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From all I've read pop and alcohol stretch your pouch. Greatest cause of weight gain in some. Just a thought to keep! Be well!!

1000 calories from protein & vegetables is the same as 1000 calories from pizza, burgers, fries, cake,… it’s just the protein & vegetables have better nutrients that contribute to a healthier you. Maybe on the day you had pizza or donuts, you consciously or sub consciously ate fewer calories. Who knows but I wouldn’t rely on that being a dependable or healthy way to lose weight or break a stall. At 4 months out, you’re not very far along in understanding & managing your drive to eat. What is an occasional break could easily become a regular thing & you’ll be back to where you started: cravings, weight gain, etc. In time, when you have better strategies in place to manage your cravings (because they never go), you may be able to have the odd pizza or donut. Stalls happen. They end too. Your body just needs to take a breath every now & again. You’re putting it through a lot of changes. When I stalled, I just kept to my program & I’d start to lose again. No cheating, no change to my activity or caloric intake & in a 1, 2 or 3 weeks, I’d be losing again. Good luck.

I'm pre op but I have pcos and have been on all types of BC? Started with pills but had to stop when I went on blood pressure meds, did depo for years, loved it but the weight gain was over 60 pounds. I have a mirena IUD put in last year, have had maybe 10 days of cycle in the 10 months I've had it. Love that I don't have to think about it, but it really doesn't do much for my hormone level fluctuations. I can't get pregnant so I don't worry about that, it's more to control bad bleeds for me. Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

My dr has always been very supportive until recently. I was banded 06/16/07. Lost 110 lbs. Then in Oct 08 had a fill of .25cc. That evening I had no restriction at all. I called my dr. He said it was my imagination. Went back to dr in Jan 09. Only had 2cc in band He put 5cc in. Jan 09 got 2cc. March 1 cc for a total of 8cc in an 11cc band. Still have no restriction. Had upper GI last week, no slippage everything fine. Sat. had scope. No problems. So in my opinion the problem has to be the port or tube. The dr. says no the problem is in my head. But this is my body and I know how I felt (with restriction) prior to what over happened in October. What is your opinion? Has anyone elst had this problem? What should I do?

Nighttime snacking is definitely my downfall also. I eat a semi healthy Breakfast, lunch, and dinner (only eating 6-8 bites) but start my mindless snacking at nite when I lie in bed and watch tv. Thought about making my bedroom off limits for food. I have 22 lbs to get to goal and I made a deal with myself last month. I'd start trying to lose again after the holidays. Until then, I'm happy maintaining. Hubby also gained 40 lbs over the last 9 mths since he's been eating carbs willy nilly (he's usually an Atkins fan) and also has plans of starting Atkins Induction on Jan 2nd. So while I won't be doing Atkins, I can certainly cut down on my bad carbs and cut out the nighttime snacking. And my nightly glass of red wine - of course while in bed. I'm hoping my eating carbs (not to mention that we recently moved in with my FIL and hubbys daughter. MIL passed away 2 mths ago so we're helping out FIL) and others eating carbs (I don't eat much so I never really caused him to stumble but now that there's 2 other people in the household, not sure whats gunna happen) don't make my husband stumble. Anyway, as I was saying, I know where ur coming from. Snacking is the culprit on much of our weight gain or at least preventing us from losing. And I don't mean 1/2 an apple with PB. I'm talking a handful of cheese Its, a scoop of ice cream, 1/2 PB and banana sandwich, a few bits of dinner leftovers, a handful of corn nuts, 5-10 Hershey Kisses (who can resist the green and red ones at holiday time?), an ice cream sandwich, or 1/2 Starbucks biscotti. All things I've snacked on this past week So on jan 2nd, I will ban all food in my bedroom. That oughta help take off the final 22 lbs (albeit slowly. I know the last 20 are the hardest) Good luck to u too!

I notice that many people don't reach goal but have lost significant weight? Are all of the changes and the fears and the money worth it? Would you do it again knowing what you know now? I am deciding on WLS. I know my weight gain has made me feel old. I can't do activities that I love to do. I love to ride horses but my weight is too heavy for my horse babies and it makes me unbalanced. I love to run but my weight makes it so hard on my joints. My feet hurt daily. My back hurts all of the time. While I would like to get down to goal-I would be thrilled with 50% of excess Weight loss. I would be so much more able to be active. What do you all think? :paranoid

i am looking for information about becoming pregnant with the lap band. will the lap band be able to stay in with no complications and how about diet and can avoiding the extra weight gain besides baby weight be possible? Thankyou for any ones answers.

(Note: I was just reading a thread from someone asking about the consumption of Cookies and other sweets, when I realized my response was turning into quite the essay. I decided, since I was going to post a little hello/re-introduction message anyway, that I'd just move my response over here.) I absolutely agree that once you start eating the sweets, it's that much harder to stop. Vicious cycle. In fact, I'm just now coming off of a 3-4 MONTH stretch of eating sweets almost morning, noon and night. I was doing wonderfully for the first few months after being banded. I was eating healthier, diligently tracking almost everything that went into my mouth, drinking tons of Water, taking my Vitamins, doing more and more research, participating in forums, and watching the numbers of the scale steadily drop. Then came time for a family vacation. I told myself I'd allow a little "wiggle room" to enjoy myself and indulge, but that'd I'd still play it safe. The vacation didn't quite go as planned, for a handful of reasons, and I found myself falling back into old habits. I allowed myself candy, ice cream, cookies, baked goods, etc. When I got home, because I was still eating LESS, I continued to allow myself these things every once in awhile. Only problem is that when stress reared its ugly head, or PMS, or getting sick (when certain foods were harder to consume), I was far too permissive and actually justified it with "I deserve to..." and "Just one more, and then I'll get back on track after the weekend..." We've all been there, eh? And then I found that I had this almost insatiable craving for the sweets. I'm ashamed to admit there were more than a few shopping trips where I looked down into the cart and everything I'd tossed in was carb/sugar-filled, barely resembling real food. I completely slacked on vitamins, on drinking water (and when I did drink it was liquids with calories), on eating Protein, avoiding empty carbs, didn't follow-up with my surgeon's office, I stayed away from the forums because it was less painful to claim "blissful ignorance" rather than be forced to take a hard, realistic look at how far I'd backslid. I have two young children at home, and I'd been leaning on the fact that taking care of them was more important, rather than realizing I absolutely have to make the time to take care of myself as well. Thankfully, I didn't do much damage in the way of weight gain, and even managed to lose a couple of pounds in there. But I'm positive I could've lost a good 15-20 more by now had I snapped out of it sooner. It's taken some time, and I'm certainly aware that this is something I will struggle with the rest of my life. But I've re-evaluated, started taking more of an interest in whole foods and cooking again (hooray for the local library's cookbooks!), and am just getting back on track, in general. Sure, I'm disappointed and bummed that I'd allowed myself to behave in such a way. But it happened. And I'm ready to move onward and upward. I never thought this would be a miracle cure, that I'd get banded, never think about food again, and just watch the weight melt off as I happily went about business as usual. But I've come to realize that I'm someone who needs the advice, support, input and accountability of others. I'm grateful to have a couple of friends who were also banded, and are at different stages in things, that I've started to turn to for advice and support. Now I'm just trying to find a way to start attending the support groups for my WLS clinic, because I think that will also help. Anyway, thanks for letting me ramble and share a bit of where I'm at in my journey. Congratulations to those of you who are on the steady path to reaching your goal, to those of you at goal and maintaining, and to those of you taking the steps to living a longer and healthier life. And for those who are struggling, for one reason or another, hang in there!

That's great. I was banded on 6/17 and I've lost 20lb-had my 1st fill 2 woks ago and feel a little restriction but I so conscious about what goes in my mouth, I'm not really clearing 800 calories and I can get on the scale from morning to night and have 4 lb weight gain...how does that happen??? I'm going for a 2nd fill on 8/2. I workout like a mad woman. I don't know what else to do, I was losing weight more consistently before the band.

Well...I just started my soft food diet. It's only day 3 and already I think I am doing things very wrong. My diet (given by my NUT) explains very little. It doesn't say how I should eat, when I should eat. And that's what I'm having trouble with. I still don't feel hunger so I don't know when to stop eating once I start! Because I'm deathly afraid of getting sick or throwing up, I take only 3 or 4 bites at a time. Then I'll take a nother few bites 10 or 20 mins. later. This is bad b/c it takes me hours to eat a meal (I still don't finish many of them although they are small portions). I feel like that's bad b/c 1, I need to get my nutrients and protien. and 2, it's like I'm grazing which I know I shouldn't do b/c it can cause weight gain. In addition, its hard for me to get all my fluids in b/c it takes me so long to finish eating and I we're not supposed to drink w/in 30 mins. of eating. I'm so bass ackwards right now I really feel like I don't know what I"m doing or what I should be doing to correct it. Someone, anyone please chime in and give your thoughts and suggestions!

I know I'm still fairly new here but I've spent hours upon hours searching the forums for other women with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrom) who have been banded. Since this condition has been known to cause severe weight gain as well make it very difficult to lose the weight, it would be beneficial to those of us who have it to be able to support one another. There seems to be a few threads that are pretty lengthy and I think this special interest group would be quite active. Here are a few threads that I've found : http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/those-who-have-pcos-44999/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f84/lapband-pcos-48834/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/question-those-pcos-11810/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/anyone-ir-pcos-10726/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/pcos-who-s-got-18345/ I hope that made sense! Thanks for reading!

So, I didnt mention that during the year of unfill, and maybe a good reason I was unfille was due to some health issues I was having at the time also. I was having sever pantic attacks, anxiety and depression. I had terrible stomach pain, body aches, joints hurts, not to mention continues weight gain. Went to four diffrent doctors trying to find out what was wrong, Gino, Psychiatrist, Grastro and GP. After being put on a long list of pills for all of the symtoms I just fell so bad, it was all I could do to get out of bed. I felt I was loosing my everloving mind. Blood work was done and "NOTHING" was found out of the normal ranges. I had the flu twice, two diffrent strans, pnemonia, was hospitalized for what they thought was cdiff. Had an upper and lower GI. Bowls were enlarged from the antibotics. Finally my GP noticed that my pulse was alway slightly elevated. He did some diffrent test on my blood work and it came back that I had hoshimoto thyroid. I had scans and more test, and was sent to an Endocrinoigist. Long story short, had surgery to remove my thyriod in Feb, they found cancer. I am lucky, they did remove all, along with my thyroid. So here I now sit, with my band empty, almost backt o the weight I was 7 years ago when I got it. I guess I am wanting to know..... Can I start this over, get my band refilled, fight the thyroid hormone replacement war and maybe loose weight? Thanks for letting me rant Laura

I won't admit that in my WWs days, I measured my wedding ring, watch, earrings and outfit on my food scale so I could justify any weight gain or very small loss at registration.

Hello All! I need some help! I was banded on 4/21 and have dropped close to 20 pounds (with the help of my son's nasty stomach bug). To my horror, I got on the scale this morning and had gained 3 pounds! I am currently at the mushie stage and I'm eating what I was told and in the amounts I was told, so I don't understand the weight gain. Has anyone else experienced weight gain in the beginning stages?

Hi, I too had a BMI of 36. I am 5'5 and was 220. Just like you I did not have any health related issues, but plenty of emotional issues. I have been struggling for the last 15 years with my weight gain. I struggled with endometriosis and therefore was on tons of hormones and several surgeries to have children. Fast forward to 2004 I had to have my uterus removed. This past march I once again had surgery to remove my ovaries. Thus hormones again. From March to September I put on 22 more pounds, putting me at my all time high of 220. My husbands insurance offers no WLS coverage, and my insurance said I wasn't heavy enough. I also looked into the Mexico thing, but when I seriously thought it over, the fear and the thought of not having my Dr. in town quickly changed my mind. I decided to go to a seminar in my town and within 4 weeks I was on the O.R. table having my band put in. Now as far as costs, I decided to apply for care credit and was approved within 60 seconds online. My surgery cost me 15,500, this includes preop,postop, and fills for one year. Now don't get me wrong, I am in no way not condoning going abroad for surgery, however when I went to the seminar, the surgeon clearly stated that he would not touch any patient who went abroad for a band placement due to liability issues. I have also heard of Dr.s in the states charging up to 3,000 to become your postop doc here in the states. Thats when it became clear to me, that it truly was not worth it for me. As far as the band is concerned I could not be happier. This has been the best decision in my life. I have lost 17lbs since 9/12/08 and am looking forward for my first fill so that I can continue going downwards on the scale! I wish you the best of luck in your decision, and may you also become a bandster very soon! ObTech 89117

Thanks for all of the replies. I am seeing a small weight gain. I think it might be that I am walking 2-3 miles per day and maybe i'm turning on some muscle growth. I am a big strong guy by nature and gain muscle weight real easy. I guess I just need to watch what I eat and keep walking.

Seems to me that getting the required protein without pushing the calorie count too high means I will always obsess over food to an extent. I don't see this negatively. I think inattention to what I eat was a big part of my weight gain, and I don't want to go back.

They require the weight loss to show that you are dedicated to changing your life. I did ZERO exercising during my 6 months and lost 13lbs. I just changed the things that they told me to. My Drs office requires you to drop a certain percentage prior to surgery with NO significant weight gain during the process. If the insurance company accepts it once they'll accept it again. It will cost the insurance company for your friend to continue to be over weight then to have the surgery (in the long run at least). It might also be because of the type of surgery she is having done, since the gastric sleeve is still considered experimental surgery to a lot of doctors it may be something that is 100% needed for her to lose the weight before hand. Maybe she could ask if it's different if she has the gastric bypass??

I don't have "issues," either; at least, none that are related to gaining weight. Sure, I could exercise more and so could my skinny husband! Sure, there are times I ate more than I should and so does my skinny husband. But I have a genetic predisposition to gain weight, as does everyone in my family, and he does not, nor do most people in his family. Here's what Khaliah Ali and her bariatric surgeon have to say about it in her book, "Fighting Weight:" So what do thin people have over those who are extremely overweight, if not self-control? Luck. Or, more specifically, genetic luck. The genes that put their ancestors at grave health risk thousands of years ago, by making it difficult to hold on to fat stores in times of food scarcity, are the very genes that are keeping them thin and largely free of health risks today in the face of food overabundance. Thin and even mildly overweight people often scoff at that notion, as I know all too well. They say that while a person's genes could perhaps cause a weight gain of twenty, thirty, or even fifty pounds, there's no way someone's genetics could cause her to gain a hundred or more excess pounds. The fault for such obesity, they say, falls on the eater's lack of resolve, not her own particular metabolic circumstances. Not true, and you need only to look at the growing ranks of the obese over the last seventy years to douse such thinking. As Dr. Fielding likes to tell it, if you had said to your thin, tough grandparents in 1935 that they would be able to sit in their car, make the window go down with a flick of a finger rather than with a hand crank, and have a nice teenager hand all their grandchildren five thousand calories through the window with none of them making a single move, they'd have told you to stop dreaming. That is, seventy years ago, constant availability of very high-calorie food with no need to expend any calories in order to procure that food was inconceivable, and there were extremely few obese people. What has changed in the last several decades is not people's level of willpower but our food supply, which has literally become toxic. It's now nothing, as I know intimately, to buy an 1,100-calorie pecan bun from Cinnabon's, an 850-calorie Taco Bell taco salad, a 600-calorie king-size fries, a 400-calorie slice of pizza topped with pepperoni, or a 1,200-calorie pint of super-rich ice cream. And there are no more scheduled mealtimes around the table to cue you about when eating starts and when it's over. It's all grazing, all the time. Furthermore, it is more common now to overeat for emotional reasons. It's at the intersection of these changes that the genetic differences come in. Some people can eat whatever they want whenever they want with no consequences on the scale, or at least not severe consequences. Their metabolic wiring allows them to burn calories faster. Or they may have hormones that are set in such a way that they simply do not get as hungry as other people or as turned on by the sight of food. Others, like me, are not so fortunate. And the not-so-fortunate number keeps growing, because as the food supply keeps getting more and more abundant and concentrated in calories (not to mention more available at every turn), more and more people's genes and metabolisms are losing the ability to withstand the caloric onslaught. Their internal signals are overridden. In 1980, 15 percent of Americans were obese; now it's more than 30 percent. What has changed is the food, along with the drop in the number of calories people burn in daily activities -- not their characters, genes, willpower, or anything else. I believe that if I had learned to eat better food and exercised more when I first started gaining weight instead of going on a diet, I wouldn't have gained as much as I have. I do not stuff my emotions with food. I don't eat fast food. I don't finish off containers of ice cream. Four years ago, I lost 70 pounds in about nine months on Medifast. I fought regaining that weight with everything I could. I went back on Medifast. I joined Weight Watchers Online. I exercised 90 minutes a day. I tried South Beach. I rode my bike 34 miles round trip to work for months. I tracked every bit of food I put into my mouth and limited my calories to 1600 per day, presumably 600 calories below my resting metabolic rate. Yet I gained back all but about five pounds. I even had some doubts about whether my band would work but I now believe that my metabolism is so messed up that the only way I will lose is with a much lower caloric intake than I thought, a level I don't believe I could maintain on my own without the band. And more importantly, I believe the band will help keep me from regaining what I lose. We've been blamed by everyone else and now we've bought into it and blamed ourselves. Why? Because we know we're not perfect and we could have done things better to avoid this. But that's true for most people, whether they're overweight or not. Yes, some people have issues that led to their obesity and they may not be able to lose weight and keep it off if they don't get help. And some of us are overweight for the same reason that we're bald or nearsighted or have big noses. There's another great book out there: "Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss--and the Myths and Realities of Dieting" by New York Times reporter Gina Kolata. There's also a PBS special report: "Fat: What No One is Telling You." Both do a good job of examining the issues of obesity and dispelling some of the myths. The PBS special can be viewed online at: FAT: What No One Is Telling You . PBS You know, when AIDS was first discovered, years of precious research time were lost while people spent more time blaming the victims than finding out the cause. We still have doctors who tell us that weight control is a matter of self-control and all we have to do is "eat less and exercise more" rather than find out what is really causing the obesity epidemic in our country. I think it's time we quit blaming the victims and look at what's really going on! Now ask me what I really think!

Hello, everyone, I've been lurking on this board for a couple of years, now; going back and forth as to whether or not to have the lap band. After yet ANOTHER failed attempt at weight loss (60 lbs this last attempt...now on the weight gain upswing again), I've decided to bite the bullet. I need this surgery. Since I am now working as an independent contractor massage therapist, I no longer have health insurance. I won't have it until I get married to my fiancee next November. As it stands, I'll have to be self-pay. :drool: My question is this: I know this varies, but what are the surgeon's requirements when a patient is self-pay? Most of the frustrating requirements seem to be the doing of the health care providers. It seems that with the insurance companies out of the picture, the surgeons requirements are a bit more leanient. Those of you who are, or have been self-pay, what were the requirements of you respective surgeons? Also, as a self-pay patient, did you have to wait months for your surgery date? Thanks for any comments! -SL

Do you take any medicines that cause weight gain. I was taking a couple that made me bloated, etc. If you do take meds check them, some may cause you to gain weight, and then take to your Dr.

Thanks Patch.. I have a simon too,, he needs to get some exercise with me!! I'm hoping to get in better shape this summer, swim, walk etc. and get more strenghth back in my leg and ankle so when and if I do go through with the surgery I will be well on my way to better health. Its very frustrating because I had such high hopes for the same outcome after my hyst! I don't regret it at all because I was very ill at the time, but the weight gain has been horrid. I think I would lose my mind if I didn't lose anything even after this!

It sounds like you're kicking butt following the plan, but your body just doesn't wanna cooperate! Weight loss wise sounds like you're doing well - You're averaging about 3.8 pounds a week lost, which seems like more than if you just put it in a whole number lost (At least imo - I wanna pay attention to the biggest number to keep me going =p). That sounds like a really good pace to me. As far as stalling, I wish I could offer you concrete advice, but nothing seemed to make a difference for mine except sheer determination. My hormones went wack and I ranted a bit on my blog, which helped with the crazies. Now that I'm finally seeing a little movement, I feel much better about having survived the 3 weeks of stall. Anyway, because during this time I read hundreds of posts on stalls I will give you the advice I tried that worked for other people: - Increasing calories by a few hundred for a few days to a week and then coming back down on calories (I found this easier by adding some calorie rich foods rather than adding more volume because I couldn't eat a lot either) - Decreasing carbs - I try and keep mine below 40 because that's what my PCP said would help put me in ketosis - Increasing Water - Many blogs I read talk about how you should divide your weight in half and that's how many ounces you should get. That makes like 150 ounces for me which is not realistically happening so I aimed for an extra 16oz glass per day - Increasing exercise - it sounds like you're already doing this, but maybe doing a different type of exercise or at a different time of day - I know from other diets I've done that my body loves to get in a set routine and stop dropping weight, I gotta keep it guessing to keep losing - Decreasing processed foods - Increasing Protein - I got up to around 100g/day for a few days but nothing seemed to happen and I had a hard time getting that much in so I started just aiming for my target of 70 again - Adding interval training and strength training - I did this by adding 5 1 minute jogging intervals to my walks, not allowed to lift weights yet so did a few isometric things and some wall push-ups - Having a rich high fat/calorie sweet - I didn't end up really trying this. I wanted to, because it sounded tasty, but I was too worried about ending up binging on something, my self control has yet to be really tested and I'd like to keep it that way as long as possible! A lot of people seemed to swear by this though - Going back to basics - liquid diet for a few days and working back up (not fun!) None of these worked for me, but they worked for a lot of other people! I hope that helps any =) Feel free to rant if you're feeling stressed though, keeping stress in and being upset raises your cortisol and can help lead to weight gain/retention. Every time I vented I feel like I got it off my chest and could worry about other stuff for the day. Hang in there, it will break eventually.

I cheated but then my surgery was cancelled anyway as there were cancer patients that required surgery - I was a backup and if they didnt have beds I would have got surgery and when they took me in to get changed and stuff I almost crapped myself because I had cheated - Thankfully they didn't do the surgery but it was then rescheduled for another 2 weeks after which meant I had to stay on the preop - which I didn't I ate as soon as I left the hospital and then the next day but went straight back on the shakes. Didn't cheat at all and then I rang the hospital to see what time I needed to be there the next time and I wasn't even on the list - So I ate dinner that night which I think I had every right to lol. Now my surgery is scheduled for the 12th (next tuesday) and they rang me on the 1st so I didn't start the diet until the 3rd, I've definitely cheated, I had a piece of bread with ham and cheese and then a cracker with vegemite and cheese and also an egg, I don't feel guilty at all because doctors are to blame for the cancellations and my weight gain and they've even admitted that. My surgeon's nurse also rang and basically I'll be having surgery on the 12th no matter what (thank god.) I know it's hard for people to keep on track but I don't see how doctors can expect you to be perfect when the shakes/preop diet they assign you is dishgusting, I've heard of a woman whose preop she could have fish and salad with dressing - I'm not allowed that but if I was it would have been way easier to stay on track

Hello everyone!! I had my sleeve June 12th, been doing good, following meal plan and all however I am still struggling with my water intake. I have been losing about a pound a day however yesterday and today I gained a pound. There are no changes in my meal intake, is this normal?