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Im confused why some people are continuing to stay on this website when they SAY "the band didn't work". It looks like they are here to cause trouble and bash the band? If you SAY the BAND is the reason you didn't lose weight. Then move on. right? Not that I can say leave, because obviously I can't and wouldn't do that . But i've noticed the same person going post to post arguing with people. Honestly, how do we know the band is preventing you from losing weight? How do we know you didn't eat right ? Just saying. The band helps with over eating. It does not make you lose weight. They don't place the band and the weight just comes off. It's all about your diet. Sounds like some one needs something to blame it on. Im new WITH the BAND, but im not NEW when it comes TO the band. Ive done a lot of research on the Band.

so...this is my very first blog, ever ! i don't really know what a blog consists of, but i had this terrible urge to create one and write... i guess mainly because i fell off the bandwagon. when i started this journey i was full of hope, dreams and determination. That was 5 months ago. i remember how i keept saying to myself that i had failed at every other diet, excercise promgram and i was not going to fail at this. but here i'am once again admitting that i have failed, that i am a filure! i can say this time its different. Because i am taking responsibility. in the past it was always the ''pill'' i was taking's fault, or the excercise regime was too hard, or i dint have time to exersice. but this time i take full responsability of not losing any weight. if ther is a plus that does make me feel a little good is that i have not gained any weight. since my surgey in 8/11 i have lost 20lbs. I know thats great, and i felt sooo good, it was empowering to fit back into my closthes and be able to bend down and cross my legs without holding my knee !!! but i know in my ♥ i could have done so much better. I realize as i am typing that there is a deeper reason to why i cant stop eating bread and rice and fried foods and exercise regulary. ( i did undulge in those foods, but not in excess ) I am scared of the road to success, becuase it implies the posibilities of failure and quiting. i face it , its happened evertime. thats why i droped out of every activity in my life. I am scared of not succeceeding so i dont try very hard and i dont give it my all. There i said it !! how liberating. That is the truth, in my mind i keep telling myself "' why try if your going to fail in the end?" why go thru all this trouble if sooner or later your going to go back to your old ways. I am scared of giving my all, every ounce of sweat, strenght and feelings if in the end i will feel like worst of a failure. A failure for giving all that I am and still failing. Vs not giving it all and at the end i can say to myself " well atleast you didnt pour everything into this !", makes the feeling of failing less hurtful. i dont know if others out there can relate. I can say that today is another day and that I am going to try again, and again. This time i am going to give it more and try to change my mentality that its going to fail. i am going to have a little more faith in me and my abilities to succeed. I am going to be positive for a change. My husband says i am a negative person, i answer by say i am realistic of the posibility or realistic of all that can go wrong. for once in my life i am going to be realistic of all that can go right and of the positives.

Back when I was one week post-op I asked why wasn't I losing weight????? I was so very frustrated. I had 'only' lost 4 pounds since my surgery the week before. Boy, was I young and naive. Those 4 pounds were just the fluids from the surgery, and about the only weight I lost until about 5-6 months post-op when my fills finally kicked in and started working for me. But, the nice people here at LBT boosted my spirits and reminded me that until I got to my green zone, my weight loss would be limited. Then I starte getting my fills, and the weight started coming off...pretty easily too. Easily if not consistently. The Lap Band literature tells us 1-2 lbs per week. That was a pipe dream for me. I averaged 3/4 lb per week. Yes three quarters. Some weeks were more than others, some weeks were gains, some weeks/months were plateaus. But the overall trend was down. I stuck with my new portions and habits, and I got to a healthy BMI, my blood pressure normalized, my cholesterol normalized, and my blood sugar improved. Sometimes, when the short-term is sucking...look at the long term...focus on portion control, food choices. Even if your portions are not tiny, make them better. One of you was banded in November...you've had what? 1 maybe 2 fills? The band isn't helping much yet. But it's there, and you are working on it. The July bandster, DON'T compare yourself to bypass patients. We had completely different procedures. That will mess with your psyche and set you up for failure..."why should I get a fill, it won't help..my brother's lost 100 lbs already...there's no point, I'll never catch up." We are in this for life, being banded is not really about losing the weight. It is about making changes forever that help you become a healthier, thinner person. Work on the habits...the weight will follow.

Yay for everybody's progress so far! My first check-in weight is 151, so down 2 from my start weight of 153. I hear those 140s calling my name! :-)

Weighed in at 285 this morning, so -5 lbs from Jan 1st. I am pretty sure this is all water as I have a stomach bug right now. However, I will take it.

As a former football player and former power lifter, I have always been a large man. It never affected my health until age 35 when I developed high blood pressure. Everything else health wise was always good. Then about 2 months ago, my pcp had to put me on another pill for blood pressure and told me that I was very lucky so far, but the weight was starting to take over. He told me that "I WAS GOING TO DIE A YOUNG MAN" if I didn't change something very soon. He had suggested lap band in the past, but he was pushing it as save your life kind of thing at that point. I had lost 80 lbs a couple of years ago on Atkins, but I couldn't do Atkins forever and had gained it all back plus 15lbs. I scheduled my surgery, insurance denied it (GHP doesn't cover weight loss), and made the choice to go ahead with it. My doctor was trying to scare me and it worked. I'm on my way.

Hello! So I was banned on the 4th and it is now the 7th and I am off the pain pills. I take Tylenol every once in a while due to my stomach being sore. I have not vomited and the gas pain has been minimal. I am having a hard time getting all of my required fluids down and get all of the walking in. I plan to get up at a reasonable hour tomorrow, giving me more time in the day to get the fluids down and the 3 10 min walks completed. So far I have gotten the water down and about 60 grams protein and 2 10 minute walks. Of course I still have the stomach jiggle making the incision areas hurt when I walk, I feel like wrapping myself in an ace bandage to lesson the jiggle! lol!! Part of me just wants to use the excuse I had surgery to avoid walking, but I know I feel well enough, just lazy. I need to find a new motivator, any ideas???

You can do it, girl. How long is your pre-op dieting?

I think you may find it useful to read a British article on the band fluffy http://www.bospa.org/Information.aspx?Page=2 I quote directly from that report.. Risks and Side Effects Fortunately, complications are rare but it is important you learn about the potential problems before you decide to proceed with the surgery. Firstly, being obese makes any surgery more risky. Anaesthetics are more difficult, and obesity–related diseases that you may have can add further complications. Statistics show the death rate associated with gastric band insertion to be about 1 in 2,000 operations. The most common cause of death is the development of a blood clot in the lungs (pulmonary embolism). Occasionally patients may develop other complications at the time of operation such as an infection in the lungs, stomach or at the site where the reservoir is placed under the skin, which may delay recovery. The placement of the gastric band laparoscopically helps to reduce the risk of complications, and the team who manage your surgery and anaesthetic are specially trained in the treatment of obese patients. They will monitor you closely in the period immediately following your surgery, and take a range of measures to prevent complications from arising, including giving you medications to help prevent vomiting (and dislodging the band) and blood clots and getting you up and about soon after the operation. Overall, international studies suggest that 1 in 10 people with a gastric band will need a further operation at some time in the future. This may be due to: Slippage. Months or even years after the operation, there is always the risk that the stomach will move up through the band and the upper pouch will become enlarged. The band can be re–fixed in the correct position. Erosion. Very slowly, and particularly if the balloon is tightly inflated, the band can work its way into or through the wall of the stomach and cease to be effective. In this case the band would be removed and and replaced if possible. Leakage. This may be due to damage of the reservoir or tubing if fills are not carried out with extreme care or if two of the band components come apart. Again, this would necessitate replacement of the damaged component. Infection of the reservoir/port or tubing. It may need to be resited or replaced if the infection persists and in the case of severe infections which have been resistant to antibiotic treatment, the band may have to be removed. The band itself is made of silicone and there are no known side effects to this material inside the body. However, you do have to bear in mind the possibility that some time in the future your band may need to be replaced simply because it has worn out or newer, better bands have been developed to replace current ones (hip replacement prostheses are replaced for these reasons). If you have a lesser known brand of gastric band from a small company, they may not be around in 20 years time when you need your band replacing. Some people will fail (lose less than 25% of the excess weight) with a gastric band and in these cases, the surgeon may advise that a gastric bypass operation is performed. However, don’t give up too soon on your band if you are one of these people – experience in Australia shows that it can take a full 2 years for people to get their heads around how to live effectively with their gastric band, and when they do, they start to lose weight. The most common cause of the worst risk which is death comes from pulmonary embolism which is a result of any surgery, the lapband and sleeve gastrectomy actually are the safest forms of WLS its bypass surgery which carries a 1:200 death risk ( according to statistics) resulting from complications of the bypass, this is not the case for lap bands. Of course you are entitled to your opinions Healthy informative discussion is good, but the US is only 1 country and if you really want to start down the line of facts and figures then you need to look at things on a more global basis.

This is called the 3 week stall. It happend to me also and I gained a couple of pounds and I thought it was because I ate a little more on New Years Eve. I have put the scale away and got back to eating all of my protein, water, taking all of my vitaimins and have continued to go to the gym. Next week when I get the scale out I know that the number will be a good one. Keep up the fight. http://www.tickerfactory.com/ezticker/weight_loss.php/wLHbQ7h