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My weight just slowed. I reached my goal & thought yay but I kept losing. So I slowly increased my calories as I was able hoping to slow it down. Some of the increased calories came as I was physically able to eat more - eventually more like a regular portion size. I also added snacks. I was still seeing my dietician so I worked through suggestions with her. I added two more serves of carbs (whole/multi grains), another serve of fruit, nuts, hummus, peanut paste, chia pudding, protein bar, etc. My dietician also suggested adding milk powder to my milk to enrich it (for my rolled oats & chia pudding but I found it too sweet). When I reached goal I was eating about 900 calories. When I finally stopped losing (about 11 months later & a further 11 odd kilos down) I was up to 1300. Now I eat about 1500 to maintain at about a kilo or so heavier weight. And yes I still snack a few times a day.

I went to an "herb" remedies guy about two weeks ago. Some people call him a quack because he believes in herb instead of medications. As soon as I sit in front of him, he drew a picture of my legs without me saying anything. He asked my name and I explained the drop foot. He instantly drew 6 dots on the picture. Thee on my leg leg inside calf and 4 on my abdomen. He said I have 6 Vitamin E oil..they are in a get cap and I bite into it and spit out the gel caplet. He said it would dissolve the blood clots. I've been on the Vitamin E for two weeks and can lift my drop foot up and down when I'm not putting weight on it. He said it could take up to two months. My doctors back home are skeptical but everyone that goes to him say he has always been 100% on the nose and corrected their problem. He told my mom she had internal bleeding....next week, she went to the dr and has a bleeding ulcer which they fixed that week. His name is Bruce Joneshill from Rosebud, Arkansas. I do believe he is the real thing. He prays before he tells you what is going on. He is a Christian. My BP still runs around 85/55. My family dr thinks its dehydration. So, I'm taking the advice of both, taking the Vitamin E and drinking more Water.

14 pounds is such a great loss! I’m proud of you! I’m curious about what to expect with weight loss, do you mind sharing your pre surgery weight?

Already posted this in the pre op category, but I think it belongs here more! I'm Nicole, I'm 19, and I'm waiting on approval for my RNY! You are probably thinking, “Wow, she’s only 19, why they heck is she getting a Gastric Bypass surgery so young?" so I just wanted to make this post to kind of give you guys an idea of why I am getting the surgery, why I think it’s the best choice for me, and what has been happening lately! So, originally I opted for the Sleeve Gastrectomy, because I liked the fact that they didn’t mess around with your intestines and all that jazz like they do with the bypass, so I went to my surgeon, and I did all of my pre-op stuff, like my nutritionist visits and psychiatrist visits,and it turns out I was diagnosed with binge-eating disorder, so I had to do a month of group therapy before she would clear me for surgery. You have to make sure you are mentally prepared before you put your body through anything, which I get. I started this whole process the first of December. After all of my tests and appointments and stuff got finished, and I had lost enough pre-op weight, they sent away to the insurance company at the beginning of May. I waited and waited until just this week when my mom was finally like we should call and see what’s up. So she called the insurance company, and it turns out that my insurance doesn’t cover sleeves, but I was a clear candidate for bariatric surgery so I would have to re-submit for the bypass or the lap-band, So I made an appointment with my surgeon and we decided to go ahead and switch to the Roux en Y. So now I have to wait for this approval and to schedule a surgery date! As for my age, and having surgery, I have a lot of medical problems that no 19 year old should ever have to deal with. I take 7 pills in the morning and 4 at night. I have high blood pressure that I am on two different types of medication for, just to maintain it, I have asthma, I have poly-cystic ovarian syndrome, which causes me not to ovulate, and my OB-GYN said I may never be able to have children. I’ve been medicated for it in the past, but bariatric surgery has been proven to take this away in most cases. Also, when I was 18, i suffered from kidney failure and was in the hospital for almost a week. It just sucks to know that your body is so unhealthy that your organs are beginning to shut down. At this point, I know if I don’t make a change I will just end up getting worse and worse. I’m going to have to work my ass off every day, and my new stomach pouch is only going to be a tool to help me get to where I need to be, not an easy way out, and everyone who thinks that is horribly wrong. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s going to be worth it. Peace & Love

The pros and cons are important to understand. I love the idea of wiring them all down and using that to make your decision. I have surgery in a few days and I'm very nervous about it. I have been obese my entire life and have lucked out so far in the health department but this weight will catch up with me. I've seen the complications of obesity and to me they are much less desirable than the surgery. I've know many people who have lost their legs because of diabetes and hypertension. I've had great friends die from diabetes and hypertension. I've seen people on dialysis because their kidneys shut down because they were diabetic and hypertensive. I have a friend that had a heart attack at age 38.....she is obese and her lifestyle is the cause of this heart attack. I'm more scared of becoming one of these patients than getting the gastric sleeve in a few days. I'm scared that my kids won't have a mom for much longer if I don't have the surgery.

Oh I bet that's it then. The calorie tracking being so new and the week away with the gain totally explains it. You have a good plan in place now, stick to it and the weight will come off. Good luck on your next fill, I'll keep my fingers crossed it helps!

Sooverit, I have not met with a surgeon yet. They do seminars once/month here, and I will be out of town for the one in April. I have to wait until may. I cannot see the dr. until that happens first. I am not a patient person, so it's a little frustrating to have to wait. With insurance restrictions, I may have to wait anyway until undergoing six months of an official dr. supervised diet. It's not like I haven't dieted for six months in row already, but who knows what the insurance will decide counts. My GP documented all of the things we have tried last year when I went for my yearly check-up. I asked about the surgery then, but didn't really start thinking about it seriously until recently. I finally realized that if I COULD do something about my weight, I would have done so by now. I am not as worried about withdrawels as I am going through the liqiud phase of the diet, especially before the band if needed! Good luck with your appointment. Can't wait to have mine.

hi. no idea if you 'messed up' your band. the reason for the post op diet is to have the band 'settle' into place and the internal sutures to heal, not weight loss. my advice, just stick with liquids until your surgeon tells you to progress to mushies. start mushies very slowly and go with true mushies, mashed potatoes maybe, something really really mushy and build yourself up to more non-mushy mushies. chicken is very difficult for a lot of bandsters. what you are feeling sounds almost like you are 'stuck'. if its still a problem, SIP some pineapple juice, that helps some. good luck!

So, I've never belonged to a gym before. I have (errr had) one on my work premises for us employees to use for free. When I was 280 lbs I didn't care about that. Now that I'm 211 and still very much focused on losing most of my workplace was shut down, gym included. (oh the irony). I had my 3 month check up with my dr, and while he's very pleased with my progress thus far (45% of excess weight, gone!!) He does want me to step up my exercising. I'm thinking of joining Planet Fitness, there is one on my way home from work, and I like how it's a 24/7 facility. My long drawn out question would be- any positive or negative reviews of this gym? Are there people who would be helpful to a gym newbie such as myself? Also, what workouts, or machines have you found most beneficial. I'm 27 with no joint or health problems (other than that pesky obesity issue I'm correcting, hahaha). Thank you!

It is scary isnt it? I think that realisation was my defining moment in losing weight, I always read the stories and wished I could have a light bulb moment, but it never happened. Then one day, I was feeling really scared about the surgery, trying to decide whether I wanted to do it or not. In a moment of complete self honestly, I realised that what I was scared of was not being able to stuff a packet of chocolate biscuits down my cake hole. Did I really want to give up that guilty pleasure? I suddenly realised that I *did* use food to cope with stress. I realised that I did get something out of eating like that, it was enjoyable and comforting and I chose to do it for that reason. It became clear to me that the reason why i was having trouble deciding to have the surgery was becuase i wanted to leave myself an out, I wanted to choose not to eat that way but still be able to! And of course, following on from that was the knowledge that if I ever wanted to lose weight and keep it off, that behaviour had to disappear forever, lapband or not. After that, it was easy to make the decision and not feel scared.

I lost 100 lbs before and totally freaked out I did not know who I was and what I was suppose to do with myself. I was very emotional and kinda bitchy too. I did not know how to relate to people I spent a lot of time in the corner of my bedroom floor crying. Since then a lot of years have gone by and of course the weight came back. But in the past 5 years I spend 2½ years in counseling and hope I can deal with it this time. But if I can't I know just who to book an appointment with. This was the one concern my husband had when I talked about getting this surgery. Was if I felt I needed help that I would see my counselor again and I agreed. I liked being thin but it was not me or something crazy like that. I had no walls up around me and I did not like that.

Well, I've caught the seasonal cold that is making the rounds. My nose is like someone turned a faucet on. The upside is that I am not at all hungry. Anyway, I got my cpap machine and apparently I am a mouth breather. Lovely huh? Boy oh boy I cant wait to drop this weight so I dont need that stupid machine! I guess I wouldnt mind it, but when my throat is raw or I wake up feeling like I'm suffocating - it's a little off-putting lol. Wednesday is weigh day and I'm excited. I also see the nutritionist, so we'll see what happens then. I am still waiting for a call from the mental health clinic for my psych eval. It'd be really nice to get that out of the way already.

Hi. I too wanted the band at first then I like you leaned of the "sleeve". I like the fact that there was good weight loss, no nutrition problems to speak of and little if any side effects. I was sold. However I had been told that my health insurance may not pay for the surgery. I was bummed out to say the least. But my wonderful doctor (Neff) submitted all my paper work from the V.A. (I am X Navy) and low and behold they approved me for the VSG on the first try. One month later I had my surgery. My surgaversity date is 10-27-09. I am considered a "light weight" as my weight and BMI were borderline for qualification. However I had so many co-morbidities that I qualified! That was seven moths ago. I am very glad I did this. the time will go bay quickly. Just keep researching and putting into practice all you can learn so that when the BIG day arrives you will be an expert on it.

Merry Christmas!!! I have only lost 2 lbs on the pre-op and my surgery is on Tuesday!!! I am also very worried that I will be denied surgery.. But I have been SO GOOD on the liquids! I have PCOS and that makes it extremely hard to lose weight, according to my endocrinologist. My big fear is that I will get the band and STILL not be able to lose. Still- I am excited to get the surgery over with. I'm more excited that scared, now! Wish me luck on The 30th and keep me in your prayers! Thanks! ~Stephanie:thumbup:

I did preop diet 2 weeks. Mine consisted of liquid protein drinks 4 x per day for 3 days then I could substitute one protein drink with a garden fresh salad daily starting day 4. I wasnt hungy at all. I can only find my protein drinks at Sams and they are Premier protein with 30g protein 1gm sugar and 160 calories. They come in choc and vanilla. I was taking in less than 700 calories a day and lost about 12 or 13 lbs preop. I was told its to get the fat out of the liver to reduce risk of damaging the liver during surgery. The weight loss feels good though.

Tiff - is that why so many RNY patients regain some of the weight back? If so, why is it still considered the "gold standard" when it comes to WLS?? I wonder if sleeve surgery will end up proving to be a superior choice. What do you think?

The studies have been posted numerous times on obesityhelp.com Since RNY was not an option for me, because I knew of the complications from real life friends, I never saved any of the links. They also talk about only 30% of RNY patients dumping with sugars and carbs. The weight regain stats with RNY are downright scary, and you can search the Revision and RNY board over there to see just how many people are looking to get revisions called ERNY (extended rny) which is where they shorten the common channel even more to make the body start malabsorbing calories/fats again.

I have so many! *Go hiking- *Ride a horse( weight limit here all 250) *Zip lining with my son *But clothes at costco *Buy lingerie from Victoria secrets again *Cross my legs *take pictures without standing behind my son to hide my body *enjoy walking through the auction(like a HUGE yard sale) *ride amusement rides with my son

I am currently doing my 6 month medically supervised diet. I had my first check-in with my doctor on 8/13/13. I gained two pounds. Ugh! This 6 month diet is an insurance requirement. My question is: what is my insurance company expecting from me during this diet? Do they want to see that I can stick to a diet and lose weight to prove that I can handle the post-op diet, or are they just confirming that I cannot lose weight on a diet? My diet consists of 1800 calories a day and I'm not even coming close to that. I've also been walking/running on a regular basis. Please advise on what the insurance company wants to see. Thanks!

I've lost a lot. I had a lot of weight to lose, so I've been super restrictive with my diet for 14 months. It started coming out around month 4, that lasted 3-4 months, and it's not really coming back very fast. I went to the dermatologist, got some cortisone shots in my head which quickly halted the loss. I wish I had done that sooner. I also got a topical solution which seemed to help the loss. After the shots, I could see some regrowth. My hair was a little thin to start with, now it's really bad. I use Bosley fibers to cover up the shiny scalp at the part. Yesterday I got a new product from the dermatologist that's supposedly been used with great success in Europe for years, and was just approved for use in the US in the past of couple of months. It's a shampoo, topical spray, and vitamins. The NP said her friend also has thinning hair, has been using this about 6 weeks, and you can definitely see regrowth, so I'm really hoping it works for me.

Trip2thin- I am right there with you. I lost 143 then fell into bad habits and gained 24. After gaining, I swear I felt like 300 pounds all over again. It's sickening and frustrating. I am trying getting back on track. Taking a mindful eating class next week, signed up for a dance class and already down 7 pounds. We are food addicts plain and simple. It will always be a battle. Good luck to you!

I'm only 6 months out and my losing has ground to a halt, with the exception of a very few lbs a month at this point. I was excercising a lot in the beginning but quit when it was cold and dark outside by the time I got off of work. I'm hoping that the spring weather will provide some incentive. I posted a similar thread last week about my fears regarding the end of weight loss and later regain

I love the marble idea! I still need to measure. I'm going to use the weight from my first appointment with surgeon because I've fought off every ounce that I've lost pre-surgery.

The same thing happened to me. I lost 85 pounds with the band and has managed to keep it off. I had my sleeve 10 months ago and have lost no weight. I have gained no pounds so that is good. I think I have some restriction now so I am trying to get all my protein and water in now. I have lost 4 pounds in the last 2 weeks. I have only felt the restriction about 4 weeks, I am trying to work harder at my workout now so we will see

I asked my doctor about band to sleeve patients losing less and he had a very good reply. Most people when they get the band, were larger then when they get to sleeve. The bigger you are, the faster you will initially lose the weight. Also, most people who start a totally new diet are initially really good at it and stick with it. Once you've been on it for awhile you have a tendency to be more lax, meaning when you initially get the band, you were more strict with yourself then when you get sleeve you may not be as strict. I hope I'm explaining as good as it was explained to me, because it really made sense. I'm still going ahead with the sleeve and will try very hard to be as strict with it as I was initially with the band.