Entropy

I'm still undecided. I met with the surgeon in December a little info meeting and he seems like a nnice guy but I can't find any 3rd party info on him. My wife said that since the lap-band will take months to go through all of the hoops, I should join her on Weight watchers. I did. So far 6 lbs in two weeks and it seems pretty easy. I'm moving forward with the lap band and will take a look at a second MD hoping that it won't be necessary in the end.

I've been overweight my entire life. Even back in elementary school, I had the Sears "husky" size pants. Inmy 30s, I was diagnosed with type II Diabetes. It's more or less controlled but I'm on three meds and I can't see that gettng better without serious weight loss. My maximum weight was a few years age when I weighed 315 or so. Subsequent program dieting knocked 10-15 lb off here and there. I've done all of the diets, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers and even that awful OptiFast. They all worked. I lost weight on all of them but the food limitations, cravings, counting this and that all caused my patience to wear thin and they all fell by the wayside. Tonight is the first educational meeting at PAMF, Palo Alto Medical Foundation in Palo Alto. My MDs at PAMF suggested that I look in to bariatric surgeries and the lap band looked the safest and most doable. I've been reading these boards and I've found that the lab band lifestyle as it turns out is a lot more complicated and difficult that I had thought but it seems effective. I've read the success stories and I hope to become one. There are also failure stories, probably a lot more than mentioned here but I hope to learn from the failures. This really is the end of the line. If I cant make this work, I'm in for a much harder life.

I'm not sure where losing 64 lbs is considered a failure. You're stalled, not failed. Your post here is a good first step. Follow the advice above and get back on track.

I'm a little too lazy to ready through 28 pages of posts so this may have been asked but why are there five or more incisions? I figured one for the band and another to secure the port and perhaps a drain but five?

Go ahead, Facebook search or Google. It's important to see all sides. I'm just past the considering it stage into the will probably get it stage and I'm looking for whatever information that I can find. I read the Pollyana manufacturer's and doctors' web sites that gloss over the difficulties and risks of banding. I haven't tried Facebook but from what the OP said, it sounds like the information there was a little sketchy. Two died and a hundred it didn't work for? Really? Throw away the outlying data there. This board has been very helpful in seeing the successes, failures, risks, problems, tips and tricks. I'm glad theat's there's so many real-world banders willing to share. and help.

Where did you find that? I'm doc shopping now and I'd like to get the low-down on some scalpel jockies.

LOL, ressurected a zombie thread.

Guiness might be different because it's "carbonated" with nitrogen rather than CO2. The N2 bubbles are smaller giving Guiness a creamier feel.

For me there was no single factor, it's been building for a long time. I'm 280, BMI 40. I was up to 315 at one point. I've been over weight my entire life. I've been on every diet program, WW, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem and even that horrible Optifast. They all work but then I get tired of the food and counting all the time and I slowly slip off. I went to Universal Orlando with my kids and couldn't ride some signature rides because I can't fit into the seats. The attendant was nice enough to say that my shoulders are too broad. Some I could ride if I rode the "fat guy" seat and the attendant squashed me in. Humiliating. On airplanes and in theaters, I fill my own seat and part of my neighbors' so I try to get an aisle seat or a window seat and squish into the corner. I'm type II diabetic and on THREE medications yet my morning stick is still above 150. I'm asymptomatic but when symptoms appear, thy'll be permanent and devastating. I buy my clothes from the big and tall store, I can't wear what I want because it's not in my size. A day at Walt Disney World destroys my feet for a week despite having very good shoes and no feet problems. I was going to book the EPCOT Segway tour but I was above the weight limit so I told my family that it was full. I feel terrible for doing that. I don't sit at restaurant booths because the table is "too close". While putting Christmas lights on my roof, I noticed that the ladder's weight limit is 250. I'm risking my very life! I think that my size is preventing me from getting the job that I want but the employer will never say so. ... and on and on and on.

I had one a couple of years ago. It worked but it seemed to run a little high. I was eating 1000 calories fewer than I was burning but didn't lose weight anywhere near the 3500cal/lb rate. The online software for tracking the food consumed was difficult to use, very klunky. It may have improved in the last two years.

The guy is a cad. Fat, thin, saggy or firm it doesn't matter. You should ditch him. You're gorgeous and you seem very sweet so you shouldn't be dealing with someone who won't treat you well. Good luck.