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Just an FYI for anyone on DEPO, that can cause weight gain as well. I was on it for several years and gained a LOT of weight in that time. It also can take a while after you go off it to get pregnant (if that's something you'd be interested in). It took me almost a year to get pregnant after my last shot and I never went back to it. I have problems with any of the birth control with hormones in. I went to an IUD and haven't had any problems. I am still a little concerned about the weirdness in my periods, but I'm going to wait until next month to bring it up to my doctor. Maybe it'll be back on schedule by then.

Are you still on liquids, or are you eating/drinking alot of canned Soup? There was a post earlier today that I saw where the poster went back to liquids due to a fill, and was surprised at both her weight gain and how her face looked. Turns out, she was eating a lot of canned soup, which she realized was really high in sodium. So check out what you are eating/drinking - maybe it's high in sodium, and that, combined with the saline from surgery, are what's causing the high blood pressure. Just a thought!

The important thing is that while gaining weight, which is a measure of your body's total mass, you're not gaining fat. With what you're eating, it's physically impossible to gain 2# of fat in that amount of time. It's critical to see & understand the difference there. Weight does NOT equal fat. The most common cause of rapid weight gain is Water retention. There are tons of things out there that cause this: menstruation (typically you start to retain 2 weeks prior and hold it until a few days after), eating salty foods, not drinking enough water, medication, diet, season/temperature, etc. This is why scales have killed so many diets. Someone could have lost 10# of fat, but retained 12# of water, and they think "Well crap, if I'm giving all this up and *gaining* 2# screw it, I'm going to McDonald's!" If you want a true measure of what's going on, rely on measurements and body fat analysis. Scales really don't tell you anything other than what everything in and on your body weighs at any given point in time.

PCOS is <!--StartFragment -->Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Here's a link that explains the syndrome and its various symptons, which include weight gain. http://www.webmd.com/hw/womens_conditions/tw9104.asp?src=Inktomi&condition=Healthwise

I'm not going to get into an argument with someone on a message board. I simply stated that you shouldn't assume anything yet you're doing it again. Read up a bit on PCOS and you might learn something. PCOS is typically treated with diabetic medications, such as Glucophage. However, because one of the symptoms of PCOS is weight gain, many women (like myself) have failed to lose weight even with proper dieting and exercise. I'm not, nor have I ever been, obsessed with food. Prior to getting my band, I didn't over eat. I may not have always made the right food choices, but I was not one to over eat. Please read my post on the following thread about why I am fat. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=5223&page=8&pp=15 Please refer to my answer above to seehawksimms.

Golly, what rotten luck. You are right though, I simply cannot understand that if you use your head, use the band the right way and bloody well teach yourself some decent eating habits, why there is any need in the world for you to gain weight back. Keep up your exercise, keep up your new sensible habits and you should be right. Get right onto any small weight gains immediately. For the record, I find it much easier to avoid gaining weight than I do losing it. I managed to get through my third pregnancy without gaining anything significant, and since I realised 10 or so years ago that I could easily gain 7kg on a 2 week holiday, I've never gained a gram on holidays since. It doesnt require quite the same deprivation as dieting does - for me I find it requires a big commitment to loads of exercise. Then I can afford a treat here or there and I dont gain. You can do that too. You know you can. Surely with banding there's an element of it being a crutch, to allow you to work on your head issues without that exhausting expectation of failure. You've done the hard yards, now you can just keep going! Good luck and I hope it goes well for you

The LA Times had an interesting article on weighing this morning. Thought I'd share it here for those who don't get the Times and see what you guys thought. Dieters, step on your scales <LI style="LIST-STYLE-POSITION: inside; LIST-STYLE-TYPE: square">Those who weigh themselves regularly have a better chance of losing extra pounds, a recent study finds. But not all experts agree. By Rosie Mestel, Times Staff Writer Losing weight is hard — and you might say hardly studied. Only recently have scientists clinically shown that the widely used Atkins diet actually works, and they've yet to definitively weigh in on another diet-related question: Does regularly stepping on the scales help a dieter lose weight? Sure it does, say many weight loss experts. Weighing yourself is a clear way to monitor progress or catch (and nip in the bud) a slow, steady uptick in lardage. Not so fast, say others. The glacially slow nature of weight loss, plus those spiky daily fluctuations in body weight, might actually make dieters more apt to throw in the towel. ADVERTISEMENT Now, just in time for the waist-expanding holiday season, a new study has come down on the side of daily weigh-ins. Published in the December issue of the Annals of Behavioral Medicine, it reports that dieters who weighed themselves regularly shed more pounds over a 24-month period than people who didn't regularly weigh themselves. Those who weighed themselves daily lost the most. To the authors, the implications are clear: Dieters should be encouraged to weigh themselves — and often. "We talk to people about monitoring calories daily, about monitoring their exercise daily…. if we're asking them to do those … on a daily basis, then why not add this other recommendation?" says Jennifer A. Linde, lead author of that study and an assistant professor at the school of public health at the University of Minnesota. Yet there's a chicken-egg caveat here that some critics point to and that even those who believe in the findings acknowledge. Sure, successful dieters may weigh themselves more. But the studies don't tell you what caused what — just that the two things correlate. It's fun to step on the scales when you're succeeding. When the numbers are nudging upward or stubbornly refusing to change … less so. "They're assuming that weighing yourself frequently leads you to lose weight. I think losing weight makes you weigh yourself more frequently, because — 'I'm losing weight, yes, yes, I'm down another pound,' " says Janet Polivy, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Toronto, who is not a fan of the bathroom scales. That confusion is why, to this day, you'll sometimes get roomfuls of PhDs and MDs sitting around discussing an issue you'd think 21st century science might have put to bed by now. A curious study from the 1960s points to the potential effect of frequent weighing. Eight overweight women in a small private college were enrolled in a weight loss plan, part of which consisted of coming in to be weighed four times a day. By study's end the women had lost an average of 40pounds each. The study was small; it lacked important controls. But it was intriguing. "People in that group lost more weight than any study since then in nearly 40 years," says Dr. Joseph A. Risser, director of clinical research for Lindora Medical Group, which runs the Lean for Life weight loss program. The scales couldn't possibly have registered real loss from one weigh-in to the next — but maybe, Risser muses, something else was going on, such as a reminder of the mission the dieter was on. His own studies of more than 600 clients show that those who were weighed five times weekly lost more weight (24 pounds) than those weighed twice weekly (19 pounds). The new study by Linde and colleagues tapped statistics from two populations. One was a group of 1,800 obese or overweight adults enrolled in a weight loss trial. Participants were asked at the study's start and at intervals thereafter how often they weighed themselves. After one year, monthly, weekly and daily weighers all lost weight on average, but those who weighed themselves daily lost the most — about 8 pounds. (Those who never weighed themselves gained weight.) The other data came from 1,226 adults in a weight gain prevention trial. At 12 months, those who weighed themselves daily had lost about 2 to 3 pounds. Those who weighed themselves less often, or not at all, actually gained weight.In both studies, significant differences were also seen at two years. People who weighed themselves also did other healthy things such as exercise more, but the self-weighing effect was statistically significant on its own, Linde says. James O. Hill, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado, says the findings fit with a registry of adults who have lost at least 30 pounds and (even more impressive) maintained that weight loss for a year or longer. A key thing those succeeders report, Hill says, is regular self-weighing — at least weekly, and often daily. (They also have an emergency plan of action for when the reading creeps above a crucial number of pounds.) Focusing on the long term Psychologist Patrick M. O'Neil, director of the weight management center at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, says he's a strong proponent of daily weigh-ins, based on Hill's data and his own clinical experience — but that the practice should be paired with a weight chart that focuses on trends, not short-term, zigzag fluctuations. "It's sort of like tracking stock prices," he says. "You know they're going to vary day to day." Regular weighing is one thing. But every single day? After all, hormonal changes, Fluid intake, sweating, medications and salt intake cause day-to-day, hour-to-hour differences in body weight of up to several pounds. At Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers, dieters weigh in each week with their personal consultants or at meetings. "We encourage them to take a break from daily weigh-ins because weight fluctuates," says Jenny Craig spokeswoman Gail Manginelli. "It can be demoralizing." Meanwhile, there are some specialists who think either daily or weekly scale-hopping may have downsides. Psychologists and psychiatrists who treat patients with eating disorders note that encouraging people to weigh themselves might exacerbate such pathologies. Other scale-doubters, such as psychologist Michelle Dionne of Ryerson University in Toronto, believe self-weighing can also be counterproductive in psychologically healthy folks who just want to shed some poundage. Among the studies she points to: ones in which students were brought into an experimental clinic and weighed — but on fixed scales that actually recorded their weights as heavier or lighter than they truly were. Students led to think they were 5 pounds heavier than they had thought scored significantly lower on psychological scales measuring mood, selfesteem and body satisfaction. In one of the studies, students were also provided with a tasty snack right after the weigh-in — and the ones who'd been bamboozled into thinking they were heavier than they were ate significantly more of that snack. "I would suggest there are some people who are going to receive really helpful feedback and reinforcement from self-weighing," Dionne says. "But there's another group of people, whom we call for lack of a better word 'vulnerable,' who … may feel worse about themselves, dislike their body to a greater degree and start engaging in behaviors that may lead to weight gain." Experts debate how students given false information in a lab relate to real-life dieters using scales to monitor their progress. But even proponents of weighing advocate restraint. "I don't think anyone in a responsible professional position has argued for weighing oneself more than once a day," says O'Neil. "We do not want to encourage people to turn this into a fetish." If you do weigh in With that caveat in mind, here are some tips from various specialists about the best way to weigh yourself if you choose to. • To minimize variation, always weigh at the same time of day, such as in the morning just after having used the bathroom. • If you are weighing yourself daily, understand that your weight will vary day to day. It's the trend that's important. You may find it useful to make a graph of your weight. • Put the scale on a flat, uncarpeted surface so the readings don't wobble. • Use a scale that is consistent, giving the same weight when you step on, then off, then on again. That's more important than the type of scale you buy. Use the same scale each time. • Don't get fixated on the scale. Monitor your body change in other ways, such as the fit of your clothes, a tape measure or how you physically feel. • To the best of your ability, try to gauge how the weighing makes you feel, and if it is reinforcing — or undermining — your efforts.

My doctor told me to crush metformin He refuses to give me glucaphage (I think cuz it leads to weight gain??) the pill is much smaller and thats what i want, I HATE crushing pills and honestly.. I just stopped taking them at all.. and I have been fine. (NOT that a reccomend that)

I have insulin resistance and take 30mg of Actos. They are really small, so no problem there....possible side effect is weight gain however. I asked my doctor for Metformin, but he wants me on the Actos because it helps chlosterol. I agree on just crushing them, it is only bad tasting for a minute!

Jonathan I think your "coming home" is a sign that are ready to address your band status. It's time. With all the multitude of things you've had going on in the last year, maybe you just "knew" you didn't have weightloss in ya so you back burnered it! First things first, right? Now that things are calming down, you can rededicate yourself to getting down in the scale department. Since getting unfilled didn't help the problem it was supposed to, and you had subsequent weight gain, why not go get refilled and start again? Welcome back to LBT! Don't let the 13lbs discourage you, kick it it the *** (no, not the A- word, the F word -- F-A-T). Go get em!

Katie, Im glad you asked this. I havent taken the pill in MANY years, and recently considered getting back on it - due to other reasons then birth control. But Im worried about the weight gain that the pill has a reputation for doing. Im anxious/curious in knowing what your doctor/pharmacist says about your weight LOSS instead of gain. This is new information! Im like the others - history of the pill has led to gaining, not losing.

well im thinking it has to do with the hormones and the PCOS, since PCOS can cause weight gain and or difficultly loosing weight heh

I'm condused ..you are losing weight well with your band right and because you have saline in it right? Well, seems to me the band is doing it's job..once you have thesalineremoved you may find you are not losing weight. I had my band unfilled for 2 months and believe me when I tel lyou, it's a whole different world with no saline..thank god it is only unfilled for 2 months or I could of been in some serious trouble with weight gain. If you do not want your band any longer, do not get it removed, get it unfilled, then see how you do, that is the great thing aboutthe band, if you start to gain you can always get it filled again...a question though...why are you sick of your band if it is working for you? How much fill do you have? Have you considered getting a partial unfill?

I went out with the girls friday after work and had one cranberry juice and parot bay rum. I enjoyed it and stopped at one. Drinking poses no problem for me other than the calories in the mixers. At home or at friends houses I do vodka with lemonade crystal light and have had no weight gain from it - but always in moderation. Good luck,

Rubina, Oh goodness, what a horrible response the nurse gave you! Certainly didnt make you feel better. YES! weight gain is commen before the first fill. Basically just trying to maintain the original weight loss is a struggle during this time. Ive heard of patients asking the surgeon (or your pcp) for diet pills. Another thing that I did, was go for a walk! (if you can) Everytime the eating urge was stong, Id take the kids and we'd go for a stroll. Also, s/f popsicles seemed to aid and sooth me at this time. I think I ate a 1/2 a box a day, then wash 'em down with a big glass of Water. Good luck - this is really the hardest part of it all. I promise!

Hey You! You are the one who gave me my pretty signature...in case anyone ever wondered. How are you?! I have seen your sister's Before/So-far pics on the Before/After thread and she looks wonderful. Did you ever get any weight gained? Good to see you, girl.

Coco, I concur with Alex. I am 2 years and 5 months out. Despite losing so much, having plastic surgery and all the hard work, I am also having trouble with some weight gain. I am stable at the moment, but cant seem to lose anymore and even gained 10 pounds I havent been able to lose since I quit smoking. Its hard, but you have to go back to the basics of what made you successful in the first place. It makes you realize how much of the weight loss was in your court and what you really need to do to continue to be successful. Thats really the best advice I can give you is to start again and follow the rules. Babs in TX 334/18-/170 -154

I'm 2yrs into the lap-band and I'm gaining how can I get control of it before it's too late?

I'm 63 and my dr. has suggested lap banding because it will help my heart. I have had 5-way-bypass surgery and quit smoking. When I quit smoking is when I gained all the weight. It's kind of a vicious circle, because I've once more put myself in danger with my heart with the weight gain. Someone told me that over 55 bandsters don't do well. Does anyone have an opinion on this and is there anyone out there that is banded and older? I'd love to hear their opinions and whether the surgery was more difficult for them. Perhaps I'll find there are no older bandsters and that should answer my question about whether to do it or not. Any feedband is appreciated.

As a 5-way-bypass survivor who has been through multiple cardiac caths and angioplasty I think I have to disagree. The mortality rate in gastric bypass patients of an older age far exceeds any heart surgeries. That I know to be fact. I'm honestly concerned now in what you say about lap banding being tougher on patients that are older, because I'm older than you. I'm 63. The seminar dr. told me there was not the risk with lap banding that is associated with gastric bypass in patients of this age. He told me lap banding is perfectly safe at any age. Can you give me some more info on where you got your data? I have received nothing but encouragement to have this done "for my heart", so perhaps I need to look more closely at it. It is minimally invasive as compared to gastric bypass which is truly invasive, so please fill me in on why banding is difficult for older patients. You are having a surgery that is more invasive then gastric lap banding? What is this DS surgery? I'll say a prayer for you. Why do you have to have the more extensive surgery? Can you describe just what it consists of and why lap banding would not be an alternative. Thanks and God Bless. I said a lot of prayers after going through multiple angios and stents and then having 5-way-bypasss at 59, but I came through it just fine. The doctors took away my cigarettes, which were really a crutch to prevent weight gain. I weighed 160 at the time of surgery and am 5'9". I was fine with myself. Now, I eat like a piglet and am always hungry without the cigarettes. I would never go back to them, but I've created one more hazardous condition because I gained so much weight when I quit. You are dammed if you do and dammed if you don't it seems. Does anyone have any encouragement for banding at an older age?

Myths and Facts of Gastric Bypass Myth 1 Gastric Bypass patients end up streching their stomachs back to the size they started with. Fact 1 Unfortunately it is true that some weight loss surgery (WLS) patients do regain their weight after losing it. What isn’t true is that they stretch their stomachs back to pre-surgical size. At best, a post gastric bypass stomach will expand from a capacity of 2 tablespoons to one-cup capacity. This is expected and part of the reason gastric bypass is successful. In the phase of rapid weight loss the patient cannot eat more than once ounce of food at a time. As the stomach heals and the weight loss stabilizes the stomach can eventually hold up to a cup of food at a time. Myth 2 Gastric Bypass Patients regain all their weight and then some! Fact 2 The reason that some patients regain their weight after surgery is they return to snacking which is contradictory to the directions given by their bariatric center. Snacking is forbidden by most centers. Eating little quantities of the wrong foods throughout the day causes WLS patients to stop losing weight, or worse, this behavior results in weight gain. Snacking is one of the behaviors that caused morbid obesity in the first place Myth 3 Gastric Bypass surgery makes people sick all the time. Fact 3 Weight loss surgery patients who have gastric bypass can suffer from what is called dumping syndrome. Dumping syndrome is described as a shock-like state when small, easily absorbed food particles rapidly dump into the digestive system. This results in a very unpleasant feeling with symptoms such as a cold clammy sweat, pallor, butterflies in the stomach and a pounding pulse. These symptoms may be followed by cramps and diarrhea. This state can last for 30-60 minutes and is quite uncomfortable. Foods that typically cause dumping are sweets, fats and processed carbohydrates. If a person is dehydrated the symptoms of dumping will be exaggerated. The most efficient way to avoid dumping is to maintain the strict regimen practiced during bariatric infancy: follow the four rules. Eat Protein first making sure it comprises one-half of every meal. Avoid snacking. Avoid all sources of simple sugar; and yes, this includes Cookies, cakes, candy, sodas, ice cream and sorbet. Sip Water throughout the day. When you practice this eating behavior your blood sugar will not fluctuate and you will not dump. Most patients, who crave a taste of something sweet, have learned they can tolerate a bite of fruit at the end of the meal. Each person must proceed with caution and discover what works for their body. I personally have never had any compications and I have never experienced dumping syndrome. But I do not use that as an excuse to eat thing that I know made me overweight in the first place. I have been given a tool to help me lose weight, not a magic cure to my poor eating habits. It is up to each individual to take this tool and use it to it's fullest. It is also up to each individual to decide how successful they will be by making the right choices now or 2 years from now. If you do that, you will not gain the weight back. I think people have come to use these "myths" as excuses. There is no excuse. So if you know someone that has regained all their weight after surgery, it is their choice. My advice is before making the final decision on what type of surgery to have, do your homework on all options. Their are pros and cons to both Banding and Gastric Bypass. We are very lucky to have options, we're Americans! lol I think what is truely the important is no matter what procedure we have done, we are all in the same battle. We have all been the fat one that people point and stare at. So reguardless of our individual decisions, we need to stick together and support each other no matter what. Good luck to all of you in your journey down the road to weight lose! :banana Megan 332/242/150 GBS 04/27/05 90 pounds gone forever! You're not responsible for being knocked down. However, you are responsible for picking yourself back up!

During a weight management consultation (to create a paper trail in support of Lap-Band surgery) I was told the Remeron I've been taking for a few years is linked to binge eating. I don't know that I binge per say, but I do eat a lot ... I stay hungery! I was switched to Zoloft, which actually seemed to curb my appetite, but it made me very very dizzy. I stoped taking any anti-depressant about 6 weeks ago, and so far, so good. If it takes a while to get all anti-depressant medications out of your system, I may not be too far behind you in resuming medication. If that happens and Prozac isn't linked to weight gain, maybe I'll try it. Good luck & God Bless! Just know that you're not alone.

Wellbutrin is generally not linked to weight gain. I've been on it for several years and it has been a life-saver!

Margo, you sound like my secretary, OMG, she takes zoloft and the day after she runs out we're looking for a poltigeist (sp). My DH takes the happy pill Effexor, I'd like to double it up on him. He has a problem with restless sleeping, I haven't told him it's a side affect of his happy pills, he's quit taking them, but no weight gain, same size he was when we got married 36 years ago.

My therapist knew about my weight issues, so he made sure to prescribe me an anti deppressant that would not cause weight gain. I was on Effexor for approximately 1 year. I found it to work excellently. The down side is that it really gets you wired and its difficult to fall asleep at night. For that reason, I was put on Topomax to help me sleep, but I was so tired during the day. The mix was a terrible experience, but the effexor, alone, was awesome. It 'gets the job done' without the weight gain. I actually lost a lot of weight while I was on it. Cymbalta is very similar to that one.