You will get through this. I was banded 6/15/09, I was in the liquid phase during 4th of July, knowing that it would be hard to watch others eat I choose to stay home and away from festivities. I don't think you would have gone through the process of meeting with doctors and all the pre band stuff if you were not ready to make a change in your life. There are going to be plenty of times where your going to want to throw down on food but that's not going to work now. The beginning is difficult but for me the positive outweigh the negative. Stay strong, you can do this!

I was got my band on 11-18-2010 so it was during Thanksgiving and Christmas time , There is so much more positive with the band, they out weigh the bad ones. When someone eats something i know I cannot eat I go for a walk. So it doesnt bother me. I have lost 121 lbs as of the first day I walked into the doctors office on 05/2010. Stay strong,

I also am home tonight- with my significant other and friend.. all my other friends are out, and the ones that are here are eating! I treated myself to a JambaJuice with protein... The thought of injuring myself was too much to bear... Nothing taste's as good as feeling good-feels

You need to spend time asking yourself why you are "fat" . There are reasons we are fat, and the problem with the lapband and ANY bariatric surgery is that

the surgery WILL NOT CHANGE WHY you are obese. You will skirt around the band and form maladaptive feeding patterns, just as you have being overweight. I say this with all the

love and respect of a fat person myself! I've been banded for 10 mths, 55 pound weight loss. There is alot of mental stuff that you have to fix along with the diet. The weight is all symptoms of something else. Food should be a source of nutrition and not emotional fullfillment. Good luck! God bless...I struggle with this EVERYDAY!

When you see people shoveling food in their mouth, just think to yourself they can not socialize and eat too but you can be social and get to know people around you. Food is not the whole world, your family and friends are which I am finding out. 6 months ago I had my surgery and wish I did it many more years ago but I have done it and not sorry one bit. I using my tool and learning how to eat the correct way. As kchaynes says we struggle everyday which is very true but well worth it. Good luck.................Judy

Maybe you had your surgery for the wrong reasons, but you can make it work for you for the RIGHT reasons! It's true, that if you are miserable doing the healthier thing that it won't be as easy to do it. But if somewhere in your soul you really want to be healthier it's not too late to let your band do it's thing!

I'm only about 12 weeks out from my surgery now. Yesterday we had our big food celebration at my mom and dad's house and I felt AWESOME being the one sitting there actually eating very little comparatively and feeling full when I was done. I ate a small portion of dessert as well, and I felt completely empowered taking a tiny bit of it, knowing that I wouldn't be able to finish a normal sized portion. I used to envy people who could do that. I hated going out to eat with friends who would order a 1/2 portion of anything! I felt completely inferior to people who didn't eat with gusto the way I did. And to be able to eat like a healthy, normal person right now feels really, really good to me.

I hope you'll be able to get to a point where you can enjoy the way your band helps you to eat. But mostly, I hope you'll be able to find a way to make it all about YOU!! You deserve to be healthy! Hang in there!

You need to be healthy and have a long life to take care of your child and set a good nutritional example for that child. Let yourself off the hook for the 'cheating' foods, we have all done that! Just hang in there and remember that child and what you want to give him or her...a healthy Mom!

I feel where you are coming from on some level. When my (now) husband and I first started dating he told me he thought my weight might be an issue for him. He had always dated pencil thin women and I had never been that. Well, I had reached a point with myself that I had accepted my body for what it was and I was quick to let him know that my weight did not define me as a person, a woman and that weight was just a number like age. We fell in love and married this past April - and I was bigger then than when we started dating. He fell in love with ME. I now want to lose the weight because of the pain I experience in my feet, ankles, knees & hips. It has nothing to do with wanting to please him (although it is nice) but he has let me know time and time again that he loves me regardless and that means the world to me. I'm doing this for ME now. I want to feel good and enjoy doing things again.

You did a courageous thing going through the surgery. In the end you will see that you did it for YOU. You will feel better about yourself, your overall health will improve. We are all gonna have our "down" days and probably question why we did this. But as the time passes you are gonna be ever so glad you did. I wish you much sucess in your journey.

ANewMe63