lellow

If you click the link in my signature, it'll take you to a post I wrote a while ago about my own personal mindset wrt the band, and how I lost the weight. I am now in maintenance mode and I eat more than when I was losing, do not do any formal exercise (though I know other banders for whom formal exercise is something they continued to do) and find myself working not to lose anymore, as opposed to working not to gain, like I did all my life. I got down to about 117lbs mid last year and it did not look good on me, so now I make sure my weight doesn't fall below 130lbs. I have a fair amount of ccs in my band - about 8.25 in a 10 cc band. However while I'm restricted, I am by no means too tight, and everyone is different. My dr says that of all his patients I am on the upper most scale of how much my band is filled, so obviously most people get there before they get 8.25cc's worth of fill. I have never counted calories and I still don't, but I explain that in my post. Feel free to read it if you want.

ALLLLLLLLL my friends know about my chicken dance. Or the pocahontas dance as my partner calls it, coz the first time he saw it, I was wearing two long plaits on either side of my head, was wearing shorts and ugg boots and doing what he reckons looked like a rain dance in our lounge room. I kinda do this hoppy walk in circles and lift my arms up and down, and this often helps to move the food down. It sounds crazy but it does work a lot of the time. And no I won't be you-tubing a demonstration!

But when I was losing, I was lucky to eat 1/2 a cup 3 times a day. I ate less than my (then) 3 year old. Now though, 4 years on, it varies. Some days, I'd be lucky to eat a cup of food all day. Other days I could easily eat 5 cups. I let my band dictate how much I eat now. But nowhere do I eat the amounts even near to what I used to pre-band. You'll be surprised how little food you can actually survive on. My partner never knew me before I lost weight, and he always says he cannot believe how little I eat and still have the boundless amounts of energy I seem to have! He eats four times and much and is always tired, it seems.

I got a torsoplasty but didn't need a thigh lift or an arm lift, and I was almost 39 when I lost my weight. I had batwings for sure but my dr said they'd go in time and they did. Same with my thighs. I have some excess skin there but definitely nothing worth going under the knife for. You just won't know how your body is going to react until after you've lost the weight. So worry about it, sure, but don't let it keep you up nights.

Oh I just thought of a negative - I hate it when you get stuck while you're out, and find you need a toilet quick smart to PB, and your mouth is filling up with saliva like crazy, and you can't get there fast enough. It's happened to me twice - once I didn't quite make it to the toilet. Suffice to say - embarrasing! Another negative (or maybe it's a positive) - if I am getting 'full' my nose starts to drip. Anyone who's close to me sees me start to sniff and they all look at me like 'ok, stop eating NOW'. Oh and I can't get falling down drunk coz trust me, you don't want to get alcoholic poisoning with the band. Puking from the bottom of your tummy is NOT fun. It can lead to needing an emergency unfill. Again, not sure that's not really a positive though...

Like everything, some will hate something, others will love it. This thread is a good example of that. I can tell you how much I love my band, but that's me. Fluffy obviously doesn't, and that's her. I personally don't think it's support to tell someone what you believe and expect them to believe it themselves, and I'd like to think that Fluffy knows the difference, coz I sure do. All you can do is relate your own personal experience, perhaps quote some well researched and objective statistics (who's laughing with me at this point?) and hope the person you're offering advice to gains some insight from you. In the end, everyone has to make their own, preferably informed decision. I am proof it works. Fluffy believes she's proof it doesn't. Oh well, only you can decide if it's worth the risk that you'll be one of the ones for whom it works. And oddly enough, I don't see any statistics that prove that for MOST people, it doesn't work, and that for all those "people", it is directly related to band failure instead of user error, so take from that what you will. You will always have supporters and detractors, in EVERYTHING. In Australia the lapband has been used for over 15 years and still remains the WLS of choice for most. That sounds pretty long term to me. Just saying.

Eew I've never coughed up black bile. I've never heard of anyone else doing that either. I don't miss the taste of anything. Coz if I really want something, I eat it, just a lot less of it. Umm....negatives.... I guess if the food I'm eating is really good, I sometimes wish I could eat more of it than I actually can manage. Also my tummy makes loud noises sometimes, more so than pre-band. I also probably don't drink enough Water during the day. And I have to try to find any medication I take in liquid form if I can, coz big tablets are difficult for me. There are plenty of niggly little negatives that the band has that isn't widely advertised. But then I slip into my size US size 4 jeans and they suddenly seem pretty insignificant.

You can still eat too much of the wrong thing on the lapband, so this surgery won't magically make you stop being addicted to food. I can still eat a whole block of chocolate easy. But the band CAN stop you from over-eating in general if you're prepared to eat well. Protein takes longer to go down, so a balanced, healthy diet will mean you probably will eat small amounts. And only once you're restricted. So I guess what I'm trying to say is: it's worth the risk IF you are ready to make a lifestyle change along with having the band. The band can help you with portion control but it will not stop you putting too many calories in your mouth. If you're ready to make some changes, then yes, IMO lapband surgery is completely and totally worth it. If you're not ready, it won't be worth it. I have a friend who got banded a year ago who did it because she saw how much success I had with my band. She still eats chocolates and cookie dough and ice cream, and has only lost just over 20lbs in a year. She doesn't want to go for fills, she doesn't like being restricted and unable to eat as much as she likes, and therefore she hasn't lost any weight of significance. Ad she resents the lack of success she's had. But at the same time, she knows the changes I made and isn't prepared to make similar changes. To me, if you're going to have that mindset, don't get the band. It's not worth it. But if you really want to lose weight, are prepared to put in the effort required to lose weight, the lapband makes it exponentially easier. So you have to decide if it's worth the risk, weighing all of that up.

The band, when well restricted, does make you feel full, and full for ages. I cannot physically eat more than a certain amount, no matter how much I want to. And I stay full for hours after. What you're describing sounds very much like not enough restriction. Having said that, I can still eat chocolate and drinks shakes and eat all the things that can mean I wouldn't lose weight, so yes, good choices are still a big part of it, as is exercise. But the band works when it's restricted. So go back for more fills. If you've got some restriction now, then take it slow. A small fill might get you there.

Are you getting stuck often now? If not, then don't worry about getting unfilled. If you are, then you either do need a slight unfill or to reassess if you're eating slowly enough and chewing well enough. I get stuck maybe once every two months if that, and certainly never badly enough to worry about needing an emergency unfill if I'm travelling. I would be more inclined to speak to someone on the cruise management team to ask about dr's facilities on board in the unlikely event you get stuck. Or bring whatever you use to ease the feeling of tightness you get after you get stuck (I bring Optifast with me when I travel, plus I buy pineapple juice when I arrive - not that I've needed it in years). I dunno, I think getting unfilled and therefore able to eat more sets you up for bad habits in the future. That's why I wouldn't do it myself. Do it this time and what stops you from doing it again in 6 months, again in a year, all the time? So many fall off the wagon this way. But if you think you'll be able to be in control, then do what you think is best. I'm just giving advice from my POV, you don't have to take it.

The band doesn't work for some people even if they do all the right things. That is true. Nothing works for every single person, we're not all built the same. But very often when someone doesn't have success with the band, it does have to do with their CHOICES as opposed to whether the band is working for them or not. A lot of people don't lose a significant amount of weight on the band. Like most things, this will only help you if you are prepared to work at it. And I did not see a psychologist or anything before being banded. I was just ready. And I was not going to fail. No psychologist was going to make me feel like that, that came from me. I openly admit that the band has been life changing for me, but the actual 'losing' part had a lot to do with me eating well and exercising, because I lost the majority of my weight before I achieved restriction even. Keeping it off is what the band does, and does well, if you learn how it works with your body, and work with it instead of against it, most of the time, it does exactly what it is supposed to do - it stops you from eating too much. My dr has said on numerous occasions that I know my band better than he will ever know it. The band is very much a part of my life. I wouldn't have it any other way. So the person who goes around hating on the band can scare some people off, but there will be people like me who are living proof it works, and works for years after, to show people the other side just by being here. So they can spout as much negativity as they like, in the end, it's their issues they're dealing with, not mine, so let them expend their energies on that, and decide for YOURSELF what's best for you.

My Dr was talking about me getting a lapband for 18 months, but I didn't want to, until my younger brother called me to tell me his wife was pregnant after years of trying. And then he started crying because his doctor said he would not live to see his child into adulthood because of his heart problems and diabetes related to his obesity. And I hung up with him and thought: I want to be here for my (then) 2 year old son into HIS adulthood. The next day I called the lapband surgeon, and less than 4 weeks later, I was banded.

I personally can't imagine getting unfilled for a break. The whole idea of rewarding myself with food for losing weight kinda goes against the mindset I built to lose weight in the first place. I would rather buy some awesome clothes or a few bikinis to Celebrate my loss than reward myself with food. It seems counter-productive, but that's my opinion. I have gone on holidays, seen through festive seasons, gone to weddings and I did it all with a well restricted band. Because this is my life now. The band helped me to lose weight, it helps me keep it off, and it's there for good, and the 'old' way I did things were what made me overweight, so that way is no longer a part of my life. I love the taste of good food, and I still get to have some, just not the amounts I used to eat prior to the band. That's not a bad thing. Ultimately though, it's your choice so I don't think anyone's opinions here are going to matter to you if that's what you want to do. Just wanted to say it's completely opposite to the way I think - the band is not negotiable for me. It's not a fashion accessory I can take on and off. It's there for good and I live all of life's events with it.

I'd do it again for sure. And again. And again. The results were more than I could have hoped for, and it was the icing on the cake of my weight loss. That said, I had a great surgeon, nearly no complications and no keloid scarring, so in that respect, I could not have had a better experience.

Oh and I still eat mangos. Just tiny little bits of it, so I still get to taste it. I just don't eat a whole lot.

I have to admit, my dr suggested the band to me 18 months before I decided to do it, for this exact reason. I felt like giving up the foods I loved wasn't something I was prepared to do. Then a series of events made me realise what I loved eating wasn't worth what it was doing to my body. Then I was ready. I thought I would never ever be able to live without rice, and yet it was one of the first things I became intolerant to. I mourned, then I moved on, and I kept losing weight. And then I was at goal. And then over time my band began to tolerate a lot more, or I learned to eat those foods in ways that worked with my band and 4 years down the track, I can eat rice. And the things that still make it difficult, like mangos, my absolute favourite fruit, I liken to being lactose or gluten intolerant. There are loads of other things you CAN eat, and as you eat less, you learn to appreciate textures and tastes in whole different ways (at least that's how it is for me), and you learn to love different things. If you don't think you'll ever be able to cope with cutting some foods out of your life, then the band is probably not right for you right now. That's not to say it won't be later, but right now, probably not.

My tolerance has definitely dropped. I used to be able to drink 3 times as much to get as affected but now I'm a cheap date - 5 drinks and I'm done like dinner. I drank right through losing but I compensated - if I had a few drinks, I upped my workout to work it off over the next few days. Everything has a cost - alcohol is no different. In saying that, I lost consistently and got to goal in 7 months, despite my social drinking, and I still drink now, just a lot less than before, simply because it takes a lot less these days to affect me. And my drink of choice has always been vodka and pineapple juice - easy on the band and no hangover the next day. I generally don't tolerate beer too well because of the carbonation.

I seldom get hungry anymore. I sometimes hear my tummy growling and realise I haven't eaten for a while but I just don't often get hungry. I don't know if it's the band or over the last 3 and a half years I just learnt to do with a lot less food but hunger is not something you necessarily have to live with all your life. Don't wait to lose the 15kgs to go see your dr. Not having your band properly filled is one of the reasons you're gaining, so correct it. Now. the sooner you get to good restriction, the sooner the band will help you get your weight loss going. That's what it is there for. The fills are what makes the band work. Support, exercise, good aftercare from your dr does too. Make the choice to have the band work for you.

I had excess skin problems, yes and I did before I lost weight, My tummy never bounced back from pregnancies, so I kinda knew if I lost weight that I'd have loose skin on my belly at least. I ended up having a torso lift 8 months after my lapband surgery, and a breast augmentation in Oct last year. But my underarms and thighs bounced back a lot over the last two years, and I don't have much excess skin in either of those places. I believe that skin elasticity is a lot about genetics and age. If you're younger and your skin doesn't have as much stretch marks, your chances of the skin bouncing back are good. Ditto if you just have the sort of skin that bounces back well. Otherwise, you either roll with the punches (and even with loose skin I looked better and was healthier than when I was overweight) or look into plastic surgery.

I am 5'4" and was about 209lbs on the day of surgery. I was overweight most of my life and struggled with losing and keeping it off. I am now 3 and a half years post sx and I lost all my excess weight plus some. I no longer knee probs, am low risk for heart disease and diabetes, have a resting heart rate of 60 beats per second and am more active now than I have ever been in my life. I changed my lifestyle. I did exercise, I ate well. And it worked, and it has stayed off. I now work on maintaining a healthy weight (as in not losing too much as opposed to gaining too much) and my band is loose enough that I can actually eat most things with ease. It's ultimately your decision, but the band is an excellent option for low BMIers especially, so don't be scared to take that step.