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Call me crazy, no really I like that... lol jk but 24 lbs in 5 weeks (I believe that's what it was?) is great. I am no healthy eating model bandster that is for sure - I have some serious bad eating habit and am actually going to see a therapist to talk about some issues I have with food (mainly sweets - not so much stuff like chips/pizza, etc). However the reason for my post is - I read somewhere and for the life of me can't remember where - that when you eat "bad foods" (I hesitate to call them that but for lack of not enough coffee this early in the a.m. I will) it takes up to 3 days for your body to have the affects from it (ie: weight gain, etc). Does anyone know if there is any truth to that?

Ok so.......I am happily married and have been with my DH for almost 7 years. When we met I had a one year old son whose father wanted myself and our son when it was beneficial for him to have a family! AH won't cry about it, I only wanted a relationship with him for the stability it would give my son. Didn't work and God blessed me with the most wonderful husband and father to our children! Ok fast forward 7 years my son is turning eight yay and we have three additional children. My son's biological father whom he has not seen in almost 6 yrs does not call, write, email anything he has abandonded the role of a father and we are fine with that! Well I have to go to court next week and I am hoping to get him to sign over his parental rights! Mind you although he has been an absent father he has actively pursued certain "relations" with myself (yeah right buddy)! He never saw me at my highest weight as I moved out of state and the majority of my weight gain was rapid and within the last 2 to 3 yrs. Well I am down 40lbs almost to the weight I was when we last saw each other and I plan on losing another 5 to 10 by the time I have to go home for court next week. I am willing to resort back to the original post-op diet for a few days of Clear liquids just to blow his mind! ok so that is person number 1 who will need to close his mouth. #2: Growing up I was extremely skinny and the majority of my family.......NOT.....as I got older and began having children and gaining weight they went from calling me anorexic to fat....well guess what they can say hello to my little friend. None of them know that I have had the surgery but they all seem to have an accurate count of every pound I gained! Well I cannot wait to see every one that made the comment ooooh how did you get so big? or Oh you can't call that baby weight! I might carry around extra tissue for the drool. I made a post a couple of weeks ago about how I do not like taking photos well I ahve been snapping like crazy. I finally see a change when I look in the mirror. My surgery scars are no longer a mile apart, those boogers are right there close together! And possibly my favorite NSV was when a young lady I know said I hope I look like you do after 4 kids when I get older. I smile so much now........no one knows my secret but all see my progress. Guys that are pre-op it is worth it your quality of life changes drastically after the first 7 days post-op! And each day it gets better and better! Go for it. I am 2 1/2 months post op and down 41 pounds and I feel like a new woman. I made a decleration that I would not turn 30 fat and this time my words are not full of hot air!

Oh, I hear your frustration. I deny it but deep down I know that all my running is the reason for my back pain. I am thankful beyond belief that I have no disc degeneration or pathology, its entirely postural/muscular in my case, and one day there is a small glimmer of hope that someone will be able to help me with it. But I know that I feel better after about two weeks of no running, all that awful knee back and foot pain I have on rising disappears. But I cant stop, I'm afraid of weight gain yes, but that's not really it. I truly love running. I will have to face it sooner or later, my hope is that I can run just enough to be able to participate in races, and go to the gym the rest of the time - so maybe run no more than twice a week. Its all you can do, suffer the discomfort (which is what I choose for now) or find an alternative.

hi, i'm brand spankin' new to the forum, yaaay me, lol, i have tons of questions just like any newbie, i'm getting banded ( am i using the correct lingo? lol) on july 24. ok anyways so i have to start my pre op diet on thursday, and i'm trying to slowly start into it now...so that i don't have some psycho pizza craving thursday night...ok now my question(s) my doctors office recommended myocel to use as a protien supplement/shake thing...sounds delicious! but i'm wondering if i could just use like a high protien slim fast or Optifast...you know something already premade? and i'll contact the office later but for those who did a pre op diet, is it just sticking to a low carb diet? and by low carb does it work the same way as atkins like i could have low carb tortillas because you subtract the grams of Fiber, etc....or is is seriously strict like nothing that even looks like bread, lol so here's my story. ok well anyways i'm totally excited about getting banded! i have been sooooo opposed to weight loss surgery, i was so active in my teens and early 20's i was just like oh i need to eat less, and exercise more...yeah i'd lose 40 gain 60, lose 20 gain 30, thats' the story of my life...i was sooo patient...but how many times can i bust my butt at the gym for a week lose 2 lbs, only to gain it back on one bad weekend...i believe that weight loss should be slow, but dang why does weight gain have to happen so fast!!! so now at a lovely 285-290 lbs and umphteen million diet tries and failures over the years....i think the band is just what i need...i know the weight loss is slow, i'm sick of being "fat" just as much as the next person, so yeah i thought about gastric bypass, um yeah for like 2 seconds i'm like, cutting what? putting what where? yeah the gastric bypass people will look awesome for the xmas party, ...but i'm not looking at where i'll be in december, i'm thinking wow, imagine where i'll be next july! holy cow! i'll be on a lap band commercial, and wearing shorts on spring break! ok expect many more super cool post from me! hmmm now to find a nice little tracking/ticker thingy thanks guys! nic

It sounds like you're too tight. You shouldn't be resorting to slider foods and you shouldn't have such a hard time eating healthy foods. Contrary to popular belief, being too tight can actually drastically slow weight loss or even result in weight gain because of the inability to eat healthy foods. Here's a great article on being too tight: http://www.lapbandta...0#commentsStart

Hi Everyone 19 days till surgery. I am so excited yet feeling a bit overwhelmed. I feel overwhelmed at the thought that this could really work. After all the failed diets, fads, and programs. Is this really it? I just cannot imagin. Well I can. I weighed 160lbs before my son was born, after that the weight gain didn't stop till I hit my hugh of 173. Today I am 165. Anyone else feel that feeling of "this is a dream"? I am so excited just...you. Thank you to everyone who shares. It is inspiring?

Hi Politisa, I see you've posted this in the low BMI site too, and have had lots of lookers but nobody answering. I was high BMI and in a different situation, but I'll try and give it my best shot. My friend that I got banded with had 70 lbs to lose and was very successful with it. Some time after she had reached her goal weight her band slipped and she had it removed. She's finding it a struggle to keep the weight down but she's managing by exercising like a fiend and eating very little. I have to point out that she's self employed with teenagers so she has the time to spend 2 to 3 hours a day exercising. I think it may be quite different with young twins. (Congratulations, by the way!) I have heard of people hitting plateaus in their weight loss by eating so little that their bodies kind of go into a starvation protection mode. I also know that certain foods take quite a bit of energy to digest, so if you eat tons of broccoli, say, you should lose. The speed of losing 50 lbs on the band? It really depends on the person. It is possible to "eat around the band" and even gain weight, for example if you suck on milkshakes all day. In your case, two things come to mind. First, people who are not heavy have no idea of the physical and psychological burdens that obese people deal with. It's very easy for people to state that if you just eat and exercise right you will reach your perfect weight. While that does happen sometimes, often things are a lot more complex than that. A lot of well meaning people discourage obese people from getting bariatric surgery. Your weight gain is fairly recent and it's entirely possible that you will lose it naturally, although not as quickly as you may like to. On the other hand, many of us who are obese had the whole thing begin with our gain during childbirth. Keep reading posts. Hopefully others will put their two bits in and give more information to help you out. Keep us posted on how it's going for you. All the best!

I'm 30, and my significant weight gain started about 12 years ago. I was a freshman in college and severely depressed. Literally all I did all day was sit in my dorm room and eat from the great meal plan my school offered. It went up from there. Boredom, coping, hunger... Up and up and up. No more!

I don't work up at sweat when I exercise to lose weight. My stepson (the coach with a masters degree in athletics) said to burn fat work out at 65% of your resting heart rate. This is best done on the treadmill or sitting bike. You need to do an hour straight at the 65% heart rate ( 117 beats per minute for me). If you do more, you start sweating and go into cardio. Cardio uses glucose out of your blood stream for energy and is used for preventing weight gain. The 65% heart rate method is using your slow twitch muscle fibers and breaks down fat already stored and uses that for fuel. Be careful to keep an eye on your heart rate, if it goes about 70% even for 1 minute, it means you transfered into the cardio range and you aren't going to get the fat burn effect.

Hello All, I'm about 13 months post op (sleeve). I generally have no problems eating and following my prescribed diet. I'm staying at about 1,000 to 1,200 calories a day, getting 65mg of protein in, drinking my water, and staying away from bread, pasta, etc. The only vice I have right now is drinking caffeinated coffee. While I have lost 100lbs since surgery (with 50 more to go), I've been stalled at my current weight for the last 3 months. To be honest, I'm dumbfounded about why I can't seem to lose any more weight. I really think it would be difficult to reduce my caloric intake much more while continuing to get in my daily protein allotment. I tried additional exercise on my recumbent bicycle but that resulted in a weight gain of 5lbs. Can anyone advise on what the secret is to restarting my weight loss? Thanks...Rev

Hello! Tomorrow I scheduled to get my lap band removed due to my dilated esophagus (it's double the size). My lowest was about 155 and right now I'm 170. I've managed to maintain my weight for the past 1.5 years and I was told that I was a "special" case because normally people who cant eat and dilated esophagus gain A LOT of weight, so it's great I've maintained. Like most who hear the news of their lap band removal, my heart dropped and could not stop thinking of the weight gain ESPECIALLY after learning I can't have the sleeve done until AFTER 1 year. Ugghhhh... My goal is to go on Belviq and pray I maintain while my esophagus shrinks.. Any pointers? suggestions? recipes...? Some encouragement would be great right now!

First, congrats! A number of ladies experience increased fertility with weight loss, despite how much we hate it when our docs tell us weight is a factor or no matter how many times we've been told we have a number of female issues. Somehow, with the weight loss, the body gets back on track and it surprises a lot of ladies. As you can see from all of the surprise pregnancy posts you'll find here! I was two years out when I got pregnant but still had a very limited capacity. I could eat one scrambled egg with cheese and one turkey sausage link in a meal and feel stuffed. As my pregnancy has progressed my capacity has increased as well as my appetite, so while it's still a bit of a challenge to consume enough, I'm doing alright. My situation was complicated by nausea. If I ate any meat, I'd get sick. I'm already lactose intolerant and while it's supposed to improve during pregnancy mine got worse - to the point where putting a tiny bit of butter on toast would make me ill. My Protein shakes were totally off limits for several months, too. So I really do understand the concerns you're having. The solution is to go back to the way things were in the beginning, when you forced yourself to eat around the clock to hit a nutritional goal. It means choosing your meals carefully so that you can get a well balanced meal in a tiny portion. It also means trying your darnedest to get back on those shakes and make them stick. I have been able to drink mine again for the last few weeks and I feel MUCH better and have more energy since I was able to do that. And I really can eat more in a sitting now. Your stomach should relax as you get further along and the hormones are really increased. That helps a lot. When you say your stomach hurts are you talking about cramping and nausea? Is it hurting after dairy? I first developed lactose intolerance with my twin pregnancy and the first clue was really uncomfortable stomach cramping after anything dairy based. I would definitely bring this, and the fact that you've had WLS to your OB's attention ASAP. I am on two different prenatals, additional Calcium, B12 shots and a special Iron supplement to keep my levels up. I am only just now, five months in, getting enough nutrition that my labs come back in good shape. While it's been a particular challenge for me, try your hardest to shelve concerns about weight gain. I was so freaked out a few months ago because I had already put on seventeen pounds. But here I am, 24.5 weeks out and I'm only up 15 pounds - somewhere along the way I lost a couple of pounds. And it's all baby (okay...baby and boobs, but I'm not complaining about that part!) and I really do realize that I'm going to do just fine losing this weight afterward. The biggest concern is making sure the baby is getting enough, and you sound like you're already working to help this issue. My doc told me and I believe it - the baby will suck every bit of energy and nutrition from my body and leave me tired, nauseated and run down before it will go without. So if you're at least trying, even when it's not easy, you should do just fine. So, try the shakes again. Try to set a timer to eat small, regular, protein and calcium rich meals. Eat as much of what you're able to eat as you can, within reason, of course. Foods that are really good for protein, besides meat are lentils (lentil Soup saved me when I couldn't eat any meat a few months ago), cottage cheese, seitan (if you like it), and of course Beans always help, too. Good luck, ~Cheri

Congrats on a huge accomplishment! Don't know what to say on the Skinny Popcorn. I do know from watching, that the people who tend to maintain their original losses are very strict with themselves. But I also know, that for me personally, saying I won't ever have something again or will never be a "weensy bit bad" is not practical. It's pretty magical thinking IMHO. So I'd tend to look at your popcorn fettish like this: if you can eat your serving appropriate size and it doesn't hurt the new anatomy, cause weight gain/stall, or cause cravings to get out of control, and you can dictate the frequency of eating it--then no problemo. If on the other hand, it causes the binge monster to visit, makes you stall or gain, and you end up wanting more and more and more of it at increasingly shorter intervals--then it's a trigger food and should be avoided at this time. I'm gonna shoot for a 95/5 plan where 95% of the time I eat like a saint. The other 5% of the time, I will enjoy like a sinner. And I will have a safety window. At the high end=angelic behavior; at the low end=devil behavior.

Judy, people have band to sleeve revisions all the time who have not yet regained all their weight. But the band becomes a problem and they need to remove it...and they know that if they simply remove that and do nothing else the weight will come back on in a hurry due to the change in metabolism. In those cases I'm all for it. On the other hand, you've got a young 20 something who is 15 pounds overweight and doesn't want to have to fight weight problems in the future so she has WLS...I'm not sure I support that. Because as you say, she still will have to do the same things to keep the weight off in the future regardless of whether or not she has the surgery. I think the surgery is great for people who already have the weight and are having trouble getting it off. The sleeve gives you a chance to lose it but you have to do the work to keep it off. For people who simply see the weight gain as inevitable, and want to prevent obsesity related problems in the future....I truly believe those people can prevent those issues with the same attention to health and nutrition without having surgery if they commit before the weight gain has gotten out of control.... UNLESS...there are diagnosed, underlying medical conditions which will lead to obesity regardless.....like disorders of the thyroid. Ought these people have WLS as a preventative measure when they know obesity is coming regardless of what they do? I don't know enough about thyroid disorders to know how likely that scenario is, but I'm willing to at least consider the possibility in these cirucumstances.

yes and no When I was in high school and thrown off the football team for chewing out the coach I went through a huge weight gain -- coincided with drinking tons of soda and such Normal weight was 180, but shot up to 240, but easily lost it within a few months doing tons of situps, pushups, and eating nothing but a couple Peanut Butter and jelly sandwiches a day. Weight was fine for years until a post-relationship depression went on (when you work hard for years to keep a relationship going then decide fuck it), in my mid-late 20s, a bunch of health issues arised and shot up again but instead of from 180 to 240 in a matter of a year or so, went up to 360 in 5 years. So I'm here in my early-mid 30s with newly diagnosed stage 3 fibrosis and type 2 diabetes. I'm not accustomed to weighing a lot so the changes I went through were all debilitating to me. Apparently after MRI's and such I had fractured my spine as a kid but never knew it until I had this weight gain, then moving to another house caused me serious injury to where I need facet injections in my lower lumbar (soon to be some sort of ablation) as simply taking out the trash caused extreme amounts of pain to my back. In the US, we're not educated enough how utterly useless carbs and especially sugar are in the diet, and how easily we can get into dangerous territory without thinking about it. Given how it's turned into a serious societal issue where kids in their 20s are having fibrotic/cirrhotic livers without even being alcoholics or drug addicts, it really points to an education being necessary. Since being in Canada, I've noticed the education is a little better, but still needs improvement. It's definitely a western problem, where we're taught to be good little excess consumers with little regard for our health. It's up to us to change that. My surgeon decided on a 12 week pre-op liquid diet that I started Feb 1st, far longer than I see anyone else with, already I went from 350 pounds to 314. I'm thinking if I really have to go all 12 weeks (OR date already confirmed April 20) I'm likely gonna be in the 200s before surgery. Some have said why not be on this miserable diet for so and such amount of time to get back down to normal weight, but sometimes for us mechanisms of hunger (satiety) we can't control are required to be corrected. In my case, the surgery should accomplish this. Also, a very important point, that for many of us who "become" this way, it's up to us to recognize where we screwed up and work to change it. Personal responsibility is a must.

I can relate, my grandmother did this to me constantly while I was growing up and made me feel like I was morbidly obese, (turns out I was a size 11 back then). I wish I had known then that I wasn't really that big, she wore a size 18 herself. It wasn't until after she died and i started looking at pictures of her when she was younger that I realized she was (in her dreadfully misguided way) trying to tell me to watch it and not end up like her, for some reason she thought this would work!! Looking at those old pictures I see we are built the same way and she must have recognized herself in my varying stages of weight gain through puberty, early adulthood. I don't know if this is the situation with your aunt, but I wish I had known not to let it bother me. All you can do for now is ignore her and watch her freak out when you start really losing!!!

I think this thread goes on this forum, not wher I posted before... Hi all! Tomorrow marks my fourth month post surgery. What has this journey been like? Well... 1. No leakage or any other serious complication- thank God! 2. I never expected the post surgery experience I had. Anxiety and depression, like I've never witnessed in myself or anyone else. kicked in about two weeks post. Uncontrollable, snowballing, unexplainable, irrational fear, sadness, and regret. I went on tranquilizers, developed a mild dependecy on the benzo, had to follow a tapering process, but all ended well. This experience is unforgettable to me and my family! Everyone entering this surgery process should be aware that this is a possible reaction to surgery. I'm not sure if only to this type of surgery, or all. The more the time passes, the more I see posts that relate to my experience. So far I've contacted six people with less, exact, or worse anxiety and depression after the sleeve. Be aware of this possibility. Know that it can debiliate you, thus you need a safety net. However, also be aware that it passes. Thank God, all that is in the past. But the experience I don't think I will ever forget. 3. Because of #2, an improved appreciation for God, life and for all my loved ones. 4. Weight loss: forty pounds down- yay! 5. Besides #2, the most impacting part of this experience is accepting the fact that the surgery did not rid my addiction to food, nor my unhealthy eating habits. I completed a mandated five month program before surgery. The instructor endlessly stressed to start working on our eating patterns and habits before surgery, to ease the transition and have more success with the procedure. As much as this was emphasized, I didn't do it. It was also emphasized that the surgery didn't cure our addiction and relationships to food, this too I ignored. To me, surgery would cure my addiction to food, would for ever change my eating patterns, and never again would I experience the vicious cycle of binging, guilt, shame, weight gain, etc. etc. etc. In my mind I figured I'd be forced to change because my body wouldn't tolerate overeating. I ached for a change, and surgery would force the change on me....problem solved! I awaited surgery with glee and faith. Well, the story goes otherwise. I have changed some of my eating patterns and you will find plenty healthy veggies and fruits, plus lean meats in my fridge. I joined the gym for the first time in my life, and through therapy am trying to sort out my relationship with food. However, surgery hasn't forced a change on me. You know those stories of having to induce vomit (or it naturally occuring) due to overeating? NEVER happens to me, NEVER! I cannot eat as much as before, but defenitley more than I expected. I can eat a full cup of spaghetti with cheese and sour cream in one sitting. I'll finish it, feel full, and stop eating. But thirty minutes later my pouch has made room, and I can take some more in. This especially happens when I eat out and we usually sit around chatting for a while. Time passes and I'll start nibling at my food again. I can eat about half a cup more--without being hungry. Why do I do it? I'm working on understanding it. Those stories of no longer tolerating fatty, sugary, lactose, or other foods- not I. I can eat EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING. Dumping syndrome? I don't even know what that is. Having to chew food to mushy consistency- not I. I chew, but never to the consistency I thought I'd have to. Taste buds change post surgery- not mine. Not one of the billions of taste buds have changed- at all! Bottom line, this surgery didn't force any change on me. I have gone up and down in weight, and can't seem to break the 40 pounds mark. It's been this way for the past five weeks. I still experience the disappointment in myself over food choices and behavior. The shame and guilt sneak up, and soon I'm angry and feel defeated. All the emotions, habits, and challenges I faced with food and weight pre surgery I face now too. I thought I'd be facing these issues two years after surgery when my pouch has relaxed and expanded a bit, and many regain the weight. I thought that by that time my life would be extraordinarily wonderful- that I'd never regain the weight and give up my success and joy. Well, it's only been four months and I'm facing reality already. Everyone considering surgery needs to know this. I think those who've had success with the sleeve have had it because they've made changes that have yielded the success. The sleeve itself will not yield it. Maybe everyone already knows this, but I have been known to be a late bloomer. Do I regret having had surgery? Honestly, there is nothing to regret. I had (and pray that it continues) zero complications, I still enjoy food, have a very active social life, have gone down a size in clothes, and experience no pain, vomit, nausea, or anything of the sort. I feel blessed that my surgery has gone so smooth, pain free, and complication free. I pray that it continues to do so. I prefer to deal with my current issues, than any physical complication. There really is nothing to regret. On the contrary, I believe this surgery has a higher purpose in my life. It isn't yielding the weight success I imagined, but it is forcing me to look deep into myself and work with what is out of balance. I can't run away from it anymore. I refuse to have gone through this experience and continue on the road of addiction, caught in that endless dark cycle. This is the change my sleeve had brought to my life. My progress comes in baby steps, but I'll get there. God bless you all!

I am pre op and trying to get my arms around hearing about gaining weight after surgery. I have heard and read about people getting back up to their starting weight. I am so confused on how this happens- other than people pushing their food limits wayyy beyond what they should be. If you eat "incorrectly" on Occasion or eat normal foods, just in smaller portion will this weight gain occur? What have people time after surgery and weight gains looked like? Also what do you attribute it to? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Lots of people have had really good success with ESG, particularly in USA and other countries where it has been carried out for a while (as its a fairly new procedure). In Australia there seems to be a higher failure rate due to many reasons: some doctor technique is lacking, overeating, etc...some others lost restriction for no apparent reason. I think in time Australia success rate will improve as the doctors gain more experience in the technique and ongoing the technique is being improved. I am member of a few ESG fb groups where the posting is a little bit more frequent than this subforum. Message me if you would like the links. There is one good site with a lot of people from USA...it a fairly positive site. I had my ESG in Australia over a year ago. No real pain other than stomach cramps for the first few days and I did recover well. At first restriction felt good, and I had good weight loss (lost about half of what I wanted), over time the restriction lessened and I have none now. I have gained some weight back though I haven't reached my pre-procedure weight. An endoscopy showed I have about one suture intact. There is no one reason why my ESG failed and it is possible I contributed with a couple of bouts of overeating. I will be converting to a sleeve fairly soon. The surgeon has done a few conversions and he feels I should be able to convert to a sleeve, if not, he will do a mini bypass. The anchors can prevent conversion to a sleeve. I have been working hard (which help) on what causes me to overeat, it is an ongoing battle but I have made some great progress and feel quite confident going forward. I do regret my decision but only for the fact I wish I had waited until the Australian doctors had more experience with the procedure and ongoing the procedure is being refined to ensure better outcomes. My tips to get the best of your procedure would be to follow all post op guidelines particularly around volumes of food, exercise once you are able to, don't be tempted to test your restriction just because you can eat more than the guideline volumes...once you get past soft food stage, try and get as much protein from food as opposed to shakes (satisfaction and restriction will kick in quicker than with fluids), avoid slider foods and if your doctor/clinic as a post op management program make sure you commit to it and make all your appointments. Don't abandon the program with embarrassment if you have stalls or weight gains along the way...this will the time when you most need to reach out to the experts. One important thing is to work on what causes you to overeat, this won't change with the ESG, those battles will still be there, if you work on them now you will have better outcomes for your ESG. My outcome is but one of many of successes and failures, on the main ESG group on fb there have been some great successes particularly in USA.

I worry when I read about insurance denying other people because they have no "Documented" weight loss attempts. Of course like everyone else I've been on numerous diets, But none of them were documented other then Weight Watchers but when I called to get them to sign over papers that I attended meeting's they told me they couldn't find me in their system anywhere (Figures). So I'm relying upon a few medical records I found, Some from childhood documenting my weight gain, Another from when I was 11 (I was 166lbs then) and I was sent to a Dietician for my high cholesterol and the last from 2008 (188lbs) when I had my gall bladder removed, In the hospital records it says "Patient states she's on a diet" (Weight watchers at the time). I'm hoping for approval, wish me luck!

Just read the article on weight regain. interesting but the samples are very small -- 26 in one study and 41 in another. I believe one had 96 patients but that is still pretty small to generalize to the total population of vsg patients. Also mean EWL is just the arithmetic average. Some people would be lower and some would be higher than the percentage they present. In a small sample, one or two "deviant" people with huge weight gain could throw off the mean. Using a median (50% above it; 50% below it) might be more meaningful as a middle point. Hard to know without seeing the entire database. As one of the formerly super obese people they mention in the article, at least this is a sign to me to be really vigilant forever about what I put in my mouth. Water, healthy eating, and exercise is a way of life during and after weigh loss and I imagine a lot of people slow down on those, hence the weight gain.

If metabolic syndrome is the cause of your weight gain, a diet that is low to moderate in calories coupled with an exercise plan may not be enough to lose the weight. And if you continue to eat the wrong foods, exercise and diet may not help at all. In the late 1970s the government mandated we get the fat out of our food. The food industry responded by putting in more sugar. And that, we see by historical data, correlates to the time when America’s obesity epidemic began. Read my article, “Cause and Cure of Obesity in America.” In the New York Times best seller Fat Chance: Beating the Odds against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity and Disease, author Dr. Robert H. Lustig, a renown expert on obesity, points out that “a calorie is not a calorie.” Not all calories are equal. Whether the calorie comes from fructose, glucose, protein or fat is important to its metabolic effect and how much fat that calorie accounts for. Fructose and glucose — just two of the many names that sugar goes by — and even protein are said to be the culprits behind insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. Insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome are two primary causes of obesity in both adults and children. If you are struggling with the problem of an overgrown waistline, aka “belly fat,” this may be an indicator of these health conditions. Read my article, “Belly Fat is a Danger for All People.” If metabolic syndrome is the cause of your weight gain, a diet that is low to moderate in calories coupled with an exercise plan may not be enough to lose the weight. And if you continue to eat the wrong foods, exercise and diet may not help at all. What are the Wrong Foods? Sugar goes by a variety of names, about 52 in all, including glucose, maltose, sucrose, and fructose. The result has been an altering of our biochemistry that has driven our eating out of control, according to Dr. Lustig. Dr. Lustig further states that so-called healthy sugars such as agave, coconut and palm sugars are all “crap.” Checkout this HealthCentral sugar infographic named Sugar is to Blame: http://www.healthcentral.com/obesity/c/380545/179644/sugar-blame-infographic/ Dr. Andrew Weil, a well-known guru for holistic health and integrative medicine, agrees on this point. Dr. Weil warns that sugar is toxic, and coupled with modern industrial food, has disastrous effects on the hormones that control hunger, satiety, and weight. Both Dr. Lustig and Dr. Ron Rosedale, author of The Rosedale Diet, advise that branch chain amino acids (BCAAs) and protein contribute to insulin resistance and obesity. I’ve been eating a high-protein diet and taking BCAAs because I thought I was doing my body good. Whey protein, which I and the majority of bariatric patients have been conditioned to consume, is one of the worst foods for releasing insulin in the body according to Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt, a Swedish medical doctor and specialist in family medicine. Dr. Eenfeldt, commonly known on the web as the “Diet Doctor,” interviews Dr. Lustig on the "Causes of Obesity" in the video below (or watch it on ). The Bottom Line If you think metabolic syndrome may be the cause of your weight gain, then eating a traditional “healthy diet” combined with exercise may result in failure to lose weight. Talk to your nutritionist. Further, you may wish to explore three diets for metabolic syndrome from Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Robert H. Lustig, and Dr. Andrew Weil in my article, “Metabolic Syndrome and Weight Loss.” Living larger than ever, My Bariatric Life

Recently, I was reading the back of a Special K® Protein cereal box and saw a statement that lack of sleep can increase the feeling of hunger by 25 percent. Since I’m in a profession that is science based, I did some research on the National Library of Medicine website to verify this. I didn’t find the study that supported detailed that 25 percent increase in hunger when you don’t sleep enough. However, there were several areas where researchers are linking poor sleep and weight gain. If you are tired, you usually don’t feel like exercising. You move less, so you burn fewer calories. Being tired makes you more likely to choose a food like cake instead of salad. There were a couple of studies that did find an increase in ghrelin after poor sleep. Ghrelin is the gut hormone that makes you hungry. Sounds like the perfect storm for weight gain, right? You produce less ghrelin after surgery, which leads to less food intake. Part of weight loss after surgery is that you produce less ghrelin, which leads to less food intake. If eating more healthfully is a challenge for you, it may be that you need to start with better sleeping habits. By the way, that Special K protein cereal is a great add-in to light Greek yogurt. This is a great snack before surgery and about two months after surgery. Happy Zzzz’s!

The big losers do not necessarily have more willpower or desire. The important difference between the big losers and the re-gainers may be how easy they find the journey to be. Surprisingly, you can control a large part of how easy or hard it is to lose weight. The weight loss journey is not just about changing your digestive system through surgery. It is also about changing your entire lifestyle to facilitate weight loss. Weight Loss Surgery is a Weight Loss Tool, Not a Cure Weight loss surgery is a tool. It can make you less hungry by reducing the size of your stomach by inserting a band around your stomach (Lap-band), removing the majority of your stomach pouch (vertical sleeve gastrectomy) or folding or stapling away the majority of your stomach pouch (gastric bypass, duodenal switch, and sleeve plication). The vertical sleeve gastrectomy reduces hunger by reducing the amount of ghrelin, a hunger hormone, that your stomach produces. The gastric bypass and duodenal switch reduce nutrient absorption. All of these surgeries can help you eat less and lose weight, but none of these surgeries are fail-proof. You can “cheat” by eating high-calorie foods, drinking high-calorie beverages, drinking beverages while you eat solid foods, and eating without measuring your portions. Successful weight loss requires good choices on your part, and making good choices is easier if you focus on your entire lifestyle, not just the part of your digestive system that was changed with surgery. The Influence of Your Surroundings on Your Weight Think about this scenario. You leave home without breakfast and order a muffin and ice coffee at the drive-through on your way to work. You grab a doughnut at your morning meeting, and go out for lunch with your friends. You order the lunch special with a salad, breadstick, fettuccine alfredo and cheesecake. You nibble on some chocolates from your secretary’s desk as you make your way to the vending machine for a soda in the afternoon. You pick up a pizza on your way home because you know that there is nothing else for dinner. Now compare it to this second scenario. You wake up early to meet your friend for a walk before you get home for a breakfast of scrambled egg whites and spinach. You drive to work and have yogurt and some fruit at your morning meeting. Lunch with your coworkers consists of a green salad with canned tuna, and you have a hard-boiled egg for your afternoon snack. You are able to get dinner on the table quickly when you get home because you only need to defrost the meals that you prepared earlier in the week. Which scenario do you think you can help you lose weight? The second one, of course. So why not make it a reality? Do Your Surroundings Encourage Weight Loss or Weight Gain? You have battled your weight for years, if not for your entire life before weight loss surgery. In all likelihood, your environment was set up for you to eat. Take a good, hard look at your environment. Is it more like the first scenario or the second one described above? You have the ability to make it more like the second one. Notice the following items from the two scenarios. Exercise was automatic in the second one because you planned to meet a friend – so you couldn’t back out. Preparing your dinners ahead of time meant that you could eat quickly without going to a fast food restaurant. Packing your own snacks meant that you did not have to eat a doughnut in your morning meeting or chocolates in the afternoon. Make the “Right” Choice Automatic The fewer tough choices you have, the less likely you are to make poor decisions. Set up your environment so that the healthier actions are easier. To make healthy eating easier: Prepare plenty of meals ahead of time so that you always have a ready-to-eat, healthy option to prevent you from opting for take-out. Throw away the take-out menus that you used to store in the kitchen. The extra time it takes you to look up the phone numbers and menus online may be enough to let you come to your sense and realize that you don’t want fast food. Keep your kitchen stocked with all kinds of healthy foods, so that no matter your craving, you have a healthy answer. Do not keep unhealthy foods at home. If they are not there, you cannot eat them. Make sure that the healthy option is the default option. For example, measure your cheese and cut and wash fruits and vegetables ahead of time so that it is easier to snack on them than on cookies. Also consider these ideas: Meet your friends for walks or shopping trips instead of for meals at restaurants. Park your car a few blocks away from work so that you have no choice but to walk those few blocks again at the end of the day as you leave work. Do not drive past drive-thrus if they are too tempting. Also, do not keep money in the car, and consider removing your car’s cup holders so that eating in the car is no longer an option. All weight loss surgery patients have their own struggles. Far from being wimpy, removing these obstacles rather than fighting them is the best way to overcome them. The weight loss journey path will always have speed bumps and potholes, but it will be a lot smoother if you set up your lifestyle to promote better choices all day.

I came home from the hospital on Friday after gastric bypass revision from lapband on Tuesday and I had gained 19#'s. I know that it is from all the fluids given to me while in the hospital, but it still feels like a set back. I was very swollen and that has gone down and I have lost 17 of the 19#'s. but it looks like at my one week f/u on Thursday I will probably just barely be below weight day of surgery? Did anyone else experience this.?