Ok I have something to talk about and please give me some insight... I feel were all kinda like family and friends so here it is… what happened to Carnie Wilson and Al Roker we all know that they had gastric bypass surgery done. But has everyone also noticed that they gained there weight back? Well not all the weight for Al Roker but have you seen Carnie Wilson?? I see all these wonderful looking people on this sight and everyone is so happy they lost there weight 3, 4 and 1 year post op. my question is were are the old timers?? Were are the LBT’s that joined 4 and 5 years ago? How are they doing? Are they still maintaining there weight lost? It just makes my nervous that I could be the next Carnie Wilson that looks great for a while and then I blow the hell up again. Please I am a fighter and this is truly what I want but I’m pretty sure they felt they same way. Now I live in New York and I watch the news every morning and Al Roker looked sick for a while then he gained some weigh and looked better, what if that’s me what if I look good being a big girl( nah!!!!!! I’m only kiddin I rather be skinny) but all jokes aside what if im the one that looks sick after I loose the weight? I just wanted to know if any one else has seen these people and thought about the same things….

You are not alone. I too have asked the same question about Carnie Wilson. I think Al Roker must be doing something again, because he seems to be losing weight again. I also have asked how could they put it all back on after going thru so much, especially with gastric bypass.

From what I've been told at the three year mark for gastro bypass if you have not made the proper changes to your eating habits then that is when you will regain some weight. The intestine that has been bypassed by the surgery causes malabsorbtion which leads to the massive weight loss as well as the very very tiny tummy, somewhere along the 2.5 - 3 year mark the other intestine learns to do the job of aborbing which in turn puts weight back on. So if you have not changed your eating habits you will lose weight only to gain it back again. As for Al, maybe he had his gastric bypass revised and that's why he is losing again. Not sure about Carnie, haven't seen her in a while. What about the guy on American Idol, Randy Jackson?? It's all about making the proper nutritional choices in food, something we all tend to have a difficult time doing.

I know someone who had gastric bypass years ago and she is now bigger than she ever was. This is going to be a life-long commitment. It's not just with bypass though, it can with band too, whether it's due to complications or just improper use of the tool. Surgery is not a guarantee, that's why it's soooo important for us to do our part as well.

As for Al and Carnie, I don't what happened with them....

Okay, here's my take on regaining weight after bypass. With bypass, you don't have to do anything to lose weight. It just happens. Your body will becme accustomed to food that you couldn't eat at first (like sugars) and you will start eating more and stretch your pouch. With Carney, she put most of the weight back on after childbirth.

The band is a tool. If you don't eat right, don't excersize, don't get your water in...............YOU DON'T LOSE. Hey, you do have to work at it to lose with the band. It isn't a quick fix. I've lost over a hundred pounds so far and you know, I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that I have the band. It took over eight months to get restriction for me, so I've done most of the work on my own. AND I AM PROUD OF IT. Once, you hit goal, you can get some of your fill removed so you can eat more to maintain your weight. And if you start gaining, you can always go and get another fill. What can you do with the bypass? I've heard of people who have gotten the band after the bypass surgery failed. Now does that make sense?

Carnie had a baby since too right?? I'm not sure. I would definitly have to chalk it up to poor eating habits..... It's so hard to change after eating whatever you want whenever you want. I think that we just have to be careful. It's probably also a matter of the weight just "coming off" then getting comfortable and not realizing the limits and starting to nibble here and there. The next thing you know, it's back to square 1.

From my perspective Carnie has put back some but not nearly the amount she lost. I don't think that Al ever got to be as small as Carney did and Carney was probably too small and couldn't maintain that size forever.

Like the other poster said she did have at least one baby and Al being a male probably has it a bit easier.

With every WLS there's a chance you'll put back the weight or in my case never even lose it in the first place. I think RNY takes a lot of willpower also just like the band. I've seen it recently with my own daughter who is only 20 years old but has a lot of discipline and has lost 120 lbs since last April. partly due to a stricture but also due to her discipline and determination.

I never had the willpower going in as this was my last resort and so without the willpower the lap band did nothing for me. Even though RNY does have malabsorption on it's side for a while it doesn't last for ever and the pouch will stretch. There are people who are better at keeping it off than others and those that don't either will gain some back or revise, many go on diet meds also. I've been in forums where I've seen people go to their third revision which to me seems a bit extreme but I shouldn't be surprised and I suppose shouldn't judge either.

So basically from my pov WLS can be like a crap shoot sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

Okay, here's my take on regaining weight after bypass. With bypass, you don't have to do anything to lose weight. It just happens. Your body will becme accustomed to food that you couldn't eat at first (like sugars) and you will start eating more and stretch your pouch. With Carney, she put most of the weight back on after childbirth.

The band is a tool. If you don't eat right, don't excersize, don't get your water in...............YOU DON'T LOSE. Hey, you do have to work at it to lose with the band. It isn't a quick fix. I've lost over a hundred pounds so far and you know, I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that I have the band. It took over eight months to get restriction for me, so I've done most of the work on my own. AND I AM PROUD OF IT. Once, you hit goal, you can get some of your fill removed so you can eat more to maintain your weight. And if you start gaining, you can always go and get another fill. What can you do with the bypass? I've heard of people who have gotten the band after the bypass surgery failed. Now does that make sense?

Kari, I need to know whether your fills depended on your NOT losing fast enough. Yesterday, they would not give me a 2nd fill because, after a month of SERIOUS dieting, I'd lost 12#. They said a fill would NOT make me less hungry, that I'd ALWAYS be hungry w/ a lapband. True? (Basically, I'd lost too much!) If so, I'm VERY upset about it. Pam

I had a friend who was quite obese. Her mother was tall and willowy. It was such a contrast. A few years ago my friend said she was going to have GBS. As we were talking about it, she told me her mom had had the surgery years before. I would have never guessed it, and her mom looked healthy, fit, and trim. My friend moved out of state after the surgery, and we've lost contact. I hope she was as successful.

It's heartbreaking to hear about the people who have gone through so much to get healthy and then to end up gaining it all back. My heart goes out to them.

After failing at so many diets, I do worry about the longterm effectiveness of LBS. I'm very determined to make this my way of life, but it's hard not to let worry creep in occasionally.

It really doesn't matter what WLS you have, if you don't change your attitude about food and your eating habits, you may be able to lose in the beginning but you will not keep it off.

I've seen this in my own family.

My sister had bypass about 8 years ago. She's since had 3 kids. She's doing great!

Her DH had the surgery after she did. He lost a lot of weight. Then started eating til he puked, then went back for more. Disgusting. AND he's gained most of his weight, if not all, back.

My mom had bypass about 5 years ago. At the age of 61, her chiropractor says she's working out too much at the gym at an average of 12hrs a week! She just did her first bike race in August. She and her boyfriend are heading out this weekend for a hike they signed up for. She's back to horseback riding, which she hadn't done in well over 40 years!!

Between the 3 of them, the difference in attitude is huge. Mom and sis knew they had to make changes in order to make their surgeries work for the rest of their lives. Sis's DH expected the surgery to do all of the work and now blames the surgery for his weight gain. (Of course, that's how he is in real life anyway, never his fault, it's always someone else!)

I've also been on this site for awhile now and have seen the stories of people not losing and/or gaining and come to find out, they're eating too much, have no restriction or are eating a lot of garbage. Now there are truly people on this site struggling and I'm NOT talking about them. I'm talking about the ones who aren't using their tools and then wonder why things aren't working for them.

So, like I said, a really long time ago (above!), it's all about changing your attitude and how you look at food. Doesn't matter what WLS you have.

They said a fill would NOT make me less hungry, that I'd ALWAYS be hungry w/ a lapband. True?

No, it's not true at all. While some docs won't give you a fill if you continue to lose, most will do it if you are still hungry. Once you get the proper restriction, you will not be hungry all the time. That's the whole point of having WLS -- to have hunger control so you have a prayer of staying on a diet. (Though I hesitate to call it a diet.)

I never see Al Roker so I don't know how much he's lost and/or gained, but I will tell you that with a lot of weight loss, if you lose enough, you look a bit sickly for a while. Then your body "bounces back". Maybe you gain a few pounds, maybe you don't, but basically your body recovers from the whole ordeal and you don't look so gaunt. I think that's what happened to Al from what you guys were saying.

As for Carnie, we all know that for some woman, having a baby packs on the pounds. There are different reasons for this, but it happens. Carnie is also one who struggles with addiction issues and that makes any WLS harder to succeed with. She transfered her food addiction to alcohol for a while and then she fell back into food addiction with her pregnancy. This surgery only fixes your stomach; we still have to fix our heads and she's a work in progress on that one.

But in Carnie's defense, she hasn't "gained it all back". She did again about about 100 lb. out of the 200 lb. she lost. But she has since lost a bunch more and is probably only about 40 to 60 lb. overweight. I think she looks great, personally, even if she never loses another pound.

At the start of this there was a question about where all the old-times are..... I presume you meant those that got banded years ago... I have a theory about that. I'm told that the success rate for LB is about 60%.... Those people have gone on with their lives and are out living the healthy life and don't need to sit by the computer sharing worries and joys like we are now while everything is so new to us. The other 40 % probably don't want to be here for the obvious reasons. I'm guessing that as my progress moves forward I won't feel the need to be here as much as I do now. This is just my opinion............ so take it for what it's worth.. good luck to all...... Julie

Kari, I need to know whether your fills depended on your NOT losing fast enough. Yesterday, they would not give me a 2nd fill because, after a month of SERIOUS dieting, I'd lost 12#. They said a fill would NOT make me less hungry, that I'd ALWAYS be hungry w/ a lapband. True? (Basically, I'd lost too much!) If so, I'm VERY upset about it. Pam

Pam, my surgeon has a chart on the wall that helps determine if a fill is necessary. Basically if you are hungry between meals and are prone to grazing then you need a fill. The band will help with hunger control because it holds the food in longer (at your sweet spot) and so you don't get hungry until it's meal time.

I'm at my sweet spot and I seldom get hungry now.

Good luck.

Cherlita

down 60lbs so far and hard fought to get them off :thumbdown:

The question about "old-timers" has come up before. I agree with Julie's theory that they are away from the computer, living the lives they've worked so hard for. There is another side to the coin too, unfortunately. Some successful people here have actually gotten nasty and mean posts from people who are obviously jealous of their success. So I can't really blame them for sticking around.

How important do you think drinking the water is - I do not drink any water

A few years ago I had a hysterectomy. Before my surgery and while I was post op for a month or so, I went to the Hyster Sisters website ALL THE TIME. My surgery went great and I recovered so fast it amazed even my doctor. I really had no need to go to the forum anymore since I was doing so well and I went on with my life.

I am sure that people who are successful with the band do the same thing. There are some people who are just not the kind to hang out if all is going well. There is nothing wrong with being here or not.

I am sure, by the same token, that there are some who have not succeeded with the band and have converted to something else. They would have moved on to another forum.