I was banded November 2009. I quickly lost 150 pounds. I am now 2 years out, I have gained all my weight back and am severly depressed. While I still eat smaller quantities, I have gone back to my old patterns of eating. Has my pouch stretched? Do I need to have surgery againg? Wht do I do? I am so discouraged and ashamed of myself. How many people can fail at weight loss surgery? Please give me some advice. Thanks. Terri....Colorado

I'm wondering about a few things in your situation. How did you lose the 150lbs? Did you do a lot of exercise? What did you eat? You obviously must have worked very hard. That does tell you that you are able to stick with a plan. But then you gained it back. How did you gain it back? What did you eat and how often? Where there any changes in your life (places, work, people, events?). I'm asking these questions because I think they are really important and can help us understand what happened?

I'm wondering about a few things in your situation. How did you lose the 150lbs? Did you do a lot of exercise? What did you eat? You obviously must have worked very hard. That does tell you that you are able to stick with a plan. But then you gained it back. How did you gain it back? What did you eat and how often? Where there any changes in your life (places, work, people, events?). I'm asking these questions because I think they are really important and can help us understand what happened?

Well I was banding at the end of November. I stuck to the plan faithfully. Then, on January 10, we adopted a baby we found out about 3 weeks prior. I still kept to the plan and one day, I just gave up. I started eating junk, falling back to my old habits, sodas, cookies, ice cream, chocolate, cake, chips, etc...Then I blew out my knee. I was in so much pain, I could no longer excercise. I had a total knee replacement on June 1st of this year, and though the pain and rehab of that I have gained another 20 pounds. I found this thing online about the 5 day pouch test. I am going to try it. I am starting on Monday, and pray that I have not ruined what I was so proud to have accomplished. I hope, that by just getting back on my program, I can loose it again. I did it once.

Oh yeah, baby, turned 42, lost job. Got job. Got laid off. Got job. Husband got laid off, then one week later I got laid off, got job that I hate, but pays the bills. Just a little bit of life change and stress. Thanks for responding. I hope to hear from you soon.

Why is life so unfair, why is everything so hard and why do people keep telling me "suck it up and deal with it" and" you have to put the work in to get results", when clearly a lot of people don't have to....... Again, why me, why us?

But we can do it, hang in there.

Good luck with everything.

I'm a big fan of the 5-day pouch test! I've done it several times and it works like a charm every single time. The first two days will feel like forever, but stick to it! The last 3 days go by in a flash, and you will feel SO MUCH BETTER on day 6! Let us know how it works for you!

If you are a Low carb person --- the 5 day pouch is the way to go. I have also done it 2x and it works like a charm. I understand what you said about gaining weight with all the stress and changes. I guess that's how we all developed our weight problem in the first place --- by emotional eating. However, you also have to remember how good you were in losing the weight. It took a LOT of work and focus on your part to pull that off. You have proved to yourself that you CAN do it. It's also really important that you try not to yo-yo. My fear for you is that you could hurt your body or risk losing your band. The only thing I can advise is that you try to use the 5-day pouch to get back on the track. If you do and you lose it all and you are able to stay within a good range then you will be doing really good. If you find that you can not lose the weight or if you do a major regain again after losing again, it may be that the bypass would be a better choice for you. But --- I do think you should try making the band work for you before going that route. Best of luck to you. Don't beat-up on yourself. That will only make it worse. The most important thing is that we keep learning and keep trying until we succeed.

I seriously feel your pain!!! I was banded, lost 90 lbs... realized it was because my band was to tight and all I was doing was throwing it up. I got my band in Mexico, so I didn't have a regualar doctor. Finally got a job with insurance, and realized it was too tight. He took out all of the saline, and I had to start over. I gained 50 lbs back, and I just can't seem to stick with anything When it was to tight, it was like I could eat anything I wanted, (in little portions of course) so I never really learned what to eat and what not to eat. And now, I feel so depressed ALL of the time. Its like i'm obsessing about food all day long. And it was never like this before the band, or when I was losing the 90 lbs. One thing I'm learning though, is to get back into the forum, its like support, and I think this is what I really need right now. Also I am really curious about the 5-day pouch diet... I'll have to read up on it.

Thanks everyone. Today is day 1 of 5 day test. I made the comment to my husband yesterday that I do not understand some of the weight gain because I am never hungry. Guess what? I woke up starving. But I have my smoothies and my water (UGH) and I am going to make the most of this, and I AM going to loose the weight again. I will keep you all posted, and again, thanks for the encouragement. T

Thanks everyone. Today is day 1 of 5 day test. I made the comment to my husband yesterday that I do not understand some of the weight gain because I am never hungry. Guess what? I woke up starving. But I have my smoothies and my water (UGH) and I am going to make the most of this, and I AM going to loose the weight again. I will keep you all posted, and again, thanks for the encouragement. T

You made the first step by telling someone. When was the last time you had a fill? Is the a WLS group in your area? You can do this you have the most important toll in you. Try to remember how good you felt 150 pounds lighter. The biggest thing is clean out your house of anything junk food related and fill it with only the things you can eat. Good to you. Ypu can do this. You are on the way.

will OP you act as if you just fell off the wagon. You had a lot of life changes and stress. The knee surgery sucks. I had one too a few years ago and gained a lot of weight. Dont beat yourself up so much. Which is kinda crazy me saying that! I'm my worse critic. But good job at day 1.

Day two went well. Much less hungry. Day three. I had chicken salad for lunch. Never had it before. Tasted ok, but not fond of the texture. We will see how the rest of the day goes. Terri