I too had only considered the band as my surgery of choice. I have looked into it for years but was always too afraid to go thru with it. I had a friend lose a lot of weight with it. This past summer I went on a low carb diet and giving myself a year to see what I could really accomplish on my own. Well, I'm at a standstill and the holidays did me in. With all of my efforts I managed to lose 30 pounds, but have gained a little more than 10 pounds back. I just can't do this on my own (been over weight almost my entire adult life). My best friend did the sleeve in August. It took her a total of a month and a half from the time she decided she wanted the surgery till she was having it. Lucky girl! A few weeks ago when I decided I would go ahead and start the ball rolling on surgery, I came straight to the sleeve forums and started taking it all in. I'm not looking back. I think this will be the best surgery choice for me. Now to get started on the unexpected 6 months supervised diet.