:thumbdown:yeah thats what i thought until a month ago! my mentality, all it takes is diet and exercise...and possibly 100 attempts with diet and exercise. i'd lose weight, sometimes fast some times slow, 30 lbs 40 lbs...only to regain sometimes twice the amount

now at 288lbs it is honestly easier not to diet, that way my weight stays the same give or take 2-3 lbs instead of the extreme like recently losing 17 gaining 36!

my sister told me about lap band...a few of her coworkers had it done...WLS always scared me it was way too drastic, too dangerous, cutting what? putting what where? um no.

so that was june 10-ish, so i started looking into it and i was hooked...i think this surgery was designed for me, i just think i'm going to have the most amazing results, because my problem is eating...i can exercise with the best of them, and yeah i'm a weirdo...but i'm hooked on exercise for months at a time, but i get so discouraged when my progress is ruined after one weekend of a binge...so if the lap band will help me with portion control, making better choices, well then gosh darn i can do the rest.

i know some people have done months of research, and it sounds like i'm rushing into it, but i don't think i am, because i was totally opposed to weight loss surgery 30 days ago, i've spent 3 weeks online looking into it, i know i can lose weight by myself...but i've seen what happens when i do it by myself...i call myself "yo-yo"

i don't expect my band to do all the work for me, and i know even though its not a risky as gastric bypass or any of the others, its' still a surgery, so still very serious.

my surgery is scheduled for july 24th, and i've been on my preop diet for 4 days now...i'm excited :biggrin:and scared:eek: at the same time!

hi diva, i was banded 7/3/08 and i feel the same as you. i tried every diet under the sun only to gain what i lost and more. my lap band is a gift to myself for health going forward in my life. isnt it agreat feeling when everyone is talking aboutthe latest diet, that we dont have to try and have the diet fail us and be on that merry go round ever again. good for you in your decision for good health. so far my journey has been good and i hope yours will be too.

Hey there Diva! Welcome to LBT, I'm glad you found us and congratulations on your upcoming surgery. Like you I was completely opposed to surgery for myself. It seemed too drastic except in the most extreme cases. But when I found out about the Lapband I was hooked overnight and have never had any regrets.

Well --I'm one of those who did the research (as in taking 1 year to read ALL the medical studies on obesity -- bypass--and banding that have been published in medical journals for the past 5 years) before making a final decision. I also screened 5 different surgeons before selecting one. And--I'm here to say that you definitely have the right attitude. Congratulation on getting to clear decision so quickly! Good! You seem to totally get the idea that the band is a tool and you will have to diet and exercise if you want to get to goal weight. You also are right on the mark when you say that those of us who have battled this war of obesity get blown out of the water when we hit those dreadful nasty stalls. The band is wonderful at helping us through. I just completed a 2 month stall and the band is the only thing that kept me on course. I'm losing again (finally!) and I NOW can see that weight loss is NOT a hopeless thing for me. I NOW can see that I really DO have set points where my weight will get hung up even when I everything right. If I temporarily lose my mind occasionally and eat a hot fudge sundae the band stops me from over doing it until I regain my sanity and control over my diet. You have it right -- and your friends you don't know what they are talking about have it wrong.

It certainly is not the easy way out. My surgery was very painful, most people have little to no pain...I was the exception. It's been a hard 39 days for me but it is working. I have lost 42 pounds and I see light at the end of this tunnel.

Congrats on making this decision, I wish you lots of sucess and pretty skinny clothes in the near future!

Robin