Hello, I have been reading posts on the site for months now. My surgery was exactly 1 week ago. I did not think it was too bad. Pretty sore until a few days ago. Things have been going well except now I have put on a few pounds. I have been hungry since the surgery and I have been trying to add things to give me a few extra calories and to stop the hunger pains. I did Clear liquids for the first few days and now have added creamy liquids to my diet. I did add 1 milk shake the last 2 days and each day I have put on a pound. I was happy to weigh myself the first few days because the scale was going down each day. I know that I should not be weighting myself each day but it was the only way to see how I was doing . I do not plan to do that after I get to solids. Weekly weight-ins will be fine for me.

But......why am I now putting on weight instead of it dropping off? I am eating much less than before and feel that the scale should be moving down instead of up.....WHY?

Basically, your body is freaking out and holding on to everything that it can.

It's been put through alot, and it's got to adjust. If you've been reading the boards alot, I'm sure you've read 'anything lost before a fill is a bonus'. In the meantime, concentrate on healing and don't worry about the weight. Also keep in mind that what you dropped real fast after surgery was probably alot of Water as well, so your body is picking some of that back up as well.

It's all normal, and it'll start to go back down again, but try not to stress over it too much until you get your first fill

Hi Carol,

When you say" I added a milkshake", do you mean a real one? Or are you talking about a Protein shake? Cause a milkshake has about 600-700 calories and I dont think there is a lapband surgeon that would recommend one to up your caloric intake. THe idea is to reduce it! LOL Just curious. Actually,all of us that are obese have enough fat to live on for months before any kind of starvation mode or conservation kicks in, so we really dont need to bump up the calories the first month post op to lose weight.

When I was on creamy liquids, my total caloric intake was 500 calories a day which consisted of two Protein shakes with a total of 42 grams of protein and one 6 oz bowl of Soup twice a day in addition to 80 oz of Water inbetween. Even still, once I started on mushies, I plateaued and actually gained three pounds in 2 days.

You have to account for food in the bowels, water retention etc and thats why the exact weight on the scale can fluctuate from 1-3 pounds. But if you are truly sipping on a milkshake then this could be the culprit and you are taking in more calories than you need. As long as you are getting between 30-35 grams of protien on the liquid diet and at least 50-60 on solids you are doing fine.

Babs in TX

334/188/170

-146

6/23/03

Carol... they pump you full of fluids suring and after surgery... it will take your body some time to get over the stress of surgery and get rid of those additional fluids. Don't worry... pretty soon the scale will tell you a happy story.

Darcy

If you have been reading this site for a long time, you'll recall that most all new bandsters come here saying they are gaining or they are as hungry as ever after their surgery. This is a very common complaint, but one that is expected. this too shall pass. This is what we call bandster purgatory, or the pre-fill stage. Any weight lost in the first 6 weeks after banding is purely bonus. You have no restriction, most often and it takes a while for your body to decide you're serious about not feeding it anymore. Most weight loss during this time is actually water and often returns by the time you actually do get restriction. Good luck and welcome!