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So 5/18/21 was my gastric sleeve surgery. Just 6 years ago I was at my goal weight of 141. In 6 year I reached 267. The biggest I’ve ever been. in the past was 217, (31 years ago after the birth of my second daughter) I do believe I know the reason for so much weight gain in six years. If anyone is interested I’ll share later to compare stories. Anyway the first couple of days weren’t bad. I felt more pain then anything. But for three days now I’ve been hungry but have no intentions of not eating right. For now I’ve learned to stay out of the kitchen and my daughter is giving great support and encouragement. If anyone could share with me about bowel habits and changes, colors, pain in the middle chest, or any other types of changes I’d appreciate it.

@ Jazma: I had my lapband removed last April. I was scheduled to have the bypass at the same time but changed my mind the morning of the surgery and just had the band removed. I gained about 35 lbs since it was removed, which Dr. says is quite good for typical weight gain after is much more. At any rate I feel really good about the sleeve and can't wait Till June 5th when I get mine. Good Luck to you! Also, Do any of u take Probiotics? Last year before my surgery I went to costco and bought " Advance Probiotic 10" By Nature's Bounty. They are capsules and give u 10 probiotic Organisms and 20 Billion Live Probiotic Cultures. Of course being concerned about surgery, it was important to me to give myself a boost in my recovery process, so I started up on these two weeks before. Right after surgery I broke the capsules apart and them in my Water. On my follow up visit after my surgery my Dr said I had so much scar tissue and removing my band was a challenge. He was surprised I had no complications but I believe it's my secret gem, these probiotics that made the difference. Needless to say I just bought some more to prepare for this surgery as well...

One of the issues post plastics is that the compression garments sqeeze your tummy and people can't eat as much at once. I was hungry ALOT so I ate more frequent tiny meals and had a lot of Protein drinks. Alot of people go into mega burn post plastics too which I must have since I didn't gain weight and I ate CONSTANTLY I was so hungry. I guess I am one of those people who will never have problems with anerexia or losing too much weight or anything like that. My body gets to feeling a little under-plenished and I get HUNGRY. Once I got to my initial goal of 158 I maintained there for 6 months before dropping another 10. i am maintaining in the range of 146-152 these days just as easily as I maintained 158 but I think that it helped that I took a little break from losing. My body has a real survival gene I guess - it lets me know when the calorie bank is running low. I really wonder and find it puzzling in many ways that people who had such a high burn pre-op or for whatever reason find that they can't stop losing now. I am very supportive - don't get me wrong - I have a close friend who works so hard to keep weight on (he is older and naturally skinny and drops weight when anything bad happens) I get it that it is a very serious problem. It is just so foreign to me that it is hard to even understand it. I hope that people who do struggle with this realize that we do SUPPORT you because we all have some sort of issue with food and weight and what we all want is a healthy, comfortable relationship with food and weight. I just don't always understand it. I do however know how I gain weight... carbs are the secret to my weight gaining success. Not only do carbs tend to make me gain weight, they also make me hungry so I can keep gaining. It's great to know I have a good backup plan should I ever get too thin. (crackers, Peanut Butter, high carb Protein Bars, sweet fruit especially juices - doesn't even need to be unhealthy carbs, any will do!)

Thanks for light at the end of the tunnel! I too was denied, but for a weight gain. My husband had a heart attack and triple bypass (at 37 yrs old) and yes, I gained some weight. I just got my denial letter yesterday and plan on appealing. I can't wait until I get to come on here and scream at the top of my lungs..."I got approved!" So until then, I'm going to the gym every night with the hubs (he is doing very well) And eating next to nothing (I'm starving) :) Congrats on your approval and I hope to be not too far behind!!!

I’m on day 5 of my pre-op liquid and have GAINED 6lbs! WTH!? I’m assuming it’s the sodium from the broths.... Totally insane!

So my next weigh it just so happens to fall on my 3 nut visit so I'm dreading the scale and what my nut will say if I'm bloated and weigh more.? Sent from my SM-G530T using the BariatricPal App

Let me get this straight, you have all the pre-op stuff on April 5, so what is your surgery date when you have surgery at 12:30? Or was that in another post and I missed it? And, this Friday is the 25th, so you have a week and a half after your provera to get over your "monthly monster" this go-round...is that enough time? I'm thinking no diuretics, not a good idea before surgery, not unless you Dr says it's okay. Nope, don't do the Water pills. That could mess you up better than weight gain will. And as far as not going home the first night, well, the insurance may not go for that. What's the possibility of a sister, mom, or good friend whisking you away to an inexpensive hotel for a night of recovery? No dogs, no distracted and overly concerned, unnecessarily worried DH, warm heating pads, lots of pillows (create a recliner of sorts on the bed) and long halls to walk every few hours. Is that a possibility? Forget the scale, what's five or so pounds when you are over 300? I don't mean that ugly, but I'm 220 and I can fluctuate 5 pounds in a day, it would seem your Dr. would be much more concerned about your overall weight than a few pounds gained which could easily be water retention. Ya know? Plus, you will have just had this PCOS treatment (which I am not at all familiar with but have seen others posts about it) so that would have to be taken into consideration with your band Dr. Does he/she know about this treatment you are having? Plus you say your clothes are no looser or tighter, that's probably a good indicator you are fine. And you start a new job in May. You and Crystal/Vinesqueen need to hole up together and sing the stressed out blues! Aww Katie, I hope this all works out okay for you. It really sounds like it will, you just need to see it from the other side, and the other side is comin like a freight train...wooohooo!!! You are gonna do great, and feel tons better when you get some weight off, even just getting below 300 will make a huge difference in how you feel about everything!! Looking for updates...take care, I'll be thinking of you!

Hi! I had vsg 8.15 and have lost 24 lbs. This am I seem to be up 3 lbs. Not off course. Still eating pureed. Cals are between 6 and 700. I meet protein daily but water is tough. I usually get 52 ounces vs 64. I eat 3 meals daily plus 1 snack of string cheese. I still have some muscle discomfort in tummy area but find I'm emotional a lot. Dr is happy w progress but I'm super upset with stall or gain when I'm not even eating or drinking off program. Any thoughts?

From liquids to solids willl cause weight gain until your body adjusts, another reason is 900 calories is not enough, try keeping it between 1200-1800 and see if that helps, body goes into starvation mode with that little ammount of calories. hang inm there is will happen, you have not had a fill yet, once the fills get rollin' you will see a difference in the numbers on thescale, but alos try not to focus so much on what the scale says, look for the other possitive things goin on that have changed since your band, like more energy, feeling better, clothees getting bigger, etc..

June 05 2012... Is a Day i will Always remember is the Day i took the big Decision to stop my Overweight... Today 1 year Later i feel GREAT to be here with more Energy.. I was 258 pounds with a terrible hormone imbalance, my weight gain was after so many meds to try to conceive a Baby... That was my life Struggle, i was never a skinny Girl. But neither as big as i was... Unti one day i said ENOUGH and made the decision to Stop, today 1 year later i am almost my 100 less, with a much better health, no more PCOS in my LIFE.... Today i acomplish a Goal, setting a new one!!! Keep it off and work hard!!!

Wow, Jean, I read your post from yesterday and then today's and wow! You've had quite the experience. I have "Bandwagon" and count it as one of my best resources for the band. I've loaned it to a few people who are considering the band based on my weight loss success. I've recommended it to others who have the band and have struggled. Thank you for your honesty. You're right, 5 months out may be too soon to say whether you love the sleeve or not. I love my band too and I haven't quite reconciled that I'm going to lose it. Knowing that I have to wait for a period of time before I can do anything else has motivated me to do what I can to prevent unnecessary weight gain. I've already gained 30 pounds over this last year so I can't let this go. I'm worried BUT proactive.

I never had the sleep study done. But I've noticed since my weight gain, I can feel how heavy my chest is and just rolling over in bed can make me breathe heavy. :tongue2: I'm hoping for approval but would do the sleep study if it would get me qualified. The arthritis in my knees wasn't bad enough, blood pressure not high enough and I'm not diabetic. So at 100lbs overweigh my co-morbids weren't severe enough. But now I'm closer to being 200% over, so hopefully I won't need the comorbids.

I complained to a friend about my latest plateau and she sent me the following. By Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS When you're trying to lose weight, the question isn't whether or not you'll hit a plateau, it's when. Plateaus are like bad weather on a long hike: it's inevitable that you'll run into it, but knowing that in advance won't make it one bit less frustrating or annoying when it happens. Cheer up! Since plateaus are as common as rain, we have a pretty good idea what to do about them. At least one of the following techniques should help you break through a plateau and start losing again. 1. Be a Calorie Detective When clients tell me they've stopped losing weight, the first thing I ask is this: how many calories a day are you eating? Calories have a way of creeping up while we're not paying attention. Be brutally honest with yourself: food diary for a while is a great way to monitor this. And yes, sodas and alcoholic beverages count! A good calorie goal for dieters is your target weight times 10. 2. Change It Up When you're not making gains in an exercise program you change your routine. Same holds true with your eating plan. Low-carbers could go higher carb for a few days, high-carbers might switch to a plan like shake things up. 3. Try a Temporary Ban Food sensitivities can cause weight gain and bloat, and the frustrating thing is that most of us don't always know which foods are the culprits. So play the odds. Highest on the list of "usual suspects" are grains (wheat in particular), dairy and sugar. Temporarily ban all three and see what happens. 4. Take Your Workout Up a Notch Forget the "fat burning zone." High intensity intervals -- 30 to 60 seconds -- are the wave of the future. If you're accustomed to level three on your cardio machine, ramp it up to level 6 for a minute then slow down, catch your breath and repeat. Ever see a sprinter with love handles? Protein Studies show that higher protein diets make it easier to lose fat. Protein boosts the metabolism (in one study as much as 100 percent for 24 hours), and increases satiety, making it more likely that you won't overeat. A higher protein diet could be just what you need to break that plateau. 7. Try a Detox Unsupervised fasting is a really bad idea, but the idea of giving your system a rest makes sense. Try a "smart fast" of nothing but fruits and vegetables for a couple of days. The added Fiber is always helpful, and the massive amount of nutrients and phytochemicals is like "spring cleaning" for your sleep or medication. Take a look at what else is going on in your life that might need attention. Sometimes when you clean up the problems in one area of your life, problems in other areas just naturally take care of themselves. Anyone else out there struggling with a plateau? Some of these ideas might not be best for bandsters (i.e., instense workouts for newer bandsters), but it did give me cause to change my exercise time to evenings and decrease soy consumption.

I've known a few people who had insurance cover their conversion to sleeve or GB after losing their band because the band failed. I think it really depends on the insurance company though, best thing is to call. I've heard the similar line about a former bandster destined to gain all their weight back. I would think that's likely but not because of the WLS. Isn't the statistic for anyone who has lost weight gaining it back pretty high, something like over 50% or higher? I guess my point is make the best decision for you but don't let someone tell you that you have to have another WLS. The decision should be based on your needs. Did you lose your weight and now you just have to maintain? What's different now than before your WLS surgery? Have you learned how to eat intuitively? Exercise regularly now? Write everything down that you eat? If you've developed all of the good habits that people who "lose weight and keep it off" do, maybe you don't need another WLS. I'm in the same boat. I'm having my band removed on 1/23 because of erosion and the surgeon has said that I'll have to wait anywhere from 2-6 months before I can even consider another surgery and I don't even know what my insurance would cover. I'm only 30 pounds over my goal though and he is encouraging my to try it without and see what I can do. He makes a good point that the band was a tool that helped me lose the weight but it didn't lose the weight, I did by eating my Protein, drinking my Water and exercising. I've learned the good habits over the last 5 years, maybe I can just keep doing that. I don't know the answer but I wish you all of the best as you make the best decision for yourself. Take care, Anita

I waited until I reached goal and was nearly 6 months on maintenance. Then I decided to go with my arms first because they bothered me the most. The result was incredible!!! I had always had what we lovingly called grandma arms. Then of course, my tummy and breasts really bothered me now that my arms were awesome. So I had a full abdominalplasty, breast lift and augmentation in January 2017. Again, the results are incredible. Completely flat tummy and awesome breasts!!! Then my I swear it looked like my face melted off and really bothered me so in July for my birthday I had a full deep plane face lift, Endoscopic eyebrow lift, Lower Bleph and fat transfers. My face lift took what looks like 20 years off my face!!! Most of the swelling was gone in 3 weeks and my body is still absorbing sutures and changing a little in a positive way. I still have slight bruises under my eyes but so slight, only me, hubby and surgeon even know they are there. I was presentable in 3 weeks post op. In between all that I had to have both my shoulders repaired (Rotator cuff and AC joint). Having that much going on in a 1.5 year span has actually caused me to be less active than I would like and about 6 months ago, I began to gain some weight. The dreaded 15%....it is very frustrating and although I am working on it. For me that is nearly 20lbs.....I still look fantastic but that weight gain is freaking me out and the worst is....it is not so easy to lose it as it once was. If I can drop 15lbs.....I do plan to have 2 more procedures. My butt is completely flat and looks like a sharpe dog, and my thighs need a lot of work, especially where everything droops around my knees. My surgeon is suggesting finishing my abdominalplasty on the back side which ultimately will result in a lower body lift, she would then get the fat from my legs and use it to lift my butt as a part of that first surgery. Then 6 months later I would have a thigh lift as my last procedure. I have not decided for sure if I want to go through more and I certainly wont do anything until I drop at least 15lbs, would like to drop 20. Of course the cost of doing all this work has been very expensive but worth every penny. I chose a surgical team that I had complete faith in and they have not disappointed me at all. The pain from plastics is pretty extreme and I am someone who has a very high pain tolerance and dont like to take pain meds. My plastic surgeon tells me I am the opposite of most....my arm lift was the most painful of all. I guess the abdominalplasty is supposed to be the most painful. I had my breasts done at the same time and I honestly think they were more painful than the tummy tuck. LOL... My face was not painful at all. I think I took pain meds for 3 days total. That is more about ice packs..... My TT and BL/A took the longest at nearly 10 total hours and I stayed in the hospital. My arm lift took over 6 hours and my facelift took 9 hours and was completed in a hospital not in the doctors office. Because I had such an extensive neck lift and an endoscopic brow lift, he knew I would get a better result if he used a general anesthetic. I was happy because there was no way I could last that long laying on a table while awake. Anyway.....plastics has been awesome to me. I learned that the most important thing is finding a surgeon that you trust, and not to shop for price. You get what you pay for and what people fail to realize is that after care is critical. If you do any of this work, you are looking at hundreds/thousands of sutures in your body.....there will always be something that comes up that your surgical team will need to follow up on. Especially with weight loss surgery patients.

If I were you, I'd make appointments with both your surgeon and your nutritionist. With you surgeon, tell him how you haven't eaten meat and are resorting to soft foods. I'm no doctor, but it sounds like you actually might be a little tight and are resorting to "soft calorie syndrome". Contrary to popular belief, tighter isn't always better with the band, in fact it can lead to weight gain and complications. Here's a great article about it: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/161269-tighter-isnt-always-better/ With your nutritionist, let them help you establish both a eating routine and calorie guidelines specific to you and your nutritional needs. Best wishes.

I felt the same exact way...I guess no matter how much I studied up on the whole thing I wasn't prepared for the first few weeks post op. I was very weak, nauseus, and depressed! I must say that I did regret it, and all I wanted to do was grub again, and feel normal! I know it sounds repeatative, and probably not really what you want to hear but it does get better!! It takes time not just for your new tummy to heal, but also for YOU to heal, mentally and emotionally from the whole life changing experience. I know I feel so much better now and no longer regret my choice, I am losing weight, gaining energy and self esteem...it feels great!! I no longer get hungry because I'm taking nexium, and have come to grips with the amount of food that I can eat. I think no matter what there will always be times that we want to shovel things in like we used to, but in reality we just can't!! Although I want half the pizza...lol, after my one piece I feel full and am ok with that. No matter what ups and downs we might have, we are becoming healthier, and will live longer, and love life, and that to me means more than that pizza!! You will get through it girl, just keep your head up, and remember all the reasons you chose wls. I wish you all the best on your journey, and I hope you feel better soon!! Keep us posted!!

I'm 6 years out from treatment after a high grade, Stage IIIC, hormone positive BC. I had 3 recon surgeries after the treatments and the first surgery, a double mast/1st recon. I have excruciating neuropathy about 9inches wide almost 360 degrees around my chest and neuropathy in both feet from hand-foot syndrome during chemo. The neuro drugs don't touch the pain. I also have some bone changes in my spine and hip that add to that pain load--so sleeping for longer than 2 hours in any other position is impossible--and I have to sleep in a reclining chair. I do have a script for Norco and muscle relaxants and I guard them like a demon. I ration when I take one of them because I know it costs my PCP plenty to prescribe them--so I try to keep it to 1 script per year. I have to be at an 11 (cuz you know...my amps go up to 11--thanks Spinal Tap) before I take one because: 1.) I know they are rarer than hen's teeth and there might come a day when I will need them worse than today. 2.) They make me gain 5 pounds of fluid overnight. I resist going the pain manager route because I don't want to be on drugs like Celebrex or Lyrica that also have weight gain as a side effect. Mostly I don't want to be on daily pain pills, nor do I want to surrender autonomy (the right to take a pain pill ONLY when I need one) for a pain script. I also don't want the stigma attached to being a patient seen by a PMC. I see both sides of the argument and am sympathetic to both the prescriber and the patient. I also understand how easy it could be to become an addict (and that by nature of the addiction, addicts will lie and might sell their grandmother for a fix). It sucks that a few bad apples spoil the pie and make everyone's position so difficult. Sorry you're experiencing such difficulties. Pain and quality of life--man--it's a fargin' marathon. I look ahead at a life expectancy for me and sometimes get super sad, because no way do I want to live endure 25-30 more years in this pain-filled world. I'm shooting the dice and optimistic that losing weight down to a normal BMI might help my pain/recurrence experience.

It's official. I gained 6 lbs since my "unfill" on March 10. It's probably not a full 6 lbs because I'm very bloated in a womanly way - I'm guessing it's about 3 lbs once I unload all this fluid. The thing is, I really don't feel badly about the weight gain. I've been able to wrap my head around the idea that this is a process and with any long term endeavor, there are ups and downs. In this case, it's still mostly downs (as in weight going down) and I'm way ahead of where I was mentally and physically, even a month ago. Sure, a month ago the weight was falling off but it was at the price of vomiting, feeling unwell and feeling mentally punished for being fat all the time. With the unfill, I was able to replenish both my body and my mind. I like to think of this period as a mini vacation from the band that allowed me to refresh and start anew...just like coming back from vacation and going back to school or work. Yesterday, I got a fill. Only 1cc which brought me back to 6cc, exactly what I had after my first fill. I couldn't feel any restriction when I had my soup for lunch and fluids go down fine but I decided on some soft cheese, salad and hummus for dinner and I could feel it. Yay! Restriction is back and not too much. I may still need another adjustment but I'm really ready to get back on the wagon and correct these bad patterns I fell right back into over the last month: 1) Drinking while eating 2) Bread, bread, bread 3) Eating too fast and not chewing well enough - even with very little restriction I had a bad PB incident with a bagel 4) Slider foods and candy 5) Diet soda 6) Booze 7) Snacking It was a great vacation - eating, drinking, my birthday, having too much fun with food - but I'm back now and tightening the reins. Happy Easter, Passover, Spring to all!

your comment has upset me a bit and i asume it is implied towards my comment about my mother and seeing as you do not know my mother let alone ever met her i would like to tell you. My mum has been a 'taxpayer' for over 40 years, she takes over 5 medications a day and she has type1 diabetes which incase you dont know is not caused by weight gain and is not cureable!!! my mum struggles so much with her diabetes and its the position in which the band sits arround the stoumach that sends messages to the brain to use the insulin she has to inject - the weightloss is an added bonus. my mother eats a reasonably healthy diet and it was the insulin she was perscribed that caused my mum to pile on 15kilos in just over a year. My mother has been through so much and sacraficed so much over the years if they could afford the op then she would never have been recommended to the DHB, and seeing as she was denied we are working on raising those funds. i believe people like my mother that have worked their whole lives and have an illness that impacts their life so much deserve a surgery that could change the impact the illness has on their lives 10 fold. I do not think that the surgery should go to people that have bearley worked a day in their lives and live off us, the taxpayers (like my brother), that is where i believe these surgeries are going. sorry for my rant.

I'm getting close! Monday the 29th is my band day. I spoke to the hospital today and I need to be there at 5:30AM, scheduled for surgery at 8AM. I will spend the night with DD1 the night before because the hospital is an hour away from my home, but only a few minutes from her apartment. DH will come later - he took off from work even though I didn't want him to - I'm afraid he'll overhear how much I weigh. Isn't that crazy?? Even when I was pregnant with our 3 daughters, I didn't want him to know how much I weighed. Everyone elsed seemed so proud of their weight gain, or of their pregnant bodies, but I was ashamed - I remember it like it was yesterday. Not that he isn't able to see...it's just kind of the ultimate humiliation to weigh more (way more!!!) than him. My doctor ordered a low carb diet for 2 weeks prior. I started a little before that, and she only ordered liquids for the day before. However, I've read so much here and on other sites, that I put myself on a liquid diet this past Monday. So far, I'm doing OK except a little light-headed at work. I hope the liver is nice and small. I have a convention to go to this weekend with a bunch of teen-age girls, and we'll be eating out the entire weekend. I had to tell a few people about my surgery so they would know what was going on and so that they wouldn't try to get me to eat. They've been very supportive. This weekend will be tough, but the prize is in sight. I've been reading some other blogs about anxiety and depression...I don't really feel that way, but it seems a little weird to me somehow - like I'm separating myself from the pack...does that make sense? Maybe if I were more comfortable sharing this experience with my co-workers, I would not feel as much like a phony. Does it feel like a cop-out to anyone to see others lose weight without surgery? I know, I've been there and tried it. And I owe it to myself, and I owe no explanations to anyone. There - I said it and I feel better. I turned 50 this year and I can remember turning 40 saying I didn't want to be 40 and fat. Where did the 10 years go? I have a lot of life left in me - and I'm ready. I probably will not post until after surgery since my weekend will be full. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the support, for putting yourselves out there, and for being real. I know some folks don't like to read the blogs with complaining or negative thoughts, but for me, this is cathartic; and it's my diary. Talk to ya'll later. Yes, I'm from Texas!

You are doing awesome and I admire your commitment and progress. What does a good day / bad day look like for me? I have more bad days than good. I am still trying to break out of my old habits of sitting around and pondering doing something. I must say that this sleeve has given me my life back. I was on all kinds of high blood pressure meds at least three, plus cholesterol med and taking the diabetic pill. I gained close to 20lbs in the time I signed up for the surgery and going through my meetings. I strongly believe my meds are to blame for most of my 20lb weight gain. but I digress. I also felt before surgery everyday as if I was about to have a heart attack, after surgery this pain went away. A good day: 7am- 8am Wake up drink my protein shale within 30min of waking 23 g protein. followed by a 20oz of water walk for 30 min followed by 20z of water wait 20 min 1 egg with spinach maybe low fat cheese/ turkey bacon (once a day multi Vitamin, Opurity, so gross) Snack hour later Protein Drink 23 g protein and a snack I love cucumbers and tomatoes in a sweet vinaigrette sauce with seasoning more 20oz water (when water gets boring I use a zero calorie sweeter) lunch grilled chicken breast (what I can eat of it) 20oz water ( 2 Calcium citrate pills) Snack boiled egg fancied up/ or chicken salad Dinner baked salmon (what I can eat) Broccoli/roasted sweet potato 20z water 45min to an hour later with 2 calcium citrate pills Snack diced apples/mixed nuts unsalted water I try to get in 120 oz of water which will hydrate me and flush out the fat. most days this isn't possible but I try also I try to get my longest walk in in the morning so anywhere from 30 min to an hour. 30 min is 1 1/2 mile and and an hour is about 3 miles my goal is 5 miles a day which most days do not happen. I usually get those in by doing 10 minutes at a time in-between doing other things. or late night on the treadmill catching a movie or video or something. Bad day they very from OMG bad to just barely bad wake up 9am and just lay there , Vitamins, protein shake 20oz of water no Breakfast no snack lunch is breakfast, no exercise fried egg or piece of chicken grilled (calcium citrate) usually no exercise on this day no snack/ no water / no protien dinner Grilled chicken water/ 2 calcium citrate snack protein drink I avoid carbs and usually look at the package if it has more than 5 g of carbs I usually avoid it there are some exceptions but very rare. I am losing slowly and I am okay with that because it is consistent. I know once my exercise picks up I will lose more. Right now I am averaging weight loss of maybe 2 or 3 pounds a week.

Okay I had my 3rd fill and I gained 2lbs. Now I must accept resonsibility, because I know I have made the worse food choices this past six weeks. I've even been drinking, wine :thumbdown: and mojitos. Forgive me (I'm holding my head down in shame). Now I can two 1 of two things at this point. Feel sorry for myself or be greatful that it was only a 2lb weight gain and get off my butt and do what I know is right. I choose to get off my butt and do what I know is right. I didn't go through all this for nothing I tell you that. The surgery, time off of work, the money I've invested So today is a new day for me and I'm going to start making the right choices. and move forward. My birthday is July 23rd and I will be 43 years old. My current weight is 262,. My goal is to be at 225 by my birthday. That is a weight lost of 37lbs in 3.5 months. That is something that I should be able to do. So here I go... Hope to hear from you ladies soon. Our board was one of the most happening spots and now I hear crickets when I sign on ...

When I first started hanging around this site back in Oct. 07, I remember seeing people talking about onederland and not knowing what it was. Then I figured it out, but remember thinking "Wow, I wonder if I can ever get to "Onederland." First I had to get insurance approval, which I did and had the surgery on March 14, 2008. Well, today I reached Onederland!!! Yeah!!!! I am so thrilled and very retrospective at the same time. I have spent alot of time trying to work on the "why" of the weight gain over the years, so today I really feel like a different person. I am so happy to be at this point, feeling so good physically and mentally. So to all of you just beginning your journey, good luck and best wishes, you will be amazed at the wonderful life you are embarking upon.

I have no clue why this popped up on my phone this morning but as I read first post then second a few more then I stopped reading. I forgot I had the app honestly because I stopped being on here. I had just decided to do the surgery a few months ago, went to the seminar, my first appt was done and I was still up on the air about it. As I started to go through the process, all of the testing read more and I joined this forum to get other people's experiences, see how you all are doing, looked at some on youtube videos I guess to see if I really wanted to do it this time. I started the process three years ago and stopped halfway said I didn't need it because I eat healthy salads, veggies not alot of food, bake not fry and I excercise but here I am three years later. Still weigh the same as when I started, I'll lose it and gain it right back but never go over what I've been. It wasn't my time back then and one thing that I read that I absolutely agree with is that you truly have to mentally prepare yourself for this. I've made my decision based on the fact that I want to be healthier without all the meds I take daily. I can and will honestly say I don't have a problem with food because I barely eat. Which is also a problem lack of eating which I've been working on. I have health issues high blood pressure, asthma, pseudotumorcerebri, and REM apnea as to why I qualify for the surgery because your BMI has to be 40 or above mine is and was 38 my first dr visit. My weight gain came from me taking the birth control shot years ago and I have never been able to go back to under 200 lbs and currently 248 I'm 5' 7". I'm scheduled for surgery Dec 6th and I have my last pre op test today. No backing out this time. I am stocked and ready to start my liquid diet in 2 weeks. Wish you all the best of luck on your journeys ????