I've had the lap band for over 12 years now and yes I have lost about 85 lbs. very happy with my surgery with regards to my weight loss. However it has not been easy I rarely can enjoy a meal that is not a soup or purée. I either have to throw up or suffer for hours with discomfort of my stomach full of gas and no relief if I don't throw up.. But I have been willing to live with this because I figure you pay a prize for everything, it is a big sacrifice not only throwing up most of the time and seeing certain food that I have not been able to eat for years including holiday meals,hamburgers, steak sandwich I could go on and on. You really have to want to make the sacrifice and not unfill your band just so you can eat. I know people that do that, I also know people that just couldn't handle throwing up so they just unfilled their band and now they are as heavy as when they started. However now I'm having severe GERD I'm afraid that it is caused by my band. I was in another financial situation when I paid for my surgery now I don't want to unfill my band and I was reading that sometime the band just needs to be reposition which would mean another procedure which I can't pay for so, in a nut shell I can drink water slowly and eat mash potatoes and suffer through coughing, acid taste in my mouth and of course throwing up a lot . I hope that I have help with my story. I do love the weight loss