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I am 7 weeks post op and I thought I knew everything about the band. Well, I am learning new stuff everyday. I think you have alot of stressors in your life that could sabatoge any weightloss surgery. I was 272lbs , 3 days before surgery. So far I have lost 23lbs. I have worked my butt off just to lose it! It doesn't just fall off. The band controls my hunger for 3-4 hours and some days I am hungry all the time but I think its all fueled by emotions. The band is NOT a quick fix and there are people that go weeks without losing a pound. If your okay with losing 1-3lbs or less a week with calorie restriction and lots of exercise then the band may be right for you. If you are going to fall apart after only losing 3-4 lbs a month even after working your but off, then the Band may NOT be right for you. If you cheat alot ,like lots of carbs and refuse to stop drinking while you eat, then the band is NOT for you. I love sweets so I was unsure if the band was the best surgery but I did it anway. Well I my urge for sweets are still there but I have limited my intake of them by 85%. I refuse to sabotage my weightloss. It took me 2 years to decide to get the band. I was all set to have it in 2009 but chickened out because I was not ready for the committment. I am so glad I waited. I think that if you do get the band, you have to be 100% ready for the challenge. Honestly you don't sound like your ready yet. You have constant issues with hunger( which sounds more emotional) and dealing with life after divorce. Hunger was not my issue before the band. I was just GREEDY and ate anything I wanted and lacked will power. Fast food, sweets and carbs was my diet. I ate through all my emotions. Heck I was never one of those people who said "I don't know why I am so big because I don't eat that much." I think that is the biggest lie that overweight people tell themselves. You would be surprised the amount of food that people eat without being aware. I thought about making good decisions about food but failed at it and went back to all my bad habits before having the surgery. Dig deep, seek pre-op diet counseling and come clean about food issues. Lastly, some Doctors are pro gastric bypass for several reasons. They get more money if you do GB. They have probably seen countless people take the least restrictive route of Lapband , fail and comeback and get GB and the list goes on. Some people have no business getting lapband because they haven't dealth with issues that will sabotage the weightloss or they want instant success. Honestly I think everyone wants instant success! GB will get you that instant sucess but you have to weigh the pros' and cons of the invasiveness of the surgery. GB was not an option for me because I loved sweets and feared that I would have dumping symdrome everyday.Also I am 38 yrs old and want to have children and did not want to wait 18 months to persue fertility treatments. That was my rational for getting the lapband. I knew I had to work harder but felt that was best surgery for me because I knew I could control my sweet intake, without having to give them up completey. Its working for me because it took 2 years to change my mindset before I would do it. Sadly being in bad health and having boarderline high blood pressure and diabetes was not enough to make me consider WLS.It wasn't until I confronted my issues of infertility that made me want to lose weight. Me and my hubby just got approved to adopt a baby and through the process the light bulb came on that I needed to be healthy and live a long time to care for our future child/children. The erge was so strong that it totally changed my outlook on life. I am so motivated that I can hardly stand myself. I am on a mission that I have never ventured into before and it has caused a huge change inside of me. I have my moments where I get a little frustrated but I stay the course and the weight is coming off. I am execising 5-6 days a week and staying away from sweets and carbs. I actually learned that I can go weeks without eating icecream or a peice of cake and have not died! Make sure you have good support systems to help you through any weightloss surgery and seek out counseling if you need it. DON"T RUSH YOUR DECISION!

Geez, if you're going to burn over popcorn then you better save me one hell of a big seat right beside you!

Thanks for the positive feedback!! I keep thinking about how good I will feel about myself when I lose the weight!! I can't wait to shop in " normal" size stores!!

As long as you stick to a certain amount of calories a day ! you don't have to worry. Sure there's time you will stop losing weight, but you will lose inches instead. "THAT TO ME IS BETTER THEN POUNDS ANY DAY !" I do between 800-1200 calories daily. now that's not much, BUT ! When you are banded, and you start getting fills, "IT COULD TAKE A FEW FILLS" you begin to lose your appetite. So not hungry, 1000 calories a day, results,,, WEIGHT LOSS ! Plus you will get into exercising or walking the dog, or house work too. This all helps take the weight off. Just remember,,, this is a s l o w go, so be patient. You need a good Protein shake. Don't buy whey! It can be fattening. Also, the mall stores are pricey. Shop on line, and look around. If your having a hard time? just google the name of the product, then look at the prices on each site. Go with the cheapest. Hope this helps take the edge of failing. It doesn't matter how you get there, just as long as you arrive ! Shirley.

When you're hungry, drink drink drink. It helps me a lot. I'm almost 7 months out and I've had one small fill. Fills do not make you lose weight. Only you can do that. Am I hungry between meals, yes I am. But I'm still not sure if I want another fill. I'm losing weight fine, because I know what I have to do and I know I have to do it. Am I gonna Lise 100# in a year, no. But Water can keep me satisfied to an extent, so I'm wondering if I really should get a fill. So drink when you feel hungry. I know this may seem hard since you may still be on liquids or mushies, but it helps. Though I wasn't hungry during my liquid stage, so I can't say for sure if it will help on that stage. But remember fills do not equal weight loss. Only you can control that.

Very important post indeed! I honestly won't listen to anyone complaining about not finding the time to incorporate workouts to their daily routine. This is purely nonsense. You found time to gorge and pig-out...you can find time to exercise. I'm not a big fan of 2~3 hour workout sessions. I think it's too much and cannot be sustained for a long time. However, I do believe in doing various 15~20 minute exercise sessions throughout the day. Being a paraplegic, I'm only able to work out my upper body... but I try to do as much as i can. Even pushing my manual wheelchair, I can change the style to isolate different muscle groups. For instance, I can lean forward and focus on my pectorals... or I can lean back and work on my front deltoids. I can also go uphill backwards in my wheelchair to work out my traps and some triceps. I'll try to go around my neighborhood (about 1 mile) with my dog at least once a day. It's pretty tough because we have pretty steep hills. My mother ails from rheumatoid arthritis and absolutely abhors working out... but I am so adamant that if she'd lose 30~40 pounds, the impact on her knees would be so much less. I guess it's much easier said than done.

As we heal from the surgery our bodies return to "normal" we feel like we did prior to surgery. If you weren't given any fill at surgery time, you'll feel hungry! It's like you didn't have WLS. You find yourself wondering what the heck you did to yourself. Bypassers lose very quickly at first. They have great motivation to begin their journey. We don't always. After I was returned to solids, my surgeon didn't expect any losses from me until I started getting fills and getting the benefit of this tool. Fluids go right through the band. If your swelling is gone, that explains why Water goes right down. Even with good restriction, I can drink Clear liquids as fast as I want. We are told to sip, sip, sip at first due to swelling. Hunger is a physiological function. Don't beat yourself up for being hungry. 3 days post-op I was eye-balling my dog I was so hungry. Keep your chin up. Keep healing. It gets better. Just follow your doctor's orders and heal up.

Okay...this is kind of embarassing but I just possibly had a light bullb moment. I have been dealing with a rather embarassing problem for my whole adult life. When I get turned on, even from just a heavy make out session I get SO wet. Like...WAY too much. I know its a normal body function, blah, blah. Im a labor nurse and well versed in sexual function and how our bodies act. The problem is its embarassing AND has a negaive impact on my sex life. I LOVE oral sex and can get pleasure so easily they arent down there too much. However, once sex starts, I cant feel a thing because Im so dripping wet the friction is gone. And though Ive never had any complaints, I have went through a decent amount of guys who complimented my kissing and foreplay and massages to high heavens...but didnt come back for second after finally getting me in the sack. That could be because the thrill of the chase is over, but Im thinking its more likely because they couldnt FEEL anything!!! Ive googled the problem several times only to hear how "lucky" I am and apperently there is no medication for it. I really dont want to hear how lucky I am. For dryness you can use lube. Being WAY too wet is having a negative impact big time. BUT HERE WAS MY LIGHTBULB With "stress incontinence" being a co-morbidity, does being excessivley wet have to do with being overweight??? Has anyone else battled this??? Or was my lightbulb for mothing? I hope its weight related although Ive never read that and believe me Ive looked this problem up a TON. If anyone HAS battled this problem, did it get better when you lost weight? Maybe its just me with this issue...but Im desperate. Thought Id see if anyone else had this problem...