OMG! I Gained Weight!!!

[Ravyn 0]

I have failed and abused my lapband. I'm the same weight as I started out, way back in April of 2010. Sigh! I'm on to a new gimick - Vegan diet. So far so good...but I"m still an emotional eater. I guess I need overeaters anonymous, and not a lapband. Wish you all luck. I'm still searching for the motivation to drink Protein Shakes and do P90X.

[itsJoyJoy 0]

From before my surgery to after my surgery I gained 16lbs! I was like, WTF? I wasnt sure the different scales were off or what? It was a shock but dont get down on your self. We have to remember. We had surgery only 2 weeks ago! I think our bodies are in schock and holding on to everything for dear life! I think the liquids have alot of sodium as well and completely makes you retain Water. Im holding strong and looking forward to my first fill.

Hang in there. I think from what Ive read, it only gets better

[JourneyGirl 10]

How can you go through all of this, actually let someone cut your body open and then the first two weeks not have the willpower to stick to your diet? Maybe you should have got RNY....

Not trying to be mean but you should have found the willpower before you got the surgery IMO...

WOW!! ARE YOU FOR REAL?? Way to encourage! Hope no one treated you like this when you needed encouragement or asked questions! Everyone's journey is different! No two people are going to loose/gain weight the same. And a little FYI for you: this is completely NORMAL after surgery.

You really need to think about your reply and how it was not appropriate and that you need to man up and apologize!!

[CheckYes 46]

I have failed and abused my lapband. I'm the same weight as I started out, way back in April of 2010. Sigh! I'm on to a new gimick - Vegan diet. So far so good...but I"m still an emotional eater. I guess I need overeaters anonymous, and not a lapband. Wish you all luck. I'm still searching for the motivation to drink Protein shakes and do P90X.

Hi there,

I am so sorry to hear that you've been struggling. May I suggest something to you? Instead of finding an OA meeting, try food Addicts Anonymous. It helped me so much to understand my food issues. They also have a menu/meal plan of foods to eat and you report to your sponsor every day what you plan to eat for the day. I am not a religious person, so the references to God and a higher power were a bit too much for me to take but I know that for some people it was really a blessing. There were people in my meetings who had been in the program for 25 years and had maintained abstinence from their trigger foods.

I wish you the best of luck. I think you can find an FAA meeting by visiting http://www.foodaddictsanonymous.org/

[ManningFan 10]

Sorry if my post came across as mean. I understand your frustration and I know no one is perfect (myself included). Ultimately I was upset by one part of his/her post. I wasn't following my diet

My thing is, why do all of this and not stick to what they tell you eat to the T for the first 2 weeks? I know its hard but I think anyone that is willing to do this to themselves should be able to power through 2 weeks of hard dieting, if you can't, you werent ready for this. 2 years....now that is a different story and I am much more inclined to be sympathetic with someone losing focus down the line....

Sorry if it came across as mean.

It is normal to gain a huge amount of weight after surgery 7-12 pounds via fluids. Ultimately they usually all exit the body in 4-7 days.

[CTMom 6]

I personally gained about 5 pounds during Bandster Hell, so don't take the gain as some sign that you aren't going to succeed. Heck. . I took off that 5 and many more (I've been at goal for a while now -- I am 2 1/4 years post-surgery and at 145.2. . I haven't updated my stats recently)

Thank you so much for posting that Catherine!! I'm stuck in the middle of Bandster Hell right now and it is good to hear encouraging words! After 17 pounds lost, the scale hasn't moved in ten days. UGH! I don't go for my first fill for at least two more weeks and my goal is to lose at least five more pounds - by exercise and willpower - by then. Glad to hear your story and see your fabulous photos.

As for the OP, please try not to be discouraged. You are still losing all those IV fluids and once your body heals a little more, you will be on the right path.

[CTMom 6]

Whoops. Clearly I haven't learn how to quote other posts correctly yet. Sorry!

[honk 780]

Depending on your preop diet your body is going to be starving post surgery once it starts to feel better. Like the couple days after you've had the flu and you feel like you can eat a horse.

The fact is yes this is a life style change and we need to develop a new relationship with food. This does'nt come overnight. Did you surgeon require any eating therapy sessions? I had to attend three group sessions where we discussed emotional eating, and food triggers.

This will also be a diet until you have restriction. Yes the dreaded four letter word. If you haven't already done so review your food consumption preband. For now cut our things like fried foods, pizza, keeping dessert in the house. For me it was anything that went crunch: Breakfast Cereal (huge for me), crackers, baked lays (yes they are lower in fat but if you eat 5 servings at a time that's bad). I'm not saying you can never have fun food again it just needs to be a treat (birthday parties etc); not a every day or even every week event.

[nancypan 0]

Hey just wanted you to know that it does get better.....I promise - I was just like you . I started the preop liquid diet on Nov. 23 and had dropped 9 lbs. on the day of my surgery Nov 30th. I then went home and waited my two weeks for the post op dr visit - lost only 2 lbs. I got my first fill 4 weeks later and dropped 8lbs. I just got my 2nd fill on Monday and feel like I am finally able to feel "full" I must admit that the fullness does not seem to happen until 30-45 minutes after I eat - so you may want to eat what you think you should and wait 30 minutes or so and see if that helps. I do not go back to the dr for my next fill until 6 weeks from now so evidently he feels that we should take things slow.....which I hear is the best way.

I really wanted to think that this weight would just fall off but that does not happen as far as I can see - it does come off but at a much slower pace than we would like...although in the end that will be much better for us. Throughout my days after the lapband surgery I have been a scale watcher and it was killing me......one day I would look and I would be down 2 pounds then I would look the next day and be up those same 2 pounds.....I was even thnking that after a bowel movement .....I would be lower.....how stupid is that????lol

I have finally gotten in the mode to stop weighing myself so frequently.......I am trying to stick to twice per week and would love it if I could just do it once per week.

I promise we will do this........I too am afraid of being a failure but I think that I have gotten over that and am confident that I will succeed - it is just gonna take ma a little longer than what I want.

Good LucK and Keep your head up!!

Nancy

[ThinSIstaSoon 2]

As many of u have mentioned my nutritionist told me not to worry about calories or exercise these next 4 weeks until my first fill. She said the focus needs to be on eating the right mushies, chewing very well, eatingg Protein first, and getting in the 64 oz of Water every day. I have lost 18 lbs (5 since surgery last week) but am finding I am getting more hungry already. My nutritionist told me 3 new things that I've never heard before...if u don't weigh about 5 lbs more at the end of the day-u need to drink more Water, weigh urself bi-weekly because it takes 14 days for ur body to show real weight loss/gain, and don't drink during or within 30 mins after a meal or u are defeating the purpose of the band completely by lubricating your stomach - which speeds up digestion.

I am going to therapy for my food addiction and really agree with Manning fan's second response/justification. If u can't make a commitment to do what ur doctor says in the beginning u should be concerned about ur future...BUT we now have a real tool/support to help us so being honest about our mistakes on here is a step to getting back on track! Going on a diet is something I am never going to do again. I'm going to be honest with myself, this forum, my doc, and my therapist.

My food addiction will no longer keep me hostage around walls of fat! NOTHING TASTES THAT GOOD!!!

Good luck to those of us needing our first fill and God Bless those who have finally found the "sweet spot" and are living-doing things as they should!

[kab1278 3]

I don't think ANYONE is ready for how life changing this surgery is. We can read, ask questions and research for months and never be prepared. I know that once I had surgery, I realized there were so many things I didn't know beforehand, but couldn't have known until I actually had the surgery.

And I will never believe that any one has been able to stick perfectly to our post-op diet, whether it be a matter of eating things we shouldn't, adding an extra ounce of food to our plate or sitting on our butts when we know we should be exercising.

If we had perfect control of our "focus", the majority of us wouldn't have needed this surgery in the first place. I gained most of my weight from medications (have the paperwork from a 4 month hospital stay to prove it) but I can't say I never had something to eat that I knew would have been better left alone. And since you are here and had over 200lbs to lose Manningfan, I have to assume you also lost "focus" a number of times in your life.

We are here to support, get suggestions and a boost when we need it. We aren't here to question others about their decisions or readiness.