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Something to be aware of. Reality is with any bariatric procedure, you will gain weight by eating "around your surgery" It's easy to eat several small meals throughout your day/night with no effect on feeling restriction pain. Grazing food will/can increase caloric intake and cause significant weight gain.

Here is how I feel about the depression, Vitamin, and minerals deal post-op. Due to the PCOS & weight gain my body felt like a living hell, I had no periods then all of a sudden 3 months later I would bleed to the point I felt anemic, I had to stay home several times not even medical pads could hold, then there was the SUPER elevated testosterone levels and you want to talk about anxiety...the sex drive of a horse...breakouts...unsatiable appetite-THAT was depressing. If you were to ask a general family practice physician what obese patients have in common i can assure you they will point to labs, one thing being low B12 and D, they don't know why but EVEN before any procedure there is already that issue lurking the waters. On to the subject of depression, if you have a history of depression I don't think the surgery will mask it or take it away, if you are new to depression post-op you have to look at the root cause, I think blaming the surgery is a cop-out, if I thought of all the negative things being overweight brought into my life that would be depression enough to make me want to go into a cave but it's a mind set that's how you see happy fat people and nobody can understand it. Sure my hormones are changing, I know that through many things on my day to day life and as I look back at life pre-op I cannot understand HOW I wasn't medicated because what I see through the rear view mirror was someone completely out of control. Most people in this country who are not obese have vitamim deficiencies mostly due to the crap that is being called "food" out there sponsored by all the hormones and chemicals they've managed to give lab rats and turned out to be a success and they decided to feed us the same way, the obese have more than one issue at hand, you don't see a lot of obese people going to tanning beds or even direct sunlight for too long that's my observation it could be a lot of reasons, but obviously the obese also don't get all the Vitamins and minerals they need because they don't spend all day eating the way they should, I know I wasn't is I had been I would not have needed the operation. If my stored estrogen is being released I am glad because I don't need all these fat cells hanging around, if you take a look at what the fat cells are actually doing then you will see they release a toxin which is why overweight people have an increased chance in developing cancer and other things. Though I never took meds for anxiety I know I had it and post-op I feel calmer, maybe too calm but I like it because when it's time to open the fridge and choose, I am clear headed. By no means am I saying here my life is perfect or that there is nothing that irritates me, what I am saying is that it's not due to the surgery. I'l' have my labs drawn in April and will let you guys know if anything is off meanwhile I am going to take a good book out to the backyard for a little sun time. Can't cry over spilled milk or cut out stomach gotta keep eye on what I can control and make the best of my new life everyday. The video below though about the MGB talks about the estrogen drop which applies to us too: 1 2

Yup, I get plenty of Water, and I take benifiber quite frequenly, nearly everynight, espically now that i'm so darn tight. And I've tired the mixing it up like you suggest Eileen, too, but that didn't work any more than anything else has Good point about the meds Paula. I 've check my meds myself, and weight gain was only an indicator when I was on birth control this summer. I am still gaining and losing those same five pounds.

I'm a former Depo user and I'd never do it again! In addition to the weight gain I had fertility issues that several doctors said was related to prolonged Depo use. This surgery is a terrific tool and those shots have a long and notorious history for causing women to gain extreme amounts of weight. In my opinion, the risk is too great. Definitely ask about an IUD or some other form of birth control!

Depo shot me up about 50 pounds when I took it as well. I never would have but I went with a friend who didn't want to do it alone. Hurts and weight gain is CRAZY!

I hate the depo!!! I gained 30 pounds like it was nothing. I love my para guard IUD! No added weight gain and no hormones. Down 54 pounds in 5 months!

I already have a baggy tummy -- four ten plus pound babies, two c-sections, and a lifetime of rollercoaster weight gain and loss. Part of my drive to get my band this year is because I want to have my tummy fixed when I turn 50 (so that gives me two years to find the new me). I have to say though, I am more excited than anything else. I have only lost a few pounds so far, but I found cheekbones I had forgotten were there. Bring on the new, saggy, skinny me. I think at least she will be able to do the stairs without gasping....

Well, remember 1st and foremost that you will go through phases and hormonal changes monthly can cause weight gain. I tried to keep this in mind when I saw the scale go up a pound or two....just wait it out. Having a fill doesn't mean you are adjusted to the correct amount. You may have to go back for another fill. We all hope we can be lucky enough to not have even 1 fill! Or hoping the first fill does the trick...but often times it does not. Just enjoy yourself these next four weeks before you see your doc again for another adjustment. Meantime, try to re-learn how to eat. Get a jump on a new way of eating for nutrition and wellness. pizza is a tough one...was my toughest. I would eat a bite...and then rationalize I could eat more/alot more and just slime it up. Yep, my children hated it when I ate pizza!

My reflux was extreme with my band, so I removed the band, then had the sleeve put on 2 years later...NO RELFUX! I can sleep without junk coming up my throat--it is sooooo nice, . I agree that the sleeve has very little stretching, and very little ability to stretch--I know serveral people (most in my family) who have done gastric and the weight gain is one reason I went with the sleeve this time...it just made more sense to keep the digestive track intact as much as possible.

Just make sure you stay out of ketosis. Eat carbs. Ketosis can and does cause fetal brain damage, and an entire slew of birth defects, and make sure to take your bariatric Vitamins. The risk of birth defects with WLS patients is 50-60% higher because of Vitamin and nutrient deficiencies. This is why it's so important to wait, and while I understand the concern about weight gain, you'll have to consume enough to support your body and the developing baby which may slow the losing. I'm almost 22 months out, and tomorrow will hit 9weeks pregnant. I was released at 8 months post-op to TTC, I was also below goal, my labs were/are stellar, and I was getting into maintenance. It took 14 months to conceive. I've only gained 3lbs in 9 weeks, and they want me to gain 30 pounds, they actually wanted me to gain 10-12lbs the first trimester, least say I doubt I can put on 9 more pounds in the next 3 weeks. I'm already eating 1800 calories a day, juicing to get in extra calories/nutrients because even at 22 months I struggle to eat enough food. Please take care of yourself. The baby will pull from your body, fat reserves and muscle mass this early after surgery and most "early out" WLS babies do well, it's the mommy's body that suffers the most. Make sure to have your dental check ups regularly so they can watch for decay, and weakened teeth. Congrats on the pregnancy and best wishes for a healthy pregnancy and delivery.

Why are the trigger foods in the house? My husband and kids know that there are some things we can't have in the house because just the thought of them makes me crazy. For example, I don't allow any soda in the house. Just the smell of it makes me want it, plus my kids just don't need the crap either. Everybody in my family is eating better and getting healthier because I am. My kids are both thin, though my 5 year old was starting to get a little chunky because she's very drawn to sweets and I do not want her to start down that road because I have been there all my life. I'm not here to say anybody is or isn't working hard enough for their band. I don't know where you got that from my post. I did say that it takes some level of work. I'm the opposite of Jachut--I don't like to exercise, I'm very clumsy and hurt myself in the stupidest ways, and I'm completely uncoordinated. So I choose to do the lower calories, track what I eat, etc., to balance out the amount of exercise I do. If you aren't willing to exercise or to watch your intake, how can you really expect results? I am sure there are people that won't do well with the band. I was worried I would be one of them. I have PCOS and insulin resistance which has contributed to my weight gain over the years and I was really concerned that those things would hinder my loss. I think that most people who go through WLS have done years of yo-yo dieting, and have crappy metabolism. I would work with the doctor and nutritionists to find ways to boost your metabolism, find optimal restriction, and work with the band. In your case, if you feel you're eating slider foods and too restricted, how about a complete unfill and work your way back to restriction slowly? If you haven't already, I would request a swallow study to make sure you haven't had a slip. But that's just me and my opinion if I were in your shoes. If you have a strategy that you are happy with, good luck.

Been on Seasonale for years. The best part (besides not getting pregnant), only get a period every 3 months. A little spotting when I first took it and no weight gain.

I used to have the Mirena IUD. I had it for the full 5 years. When it was time to have it removed, I was going to a different GYN and they said since I've never had children I should not have another one inserted. The risk of infertility was way too high. So they put me on the pill. I've been okay with the pill. I've not forgotten (i set my phone alarm) and actually no weight gain (even when I wasn't dieting). The generic name is Triphasil. The only thing I don't like is that I now have a period. With the IUD I didn't have one AT ALL! So of course I stared my period THE DAY BEFORE SURGERY! When it rains it pours!

BJean, It seems that the first reaction my surgeon's team of people would have when you weren't losing weight was to put more fill in you like that was going to be the answer. That happened to me and I didn't question it. Then that one terrible day when I was filled with a cc more than they had recorded and then that 10 hour day of puking my own saliva and after that I knew there was something screwing going on when it came to fills. Hence why I had to beg my surgeon to take out the two to keep me from compensating the lack of regular food with softer/slider foods because whatever you want to call it and I think it's more of a physiological hunger not just psychological my body was telling me to eat whether it was crap or what my body wanted food. The really rotten part is you will go to a site where someone has a problem with the band and they're told to get a different surgery. You look at that surgery and someone has a problem with that and they're told to get a band on top of it and so on and on and on. I don't know how they can specifically find the exact treatment for each of us as individuals. I know it wasn't done through the psych eval, that was a waste of time! Anyone could pass that, at least the one I had and my daughter too. The hardest part is not beating ourselves up and we tend to over focus on our faults, weight being the major one. I know we all are good people I can tell by what we've written before on thread. I was a fat kid out of five the only one, I was never abused, not in the sense that most people think a lot of obese children are but I was always very sensitive and probably had a hard time expressing my hurt or anger or whatever and still today during certain circumstance I go back in that little girl who just wants to crawl up in a ball and not deal with whatever is hurting or attacking me. I know I've posted in many threads and some were about self love and that was because it was so difficult for me to love myself as a fat person and a lot of people took it the wrong way as I'm advocating it's great to be fat and hate all thin people, well some of it got that crazy. Anyway sometimes I think that gets in the way of me progressing, I don't know if you all feel that way too but it's such a complicated issue for a lot of us. Especially hard when you have lost a big chunk and have gained it back. Now I know a lot of you have done that on the band. I never got to that point but I have prior to the band and felt horrible. Took off 100 put back 100 twice and I think I've never felt more horrible about myself and was extremely sensitive to the "few" people that would happen to comment on it. Of course I still carry that in my heart like a wound of many. I think it was much harder to deal with the weight gain than to deal with never having lost it in the first place. Anyway I could go on forever but I think there are a group of us that need extra support because we're not the "just eat less and work out people and you'll lose weight". It's so much more complicated and even with our similarities we are very different. I know I have to live more in the moment and quit focusing on the past mistakes or the future failures or whatever and pat myself on the back once in a while because that's the pat I need the most. I told my "therapist" not really but she's better than anyone I've ever had, that I was concerned as my mother n law was coming up next week for a visit with her eldest son, my bro n law and I was nervous because she's always been kind of critical of me and is one of those people that points out to me that I'm fat, thank God, never knew I was. Anyway she asked me how I would respond to her if she were to do so on this trip. I told her that I'd just sort of walk away, not say anything but bitch to my husband that he has a bitch for a mother. She told me that I need to tell her straight away that it hurts my feelings when she says these things and that I have a major struggle with my weight and this does nothing to help me with it. It wasn't that big of a deal but to me it was because I tend to be over focused on what people think of me. Anyway, I've gone on too long but I felt like sharing and hope I didn't bore you to tears, I think we need a name for our group so someone come up with a suggestion hugs to all, Nancy:thumbup:

Dear Coffey - I’m thinking about having weight loss surgery, but I’m not too keen on living the rest of my life with extra, loose skin. What can I do to keep that from happening? Sincerely, Cecelia in CA Hey there, Cecelia - Congratulations on taking the reigns and exploring your options. I hope you find a good, honest surgeon who can help you figure out if weight loss surgery might be a strong choice for you. As with everything concerning our bodies, the topic of loose skin generates a whole lot of hype. The truth is there are exactly six things you can do to minimize excess, loose skin after weight loss - whether or not you have WLS. The first three are preventative, and apply to the period before weight is lost. The last three apply to the post-weight loss period. First, prevention. 1- Don’t wait. Ask any aesthetician or midwife and they’ll tell you: the younger we are, the more our skin can bounce back from a stretch. If you would be more comfortable weighing less and you’re afraid of having excess skin, the younger you are when you lose weight, the better. But don’t waste precious energy wishing you had lost weight in your early 20s. You have today, and today is where your power is. If there are choices you want to make in service to your health and happiness (whether or not they would result in weight loss) today is the day to make them. 2- Avoid the loss/gain cycle. Imagine how a once-inflated balloon looks and feels after you let the air out. Now imagine the same balloon after 4, 6, or 10 deflations. Much like the balloon, the more times we lose weight and gain it back, the looser our skin gets. Again, now is not the time to berate yourself for all those “successful” stints in Weight Watchers that ended with you gaining the weight back and then some - it happens to all of us, myself included. Today is the day to get yourself stronger, more sustainable tools - tools that support long-term weight loss and minimize the probability of gaining it back. These tools exist, and you can get an introduction to them in my free online workshop, Why We Sabotage Ourselves (with Food) (and What We Can Do About It). 3- Keep weight gain to a minimum. The heavier we get, the more our skin stretches, and the less likely it is to bounce back after we lose weight. You can’t do anything now about your weight history. Feeling badly about it or judging yourself for it will only make you want to numb out (if you’re anything like me, probably with food). If you are reading this at the heaviest weight you’ve ever been, then this is the heaviest you ever need to be. If weight loss is something you want to do for you, your skin will thank you for making caring choices toward that goal starting now. That covers the things you can do to minimize excess skin before you lose weight. Now let’s look at what you can do once the weight is gone. 4- Build muscle. Contrary to popular belief, strength training does not “tone” or “tighten” the skin. Skin elasticity has nothing - NOTHING - to do with exercise. But strength training gives loose skin something hot and firm to lie over - namely biceps, triceps, quads and abdominal muscles. Lots of folks - especially women - shy away from strength-training, or think it’s better to use smaller weights and do more reps. This is a myth that keeps women from ever seeing the results they want and deserve. Assuming you’re being safe and reasonable, the heavier and harder and you train, the more muscle you build, and the better you’re likely to feel about how your skin looks. 5- Have surgery. Even if you’re young, even if you lose weight just once, and even if you strength train like a boss, there’s still a limit to the impact we can have on excess skin after weight-loss. Some consider having skin removal surgery. If this is something you’re thinking about, be warned: Words like “lift,” “nip,” and “tuck” are misleading. Skin removal surgery is no joke. I know that because I had it. The surgery hurts like hell, and can put you out of commision for weeks or months. Also, the medication usually prescribed to manage the post-op pain is highly addictive. If you’ve got a compulsive / addictive relationship to food, you’re way more likely to get hooked on painkillers than someone who doesn’t struggle with the compulsive overeating. 6- Love yourself. Loving your body isn’t going to tighten, lift, or shape your skin after you lose weight, but it can minimize the negative impact that living with loose skin might have on you otherwise. Love is action. Love means making consistently caring choices because you deserve to be cared for, no matter what you weigh or how your body looks. If you struggle to make consistently caring choices, whether you’re pre-op, post-op, or no-op, you’re not alone, and there are practical, usable tools to help you get there. Where will you fall on the loose skin spectrum? You can’t really know unless and until you lose weight. I yo-yo dieted for 10+ years, maxing out at 307 pounds. I had Roux-en Y in my mid-twenties and lost over half my body weight. Eventually I started strength training and became a personal fitness trainer. Two years later, I opted to have abdominoplasty (aka a tummy tuck), because the excess skin on my stomach was beyond anything that could be mediated or improved with exercise. The surgery hurt like a son-of-a-b***h and had me out of work for a month. I’ve made peace with the loose skin on the rest of my body. The muscle I’ve built with regular strength training helps a lot. So has treating my body with care one choice at a time for over a decade. It’s given me self-respect and peace that make my batwings an insignificant afterthought. Loose skin post-weight loss is inevitable for those of us who are or have been obese. But if you would be healthier or more comfortable in your body weighing less, don’t let the fear of loose skin keep you from doing what you need to do to get there. Our bodies will never look like other people’s bodies, and that’s OK. Our bodies tell our stories, and our stories are our strength. All good things, Kelly Coffey PS: Whether or not you decide to have surgery - and even if you've already had it by the time you read this - you can use the tool that's helped me to turn my life and my health around. To learn it, click here to grab a seat in my free online workshop, "Why We Sabotage Ourselves (with Food) (and What We Can Do About It)"

During my first trimester I lost weight. I really don't remember now how much - maybe I posted it on another thread. I would guess 15 - 20 lbs. No morning sickness, I just didn't have any appetite. Well, let me rephrase that. I haven't had any appetite to speak of since 3 days post-op (nearly 2.5 years ago), but I really just didn't want to eat - even more so. Since the end of my first trimester I have gone up about 6 lbs. Part, if not all of that is Fluid - I've started getting cankles if I sit for longer than about 2 hours. But regardless, I'm still at least 10 pounds less than when I conceived. This is such a big head game. I am trying to remain very aware of my weight gain and monitor it closely. About 3 weeks ago I had an unfill because literally overnight I went from fine to too tight, after over a year of being fine. I suspect the pregnancy played the starring role in that. This has really impacted what I can eat, so I have to be extra diligent and ensure that I'm balancing "can" with "should" and "need to." People ask me, "Are you showing yet?" and all I can do is tell them, "I don't know." "Are you gaining weight yet?" "A little..." I've lost in the neighborhood of 180 lbs, and still need to lose about 40. There's more flabby skin and droopy pannus on me than most people will ever even think possible. But lately I feel like my stomach is larger. My profile doesn't seem as "almost flat" as it used to. And I know my uterus is larger, because I can clearly feel it.

@@VSGAnn2014 Great article. @@Tssiemer1 You said you're not sure she's anorexic, then went on to ask her about obsession and losing as an outlet for something missing in her life. That IS anorexia. Anorexia isn't about vanity. It's about control. The person feels their life is out of control, and this is the ONE thing they have control over, and it makes the feel safe. At the very least Bellabloom, you have a pattern of posting about fears of weight gain and remaining very slender to a point where it seems to consume you. And anytime someone is consumed by negative thoughts, no matter what they are about, it's time for some intensive therapy to help you overcome them. The fear you're going through seems normal to a certain extent, because I see it all the time on these forums. But like I said, it seems to be all consuming to you. And that's never healthy.

I think they would. I have to keep my protein high because of the protein absorption issue - hence the dietary change to counter the increase in calories from the increased protein. I hate protein shakes & I can taste even the flavourless protein powders making going back to a low calorie diet using shakes challenging. Plus the med is hormonal & my weight gain was always strongly linked to my hormones. I actually did reduce my calories initially to try to lose the kgs but it didn’t do anything. Sounds like what happened most of my life - ha! When I see my GP in a couple of weeks, I’m going to see if I can go back to a lower dose HRT & see if that helps. I’m actually experiencing more hot flushes & acne - boo - on the higher dose. Of course the gain could just have been my body settling again. It is only 2kg & I’ve been stable at this weight for 9 months.

Got really bad news today. True Results does not accept my insurance. Now I start searching over again. Like you, I don't have issues with food. I was thin all my life until I went thru chemo. The steroids caused a massive weight gain. Sounds like you're on the right path.

Hello everyone, it has been a long time since I have been on here, I was banded in 2009 and haven't lost done to goal. The doctor I had went out of business a year after I got my band. I really haven't had any problems with the band but found the weight was not coming off. I found a new doctor last year and he did a fill under fluro and found my port is tilted as well as the band. I had a endoscopy yesterday in which he stated I had a non functional pouch. I am worried to death right now. My weight gain started about six months ago. I am right back where I started. I have searched and searched to see what a non functional pouch is, no information found, Is this something to worry about? We spoke about revision prior to this appointment but I am unclear as to what this is means. Please if anyone has any information I would appreciate some insight. My next appointment is not until the 17th. I am really worried about all of this.

Thank you for sharing. I am not a physician but consider myself literate and pretty well educated, but I too had trouble following much of what he was trying to say (and I have read up on the study/studies? he seems to be relying on). For instance "gaining the weight". Does he mean gaining weight? Gaining some weight? Gaining more weight? I could go on... Another big piece that is missing is how the medical community in general treats obese patients. There is a recent thread on BariatricPal that has some real horror stories. Unfortunately, they seem to be more common than not. I agree that General Practitioners and other MDs need a great deal of education about obesity, weight loss surgery, and post-surgery care, however far after surgery. You are spot on when you note that too many post-op patients are thrown to the wolves post-op when it comes to mental health issues. I will definitely have to think about this to see what additional response I could provide.

One of my docs first questions in his initial survey was, Do you take steroids? From my knowledge and experience doctors will not do the lap band surgery if you are on steroid therapy. You need to research this further, is this long term therapy? short term therapy? You'll have to find a doctor and see what happens. Although, when on steroids weight gain is a huge side effect. Good Luck in your searching. Leah

Hey everyone thanks for ALL of your advice/suggestions and help. My steroid therapy is usually short term (two weeks of prednisone) with months or possibly even years apart from taking it. It all depends on how my joints are acting up -- which is always extremely unpredictable unfortunately. The doctors never said anything about my NSAIDS.. I have read about the dangers of it, but I think they doctors think that my chronic foot and ankle joint inflammation in combination of my weight will cause even more problems before any possible stomach problems. Their goal is to keep me out of a wheelchair. I am too young for joint replacement surgery. especially in the foot, and at two hundred and fifty pounds - ya dig? I think its extremely interesting from what I understand from the responses -- if the challenge is really not the drug, but the drug causing how much one consumes, maybe the band will be helpful -- im definitely willing to take that chance becuase I dont really have any other options. I appreciate all of your stories. Slow weightloss is better than no weight loss or weight gain. I guess I will have to have even more nutritional guidance and support.. maybe even rejoining weight watchers would be helpful. Thanks all

Thanks for the update Kendra, all sounds really good. The weight gain you can work on, that's an ongoing project! :shades_smile: Many of the Nov Nymphs have been away from the board and have come back recently. Most of us a doing well but not without some hiccups on the way. Good luck with the chemo and keep in touch! :teeth_smile:

There are so many myths and old wive’s tales with Bariatrics, I’ve never seen anything like it. The majority of successful weight loss patients eat artificial sweeteners. Unless you have a sensitivity to one (and there are plenty of other options), enjoy in moderation . Prior to my surgery, I spent years going back and forth between diets recommended to me by medical professionals or people in the fitness industry. I spent 3-6 months at a time not eating any artificial sweeteners because they’re “toxic” and cause “weight gain” according to my chiro, Dr at the time, and a trainer friend. I lost 5lbs on average in those times with high activity levels. Completely not worth it.