Hello everyone, my gastric surgery was Sept. 30, 2013 wt. start was 286lbs. I had the band done in may 2010 and it was a bad experience for me. I had the band removed in may 2013 and everything is going well with the gastric and my wt. loss is steady. my goal wt. is 170lbs I don't want to loss to fast and have hanging skin and I workout at the gym I have back and hip problems, but I am determined to reach my goal. My wt. now is 232lbs will put up a pic soon.