I really don't get this. I did 10 days on a liquid pre-op diet, averaging 6-800 calories a day and lost 10lb in that time. in the 4-5 days post-op, I was on Clear liquids and barely cracking 300 calories a day and lost another 4-5lb. At 15 days from the start of the pre-op diet, I had lost 15lb. I was ecstatic! I had a really easy time of it for the operation - hardly any post-op pain, a little gas but not a problem. Wounds are recovering well.

As per doctor's advice on Day 4/5 I moved onto thick liquids and have still been maintaining around 350 calories a day for the last 4 days (it is now Day 8 post-op, Day 18 since the diet began), and EVERY DAY for the last 4 days I have GAINED almost a pound!! What the hell is going on? I'm not stopped up - have been taking a laxative and been twice since the op. I'm not cheating ONE BIT and I'm going up as fast as I came down.

This has been my menu for the last 4 days:

Breakfast: 1/2 cup diet jelly, 1/2 cup fat free yoghurt - 45 cal, 7g Protein, 7 g carb, 0 fat

Lunch: Optifast - 152 cal, 17g proteing, 15g carb, 3g fat

Dinner: Heinz 99% Fat Free Soup (average) - 66 cal, 5g protein, 8g carb, 1g fat

Snack meal somewhere in there: Heinz 99% Fat Free soup (average) - 66 cal, 5g protein, 8g carb, 1g fat

2-3 cups of coffee with 0% fat milk and Equal sweetener @ 43 cal, 4g protein, 6g carb, 0g fat.

Total: 382 cal, 37g protein, 44g carb, 6g fat

How the HELL can I be gaining almost pound a day on that? I know the scales will go up and down with Fluid retention, etc, but this has been 4 days in the UPWARD direction! I was down to 259lb and today I'm back at 263!! I refuse to update my ticker upwards!!

I don't feel sick, no gas pains, no vomiting/retching...in fact I feel perfectly fine and as though I could eat normally (but I won't - which is hard coz I'm hungry!). If that damn scale doesn't move in the right direction again tomorrow, I'm going to cry As it is, it's going to take 4 more pound before it even counts

Believe it or not, this is normal. Your body is simply rehydrating.

The next 4-6 weeks will be the hardest. You have to let your body heal, and you need nutrition for that. Don't worry about minor weight gain during this time. Remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint. After your restriction (which may take several fills to get right) things get better.

One thing I've found really useful is to use a weighted rolling average to keep track of my weight trend. There's a useful tool at https://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/HackDiet/ that keeps track of your weight and generates charts that show your true trend, rather than the instantaneous point. That's useful, especially when Water weight and other variables make the daily/weekly weigh-in unreliable.

well said, Manatee. This is not a time to even be concerned about your weight, my doctor said. That helped me a lot. I would just put the scale away and do something you love to do and haven't done in a while... a great step towards the real goal, fully living again.

Good luck and love to you.

Just a quick thought... are you having bm's? (are you plugged up?)

Water retention due to sodium intake?

Are you drinking enough water?

Sorry you are going through this .... ((hugs))

I definitely think it is only temporary though, you can't keep gaining on such little calories.

It could be your not taking in enough calories. My Dr told me to keep my calories to 1000 and walk 30 min every day

I am not losing the last few days but at least I haven't been gaining. That would be hard and I completely feel for you.

My coordinator and nutritionist said that gaining during the healing process is completely normal. Your body is going through a lot right now. Your body is taking what happened in the last couple of weeks as trauma...it doesn't know the difference. It is going to do whatever it needs to in order to heal. It will slow down metabolism because of the caloric cut it has taken as well as start to rehydrate and even possibly retain Fluid.

I'm assuming that this is the beginning of what they call bandster hell.

My team told me that when the scale stops moving or starts gaining, it is time to increase activity. I am going to add an extra 30 minutes walking today to try to get the scale moving in the right direction. Maybe that will help you also.

Good luck and let us know what helps. Maybe calling your center will give you more ideas. I know mine says that these are the times we need them and since we paid them all that money, it's their job to help us through them.

Hmm... I think sodium might be the significant factor here. After all those days on Optifast (yuck!), I was craving some savoury food and the Soups were hitting the spot, and those are pretty high in salt content (*makes the evil eye sign against low salt soups*). I was piling on the salt too, to try to satisfy my hunger, so I probably upped my salt intake by a factor of 10. oops! I'll try salt-free for the next few days and see what difference that makes.

By the way, I am not specifically trying to keep the calories that low - it just works out that way. With the limited choices on the liquid diet, the items I like (as listed above) only work out to around 350-400 a day.

I've gained 7lbs since I started mushie food. I'm not concerned about it. I feel like my body is trying to recover a)from surgery and from the starvation diet I was on before surgery and after surgery (well not really starvation, but I didn't actually take in anything other than water and popsicles till 5 days after surgery so I did in a sense starve). THe reason I can stay positive is that although I'm gaining, I can feel my clothes fitting looser. Keep plugging away, you will lose eventually!

I have not lose anymore since I have been on soft soilds I still feel full after 1/2 cup of anything so stop the soups eat more soild thing it will fill you up and you want gain

meal today

b:fat free Jello

L: half of smart one (weight watcher)

D: half of a half of bake potatoe

and I am really full plus at work did a lot more walking around the building, just got back since the surgery so I had to say hi to everyone so I know I burned a lot of cal. today

I was just going to post something about weight after surgery. #1 . . . when we say how much we've lost . . . are we counting from the Pre-op liquid phase, or from surgery date? #2 . . . I was loosing great for 1 week postop - and then it has totally stalled and not moved anywhere . . . and I was going to ask if this was normal . . .but it is sounding like it is so I guess I won't fret about it . . . at least I can see I'm starting to have a NECK! :confused:

Keep on truckin' . . . we're heading in the right direction!

Chris

I don't think you are getting enough calories. You need at least 60gms protien. Drink (sip) water all the time. Are you getting in 2 qts? I think you should add in 2 cans of a high protien low carb shake (like slimfast low carb) per day.

time to heal and anchor that band in place. once you reach proper restriction (not necessarily first - or third, etc - fill), then concentrate on losing that weight!

congrats on being banded.

Ok, I fell off the wagon badly yesterday but today I am gonna pick myself up and get back on it. From post-surgery to the day before yesterday (20th Dec), I had gone 9 days straight on less than 400 calories a day - not aiming for that number but just eating the fat free Soups, yoghurts and jellies up to 4 times a day. Regardless of all the "you're healing after surgery", "you're just rehydrating", etc, I still felt I should have seen SOME movement in the scales - how the hell can you eat so few calories for so long and not lose?? But there I was - regained 3lb in the days immediately following surgery, then have been stuck without movement for a week!

Yesterday, I couldn't take it anymore and gave into the cravings that have been bugging me since I started the pre-op. I rationalised it by saying maybe I've gone into "starvation mode" and what I need to do is EAT! So anyway, it was only Post-op Day 10 but I went to Domino's and got those spicy chicken wings I was dying for and ate all four!! My god, they were GOOD!! I ate them really slowly, chewed thoroughly and relished every bite, so there! It gave me no pain but I did feel full afterwards (whereas previously I would have eaten them as an appetiser, then had half a pizza [blush]). I also had several soups and two serves of custard, so I felt like I had stuffed my face all day.

Surprisingly, FitDay says it wasn't as bad a blowout as I had thought - here's the numbers

And after all that? This morning on the scale - no change! I'm going to just go back to eating semi-normally (still mostly soups and smaller quantities, and just say f**k it till I get my fill.

I'm disappointed that the loss is stopping, as I have told all my friends and family and I was looking forward to being able to show off a big difference at Xmas, but I guess I'll just have to settle for the 6kg loss and pick it up again after January... Can anyone tell that patience is not my long suit? LOL!!

I was banded on 12/11 so we are at about the same point. We need to get ready to fight the War and not just the battle. We can't obsess on the movements of the scale everyday. Let's try to eat healthy, like slim people, and get this weight off.

Why are you defying logic like this?????

Do you understand the medical reasons why you cannot eat regular food for that specified post-op phase? You need to spend a few hours reading up on this info to get it drilled into your brain. This post-op phase is not one to push for extreme weight loss, or to deprive you of food. It is one to heal!!!

Throw the friggin' scale away and leave yourself ALONE!!! Quit beating yourself up over this, quit weighing yourself, just STOP!

Don't let your eating disorder get in the way of reason.

You DON'T eat hard food during this phase as the band has to place itself in the right spot and the stitches need to heal. If you eat food, you risk (which you have probably already done now) stretching the stoma, which goes completely against every reason this band is placed on your stomach.

If food makes this pouch larger, or pushes through the band, the band can move, sit in the wrong spot, it will heal itself in that spot, and cause slippage, erosion, et.c. etc. etc.

Really, why do this to yourself???????

Why don't you go on youtube and view the two videos that they have online of the lap band surgery. It will enable you to physically SEE where the band is, and hopefully will enable you to put two and two together to completely understand WHY the post-op phase dietary restrictions are the way they are.

If you want to eat chicken or food like that again, close your eyes, and visualize the food pushing your band further down your stomach.

first of all, i agree with Bert. the post op diet is there for a reason - to anchor your band on your stomach and form the scar tissue... last time i checked, chicken wings were not liquid nor mushie ...

my advice - stay off the scale.

i know easier said than done, but do it ... just KNOW that you are doing all you can be doing right now.