GuyMontag

Be a mom first, heal second, worry about weight loss third.

I've been banded over 4 years and so far my experience has been more positive than negative. The positives are obviously the weight loss, better health, confidence, sleeping, athletics, and more. The negatives are the limited foods I can eat, the days i'm super tight because of dehydration or over exertion, the many many lessons I had to learn about being too tight or too lose or what I could or couldn't eat. Also, I do get very hungry most days and I still have to diet and exercise often to keep the weight off. If I had to do it over again I would definitely do weight loss surgery again. Whether I would stick with the lap band I am unsure. I would definitely look harder at options like the sleeve or plication. The people that say they wouldn't consider those surgeries because of how harsh or invasive are do not have a proper grasp on how harsh and invasive lap band surgery can be. Ask someone who has had a slipped band how gentle it was. And don't kid yourself into thinking that slipped bands are only caused by people abusing their bands...sometimes they just happen. Plain and simple. The bottom line is weight loss surgery is effective but should not be taken lightly. Do your research and realize there is no quick fix to weight loss but there are tools to help. Good luck!

A fact for me is eating more protein and fat calories allow me to lose faster than carb calories.

There are lots of different reasons a band may not work in an individual case from the individual themselves, and I'm not necessarily saying the individual didn't try but their body could not be very compatible with the band, or the surgeon may have placed a band in a bad position, or the band itself could be defective. These are all possible complications that we have to realize are real when we go into banding. I've known plenty of people that the band 'didn't work for them', I've also known people it did work for, and I've even known people that their first band didn't work well for them but their second did. It's unfortunate that your specific experience with the band wasn't a good one but that's the chance we all take with any kind of weight loss surgery.

Have you asked yourself why you are eating around the band? I think many times bandsters think weight loss is all about diet and exercise and forget the mental part of weight loss. I think all bandsters should also seek therapy while losing weight to figure out why they put the weight on in the first place. I know many of us like to say that we have this or that physical condition but I think we say that many times to downplay the mental and emotional aspect that food plays in our lives. Find out why you overeat and try to combat that and you'll have an easier time with the diet in exercise in my opinion. Good luck!

Allergies are probably my number one complaint with the band. I'd recommend taking Zyrtec daily and keeping some saline solution spray with you at all times. It's helped me cut down on the coughing. Other than that, coughing won't really bother your band.

When you say you need more fiber in your diet are you saying that because you are not going regularly? I only ask because many times we think we need more of 'something' in our diet when in fact we're just feeling the pressure of outside influences trying to tell us how to eat. If the reason you are wanting to eat more fiber is for constipation I'd recommend going the metamucil route and seriously upping your liquid intake. Perhaps even try prune juice. Personally, I'm very regular and do nothing to up my fiber intake whatsoever and do just fine that way.

Try liquid motrin to help with swelling and just do hot liquids until it stops hurting. Calling your doc wouldn't hurt either.

Once I healed I ate pretty much like normal because I didn't have any restriction. The more restriction I got the less I ate. Trying to eat like your band is working when it's not actually working yet is like trying to drive your car to work without starting the engine...you probably won't make it very far and you'll just be frustrated the more you try

They did the same thing with my band and put in either 3cc or 4cc 'priming fluid' as my doc put it. I'm just over 14cc in my 14cc band and I still have 'loose' days where I can eat a cheeseburger with the bun.

I haven't had a protein shake in over 2 years. I don't see much point to them after you have healed.

For me the green zone became much wider than what I had originally envisioned. At first I thought the green zone was this magical place where I would eat a small amount and not be hungry for four hours...every single day. Then I learned about things like dehydration, stress, allergies, exercise, tight mornings and loose evenings, etc. What I figured out is that I am better off being a little on the loose side than on the tight side at all. While it may be true that I am hungry more often than I would like to be I still have some flexibility in my diet plus I don't get too tight just because I exercise or get stressed. My rule of thumb is getting just tight enough where I cannot eat a cheeseburger with the bun or a slice of deep dish pizza then I stop and do not get any more fluid. Anything more than that and I end up having trouble because of being too tight one day.

I would definitely have wls again but I would look harder at options like the sleeve and plication. I've been happy with my band but there are definitely some downsides.

Marion -> Muncie -> Fort Wayne -> Currently Cincinnati.

I hate bras too!

You go!

I think weight loss is about 80/20 diet/exercise. Plus, exercise has the welcome side effect of making me feel longer after I have done it.

I ate pretty normally until I started getting restriction from fills. If you try to eat like your band is fully functional when it's not you'll just get frustrated and waste your time in my opinion.

A mixture of all three. Lol. I think some people do just need support while others are just here to be hateful.

I'm from Indiana but I was banded in Cincinnati!

Most times until it comes back up. If I am truly stuck, saliva building in my mouth, if it doesn't subside in a couple of minutes it never will. That's just in my experience. Once I am truly stuck there is no waiting it out

I lost all my weight drinking coffee. Unfortunately, it turns out that caffeine gives me headaches so I had to drop it anyway!

I was having really bad headaches, cut out caffeine from my diet, now they are gone.

Bananas. I can eat pizza on a good day but never bananas for some reason.

Weird. I've never been bugged by people asking for money on here. I'd probably just ask them for some back