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I have been experiencing this as well. For me I think I was in denial about the way that I look. Since beginning this process I have had to open my eyes and face the facts of my weight gain. I've had to be honest with what I eat and why; so much of this is psychological. At a support group I attended they said, "we operate on your stomach, not your brain; we'll fix the stomach but you have to work on the rest". I was and am a happy person; part of maintaining this was denying what I was doing to myself. I don't know if this applies to you; just something I have been coming to terms with. Keep talking about it; just knowing someone else is going through this is helping me and I'm sure others; thanks for sharing

!!! 5 2.5 (they left my shoes on :thumbup:) 215.5 BMI just under 40 with the .5 on my height. should have flattened my hair Went to nurtition vist. After tracking 6 mths of food intake - it was determined I DO NOT eat enough. They recommended I stop gluten foods to calm the gut down. Great more food to cut out. Then exercise for 1 hour a day to burn 500 cal. I can barely walk up stairs let alone work out that much. My knees will fall apart! So - I can do the diet (again). Try to get more activity in (again) Then they added - so what do you hope to accomplish with this surgery - you don't eat much now and afterwards you will be eating less. WOW! That caught my ear. What do I hope to accomplish....I said to not fall into my genetic pattern of obesity and not not wait until I am 50 more pounds overweight to be pro-activly seeking help to stop this weight gain. Does this scream 'You are not big enough to have this surgery' or worse - you could be thinner if you only.......ate more........worked out more..........tried more....... I have gained 50 pounds in 10 years. The more I carry the less I CAN do. I used to work out 4-5 x a week. I am really concerned this is going to backfire on me. See Dr. 6/15

My feelings are not hurt at all. I definitely got side tracked. Vets is definitely a maintenance issue. It has nothing to do with number of posts. Suppose someone just found this board who has been sleeved longer than me, and is having trouble with weight gain. They would be starting out with very few posts. I don't think being at goal should be a requirement either, because some people never make it what ever goal they wanted or their doctor wanted, but they still lost a lot of weight. I'll leave it up to the board administers to decide this issue.

Hey West Houston folks. I was banded 8-2-06 by Dr. Spivak who was wonderful. I am 65 pounds down with about 20 to go and I feel fantastic. Went from a sendentary lifestyle to exercising 3-5 times per week. Little to no hunger pains, little weight gain and easy to lose. Go for it!

SouthBeach Diet Tips and Guides The SouthBeach Diet is different from the Atkins diet in that it is not a low carbohydrate diet. Regardless of which phase you are currently in, you should follow these recommendations: Drink a minimum of 8 glasses of water, decaffeinated beverages such as club soda, tea, coffee, or decaffeinated sugar-free soda every day Limit your intake of caffeine-containing beverages to 1 cup each day Take one multivitamin and mineral supplement daily Take 500 mg of calcium for both men and women under the age of 50, and 1,000 mg for women over the age of 50, each day Eating can be both pleasurable and healthy as long as you eat the proper foods. All the meals in the SouthBeach Diet consist of healthy combinations of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Dishes can be made by anyone and the ingredients can be found in most grocery stores. These foods will satisfy your hunger without depriving your system of the low-quality starches and sugars that caused problems with your blood chemistry in the first place. The SouthBeach Diet does not involve counting calories, fat grams, or portion sizes. This plan was designed to be simplistic and will help you understand the principles of metabolism and put it to work for your own body. A major key to success with the South Beach Diet is the Glycemic index (GI), which ranks carbohydrate foods based on the effect on blood sugar levels. When you start adding foods back into your diet in Phase 2, keep your focus on low-GI foods such as apples, berries, grapefruit, high-fiber cereal, and whole grain breads. Preparing For The Rest Of Your Life Mindset Change for South Beach Diet You have learned what the South Beach Diet is, how it works, and what to eat. Now, you need to get prepared to change the way you eat, for life. Start by accepting that the first couple of weeks will be a big change but one you will not regret. The first morning of this diet, you will eat a breakfast that may consist of a two-egg omelet with two slices of Canadian bacon, cooked in either spray canola or olive oil. In your old life, you may have toasted bread or a bagel and had fresh fruit or fruit juice to go along with your omelet. However, with the South Beach Diet, the bread will have to wait. Most people have been conditioned their entire life to add bread to meals. You have toast with breakfast, sandwiches on bread for lunch, dinner rolls with dinner, and cake, cookies, or pie for dessert. However, during Phase 1, you will have to forget about the bread. It may take a few days to leave old habits behind but keep in mind that it is during this time that your body’s inability to process sugars and starches is being reversed. After trying numerous diets, most leave you feeling hungry, is one of the most difficult aspects of any diet. A common denominator seen with overweight people is that most of them skip eating breakfast. When this happens, blood sugar drops, which then increases the desire for bad carbohydrates to escalate until lunch when the entire meal is blown. Planning for South Beach Diet Planning will help you stay away from snacking or substituting things that are not healthy and could cause weight gain. Remember that once you start into Phase 2, carbohydrates will start being introduced back into your diet along with fruits. You also need to remember to eat your mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks, even if you do not feel like it. Some of the greatest low-fats foods to incorporate into your planning include cheese and yogurt to replace the fats since they have no bad carbohydrates. In addition, the sugar is found in the lactose, milk sugar, is one of the things you can have with the South Beach Diet. The South Beach Diet is a lifetime change, lifetime commitment, and a lifetime of health and vitality! How Does The South Beach Diet Work? As mentioned, the South Beach Diet is unique, successful, easy, and works in a three-phase process. Unlike many other so-called diets, with the South Beach Diet, simply substitutes your bad carbohydrates and fats for good ones. After trying this, you will be amazed by how well and quickly it works. South Beach Diet Phase 1 South Beach Diet Phase 1 lasts for two weeks. During this first phase, you will eat normal meals of chicken, beef, turkey, fish, and shellfish, lots of vegetables, eggs, cheese, nuts, and garden salads using 100% olive oil for your salad dressing. Each day for 14 days, you will eat three, well-balanced meals. While eating until your hunger is satisfied may go against most diets, with the South Beach Diet, it is part of the plan. Trying to lose weight and become healthy by depriving the body of food makes no sense. In addition to the three meals each day, you will also eat a snack between breakfast and lunch, and then again between lunch and dinner. Even if you do not feel like eating these snacks, for the South Beach Diet to work, you need to, and after dinner, you will even have dessert. Additionally, during this phase, you can drink all the coffee and tea you want and be sure to drink lots of water. You may be thinking that this is a lot of food - it is! With most diets, you deprive your body, eating only small portions of foods that are unappealing. The change you will make during this phase is that you will cut out all bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, baked goods, fruit, candy, cake, cookies, ice cream, or sugar. Keep in mind that these eliminated foods will be added back into your diet, starting in Phase 2. In addition to taking these foods out of your diet temporarily, you will also need to avoid beer, or any kind of alcohol. Once you start Phase 2, reasonable amounts of wine can be added back in. Instead of feeling overwhelmed about the foods that will be taken out of your diet during the first two weeks, stop and think about this for a minute. To achieve a life of health and lose unwanted weight, two weeks is a small investment to make. After all, you are worth it! The first two or three days will be somewhat challenging, but breaking any bad habit starts out a little bumpy. Once you pass this small hurdle, the rest of the time will go by quicker than you think. When you see the results that these changes bring, you will be glad you did not give up!

Hi everyone, I need a safe place to rant and get advice and opinions. Feel free to be honest! I’m posting here because I need to do some head work around this situation so that I don’t eat my way through it. Here is goes....I thought my sister in law and I are close, there is an age gap but she has been my side kick since she was 7 and she’s now 28 (I’m 43) she was in our wedding as a bridesmaid when she was 12, I do a lot for her (help with the baby, provide encouragement and advice, hang out with her because she’s home alone a lot) but I guess we’re not as close as I thought. She’s planning her wedding and apparently she has invited our other sister in law and her 3 soon to be sister in laws to be in the wedding but not me. My daughter is also a bridesmaid (23yrs old) and my niece (12 yrs old). We have a small family and literally everyone is in the wedding in some form other than me. My husband is officiating, my sons are ushers, daughter is a bridesmaid, brother in law is a groomsmen, sister in law is bridesmaid, and young niece is flower girl. Let me say that I’m assuming it’s the age difference but I’m fine with that, I just want her to address it with me like “hey I would like you to be a part of the wedding as well but......” she could have told me anything...that she knows I probably wouldn’t want to be a bridesmaid, that she thinks of me as more of a mom but would like me to sit with the mothers, anything to at least address it. She did invite me to go dress shopping but that was ruined because the prior weekend I made the mistake of bringing it up and it didn’t go well. I was very nice about it and felt like I handled it with tact. She went off of the rails on me and said that I’m selfish for trying to make her wedding about me. She uninvited me to go dress shopping, said that I’m cut out of her life, and hasn’t talked to me since. She’s now telling anyone who will listen that I’m mad at her because I’m not a bridesmaid and making up additional details that aren’t true and never happened. I know this because she talked to my daughter about it. I can’t forget the terrible things that she said to me in her ranting text to me, some of them were below the belt and so unnecessary for the situation. My husband was seriously pissed at her and now calls her bridezilla. He has talked and text with her briefly since this happened but nothing about what happened. No one has brought it up, everyone is just acting like nothing happened. No one is treating me differently other than the bride not talking to me. I guess that’s a good sign because it means that my husbands mom , brother and sister in law are not taking sides. I want to fix this but I feel like like we need a mediator. She and my other sister in law get into small arguments but my brother in law always steps in and fixes it. I’ve asked my husband to do the same or to even ask his brother advice on how he should navigate the situation but he hasn’t. I realized yesterday that’s I’m pissed at my husband for not doing something, for not sticking up for me. I’m confused by this entire situation. Should I have never have brought up that my feelings were hurt to her? Should I be upset that my husband hasn’t called her out for saying mean things to me? Why am i so hurt over this? Why is she spinning the story to make me sound like a selfish b***h? How do fix this so I don’t eat myself into a huge weight gain? Thank you all in advance for weighing in (pun intended lol)

After being banded 1.5 weeks, my doctor decided to move me from liquids to mushies. I was enjoying the great weight loss on the liquid diet and not getting hungry. I'm worried about gaining weight on mushies and solid foods. The doc indicated that I should be on solid foods my next appointment. Are my worries unfounded? He indicated I shouldn't worry about calorie counts, just recognizing feelings of fullness. I don't know what to think of expect.

Im 7 months out today. It is still hard for me when it comes to food. Just like today, BBQ and delicious desserts every where and you think to yourself maybe just one bite wont hurt. Then I realize I am not the type of person who can have just one bite. It is have it all or nothing. I have had to revaluate why I want the food to begin with and how am I gonna feel after I eat it. Alot of problems I face is head hunger, Im not even hungry but I still want it. Most people feel like they are not gonna diet after being sleeved but for me it has to be a diet or I will lose control and start eating the wrong foods which will eventually cause weight gain and poor nutriction. You just have to take a step back and realize what kind of food addict you are. Can you survive with a small taste or are you like me who wants it all? Good luck, I am proud to say I have no regrets being sleeved, it has taught me alot about myself and who I want to be.

I took Lexapro for 2 years. One of those years was when I was first banded. It helped a lot but after 2 years I switched back to Zoloft as it seems to work better for me. It (lexapro) did not cause any weight gain. But the Zoloft at a high dose causes really bad carb cravings. The only antidepressant I have been on that made me gain weight was Paxil I put on 40 lbs with it. Cheri

I’m expecting this question from my MIL. I’m going to ask her why she is asking and why she thinks discussing my weight (gain or loss) is any of her business. If she has the nerve to continue then I will tell her that even though it’s absolutely non of her business, yes I did. And I’m leaving it at that. I say it’s ok to be rude to anyone asking you just to be nosy.

Sure...its the overeating her sleeve which I'm concerned about. LOL. I just am trying to figure out for my personal situation, the degree that I will have to go to keep me from overeating my pouch. But I also suspect rich foods, food obsession, and alcohol played a contributing roll in Carnie's regain. I know weight gain with kids is a real issue and that it is doubly hard to lose it afterward...but I somehow think the first part of this is more in play? @BDMEPretty much, our food requirements/limits are the same. Slightly smaller for pouch v. sleeve but it's essentially a similar journey. My vitamin requirements are set in stone and different from a VSG, though!

I think you have to look at your history. Do you feel you're pretty much "doomed" to weigh more? Tried diets? Have a strong genetic tendency toward weight gain? If you're pretty sure that *without* this surgery, you'll one day have a BMI of 40 or more...then why wait? Youll just have more to lose, a potentially harder recovery, and maybe co-morbidities. I know it's not an easy decision. I'm a bander to sleeve, too. In some ways, deciding to get the band was easier. BMI of 40 and absolutely miserable. I kind of felt like I had no choice. My BMI is 32 or 33 now (got down to 26 BMI) and I KNOW, without something, I'll be back to a 40 BMI. So once I knew the band needed to come out, the decision was pretty much made. Still not easy though...putting myself through a surgery and everything while still feeling mostly normal...kind of hard. So look at where you think you'll be in 5 yrs. Is it worth confronting your weight now or later?

Since i have had my IUD in...the Mirena I have had a very hard time losing my weight with my band, feel bloated all the time, have really oily skin, and am constantly moody/depressed.....I have read many many message boards and found many many many women in my shoes (obviously not with the band too...but with the Mirena) ....I since have gotten my IUD out and already feel like a new person... Any MD that tells you your weight gain etc has nothing to do with your IUD is a crock. I don't care how small the amt. of hormone is......hormones are hormones, and if you were sensitive to them on the pill, most likely you are going to be with the Mirena....will never never get an IUD again...wish I would have done more research on this before...I am also an RN and ususally look into this kind of stuff...but didn't put the weight gain and moodiness together until I came across other message boards on the Mirena....beware!

Yeah, everyone defines a stall differently. Personally I use at least “1 week of consecutive days of non-weight-nor-inches loss” as a definition. I mean, I could drop a good 2 lbs with a nice poop (i pooped every 3-4 days - sometimes even longer than that - back in weight loss phase, so that made sense) …and yes, I used to weigh myself before and after poops cuz it was fun for me 😂) What some people consider stalls, others call daily fluctuations. But however you define it, just keep on trucking, and aim to keep the anxiety at bay. Remember: stress (i.e., cortisol) has a positive correlation to weight gain (i.e., increased hunger and over-eating) Good Luck! ❤️

I've never been a yo yo dieter...never really been on a diet at all until I started seeing my lapband surgeon. My prior weight loss had been mostly due to increasing activity and very slight food modification, never anything drastic. Never tried the fad diets. Well, I tried some OTC pill, but after a week it made me feel weird so I stopped them immediately. I never was a dieter because I didn't want to become a yo yo dieter. I think my weight issue is highly related to hormones. I've been fat since preschool, but most of my drastic weight gain in short periods have been after I had kids and I started birth control and now most of my weigh loss post band occured when I started this extended menstrual cycle! Which may attribute to why women have more trouble losing weight. Damn hormones. Just a thought.

You have to do what's best for you! Once you have it done that's it, no going back. I was nervous leading up to my procedure but I did it! And I feel I had no choice. I was 235 pds at 4"11 yoyed for 6 years and was borderline diabetic & I think I have undiagnosed pcos from the weight gain over the years. I couldn't live another year like that. Hope you find comfort in your decision.

Not quite sure how to "tag" someone yet - but in response to gingeryank's post - I've been type 1 diabetic for 13 years - I was diagnosed when I was 17. I was a skinny kid back then and didn't know anything about the disease. As you grow and learn I've managed to live a fairly normal life work related / social life related you just need to be careful. What lead me to the sleeve was a bunch of steroid injections in my injured hand from sports and about 100lbs of weight gain in a year. Insulin is a growth hormone it puts weight on people. As you gain weight you need more insulin. With the steroids it was awful. I had the sleeve done on 3/9 and my pre op diet started 2/26. Since 2/26 I am down just over 41 lbs and am taking a fraction of the insulin I used to. I feel better every day. I would think it's helping I'm just concerned with any longer term issues that may arise. I don't know many type 1 diabetics that have had this done. If anyone else has I would love to hear a story and about your successes! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I know it's been a very long time since I have been on this site. In the past I would get on the site at least twice a day, but I slowly started to fade a little from visiting so often once my first year of being banded. I really do miss all of the wonderful post and comments people would write on this site. Actually, things have been very well with me. I have spent a lot of time helping my daughter out since she started her first year in college. I am very proud to say that my weight continues to go down and I have not had any weight gain since the Christmas seasons passed. I do thank God for that. I have learned what do and do not work for my band. Certain foods had to be limited, and I have finally learned what my sweet spot is and what that actually means for me. I have not had a fill in over six months and nor do I need one. I finally have the tool I need to have long term weight success. My weight lost has always been slow, but I continue to lose weight. I really don't and never have used the scale to measure my success, but inches and my clothes sizes are my biggest indicators. I started off wearing a size 24-26 and today I wear a 1x & 16-18. Most of the 18 sizes are too big in dresses so I normally get a 16w. That is a very- very big accomplishment for me. All and all I am very very happy with my band. This relationship has had its ups and downs, but the majority of my experiences have been very positive. The band is really what a person allows it to be for them. It really takes a lot of work and effort to get to where you really want to be. My husband recently purchased a very expensive treadmill like the ones they have at the gym, and that has really aided my success. I try to walk a mile1/2 at least every other day. It takes only 25 minutes so I watch Netflix on my iphone which makes the time fly. I really have to say that my family has been great and they really made this process so much easier to go through when times got hard. I will be banded 2 years on July 21st this year. I just encourage all new banders to be patient and give yourself time to learn your band and how it works best for your success! I am going to make an honest effort to visit the site much more often than I have done in the past. This is truly a wonder site in which a person can gain a lot of knowledge, support, and motivation from others who have figured things out a little clearer than others. My final words would be to stay encouraged, be patient, and never ever give up on your weight lost goals because you are worth it. Always remember that half the battle has been won if you have already gotten your band or started the process to have it done.

First of all, you still look great--I can't see much of a difference between April 2018 and December 2019. However, the more important issue is your health. I'm sure that cancer had a huge physical and emotional impact on you, and right now you should focus on your recovery from cancer more than on your weight issues. (I say this as a cancer survivor myself.) You can deal with your weight once you are clearly on the other side of the cancer. Please don't beat yourself up about your relatively small weight gain. You have been through a lot!

Hey everyone! I'm looking for advice and encouragement. I had my weight loss surgery in December 2016, so I'm 3.5 years out now. I dropped around 160 pounds, from my biggest being 360 and my smallest being 187. I was so blessed to lose so much in about 14 months. Maintenance was relatively easy at first. I purposefully gained 15 pounds because being 6'2 with a large build, 187 started getting me questions about being sick. 200-205 is my personal goal and sweet spot, where I feel the best and think I look the best. Fast forward to September 2019. I was having my first endoscopy since my surgery, as a follows up to Barrett's esophagus that was found when I had my bypass. What I thought would be routine, turned worst case scenario when I was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Apparently I'm in that 2% that has Barrett's that actually progresses to cancer. Luckily we caught it very early stage and I have been able to have ablation therapy treatment versus the typical chemo and radiation. I've developed recurrent esophageal stricture due to scar tissue from ablation therapy, causing me to choke frequently. Needless to say, it's all been very scary, and my eating got out of whack for a while. I've quickly gained weight and I'm at 220.2 today. I need to lose 20 pounds ASAP. The current COVID-19 situation and working from home, having access to food 24/7 coupled with stress eating is proving difficult to overcome. I thought I'd post here to see if anyone has words of encouragement or advice to help me get back on track quickly. 3.5 years and I was very proud to be maintaining at my goal weight of around 200, and now I'm scared the scale will continue to creep up on me.

Here's a bariatric-friendly recipe you could try at home! One of the things I've been really proactive about doing while I'm still on liquids is trying to find recipes NOW that mimic foods I used to have but are healthier swaps. These are things that my whole family could enjoy in their portion size but at the same time allow me to eat without fear of weight gain. There's lots of great books and websites out there! Spend an hour or two just browsing google and amazon and you're sure to find some awesome stuff.

Challenge starting weight: 107 Goal: 107 Labor Day weight: 104 I did not achieve my goal, but I have learned a great deal by following my weight and food intake. I know that I'm under eating out of fear. I believe that as time goes on, I'll get used to being thin and will become less fearful of weight gain.

I'm on Omeprazole daily. And as of today I actually gained 4 pounds!!! Like, how?? Why??? It's so demoralizing because I didn't have these issues when I did keto. I steadily lost, I didn't have a fear of eating, I only had 1 short stall. My issue was that I couldn't keep it off once I lost 100 pounds (in 9 months). I'm finding it's 10x harder to lose weight after this surgery than it was with just doing keto. Only now I can't do keto again because I had the surgery and I have to have low fat instead of high fat (both require low carbs, low sugar, and high protein). I thought maybe if I did keto again, then it would be easier to lose and the surgery would help me keep it off. But then I read that you can't do keto once you have the surgery. So I ended up afraid to eat because it seems like everything causes weight gain....and now here we are. *sigh*

Hey chavezmommy! I've mentioned on my previous posts that I stop losing weight after my fifth week after surgery and I have followed a low carb, moderate Protein and high fat diet since then with great results. Sometimes I overeat and I've been fluctuating between 60 and 57kg (my goal weight is 55kg). I have incorporated since last week a juice fast of four days that led me to an over 2kg weight gain but an amazing feeling of accomplishment. I stopped the juice fast and went for a 24 hour fast of non-caloric-liquids like tea, coffee and Water. After the fast I ate a bariatric portion dinner and went back to 57.5kg again. It had taken me a lot of trials and errors to find what is best for me and definitely I believe that this lifestyle is the safest and must correct for me because it prevents me from binging and brings me towards my weight goal. I also would like to add that my blood tests looks amazing: Vitamins, minerals, etc are all great, blood sugar, blood pressure and LDL cholesterol (the bad one) are perfect, so there is no reason that I'm wrongdoing. Let me know if you want to try this! Best, Ariana

Yesterday was the first day since surgery where I had a 'good' food day. Everything I ate was tolerated well. I got in my liquids. I had a nice diverse meal day...egg and greek yogurt with strawberries in the AM, chicken salad at lunch, homemade crab cake for dinner. Get on the scale this morning and up .8 of a pound. Really? Sooo frustrating because I had so many bad food days in the last 2 weeks during pureed and early soft food stages....learning about so many new intolerances (lactose being the biggest of them) and then I have a great food day and...weight gain.