stratochief

I'm about to tell my Dr. to schedule me for LAP-BAND®, but I still have some severe reservations about how much you can actually eat. Nobody has ever been able to put it into "real" perspective. Say, if you go out to eat with your family, are you literally stuck there unable to eat more than 2 or 3 "normal" sized bites of steak, Pasta, chicken etc??? I know they say your new stomach is about the size of an egg, but is it REALLY that small when it comes to eating??? I'm pretty confident in my ability to maintain a strict diet, but I occasionally enjoy going out to a nice restaurant and honestly don't want to become the "outcast" who doesn't eat when I do go out, know what I mean? Yes, my health is the #1 reason I am considering it, but I'm having difficulty deciding if that severe of a decision is for me. My BMI is around 35-37, I'm 6'4, 295 with a family history of Hypertension, Heart-Disease etc... Any opinions???

I was down to around 245 a couple of years ago and that was a result of a near starvation diet and 2+ miles walking a day. Regarless of how hard it was, I never felt better in my life. That was really unsustainable and I gained a lot of the weight back, so that's why I'm here. I look forward to feeling that way again. My blood-pressure dropped significantly, I had energy, my clothes fit, sexual performance was as good as when I was 18, I was able to run again and I just didn't "feel" fat.