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The sugary drinks don't have to be soda, Kool aid, my doctor considers sugary drinks anything other than water and zero calorie power ades Gatorade ... He's not a fan of real fruit smoothies either.... Natural sugar can also affect weight gain.

You really should be careful about allowing yourself anything pure in sugar. You really want to get yourself focused on sticking to your meal plan and if you start allowing yourself treats from early on, you will likely experience longer stalls and slower weight loss and that's if your carb monsters don't take over. It would be better to wait at least 4 or 5 months before you allow sweets as a treat back into your eating to be sure you have a handle on what your body can handle. Personally, anytime I find that I have a treat with high bad carbs/ sugar, I pay for it with a 1 to 3# weight gain which comes off but only after getting back on plan for several days or even longer in some cases. Just be careful. You need to try to approach this with a new attitude towards healthy eating.

I am desperate and sad. Seeking advice, help or words of wisdom… Like many of you my weight journey started a very long time ago – almost thirty years ago. I grew up with three older sisters and a single mother. My father died when I was seven years old. That was the end of family dinners. My sisters were 14, 17 and 18 – and my mother was 41 (my age right now). You can imagine the dieting / body image / food dysfunction that a household of five single women was a breeding ground for. Of course my mom made sure I was fed- there were frozen dinners (Lean Cuisine), but otherwise, there was not a lot of food in the house as my sisters/mom were always dieting. Having struggled with her weight for many years, my mom did not want me to suffer her same fate. However, when I went to my best friend’s house, that was another story….a panacea of forbidden food and treats – even a cookie jar (so blatant, so open, so tempting) which I so distinctly remember raiding daily. These memories are in no way to blame anyone – it is what it is, but it serves to concretize the all or nothing thinking that let me to my binge-like behavior. The craziness never caught up to me until age 14. I’m not sure if it was the academic stress of my high school or puberty, but I gained 30 pounds in one year – not a normal weight gain for a 14 year-old girl. At the end of that year I begged and pleaded to my mother to send me to weight watchers camp. She finally conceded probably thinking she help me would get this under control early on. I lost weight, I gained weight. I lost weight, I gained weight. Times this experience by five thousand and perhaps you have an idea of the number of attempts I have made in my life…Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, diet pills, Atkins, boot camp, hypnosis, intuitive eating, life coaches, therapists, etc. There is no end to the torture I have felt and put myself through. Somehow the only thing that soothed the pain was the very thing causing it. My identity and sense of self-worth is so intricately involved with my weight – it’s near impossible to separate the two. And no matter how much insight I have into the craziness and the chaos, I have been unsuccessful at pulling myself out of it. -The desperation and the self-loathing getting stronger with every failed attempt. On occasions when I was able to lose weight and maintain for a while – it was truly a blissful feeling. Not because I felt so good about my appearance or ever felt skinny. But because it was such freedom from the obsessive thinking that has plagued me forever. It has been a very long time since I have experienced that – as for the past decade or so, the ‘fat me’ has won. Don’t get me wrong, despite the occasional self-deprecating remark, this is my own private hell. I am a productive member of society – often helping others emerge from their own psychic pain. Friends think I am carefree and bubbly. Though I have not had to purchase an extra airline seat, I feel the pain of being over weight so deeply. I understand feeling invisible and the experience that people judge and do not take you seriously. There is shame and guilt and self-loathing that is difficult for anyone to understand who has not been there themselves. I know I am in a safe place to share this and unfortunately many of you have experienced this pain as well. I had heard something about plication this past summer and I excitedly began researching options for surgery for lower BMI. Plication was definitely not the answer but I began to feel more and more certain that Veritical Sleeve Gastrectomy was the answer. There was no crazy bypassing of anything – just what seems like a completely rational reduction of a stomach that did not need to be so large – no major physical overhaul, less risks. Though I would have qualified in the states, my insurance would not have covered this. Despite my initial trepidation about Mexico, the more I researched it, the more excited I got about it. These doctors have done more VSGs than most any in the states. When I happened upon vertical sleeve talk, I felt like I discovered a whole new world – excitement took over me as I knew I had found an answer to a torture that had darkly clouded much of my world. I spent countless hours reading thousands upon thousands of posts. Weighing out the good, the bad and the ugly. This was not advertisement. These were not scholarly journals. This forum was filled with hundreds of people, just like myself, who have been through the pain and suffering and have emerged on the other side – grateful, free and loving their new life. What began as a pipe dream eventually became a reality. I was scheduled for the week between Christmas and New Years. I told my mother and not another soul. I had a few concerns… obviously fear that something would go terribly wrong as I was by myself in Tijuana, and also how I was going to explain this drastic weight loss to anyone who might notice. But overall, I had a strange confidence that I would be okay a sense of calm about the decision. The process of VSG in Mexico, at least the company that I went with, is like a well-oiled machine. I had no major complaints and the staff were very kind. I read enough of the forum members’ very detailed accounts, that I felt pretty familiar with the whole process. Thank GOD!!! The surgery went off without a hitch. I did not vomit, I had no complications. I was able to eat without any negative consequences. I had gained about 15 pounds between the process of deciding to get this surgery – lost a little before surgery date. In the two weeks following I lost 14 pounds total. That was two months ago. Herein lies the problem. I have not lost any weight in the two months since then. SO I am basically where I began. Or, let me clarify – I will lose 2 or 3 and gain it right back. I have a smaller stomach, I get fuller a little more quickly than before the surgery……BUT IN NO WAY do I have the restriction that any other person on this forum has. I mentioned I was lower BMI. Because of this, my surgeon informed me he decided to remove less than of the stomach than normal. I now read this forum with tears in my eyes and resentment in my heart. How could this not have worked? My appetite is the same and there is very little restriction. So I am at this place where this has been the same failure as any other diet. How can this surgery which has been so life changing to so many hundreds and hundreds of people not even have had a slight impact on my situation? I get it. I know I am the one who is supposed to make healthier choices, and eat less and exercise more. I have always known that. So have each of you. People on this forum lose weight not because of a purposeful massive overhaul on their thinking – yes, of course that plays into it, as it has for every diet we have all tried. People here lose the weight because their stomachs no longer allow them to eat how they used to. Either the food does not agree with them, or the restriction is drastically decreasing the amount of food eaten. Changes that occur with thinking and behavior absolutely do occur – but they occur as the RESULT of the physical changes. Otherwise, there is no way to explain the collective thousands of failed diet attempts. According to many articles the success rate of losing weight and keeping it off is 5%! Do I talk to the surgeon again, or just let it go? I doubt he can do another surgery and feel like he will say ,“It was only a tool.” Am I truly the only person for whom this surgery did not work? The only thing that I am grateful for in all of this is, 1) That I did not die as a result of the surgery and am not suffering serious side effects and, 2) that this surgery did help so many who have been through this same suffering as I. I would still recommend someone have this done, as it has worked miracles for so many. I am trying to finish being angry that it did not work on me – which is one of the reasons I am writing this letter. I am at a place now where I am dieting. I have started a four-day quasi-starvation diet today with the hopes that it will motivate me. I plan to try to stick with Atkins-type diet following that. But I am dieting and living as I always have – with obsessive thoughts (now mixed with disbelief of this failing) and a heavy heart. My pre-surgery bundle of emotions including: excitement, fear, relief, exuberance, etc. Have been replaced by feelings of confusion, sadness and desperation. I am sorry if my feelings of anger come off as offensive to anyone. Any words of wisdom are welcome.

Hi I am going to copy some of my story here for you. Hope it helps. I am in the process of insurance approval to have a revision from Band to RNY. I have had my band for seven years. I have been very lucky to have not had any complications, no slips ect. My band is unfilled now, because i never did get the 'sweet' spot, either to tight and things would come back up or I would revert to soft high carb foods, or too loose and I can pretty much eat anything. I had my surgery for the band in Cincinnati Ohio, (I live in Indianapolis) The surgeon Dr, Trace Curry was excellent, I do think traveling back and forth for fills ect did hinder me getting where I needed to be for my fill to be right. But no matter what the band was not going to help most of my medical issues. Since the band I have lost and gained the same 30 to 40 pounds. Now at my heaviest. And the band did not help any of my medical problems. I am hoping the RNY both with the smaller stomach and mal absorption and the actual surgery itself will help with my uncontrolled type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance. I am so sensitive to insulin that I swell and ache all over but I have to take large amounts to keep my blood sugar down. It is like I am on a merry go round, hurt, can't exercise, can't exercise, gain weight, blood sugars out of control, more insulin, can't breath because of severe asthma and copd, need steriods about once a year, higher blood sugars, more weight gain, can't exercise, and around and around we go My hope and prayer is that this surgery will add years to my life that I can spend with my children and grandchildren. I need to GET a life, because what I am doing right now is not living seven years ago I thought the Bypass was too drastic. I didn't realize then the benefits besides weight loss that the Bypass can do. I think if you have a lot of weight to lose the Bypass would serve you better. I see so many revising from lap band to either the Sleeve or the Bypass. But even see some revise from the Sleeve to the Bypass. Read a lot here, ask questions and listen to your Doc's advice. Then make up your mind. I don't regret getting the band, but I do wish I had went all the way and had the Bypass seven years ago. Best Wishes to you.

I also struggle with depression. I take two meds daily for it, and those are the only meds I still take after surgery. It drives me nuts that people equate depression with just being sad. Like when someone says things like "oh, I broke my iPhone, I'm so depressed!" No, you're sad, not depressed. Depression is a medical condition like diabetes or high blood pressure. Right before they wheeled me into the operating room for surgery, I was going over a list of my meds with the NP at the hospital. She heard which depression drugs I'm on and told me I "must" talk to the doc to change my scripts to something else because one of the meds causes weight gain and makes it more difficult to lose weight. I explained that I know that, but I've been medicated for depression for almost 25 years. I've tried more drug combos than I care to think about, and I'm finally on a combo that allows me to function relatively normally. I think I'll stick with what works. She told me that it was my choice, but that I was making it needlessly harder on myself. SMH

i was banded on the 15th and when i came home tuesday evening and weighed myself, I was 7 pounds more heavy than i was the day of surgery. Today which is two days after surgery, im still the same. Did anyone else go through this as well and know what it is caused by??

@lark60 It’s great to talk with people years out. Sorry to hear about all the personal stress. Sounds like you have found what puts your body back into weight loss mode. Eight pounds down is fantastic. You can also inspire others struggling with weight gain. Welcome back, Jenn

So I am 5 years post sleeve. I managed to get within 5 lbs of my goal and slowly slipped back into bad habits. When I went for my annual PCP appointment and saw the scales were reading 175, I almost cried. I hadn't been weighing myself over this past year due to my house flooding and all my stuff was in storage for 6 months. I realized that I had been wearing stretchy leggings and hadn't tried on a pair of jeans in a year (again everything was in storage and I bought a few comfy outfits to tide me over till the home repairs were complete) I went through my kitchen and pulled all processed foods, bread, flour, sugars, root veggies, fruits, cereals, pasta and rice. I gave these things away to my neighbors. I researched diets and weight gain after sleeve procedure. I have started following a modified Keto diet. I say modified because I try to keep my protein at 80 grams a day. So basically I have replaced carbs with healthy fats. My next step back on track was to come back to this site and read the different topics. It has been 2 weeks on my version of Keto and have lost 8 lbs! I still have problems eating enough calories and know my metabolism is slow so I eat what I can and spread a meal to be a 1/2 cup meal and 1/2 cup snack 2-3 hours later. I have found some great recipes online and have bought a few books about Keto diet. I have read up on resistant starches because I have not taken beans out of my diet. They are my source of Fiber and some protein. Since I only eat a couple tablespoon full of beans, I am testing the theory about resistant starches by eating the beans cold. Apparently when certain foods are cooked and then cooled, the carbs crystalize and become resistant to digestion (but are great food for gut flora). I bought a new scale (my old one was lost in the flood) and have started keeping track of what I eat. Coming back to this site and writing my story will help me keep on track to getting back to my goal weight.

Welcome. You will find support, love and laughter here. A quote that helped me pre-op. I posted this everywhere i mean everywhere in the house so i would see it. Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels. I was pretry much bed bound for 2 years. Yes i could walk but it would exhaust me. Sister i can go to miles. Lol could probably do more but my walking buddy has little legs and he gets tired. You are fighting head hunger. The root of all weight gaining. Occupy yourself with walking or doing something without food. Drink drink drink and eat Protein it will help. Good luck. HW 255# surgerversary 04/29/13 cw 202#

WOW! Congratulations Jaime!! Lose weight, gain a baby....should be interesting times for you! Mom - are you planning on a tummy tuck? I would love to have one, but as I am still paying off this surgery, another one isn't in the cards for me. It's a glorious Tuesday morning - sun is shining, weather is uncharacteristically balmy, and I'm just feeling pumped today...gotta enjoy it all!

I don't know about you but candy (sugar) was a big culprit in my weight gain. No candy for me. Also, in the 12 weeks of classes I took prior to surgery I was told spicy things can hurt my new tummy and gum is out because it creates gas. If I continue to do the things I did prior to this surgery then nothing will change and I will not have the results I'm looking forward to. I personally want to change my life and make healthier choices and live life not confined by my body. Old behaviors must die for me.

Hello everyone... I had bypass on 8/29/17 so I am about 6 days out and I was wondering if anyone has had weight gain? On surgery day I weighed 209 and they weighed me afrter surgery and I weighed 216 and I have lost some weight but not very much. This is super frusrating since I havent eaten anything in a week, I am getting my daily water and close to my protein...whats wrong!!! Any ideas!!!!????

Hi and Happy New Year! I hope the holidays were good for everyone...I was wondering if anyone else gained over the holidays? I am a teacher so I've been home for two weeks now and have gained 6 pounds!!! I realize that being home, I eat way more than if I was working and of course I'm eating all the wrong foods, but I didn't think it would be so easy to gain 6 pounds in 2 short weeks! Looking for a way to jump start my weight loss again, any suggestions?

Oh yeah.. a while back my band suddenly got tight and then I got second degree burns on my legs to where they swelled up like elephant legs and I could barely walk.. the pain was so bad and then I stopped working out cuz of it. I got some fill out and even though I didn't gain any weight, I haven't really lost much either this past month.. but I started back on my work out regime yesterday.. and it feels good. I need to go get my fill back next week now that all the swelling is down. I'm hungry all the time, but I make better decisions, like eating spring salads with 1 calorie spray instead of chips... or sugar free 50 calorie fudgsicles instead of candy ... stuff like that. So, it helps. I'm sure we all stray away due to stuff like this every now and again, but as long as we find our way back and it doesn't cause too much damage, aka, weight gain, I think it's fine. Welcome to the group!

Have had problems with depression my whole life. At one time yrs ago went to psychiatrist for awhile and did the regemine of pills. I would get better for a couple months and then they did not work and she would add another pill. Needless to say after 9 months I just weaned myself back off. For the little inprovment the side effects were not worth it. Now 10 months after surgery I am suffering again very bad. I am depressed and very angry about life period. I am a witch to everyone. I need to get back on something so I am asking you all your advice before I go to a dr. I need name of medicines that are working for some of you with few side effects and that won't cause weight gain. Thanks for your help.

The band is just a tool because it cannot cure your head hunger & some of the foods that help to cause weight gain can go down easily, no matter how restrictied you are, like ice cream and chocolate. You don't stop craving things and although I now am able to eat small portions of most foods, I do have to exercise some self control and will power to stop myself eating food that I know are not going to help my weight loss. I have found I have had to train myself in eating slowly, chewing more and not taking drinks with meals. Although I do feel full quicker, feeling full is different to how it was pre band so I have to remember to stop after my full signals or I will get pain and possibly PB. You have to learn to live with your band an follow the bandster rules at least most of the time so it does require effort, it isn't a miracle cure to obesity. Hope that helps. Sue

While I agree with all the posts, the bigger issue is I think the pressure you are putting on yourself. That's not healthy. You are pregnant and bringing life into the world. Some weight gain is to be expected and you have to stop stressing so much - that's REALLY not healthy. Try to eat clean, but don't say "I can never have this again" because you'll fail and then beat yourself up. Pregnancy is a beautiful thing and a once in a lifetime opportunity. Enjoy it and don't be so critical honey! If it helps any (which I doubt it does) I had gastric bypass, lost 100 pounds and then during my pregnancies gained probably 40 pounds. But it came off quick after, even with me eating not so great during pregnancy. I found it really easy to get back on track right after and a lot of my crap eating was craving related. Feel good!

It depends. I was blessed to have been able to have mine removed. My quality of life improved dramatically and no more weight gain then I would have had with the band. But I can eat more healthy foods now.

Well today ( 11/11/09 ) I made it to the doctors office... I weighted in @ 345 so I had to reset my ticker.. It came out 5 lbs over so I will call my start date today. My blood pressure was good, no issues there. I took a look at my chart and my last visit was on 8/5/08 my weight then 287.7 lbs.. Man that hit me.. I could not believe I let myself go that way! I saw a New PA and she was cool. I told her my issue and she said thats ok, time to start over a new beginning. I thought that was nice of what she said with a 57 lbs weight gain.. After a brief discussion she began to feel for my port but could not find it. She went to get the other PA ( who I have seen before ) and after he saw my chart you would think he would say glad to see you here, instead he says" what happen " I said long story.. That was a turn off... anyway I think she will be my contact person there from now on....They found the port and recovered only 6 cc of fluid. My last visit he got it up to 9.cc, so it was a little concerning about the 3. 5 cc disappearance. He said hopefully it just demish, but was concern that just maybe I would have a leak. I now have 7cc in my lapband.. I have another appt on 12/2/09 and they will check to see how many CC I have then. I will also attend an aftercare/support class... On is Bariatric essentials ( basically a refresher on what to eat/ how much/etc) and the other is Emotional Eating.. This will be all done on the same day since the doctors office is 1.5 hrs from where I live.. Hope to lose 6 lbs bt next visit!

Give it more time. It took almost a week for me to get back to my surgery weight. Gained 8 pounds of fluids with it. I would recommend not stepping on the scale until 2 weeks. Hang in there, it will get so much better and the weight will come off, it has no choice.

Oh thank you so much for getting back quick Grace!!!! & what a GREAT experience! I didnt think fill centers used fluoro so wooohooo & double woohoo highland is much closer than salt lake for me! (in fact I work in american fork lol) im much more excited about going now! What did he say about weight gain? I contacted my surgeons office (the nut) & she said its quite normal but obviously its not! I also have a 9.75 band so I hope they are just as good at filling it! (heck now im considering canceling my trip to mexico & just doing the fill here!)

Hey everyone! My name is Petra and I am considering lap band surgery. Ive been overweight most of my life...I started to gain weight when I was 7 or 8 years old and at age 13 (and around 200 lbs) found out I had hypothyroidism. I was put on medication and lost a lot of weight by 14 years old (and my slimmest at a size 9). I slowly gained weight since then and I am now 232 lbs. Ive struggled with hypothyroidism, and my major weight gains have happened due issues with medication dosages which cause a decrease in thyroid function. I have tried every diet except for pre packaged food and have lost 15-25 lbs but always gained it back. I now have high blood pressure and take a low dose of medication to control this. I am also at risk for diabetes since it runs in my family. Im tired of feeling horrible and depressed about myself, and Im tired of always feeling hungry even when I eat a "normal" sized meal. I want nothing more than to be able to shop for clothes freely without worrying if a store carries my size or not. I dont want pain due to excessive weight when I work out or do anything physical....and I would like for once just to feel comfortable in a bathing suite! I want to have lap band surgery, but I am also afraid. Im afraid that I will go through with it and it wont work! Im also afraid that I wont qualify or my insurance wont cover the procedure. I do know that I do not want a more invasive procedure and I started looking into the lap band since it is reversible. Any advice or guidance would be great...all I know from here is that I need to start talking with a surgeon. Petra

The Beginning of One Bandster’s Journey By Ivy Adamson’s Granddaughter The alarm sounded at 5:30 on the morning of January 13th, 2009. My husband leaned over to silence the buzzer, and then he turned and kissed my cheek. “Wake up, Honey. Today’s your big day.” No need to wake me up. I’d been lying wide awake since 4:00, and had only slept fitfully throughout the night in anticipation of this day. Sleep? Who can sleep on the night before surgery? And this wasn’t just any surgery. This was Lap Band surgery! This day, I would “cross over to the other side”—a term I had learned from lurking on weight loss forums. Sleep was the very last thing on my mind! Instead, a variety of surgery scenarios floated through my head: how much would it hurt? How long would the pain last? Would it be successful? These and other questions helped cause my lack of sleep, but dispersed in between the thoughts of how my surgery would play out were floods of memories. My mind forced me to relive snippets of the last fifteen years. Memories bounded back to me in random snapshots, with no respect for chronological sequence—just bits and pieces of events in my life that I could identify as times when I experienced the significant weight gains and losses that put me in a position today where I was facing bariatric surgery. I was married in the summer of 1993, and worked fulltime as a middle school English and reading teacher. I routinely beat myself up about being about 30 pounds overweight, but I was no where morbidly obese. By April of 1994, I was pregnant with our first child. This is when the first big weight piled on. I was sick with bad headaches every day of my pregnancy and developed pre-eclampsia. I gained 100 pounds by the time my son was born, and had a horrific birth, which resulted in an emergency cesarean to save both of our lives. Juggling the responsibilities of a fulltime work, and handling a tough pregnancy, and now a sickly child, who never slept through the night until way past his fourth birthday took its toll on me. However, with lots of determination and hard work, I took off 118 pounds within about 2 years. Our son was always ill, hardly ate, and was not meeting his developmental milestones. He was clingy and lived with permanent dark circles around his gaunt, sunken eyes. At 18 months, he had surgery to repair bilateral hernias. While in surgery, the anesthesiologist noticed that our son had a suspicious heart murmur. Subsequent visits to a pediatric cardiologist confirmed that he had a heart defect that would need to be repaired if he could ever gain enough weight to endure heart surgery. When he turned three and still could not speak intelligibly, we had him assessed by the school district and a pediatric neurologist. The word, “autism” was thrown around by the professionals, but we did not get a definitive diagnosis until he was at least five years old. The strain of caring for our child wore me down. I was permanently sleep-deprived, and constantly worried about his health. Additionally, I had decided to go back to school to work on a master’s degree, plus I continued to work fulltime. The weight began to creep back on. Looking back, I realize now that I was probably clinically depressed. No one ever suggested that I seek therapy, and I was too overwhelmed at the time to realize that I could probably use it. I was putting the needs of my child and my job first, leaving no time or energy to take care of me; hence, I continued to gain weight. I completed all of my course work for my master’s degree in the spring of 1999. I discovered I was pregnant with our second child in October of the same year; on December 15th, I turned in my thesis, thus completing all of my requirements to receive my diploma. And that same night, my husband, son, and I boarded a plane for two gloriously, tranquil weeks with my family in Barbados. I spent my time relaxing on the beach every day, and reading all four of Maya Angelou’s autobiographies. Each book was better than the last. Angelou impressed me with her indomitable strength and spirit to overcome all kinds of adversity. I thought I would like to have her strength; she was an example to me of the kind of woman I would want to be. Before long, I learned that I would have to summon some of Angelou’s strength to get me through the next challenge.

Thank you for your information clk, I honestly don't have much in the way of stretch marks, my weight gain has been slow and steady over my life and the ones I do have are fine and near invisible, so that's a positive I suppose.

For me (a year into maintenance now), calories continue to matter. In fact, all macronutrients (Protein, carbs, fat) and Fiber, sodium, etc. matter to me. There are a bazillion stories in the naked city about WLS patients who've regained weight who have no frickin' idea how many calories (or Proteins or carbs) they're eating. If I start gaining weight I would at least like to know why. Therefore, I track all my food / drink in My Fitness Pal. My therapist would like for me to become a more "instinctive, healthy eater." By that he means that my instincts about what I want to eat and what I do eat should magically equate and result no weight loss, no weight gain. Yeah, that ^^^^ was written in sarcasm font. I'm so not there yet.