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I have been banded approx. 3yrs., 3 months. Goal to lose: 70 lbs weight loss; 30 lbs. On scale of 1 to 10 with satisfaction of the band: 5 Because I was post menopausal when I had the band put in,I was told that if I did not exercise, it would not work for me. I have not exercised. That is my fault. The psychological exam before the surgery was a joke. Anyone who has dealt with being obese for years would easily give answers the psychiatrist wanted to hear, rather than the truth. If you are still considering the band, listen to the people who say it is just a TOOL. That is what it is. You will still have to plan out meals, write down what you eat, and exercise, ... as you did before the band. The band will allow you to eat portions that will satisfy you, and you can easily stick to the plan. Concentrate on doing whatever you have to do to get to your goal, and the glory is, that the band will facilitate staying within 5 pounds of your goal weight a breeze compared to the past. I found the support groups that I attened for the first 18 months to be very frustrating. They were pretty heavily populated with people who had Roux-En-Y surgery, and they do not have to deal with the same issues that we do. At the support groups, I was sold tupperware, and people brought lots of dessert recipes. Let's face it, I was not obese because I had a lack of dessert recipes. How to cook chicken and fish meals that are low fat and interesting, that I could use. I am grateful that I do not have to obsess every day on what I eat, and get on a scale and have it show that I have gained weight anyway. I have stayed at the same weight for the last 2 years. No weight gain during the holidays, vacations, etc. I do need to find a support group. Maybe I can still pull of the next 40 pounds and feel good about myself. Before band, I ate more vegetables than the average person. Now it is easy to 'fill my face' with a yogurt (which is fine on the healthy intake scale) , or a burrito from Taco Bell, etc. ... or something that does not go down well, ... like a half a bage and cream cheese, or a donut, so I deal with the 'stuck' feeling for the next few hours, but I skip a meal that way.

Lizonaplane, My daughter may be atypical, but she is bipolar and had a RNY bypass over 10 years ago. She was on three meds; antidepressant, psychotic and anxiety. They tried crushing the tablets which made her throw up, so they changed her to Epilim as it was a liquid. Part of her weight gain had been the bipolar drugs. After her surgery she started to lose a lot of weight. Unknown to me, she weaned herself off the drugs, going cold turkey with the anti anxiety meds, because she started running. She found the endorphins from running made her feel good and moderated her condition. At her peak running she was doing 2 marathons per weekend many weeks. She is highly unusual as a Bypass patient in being able to do this! She injured her hip, and couldn’t run, so now she lifts weights. She was determined to take control of her life in every way. She has been drug free for years and is fit, healthy and active. I wanted to share because her psychiatrist at the time said the Bypass would not help her with her mental health, and refused to sanction the op. We paid a psychiatrist to assess her and they concluded she was sane enough to make her mind up. As a person who had previously attempted suicide on more than one occasion, she is an example of the positive outcome possible from gastric surgery. It saved her life, literally, and has given me my daughter back. I wish you all the best.

I am 53 and will be sleeved tomorrow morning. I am so so happy to see others my age have such great success. I was banded in 2011 due to early menopause weight gain that I could not seem to lose and an uncontrollable appetite. I would eat and be able to eat again in 10 minutes. I knew what this was leading to since I seen others in my family suffer from illnesses due to obesity. I just did not want to go down that path but could not do it on my own. The band worked for a short time. I lost 50 pounds before it started giving me issues. Ultimately I just was so tired of slimming I wanted to get it revised. So here I am! I pray all of us have great success and health in the future.

Good Morning, Geepers its beautiful outside today *HAPPY GRIN* Anne, when I worked (many many years ago) in a nursing home, there was a woman there named Anna, we used to call her Anna Bananna...so it stuck with me..everyone named Ann, Anne, Annie, Anna is a bananna :eek: rhymes so nicely lol. I'm glad your DH is coming home, or home by now lol. Listen, I'll let you in on a little secret... skip the coffee...jump his bones instead, but not in Home Depot ROFL! Patty, I'm so glad all your medical mumbo jumbo is finally over with. You know you got our prayers for a quick approval, oh yeah babe'. Eeek on the headlice, I think thats one of my biggest fears....ick. I'm a bug fobe and just hate the critters. Darcy, have fun at the cabin and I agree on woodsy smells lolol, but its fun anyway. I'd have to say, smoking is definitly worse..... I watched my dad die of cancer of the lungs, I saw him take his last breath, so smoking gets my vote. Gee, I don't mean to preach...I just get scared for folks who smoke...so I'm sorry, please know that this comes from my heart and I only say it with love and concern. Hang in there.... Hey, have you talked to your doctor about possibly trying Zyban to help you with the smoking? My DH used it to help him quit and so far its been 4 1/2 years for him w/no weight gain. Where is everyone today? hope your all having so much fun you can't post today lol Today I'll be cleaning, and tonight is the 4Him/Mark Schultz concert yipppeeee. But thats about it. Whats everyone doing this weekend?

Here's the thing, studies show drinking carbonation post of is correlates with weight gain and/or failure to lose. That is, they have shown people who drink soda aren't as successful statistically. Is it because it stretches the sleeve? Is it because people who will break that "rule" break others as well? Who knows. Do you want to risk it? Also many many people have a lot of pain with the gas it introduces. Again, do you want to risk it? My doctor allows for flat soda. I haven't had any or any carbonation since about a month before my sleeve in December. I used to do 5 or so diet coke or Pepsi a day. Now I can take or leave it and with the risks I chose to leave it. Will I ever try it again? Maybe, I don't know. But for now I stay away. With so so many chemicals in it it's better I never go back to my five a day so I don't open the door. Bright spot is I got my kids to give it up too!

I've been doing my own research for BCBS and have saved my finds in a thread I started. (it's just so much information) Here is criteria I found: DESCRIPTION: Clinically severe obesity is a result of persistent and uncontrollable weight gain that constitutes a present or potential threat to life. For purposes of this medical coverage guideline, clinically severe obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 35 kg/m2 or greater. See the height and weight tables for Men and Woman, BMI tables (100-195, 200-295, 300-400, and formula for calculating a BMI. Several surgical (bariatric) procedures are used for the treatment of clinically severe obesity. These procedures can be categorized as follows: <LI class=bulletedList-1>Malabsorptive procedures - alteration of the intestinal absorption limiting nutrients available to the body OR Gastric restrictive procedures - reduction in the capacity of the stomach thereby limiting the amount of food ingested. Gastric surgical procedures for the treatment of clinically severe obesity include: <LI class=bulletedList-1>gastric bypass where approximately 90% of the stomach is bypassed and reattached to the proximal jejunum OR gastric stapling, vertically banded gastric partition, or vertically banded gastroplasty where a proximal pouch of 30-60 ml and a one centimeter outlet are created by a row of vertical staples and a horizontally placed reinforcing band Certain surgical procedures performed for the treatment of clinically severe obesity may be considered medically necessary when ALL of the following conditions are met: The member: meets the above definition of clinically severe obesity,has been severely obese for at least five (5) years, has attempted a physician supervised (by the primary care physician) non-surgical management weight loss program (e.g., diet, exercise, drugs) for six (6) consecutive months ,has received psychological or psychiatric evaluation with counseling as needed, prior to surgical intervention; does not have a medically treatable cause for the obesity, (e.g., thyroid or other endocrine disorder). The following procedures may be considered medically necessary when the above criteria has been met: http://mcgs.bcbsfl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.main&doc=Surgery%20for%20Clinically%20Severe%20Obesity

Had my pre-op testing yesterday. As far as I know, all is still a GO for next Monday! One thing I haven't seen anyone talk about yet - eating disorders, bad relationships with food, bad habits. That is what I'm going to think and meditate and pray on today. I am seeing a therapist [for about 8 weeks] and most of my issues seem to be when I confuse emotions with hunger. Mostly, I tend to "hide" the emotions, but act them out in eating. So we've been talking about how I feel when I eat. How I feel when personal relationships or life cause stress. How I eat when I'm stressed - and more. I hope to go for prayer ministry later today - I am a firm believer in the ability of God to heal us and restore us - so I'm thinking about these issues. Any of you gone to counseling? Uncovered any "reasons" for weight gain? Had any healing or restoration in your relationship with food?

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.

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

I was is SO MUCH PAIN every day. It hurt to walk, climb stairs, carry groceries in, sit. I was always out of breath and had zero stamina. I was uncomfortable in my skin and the negativity that was running through my mind. I absolutely hated for my husband to see me naked, and pictures were very cringy to look at. I also dealt with mental health, and the medication I was on contributed to my weight gain (I gained 60 lbs in less than a year). I was just tired of being fat, unwell, and unhappy. I struggled to lose weight and needed help. I also had sleep apnea and high cholesterol. In the long term, I wanted to be well for my family and, eventually, my grandkids. I wanted to enjoy the second half of my life (I just turned 41). I didn't see that future at 262 lbs and the physical and mental condition I was in. Now, 71 lbs lighter, I have minimal pain (arthritis is still an issue), I'm growing stronger every day, and my stamina is higher. I strut around naked in front of my hubby and am confident in my own skin. I'm off all mental health medication, and my cholesterol is normal. I'm still having some sleep apnea issues, but I'm hopeful those will resolve by the time I get to my goal weight (30 lbs to go). And I feel hopeful for my future. I'm so incredibly thankful for the opportunity to have this surgery.

Abbie I started my process in May. But I had a weight gain on my supervised diet... So I was denied at first. It's not the normal amount of time. Mindi in Waterloo Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

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

I think it should go down but I am not very worried abt weight gain or lose because all we r doing is on liquid diet so eventually will lose some significant wait anyway I would take lot of stress abt weight gain don't worry everything will be fine

Howdy, All. Another glorious day in Mtg lending... DH & I spent yesterday doing yard work... the weeds are all mowed and I spent some time digging up the volunteer and squirel planted trees... That stinking Crepe Myrtle is the very devil. It grows from seed, AND the existing plants spread systemically - the roots are everywhere. ARRRRGH! I was able to get a couple of them completely out - roots and all - and I tamed the remaining bushes until I have the energy to go out and battle them again. Once a yard gets away from you, here, you might as well just get a flame thrower... it's nuts how awful my lawn is. Maybe I will put in a BIG patio..... So, today, every muscle in my back, butt & legs is SCREAMING every time I move. Nothing like spending several hours bent at the waist, pulling weeds and roots... *sigh* I guess I need to do yard work more frequently, eh? I think we are going to dedicate a day per weekend - at least that's what we are saying today... But you know how that goes. :] Kat - you won't get VERY lost... highway 20 is pretty easy to follow - and if we meet you part way, you won't even have to come into the big city. I am very excited. Now, when are you coming? I took about a minute of French - and I can fake it on the pronunciation - but it was too confusing to learn two languages that are SO similar. It messed me up with both languages pronunciation... so I dumped the French and devoted myself to Spanish. Mandy - I think I would have been quite surprised if "Flushed Away" DIDN'T have any toilet humor... it would seem to be expected in that particular film. Obviously I haven't been keeping up with my kid movies. I haven't seen any of these, yet. Chris - Don't worry too much about making any decisions regarding Andy... I think, in the end, you will find any decisions to be made are pretty obvious. Don't overthink it - just go with the flow and enjoy. Hugs! Eileenie - how awful to hear about such a horrid thing on a day dedicated to jokes! Hugs! So, how do you score a 4 day week? Did you take Good Friday off? Does your company give it as a Holiday? Spring has sprung, here, too. My peonies have big ol' pink buds on them. I should have flowers in the next day or two. LOVE peonies. St. Sherry - I think I like that... LOL! Sorry about the weight gain... Do you need a fill? Or have you just been eating around the band? I find my self eating more than I need on a pretty regular basis... which explains the fact that my scale is not budging from 287. *sigh* So, you are a Rieki Master, now... can you focus your Rieki energies toward weightloss? Or is that more of a spirit vs body thing? Betty - it truly was a fabulous day to be outside, yesterday, too. The sun was shining and it was lovely warm - but not scorchy at all. Ahhhh. Dianne - lol! Wouldn't THAT be something... AF Day passed me by, thankfully! I don't like practical jokes very much... and I am not in any mood to be surprised, these days. Hope that swelling goes down, soon. I know you are anxious to see what "the girls" will look like once they are at their normal size. Hugs!!! Cindy - MMMMMMmmmmm - crab cakes! Love those things... I would probably eat more than one... you are so good! I am going to have to try this "chess pie" stuff one of these days. It sounds so yummy! Darcy - if you skip exercise for an entire month, does that make you an exercise virgin, again? *sigh* OK - ZERO miles for March... so my YTD total remains 38 miles. How pathetic. Patty - HUGS!! I am glad DM is there to help out. I wouldn't fret TOO much... it will take the boys most of their vacation to figure out how to get into too much trouble... :] Hopefully, anything they get up to won't be permanently damaging. Well, I have lots more Spanish to study... I can't remember future or past tense verb forms, at ALL - so right now I speak a very limited version of pigeon spanish. Not so good if I want to teach the stuff. Back to the books! Hugs & Love to All!

Nina, You've had a rough time. I'll bet it is the stress that put the extra weight on. I was thin (a bit anorexic thin) before and after surgery. Years later did some minor yo yo dieting. 8 years ago I filed for divorce from an abusive man, married 37 yrs before divorce became final. It was surely the divorce from hell. It's lasted 8 years and still lingers on. It cost me $100,000.00 and left me so poor that I'm on Medicaid. He wanted to hurt me anyway he could as a way of punishing me for divorce. That was all major stress. I began at 125 pounds and began gaining in 2001. I got up to 198 but am now 179.5 and a long way to go. It was the stress that caused the weight gain. I've been reading about it and this type of stress (kind I have and kind you have) causes weight gain especially in the abdomen.

hiya girls dooney... big hugs sweetie ..i wish i could be more comort on reliabily of downs test but i really dont know but have faith and we will all pray you and baby be fine. raynie.....dont worry about the nits ..lol..i you or anyone else has caught them use a whole bottle of conditioner and lice comb and comb like mad thing or a few days and they will go,i have four sons who go to nursery and school and have caught them before ........lol...i did freak out though as the word nits makes you itch!!!!!! lay of them cookies....you will only regret it ...they sound good but they BAD BAD BAD....LOL...IM HUNGRY NOW . <!-- google_ad_section_start(weight=ignore) -->niecyrenee....i think that we will initially gain weight as calorie intake goes up as we have been eating so low in cals but im hoping that it will settle down ..or maybe im just being an optimist,as for doctor i think he shouldnt be getting his knickers in twist about 5lb gain its not alot and he would be more concerned if you losing weight ..ive lost weight since my 8 week check and i dont think they will be pleased at all with me and im so worried for baby as i was so preoccupied with myself i was still eating too little as i feared weight gain i was exhausted...i must add eating well now and totally unfilled.<SCRIPT type=text/javascript> vbmenu_register("postmenu_597146", true); </SCRIPT> oh and about weight gain every single person different and all pregnancy different..a normal heathy gain is between 24-28lbs total but it depends on weight at beginning and size of baby etc and even sex of baby apparently carrying a girl = more weight so not looking good or me as the 4 lb i gained came back off....i think it was caused by constipation..how embarassing but remember this my fifth so my body not going through quite as a dramatic change it done it b4 and you never really quite go back to the way you were i wish i had some signs a lump at front as is just my deflated tyre looking at me .

Hey ladies. Congratulations to all the new mommies and mommies to be out there. And Laura0703, congrats on the BOY! I'm 17 weeks now and have gained about 3 or 4 lbs. I'm hoping to keep my weight gain in the 15 - 25lb range but we'll see what happens. I still have my fill. I got a slight unfill (-0.3cc) at 8 weeks and have been fine since then. I was lucky and didn't have any m/s and my band has been good to me so far. We go for our BIG ULTRASOUND next Monday (Feb 8th) and we're so excited to find out whether it's a boy or a girl. For some reason i'm thinking BOY. I will be really surprised if they tell me it's a girl! I'm ecstatic about either! I've had a really good pregnancy so far and the only thing i'm really dealing with is some tiredness and headaches. I'm still not showing yet, but i can feel the baby bump if i rub my lower tummy. I think i might have even felt one of those "flutters" they talk about as being baby moving. It's hard to tell though!

I'm so glad to read that you're recovered and doing much better!! I started out really interesting in the band but the maintenance and fills wasn't for me because I'm paying everything out of pocket. Then I started reading complications and weight gain when issues. I found about the sleeve and researched the crap out of it and have made my decision. I'm traveling out of state for it and when I first spoke to my surgeon out there, he told me he won't even do the lap band to anyone not in his area due to complications that arise. My brothers gf has a band so I just hope and pray it continues to work for her!

You and I are very close on our stats. When is your surgery? I want to get to 135 minimum. If it goes lower, great. I have an appointment for my 5th monthly weigh in on the 10th of 6 required by my insurance. Almost there. I go from 205-211lbs each weigh-in. I have been told to not lose anything because I am borderline bmi. But after that last weigh in and the insurance approves me I plan to do a two week liquid diet until surgery. I want to kick it off with a few lbs lost pre op at least and get myself used to liquids only. Been saying goodbye to some foods I feel I may miss. Idk they all say you change what you like after surgery. I am so excited though to get started. My friend at work is over 3 months post op now and is down 50lbs. That would make me so happy to be down that much in 3 months. That means by October for Halloween I would be about 150lbs and I can celebrate by buying a cute costume and feel good in it. I want to work hard and achieve my second mini goal to be at 140lbs or less by January for new years and goal by my birthday in February. But we will see. Everyone is so different. I'm going to follow my plan and see what my body does. I've started going through my massive clothing collection that ranges from size 10 to 16. I've quit smoking. I drink water and tea all day. I've joined a gym and I am trying to be committed to going but with my schedule it is tough. I work 6-2 /9-5/2-10/12-8/10-6/8-4. You name it. I work it. And it's different every week. I'm a front end manager for my Smiths grocery store. After I lose the weight I think I would like a career change. I feel like it's contributing to my weight gain. All the inconsistent hours. Anyways, sorry for going on and on. Just getting excited. Lol

I am due June 9th as the official due-date although by LMP it should be the end of May. I was 150 or so around the time when I got pregnant, dropped to 141 over the first two months. I have pretty much held steady but I had seen 143 on the scale for 2 days in a row now . . . and I fear the higher weight might stick. I feel like so far I have been lucky with my weight . . . my lack of weight gain has had nothing to do with me maintaining a strict dietary plan. I have been eating when I am hungry, drinking tons of milk and water and trying to avoid too much sugar and fat (but sometimes I indulge). If I am hungry, I eat and have now gone up to 4 meals a day instead of 3. My extra meal generally is a small bowl of cereal because I have been craving it a lot. I don't want to gain more than 20 pounds . . . but I guess it will be what it will be when I get to the end. I know I have my band waiting to be kicked back into action when the time is right.

Ok folks, I would not have this surgery again. Like any other addiction food is just the conveyer. Weight gain is the result. If a person puts their mind to the fact that they should quit eating so much and exercise more, they could get the positive results they desire. I had the surgery in January of this year. Yes I am losing weight but the price of surgery, sickness from eating anything even in small amounts is not worth it. Do it on your own and save your money and health.

We all hit bumps in the road - you acknowledged your slip so don't beat yourself up (weight gain is punishment enough!) get back to your plan and stay faithful!!! You got this

I was on metformin at one time, but it made me violently sick and passed out several times while on it, so I'll never agree to be put on it again. It also caused an issue with my pancreas (already had an issue, but it enflamed it?) I can't do keto/low carb because I literally stop losing weight, but my diet is mostly protein/veg with a little bit of sweet potato or a couple of tbsp of quinoa or brown jasmine rice, depends on the meal. I've noticed the 2 weeks I was below 35g carbs after surgery I not only had issues with low blood sugar, but I also didn't lose any weight during that time. I was low carb for years and never lost weight, no one can really explain why since my blood work does show insulin resistance. I don't take any medicine for hashimotos. Many people with hashimotos thyroiditis get put on thyroid medicine. I was on Leothyronine (NP thyroid did not work for me, caused major weight gain), but since surgery we've done the labs 3xs and my provider said not to take it and we will re-test in 90 days unless my weight loss stops completely. Hopefully that means I won't need it at all in the future. I'm still AIP-ish in eating, which is what helps the most with hashis symptoms. Luckily, eggs don't cause a flareup and most fermented dairy doesn't either. However, milk-based products and casein does.

SLG, I'm glad you've gotten good news about your insurance. Keep us posted on your progress. I'm doing really well! I am down to 193 (192, actually after exercising and bathrooming) again. That's a 5-6 pound drop from where I was at the beginning of the week. I had just had a couple of really bad eating days, so I don't know how permanent the weight gain would have been. I do know, though, that it would have stayed high and continued to go up if I hadn't made some big changes. Now to just continue on down the scale! I'm ready to change my ticker back, even though I don't think it will stay long. Have a great day, Ladies.

marathinner, I'm so happy for you! Yay! I hope you have a wonderful pregnancy. I'm struggling with the weight gain. I'm back in 16s and 18s in clothing size. My arms and legs have gained weight and it's just really frustrating for me. I'm not finding enough energy to exercise and eating is sporadically healthy these days. I did get to see the baby on an ultrasound this week. It's a boy. That gives us two girls, a 6.5 year gap a boy, 3.5 year gap and another boy. I think it will work out really well for our not-so-little family. :biggrin: Everything looks good and healthy, so I am grateful. I have quit weighing myself, so I have no idea how I'm doing weight wise. I just need to hang in there and not give up.