Search the Community

I have no weight gain or loss to report on this challenge yet. Got a fill this a.m .3cc, think I need more but have decided to go a little at a time. Driving back to RI now, just came home to Ct for the appt. Don;t have much time for the forum lately. things will calm down soon and I'll check in on all the great weight losses I'm sure you're all posting!!!

I really like what you've said and agree that I would rather feel like I can have an ocassional treat here and there, even if that means losing the weight slower. Although I am very frustrated with my recent almost complete shut down on losing weight, I did just get back from a 2 week road trip where I was out of control in what I was eating pretty much the whole time. I was prepared for a 5-10 lb weight gain when I returned, but surprisingly I only gained ONE pound!! If I had actually eaten more healthily during this trip I might have LOST weight! As it is, though, I am very pleased that the restriction I still have has kept me from binging and eating too much in one sitting, which makes a big difference for me.

You are going to drive yourself crazy if you track your weight to the gram daily. Weight gain or loss is not linear. Think about it: if you drink 16 ounces of water, that is zero calories, but until you excrete it through urine, sweat, etc., you will have gained a pound. Obviously, that is not the same thing as gaining a pound of fat from eating more calories than you’re burning. A lot of people only weigh themselves once per week (or less often), and you might want to consider that if seeing a temporary weight gain is going to upset you. If you can’t help checking more frequently than that, you could just record it once per week (no matter how many times you step on the scale) so you can see your long-term progress without the day-to-day fluctuations.

There are two places your body stores sugar as fuel: your liver, and your muscles. Stored sugar is called glycogen. Glycogen molecules are attached to Water molecules at a ratio of 1:4, so for every ounce of glycogen you've got in your liver, you've got another 4 ounces of water. Much of the weight loss on a preop diet or other low-carb diet initially is the glycogen and the water. Once you deplete glycogen (by limiting carbs), eating carbs again causes you to restore glycogen and water - so the "weight gain" from going off a low carb regimen is actually lean mass and water, not fat. Hope this helps!

Hi I can empathize with your frustration level. I was banded Jan 08 and I was doing fine until October when we went to Australia. I haven't had a fill since Sept and though I had decided to just eat whatever while we were away now I am feeling the effects. we were only home for two weeks then we have been away again visiting family and friends for Christmas and eating whatever. Unfortunately, the foods that slide cause the weight gain. I need a fill and motivation to get back on the wagon. We are going home tomorrow and I hope to stop for a fill if I can get an appt. Let me know how you do. We'll compare notes. Good luck to you.

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.

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.

ok mine is going to make everyone laugh if you can see the humour in it and I cannot believe I am being this honest.... I was a former abused wife and one of the things used was force feeding....literally...I always laugh now when someone says well it isn't like someone shoved the food down your throat....I am in a better place so now I just answer umm yep they did...lol...for sure not the reason for all the weight gain but still...so for me I am looking so forward to a time when my kids are involved and I have to run into my ex.....hahahahahahahahahahahahaha see the thought makes me giddy.....I have reached the physical success that far supersedes his. Now the weight...I know what an awful goal....but whatever works....*grin*

Darcy its good to see you, I was getting worried. Be gentle on your back okay......Hey chicken little, I know your struggling with your eating lately but hang in there, some times we just go through these awful slumps that last longer than we want but you'll make it threw. Hey I was thinking... could your depression be part of the eating culprit? I know for me 90% of my eating and weight gain is b/c of depression. I can do good during some of the summer... like a high but then poof.... the rest of the year I get depressed enough to start shoveling chit into my face and not really knowing why the hell I'm doing it. Also food is my drug of choice... no matter how I'm feeling, I run to food and don't know how not to :Banane27: Cindy I don't know if there's such a thing as reverse SAD, I mean I don't see why not. Depression affects people in so many different ways. I bet your dd is having a blast co-babysitting. I know my dd would love it ! Well its time for me to put on my PJ's I've had enuf sun today and Im pleasantly pooped lol. Y'all have a wonderful evening... I wish we could all sit together on a beautiful evening like this and share some coffee or tea and chat. Hugs and Kisses !!!

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.

That's wonderful news! I met my bf on POF and I love him to death but he can eat whatever he wants and it's hard to have him in my life sometimes. I've gained back 15 lbs that I am trying desperately to lose. He eats sweets in front of me all the time. I wanted love in my life so it's worth whatever weight gain! I'm trying hard and I've been sleeved 4 years now. Life goes on! I hope you two are really happy and please post a wedding picture!

I was just thinking this morning that if some of the posters were so stupid to post the comment they did then they were just too much of an idiot to undertake major surgery. Basics such as how many calories it takes to actually gain/lose a pound of fat and the realization that if you're eating <1000 calories a day your 1 or 2 lb weight gain isn't fat. And, another of my favorite comment made prior to surgery "I know I can lose the weight with WLS because I don't make poor food choices today. It's just quantity." Yeah, right.

Weight gain after surgery is normal from all that sailine they pump you full of. Drink lots of water and it will be gone in no time

Congrat AuriP on getting your walks in. Just got caught up reading all the posts since Beni started this group. Lots of good tips. Thanks Beni for starting this group it helps me keep focused on the long haul. No more struggling up steps, no more airplane seat extenders, no more buying clothes I really don't like just because they fit, no more giving excuses to get out of day trips that consist of walking more than 2 blocks, no more Cpap, no more Pre Diabetes & no more yo yo dieting & weight gain. KarenAllen you got this .... You'll be home soon. October is a great month to finally win the battle!!

I'm Julie. Born and raised in Louisiana but married a Mississippi man and moved here to be with him. I'm 40 y/o. Married to my soul mate and mother of a 17 yr old son with special needs. I work 2 jobs. So life is stressful. I was thin and even a beauty queen in my younger years but weight gain begin in my early 20's. my first consultation is Jan 14 w Dr Borland in Louisiana. I'm self pay ($9800) and I am hoping to schedule my surgery Feb 26. I hope to lose 130-160 lbs.

Cindy, the elliptical is OK as long as I move slowly. Walking a lot hurts because of the up and down motion on my neck. That accident is what did me in with this weight gain. I had other issues too but the lack of activity is what makes it so hard to lose and easy to gain. I agree with you that it's better to lose it slowly even if we get impatient. I'm concerned about loose skin too which I already had on my belly from the kids. Even when I was much, much thinner the belly was sagging from excess skin. Now I can't imagine what it will look like when the weight is off. At this point, I will be happy to look good in clothes. Worry about the skin later. A tummy tuck may not be out of the question for me except I am tired of having surgery. A year before my neck surgery, I had my gall bladder removed. Apparently putting on 50 lbs in one year when my dad was sick gave me gallstones. So I have had 3 surgeries in 15 months. Too much! I could play "connect the dots" with my scars! I figure if the loose skin really bugs me, I'll think about plastic surgery. What's another scar? Anyway, you must look great! Don't worry about the excess skin and concentrate on how good you look 100 lbs thinner!

Alex, I have always had an ALL-OR-NOTHING mentality throughout my life..... only where weight loss, dieting, and exercise was concerned. Thus, I had never been able to MAINTAIN a weight loss. As soon as I would lose, and hit my first plateau, I would start to gain. But, my decision to give up daily and weekly weigh-ins has changed me. I don't see the stalls or plateaus as much, so I don't throw in the towel, so to speak. It was very liberating for ME. Plateaus in the past, would put me over the edge, and in the end, always resulted in weight GAIN, because I couldn't handle them. Enjoyed your article. It made me realize again that the road to weight loss and getting fit is NOT a straight path, but a road with twists, turns, and even plateaus along the way!

I also agree with the letter, but try to keep the lines of communication open to her, and let her know that your concern for her weight is not about looks. I have fought with my weight since having children and it depressed me to no end, and remarks like "you shouldn't be eating that" did nothing but make me eat more. Then with the weight gain came the diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol, depression, etc. I had to start taking meds for everything, and Celexa for depression (Celexa RULES, by the way) and I started worrying about my health but kept it to myself and just got more depressed. Finally one day my husband told me that we needed to talk, he said "I'm afraid" and I asked him what he was afraid about. He told me "I'm afraid for your health, I'm afraid you are going to die and leave me alone, and I just don't know if I could go on without you". He then went on to say he loved me, no matter what I weighed, and would always love me, but that he wanted me be around to see our children get married, and to enjoy and share in having grandchildren together. He said he wanted me to outlive him and he was afraid that wasn't going to happen if my health go any worse. Well, that was a real eye opener for me. Not only was he telling me that he loved me unconditionally, but for the first time I realized how much of an effect my weight had on him and how it was affecting the both of us. I started researching options and found the band. I'm a newbie, have only been banded for three weeks, and I realize I'm having to make changes in my life, but seeing how he is supporting me has made all the difference in the world. Yes, I am doing this for me, but my other motivation is to grow old with the most important person in my life, the one who cared enough about me to be honest and understanding. I wish you and your wife the best on your journey. If there is any way to get across to her that there are so many people going through what she is going through, she may find that talking to some of us can give her hope.

6 months, lost 86lbs, I'm at my goal weight as by bmi is normal, now I need to maintain hopefully for the rest of my life. Getting scared of possible weight gain, I'm still going down, I'm eating about 1200 cal a day, 60/80 gr of protein, light exercise. Gradually I'm eating more so I'm worry if I could gain weight terrify by that idea. I'm finally happy with myself.

Alot of nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine. The reason for not drinking fluids with the meal is so that the food isn't flushed down to the small intestine where your stomach isn't giving a full signal, therefore, we eat more. That could add to increased weight gain or no weight loss at all.

Weight update: I have gained a TOTAL of 49.4 lbs this pregnancy so far....12 of those pounds I gained before I went in for my first intake appointment (because I had my lapband loosened and ate like there was NO tomorrow) so they are only counting 37 lbs gained on this pregnancy. My weight gain has slowed alot these past few weeks (less than a lb a week now) as the baby is getting bigger and i'm finally eating less...LOL How have the rest of you fared and how hard (for those of you with previous band babies) was it to take off afterwards??

I had my 32 week ob/gyn appointment today. I went from a belly measurement of 28 to 30 centimeters from 2 weeks ago, which although smaller than typical for gestational age she is still growing appropriately. I gained 1.5 pounds in two weeks which is actually pretty decent. My first month without a fill I caught up with all my weight gain expected for the first 5-6 months in a single month. That really scared me to say the least but I am happy I am back on track. Total weight gain so far is 20 pounds from 12 weeks when I had my first ob visit to 32 weeks (not including the 5 pound loss in the first 12 weeks). So net gain is 15 pounds - not too bad considering I have less than 2 months to go. If I gain a pound a week for the next 8 weeks, that is only 23 pounds. Even if I go up to 30, I can live with that and feel like I accomplished something good (gained 67 with my first pregnancy). I should lose most of that before I leave the hospital :0). Anyways, I feel like a dork that I haven't updated my ticker. I just don't have the heart to do it yet. 138 was an unbelievable number for me and beyond my wildest imagination of how low I could really go - 158 just doesn't feel as good, lol. Perhaps I should put a pregnancy disclaimer on there, I looked at your blog and it is just about the same issue, lol. Only real difference being mine is more of a short girls rant instead of tall one. :0) I am just aggravated that I wasted money on stuff I don't/can't/would prefer not to wear. I have a quick question on stretch marks. With my first pregnancy I looked like a roadmap. I went from 126 to 193 in less than a year, and I had them all over my belly, inner thighs, inner arms, breasts. This time I don't have a single stretch mark yet. Has anyone else noticed a lack of stretch marks after losing a lot of weight and getting preggers? I was just wondering if it had to do with already having excess skin to help offset the stretch.

I am so glad all of you had such a WONDERFUL experience w/ FEP BCBS. Here's my story: I had a lap band in 2005 that I paid cash for here in the US. I LOST a 132 pounds I kept my wait off even after my port broke. I had some weight gain and had my port repaired in 2012. It has not been right since that time and last April I suffered my first slip....So in April of last year my doc scoped me and unfilled my band. In a month my band returned to position and a way I went. I haven't felt well since April and in November I went and saw my surgeon and decided to go for a sleeve as I am now having on going issues w/my band. When I feel I slip I go back on Clear liquids and my band calms down(I am 3 hours from surgeon and am a nurse), So they submitted everything to my primary Insurance the end of November and I was approved on 12/5....However here is the catch My doctor was approved but not the hospital. So now here I sit 2 doctors later and a surgery date coming up on March 1st about 5.5 hours away from home. So now please realize I have 2 insurance and BCBS is not my primary. So I literally saw the doctor on the 2/2/15 and was approved on 2/3/15 by my primary. So when they went to submit it to FEPBCBS. Which most offices and Insurance companies here is the 21st century accept electronic records or faxes. FEP BCBS said...OH NO HUH-UH, you have to go to the post office and mail those records to us.(Ya know????SNAIL MAIL). People, the government if fining hospitals who are not getting on board with ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS and FEP BCBS won't accept a PRE-DETERMINATION electronically or fax??????????? Wouldn't you think this would be important as I AM having a serious complication from my device???????? REALIZE the codes for bariatric surgery are all ELECTIVE procedures no matter WTH is going on with a person. So the representative asked when my surgery date was and she assured my coordinator that they would NOT get to my approval that soon since it is a PREDETERMINATION and they don't have to give a time frame since it is a PRE DETERMINATION! Plus, she wanted to make sure the coordinator is familiar with the FEP BCBS guidelines and that they more than likely would want to meet all of FEPBCBS criteria again. THERE GUIDELINES ARE BS. They have no clause in there GUIDELINES for complications of a bariatric surgery....SO I have to meet the same criteria of someone who is either a failed Bariatric surgery(even though I lost 132 pounds) or a new Bariatric surgery....My BMI is 35 - 39 this year. They don't consider my comps complications(plantar fasciitis) or I would have to have a BMI over 40!(FORGET THAT!) In my H&P due to my intermittent lap band slippage I am at risk for necrosis and other life threatening issues. I feel like CRAP! My primary insurance recognizes this and approved me, ( I walked out of the office at 3:30 and got an email the next morning at 7:00 that I was approved) within 14 hours! I am really glad you all feel really supported by the FEP BCBS because the gals answering the phones won't do anything but quote the damn manual and I don't fall into any of there categories and they won't put a RUSH on anything or for anyone. So my primary insurance is covering it but I have a 5000/copay. So hopefully I will be feeling better in a couple of weeks....if you are curious or care Medicare, VA and multiple other insurances have a provision in there GUIDES for complications arising from a prior surgery. God forbid any of you experience a complication and need a revision of your bariatric surgery! Because when the office calls to get pre-auth they are going to be quoted the manual and you will be expected to meet all of that criteria again(Seems ludicrous to me) then they will have to MAIL your records for your pre determination!......Good LUCK everyone and GOD BLESS! Sorry for the NOVEL but I am angry! I know I know at least I have insurance!

hi everyone - Three weeks out. Yesterday one one of my incisions started oozing yellow. I had a small green spot on the scab as of last week. I messaged my care team. I have a feeling it is infected. It looked wonky since the start and they told me at my last appt it looked fine. All my others are nearly gone now. Still dealing with the seriously itchy welts from the Lovonox allergy. They have not gone away or gotten smaller. I have one 2-4 inches in diameter every place I injected for the first two weeks. Literally covered in then. Between weeks 2-3 I only lost half a pound (I only weighed Sunday). Either the stall came early, or all the Benadryl and swelling from my rash is keeping me from loosing (Benadryl can cause weight gain when taken over time, and I was taking it 3-4x per day for a week). Pretty down about everything. I feel like I am missing a chance for major weight loss and just ridiculously uncomfortable.

Carol I think when we are really tight it is sometimes indication of swelling, thus your weight gain. Barbara12 said it best "the weight has to go. I'm simply not eating enough not to lose". Claim the lowest number on the scale. Tell yourself that the bigger numbers that come back are temporary water weight because they are. Your nsv's may need to come from having a healthy day or a looser waistband.