Search the Community

unfortunately, there is no one answer to losing weight. I have had my band for ten years, and have s-l-o-w-l-y lost weight(160 pounds). I'm almost wheelchair bound, and exercise is difficult. But my band still works if I work at it. You don't need to go on a diet, but change your way of eating. Some people do well on a low calorie diet, others on a low carbohydrate diet. For me it is low carb. I wonder if you have time to plan menus and always have proper food available. Have you been able to empty your house of foods that tempt you to overeat? I've noticed I always blow it if certain foods are in the house. My husband is the opposite of me and thrives on healthy, high carb food. So I am careful what I allow in the house. His high carb foods have to be cooked, which helps me not to cheat. I don't allow sweets, and we have few processed foods. I once gained 50 lbs in a month, and the doctor told me it was impossible. Later, I read of a study done on a tribe of Indians that live near the Mexican border. They tend to put on a lot of weight on few calories. They can also gain a lot of weight in a month, but the researchers learned they weren't overeating when the weight gain happened, but over the next few months their eating increased to maintain the weight. What I'm saying is there are weird genetic factors that influence how you gain or lose weight. And the band requires work. Before you condemn yourself, ask if you've really had the time or energy to make up menus, keep your kitchen free of tempting foods, and keep a food diary. Also, are you getting enough sleep. I had so many diet failures because I tried to live on 6 hours of sleep a day, or cut my calories too low. I'd recommend you get your family on a healthy diet and work on your eating plan from there. I agree, luck is not an issue. But if you really want to lose weight, keep trying until you find a way that works. I've known of bypass patients who lost a lot of weight the first year, and gained it right back. Others lost weigh and kept it off. The main difference is that the ones who kept it off took the time to learn what and when to eat and never stopped following the rules. No shortcuts, no "this is probably close enough", but follow the rules as closely as you possibly can. But because we are all different, you need to pay attention to what helps you lose weight and what makes you want to cheat. Maybe the rules say sweet potatoes are okay, but you find yourself grazing in the kitchen every time you eat them. Then sweet potatoes are a no no for you. For me it is beans--beautiful, delicious, healthy beans. But they cause me to crave more and more and I will eat until I am ready to burst, and try to eat more. Find What Works. Look at what you've been doing and start making changes. What did you do the first year that you aren't doing now? start making choices, and if they don't work, make other choices. I was a horrible candidate for a lapband, and the doctor apologized to me, because he doubted I had what it took to make it work. almost housebound, using a wheelchair, to sick to cook food for more than 5-10 minutes a day, too weak to do much of anything. I am losing slowly, and had to stop trying to lose weight for a couple of years due to cancer (and gained 50 pounds, but lost it again). But losing 160 pounds is an accomplishment, and I'm planning on going on a strict diet and losing 50 more pounds over the next few months. The lapband has been a great tool. But that's all it is, a tool that I have to work.

I can totally relate to this! I did exactly this!!!!!!!!!!!! I had no weight requirements and my PCP was so understanding of my weight gain. Two months before my surgery (Sept) I ate absolutely the worst I've ever ate. Like bread w/ every meal. Pasta. Potatoes. Ohmygosh. I can even begin to describe but I felt like you and I thought i needed to. But then I went for my last appointment the weigh in or whatnot its called and realized OMG I'm the heaviest I've ever been and I gained SO much weight! And something like clicked and I left the office and said no more!!!!!! And I did the shake thing and a one small meal thing up to the 2 weeks before the surgery (which is next week btw) and the weight is like coming off so fast already just by eating right! Its crazy. Anywho. Point is. You can do this. We will eat delicious foods again, but this is a tool for us not to eat ALL the delicious foods lol . We got this!!! You got this!!!

I am in a similar situation. I had my band placed in July 2012 and it slipped at some point and was repaired Nov 2013. By the time of the repair I had lost 100lbs. Since then I have gained 80lbs, developed a hiatal hernia and a host of other physical complications from the weight gain. To say I am frustrated is an understatement. My last two visits my Dr has removed fluid from my band because I am experiencing shortness of breath. Contrast and endoscopy confirmed band placement was fine. I am having mixed feelings about the band since the hernia developed after placement. I have been seriously considering a revision and having the gastric sleeve. I don't know what to expect since the placement is fine but there's the shortness of breath and now he's removed 5ccs from the band, I feel my appetite increasing. Trying not to get completely discouraged and remain positive but I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle.

Many of us have regain after year(s) out from surgery. Nothing wrong with experimenting with options that help you find your weight loss mojo again.(examples Weight watchers, Going back to basics, Keto, pouch rest Ect) Whatever helps to get to a comfortable weight range. I indulged and maintained fine for the first few years. My weight gain was in my third year. I became accustomed to higher calories and carbs while distance running. Life also carries on after you get in maintenance mode all my tried and true ways to get my weight down stopped working (yes, I tracked food and worked out two hours five days a week) Fourth year magically basics started working again. I'm back to my maintenance weight.

All of this. I have a HUGE tote of heels I wore just 8-9 years ago when I was 140lbs. Soon...soon... I hate my body much less now than I did back then; something that started all the weight gain. I look back at those pics and I'm like WTF WAS WRONG WITH YOU. Fat at 140lbs?! Way to go, me. lol. I can't wait for my appearance to match my give no effs attitude that I've developed. First thing I do when I hit a size 12 is drop serious $$$ at Express and White House Black Market. And everywhere. Everywherreeeeee. hahaha.

I had my sleeve revision on October 10th. While in the hospital, I had a weight gain of 8 pounds from IV fluids. After being home for 2 days, I am back to my pre-surgery weight. Now the true weight loss begins.

I had RNY gastric bypass in 2002 with Dr. Callery in San Diego, ca. My insurance will not pay for a revision. In the last 3-4 years I have gained 45-50lbs. I want to have a revision, my pouch made smaller again and possibly more intestines removed. I had the surgery open and have a large scar. I had minimal to no issues with my first surgery. I have had a chronic back injury that now limits my exercise, hence the weight gain. (also, my poor choices at times). I will need to pay myself and need info, reviews on revisions any doctors in Tijuana have done. Thank you starting weight 9/2002 332lbs 9/2014 160lbs current 203lbs

I’m 4 years As of September 26. I literally starting feeling so depressed about my weight gain. I’ve gained 36 pounds and never made my goal weight. I’m wondering if I can have a revision

My (ex) bf and I have dated for nearly 5 years; he lives with me. The last year of our relationship has been rocky anyway, but ever since I told him I had decided to have gastric he became even more standoffish and argumentative. Two weeks ago we had a huge blowout over something completely idiotic, he comes back to the house, and says he has been acting the way he has because he thinks that once I lose weight I am going to leave him and that's all he can think about. Mind you... I have not even had the surgery yet. He said I am going to lose weight, gain self-esteem, realize I am too good for him, and leave him. Well, guess what, pal... I don't need to lose ANY weight to realize I am too good for you. It's been a long time coming, but I think it's even sadder that he is using my choice to get healthier as a justification for being an a*s. The only thing this does is put me in a rough position as far as someone staying with me while I recover. My mom and stepdad are going to take "shifts" as long as they can, but they both work. And the ex is currently dwelling awkwardly in my basement, but will probably not give me a hand at all. It does make me sad because I had hoped he would be there at the hospital with me... but then all of this BS happens. *insert gigantic eye roll emoji here* I am okay, though. I need these next 12 months to focus on me and getting healthy and fit and not dealing with unnecessary dramatics and stress. I have always thrived when single and he actually had moved out of the house for a year and it was fantastic. I hate to say it, but I'm looking forward to this new chapter - of not just weight loss, but of being single and free!

If you're *just* over into the obese range and hesitant about Lapband, have you considered trying a medical weight management program first before surgery? They will prescribe you rx diet drugs and have you on Optifast for several weeks, which may be enough for you to get into the normal range. That would be my first go-to if my BMI was around 30. My friend had Lapband 6 or 7 years ago and is still going strong, for what it's worth. No weight gain, no problems. She does have to go and get it filled some or unfilled on rare occasion, which seems like a huge pain.

Congratulations on two years out. Many of us have a weight gain after goal. The choice is to lose the weight or to be comfortable at a higher weight. There is no judgment of what you choose to do. This is your life and your choice. If you choose to lose It's not so much motivation. Reality - This is work to maintain /lose a weight gain. It's not fun to give up the calories and carbs. The weight loss is slower. Know that this gain is manageable if you want to take it off. It can be done. Motivation or Perspective: This is hard but a person with cancer would gladly trade places with us for our weight loss struggles, Right? Wishing you the best, Jenn

A nine pound weight gain in two years isn't too bad Now it's time to work it off. Remember it's a lot easier to lose nine pounds than 20. Make it your goal to lose three pounds a week. In less than a month you'll be back to 185. From there you can work off more of you want.How is your restriction after 2years? One piece of advice I get from my nutritionist and doctors is to stay away from the carbs. They slide right through your restriction and you can over eat them. Instead stay with the proteins. i know as time goes by we tend to get back into the bad eating behaviors. Now is the time to reverse your weight gain while it's still manageable.

It’s been almost two years since I got the sleeve and I’m not satisfied where I am. I feel like I could be doing more but I have no motivation in me. I still try to eat healthy but it’s kind of out of control now. I’m scared to be 300 lbs again or to gain any more weight. Lowest weight was 185 I’m at 194 right now. I feel kind of depressed to be honest like I let myself down.. I just need support I guess.

Awww I wouldn’t stress out too much! That little amount of gain could be hormonal, retaining water, or just a bit of constipation. My weight fluctuates about a pound throughout the week. I weigh myself every morning. After strength training, I’ll see a small weight gain the next day. Then it will go back down. Then after a cardio day, it’ll go down a bit more. But it is not consistently going down every single day. Just stick to your plan and it’ll come off!

Thanks for the link. We are enjoying it. We are half way through - but heading off to early-Sunday-morning-gym - full upper body, lower body and core workout today - and modest-HIIT (MIIT?) on the elliptical in the middle. What to do about the non workability of the persistently failing of the ‘eat less and exercise more’ school of advice - which is pretty much every single school of advice, is the take home from Dr Fung - who, I must say, is very believable, authentic. Other famous doctors, like Dr Gundry, when I watch I feel like he is a bit of a shyster just selling a mystery ‘secret herbs and spices’ product. Fung isn’t selling anything (that I have seen yet) but his facts and figures on metabolic rate so fit my 40 years of annual weight-loss/weight-gain cycle. So post RNY our basal metabolism is lower. Sure. My resting heart rate has dropped from 58/59 to 50/51 this year. I am always cold. Always. My question is - after two, three, four years - does it start to lift? If our calorie intake lifts to say 1200 or 1400 does our metabolism lift too? Does anyone know?

I had a cold this week so I never made it to the gym which kind of bums me out because I enjoy going. However, I stuck to my eating plan, which I decided would be keto, and I lost 7lbs. This came after a 3 week stall. I’ve noticed that some people noticed weight gain during their stall. I just sat at 251 for 3 weeks. I wonder what causes to see weight gain.

Indeed I am a father again and it FREAKS me out. Just kidding, it has been hard having a newborn again but it’s cool. I think some of my weight gain might have been stress related. At any rate, I am down 5 pounds and sticking to a plan. I have cut out diet soda as my psychiatrist told me that apartame is really bad for you. It’s highly addictive and it causes mood issues. I noticed it makes my anxiety worse and my depression worse. Life's stresses. What ya gonna do.* Laughing* Congratulations on the new baby and finding what works to get the scale moving.

Everyone is going to have a different experience. But looking at the "averages", it seems a decent number of people develop GERD from the sleeve. And quite a few people don't get any dumping at all. I've had exactly 1 incident of dumping, in over 6 months. And that was with tomato soup. I can eat pretty much anything I want at this point with zero dumping. I do get crampy here and there if I eat something I know I shouldn't, but I don't have any issues with any sweeteners. I went with the band back in 2011... and was revised to RNY this past March. Honestly the best thing I've done. I have a friend that was sleeved and he also had to get revised to the bypass due to complication with the sleeve. Also, the sleeve is 100% non-reversible. The Bypass is reversible under certain conditions, it's a risky reversal, but it does happen, you cannot undo the sleeve since 90% of your stomach ends up in the trash. Also, long term research keeps showing that the bypass out performs the sleeve in all metrics. Patients lose more, keep it off longer, have lower rebounding weight gain. It is 100% your decision, but my 2 cents, go with the bypass.

Indeed I am a father again and it FREAKS me out. Just kidding, it has been hard having a newborn again but it’s cool. I think some of my weight gain might have been stress related. At any rate, I am down 5 pounds and sticking to a plan. I have cut out diet soda as my psychiatrist told me that apartame is really bad for you. It’s highly addictive and it causes mood issues. I noticed it makes my anxiety worse and my depression worse.

You can go on any form of birth control after the sleeve luckily. When I had my sleeve I was on the pill and loved it! Now with my bypass my options were IUD, Nuva ring or implanon. I chose Nuva ring. I have not experienced any side effects with the ring, or even weight gain. I am happy with it

Listening to this podcast at the moment. Extremely interesting. A lot of scientific big words but even I understand it. Dom D’Agostino, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, and a senior research scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC). Layne Norton is a renowned prep/physique coach and pro-natural bodybuilder/powerlifter with a PhD in Nutritional Sciences.

It took awhile for that worry to go away. I needed proof that I don't need to adhere to e. g. tracking and daily/weekly weighing to prevent weight gain but once I had proof... well, life feels more relaxed in the food/weight/exercise section. It's actually quite nice not to worry about how many calories you might burn when doing yoga or going out for a bike ride. Not having a bad conscience when eating certain foods because they're "bad" or skipping an exercise session because you feel like collapsing at your door after a hard work day and not calculating how much you're "allowed" to eat for dinner now because you didn't work out - this is priceless and liberating. But it is and it was to be expected.

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

We have similar stats (not sure about your height though.. I’m 5’6 and have an 8 yr old. I have a hiatal hernia (related to weight gain) my surgery is scheduled for the 24th though.. so you’ll be way ahead of me! :) That’s around the corner too !! I’m excited for you

I'm not really sure how to interpret the words I made bold in the quote. Do you want to be maintenance as "natural" as possible or are you looking for ways to view "being strict" as a normal part of everyday life? If it's the later you can save your time and stop reading here. --- I personally think to maintain effortlessly (though I think "effortlessly" means something different for different people) you have to learn to ride certain dragons instead of trying to avoid them. You also have to find a lifestyle you can maintain without much hassle. You, not your neighbor, your colleague, Aunt Ruthie or the Instagram ab-girl that posts about a dozen selfies and food pics per hour so giving tips feels always a bit weird to me. You also need to be (emotionally) flexible enough to suit your needs in different situations, e. g. ideally you respond to phases of lower physical activity with less appetite, e. g. you usually ride your bike to work but during a few weeks in winter it would be too dangerous because of slippery roads and you go by train or car during these weeks. Are you willing to accept a temporary slight weight gain or do you want to seriously interfere with your eating habits and/or up your non-NEAT exercise? Learn to let go of the "tracking". How many thin people do you know in your life who give a flying f*ck about "tracking"? The only people I know who care about tracking calories and burnt calories are people who try to lose weight. You aren't. You want to maintain the status quo. Ask yourself who you want to be. "The WLS patient"? "The formerly obese person?", "The person who doesn't want to be obsessed with this stuff anymore"?, "The health and exercise nut who gets a nervous breakdown every time something interferes with her food or training schedule"? And then act on it.