type of under rib and sternum pain and pressure with upper stomach gas. So tired of pain and bloating. I'm happy to say after six years my band is being removed and a sleeve done on 2/14. My band the first three years was ok. Lost 140lbs basically by eating chicken and beef soup and exercising. Soups were the only way I could get real solid protein. Then years four through six have been hell with pain and weight gain. The band isn't a real solution in my opinion.

I admit I lost focus over the summer and even had a weight gain, amazing how easy it was to slip back into bad habits! I had a .75cc fill earlier this month and am mentally & physically back in the groove and it feels so good. Truthfully it is a huge success for me to stumble but then get back up and continue. Anytime I have lost weight prior to being banded as soon as I stumbled I gave up. So that is probably what I am most proud of!