Ok.. So on Thursday of last week I was weighed at the surgeon's office for my post op appt - I lost a total of 19 lbs or 18.8 if you want exacts... so that put me at 303 ... Today I go to the general doc's office because of a huge lump in my hand where the IV was (I thought it was part of the IV that broke off in there... talk about scared - ended up being a clot) and I got on the scale there and I am exactly 304.... HOW IN THE HECK DID THIS HAPPEN?!?!?!?!

I am still on liquids only even though I did have a bite of the Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli soup I made last night which came out more like a stew with no broth - so I didn't get to eat it (AND IT WAS GOOD .. just the one little taste of the pasta soaked soupy stuff... was awesome)..

SO how in the heck did I gain a pound?

My Dr. says it is probably just water weight or something - but last week on Thursday right before i got on the scale I had just finished a 16.9oz drink - so technically that is one whole extra pound.. so really by my calculations I gained 2 lbs...

HOW IN THE HELL DID I DO THAT??????

I live on soups (with water, not milk made) and sugar free pudding and water and soupy oatmeal for breakfast (plain oatmeal)...

How can i have gained a pound or two...

I am so upset! My biggest fear with this surgery was that it wouldn't work for me but now I am uber depressed that that may be a reality....
Please tell me - has anyone else had this happen? Should I worry?
I still have over a month before my first fill -

Thanks in advance for any thoughts/suggestions...
Amy:think

Same thing happened to me. They told me that while you are in the hospital, they pump you full of fluids through the IV. Your body retains it. Also, the two scales might not be in sync. I was 2 pounds heavier 8 days after my surgery than I was 2 hours before surgery.

Oh Amy,
This SO happened to bandster friend of mine.
You have the RIGHT to freak out, you really do.
I am so glad you had this forum to vent on.
Do I know the answer ? no.
The body and how it retained water yes I said water is not an exact science .
It will be okay.
I am pming my friend that I mentioned above to pm you. Let her help you.
MY only suggestion is to stay off those scales!

edie

Oh golly, a pound? That could be just from standing on the scales differently!

And you're talking two different sets of scales! They could be easily 7lb different! You are probably wearing different clothes. My docs scales weight about 7lb heavier than mine do.

I dont mean to be unsympathetic and I'm not, but in all probability you could even have lost MORE, its just the discrepancy between scales.

If you're to become a professional scale whore like me, hopping on every set you see you need to toughen up because you ARE going to see a lot of different weights. The only gains that count are if you've gained in the same conditions, on the same scales consistently, my weight bounces round by a pound or two all the time. I can get on the scales, get off, get back on and have gained 2lb in 30 seconds.

Its best not to get too worried about it. I find that I can weigh myself 3minutes apart and get a different wt. Why? Who knows? It is just best to weigh on the same scale- just once a week. We also fluctuate 2-4 lbs of fluid as well.

I know that the scales may not be synced up and stuff - I was just hoping that they couldn't be that different. I know it is only a pound - but when you are as big as I am - one pound makes a huge difference.
At least to me...

So here is my new plan - I don't own a scale, but I will be purchasing a good one on pay day (Friday) and I will then only go by what it says and what the surgeon's scale says and forget the rest so I don't get upset over small differences...

And I should have known better to get on the scale at the docs office because I knew it would be depressing because I can get on any scale and, like other, 30 seconds later get on it again and it will be different.

I guess to be on a positive note, the last time I was on this particular doctor's scale I was 311 so technically I went down by that scale by 7 lbs... but I chose to prefer the extra pound off by the surgeon's scale.

I am still scared that this won't work for me - seems like the only thing that ever did work for me left me when I was a teenager and then had kids.

Well - I will hop onto another scale this Thursday to see what it says as compared to last Thursday's reading at the surgeons office - then I will only go by what it says. ....

Thanks for the advice and swift kicks in the behind - sometimes I feel I need that more than anything.... LOL :)

THANK YOU ALL for being here for me! :)

And edie - hopefully your friend will PM me and we can chat about her experience as well... :) THanks again all!!!
Amy

I read a great post once at... Weight Watchers, I think. A woman asked her husband (who had never had a weight problem) to weight himself on their scale, stark naked, twice a day for a week.

This man's weight was up, down, sideways and back again. It would sometimes be higher in the morning than the evening before, and over the course of the week it varied within five pounds.

The moral is - weight changes. Unexpectedly and inexplicably. Don't let the number on the scale make you crazy. If you work the band, work your plan, over the long run you will lose weight.

What I like to do is keep a chart. I weight myself once a week and I put it in Excel and then I like to look at it. Over the long term, that swoopy curve leads inexorably down, and it's fantastic.

infamy what a great example. I hop on the scale a few times a day. I don't get depressed about it anymore as I know it varies so much but if I hadn't grown a thick skin it would do my head in.

I weigh first thing in the morning, naked after I have been to the Loo and then again after my shower. I'm sometimes 3 pounds heavier. What? I have made a new promise to myself that I will only weigh in on Monday morning now otherwise it could sabotage me. If I satrt to feel hopeless It will become a self fullfiling prophecy!

Good on you for changing your mind set.

I weight myself every monday Morning before i eat with basically the same clothes on . I sleep in PJ bottoms and T shirts.
So as soon as I wake up in the morning on Mondays' i walk into the kitchen ( yes my scale is in the kitchen lol) and i step on it . then i write it down . I have a weekly "weight in " on my own. My docs scale is exactly 1 lb heavier than mine . So i go by mine , I am just 3 months ( almost 4) post op So i will probably start weighting in every 2 or 3 weeks soon . But right now the scale is still moving so im ok LOL I find it keeps me motivated. there was 1 3 week period where i gained a pd and it didnt come off and didnt come off. So I worked and worked and worked. I ended up getting a fill and working my ass off at the same time . So i find the scale as a motivational tool as well .

Your still early in the recovery process. Your fine , Dont be discouraged. But I agree get a scale at home and only go by it .

HTH
Mindy

I am only speaking for myself but I am NOT ever getting a scale. I weigh myself at my doctors once a month. If I see another scale tempting me in the distance I steer clear of it. You see I understand my weight will go up and down. I just don't want to get upset by it. If one pound can ruin my day then what was the point of getting this band in the first place? I have to rely on something that is brand new to me: FAITH. I have to have faith in myself, and my band. Instead I look for other things such as: the way my body looks in the mirror, and how my clothes fit. I have to say that I have never been happier. I am taking the focus off of weight and putting it on me. This is all about me. I am doing something fantastic for me. I have never done anything for just me. I know that I will succeed; I don't need numbers on a scale to tell me that.

Remember the scales are only one measurement of progress. The other is to compare your body measurements. SO if you are needing some postive feedback, or a aneil-retentive "professional scale whore" like Jacnut and I, go fall in love with your tape measure. IT works!!! Oh, don't forget to chart it. ;)

You're right Judy - the scales are only one measure of success, but sadly that's the one that seems most ingrained in our minds. I weighed myself this morning (my one week bandiversary) and I weigh one pound MORE than last Tuesday morning before I left for the hospital.

Now I gotta tell you - I probably haven't had more than 600 calories on any day in the past 8 and I haven't been stationary either. I haven't hopped on my eliptical machine yet, but I've been doing housework and up and down my stairs - so I know I'm buring some calories.

I'd like to think I'd have lost about 5 pounds last week (crazy I know). I'd love to go for my first post-op Dr visit and have him be excited about my weight loss since I weighed there on Sept 28. Using today's weight, I will have only lost 11 pounds in four weeks - including the pre-op 'concentration camp' diet ;) . Eleven pounds just does not seem like enough to me for being on bread and water -without the bread- for two weeks now !!

My daughter tells me she can really tell that I'm losing weight and I do feel better - but that darn scale seems to really be the final word in how I feel about my weight loss. Maybe I shouldn't get on it at all?

HELLO, HELLO JUDY!!! This is me calling you...you ARE doing it. So we aren't ready yet to kick-butt BUT we are in the game. I think we should set more longer term goals like at 4 weeks post-op and 6 weeks post-op. Let's relax for the first two weeks and change out goal to focus on being [HELLO again!!! 600 cals a day girlfriend ... you need more cals and water] on staying 100% complient to our doctor's program no matter what.

Girl, you are doing fabulous. Get ready cause between 4-6 weeks I'm going to be that dang Inamed TV lion....but crazy hungry! So we have to heal and be complient and get ready to really push our self forward to our 6th week goal weight. My six week goal weight is -28lbs. Now the only way I can do that is excercise. So I am going to go find that way today. Yes, I am going to do that.... come on and join me in my challegne. ;)

Hang in there!

Sometimes it is more than just the number on the scale too. Since surgery I have only dropped 18lbs. But I am down 2 clothing sizes already. Things are shifting around as the weight SLOWLY comes off. I am back into pants that haven't fit for years already and its only been 2 months since my surgery. So, the point.....the scales suck sometimes but look at the overall picture. Try not to focus on just that number.