Noturningback15

Nat-

I haven't had the LAP-BAND® surgery. In fact i am on here roaming through the forum out of curiosity to see if it is something I want to do.

I've been overweight as long as i can remember. I just turned 40 and I weigh 385 lbs. I have a major obsession with food, but my health is starting to show signs of problems. Truth be told, I'm scared. I'm afraid that if I decide to get this lap-band®, that I'm gonna go crazy. But i also know that my 2 little girls and my wife need me around.

I have tried every diet known to man, but I always run back to the frig to reward myself after i lose 30-50 lbs. And the vicious cycle begins again.

All i wanted to say was don't get discouraged. Remember how you felt when you were in the place I am in right now. Keep looking forward and go for it. I need inspiration.

If anyone understands what i am going through right now, I would appreciate any advise you have from your experience. Not to take anything from Nat's post, but this may help me make my decision easier.

I am not sure if you have a PCP doctor but I started my weight loss plan way before the insurance company required the 3 months of documentation. I started 8 months in advance going to my doctor each month to report to her my eating habits, exercise program, and weigh in. I only lost 15 pounds in those 8 months but for me that was a success. I started out at 388 and when I went for my first consult with the lanband doctor I was 373. For some odd reason I didn't want to let my doctor down every month that I went to go weigh in and that was a motivator not to gain. Some months I didn't lose any thing but I didn't gain. It's been a struggle but this was the best choice I have made in a while regarding my health.

I would guess, as a teacher, that I probably knew more 14 year olds...and from a wider variety of home/cultural settings...than most people.

I disagree with your view of noncompliance assigned to an age group. Yes, they may be testing their wings, but as long as they are not being pushed into getting a band by a parent, and it is their choice, then noncompliance does not become an issue because this is something *they* want.

Look around at this forum...not too many teens here but an incredible number of noncompliant people. I stand by my opinion that a 14 year old is not too young for a band. For a bypass...absolutely...but not for a band. It is just a tool like any other.

Just a thought...if an overweight 14 year old is expected to successfuly lose the weight just by dieting and exercise...how come all of you 'adults' don't just do the same thing if that's so successful. More to the point...how come those of you who were fat since your teen years didn't just 'bite the bullet' and lose your weight as a teen and without the band?

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At 15 I lost over 40 pounds in 2 months after working out for one hour a day and restricting my calories to 800 a day. I have tried every diet you can think of and was successful at most but the weight always came back with interest. I got my band to help me keep it off for good this time. Maybe age doesn't have any thing to do with it. Maybe it's just a mind thing?

Yep, mine came early too. I thought it was because of the dramatic weight loss. I loss 13 pounds after four days of liquids and that's what I thought caused mine to come. IDK?

I'm not sure if I understand you, but are you saying that losing 8 pounds in 2 weeks is bad?

No, I am excited!!! LOL! Sorry if I wrote it wrong. I have lost more weight in two weeks than I did in over two months. :smile2:

Manda87, I lost 2 pounds at my August weigh in and 1 pound on September 7th. Since the 7th I have lost 8 pounds!! Talking about a slap in the face. I have been in the gym for one hour a day on M-F.

Hey, y'all. You don't know me, but I kinda feel like I know you, since I've been reading a whooooole bunch of the posts on the forum before I piped up :smile2:

What I'd really like to know from you all is:

After the first few intense months, how much daily work is it for you to live happily with your band? How much time do you have to spend obsessing about, avoiding, or tallying up food? Is it on your mind all the time, a whole new hobby, or can you live like a "normal person" who just eats only small amounts of lean Protein and veggies?

(Not including exercise.)

Do you find that, if you slack off, your band gives you a nice slap upside the head?

Do you get physical feedback if you eat the wrong things or do something unhealthy?

Is it less mental work than doing a strict diet?

Does it feel more like normal (but adjusted) life?

I ask because, the main problem I have with losing weight is my attention span, and the fact that the bad side effects from bad choices seem so far away that they don't "steer" me. I want to be thin, sure, but this is really about my health, and try as I might, I can't seem to bring myself to fear it sufficiently.

I believe that if I had a tool -- like you guys say -- that helped me feel full easier, and caused me to feel sick if I did the wrong things, that would help a lot. As a feedback mechanism. Kind of like how I kill houseplants but wouldn't forget to feed & Water an animal that made noise

But, if I had to exert all my mental energy every day on managing it, I don't think the band would work for me -- because I won't be able to keep that up. Weird as it may sound, I'm just not emotionally involved in my weight... and to keep on a strict diet to lose 130lbs, like I need to, you really have to be emotionally involved.

I'm hoping the band will help. What do you think?

If I understand you correctly you sound like you may want to have the Gastric Bypass. It is a lot of work involved with the lapband and It has never made me sick. I can pretty much eat what I want too unlike most GB patients. I was even stalled for a couple of months because I learned to eat around my band and was drinking too many calories. But, I got my act together because I didn't spend all this money and have surgery to gain a single pound! I have been working out now on a regular basis now too. Without the workouts I would probably still lose weight but it would be like one pound a week if I stay below the recommended calories. Losing weight is something I have done before in the past but keeping it off was something different. I got this band to assist me in losing weight and more importantly as a way to keep it off for good this time. For me it's more mental work than just a strict diet because I have to actually make a wise choice about what food do I want to use my 4oz on. Do I want 4oz of carbs or 2oz of protein and 1oz carb and 1oz of veggies. If I slack off I don't get a slap on the head from the band but the scale gets stuck on the same numbers for weeks or months and that's discouraging. I don't see it as a strict diet though because I still eat most of the foods that I enjoy just in smaller portions.

Yes, parents are responsible for the meals they prepare and for the health of the child. My mom sent me to a nutritionist, doctor, and tried to motivate me but it was unsuccessful for the most part. At 14 I was in the marching band and would walk to the bakery right after band practice and buy all kinds of goodies and have them ate up before my mom came to pick me up. At that time the schools had coke machines and I would drink at least 4 can cokes a day!!!!! OMG! Looking back it seems so horrible! My mom had no idea that I had just had just ate two or more days worth of calories before I even touched dinner!

Oh, yea I would clean my plate at dinner time to like I just hadn't ate a twinkie, suzy q, granola bar, and a brownie (my past favorites)!

Yes, parents are responsible for the meals they prepare and for the health of the child. My mom sent me to a nutritionist, doctor, and tried to motivate me but it was unsuccessful for the most part. At 14 I was in the marching band and would walk to the bakery right after band practice and buy all kinds of goodies and have them ate up before my mom came to pick me up. At that time the schools had coke machines and I would drink at least 4 can cokes a day!!!!! OMG! Looking back it seems so horrible! My mom had no idea that I had just had just ate two or more days worth of calories before I even touched dinner!

I am not a growth hormone expert but wouldn't a 14 year old still be going through puberty and other things? Even though she was severly obese at that age it would seem like your mind and body would have a hard time adjusting to WLS at that age. Maybe by 16 it would have been better for her. I can remember 14 and my hormones were raging!!!! It would take a really mature 14 year old to be successful at WLS like the Lapband. Diet, Exercise, and a dietary evaluation would have been better.

When my doctor ran all those test on me during my consultation meeting they came up with a goal weight of 199 based on my body composition makeup, whatever that means. My highest weight was 388 so anything under 200 sounds great to me. 199 is my goal for now, but I will evaluate how I feel and look at that time and determine if I want to lose more. I am 5'5 1/2. I was 13 I think the last time I was around my goal weight and I know as an adult I would look completly different now.

Yea, my gas was so bad I didn't get hungry or want to eat until like week 3 and then it still wasn't a real strong hunger but I would fill hunger pains maybe every blue moon. I actually enjoyed not being hungry for ONCE in my life!

I looooooooveee! the biggest loser! I watch it every season!!! I even work out during the commercial breaks! It's totally motivational to me! I even tried out for the show in Dallas last year! It was so fun!!! To see all the people like me and the stories while waiting in line was amazing. I will never forget that experience.

I am obsessed too! Over the past year I have weighed myself almost everyday and sometimes Morning, mid morning, and night. I tore up one scale for weighing so much it's off by 10lbs. I got a new one and I have tried not to step on it so much because I want this one to last but it's no use. By the way you do weigh less in the morning but not as soon as you get up because your body is heavy from laying down all night and it needs to adjust to gravity (now that's my theory)! LOL! It may sound crazy but I have tried it several times just to make sure. When I first get up I weigh myself and then I walk around and do things to get ready for the day and come back about 45min later and it's down at least a pound or more every time. I also weigh with no clothes, then I put on my weigh in clothes that I wear to the doctor's office to get the same number that I would get when I go for my fill. I make sure I wear that same outfit also. Yea, I got issues!!!

To my surprise I have remained celibate since my surgery on Feb. 23rd!! My ex got lucky 3 days before my surgery and then he dumped me! He said that he didn't know where our relationship was going because I was having this surgery and that I wouldn't want him anymore when I lose all my weight!! So, my reply was oh you thought I only wanted you because I was fat and didn't think I could do better. With that it was dissolved! I am happy without him though! I have met someone new though.

31 and yes if I could have had it in when I was 18 I would have! I gained over 100 pounds in less than two years right after I graduated. They say freshman 15 I had the freshman 100!!! Joking I think I actually lost 20 pounds my first semester and gained it all back by the end of the second semester with interest and the rest is history!!

Congrats!! Keep up the good work!

I messed up somebody name on the spreadsheet!!! OMG, I clicked on a empty yellow box but it put my name above the empty one and I didn't know that you have to click the box below the one you need! Sorry!

Hello, February 10 Bandsters!!! I am just getting back on track after a stall for almost three months!!!! I switched doctors and finally got a good fill! I am at 6.8 cc's and I am loving it so far. I know it may be too soon to tell because I just got the fill on Thursday and it's Sunday. I have lost 6 pounds so far this month and I am hoping by the end of the month I can get another 6 off! That's 3 pounds a week which is possible with exercise. I will be hitting the gym first thing in the morning. I have been working out M-F for 45 min to 1hr in the gym and it's really helping me stay on track. I hope everybody have a great week.

I know one thing for sure we are all going to be experts on the NV of baked potatos!!! LMBO!!!!! All the research is making me have flashbacks from my Research Methodologies course!!! :thumbup:

I was close to your weight also at 388. In almost 7 months I am down to 326 (62lbs) and I am sure I would have lost more over the last couple of months but I was stalled because of lack of exercise and poor food choices and not enough fill in my band. It is something you will have to work at that's for sure. Good luck!

Yea, I think some doctor's focus on Protein because it keeps you full longer as well as other benefits. But, I am not big on eating a lot of protein but it wouldn't hurt to try. Anyways, I noticed when you put certain foods on your plate together it seems to boost your weight loss. I got that from the Michael Thurman 6 week body maker over diet. I try to have egg whites with oatmeal for Breakfast (protein + carb) and then for lunch protein+carb+veggie= chicken breast, sweet potato, cabbage. It seems to work for me when I follow this ( I have a hard time following this for too long). Oh, yea drink at least 80oz of Water a day too.

I got a fill on this past Thursday and until yesterday I was having some problems. I was only able to eat a little bit and even drinking made me really full, but today I am good and this fill is the best one I have had so far! I thought I would have to go get some taken out because it was also causing some reflux but that went away also. Oh yea, it was causing my sinus to drain a lot which was weird but that left yesterday too. Good luck!

Wow, I was around 288 when I was your age also and before I graduated college at 23 I was 388! I wish I would have done this at your age! Just to think of all the different opportunities or decisions I would have made if I was not ashamed of being so fat in college. I really believe it took me 6 months to find a job after graduating because of the interviewers judging me. Good luck!

1. Getting checked out by more men.

2. Fitting in the chairs at the movies.

3. Spending a whole day with my friends shopping and having fun without wishing they would say they was tired and ready to go home because my feet and knees were killing me!

4. Going down a shoe size 11's are hard to find in cute shoes!

5. Climbing in my bed at night and not being afraid I am going to crack something! (Same with the couch):thumbup:

6. And finally, I miss my dimple in my cheek! It's back!

I am one week post op and started the mushy stage - I tried to get cottage cheese down and it would not go. I have been testing things, so I tried some bites of pizza and they went down no problem. I know I shouldnt even try, but I am just curious as to why some foods go down that shouldnt?? Anyone else have this issue? I eat cream of wheat, Protein shakes and Jello fine, then today I tried a brownie bite and it went straight no issue and so when I took a bite of pizza, I thought this will never go, but it did!!! Puzzles me. Any of you out there can relate? I am not going to push it anymore because I am afraid. I also had a huge hernia repair that the doctor said was one of the biggest he had seen. I have 70 pounds to lose.

Wow on mushies already! I guess different doctors have different rules. I was on liquids for the first week and on the start of the second week I started cream Soups and watered down cream of wheat. Anyways, as you go along with the band you will discover that almost ALL unhealthy foods go down the band just fine but please don't sabotage yourself. I hate that I even started eating chips, m&m's and Ice cream a few months ago it really stalled my weight loss, but I am back on track now. I didn't even try junk food until 4-5 months but when I did it was hard to stop. I was so disappointed with myself and felt like a loser!!! So my advice to you is don't tempt yourself with even tasting pizza and brownies because it's easy to get hooked again.