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i just had a look. as far as the calories are concerned its not too bad. im a red wine drinker, its going to hurt me to have to give up my red wine. i do like a drink to relax especially when out. what alcohol has the least calories? does anyone know?? perhaps i could have the odd drink of something other than red wine. it seems that the red wine has given me more problems with my blood pressure and it certainly has contributed to my weight gain, thats for sure. i just dont think its entirely realistic to go without having an alcoholic drink socially. what do others think?

I know there are pros and cons for the various types of WLS as well as pros and cons for trying to do it on my own. Reading the various opinions here reinforces that. And they are good for me to see. Like WLS itself, I consider all of this information to be a tool to help get to where I want to be...healthy and fit. I do have a lot of confidence in my surgeon and the entire group of people associated with his practice. I visited both of the notable groups in the area and researched what they do and the outcomes. All things being essentially equal between the groups, I selected this group and surgeon because they feel right. Ability to talk about everything and bedside manor are also important to me. Right now I am facing the major test as to whether I will opt to do it by myself or proceed with surgery. My sister is having surgery for breast cancer on Tuesday. My father (88) was taken to the hospital Friday and admitted for breathing difficulties. He has emphysema and this is his first major setback. We normally share responsibility for him but it is all on me this time. I have and always will be a stress eater. If worrying about both of them and having to go work on top of it, doesn't trigger a weight gain I think I may have a chance to do it myself. So far I'm not doing so good. :-) Not as bad as I used to do but definitely not good. No decisions will be made until some time in October/November and a lot will depend on results of upper GI. Thanks again for all of your input!

I suggested in a previous response that you may want to consider increasing daily caloric intake to create a good metabolic burn rate with respect to intense work outs like insanity. Try this. Your weight may increase slightly until your body adapts to the new homeostasis (give yourself at least 6 weeks to "fix" the metabolic burn rate). The temporary weight gain is just water under the bridge. No need to get angry about it. It just is. The weight will drop again. Eating far fewer calories then calorie requirements will unfortunately lead to low metabolic burn rates. Generally, sub 1200 daily calories are reserved for new post ops. Once you move into vet territory and are wishing to find a way of eating for life, most doctors / nuts would suggest eating closer to 2000 calories daily in a nutritionally balanced fashion combined with moderate exercise. That is just my opinion and I am only stating to help. I think others would agree. Good luck. You are going to find success.

There are a few things that really made me decide to have WLS. I am getting married in August 2016, and my fiance is British. We've been together for over seven years (I am 30) and lived together in the US for three. I was around 150lbs when we met and started dating. I was diagnosed with bipolar about a year into our relationship and my doctor perscribed a medication called Zyprexa, which is great for someone having a severe bipolar episode...but it is notorious for weight gain. I think I gained 5 pounds by simply filling the perscription! In my year taking it, I gained 100lbs with no change to my diet or exercise. I was very active...I played rugby and soccer, and I ate a low-carb and low-sugar diet. No matter what I did, the weight kept piling on until I visited my psychiatrist and told her I wanted to try something else because I was so incredibly depressed due to my weight gain. She swapped me to a new medication, but a lot of damage had already been done. The Zyprexa combined with some of the other medications I was taking essentially destroyed my metabolism, making it pretty impossible for me to lose weight no matter what diet and exercise plan I went on. Fortunately, I am now on medication that is weight-neutral, so I have not really gained anything more. I could not play rugby or soccer any longer because all my excess weight made running EXTREMELY hard on my joints, and giving that up was incredibly painful for me. I still tried to lose weight on my own over the course of several years, but nothing helped, including physician-supervised metabolic weight loss. I visited my fiance last May-June, and I could barely walk into town. Getting around London was an absolute nightmare. I started looking at WLS options on my own, but was far too afraid to actually go to a seminar or talk to my family about it. This August, I went to the bridal shop to buy my wedding dress. They did carry larger sizes (I am an 18-20 at the moment) so I was able to try on quite a few. I found the PERFECT dress, and while my parents and the bridal consultant said I looked beautiful...all I could see was how overweight I was. I *did* look pretty in the dress, but when I stared at myself in the mirror, I kept thinking how much better I would look and feel if I was able to lose some of the weight. A few days later, I mentioned the idea of WLS to my parents, who were very supportive of my decision. I was still very afraid because it is a pretty major surgery in my book, but a close friend of mine had the VSG a few weeks earlier and told me that it didn't hurt quite as badly as she thought it would, and she was recovering quickly. Not only that, but she was losing weight and feeling much, much better. I decided to look into it more seriously and attended a seminar...and I decided that it was the solution for me. I went into my surgeon's office for a height and weight check, and I qualified for WLS. After speaking to the program coordinator, I decided to go through with the surgery and made my first appointment. I will be seeing Dr. Sebastien this Tuesday, and I am incredibly excited and nervous at the same time. I feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I will finally be able to lose the weight so that I can get back to doing the things I enjoy as well as look great in my wedding pictures! Sorry for this long winded diatribe...I haven't really shared whis with many people, and once I started writing, it just kind of flowed out. xx, Polara

I told less people than that, I do not think that is silly at all. For me it's not so much about the weight gain or loss, it's about the food policing I'll get, or the constant: "So how much have you lost?" Or if something happens and I need it removed, I don't want anyone to know about that, either. In all other aspects of my life I'm pretty much an open book, but this one I'm keeping shut tight.

Hi friends. I have stubbed my toe a little here in the last week and I think its because I set myself up for a hit by making myself push hard to get to that -100 number by my bandiversary and then I didn't make it by March 31 and I'm still not there. I sat down and asked myself what the heck are you doing? You're sabotaging yourself because you didn't hit a specific weight loss number and in the past I got to this magic 100 lbs off thing and then I slid back down the slope and regained it back. Maybe I'm subconsciously worried that if I pass the 100 mark I will then slide backward? Weird. I have a long way to go so I made a conscious decision today to take control back again, think about better food choices. Put tempting foods away, like hide the Easter candy, put the chips away that didn't get eaten at the neighborhood party, and if the family doesn't consume them this Sunday, to throw them away. I went back and thought about when I hit my -90 lbs at Valentines Day and maybe I should be content with about -5lbs a month at a rate of loss at this point but I think I can do better if I don't keep slipping and eating things I know I shouldn't. So tonight, I thought, what kind of a snack is low calorie and filling and I tried to eat about a 1/2 cup of cantaloupe and I couldn't believe how fast that filled me up. I obviously have restriction if that can fill me up so I need to leave 'slider' foods alone that melt or dissolve on the way down. Okay, now that is off my chest, I am looking forward to tomorrow being a better day. Also I've been taking pain pills Tylenol with Codeine and antibiotics for an abscessed tooth and I noticed that my fingers are all swollen and I had a sudden Water weight gain so I'm going to stay away from the scale and just give myself a break for a week. I had my root canal surgery today and I'm sore but I hope this will settle things. Still have to go through the process to get the crown down.. Just when I thought I was paying off last year's medical things, this is an unexpected chunk to pay.

I have no clue why this popped up on my phone this morning but as I read first post then second a few more then I stopped reading. I forgot I had the app honestly because I stopped being on here. I had just decided to do the surgery a few months ago, went to the seminar, my first appt was done and I was still up on the air about it. As I started to go through the process, all of the testing read more and I joined this forum to get other people's experiences, see how you all are doing, looked at some on youtube videos I guess to see if I really wanted to do it this time. I started the process three years ago and stopped halfway said I didn't need it because I eat healthy salads, veggies not alot of food, bake not fry and I excercise but here I am three years later. Still weigh the same as when I started, I'll lose it and gain it right back but never go over what I've been. It wasn't my time back then and one thing that I read that I absolutely agree with is that you truly have to mentally prepare yourself for this. I've made my decision based on the fact that I want to be healthier without all the meds I take daily. I can and will honestly say I don't have a problem with food because I barely eat. Which is also a problem lack of eating which I've been working on. I have health issues high blood pressure, asthma, pseudotumorcerebri, and REM apnea as to why I qualify for the surgery because your BMI has to be 40 or above mine is and was 38 my first dr visit. My weight gain came from me taking the birth control shot years ago and I have never been able to go back to under 200 lbs and currently 248 I'm 5' 7". I'm scheduled for surgery Dec 6th and I have my last pre op test today. No backing out this time. I am stocked and ready to start my liquid diet in 2 weeks. Wish you all the best of luck on your journeys ????

48 and feelin great lol. Sleeved 1-3-17 ... yes 1 yr and 9 months ago. Was a miserable size 24-26 now a """"" 12""""" and loving it!!!!! No weight gain. I'm also a new "GRANDMA"! What a wonderful life experience I'm having ... and now I'll be able to keep up with my grandchild, play, go places and do things with her. Loving Life

I tried the 8th Continent Soy milk Light Vanilla flavored...tastes great but as it turns out I am allergic to it. It almost jepordized my surgery. I was adding the soy to my protein shakes to up my protein intake and ended up in the ER with my throat nearly swollen shut.:devious They gave me a dose of prednisone to clear the swelling. I went to see the Doc the day before my surgery was scheduled for to be sure my throat was in good enought shape to handle the anesthesia and was almost denied my surgery due to the weight gain from the prednisone and the mere fact that prednisone is a steriod and compromises your immune system. I was left in the exam room waiting for 40 minutes to hear whether my surgery for the next day was still a go or not. The nurse prectioner came back in to find me a balling mess of tears and snot. :cry She asked me what was wrong and I looked at her as if to shoot her dead in her shoes. :dead I said well, you left me in here for 40 min. not knowing whether or not I am going to have my surgery tomorrow. I have jumped through a lot of hoops to get here -even jumped through a few hoops you guys forgot to tell me about and now here I sit wondering if I just paid for a surgery that I may not get to have. she laughed and said oh honey you're ok. the doc said he will see you tomorrow in the hospital. hugged me and left the room. :speechles all that being said...just be careful if you have a tendancy towards allergies and you are still waiting to be banded.

Why the attack? The poor thing obviously didn't get much support from her doctors office and ate what she thought that she was allowed (Cream soups were allowed for me early out...I had creamy potato in the hospital after my second surgery). I also gained not twenty, but FOURTY pounds in the first five weeks, so it's not impossible. I gained it because of my complications causing fluid retention, then on TPN in hospital (IV's etc). There's another thread where the poor gal posted her sisters tragic story and this same thing happened. She got beat to death when she just needed to share her story and was looking for help. If you don't believe the gal, WALK ON BY! Why do you have to beat her up. I also did not have a leak test at the hospital. They are not a 100% guaranteed test given to everyone. What your doctor does Dawg is not what every doctor does. I see this time and time again here, that people boast they have the "top surgeon" one of the "top ten" and yet I see so many names of docs in that top ten that even my 20 years in banking is not necessary to see that there are over ten top tens out there LOL This gal wanted help. Leave her be if you're only here to beat her up. Do you also stop and punch homeless people when you walk by you negative posters? Walk by!!! OP, I was allowed cream soups and things as well but I was limited on the amount. For instance 18oz is just way way way too much for anyone when we're talking cream based soups (or any soup really) and they are calorie packed. I'm wondering if you maybe need to work with a different nutritionist? Or also if you do have surgical issues to worry about. Did something go wrong? That could explain a weight gain. I hope you get to the bottom of it and I'm sorry that you got goober here. People on this site don't like to read about the bad stories. They make it very clear and unwelcome sadly It's human nature I guess, but for those of us who suffered them, it's also very real and our stories should be heard as well. Intelligent people do want to hear them!

Okay, so I've overshot my final goal, and my wife is upset that I'm getting "too skinny". Now what? I'm still losing, slowly, but I really need to stop, and maybe even put 2-3 pounds back on. I guess I need to get out of ketosis. My doc suggested adding back carbs that you'd eat cooked with a meal (brown rice, sweet potatoes, whole wheat Pasta, etc. And I'm guessing quinoa, barley and oatmeal would probably be okay, too. Can any of you vets who have successfully transitioned to maintenance advise about how you did it? What can we do to stop the weight loss – and what shouldn't we do – in order to prevent weight gain? Thanks in advance!!!

I ask about Sleeve with band because they perform plication with band. I was curious why they didn't do this with the sleeve... some people mention they don't feel full with the sleeve or weight gain. I always felt like my band didn't work like it should because my upper pouch would fill and then my lower stomach would still be "hungry". search "failed sleeve" or "weight gain after sleeve" you'll see lots of people mention they were revisions. Also- my surgeon lets you choose the size of your sleeve.

I know I haven't posted in a while, everything is going great here. I thought I would post my 2 cents on Dr. H. I gained 12 lbs after an unfill this summer and was absolutely humilated to go in and "face the music." My bp was up and I got upset on the PA when she mentioned my weight gain. I asked to ask Dr. H to give me a couple of minutes because I was so embarassed. When he came in and we talked, I thought he was OVERLY almost hateful when lecturing me on my failuer...especially since I was noticably upset. I just sobbed until he was finished talking and got up and left. I have not seen him since. I really hope it was just a bad day on his part because I don't easily cry unless I'm ashamed of myself. I hope that if I see him again I can voice my disappointment in being scolded like a child by someone I paid $15000 to help me. I think he could have encouraged me and tell me tomorrows a new day. The last 2 times I've been my bp has been high because I worry I will have to see him again, and this time I KNOW I won't cry...I might just do some scolding myself!

My husband and I went on a trip last week for our honeymoon/anniversary. I was already advanced to regular foods, and I don't have any restriction. They warned me that I could gain some weight during my regular food and without restriction. I gained 5 pounds back!! So....I'm really watching everything I put in my mouth, truly focusing on drinking enough water, and getting my 60 g protein in everyday. I've also started exercising. Last night I did 30 min on wii fit, today I plan to hit the treadmill. I don't get a fill until 2/4. Has anyone else had problems with weight gain???

Bexleygal-Halfway!!! I know my next ultrasound is about 2-3 weeks away and that's when we will learn the sex (if the baby is coorperating) and I can hardly stand the wait. I can't imagine how long your weekend is going to be waiting to hear your news on Monday! Be sure and let us know how it goes. Raynie-A boy! How exciting! I can't wait until our next ultrasound to learn the sex. I too have that feeling that I am having a girl, don't know why really, but we are kinda hoping for a boy. We will be ecstatic with either though! Ok, I have to ask this question as my next doctor's appointment is next week and I am already worrying myself about the scale....How much weight is everyone gaining and at what point in your pregnancy are you? I am 16 weeks and the last time I saw my doctor (at 13 weeks), I had gained a total of 5 lbs. and he said we needed to watch that. I was really proud that I had only gained 5 but he wasn't overly thrilled with it. I am just wondering if that is normal, not normal? I have no idea seeings how I have never been pregnant before. I know from my scale at home that I have put on a little more weight and I just dread that part of the appt. I really can't help but wonder if my weight gain is due not only to the baby and placenta growing but to the totally different lifestyle I have. I mean, before I got pregnant, I exercised a whole lot more than I do now and I was so strict on my eating. All I am accomplishing now as far as exercise is walking and I hate to admit, I'm not as faithful as I should be. And I know they say you only need 300 more calories when you are pregnant, but can that be true based on how little we bandsters ate before? I was STRICT! I lost over 125 in 8 months, I was a fanatic about it. Now, I am not focused on that and am eating more because I know that my baby needs it. I guess what I am asking is, could our weight gain not be "textbook" because we are adding more than just 300 calories because our intake before was so low? I can't help but wonder if that's the case. What's your opinions?

Casey, From my understanding they do not ask many questions. I have never gone through a therapist for approval but I heard they whip you through there. Personally, I wish I would have gone through therapy because I truly believe once you have made it to your goal, the mind, MY MIND changed dramatically and I thought that I needed it then. I don't doubt that I still need it now. In fact, it wouldn't even hurt my husband to go through therapy as I consisently hear, EVER SINCE YOU LOST YOUR WEIGHT, and EVER SINCE YOU QUIT SMOKING......... He is having a tough time. What he doesn't realize, in which I have told him was, you will never understand throughout my life what I have gone through and you will also never understand how much I love you for putting up with me and how lucky I am to still have you since I went through weight gain and weight loss with him. All the time that I bought clothes and then threw them out because they couldn't fit me anymore. Skinny, fat, skinny, fat..........and, he never had a weight problem in his life. He needs therapy as well as I do, still because I still have tough times trying to accept and be happy with who I am. Big huge life change is headed your way as long as you commit yourself. Just remember the most important outcome of this whole process and that is to become healthy and live a more happy life. You can get through this and we are all here for moral support. Josephine

I had a lot of head hunger for Taco Bell. But when I broke down and bought a taco, it was the most disappointing taco I had ever had. I found it to be repulsing and have no desire to eat there again. Oh, I couldn't believe their taco's were 99cents. So over priced for nothing. Hummmmm. I use to eat these all the time. Could they contribute to weight gain? TACO BELL bad food! No Taco Bell for me. LOL

Honestly I wish I could give you all hugs, I can't believe the nerve of some people that are supposed to be supportive of you - more so mothers and grandmothers I noticed where the huge contenders for the biggest bitch title. As for me, I can still remember every year in primary school we would have sports day, and we'd have to do like tests or whatever to see who would be competing on the day - anyway they got us to run like 200m or so and I start running (I'm not a runner by the way) and next thing you know I hear all this laughter behind me, no child should have to deal with that ever - so needless to say I walked the rest of the way. Then in year 7 (after having chemo and a disease that caused scarring on my lungs so obviously I couldnt breathe as well) it was sports again, the teacher I had at the time just kept saying I was lethargic and some other word I can't remember and she just kept saying it and saying it, now every year they have fetes so if they still have them on after I've lost the weight I'm gonna go their and see what she's like - I mean who knows, I could actually sue her for discrimination - it's happened here in aus and it's definitely contributed to my weight gain

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??

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 !!!

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 had lost 12 or 13 lbs, I believe, before surgery. And of course post-surgery, it's very frustrating to get on the scale and note that you have gained weight (or at least I did) from the gas and the fluids I received IV during hospitalization. It took me at least five days to get rid of that and I am not 'counting' the weight gain...it was a pause in progress, really. Since surgery, though, I've lost 8 more lbs, and I'm feeling pretty darned cheery about that! Best, Deb WS

I wanted to share a note about weight gain during the surgery. As a few posted before, the fluid from surgery makes you GAIN weight when you get it, so don't be sad or look at the scale for a while! I knew I would gain fluid, also since I missed a few doses of diuretic meds during/after the surgery. I gained TWELVE POUNDS when I got home- and this is after almost no calories for two days! So far I have lost two of those pounds (TMI- peed them right out, ha ha). It will take some time for the rest of the liquid to go away- I can feel a lot of it in my gut, etc. Even more TMI- my main incision (I have five- the big one is right above my bellybutton) is definitely worse than the others, and last night there was a lot of bloody drainage out of it. Hopefully this is normal, and it seems to have calmed down. Not fun cleaning that off the floor through :rolleyes2: I'm sure this happens to a lot of other people, so I think we should just not look at that scale (or realize it's all fluids!). I have to say I think I have more pain than some others on here, along with a killer headache- I think maybe it's just the different ways we are affected by surgery, and how much they have to dig in there to do the surgery. I have to take two vicodin every four hours just to manage. I found that instead of grinding them and putting them into a spoonful of yogurt, it actually tasted way less bad to just chew them a bit and swallow with water. It is lovely here in MI today so I walked outside, slowly, for half a mile. Being outside was a relief! I hope the rest of you are doing well!

We're sleeve buddies -- I'm the 6th, too! I'm with you as well, I'm not a snacker, and I don't love junk food -- it's the quantities (I LOVE to cook) that got me where I am today, so I'm really looking forward to enjoying a healthier relationship with food in the years to come. You're a health care professional, and I'm a certified group fitness instructor and Pilates instructor (though I haven't taught in 18 months due to weight gain) -- proof that even those that know better can be fallible. Best of luck to you next week -- we're on the home stretch!!

Still not losing weight. Gained 5 pounds while I was getting dehydrated. Dr said it was my body trying to retain what fluids it could. Then lost 2 after not being dehydrated anymore. Weighed this morning to find out I've gained the two back, stopped weighing everyday cuz it's just so disappointing. I'm about ready to throw the scale out the window. i walk about 40 minutes each day and just don't know wth is going on. I'm getting fluids and protein. Any ideas or similar experiences? Gen :-)