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I was told it's not good for you as it can cause acid to build up. There's also certain schools of thought that believe the fake sugars in gum may actually cause greater weight gain than sugar by stimulating your appetite. Either way I don't chew gum.

The term emotional eating is thrown around a lot, but not everyone understands what emotional eating really is. Emotional eating is eating and overeating that occurs when we use food as a way to cope with a feeling, situation, or a need that is not physical hunger. Emotional eating is eating that happens when we want to eat but our bodies don’t really need the fuel. Common kinds of emotional eating are “nervous eating,” eating when you are bored, using food as a “reward” (to feel good), or eating when you are lonely. Because this kind of eating isn’t tied to a physical need for food, it can easily cause weight gain. Here are three things EVERY weight loss surgery patient needs to know about emotional eating: 1. Many people don’t know that they are emotional eaters. How’s that? Well, emotional eating isn’t always as straightforward as feeling a feeling (“I’m anxious”) and then making a choice to eat. Here’s the tricky part. Over time, if you’ve learned to use food as a way to cope with certain feeling states or situations, your brain can stop identifying that you are eating for emotional reasons. Here’s an example. If when you’re stressed, you reach for a snack to comfort yourself, over time, your brain stops telling you, “You are stressed and you are going to try to cope with it by eating a cookie.” Over time, your brain may start skipping the emotion and move directly to interpreting that stressed feeling as physical hunger. You might not even realize that you are feeling stress. Your thinking will go like this: Something stressful will happen and you will start wanting a snack. You might even feel physically hungry. Food, not stress, will be the central thought in your mind. If you are someone who feels hungry “all the time,” emotional eating could very well be playing a hidden role. 2. Emotional eating and self-blame, shame and guilt go hand in hand. If you are feeling “out of control with your eating,” odds are that emotional eating is happening. The problem is, if emotional eating goes unrecognized, or if we don’t take it seriously, it’s easy to fall into a trap of guilt and self-blame for not being able to “stay in control” of your eating. Shame and guilt are never helpful when it comes to long term weight loss. They tend to breed isolation, negative self esteem, decreased hope, and ultimately more emotional eating and self-sabotage. If you are struggling with emotional eating and you don’t learn the tools you need to cope with the feelings, the odds are that you will continue to feel out of control with food. 3. If you don’t take control of emotional eating, it can take control of your weight loss plans. Research studies of individuals trying to lose weight find that people who eat for emotional reasons lose less weight and have a harder time keeping it off. The journal Obesity recently published an article concluding that successful weight loss programs should teach clients how to cope with emotional eating in order to improve the clients’ ability to lose weight and not regain it. The risk of weight gain is not the only reason that emotional eating is important to address. Failure to address emotional eating—using food to cope with feelings and needs and circumstances other than physiological hunger—can also contribute to difficulties with cross-addictions after weight loss surgery. If emotional eating is something that you struggle with, it’s important to know that no diet and no weight loss surgery will fix that for you. Taking control of emotional eating requires learning new effective ways to cope with your emotions. It’s not about the food. It’s also important to know that learning new tools to cope with emotional eating can be one of the most rewarding and life-changing gifts that you can give yourself. Learning new ways to cope with life issues and feelings allows you to tackle life head-on. When you do this, food becomes simpler, and your life grows bigger, and ultimately, more rewarding. Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. is a Psychologist and the founder of Enduring Change Coaching. She helps her clients create and live the life they crave. She is also the creator of the Emotional Eating Toolbox 28-day Program for Taking Control and Moving Beyond Dieting. Sign up for a free 5 part Self-care Package Audio Course, learn about upcoming WLS seminars and other programs or contact her www.enduringchange.com.

Sudden weight gains 99.999999999% of the time are just fluid fluctuations. It's weight gain, not fat gain. And fat's what we really care about, right? :biggrin:

Well. I know you are not talking about me there, because as a rule, I don't give advice on band related matters. People who see the advice as harsh, tend to do so because of something lacking in their lives. Be it exercise, eating right, or following the band rules. It hits too close to home. It hurts them because they know that it could be true, that they are NOT doing whatever it is that is being talked about, and that is the cause of their weight gain / failure to lose / whatever. People then go one of two ways. They do something about it, or they do nothing but whine about why it is so tough. Why they can't. Why they are special. So yeah. Maybe the second sorts are better ignored by those who give fantastic advice. But how would one know what group they "asker" ends up in if they do hit the ignore button?

Snuffy your advice is spot on! I have fought depression for years, ha - like since birth! Exercise really helps. I do take meds also but if I exercise they work much better and I am in a better mood. I had a real downhill snowball effect earlier in the year. I was doing relatively well at the exercise thing (crap at dieting, but that was pre-band). Not sure what I did but my back and hips (I'm hyperflexible, they pop out of place sometimes and swell) flaired up something severe and I had to start physical therapy. So I was told the only exercise I could do was what they were having me do there. A nice combiniation of pain all the time, weight gain, and not getting good cardio and I was a complete mess. I didn't start coming out of the funk again until I got over the hump of my pre-op diet and then recovered from the surgery. Back on the road to wellville now. Still having pain but of course exercise helps that too as long as I don't start thinking I am training for the Olympics again! My PCP says once I get to a weight where they'll take me seriously I can go to a sports medicine specialist. We can give each other good and correct info but you catch a lot more flies with honey as they say.

Alright Moni, you are killing me, really? 25-30 carbs, wow, that is impressive, I shoot for 60 and feel great if I make that. you have to share what your typical meal day looks like? I can't imagine. Especially because some days I try to do less meat, like I probably do vegetarian like 3 times a week, and those days of course the carbs are higher, many years of being a vegetarian, and even a vegan, and now I see that probably had something / well a lot to do with my constant weight gain. anyway I'm dying to hear if you are willing to share.

So I am 5 years post sleeve. I managed to get within 5 lbs of my goal and slowly slipped back into bad habits. When I went for my annual PCP appointment and saw the scales were reading 175, I almost cried. I hadn't been weighing myself over this past year due to my house flooding and all my stuff was in storage for 6 months. I realized that I had been wearing stretchy leggings and hadn't tried on a pair of jeans in a year (again everything was in storage and I bought a few comfy outfits to tide me over till the home repairs were complete) I went through my kitchen and pulled all processed foods, bread, flour, sugars, root veggies, fruits, cereals, pasta and rice. I gave these things away to my neighbors. I researched diets and weight gain after sleeve procedure. I have started following a modified Keto diet. I say modified because I try to keep my protein at 80 grams a day. So basically I have replaced carbs with healthy fats. My next step back on track was to come back to this site and read the different topics. It has been 2 weeks on my version of Keto and have lost 8 lbs! I still have problems eating enough calories and know my metabolism is slow so I eat what I can and spread a meal to be a 1/2 cup meal and 1/2 cup snack 2-3 hours later. I have found some great recipes online and have bought a few books about Keto diet. I have read up on resistant starches because I have not taken beans out of my diet. They are my source of Fiber and some protein. Since I only eat a couple tablespoon full of beans, I am testing the theory about resistant starches by eating the beans cold. Apparently when certain foods are cooked and then cooled, the carbs crystalize and become resistant to digestion (but are great food for gut flora). I bought a new scale (my old one was lost in the flood) and have started keeping track of what I eat. Coming back to this site and writing my story will help me keep on track to getting back to my goal weight.

@lark60 It’s great to talk with people years out. Sorry to hear about all the personal stress. Sounds like you have found what puts your body back into weight loss mode. Eight pounds down is fantastic. You can also inspire others struggling with weight gain. Welcome back, Jenn

Are you getting enough Protein in? Are you taking Vitamins? I know you are scared of gaining weight but I am afraid you might be sacrificing your health to be thin. Having an unfill does not necessarily mean weight gain, specially if you are being careful and consientious about your food choices. This is true if you are eating meat/proteins and focusing on getting more healthy foods in. It helps to be at the "sweet spot" but it sounds like you have bypassed it at the risk of your own health. You may see weight gain if you continue eating slider foods along with increased capacity that a looser fill provides. Slimfast might be helping you in the near term but may not be helpful over the long term. My doctor advised against drinking slimfast. She said that by taking in liquid/easy nutrition this way, it goes right through and I am not allowing the band to help me by giving me the full sensation. It is not very satisfying in the long run. I have been reading posts on different web sites for a long time. One recurrent them that I have seen that people who are too tight for a long time is lack of weight loss (not to mention the physical side effects). It doesn't have to be a large unfill, but something small may get you back to a more healthy diet and the additional weight loss you desire.

I had lost 3 lbs. then at my last visit to set the surgery date I had gained seven. I told the doctor I had quit smoking and was trying to fight both battles. Plus my insurance was changing and they were not going to cover the operation, I had a appointment within two weeks to be banded on Dec. 30th. And they were strict also about the no weight gain. It all in how you present it.

To "work the band" optimally, you should have hard protein for your "main meal" of the day. This includes beef, pork, fish, chicken, soy, etc.). You need to cut the protein into SMALL pieces, THOROUGHLY chew each piece, and eat 4-6 ounces. I was told to eat all the protein first, then the veggies and then the starch. Often, I can get in the protein, about half the veggies and just a few tastes of the starch. When people are too restricted, they go to "softer" foods and avoid hard proteins because they can get these foods PAST the band. Often, this can result in weight GAIN not to mention damage to the esophagus, etc. if left too tight for too long. I will sometimes have spaghetti with a meatball and that's fine. We're supposed to eat like "normal" people. I typically have 4 oz of lite ricotta cheeses, coffee and vitamins for breakfast, cereal or a salad with some turkey or tuna for lunch and a balanced dinner (fish, steamed green beans, rice for example). I buy 100 calorie pack snacks and 60 calories puddings and 80 calorie fudge pops for treats. I hope that helps.

Firstly congratulations on your initial weight loss and for keeping up the exercise regime...it isn't easy. It's a sad fact that we bandsters do in fact have to diet to lose our weight (or as others prefer to put it "make the right food choices") and if we falter on this or our capacity increases due to an unfill then the inevitable happens. Never heard of a body bugg but sounds great advice.....I use fitday.com to monitor what I eat and what I use up and it helps keep me focused once my mind is in the right direction. I would definitely try a small fill and see how it goes, as you seem to be doing everything else right. As for your weight gain....don't worry about it, as the band is there to help you in these times......I lost 150lbs in my 1st year then regained 84 of them very quickly (chocolate has that effect) but have since lost that again and am now striving to lose the rest of what I should have lost by now. We bandsters (most of us) need to diet and exercise I'm afraid, to be a success, so you will get there (you wouldn't like to kick me up the backside to get me to workout 4-5 times a week would you please? lol) Don't be too hard on yourself.....you're doing great!!

When you're sick you do what you can to get liquids in, and so don't beat yourself up about that. Just put it behind you and get back on the path. Stressing over things releases cortisol and that can cause weight gain, so don't let stress get the better of you. You analyzed the problem, it was temporary, and you knew enough to come here and get encouragement to get back on track. Way to go!!! You did great!!!

yes - it would be a huge mistake not to wait. A vast majority of people put on 10-20 lbs after hitting their lowest weight. You really need to be at your final weight - and stay there for a few months - before investing in plastic surgery. A weight gain or loss of more than 10 lbs or so will affect your results.

a lot of plastic surgeons want you to be at a stable weight for 6-12 months before getting plastic surgery. Reason being is a lot of us experience a 10-20 lb bounce back after hitting our lowest weight. Gaining or losing more than 10 or 12 lbs after plastic surgery can affect your results. I actually waited two years until I was absolutely sure I was at a stable weight. also, it's good to get someone who specializes in people who've had massive weight loss, or at minimum, someone who has done a truckload of these surgeries. It's supposed a pretty complicated subspecialty, so you want to make sure you have someone who's had a lot of experience with it. Keep in mind that the pictures they post on their Web site are probably going to reflect their best work, so look at sites like realself.com, too. Check belly buttons - those are supposedly hard to do. I've seen some crappy-looking post-surgical belly buttons.

To each their own. One person's "rush" is another person's lifetime. I booked my PS consults ONE WEEK after reaching goal weight (7 months after WLS). Had the actual PS surgeries 7 months later, (14 months after WLS)...and only because it was the earliest he could get me on his schedule. He (nor the other 3 surgeons I consulted with) had any time requirement to be at a stable weight. In fact, I lost another 12 lbs by the time surgery came around. At the time, my surgeon seemed to be more concerned about further weight loss after surgery than weight gain, at least in theoretical terms of how the skin at the the incision lines *may* have an undesirable "pucker" look depending on how your the scars heal. He said a 10lb loss would probably have more undesirable look-effects than a 20lb gain...but again depending on how your scars heal. In terms of weight gain, he said possible effects would be widening of scars (again depending on how you heal, AND how much you gain). I figure if I gain or lose weight in the future, and don't like how it looks, then I will do whatever I am prepared to do at that time to address it then. Maybe I'll have to re-tool my diet/exercise to "re-fit" my skin, maybe I'll have another surgery, maybe I won't care. But TODAY, I am completely and totally happy with my decision to get what I got and the timeline it was performed. Bring on bikini season!!! Do what makes YOU happy and what is in your means to do so. Good Luck! P.S. I am really excited for you though...PS is a GAME CHANGER.

Hey Twin yeah the website acting crazy had me bummed out. I get on here everyday or every other day just to kinda check in or read up on stuff but its wouldn't let me do anything ugh. So glad it's back to norm now. Your lucky to be starting foods now I can't start mine for another week. The mushies have been going good for me I find myself not as hungry and I still drink 2 protein shakes everyday. I mainly stick to cottage cheese and yogurt and I have 1 cup instant mashed potatos that I take to work if I get hungry. But so far so good. Easter i kinda ate a little more becuz it was a holiday lol. But it was all mushy So as far as no weight gain no weight lost it's going to happen no worries there just keep doing what your doing it's going to come off. As far as workout I have a gazelle it's like a sking machine i guess it works your whole body and it's fun. I aslo have a treadmill but it's a manuel one so it's super had to do. My dr cleared me so light exercise just no kinda ab workouts. My incision where my port is the corner is kinda infected so I have been cleaning it and putting neosporin on it, it's starting to itch so im assuming it's healing. But other then that everything is goin ok.

This will be long. It'll be for those who are checking out the thread and those who just want to be reminded. It's a rant about Type II Diabetes from Dr Garth on his FB page some time back. LOL ENJOY READING! So, this is going to be a long rant with lots of scientific references, reader beware. The cliff notes: carbs do not cause Type 2 diabetes, meat does! I will provide references at the end of the post. "But wait a second" you may say. "My sugar goes up when I eat carbs, so carbs must be to blame". You are not alone in this thought. Even the President of The American Society of Bariatric Medicine thinks this way. He believes that if your sugars are low you are cured of diabetes. SO he puts people on low carb diets , and in fact the studies show low carb diets will lowers blood sugar, go figure. But has diabetes been cured? Are they healthier? Low carb studies are very short term and use lab results as their end points, not end organ disease. They don't prove that low carb diets reduce heart disease, they show that it raises HDL and since high HDL is associated with less heart disease they assume that heart disease is lower. Likewise, they assume diabetes is cured when blood sugar is low, but has diabetes been cured? Not at all. As soon as the patient eats a carb the blood sugar will rise. Why? Because they still have insulin resistance. So many people make the mistake of thinking diabetes is a disease of high blood sugar. High blood sugar is just a symptom, the disease is insulin resistance. This is why I see so many failed Atkins and protein fast patients. So what causes insulin resistance. This is the big question. Treating the symptom and not the cause is the typical western medicine paradigm. We need to look beyond. The fact is the biggest consumer of sugar, the organ most affected by insulin, are your muscles. I find it ridiculous that people, like Robert Lustig and Gary Taubes, talk about insulin as some kind of awful hormone. Why would we evolve to have an evil hormone that is in every single person. Insulin is only a problem when the body is resistant to insulin. Insulin serves a vital purpose, which is to get the fuel into the cells, and muscle needs glucose to generate fuel. Our bodies are built to live off sugar. Insulin is supposed to join to an insulin receptor on the surface of the muscle cell which allows the sugar to enter the body and then be utilized to produce energy in the mitochondria. In fact, the healthiest people in the world eat tons of carbs. The Sardinians and the Okinawans eat 80% of their calories from starches and yet their insulin levels are not sky high, and their blood sugars are normal. So what causes the muscle to become insulin resistant. Well this is a little more complex but it appears that it is fat build up in the muscle cell. Excess fat entering the cells interferes with the muscle cells ability to produce insulin receptors. If the muscle cannot make insulin receptors then sugar cannot get into the cell and then the sugar starts to build up in the system. Then the pancreas has to produce even more insulin to try and force sugar into the cells, and now you start getting high insulin levels. Moderate insulin is good but high insulin inhibits an enzyme called hormone sensitive lipase causing even more fat accumulation, and a vicious cycle begins. This then begs the question, "what causes fat to accumulate in the muscle cell"? Well, there are many theories. One is that insulin combined with lipids in the blood stream after eating causes intramyocellular fat. This makes sense. So if you eat steak believe it or not your insulin rises. It is also filled with fat. The insulin will cause fat to be accumulated in the cell. The same thing would happen if you ate a donut or a pizza. These are not carbs. They have carbs but they actually have more fat than carbs. Other theories are that inflammation causes the muscle cell to dysfunction and not oxidate fat, causing fat accumulation. There is definitely evidence that acid accumulation cause insulin resistance likely from muscle cell dysfunction. Type II diabetes has been rising at astounding rates. How does our diet differ? We are eating a very acidic diet with too little of the bicarbonate producing plants as our ancestors did! Meat based diets are very acidic and cause inflammation which results in intramyocellular fat. There are even models that show certain amino acids will cause direct deposit of fat in the muscle cells. There is some fascinating research looking at MRI's of people's muscles which show that athletes are able to mobilize fat easily from their muscle but overweight people cannot. This raises the additional question as to whether exercise has an affect on intramyocellular fat. There is also a good body of studies showing high iron stores can affect insulin resistance. As you may know, meat is high in a particularly toxic form of iron which can further attribute to insulin resistance. Interestingly, carbs are readily burned in our body or stored as glycogen. It is actually very difficult to turn carbs to fat. The only time carbs become fat is when glycogen stores are full and calorie intake has exceeded expenditure. A nutrition professor proved this by eating a high sugar diet but keeping calories less than 1800 calories. Despite eating almost purely sugar, he lost weight and his insulin resistance improved. So if what I tell you is true then it should work in a randomized control trial and in epidemiologic studies of populations of people. In fact, it does. Dr. Turner-Mcgrievy and Dr. Barnard have put it to the test. They took diabetics and randomized to either vegan diet or the typical ADA, high protein diet recommended by doctors. Despite eating high carbs and lots of fruit, the vegan group had significantly greater drop in A1C. We can see this in action in many different epidemiological studies too. The EPIC/Panacea study, which is the largest epidemiological study ever done on food and disease, found no correlation between carb consumption and development of diabetes, but meat had strong correlation to diabetes. In fact, fructose consumption was associated with less diabetes. This becomes more understandable when you know that meat causes inflammation, acidosis, stimulates insulin, and has fat. People tend to think Type II diabetes is genetic, but diabetes is affecting all races at this point. In fact, Japanese had low rates of diabetes but if they migrated to Brazil, which is having a crisis of diabetes, they get very high rates of diabetes. In fact, the Brazil government has made recs to decrease meat. The same recs are being given by the Japanese government which has noted an increasing rate of diabetes with the increasing meat consumption. One of the best long term studies is the Adventist Healthy study as they followed a large population for many years. The population was healthier in general due to lack of smoking and drinking and moderate exercise, making them an excellent study given less confounding factors. The vegans had considerably lower diabetes than the meat eaters. Even Harvard's Nurses Health Study, which is the largest and longest epidemiologic study in America, shows a significant relationship between animal protein consumption and Type II DM formation. Let me also add that the randomized control trials and epidemiological studies, unlike the low carb studies, show improvement in end organ function. Less heart disease, less kidney dysfunction, less neuropathy, and longer life. Most of all. Let me tell you that it is absolutely ridiculous to eat less fruit, as the president of the American Society of Bariatric Medicine claimed at our meeting. Studies show that fruit consumption does NOT increase A1C and is actually associated with weight loss and diabetes control. Studies show increasing carbs actually controls diabetes if they are whole grains, fruits and veggies! There are so many studies that prove this point. I have included just a sample below. Gimeno, S. G., et al. (2002). "Prevalence and 7-year incidence of Type II diabetes mellitus in a Japanese-Brazilian population: an alarming public health problem." Diabetologia 45(12): 1635-1638. de Carvalho, A. M., et al. (2013). "Excessive meat consumption in Brazil: diet quality and environmental impacts." Public Health Nutr 16(10): 1893-1899. Morimoto, A. (2010). Trends in the Epidemiology of Patients with Diabetes in Japan. JMAJ. 53: 36-40. Adeva, M. M. and G. Souto (2011). "Diet-induced metabolic acidosis." Clin Nutr 30(4): 416-421. Souto, G., et al. (2011). "Metabolic acidosis-induced insulin resistance and cardiovascular risk." Metab Syndr Relat Disord 9(4): 247-253. Sebastian, A., et al. (2002). "Estimation of the net acid load of the diet of ancestral preagricultural Homo sapiens and their hominid ancestors." Am J Clin Nutr 76(6): 1308-1316. Dawson-Hughes, B., et al. (2008). "Alkaline diets favor lean tissue mass in older adults." Am J Clin Nutr 87(3): 662-665. Jenkins, D. J., et al. (2003). "Type 2 diabetes and the vegetarian diet." Am J Clin Nutr 78(3 Suppl): 610S-616S. Holt, S. H., et al. (1997). "An insulin index of foods: the insulin demand generated by 1000-kJ portions of common foods." Am J Clin Nutr 66(5): 1264-1276. Barnard, N. D., et al. (2009). "A low-fat vegan diet and a conventional diabetes diet in the treatment of type 2 diabetes: a randomized, controlled, 74-wk clinical trial." Am J Clin Nutr 89(5): 1588S-1596S. Barnard, N. D., et al. (2006). "A low-fat vegan diet improves glycemic control and cardiovascular risk factors in a randomized clinical trial in individuals with type 2 diabetes." Diabetes Care 29(8): 1777-1783. Barnard, R. J., et al. (1998). "Diet-induced insulin resistance precedes other aspects of the metabolic syndrome." J Appl Physiol (1985) 84(4): 1311-1315. Stubbs, R. J., et al. (1997). "Carbohydrates and energy balance." Ann N Y Acad Sci 819: 44-69. Bloomer, R. J., et al. (2010). "Effect of a 21 day Daniel Fast on metabolic and cardiovascular disease risk factors in men and women." Lipids Health Dis 9: 94. Snowdon, D. A. and R. L. Phillips (1985). "Does a vegetarian diet reduce the occurrence of diabetes?" Am J Public Health 75(5): 507-512 Tonstad, S., et al. (2009). "Type of vegetarian diet, body weight, and prevalence of type 2 diabetes." Diabetes Care 32(5): 791-796. Fung, T. T., et al. (2004). "Dietary patterns, meat intake, and the risk of type 2 diabetes in women." Arch Intern Med 164(20): 2235-2240. Jornayvaz, F. R., et al. (2010). "A high-fat, ketogenic diet causes hepatic insulin resistance in mice, despite increasing energy expenditure and preventing weight gain." Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 299(5): E808-815. Valachovicová, M., et al. (2006). "No evidence of insulin resistance in normal weight vegetarians. A case control study." Eur J Nutr 45(1): 52-54. Frassetto, L., et al. (2001). "Diet, evolution and aging--the pathophysiologic effects of the post-agricultural inversion of the potassium-to-sodium and base-to-chloride ratios in the human diet." Eur J Nutr 40(5): 200-213. Flanagan, A. M., et al. (2008). "High-fat diets promote insulin resistance through cytokine gene expression in growing female rats." J Nutr Biochem 19(8): 505-513. Cai, H., et al. (2007). "A prospective study of dietary patterns and mortality in Chinese women." Epidemiology 18(3): 393-401. Schulze, M. B., et al. (2003). "Processed meat intake and incidence of Type 2 diabetes in younger and middle-aged women." Diabetologia 46(11): 1465-1473. Song, Y., et al. (2004). "A prospective study of red meat consumption and type 2 diabetes in middle-aged and elderly women: the women's health study." Diabetes Care 27(9): 2108-2115. Vang, A., et al. (2008). "Meats, processed meats, obesity, weight gain and occurrence of diabetes among adults: findings from Adventist Health Studies." Ann Nutr Metab 52(2): 96-104. Pan, A., et al. (2013). "Changes in Red Meat Consumption and Subsequent Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Three Cohorts of US Men and Women." JAMA Intern Med: 1-8. Ahmadi-Abhari, S., et al. (2014). "Dietary intake of carbohydrates and risk of type 2 diabetes: the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer-Norfolk study." Br J Nutr 111(2): 342-352. Lara-Castro, C. and W. T. Garvey (2008). "Intracellular lipid accumulation in liver and muscle and the insulin resistance syndrome." Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am 37(4): 841-856. Cozma, A. I., et al. (2012). "Effect of fructose on glycemic control in diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled feeding trials." Diabetes Care 35(7): 1611-1620. Azadbakht, L. and A. Esmaillzadeh (2009). "Soy-protein consumption and kidney-related biomarkers among type 2 diabetics: a crossover, randomized clinical trial." J Ren Nutr 19(6): 479-486. Sørensen, L. B., et al. (2005). "Effect of sucrose on inflammatory markers in overweight humans." Am J Clin Nutr 82(2): 421-427. Montonen, J., et al. (2013). "Consumption of red meat and whole-grain bread in relation to biomarkers of obesity, inflammation, glucose metabolism and oxidative stress." Eur J Nutr 52(1): 337-345. Barbaresko, J., et al. (2013). "Dietary pattern analysis and biomarkers of low-grade inflammation: a systematic literature review." Nutr Rev 71(8): 511-527. Muraki, I., et al. (2013). "Fruit consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes: results from three prospective longitudinal cohort studies." BMJ 347: f5001. Ye, E. Q., et al. (2012). "Greater whole-grain intake is associated with lower risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and weight gain." J Nutr 142(7): 1304-1313. Chiu, T. H., et al. (2014). "Taiwanese Vegetarians and Omnivores: Dietary Composition, Prevalence of Diabetes and IFG." PLoS One 9(2): e88547. Goff, L. M., et al. (2005). "Veganism and its relationship with insulin resistance and intramyocellular lipid." Eur J Clin Nutr 59(2): 291-298. Esposito, K., et al. (2003). "Effect of dietary antioxidants on postprandial endothelial dysfunction induced by a high-fat meal in healthy subjects." Am J Clin Nutr 77(1): 139-143. Jiang, R., et al. (2004). "Body iron stores in relation to risk of type 2 diabetes in apparently healthy women." JAMA 291(6): 711-717. Hua, N. W., et al. (2001). "Low iron status and enhanced insulin sensitivity in lacto-ovo vegetarians." Br J Nutr 86(4): 515-519. Watzl, B. (2008). "Anti-inflammatory effects of plant-based foods and of their constituents." Int J Vitam Nutr Res 78(6): 293-298. Chandalia, M., et al. (2000). "Beneficial effects of high dietary fiber intake in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus." N Engl J Med 342(19): 1392-1398. Pickup, J. C. (2004). "Inflammation and activated innate immunity in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes." Diabetes Care 27(3): 813-823. Deopurkar, R., et al. (2010). "Differential effects of cream, glucose, and orange juice on inflammation, endotoxin, and the expression of Toll-like receptor-4 and suppressor of cytokine signaling-3." Diabetes Care 33(5): 991-997. Ghanim, H., et al. (2009). "Increase in plasma endotoxin concentrations and the expression of Toll-like receptors and suppressor of cytokine signaling-3 in mononuclear cells after a high-fat, high-carbohydrate meal: implications for insulin resistance." Diabetes Care 32(12): 2281-2287. Bao, W., et al. (2012). "Dietary iron intake, body iron stores, and the risk of type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis." BMC Med 10: 119. Romeu, M., et al. (2013). "Diet, iron biomarkers and oxidative stress in a representative sample of Mediterranean population." Nutr J 12(1): 102. Cooper, A. J., et al. (2012). "A prospective study of the association between quantity and variety of fruit and vegetable intake and incident type 2 diabetes." Diabetes Care 35(6): 1293-1300. Rizzo, N. S., et al. (2011). "Vegetarian dietary patterns are associated with a lower risk of metabolic syndrome: the adventist health study 2." Diabetes Care 34(5): 1225-1227. Consortium, I. (2013). 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Sherri- My heart goes out to you!! My sister just went through this same thing about 1 year ago. She had been married for 7 years, 3 small children and had no idea her hubby was on his way out. He was wonderful for the first few years but then when he turned 29 it got really bad. He complained about what he had in life and didn't have, weight gain and losing his hair (mind you he was only 29....good grief!!!) Anyway, he went to work one Friday and didn't come home after work, somewhat had become the norm. He would go out with guys and they would set up and drink all night but he would usually come home by 3-4 am. This night in particular he didn't come home until 9:30 the next morning. Had every excuse in the world. My sister loving him ever so faithfully, let it go. She didn't believe him but she let it drop for the day. That night we had a family function for a wedding reception with dance. They got there about 6 and he told her they had to go at 7:45. Said he was tired and wanted to go home. Went home, dropped her off. She asked where are you going and he said where ever I want. I will be back. He came home the next morning at 10AM (mother's day last year) and said I am moving out I have found someone else. Walked out and didn't give her a cent. 10 months later he had a baby with 'the other women'. The divorce wasn't even final yet. The family pitched in and helped her but I tell ya we were all soooo worried about her. Now she is 57 lbs lighter, is socialiing with friends again and has a life. She hasn't been like she is now since before she got with him. She is doing so much better and just the other day we were talking about the whole thing. He has bothered her a few times since leaving with one day he wants her back and the next she is worthless. She fell for this a long time. Then we talked her into counseling. It has done her womnders and given her life back. She had stayed home for so many years and done everything for him and now she is living for her daughters and herself. He still gets angry because she doesn't take anything from him now. She has her own life and if he doesn't like something......TOO BAD!! I know what you are going through right now. I too was married before. He cheated on me in the very beginning and even after 10 years of marriage it still hadn't gone away. I honestly don't think that is something people can get past. Good luck to you. You are NOT asking for sympathy. Just compassion. We all need that. Exspecially at times like these. It may seem like you can't do it without him but believe me you can. I am now remarried but I am also a very INDEPENDENT women now. My new hubby and I have the problem that he feels that I don't 'need' him. I do....but I can also take care of myself. Good luck and I hope things work out for you. Come here and talk anytime. We will listen!

I haven't gained any weight i spoke to my nut and she wants to put me at 2000 calories per day. I thought she was crazy I humored her and asked how many more calories do I need to eat while pregnant and she said 300 more per day so I'm going with 1750 for the day that will keep me at my current weight. Since I'm really at maintenance now. I'm going to be seeing a perinatologist soon so not sure if he is going to recommend a amnio or not. My OB wants me to gain 15 lbs max he's a real stickler when it comes to weight gain.

I know there is so much more to weight gains than just food addiction. I wonder sometimes if I've gained weight to "test" relationships that I have, Push people away...

So I told a friend who has had gastric bypass that I was considering lapband. Below is her response. It has me scared - this is a knowledgable, intelligent friend. I need some input, please! I have one comment to make, Tracey. VBG, or vertical banded gastroplasty / LAP band procedure, is not as successful as the all-out roux-en-y bypass. They are both surgical procedures. If you are going to do one it may as well be the roux-en-y. I'd suggest you look into it. Yes...it is permanent and they will actually cut your stomach to form a pouch and reroute your intestine and shorten it a bit. But your weight loss will be larger and you will see quicker results. I have heard of people dying from complications on both surgeries and one shouldn't make this decision hastily or take it lightly. Either procedure is serious. But I do have to say that after seeing results from both, there are fewer weight gains post loss with the roux-en-y than with the VBG/LAP. I did extensive research when I was considering surgery. I have several friends who were scared of having the same procedure as I did so they did the band. Big mistake. They ended up losing very little to begin with, got frustrated and gained everything back, plus. YES, it IS possible to gain it back...but the gains I have seen have been more popular with the band. By the way - they don't often warn you that the band can slip up and that you can actually choke on your vomit either while awake or in your sleep (which is what happened to 2 people I know. One person died, the other almost died. I don't know anyone that died from the roux-en-y, but I almost did...and 1 other person I know almost did...and another had some serious complications...but we all recovered and had major losses. The only reason I gained back some of my weight was because of fertility drugs, and I'm having a hard time losing that weight now. But I can assure you that I am still down about 110 pounds...so that's pretty incredible. I hope that you can do whatever makes you happy...but I think making an educated decision is really important.

Annie---I REALLY like your cut too! In fact – I noticed that you are looking good too (weight-wise). Fenton—I know exactly what you mean regarding the conferences. I always go with a plan of “being good.” It works for the first day or 2 and then I eat something that is off my plan. But - I also have found that I can at least try to make better off-plan choices so there isn’t any weight gain by the time I get back home. It’s important to be realistic about what we have to deal with. Last summer I was in a poor area of central Africa with nothing but potato potato, and more potato with a very small amount of meat everyday. There was just no way I could stick to low carb. I have found that it can help a lot to at least bring low carb bars with me on trips.

Hi TaraJane I have also cancelled several appointments recently. Its just so humiliating having to get on those scales and have the nurse record the weight gain. I actually gathered up my courage and went back for a fill in April. Unfortunately, I got too much put in and I basically couldnt eat any solids. I lost 4 kilos in two weeks but it was so horrible, I had to get the band loosened again. Of course, I've regained the 4 kilos and now I'm nervous about getting a refill as well as embarrased about the weight gain. Do you want to support each other in making a commitment to go back for a fill within the next month (no matter what the scales say)? I'm game, if you are.

Ive gained backed 7 lbs this fall as ive not been able to walk or run due to a heel injury. ( No walking allowed until January ) Id give anything to be able to run , so if your body is strong enough to exercise, try to take advantage of it ! Find something you like, or try something you've never tried before. How about cycling class, swimming, dance class , etc. As far as food, my weight gain is also because im eating too many sweets ! Sugar is my kryptonite ! I don't cook much differently than I did before, we just lean meals towards Diabetic cooking, its all good and lots of variety. Try googling for some meal ideas. Good luck !!