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<p>Laurend--It's good that you're out. Thanks for the pillow tip. </p> <p> </p> <p>Another word about taking the easy way out. I've been thinking about people saying this, and I just can't get over how ridiculous it is. I think of it as taking the permanent way out. Look, if your pool were leaking, would you drain the whole thing, stick gum in the hole, and refill it just to have to repeat the process endlessly because your method just wasn't working for the long run, or would you have a professional come out and fix it once? Why should we have to stay on the diet, lose weight, gain weight treadmill forever? Why not just let a professional help us do it once and for all? Besides--as far as taking the easy way out goes--why do people use lawn mowers, and edgers, and automatic sprinklers, and blowers to make their lawns look nice? Because those are the right tools, and they make the job easier. Even if it were true that surgery is the "easy way out," why would that be wrong? You only have to rake a big lawn once to know taking the easy way out and buying a blower is pure common sense.</p>

Look what I found on another thread! From Physicology Today Article from the author of Passing for Thin Size and Sensibility Losing half her body weight was no picnic. But living thin—and expanding her sense of self—nearly made Frances Kuffle’s world blow up I had been summoned to The Show, the Holy Grail for authors and the fulfillment of all my mother’s dreams. In a harried day of phone calls from Chicago, at the tail end of a snowstorm, the producers of Oprah decided, with 90 minutes to catch the last shuttle out of LaGuardia, that they might want me. You’d think, on the eve of what could catapult my book to national attention, that I would be too nervous to eat. I am never too nervous to eat. As I grazed the basket of goodies in my expensive suite, I had two questions. First: Would Harpo Productions’ bean counters go over my hotel tab and ask, “Isn’t that the woman who lost all that weight? What are these charges for chocolate-covered almonds and honey peanuts doing here?” Second: Why am I eating all this stuff? I might be on TV tomorrow! What with Oprah replaying 24/7, everyone in America could count the bread crumbs on my velvet dress. So much for the can-do kid, who, after 42 years of obesity and missed opportunities, had lost 188 pounds and written a book about it. Passing for Thin: Losing Half My Weight And Finding My Self is an account of how I used my radical change in weight to turn a small, private worlds of eating and surviving into one as big as my former size 32 dresses. I climbed mountains! I swaddled myself in cashmere and had lovers; I went to Italy. I floated out of the gym after lifting weights, I sat in restaurant booths, wore bracelets, and crossed my legs and took the middle seat in airplanes. Then I used my weight loss to do the next impossible thing: I became and author. Being thin opened the doors to experience and intimacy. National exposure, however, was an intrusion I hadn’t considered. I am not a pundit or a role model. You’re going to be pilloried, Frances, I thought with the vehemence of a Sicilian curse. And yet, there I was gobbling Oprah’s $12 Cookies. I put on my pajamas and pulled back the comforter on the king-size bed. It was littered with wrappers. My cheeks were burning with shame and calories. Tomorrow, I promised myself solemnly. And when tomorrow came, I smiled and joked, and I was gracious when I wasn’t, after all, needed for the show. I ached not from disappointment but with the hangover of sugar in my muscles, the sour gas in my gut and the heartbreak of being a liar. After a failed romance and a change of jobs, I drifted into relapse in March 2003, a year before Oprah, I had time on my hands—and time, in my case, is the enemy. I filled it by studying where and how I went wrong, at the office, in the bedroom. Intellectually, I knew that the boyfriend was emotionally frozen and that my former employer was abusive and infantilizing, but I couldn’t shake my ingrained conviction that I was responsible for everything that went wrong. I stopped going to the gym: I started eating peanuts or rice cakes between meals. A little of this, a little of that, and one morning I announced to a friend that I saw no reason why I couldn’t eat blackberry pie and ice cream, get the craving out of my system and return to my abstinence by noon. I wasn’t talking about a slice of pie a la mode. I was talking about a whole pie and a pint of ice cream. A whole pie? That summer I was reminded at every turn that I needed to be thin to promote my book. “You don’t want those cookies, honey”, my mom said as I carried off a stack I’d grabbed from the cooling rack. “Remember: You’re going to be in Oprah’s Magazine.” She was wrong. I did want those cookies, and I didn’t need reminding about Oprah. I sighed and took two more. When I asked myself what I needed, I was met with an unconsoling barrage of hungers. I needed to know I was not disposable. I needed a resting place. I needed to know I had enough stuff to carry off the rest of my life—enough talent, discipline, and intelligence—and enough sufficiency to protect myself from more heartbreak. I needed enough hope to find the friends and man I mourned the lack of. From August 1999 to August 2003, I’d gambled that losing weight would get me closer to all that, and I was told what to eat in those years. Now, after three years of maintaining my weight loss, I needed to be told what to feel when everyone but me has an opinion of who I am. I knew I—not just my body but my very self—was in trouble when I brushed aside a fleeting thought about how fat I looked with the answer “Never mind. You’ll like yourself when you get thin.” How does one live with self acceptance as a future and an always-conditional state of mind? More pragmatically, in lieu of my size 8 clothes, my career depended on self assurance. When asked, I admitted that I’d gained weight, adding that I never presented myself as the poster girl of thin. I said this with poise, which is not the same thing as confidence. Poise is teachable; confidence is one of the elements missing from the periodic table, three parts self respect to two parts experience. To get to confidence, I was going to have to listen to my self-accusations and sit with the rejections. Maybe shame had something to teach me. My next recovery period from food addiction would be based on therapy, heretofore more a matter of coaching than peeling back the layers of self. My psychiatrist’s and therapist’s offices became the places I could air my feelings about myself and the hopes I could change my self-perception. “There’s no point in getting depressed just because I’m depressed” I told my psychiatrist, who increased my morning meds anyway. That October, on a blue-and-gold afternoon, I had Indian food with Lanie, a friend visiting from my hometown, Missoula, Montana. I described how depressed I was by my weight gain until she preempted me. “You’ve been very fat, Frances, and you’ve been very thin. Welcome to where the rest of us live.” I twiddled my fork in my plate of saag panir. I think of Lanie as being very tall and very thin, but a few months earlier I’d helped her pick out a dress. Her dress size was similar to what I was wearing that day. The event we shopped for had been a gathering of Montana writers, many of them old friends, all middle-aged. One had a rounder face than I remembered; another wore layers of a truly terrible print in the style that catalogs and store clerks describe as “flattering”. Someone else was still very thin but looked drawn and brittle as age caught up with her bone structure. These were woman I’d long envied for their pretty thinness, and yet I’d been less like them when I was a size 8 than I was now. At size 8, I had to admit, I was so self-conscious (and secretly, overweening proud of it) that often that was all I was. I could have programmed my answering machine to announce, “Hi, you’ve reached a size 8. Please leave a message and either the size 8 or Frances will get back to you.” None of the women at that party, or Lanie savoring her lamb jurma across from me, claimed their identities from their weights that night. They wanted to gossip, compare stories of their kids and discuss what they were writing, tell old jokes more cleverly than thy had at the last party, and sample the Desserts weighing down the potluck buffet. I was not unlike them. Smaller by a size than Lanie, larger by a size than Laura, a little fresher looking than Diane. Of the Americans who lose weight, 95 percent gain it back within five years. I had gained a third of it back. Not all of it. To some extent, I had beaten the odds. I was stronger than the echoes of the boyfriend and boss allowed me to hear. I was determined not to repeat the mistake of being, rather than having, a thin body. I’d lived through my size all of my life, so acutely aware and ashamed of my obesity that the likable things about me—my sense of humor, my intelligence, talent, friendliness, kindness—were as illusory to me as a magician’s stacked card deck. As long as I defined myself by my body size, I would not experience those qualities for myself. As fall turned to a snowy winter, I picked through the spiral of relationships that had unglued me the year before. I didn’t blame the boyfriend or my boss for my relapse. I had been half of the problem; healthier self esteem would not have collapsed under their judgments of me. In obesity, I had clamped my arms to my sides to keep from swinging as I walked. I craned my body over armrests in theaters and airplanes, stood in the back of group photos to minimize the space I took up. I got thin and continued to hide. Whatever reasons the boyfriend had come up with for not seeing me, I met with amicability and sympathy. Had I reacted honestly, even to myself, I might have ended the relationship. Instead I’d gambled all my sweetness only to find out I was disposable. Likewise, I had not pressed my boss for an agenda of responsibilities from the start, nor had I clarified with her that her work and recreation styles frustrated and frightened me. Slowly I began to find toeholds in the avalanche of food and doubt. I worried about how fat I looked to potential readers and what I could possible wear to flatter or disguise the 40 pounds I’d gained. At the same time, however, I had become the canvas of makeup artists, stylists, photographers and publicists. They weren’t looking at my stomach. “Give me a hundred-watt smile,” commanded a photographer whose censure I thought I’d seen when I walked in. I licked my teeth and flashed a grin only somewhat longer than her camera flare. “Wow.” She straightened up at the tripod. “That really is a hundred watts. These are gonna be great.”. When I saw myself in the magazine, my smile was, in fact, the focal point. When I began dating, at the age of 45, my smile was an attribute men commented on, but I hadn’t really seen it until it was emblazoned on glossy paper. It was bigger, it seemed, than my face itself. I’d been a size 8 in my author photo, taken as my food plan was wobbling but not yet in smithereens, in June 2003. I was surprised to see I still looked like….myself, apparently. The power of my smile fueled me through more publicity, giving me a sense of authentic attractiveness that allowed me to enjoy the process. When I had a couple of days in Santa Monica between readings, I had a chance to assess and absorb at my own pace. Walking along the Palisades, I admired the sea-twisted pines and pearly mist funneling out of Malibu Canyon. I felt as lucky as I had once felt by being hired, by being loved, and I felt worthy of my luck because I appreciated the prettiness of the place, the serendipity that brought me there and my particular grateful awareness that knitted the moment together. I’d tried to rob myself of that by punishing myself for the boss and the boyfriend. You should not have treated me that way, I thought. The emphasis was on “me”, and just then I knew who that was. I looked around carefully. There was a family reunion going on, or so I assumed until I got closer and realized it was cookout hosted for the park’s lost and unfound citizens. I smiled to myself. How…California. No gritty, iron-shuttered Salvation Army outposts here, no Soup and Jell-O punishment for being a bum. No siree Bob. In California, the homeless are just one more variant on the Beach Boys. I laughed out load. I’m here, I gloated. I like my own company. I was tired of the games—with food, with hiding what I looked like under big clothes and my big smile, with waiting until I was a size 8 again to like myself. I recommitted to chipping at my food addiction, but I let go of some of the rigidity I’d had in the first years of losing and maintaining my weight loss. “I want to be praised when I do things right, and I want to be forgiven when I mess up.” I told people closest to me. “And I want milk in my coffee.” It was a small list, but significant because it allowed me to fumble as I gained my momentum of eating sanely. Esteem, kindness, patience, forgiveness: By cloaking myself in these qualities, I could build a self that was not afraid of authority figures and charming men who have one eye on the door. Maybe these attributes will curb the millions of things that make me want to eat, starting with seeing my parents or returning to Montana. I turn into the kid whose mother had to make her school uniform, whose big tummy stretched the plaid into an Etcher cartoon; I became the sad, joking fat college student who was reading The Fairy Queene while her girlfriends were soaking up the half-naked wonder of being 20 years old. I think of my parents’ kitchens, and my mouth waters for gingerbread and well-buttered toast. I regress when I let people like Lanie, whose struggle is different, comment or take chare of what I eat. “That’s two Entrees, Francis,” Lanie pointed out when I said I wanted goat cheese salad and roast chicken for our first lunch together in Paris. “Oh, Well, then, I’ll have the salad I guess,” I settled, grumpily. That’s the way I eat, that’s how I lost 188 pounds; vegetables and Protein. I was allowing her to limit me to a smidgen of cheese, or insufficient vegetables, and allowing her supervision is how I got so mad--the fatal elixir of anger and crazed desire—that I bought all the chocolate in Charles De Gaulle for my untasting delectation. I am the kid who, when told not to put Beans up her nose, heads directly to the pantry. “I have got to learn to tell people to stay out of my food,” I reported to my therapist back in new York. Then again, perhaps this is an evolutionary process rather than a one-time miracle cure. In 2003, I denned up for two months in Montana and ate. In 2004, I struggled again in Montana but I also did a lot of hiking, alone with my dog and with my niece. My slow pace didn’t frustrate either of them. I went horseback riding and got a terrific tan while swimming every afternoon. My thighs did not chafe in the August heat along the Seine, and I was thrilled to cross the Appalachian Trail later that autumn. I had spells of disappointment and fear from the way I ate, but I was living in my body, on my body’s terms. It’s a small world I’ve pulled from the wrappers, boxes and crumbs in the past two years, but a very human one. I’ve seen my family, close friends and therapists hold on to the stubborn believe that I would come through this. They loved me enough to countenance my mistakes and let me start over. Each day, I venture a little farther from the safety of food, and my courage comes from understanding that I am a lot like a lot of people—a family member, a friend, a dog owner, a recidivist, a middle aged woman, a writer who got a good rhythm going and forgot to brush her hair. There is safety in numbers. Depression and relapse would have to wait for a different excuse than my size. I am ready to hope again. Frances Kuffel is the author of Passing for Thin: Losing Half My Weight And Finding My Self (Broadway books, 2004). Her website is • Frances Kuffel • author of Passing For Thin - Home

I had my inner thighs operated on in October of 2005. It is a painfull surgery and the scars are not all that attractive, but the results in rewarding. I have had a breast reduction, liposuction, tummy tuck and the inner thighs. The thighs were the most difficult. Would I do it again? Yes At least in my clothes I look soooo much better and my legs do not rub together like they did. They have always rubbed, even as a teenager ( and I was not heavy), but after so much weight gain they were painful. Much better now.:whoo:

I was always bigger than the girls my age. As a kid growing up I was taller than all the other girls. I was also a tomboy growing up and was always aware that I was bigger than girls my age. Growing up I was a little chubby as a kid, but lost the chubbyness as I continued to grow, but I can remember eating a lot as a kid, 2-3 bowls of Cereal, getting large portions at meal time but athletics helped me keep the weight off in high school. Yet as a child growing up, I can still remember my Aunt Irene telling my mom that I was fat. Also in High school I remember my doctor always telling me I was fat, but looking back I can honestly say I wasn't. I was 5'7 in middle school and high school and because of basketball, softball and bike riding I had a lot of muscle. I was in great shape in high school, playing ball and running track, yet I always felt bigger. I remember the girls on the track team getting "small" shorts and I'd get the large or xlarge shorts, and that made me feel big and fat when I compared myself to them. Yet I know looking at the pictures I wasn't. I started to gain weight in college and I was aware of it. Walking to classes, I'd see my shadow on the sidewalk and it was bigger than my friends and I was always embarrassed yet all through college I still wasn't "fat" I got chubby. I stopped playing sports due to a knee injury and the doctor told me if I continued to play, then my knee would be ruined and I'd seriously in jury it. After I quite playing sports I really gained weight. I didn't realize it then but that is the time my PCOS kicked in and the weight gain began to rapidly increase. In 1997 I weight 275 and I took a job on the road as a stage tech for a company. It was physical work and I lost a lot of weight. I got down to 220 and I remember going into a bar, being carded and the guy at the door taking a double take at my drivers license. I told him "I've lost a lot of weight" and he said "Yeah, you have." and he smiled. It made me feel so good. After the job and the physical labor, I gained the weight back. I took an office job at a company who had a cafe in the building and I was sitting at my desk all day, not eating healthy and not exercising. It wasn't until a year ago that I went over the 300# mark. It was after I stopped taking topomax and i got depressed over the weight gain. I've been hovering around 335 for a while now. I've wanted the lap band for about 4 years. I tried through insurance at that time but they said no. I switched jobs 2 years ago but didn't think my new insurance covered the surgery. I discovered a lump on my thyroid last year and went to a doctor at Centennial. While looking at the website for Centennial I noticed a link to their womans hospital and the the lap band program they have. I read the insurance page and saw that others who had my insurance had the operation and it was covered. I kept thinking about it but never looked into it. It wasn't until March of this year when a co-worker had a heart attack that I took a good look at my life. It scared me. I'm 35 and I want to live a healthy life not just for me but for my husband. I'm lucky because he loves me for me and the weight doesn't bother him. I went to the seminar in April and filled out the paperwork and sent it in, but they called me the day after they received the paperwork and said my insurance didn't cover it. I started to get depressed and I could tell my husband was disapointed for me. I remember calling my mom crying because I couldn't afford to do a self pay. The next day my mom called me and said my dad and her talked and they were going to give me the money. It would come out of the money I'd receive when they pass away. I said I'd only agree to accept the money if my brother was OK with the idea. They talked to him and he agreed. He said a lady he worked with had the surgery and he saw the difference it made. Plus he has always been worried about my weight and knew this was something I needed to do. So, the next day I contacted the office and set up an appointment to see the doctor. The rest is history. My surgery is scheduled for July 18. Am I scared, yes but I'm more scared of not having the surgery. This is something I need to help me live a healthy life. Oh, I almost forgot, I know being overweight affects me and how I'm viewed. 5 years ago I was passed over for a promotion because of my weight. I almost sued for discrimination and became depressed and gained more weight because of it. My husband loves amusement parks and I'm looking forward to going to a park and being able to ride the rides with him. I know my weight affects him too in the things we can't do together but he's so understanding and has never said a bad word about my weight. I know he supports me no matter what and I love him so much. I want to do this not just for me but for him as well. Plus as an added bonus, he's agreed to stop smoking once I have the surgery. I told him if I'm doing this to become healthy so we can live a long life together he needs to do something too and he agreed. We will both be working toward living healthy for each other and support each other through both our changes.

The lap band did not work too well for me. I guess because I worked around it. I had a lot of restriction and only lost 26 lbs in the first year. Well I had an ovary erupt due to a tumor. Ever since then I have been maxed out on my fills and losing weight FAST. I'm down 100lbs. Everyone says you can be too full. No I think thats a bunch of crap. I got some taken out so I could just eat small amounts and I gained weight. I got another fill and it started falling back off. I dont diet I dont exercise. I eat maybe a cup of food a day. I think some women have hormone problems and dont realize what that has to do with weight gain.

Wow...Ann looks beautiful despite the weight gain! Thanks for the pic! And how ironic....I'm sitting here listening to XM radio and "Even It Up" just came on! Happy 4th of July! Toni

Chimboree--you're beautiful. I used to think I was pretty, just fat, but I got a "pregnancy mask" with my last pregnancy that never went away, and now my face is all blotchy and sun damaged. Yuck! (I'm thinking about getting something done w/that while I'm in TJ to get the band!) Dini--What you were saying about pampering yourself reminds me of my sister--she's always been a big girl, but she has also always changed her hairsyle, bought cute clothes, and never thought she was too fat to dance at a night club. Ironically, I've always weighed less that she does, and I don't do any of those things. Although I do wish she would get the weight loss surgery with me, I also admire that she accepts herself the way that she is. Weight Gain: I don't have nearly as good an excuse as some of what I've been reading. I have never been small, but I did not get really fat until the summer between jr. high and high school, which I spent eating with my best friend. I was fat all through high school, lost a little, got pregnant (at 18), got HUGE again! Lost 130 and slowly gained some of it back until I had my second baby when I got HUGE again. I kept gaining after the second baby until I got pregnant a third time and continued my HUGE streak!!! I have gained about 70 pounds with each baby and did not take it off w/either of the last two.

Do I post? Do I continue to keep to myself on this subject? what the hell.. I'll post...... I can't remember the last time I had sex with dbf, and we've only been together for a little over two years.... the person who says we have bills and kids in common.. I second that.. a lot of bills and a lot of kids.. same morale ethics, same family goals..... but no sex and the most physical contact is a simple peck on the lips at night and in the morning before work..... things started slowing down immediately in the sex department literally a few months into our relationship he started pushing my hands away and it has gone downhill since (and I was in a size 10/12 at the time) God love my mother but she once teased me that he wasn't interested because I had once again REGAINED all my weight.... geesh thanks mom.... anyway my issues go way back with sex.... I was "devirginized" by my exhusband who was also my highschool sweetheart.. we were together for 17 years.. I'd never even SEEN another mans privates until I got divorced LOL... (he cheated on me and left me via note one new years eve) I had no clue, and was devestated.. I though our lack of sex for the 3 months prior was because of his depression over a friends near fatal accident... ANYWAY I swore that I would never go that long without sex again... because had I given him more maybe he wouldn't of cheated... never really liked sex that much.. wasn't adventurous and it was always quick.. (happens a lot I think when two kids grow up together and never learn anything new) OK.. so got divorced immediately hooked up with the rebound psyco loser that immediately cheated on me and got this formerly infertile girl preggers.......... a baby later I finally booted his abusive loser ass to the curb and THEN I WAS REBORN!!!!!!!!! at 34 I was free to date and have fun... I lost 80 lbs and looking good, feeling great, and anxious grandma's to babysit on weekends the miracle baby... I discovered that indeed I did LIKE sex..... I bought books on learning to give myself an orgasm... (because I've never had one) to this day I have no idea what its really like, or if I've had fleeting moments of one and don't know it... I'm almost 40 and don't know what all the talk is about....... sad but true.... yeah I've faked it.. yeah when guys found out they wanted to be the first.... so I let them think it....... but I honestly don't know if I have or not..... OK.. so I had a year of dating around and having fun... and then I met DBF and at first we had sex every day........ and then it was every week, then it was was a couple times a month........ and now I don't know... I do know that I quit buying my BC Ring in december because it was a waste of money...... it hurts my feelings to be denied so I just quit asking or initiating... I've tried to talk to him about it and he just gets pissed off....... I kind of blew up after my band was put in, I lifted my shirt and asked him to feel for my port.. he said NO it kind of grossed him out.. I said WHAT???? He laughed and said that the thought of a port freaked him out and it was gross to him...... TEARS, followed by exclaimination....... "GREAT! NOW MY BAND GROSSES YOU OUT.. WE ARE NEVER HAVING SEX AGAIN ARE WE???" he replied... "JESUS TRACY! Not this AGAIN!" and stomped off to the living room to watch TV. I was left in the kitchen crying and the subject has not been broached again........ (btw his ex wife cheated on him and that is why they are divorced.. I'm guessing he has always had a low libido and yes he wakes up every morning with impressive wood, which I have literally tried to take advantage of and was jokingly swatted away) I have increasingly put on weight since the rejection started happening.. About October of 2005.. he also cooks and would get upset if I didn't eat what he fixed.. the women in his family are heavy.... I know he is deeply insecure about stuff, but extremely macho to the world and even to himself. The problem is that he is a great guy, we don't have kids together but our blended family includes 4 boys that love each other.. he is my sons dad in every way but biology and the same with his boys. We are all about raising kids and doing things as a family and growing old together and yes getting married......... but in my minds eye.. do I go ahead and get married knowing that I will most likely NEVER have intercourse again. I guess my self esteem. I was suprised when he supported my decision to have the band.. he said that he loved me no matter what but he knew that the weight gain had been depressing me...... he did however want to know how it would affect him, and for me to know that I shouldn't expect him to change the way he eats..... he has been pretty good about it.... as he is with most things.. except sex....... and I do miss it... I feel that at 37 I am too young to give it up, especially when there is a very avaible WORKING piece of equipment hooked to the man I love... its not fair that he doesn't want to spend the energy to use it. I do have toys, and I swear some time I'm going to take a day off work to be alone with myself! LOL

another critical reason for getting your protein: When you reduce your calories, your body will burn both fat and muscle to get the needed energy...muscle wastage is a bad thing, especially since your heart is a muscle... So...by adding Protein and exercising, you're building muscle instead. Again, my nutritionists recommended against use of the 'bulking' or 'weight gain' Protein shakes because they have high calories and don't stay in the pouch...being liquid, it runs right through into the stomach, and doesn't provide the 'full' feeling that solid food would.

I have a very similar story. Lost about 85 pounds in about 14 months and then just stopped for about 2 and a half months. I also had an unfill in there which didn't help. I broke my plateau by cutting out all white flour and sugar, and counting strictly 1,000-1,300 calories per day, and exercising. Well, actually I'm not too good about the exercising part (only doing it about two or three times a week), but the other stuff has definitely helped. The first two weeks of this regimine I lost 6.4 pounds. Now I'm on week three, but I'm getting my period, and thus begins the monthly Water weight gain of between 3-5 pounds, which is so disheartening. But, I really think that my regimine is helping. I plan to resume white flour and sugar in limited portions, only after I reach goal.

Again, I'm not a nutritionist, but it looks like the GNC product you listed is NOT focused on weight gain, and is probably a reasonable Protein source. I found this on BodyBuildingForYou.com: "So What's The Big Difference Between Whey Protein Isolate and Concentrate? Most of the whey protein powders you find will contain mostly whey protein concentrate with some whey protein isolate mixed in. You'll also find a lot of pure whey protein concentrate, and some whey protein isolate. Comparing the two, whey protein isolate is more expensive than concentrate - because it's of higher quality(more pure), and have a higher biological value (BV). Whey protein isolate contains more protein with less fat and lactose per serving. Usually, isolate contains 90-98% protein while whey concentrate contains 70-85%. Whey protein isolate is the highest yield of protein currently available, and it comes from milk. Because of its chemical properties, whey protein is the easiest to absorb into your muscles. Obviously, with its high concentration, whey protein isolate 'would' be the best to use, but like all great things, there's always a downside. It's more expensive, and just because it's more pure, doesn't mean it'll give you more muscle and size. Its extra concentration may not justify the extra costs for you." So...my nutrionists strongly recommend whey isolate, but what I'm seeing is that there may not be that big a difference. Whey protein appears to be better than soy or collagenic for absorption.

No, the Protein powders are not for "weight gain" they are to help "bulk up" weightlifters. They will cause you to gain weight if you eat your regular diet and include them. However if you are using them as Meal Replacements (which we basically are) you will not have an issue with them. I highly recommend IsoPure liquid. It comes in 20 fl oz bottles and comes in different flavors (Grape Frost is my fav). It is the consistency of Water and tastes like Crystal Light. If the flavor isn't strong enough for you, you can even add a little Crystal Light to it but I like it just as it is. Each bottle has 40gm of protein in it so even if you do 1 bottle a day, you'll be all set. It is very important to get all your protein in. Especially for your hair.

Well... My understanding is that many of the products (like at GNC) that advertise they're for weight gain have lots of stuff other than Protein in them...like carbs, etc. I wouldn't use those. But some pure protein products are sold for weight gain, since they help to add muscle. The only real way I can think of to tell is to look at the nutrition label...how many calories/scoop or serving? Should be very little if it is just protein. What kind of ingredients are listed? For instance...Unjury powder is 90 calories per scoop, with 0 grams of fat, 3g total carbs, 20g of protein. Pro Gainer weigh gain supplement protein powder has 645 calories/serving, 7g of fat, 110g of carbs...

so should i be alarmed if the protein powder i am buying says its for weight GAIN? like i said, i'm just trying to verify if its true. does it make a difference which protein powder you buy that will make you gain weight??? is that the main purpose for them? lets dismiss whey, soy etc for a minute here. are there different TYPES of powder for weight gain, body builders and people that just want to get some protein in, like us??? (that was hard to get out!!! lol)

well which proteins shakes are for what?? i was getting the gnc protein powders and was just told they are for gaining weight. i have been using since i got banded! is there a difference of weight gaining and whatever other ones are out there? i'm getting confused here:confused:

Seroquel isn't an old drug and it isn't rarely prescribed, it's used all the time. I totally agree about the weight gain, lots of people complain about that. It does make weight loss more than a challenge.

I agree!!! I was on seroquel and a few others about 4 years ago and I gained 100 lbs during that time. Can not for the life of me take it off. My mom, and cousin were/are on seroquel and they gained massive amounts also. I seen my cousin about 2 months ago and he had really lost weight. I asked him how he had lost so much and he said 'I quit taking me meds'. The pysch that I see now asked who prescribed seroquel for me because that is such an OLD med that is rarely used anymore. I told him who it was and he was surprised. Alot of the psychotropics and antidepressants have the side effect of weight gain. I used to work in a residential facility woth people with depression or other mental illnesses and I have seen the results several times. Good luck!

Hello to you all...I had my banding on March 28th-2007.(St. Francis Bariactric Center of Memphis, TN) I am so glad to have lost just past 33 plus. I need to check my weight, but I am superstitous about doing it every week. Anyway--I am so glad this banding can stop and make me think. I have never ever eaten fish 5 days in a row. I found myself in the fish market buying not 5--but 25 fish. They were small and meal size. Maybe the guy was waiting on me to buy the 13 catfish and 12 drum fish. Right at $22...It was a deal. I have a deep freezer holding all of this. This week--5 meals--fish and veggies--one day--fish and mac and cheese. I told my Doctor that I wanted to boost my weekly weight loss to just over 2.5 to 2.66...She said--maybe that is possible. I got 2 fills so far and this fill seems to be doing the trick. That is 1.6 cc's of water...Not bad. I do have one problem--my appetite is so tough to take in the morning--it's almost zero. My energy level is "Off the Chain". I mean--I may have to cut back on the anti-depressives. Wellbutrin is known to be a zero weight gain for the appetite and many times--make you lose weight. I will ask my Dr on the next visit about cutting back to a lower dose--since my sleep issues are back. Too much energy. Yesterday(6-30-07) I washed dishes--which is normal. I mopped all of my floors at night since I could not sleep. I found myself re-arranging my bedroom at 1:30 am--could not sleep. Then I mopped the kitchen again. Saying to myself.."Oh--I missed that corner"... This type of energy was never in my body before. I can recall when I had this energy last--when I was in the Army and i was around 27 years old. Most nights when I can't sleep--I am laying on the couch watching TV all night. Thank God--my little 2 bedroom apartment is looking great....hahahahaha...Can't wait to get back to the Gym in August....

Well heck y'all didn't think I wouldn't have to add my .02 did ya???? Lunasa, several studies have been done, and I wish I had the paperwork to cite for you, but I will give you the run down on what I remember.....these studies showed that when the body begins losing the sudden weight with the liquid phase, all the hormones that have been stored in the fat, are suddenly released into the body. The biggest one to cause issue is estrogen. It gives people headaches, causes weight gain (think PMS), and mood changes, including depression. If you go back to other monthly threads, and find them at the 2-4 month stages, you will find that they too slowed or even stalled at the weight loss, and are having similar issues as you and several others in the thread. Eventually the weight loss does slow down, and therefore allows the body to adjust to the increase of estrogen and other hormones in the body. Hormones work like a see-saw. If one goes up, others go down to compensate, or rise even higher, trying to keep things in balance. One of the hormones affected by the estrogen is called Gruehlin (I forget the spelling exactly), it is the hormone that alerts us to hunger. It is so closely tied together with the other hormone, that it is an expected and accepted thing that women's weight will change when they either go through menopause or have a hysterectomy, or even go on the pill. In the info packet in birth control pills, and many other forms of hormone based birth control, weight gain is listed as a side effect! When you get to the proper level of restriction, which can take multiple fills (and I am told this is optimal meaning you are losing visceral fat inside, where it is dangerous), you will begin losing on a steady pace, slow enough to allow your body to adjust to the changes, and yet fast enough to give your hope back. If you go to the Dr, and nothing shows in your blood, and you still have problems losing, and you are eating in a healthy manner---ask for a referral to an endocrinlogist, and let them look into it further. I personally believe, once you get past the flood of hormones in your body, you will be much better. In my case, I was older....I had also had a hysterectomy, so thought I was free----not so!!! I still had some of the issues, but had no female organs frantically producing hormones trying to help. Think of it in the same way our bodies try to help pass a stuck bite with sliming----it truly hinders as opposed to helping, but the body does it anyway. Same with the hormones, it tries to help get you in sync again, and many times only makes matters worse. Venting, and feeling free to say what you did, is great. My tendency was always to bottle it up, which did no good at all, for me or for anyone else. Who knows maybe there are several out there feeling the same way you are, and your voicing it will help you all. Hang in there girl, it will be worth it. YOU are worth it whatever it takes. And we will be right there with you helping when and however we can. OK, back to cooking and decorating for me. I sat down here with my sandwich, and got my LBT fix while I had lunch! Parties begin tomorrow, and now the weather says it may rain tomorrow night....makes me wanna cry! But I have been a cry baby lately anyway. Yesterday the lawnmower would not restart for me, and I got so frustrated I was in tears, today I was sewing a dress (the buttons over my boobs ALWAYS gap open) and I stitched the back to it in a place, and could not locate a seam ripper, and was reduced to tears. I think I must be hanging around my 2 year old granddaughter too much!!!! Talk to y'all soon!!! Kat

I know....the scale is like a ball and chain and we can't get rid of it!!! I think Jachut explains some weight gain in the damaged muscles retain water???? I am not sure about that it just sticks in my mind. Keep at it and it will go away and you will be sleaker, sexier and lean...Deanna

Well... this past weekend was not as good as I should have been but I didn't eat that much. I might have made a couple few bad choices. :rolleyes Overall I have been eating much better. The trainer at the gym told me to stay off the scale and that a weight gain is very possible at first since I am doing weight training along with the cardio. But the scale is soooo addicting!

What about weight gain from working out? I have started to gain a little weight and I am wondering when the weight will start coming off.

Lunasa First of all girl hug Hang in there, look at the big picture, you have lost 24 lbs in 2 months. when was the last time you did that? that in it self is a big achievement!:clap2: I'm not lossing as fast as I would like either. Try to keep living one day at a time and stop comparing yourself with others. Perhaps there are other things going on with your body. Have you had your thyroid checked. It can cause weight gain, depression, and many other things. I know because mine was out of wack and I gained 60lbs in less than 5 months and I'm still trying to get rid of the weight. Perhaps you might need a full blood workup to check for diabetes and any other problems. I felt so depressed for about a year that I was having anxiety attacks almost everyday that would leave me curled up on the floor. I just wanted to die. I went to a doctor and got laser accupunture (sp?) and it wass great!!! I felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders. I was so relaxed I couldn't drive. I had to recline in my car for about 1/2 hour to enjoy. The sun looked brighter and the birds seem to sing louder and I felt all was right with the world. That feeling lasted for about 3 weeks and I went back for another treatment. I did this for over a year, then I started looking into the band. When I went for my psych evaluation I was given several task to do and I realized what my triggers were and learned how to deal with them. It made me face life and deal constructively with it. My husband was at the root of all my problems and I had to learn to change my response to how I react to him. (I won't go into detail but it was bad.) He no longer knows what to expect of me and when I feel life caving in on me I announce to the world, my husband and even my 2 cats, "I'm not taking any crap today!" and everyone scatters and I have peace. If there are no support groups for you to attend find a upscale AA meeting to go to. All addictions are the same. Feelings the same. And the way we deal with them the same. I found this out when I took someone to the meetings every week for a few months. I have to admit it made me understand myself a lot more. Don't let this have power over you!! Know that you are not alone in this. Many of us feel the same way and just don't verbalize it. Much , much love to you!!

Hi Karen. Sounds like you've been through the ringer and emerged with your good attitude intact! Congrats! I'm at a plateau but happy with the weight loss to date. I don't believe I've even had a plateau that wasn't followed by a weight gain. This is pretty cool!

I too, have struggled with my band. I have wanted it taken out of me. I have spent a lot of time crying. I had my band put in 2 years ago. I initially lost approx 55 pounds. I then started with the "get a fill" to being too tight, to "getting unfills".... then I just had all the fluid taken out and gained back all of my weight. I "learned" what would go down my band and satisfy my "cravings" at the same time, but it led to my weight gain and further depression. I also dealt with a doctor.......who....is not an encourager! In fact, he was pretty mean! 8 months later, and my health deteriorating, I decided to "GIVE THIS BAND THING ANOHER TRY!"... I changed to a new doctor...and had a fill. I ate salads and then all of a sudden my band was too tight! JUST LIKE ALL OF THE OTHER TIMES! I couldn't get liquids down for over 2 days. I had 3 choices, go to my doctor, the ER or stay home and die. I went to the doctor. She took a little fluid out of my band. She assessed what I had been eating and we came to the conclusion that it was the salad. She said that salad will irritate the band. I felt like a light bulb went off! I started looking back at all of the times this happened... and yes.....I was eating salads and then would start having this problem! I really think it was the salads! I am now restricted and seem to be at a pretty good place right now and am praying for the best. So far, so good! I am able to get fluids down and am relearning how to eat. I am spent so much money, time and energy on this band, that I am determined that I am going to let it help me become healthier! Good luck to you too!