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I am at 7cc and I couldn't imagine having anymore in my fill- but you have to remember everyone is different. Comorbidities, like Diabetes, do cause complications- but there is absolutely no reason I could think of that would have caused your 10 lbs weight gain without "cheating". It isn't worth the chance of band slippage, paying to have it repaired and going through it all again. I feel for you- that is no way to be treated, but consider that they are not angry at you but angry that you are failing your band. What types of foods are you eating? Are you hungry or bored? Do you push past FULL? Hope all gets better- stay on top of your sugars and your choices!!! I have reached a huge goal- down 40 lbs today. YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Going well, for the most part. Trying to follow all the instructions to a T and make the most of this opportunity. Miss food, miss chewing, and miss crunchy-salty food. My weight dropped pretty quickly for 8 days then yesterday didn't move, so I'm wondering about that. I'm also wondering about my sleeve size since I can put down more than a half-cup of soup easily, and if that will mean eventual weight gain. Probably thinking too much about that stuff. I'm exercising and that feels good. How about you?

Glad to hear it was just a question that your husband asked. There are too many stories on this board of people not doing what their Dr advised and then ending up in real trouble. Don't worry about the weight gain after surgery as that is very common due to Water retention. If you follow the plan it will disapear just like the rest of you. Many people don't even begin to lose weight until after their first fill. I managed to stay steady for the first month and got huge congradulations from my Dr. Good luck to you.

Oh, MrsMikey! I am so sorry about you having to take the predisone. Many members of my family have had to take it. I know what a horrid medication it is. But at the same time, it is a wonderful medication in that it has kept them alive and in my life. All of them gained weight while taking this medication. I understand what you are going through. It must have been terrible to be told you need to take again it to help your condition. I admit that I don't know much about your condition. But all I can do is encourage you to hang in there. The medicine is important for you to take. Most times it is the only option for the condtitions for which it is prescribed. I know it takes a toll physically and emotionally. But know that you have the band in place for when you can step down the dose and to help you lose the weight when you are feeling better. I don't believe that there is anything you can do to battle the predisone caused weight gain while on it. Other than focusing on the fact that it is helping you feel better and the hope that you can one day come off it. It sounds like you have maybe 6 months left on this round. You have made it a year and a half, you are nearly there! Do what you can to minimize the gain (I know, not much!). Welcome to lapbandtalk, we are here for support! Denise

This post had perfect timing. After 2 days of eating whatever I wanted I woke up to a 4 pound weight gain. I actually cussed loudly when the number popped up. I need to stop that and get back on track.

Gains are frustrating! Some options to think about. Make an appointment with your surgeons team. Great time for a check up. (blood labs and all) ask it there is a medical reason for not having weight loss. Your dietician. They should help you dial in your diet where your body starts losing weight again.(its different for each of us years out) My personal experience with weight gain years out: My restriction is not the same. it's a normal experience for my type of surgery. My weight starting going up and it was harder and slow to lose I had to weigh and log food again. I found what calories and protein goal puts me back into weight loss mode. Painfully slow.... at best 2 pounds a month..But I will take it. I'm back up again..uggg mine was indulgence of food..Takes nothing for me to gain now...I know I can get it back to where I'm comfortable. it's just at a snail's pace.

Mine is unfilled completely for another surgery I had a few months ago and my eating habits have not returned to preband days - but I had great restriction for over five years. At the moment, I plan on leaving it unfilled, but I wouldnt take it out - it pleased me to know that its there if I need it - and truthfully, I am not 100% confident about why I have been able to maintain a very low weight without restriction - I'm having chemo, have had major abdominal surgery, etc and although my appetite has remained healthy and I eat a good solid 3 meals a day, and have to use willpower to fight head hunger between meals, I'd want to be pretty sure that I could do it much longer term before I removed my band. Besides, its not doing any harm in there, so why would I have more surgery? It is generally designed to stay there long term and statistics show that if its removed, weight gain almost certainly follows.

During the first 1 1/2 years after surgery, I weighed myself weekly because the weight was easily coming off. When I plateaued, I then began weighing myself daily. This is to ensure that if there is any micro-trend toward weight gain, I can immediately take action by reducing calories by about 200/day until my weight becomes stable again. That said, I eat 1200 calories or less every day so am sometimes puzzled by weeks when I notice my weight increasing, even by a couple of pounds. For example, there was one two-week period where I gained and lost eight pounds without any changes in my diet/exercise routine. Most people weigh weekly and that's enough to stay on course. I'm a little more watchful because that's my comfort zone.

I have a friend who has been thin her whole life. She is feeling really fat right now weighing 150 at 5'7" - 20-25# higher then her normal. So what shocked me in discussing this with her is that while she has never been obese, when she went through that weight gain, it was a very similiar story to what my everyday life was like pre-sleeve. 1. Start eating junky food 2. Get even hungrier then normal 3. Try like heck to "diet"; always failing and being drawn back to the junky/too much food 4. Feel bad at the failures so repeat cycle endlessly In her case, she gained "only" 20-25 pounds but she told me that over the 6-8 months it was happening she was just out of control. Once she stopped eating low nutrition/empty carb calories, her hunger came back down and she is slowly taking the pounds off. In those of us who became morbidly obese, the swing is bigger, much bigger, and I didn't have the big enough losses to ever get down to a healthy weight so I had that metabolic drive to keep overeating. I guess it was refreshing to find someone that really understands this. All the willpower in the world doesn't work if your body is literally screaming for a certain kind of food and driving you to eat. I think that the reason many WLS patients regain is not because their stomach is too big, but rather they slip back into the behavior that "triggers" a re-occurance of the disease or condition called obesity. Then, once the cycle begins it is like you can't get off the merry - go - round. I am not to maintenance yet, but I have seen this even as my weight loss journey is down to the final amount. I started feeling more hunger... felt a little panicked like "okay, this is it - no more weight loss". i took steps such as resetting back to sleever basics and then amping up exercise intensity and I have lost 10 pounds in November - back on track! I am now back t having to remember to eat as I am just not getting hungry whereas a few months ago I felt like someone who had a big return of hunger. Anyway, I continue to learn from this journey and hoping to pick up bits of understanding to help me stay successful over the long haul - truly my biggest fear is regain after all of this!

Wow, been a long time since being banded in April '07. Done really well, stopped smoking, gained some back and am losing it again. Fellow long time bandsters can probably agree with this from experience....it is a life long battle with the band as well as without. It is just easier to win a battle when you have a weapon. And the band is our weapon. BUT, do not break the rules and lay the weapon down cause then you are in trouble. You have to be vigilant, day in and day out unless you want to get beaten. For example, if you would have told me this time a year ago that I would gain back 40 pounds I would have called you a liar. Sure, I quit smoking and that was the main reason for the weight gain but I mean really...the band did not keep me from gaining weight....the band HELPS to LOSE weight. So, I learned the hard way. I learned a lesson that you would think is common sense? Yep, but it happens. I forgave myself. Now I know...I have to WORK it. I have to work it today AND I have to work it tomorrow. And tomorrow I will tell myself to work it the next day...and so on and so on. I have 2 rewards in this...#1 I still do not smoke anymore and #2 I am smarter about my weapon. OH and #3 I did not have to gain ALL the weight back to realize my mistakes. I stopped the bleeding in time. The first few months with 'the weapon' was tough...losing it twice and keeping it off is tougher. BUT, it is going to happen.:eek: Once I learned that this is my life with the band and I learned to accept it, life has gotten better. I went through the 'oh, screw this' phase. You know, the inner fat girl saying "eat it, its OK". I wish I would have woke up before I gained 40 pounds but it is what it is and I am changing it. Like my violet friend Judy says "its not how you run the race, its how you finish". True, and I am running right now:tongue2:

Don't weigh every day! It'll drive you nuts. The body drops fat on its own schedule and the way it does it sometimes causes weight GAIN, because part of the process of the fat cells shrinking is that they take on Water, first. So you end up retaining water in your fat cells before they release it with the waste. If you're going to use the scale, use it every couple of weeks. Two days is not a stall. However, one thing you definitely need to do is get your minimum amount of Protein, no matter what. If that means you need to switch to a different drink (there are a ton of them) do it. Or even get some of the flavorless powder and mix it in with your crystal light or something. Just get that protein...it's crucial to the healing process and more importantly, you MUST maintain as much of your muscle mass as you possibly can. That muscle mass is what burns calories for you all day long. If you don't have that, your calorie-burning machine is compromised...and then no, you won't lose weight very fast, because you won't be burning many calories. Trust me, when you run the caloric deficit that we are in the weeks following surgery, your body is going to find that energy somewhere...and while being in ketosis will cause your body to seek energy from fat, it takes a lot longer to convert...muscle is a lot faster. So you WILL lose muscle mass if you don't protect it. Actually, you'll lose muscle mass even if you DO protect it, but you're going to lose a lot more if you aren't providing protein sufficiently. Nutrition is no joke, and post-surgery we have to take it even MORE seriously.

Thanks for the responses guys... Carol - This is exactly what my parents are saying about it. I know that I feel in a way that I can't control what I eat and that's a problem. The thing that is annoying me is that it's really hard to control not eating junk when it's being forced upon you all around the place. It's on the TV, when you go out it's all around you. And the healthy food when you go out is actually more expensive than the junk food in some ways. Unless I go to the supermarket and do stuff from home that is. And this is what is freaking me out as well. I'm really scared because if I can't control what I'm eating now then what makes me think that I can do it with the band? The band is meant to stop me from doing it, but if you can get around that then what's to say I can't just keep going the way I am going now? I hate feeling like the "big" person wherever I go. Especially if I go out to eat somewhere. And I don't want to die at 40 either. And I also have PCOS, which a side effect is Weight Gain, which is why I have been steadily gaining weight from when I was a teenager to now, I have never been this heavy before. I have alot of lower back problems as well. And people keep saying if I get banding that is going to go away. But I'm still worried that I'm going to find another way around the band. LilMisfit - I'd love to chat with you. My email address is Brumbie06@hotmail.com if you want to email me. It would be nice to have another perspective.

1st Mistake: Not Taking Vitamins, supplements, or Minerals Every WLS patient has specific nutritional needs depending on the type of surgery you have had. Not only is it a good idea to ask your surgeon for guidelines, but also consult with an experienced WLS nutritionist. Understand there is not a standard practice that all surgeons and nutritionists follow in guiding WLS patients. So, it is important to do your own research, get your lab tests done regularly, and learn how to read the results. Some conditions and symptoms that can occur when you are deficient in vitamins, supplements, or minerals include: Osteoporosis; pernicious anemia; muscle spasms; high blood pressure; burning tongue; fatigue; loss of appetite; weakness; constipation and diarrhea; numbness and tingling in the hands and feet; being tired, lethargic, or dizzy; forgetfulness, and lowered immune functioning. Keep in mind, too, that some conditions caused by not taking your vitamins, supplements, or minerals are irreversible. 2nd Mistake: Assuming You Have Been Cured of Your Obesity A "pink cloud" or honeymoon experience is common following WLS. When you are feeling better than you have in years, and the weight is coming off easily, it's hard to imagine you will ever struggle again. But unfortunately, it is very common for WLS patients to not lose to their goal weight or to regain some of their weight back. A small weight regain may be normal, but huge gains usually can be avoided with support, education, effort, and careful attention to living a healthy WLS lifestyle. For most WLSers, if you don't change what you've always done, you're going to keep getting what you've always gotten -- even after weight loss surgery. 3rd Mistake: Drinking with Meals Yes, it's hard for some people to avoid drinking with meals, but the tool of not drinking with meals is a critical key to long-term success. If you drink while you eat, your food washes out of your stomach much more quickly, you can eat more, you get hungry sooner, and you are at more risk for snacking. Being too hungry is much more likely to lead to poor food choices and/or overeating. 4th Mistake: Not Eating Right Of course everyone should eat right, but in this society eating right is a challenge. You have to make it as easy on yourself as possible. Eat all your meals--don't skip. Don't keep unhealthy food in sight where it will call to you all the time. Try to feed yourself at regular intervals so that you aren't as tempted to make a poor choice. And consider having a couple of absolutes: for example, avoid fried foods completely, avoid sugary foods, always use low-fat options, or only eat in a restaurant once a week. Choose your "absolutes" based on your trigger foods and your self knowledge about what foods and/or situations are problematic for you. 5th Mistake: Not Drinking Enough Water Most WLS patients are at risk for dehydration. Drinking a minimum of 64 oz. of water per day will help you avoid this risk. Adequate water intake will also help you flush out your system as you lose weight and avoid kidney stones. Drinking enough water helps with your weight loss, too. 6th Mistake: Grazing Many people who have had WLS regret that they ever started grazing, which is nibbling small amounts here and there over the course of the day. It's one thing to eat the three to five small meals you and your doctor agree you need. It's something else altogether when you start to graze, eating any number of unplanned Snacks. Grazing can easily make your weight creep up. Eating enough at meal time, and eating planned snacks when necessary, will help you resist grazing. Make a plan for what you will do when you crave food, but are not truly hungry. For example, take up a hobby to keep your hands busy or call on someone in your support group for encouragement. 7th Mistake: Not Exercising Regularly Exercise is one of the best weapons a WLS patient has to fight weight regain. Not only does exercise boost your spirits, it is a great way to keep your metabolism running strong. When you exercise, you build muscle. The more muscle you have, the more calories your body will burn, even at rest! 8th Mistake: Eating the Wrong Carbs (or Eating Too Much) Let's face it, refined carbohydrates are addictive. If you eat refined carbohydrates they will make you crave more refined carbohydrates. There are plenty of complex carbohydrates to choose from, which have beneficial vitamins. For example, if you can handle pastas, try whole grain Kamut pasta--in moderation, of course. (Kamut Pasta doesn't have the flavor some people find unpleasant in the whole wheat pastas.) Try using your complex carbohydrates as "condiments," rather than as the center point of your meal. Try sprinkling a tablespoon of brown rice on your stir-fried meat and veggies. 9th Mistake: Going Back to Drinking Soda Drinking soda is controversial in WLS circles. Some people claim soda stretches your stomach or pouch. What we know it does is keep you from getting the hydration your body requires after WLS--because when you're drinking soda, you're not drinking water! In addition, diet soda has been connected to weight gain in the general population. The best thing you can do is find other, healthier drinks to fall in love with. They are out there. 10th Mistake: Drinking Alcohol If you drank alcohol before surgery, you are likely to want to resume drinking alcohol following surgery. Most surgeons recommend waiting one year after surgery. And it is in your best interest to understand the consequences of drinking alcohol before you do it. Alcohol is connected with weight regain, because alcohol has 7 calories per gram, while Protein and vegetables have 4 calories per gram. Also, some people develop an addiction to alcohol after WLS, so be very cautious. Depending on your type of WLS, you may get drunker, quicker after surgery, which can cause health problems and put you in dangerous situations. If you think you have a drinking problem, get help right away. Putting off stopping drinking doesn't make it any easier, and could make you a lot sicker[/b]

Papa - this is a great list. I have saved it so I can re-read it when I need a refresher. I think the 2nd mistake could be expanded to include the need to understand why you got into the situation where you needed WLS - what your inappropriate behaviors were (portion control, carb addiction, etc) and what your triggers were.etc. This may take going through conseling to find out and address them. If a person doesn't figure out what drove them to end up where they were before surgery, I think they are likely to end up there again in a few years. People who have significant weight gain never address the underlying issues. They figure out how to abuse their sleeve and meet those unmet needs. The sleeve to me is only one of the tools I am using to end up being a thinner, healthy person. Best of luck in getting to your goal, Papa Jack. You are doing outstanding!

Just before my 10th birthday my stepfather began coming into my room at night while my mother was at work. This continued until I was 12 years old. I tried several times to tell my mother over those years what was happening to me but she didn't want to hear it and I didn't know what words to use. My grandmother stayed with me once and figured it out and also tried to stop it but again, her words fell on deaf ears. Her attempts caused a huge rift between her and my mother that was never repaired. I finally stopped it myself. Many ramifications. The most lasting one besides my view of the world was my view of myself. Somehow, I blamed the way I looked. If I didn't look like that he wouldn't want me. While my conscious mind knew that it had nothing to do with me, the result was a slow, steady weight gain that continued until June 11th 2015. After struggling with diets and exercise, back pain, knee pain and hip pain, I decided that something had to change. A friend had the surgery and loved the results. It took a year for me to decide and then I did. Once the decision was made, I was excited. I started making a list of all the things I looked forward to -- not being in pain anymore, my blood pressure going down, my blood sugar leveling out, shopping at any store, shopping in my closet, being able to wear normal shoes, my feet not swelling anymore...so many things. I add to list everyday. I can see my cheekbones again, my face is thinner, so are my fingers, my thighs don't rub together when I walk, I can walk up 4 flights of stairs, I can walk again. Don't get me wrong, I have achieved much success in my life both personally and in my career. I just couldn't do this without help. The feeling is amazing to step on the scale and see it change each week. It's great to not be hungry anymore. I feel braver, stronger, more in charge of my body. Life is very good and I am grateful for the gift of this surgery. I love this new life.

@Live43day you are going to do great. Your medical knowledge from your professional training will help you understand the science behind the diet and importance of following your surgeon's plan. Things I'd wished I known ahead of time: *There is nothing magical about the surgery. You have it and you follow the plan. Hunger isn't much of a factor later on and it make following the simple diet extremely easy. *There will likely be some weight gain during your brief hospital stay. It's not that you've done a thing in the world wrong and nobody is going to bark at you for it. It's just a few pounds and it come off QUICKLY. It's nothing more than IV, Fluid retention and some mild inflammation. Don't let it freak you out or bother you in any way. Mine was 8+ pounds and it was gone by the 6th day. It's expected and your surgeon sees it all the time. *Let the rest of the family be responsible for their own meals. Don't pull yourself into to kitchen if you don't need to be. Let them take care of themselves for a couple weeks and you just stick to your plan. It's not being antisocial.....it's just you keeping things simple for right now. *Walking is your friend. I was up 4 hours after surgery and didn't really want to be. My only reason was the soreness and pain from an umbilical hernia repair done at the time of my bypass, too. The sleeve never bothered me. Still hasn't at Day 11, either. The walking will help work out any residual gas you may have. *sleep as well as you can the 2 nights leading up to the surgery because it seems like their job in the hospital is to keep you awake. I kid you not they were in there taking my temp, checking my vitals or doing some task every few minutes....all night long. Funny stuff. *Don't get worked up about the surgery. Stay calm. It's going to go well. Some folks have anxiety because they are having "elective" surgery for weight loss. For me it was simple as I'd already had three prior weight related surgeries: ankle tendon repair that was blown out playing golf (heavy weight made it much worse on that ankle) and two umbilical hernia repairs (too dang heavy and big around the middle). More weight related surgeries would certainly follow over the years ahead if I didn't get the weight off. I was finally IN CONTROL by having this sleeve surgery. Taking a positive step to get things corrected. Yeah....I reached a nice calm state the days leading up to the surgery. *Sipping vs gulping. I'd read all about it....heard all about it.....didn't understand the concept at any real level unit post-op. A sip is a small amount. This little nugget of understanding took me some time to grasp. Even now....at Day 11, I reach for my Water glass and without thinking I'll take a huge swig out of it.....then stop and not swallow it but allow it to trickle down my throat. It's becoming an adopted behavior. So glad I haven't had to face the same principles while eating due to remaining on the "3 shakes per day" diet. I'll have to figure out eating in a few weeks. Glad I don't for now. *The scale is not broken. I'm a daily weigher. Most here don't advise it....nor do I. I simply can't not weigh. I'm stupid that way. During the early days in my bariatric program I bought a really nice scale. It's always read within ounces of what my doctor's scales read. It also talks. Leading up to the surgery I'd hope on it in the mornings and get my reading and roll along with it. Now.....sorry, I'm laughing right now as I type this......now, I get on it....get my reading....and shake my head and say no way, this thing is broken. I'll let it turn off. I'll restart it....zero it.....and then get on it again for a second....and third reading. The weight loss during the pre-op 14 day diet and post-op has been at a rate I'm not familiar with.....even when I was killing it on Atkins a few years ago. It will amaze you.

Welcome!!!! I could not lose weight for many reasons including cancer treatment that made me susceptible to weight gain. I was 63 and had my sleeve gastronomy in Jan. 2012. I am down over 100 pounds since the pre-op diet started. I am 2 pounds from my goal and in very good physical shape. I would not go back and change my decision. My life has been so enriched by getting rid of this excess me. The sleeve is just a tool, the mind makes it work. Educate yourself, know what to expect, and understand that this is a permanent change, not a diet plan. It has risks but so does obesity. You must determine which is more detrimental to you and if the rewards are worth the risk.

I really think this list is "at first". Once you find your sweet spot which can take to up to a year, your pouch will be able to tolerate about 1/4 cup of food. Thats when you'll be able to digest a little better. You just gotta remember to chew chew chew. Also, every doc. is different, like mine says NO dairy product ever...like ever. Not even almound milk or soy because it's a slippery slope to dairy which = weight gain. So everyone is different, you just have to be patient. It's hard, I know.

I got married October 2013 and the year leading up to it was so stressful. I think that had a LOT to do with my 30lb weight gain. I had not been sleeved until after the wedding, but just wanted to share with you that I truly think the stress did it to me. I know you probably dont have much extra time to exercise and workout because you are probably super busy. My suggetion to you is to try to do a liquid diet for 3 or 4 days to restrict your stomach some and then do low/no carb for the time remaining up until your wedding. I tried that before and was able to drop 40lbs in about 2-3 months (before my sleeve). I would have fruit for Breakfast and then just eat meat and veggies the rest of the day. I'm not sure how much time you have until your wedding, but best of luck to you and congrats!

concerned, yes and no, I think that healthy is 2-3 lbs a week, while others say 1-2 lbs. The problem with losing weight fast is the rebound of weight gain. Be sure your drinking a lot of fluids from keeping yourself from getting dehydrated. Be sure to eat atleast your minimum amount of calories otherwise your body will go into starvation mode and you will stop losing weight and be actually behind on your weight loss. Its a slow process but if you follow the rules you will be fine. Congrats on your weight loss, just be careful your losing it the healthy way!!! Best of luck with your continuous success, your Beautifil Chriper!!!!

My name is Amy. I was Renewed Hope on the old lapbandtalk forum... I was banded in 2oo6. I was VERY dedicated to my weight loss journey and lost 85 pounds in the first year. I felt alive!! I trained for and ran a half marathon in 2011.. I kept this 85 pounds off for over 7 years, and then the weight started to creep back up. I haven't had saline in my band in over 2 years. At first the weight gain was very slow, but in the last 6 months I have gained 50 POUNDS!!! I am now back to my original weight and so discouraged. I have an appointment next week to begin this lap band journey again... I need support... I need accountability... I need suggestions.. Do I need to do anything to prepare for my first visit?? What's the best plan after my first fill????

@@flip26 I am truly lucky to have had essentially 0 complications and bumps along the way. I never had food intolerance, vomiting, stricture, dumping, or any of the other common things you hear people talking about. I have had some mild hair loss but no one has noticed except me and it lead to the best haircut I've had in years! My main challenge has, and always will be, myself and my will power. I have had some hangups here and there where I allowed myself to have "a little of this" or "a little of that" and ended up in a month long stall -- for no good reason but my own lack of control! A few bites here and there adds up to no weight loss (and can add up to weight gain if you don't correct yourself)! I am back on track, counting my calories, carbs, and Protein meticulously and have finally broken through my stall! I have lost 8.4 pounds in 3 weeks just by getting myself focused.

I think we all have different reasons for being here. Some people have eating issues. Some people, no matter what they do they gain weight or can't get it off. Some people have medical conditions that cause them to gain weight, or they are on certain meds that caused them to gain weight and they can't get it off. I think that it is important to not assume that everyone has eating issues. It is important to not assume everyone has a medical condition. For people who have eating issues, I have a friend going through this, the battle with food is constant and it's hard. It isn't anything that is easy and a surgery like this isn't going to solve the problem alone. Therapy and other follow up care is usually needed. My poor girlfriend who is struggling with eating issues is working hard to correct her relationship with food and decided that she is going to get surgery to help with the weight loss now. Her relationship is starting to turn around thanks to therapy and so she is planning on the surgery. I constantly offer her support and sometimes she lets me know what her food plans are for the day. For me, one of my guiltiest things is eating out. I put on most of my weight when I was in my 20's. I had money to burn and instead of cooking I ate out a lot. I had a gym membership when I had a good job and I lost a great deal of weight that I put on. I got pregnant with my son and things went down hill. The company I worked for closed, money became tight, I was a single mother so we were living off of Hot Dogs, Macaroni and cheese, corn and green beans. I had to make do with what I had. I began to put on a pound a week. My 130 frame ballooned with in a year. While I was working I started falling asleep at the wheel driving. Finally found out my thyroid was a mess, and that I needed meds. I took meds for a six months when an Endocronologist said, "stop the meds, you are soo young and it isn't that bad." Hoshimotos took over my body for the next 7 years, putting on weight, more and more, no matter how I ate I gained. I became pregnant with my daughter and was rushed over to a new Endo and they were concerned. The put me on meds right away for the babies health. I started to regulate again and lost 15lbs during pregnancy. I gave birth to my daughter and became depressed. I probably ate some things I shouldn't have. I put back on the 15lbs and decided enough is enough. I went back to the gym and altered my diet again, to meat and veggies. I had a personal trainer and I kept a strict food diary. I counted calories, fat, carbs and sugars. I worked hard at the gym 5 days a week and on saturday and Sunday would walk. I went back to the gym and was measured after a week I gained half a pound and my trainer assured me that I am probably just gaining muscle faster than loosing fat. I worked my muscles and cardio for 5 weeks. I went from 220 to 230. In my frustration I decided it didn't matter anymore and for six months fetl sorry for myself. I ate brownies and cookies and only put on 4lbs. I went to my OBGYN sobbing, sobbing my eyes out and said, "I just can't live like this anymore, what are my options." He was very sympathetic and he believed me, seeing other women fight with weight loss. "Once you put it on you can't get it off and sometimes it isn't even anything specific you do to put it on. You don't have to do one thing wrong to create this weight issue, you could do everything right." He suggested the band and I followed up with my primary, who also suggested the band. So here I am, finally loosing weight and feeling great. I have no desire to eat brownies anymore. My biggest love is chocolate and I only give myself two days that I can treat myself, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I haven't had a fill up to this point so the hunger was making me crazy. We have chips, chocolate, cookies, etc in the house. The kids get cookies every couple of days as a snack so I thought, "what if I allow myself that same kind of limit." My kids are tall and thin, my son is ten and weighs 91 lbs and is all muscle, my daughter, tall, thin muscular girl. They are beautiful and people never think they are my kids. People assume if you are fat it is what you eat, that kills me. If it was just our dining habits I would have round kids too. My husband is heavy and admits his problem is with food. He loves food, loves the taste of food, I on the other hand could careless about food. I eat because I have to. I watch his family fill there plates to the brim, two or three times. It is crazy and it makes me sick to think about eating that much food. Anyway, that is all. I guess I am just tired of the assumptions of how people gain their weight. I am so tired of people judging us based on our weight. "Oh that person is over weight so they must be binging, or that person is over weight so they must be trying to heal themselves with food, that person is over weight so they must eat out all the time." It is funny, if you go out to eat when you are overweight people assume you must do this a lot. One of the things I do when I go out to eat is get a take out container right away and cut out just a small portion of the meal to eat. I have done this forever, a lady looked at me weird when I said, "it helps to reduce the calories I take in, out of site out of mind." Then she looked at me like I must eat it all on the way home or something. I then cut that 2/3s of the meal in half again and eat that at home as seperate meals, or my hubby eats it. I am not fat because I don't know how to eat or how to count calories. I don't use dressings, I have always used low fat mayo and less then the "amount" of the serving listed on the label. I could not do anything more than I had already done to loose this weight. I thought, fought and cried myself to sleep because I did not want to die in a few years because I am fat. I wanted to be able to chase my kids around on the beach or play in the yard. I did not want surgery, I wanted surgery even less than I wanted to be fat. I was sure I should be able to do this on my own and when I couldn't I was crushed. Before my thyroid and PCOS was really bad, Weight watchers worked. Now it didn't, before the gym and diet worked, now it didn't. Now it was time to find a solution that did and this is working. I just wish the world would stop judging, even those who suffer from obesity. We need to not only stop judging others and their journey, but we need to stop being so harsh on ourselves. So what if we only loose half a pound one week, it means we get back on track the next week, don't let guilt take you over. We all have off days, off weeks, but it doesn't mean we can't bring ourselves back around. I have studied addiction, I study psychology, I understand the process when the mind becomes our worst enemy, be it chemical or circumstantial. We must remember to love ourselves in order to heal our souls and forgive ourselves. Even if medical conditions got us here, at some point we gave up on ourselves and just started living life and not worrying about it. Like the problem would resolve itself. I am glad I waited this long, as I wasn't obese enough for surgery until about four years ago and then I ended up pregnant and back on hypothyroid meds. I thought that, coupled with excercise I would start loosing. When I didn't, this time, I didnt hit ground zero depression, I went to my doctors and asked what there was to help me. I am being proactive, and to me that is the best gift I can give myself and my family. My son said to me the other day, "Mom, pretty soon I will be able to wrap my arms tight around you, you are loosing weight and looking great." I looked at him and smiled he then said, "and even better you are feeling better, you are doing more and you smile a lot more. I am so happy you are my Mom." He is ten and he is one of the blessings I am fighting this fight for. My two and a half year old needs a Mommy for the next 16 years and I want to do my best to be here.

@@Eclectick I repeat, I've gained weight because of immobility because of my injury and CAN NOT work my employment therefore my finances WILL NOT be back on track UNTIL I do something about this exceptional weight gain that has very much so impacted my knees which have lead me to become obese. Again, I will be having my schedule surgery on Friday for ALL health reasons. I thought that I came off a little mean with my response to comments as well as I thought some of the comments were a little harsh and that was what I really was referring to. Again, I didn't post my message for a pacifier or a pat on the back, I posted it simply because I THOUGHT that someone may have dealt with similar issues and I was looking to READ (as I like to do and UNDERSTAND) how they overcame..... I can't wait for Friday:)

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.