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Mine was just like a conversation with a friend. She also had the sleeve and gave me some tips. We talked about my background, health and weight history, work background, lifestyle, why I want to do this, my support system, and she also asked about my history of food, drugs, alcohol/verbal/sexually abuse, past counseling history. I had to do a questionnaire and I marked off that I had a quick temper and she asked me about that. I actually enjoyed it. I know that's what she gets paid to do, but I sort of wish we could be friends, because we had some things in common. Much less stressful than I thought it was going to be. But I'm so uninteresting. Two divorces where I had counseling, but no history of any sort of abuse of anything. Sent from my XT1254 using BariatricPal mobile app

Cody, your post is like a new member of AA confessing to the support group that he/she's an alcoholic. You're preaching to the choir here. Nearly every one of us have some sort of eating disorder or food related conditon. All of us have tried various diets and failed numerous times. Many of us were nervous to have WLS. Many of us have co-morbidities and other ailments. If you feel like you've reached the end of your rope and no diet will ever work, if you feel like WLS could be the answer, then you're probably making the right decision. Just be prepared that you will have to make some life changing decisions by changing a lifetime of bad eating habits. The band is a tool and don't go into this thinking the band is going to monitor or regulate the amount of food you can eat. Only you can do that, but the band can make it so much easier and more comfortable. This site is dedicated to supporting patients of all sizes, ages, no matter how far along your journey you are. tmf

I know this is my second blog today, but I haven't been on in a bit, so got to catch up. Anyway, Thursday night, after my first fill and only able to eat mushies, my office had a small party and was having a meatball contest. Well as you know, can't quite eat beef yet. And of course a lot of alcohol was being served. I have to report, it wasn't as hard as i thought it was going to be. I got roped into serving the judges with one of my colleagues. That meant cutting up 10 different meatballs and plating them for 5 different judges! And you know what, I wasn't tempted at all! Yeah they looked good, but I didn't want to go cry in the corner because I couldn't have them. The harder part was not drinking. I told myself at the begining of the night I can have 1 glass of wine despite my doctor saying 6 weeks....but I didn't! I didn't need to! The most difficult thing about the night was everyone was asking me to try their meatballs. LOL. (you can imagine all the jokes) So people were asking why I wasn't eating or drinking etc. Only a couple of people at the office know the truth. It was a strange night to say the least. It was challenging in some ways and easier than I thought in others. I am proud of myself for not giving in to temptation. And I actually had a nice night. If I can do, we all can!

Ill preface this by saying im getting a bypass (because I have serious GERD) but the sleeve is the better option for many if not most people. Its safer, less side effects/long term complications, less long term risks, its a much simpler operation, it doesnt change the anatomy, and it allows you to still consume alcohol and NSAIDS (yes one of these two is much more important than the other) And im an operating room nurse in a facility that does a ton of bariatric cases and unfortunately ive seen a few cases first hand of what can go wrong with a bypass years down the road, so I know how much more dangerous it is than a sleeve. I have NEVER seen a patient come back to the operating room with long term complications from a sleeve. But ive seen many patients come back with Petersens hernias, perforated ulcers, bowel obstructions from Gastric Bypasses. Some of these are life threatening and altering. Sure theyre both great operations which have their benefits and drawbacks, with situations where one is clearly superior to the other. But if one of them was the "winner" I would certainly say it was the sleeve.

One time does not an addict make. However, be careful. You may find this interesting - Bariatric surgery trades obesity for alcoholism Before you belly up to the operating table for that bariatric surgery, take note that while you might be eliminating the consequences of one form of compulsive behavior — overeating — you may not be dealing with the underlying cause, and if that cause goes untreated, you could find yourself merely engaging in “addiction transfer” — and in the grip of some new and different compulsive behavior such as alcoholism, chain smoking, obsessive gambling or binge shopping.

My surgeon gave me a list of things that I can and cannot eat throughout the whole six weeks. Full liquid Diet: Allowed: Water, decaf coffee & tea, non-carbondated, surgar free drinks (0 calories) ie - crystal light, fruit 2 0 sugar free fruit juice, low sodium v-8, diet v-8 splash & tomato juice skim milk, 1% milk, lowfat lactaid milk, low fat soymilk, smooth low-fat yogurt with no added sugar (made with nutrasweet, aspartame or splenda low sodium beef or chicken consomme and broth, tomato Soup, strained cream Soups sugar-free Jello, pudding, sugar-free popsicles, sugar-free hot cocoa, sugar substitues (equal, splenda, sweet & low) Protein powders, Protein Drinks, protein bullets, Isopure (less than 4-5 gms carb per serving. NOT allowed: regular coffee & tea, carbondated beverages, sweetened fruit beverages & drinks, alcohol, Fruit Drinks fruit drinks & punches, regular v-8 splash, and fruit juice 2% milk, chocolate milk, fruited yogurt bouillion cubes, soups with any pieces of food of any size - strained soups only regular sugar, brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, high fructose corn syrup, etc. no protein with sugar or sweeteners other than sugar substitues. Runny oatmeal and runny mashed potatos aren't a liquid, really. That shake was probably filled with a ton of sugar and whole milk. I guess the list above is a guideline though. I'm surprised your sugeron didn't give you a list.

My Dr. said 6 months too. I was a VERY social drinker. My coworkers even asked me why I wasn't coming to Happy Hour on Fridays anymore. Then the they noticed the weight, so they assumed I was just dieting. I'm going to stick to the 6 months no alcohol and have my first drink after school on the last day before summer break. Hopefully I will have reached my goal by then and celebrate!

see i hate alcohol but sometimes we need to let loose! lol. i drink strawberry daqs because i cant tolerate the taste of alcohol or even the smell. it needs to be in a frozen drink. but i swear, i really want that liquid courage for that club night. i know ppl who drink with WLS and get pissy drunk. i dont want all that. i want a nice buzz.

The reason he is withholding fruit for the first month is because they are high in acidity. Bandsters are prone to GERD/reflux, especially immediately after surgery because the stomach is already acidic due to the lack of solids. it's a good idea to avoid the fruits for now. It's also important to remember that if you start to develop GERD like symptoms to avoid other foods/drinks that increase acidity (so remember our fruit conversation, but things like coffee and alcohol are also culprits). Once you are past the first month, experiment because some fruits can be hard to eat. Fibrous ones are the most difficult (ie oranges).

So basically I had some weird throat infection the entire pre-op diet week, which I only had to actually do for 1 week. So eating nothing but full liquids was fine because I didn't feel that great anyway and slept A LOT. The hardest day, believe it or not, was the clear liquid day the day before surgery. I did okay though once I got some SF jello. It's hard finding ones that are not a deep red. I did find some pink and orange ones, though! So I didn't actually feel too horribly nervous until that morning. I wasn't due until 12:30 and the hospital is about 45 minutes away. Around 10:30 AM on Wednesday (June 27) they called to ask if I wanted to come in early because they had a cancellation. I said sure but it will only be like maybe 15 minutes earlier because I live 45 minutes away. So we ended up leaving about 11:15 because I had to wait on my mom to shower. I had already done all that and my bag was packed so I was ready! We got to the hospital about 12:15 or something. We had a hard time finding where we were suppose to go but we got it. Yay! Luckily we had gotten a parking spot that was in the first row from the door so that was nice. I grabbed my bag and my turtle pillow pet and walked in, taking my piercings out and shaking all to hell trying not to fling the pieces around and get them in the baggy I brought for them. I got to the desk and they had me to go an admission desk to sign some papers and get my wrist band and some folder with stuff in it that I still haven't actually looked at. I don't know what is in it, lol. Just some papers. Anyway so they asked us to wait in the waiting room. We did not even get our butts in a chair and they had called me in, they told my mom to wait outside because they were just going to run some tests real quick that they routinely do. So they brought me in and it looked like the same pre-op area where I was with my sister at a different hospital for a pregnancy complication. Not to sound as morbid as it may but it was strangely comforting to feel like I was in a place I had seen before. I was given a cup and asked to use the bathroom and pee in the cup for a pregnancy test. They do this routinely I guess, it's mandatory. Boy was I ever exploding cuz I filled that whole entire freakin' cup! Sorry for TMI there lol. So I go back to my waiting area and asked where to put it and the nurse says to put it on a little table at the end of what was to be my bed that another nurse was writing in my chart at. So I set it there and said MERRY CHRISTMAS! And giggled nervously. She laughed at me, too. So then I was given my robe and socks and a bag to put my clothes in and told to change and they pulled the curtain. Oh man was I shaking so bad! I got it all there and put it on the chair next to the bed and sat down, she undid the curtain and I got situated on the bed and they put a warm blanket on me. Then they had a nurse come put an IV in me and it took her forever. I have tiny veins. They put a 20 in me and said it'll be good until I'm under and they'll switch it to a 18 or whatever. They drew 2 vials of blood and then whatever. Stuck some little sticker node things on me and asked me questions like who I am and what surgery I'm having. Then the anesthesiologist asked some questions too like if I have diabetes and etc I said not that I know of. It's true, I didnt know lol. They did get a CBC and whatever else with that blood they took and I never heard much back so I guess I'm ok. So then they hooked up an IV and then came the Versed. That's the happy medicine they gave me so I can relax. At some point during the questioning they got my mom for me and she was sitting with me. But once they put the IV in they made her hug me and go back to the waiting room. This was around 1:30 by this time. And then the praying hit as tears started rolling down my face when she left the room and I started praying, HARD!! But the Versed hit and I felt okay. They rolled me to the OR and I remember looking at all the gadgets in the room thinking Hey! This is just like on TV and in videos of sleeve related things I had seen before. That was comforting, too. But I was doped up on Versed so that's probably it, too. They aligned the operating bed up to my bed and locked them all in place, then had me help myself from the bed to the operating bed. I was not scared at this point but they were laying my arms out on the little arm tables and had an oxygen mask laying lightly on my face. I was okay with that! That were touching me a lot and it felt comforting. Then they said they would be making me sleepy and I was out. I remember when I first woke up they said I'm waking up and asked me how I feel. I said owww pain. It hurts. They said they are giving me pain medication RIGHT NOW. And it felt better right then. They had given me Dilaudid when I needed the rougher med but they used Toradol for inflammation and pain in the meantime and Fenergan for nausea or whatever it's called. They gave me something else right before surgery too for like acid or whatever but I forget what it was. So I was in and out a lot. Dilaudid pretty much makes me pass out. I had gotten a swab sometime in the later evening and I think a droplet had gone down my throat and I got nauseated and started dry heaving. This lasted only a brief period because the nurse took an alcohol prep pad and waved it in front of my nose telling me to breathe deep and I did. The aroma strangely made me calm down from heaving. I didn't have true on nausea at all. Just onset of heaving. I had another 2 or 3 bouts of that that night as they gave me Dilaudid but they started giving the Fenergan with it and I was fine after that. At home I dry heaved only 2 times from pain medication and that's been it. I stopped taking that nasty garbage. So at home I just staked out on the couch as best I could. Tried sipping my liquids and pacing the house or taking my dog on mini walks. It felt good to walk! I'm now 4 days out and I feel almost just fine except for 3 things. One I feel as if maybe I am getting a cold, I have that pre-cold groggy feeling. And the other 2 are pains. One is in my shoulder from gas pain, and the other is that odd diaphragm area spasming that is horrid but luckily only lasts a couple of seconds. I had trouble getting my liquids in but I'm doing okay. I feel okay and energetic during the day. I sip a little protein, a little soup, or vitamin water zero or sobe life water or just plain water. I got some pain cramping when I had colder liquids at first but it seems to do ok now. I also really like SF chocolate pudding. Im going to try a fudgsicle later tonight. As far as food goes. I get weird cravings for things. I know it's in my head and I have to control that. But sometimes I'm just confused at my body because my stomach grumbles all the time, but it gets really loud at random times and it doesn't hurt but it pangs like that familiar feeling pre-op when I would be so hungry that my stomach would growl and pang like that. So I'm not sure if I'm hungry or what. But it's really annoying and eating a little pudding or soup does alleviate it a little. Although the noises don't stop for long at all. I also wanted to add in here that I do get a bit grossed out by some foods now that I woulda just been like "ehh" about before and not really gotten that weird gag feeling when something smells or tastes gross. I can't even eat broth of any kind and some of these "cream of" soups do the same thing. I have no idea why! I do like those soups normally so not sure what the deal is now but I'm dealing with trying out other things. I realized I can get a soup that has things in it but blend and strain it afterwards and it does actually hold the tastes of everything that was in that soup. I had a tomato and rice by Campbell's and blended and strained it out and it tasted like it. I have a bacon and bean soup that's also 98% fat free that I found and i'll do the same thing with that. It sounds good, something different. I don't have to resort to only 1 kind of soup! Just strain strain strain! Another thing I did was today my parents had something for dinner in a skillet that had green beans, onions and chicken breast chunks. It had a lot of juice that tasted really delicious that I strained out and sipped on. It was really good! Other than that, I feel great. I feel super apprehensive about the type of sips I take and how much soup or pudding or whatever I should eat. I don't know what my limit is and I definitely don't want to PUSH it. I never truly feel hungry to begin with so I'm not sure when I'm FULL if that makes sense. I haven't felt much tightness yet from eating those things but I think I read a few places that people don't always feel that tightness too much until mushy phase. So I'm not too worried about it. I'm just worried about what will happen if I do push it on accident. The only other uncomfortable thing has been a couple bouts of hiccups. Those HURT! Oh my gosh do those hurt. The pain was horrid and I had a few moments in my head that I would probably not go through this again had I known how it would feel but it didn't last that long for me so I think that maybe I do not truly think that at all. If I use this tool wisely and utilize it well to lose weight like I need to then I will be fully satisfied. I just hope that I can stay on track. I know I will.

Mine's October 16th in Boston. I'm halfway through my pre-op diet now. I'm not having as hard a time as I thought I would, but I can also eat. Only things I can't have are starches, caffeine (ok that one is hard), carbonated beverages (even harder than the caffeine), and alcohol.

Welcome - LBT is a great site for info & support. I am going to give you my tough band love explanation (love being the operative word) Reasons some don't lose or lose very slowly and this is my personal opinion #1 THE BAND IS ONLY A TOOL!!! It in itself is not going to cause you to lose weight... You have to realize this going in - and that little part of your mind that say ya this is the answer it's the magic cure - that's the devil talking to you - cuz it's not the magic cure answer to our obesity. The band requires alot of work on your part. #2 There are pple who say I didn't do this to go on another diet - they continue to eat the same food that they did prior to banding - which usually is high fat foods and foods loaded with refined carbs (oh btw I am not an atkins advocate) and foods that have sugar. With the band once you get proper restriction (which can take awhile for some) it will limit the amount of food you eat at one sitting - but you can eat around the band ie candy cookies milkshake alcohol gravy all slip right thru the band (these soft foods are slider food) plus we still absorb all our calories (not like bypass patients who don't). These pple are going to lose some weight just do to the fact that they can't eat large quantities - but they are not going to lose a significant amount in my opinion. #3 Some pple have a slow metabolism (for reals - they have been medically tested not just another fat chick excuse) or another medical reason #4 To actually loose 100% or very close to your excess weight you are the one who has to make major changes in the way you look at food - You have to make healthy food choices (low fat - limited sugar and limited carbs) and you have to add exercise into your life. The band is only a tool to help with your portion control it doesn't make your food choices or it doesn't do the exercise. Losing weight is all about calories in vs calories burn - plan and simple as that. When you read the stories of pple who have been successful with the band - most will tell you that they counted calories - weighed and measured their foods (as fat chick we don't know what 4 oz looks like - to use a serving of ice cream is either 1 pint or a whole half gallon not 1/2 of a cup) and they also keep some kind of food diary/log and they exercise their butts off. They changed their food choices - there are alot here who do atkins or no refined carbs - I still have my starches (but limited to dinner only) I follow a basic WW type eating plan and IMHO I think it's the healthiest.. I am 14 months out and I am still learning how to control my head hunger issues ... I can be physically full from my dinner and still want to eat Our head hunger issues are our real problems - As fat chicks the minute we thought we were hungry we would eat - then eat again - we would eat past full - All of us have diff issues with food some more complicated and some as simple as boredom. We use food to soothe us when we are upset, angry or sad - we use food to comfort us - we use food to celebrate and as reward for something or cuz someone told us we shouldn't - we use our fat as a barrier against the world. All these things are the mental issue that must be dealt with if we want to lose the weight and keep it off for good (neither the band nor any WLS is guarantee that we keep they weight off forever) To this (keep the weight off forever) you must make this your lifetime life style change in eating and exercise Diets don't work cuz the minute you go off them and go back to eating normal you gain all your weight back - eating normal for us is what got us fat in the 1st place. Now Exercise - as fat chick we don't want to exercise cuz it's too damn hard - it takes too much energy. Well you must exercise - our bodies were made to exercise. You just make the commitment to yourself - you start slow and steady and each week increase it a tad - I could barely walk 1 mile 11 months ago on the treadmill doing a 25 minute mile on a zero incline - but every couple of weeks I would increase the speed and inclines - I now do 3 miles in 50 minutes on vary of inclines from 3 to 12- I work out with weights 2 x a wks (muscle burns more calories) Ok I wrote a fricking book here - but I just want you to know that even with the band it's work - it's still hard -- it takes will power to make good food choices and discipline to go to the gym or workout where ever you choose but with the band (once you have proper restriction) as a tool it does make the job of losing weight easier. As you said not easy but a little easier.. IMHO I that that I have done 75% of the work (making good food choices and exercising) and the band have done 25% of the work by providing portion control and making me feel fuller physically on 1 cup of food. I take credit for my weight loss - ya the band helped - but it's just a piece of plastic - it doesn't have a brain to make the choices and changes that I have made in the last 14 months.

Hello all! I was just banded by Dr. Alan Posner in Buffalo, NY on the 7th (one day before my birthday). Surgery went well and 4 days out I'm feeling OK (not counting the gas, diahrea, bloating, and disgust of all "clear" liquids). A little about me: I'm a 22 year old guy from Buffalo, NY. I am going to school and have a part time job to pay the bills. I love football, hockey, and all things computers. My highest weight when I first started seeing Dr. Posner was 433 :omg: but it was down to 396 the day of surgery. I found this website the other day out of boredom (sitting at home you can only watch the same movies so often). I'm glad I found a big forum to get/share some information. As far as my questions/concerns at this point: 1) will this gassyness/diahrea stuff go away? 2) I don't plan on pigging out ever or stuffing myself but I would like to know that maybe someday I could enjoy 1/2-1 slice of pizza... if so how long until I can? (its hard being on liquids :biggrin1: ) 3) I don't drink alcohol often/at all, but I do occasionaly like to meet the fellas down at the bar for a few drinks. I know it is not a good idea to drink alcohol, but if push came to shove is it going to be ok for me to eventually drink a few beers? And also same question for diet soda pop? anyways, thanks for listening. Looking forward to meeting you all! -Jim T

If cheating is eating small, balanced portions, restricting carbs, fats, soda and alcohol , staying hydrated, & exercising FOR LIFE, then I guess I am a cheater. If my friends think they could lose 100# honestly eating carrots and celery sticks, they are saints. If losing weight were easy requiring NO SACRIFICES then the whole world would never struggle with their weight. Honestly, I hope the few friends I DO tell will feel a level of compassion for me that I had to go to such extreme measures to be normal

Jackie, I can so relate. I love to bake and cook and, particularly at this time of year, I get the urge to bake. Even one year post band, though, and I know it would be a huge mistake. I'd start off with good intentions, but it would be a cookie here, a cookie there and 10 extra pounds after Christmas. I did make pies and a fruitcake for Thanksgiving, but took it to my mother-in-law's for dinner and left it all there afterwards. They weren't the kind of things you could take a bite or piece out of, so they were safe. Cookies, though...uh uh. Good for you for knowing your limitations and don't let anyone guilt you into baking if you know it will be your downfall. I mean, realistically, if you were an alcoholic, would you let your family guilt you into stocking up on alcohol for the holiday season? It's the same thing...really. .

Personally, I wouldn't. Cocktails are empty calories to begin with but also the alcohol is going to hit you very hard. I'm not sure what the recommendation is for wait time for alcohol but that doesn't seem long enough.

My surgeon has all of his patients (regardless of start weight) on the Optifast diet for 2 weeks pre-op. It does shrink the liver and make the stomach easier to get to. Speaking of liver... I am an Ultrasound Tech and I have seen my liver prior to surgery. I was eating and drinking alcohol (both in excess). I am 2 months post-op today and looked at my liver and it looks do much healthier. It does not have the fatty infiltration it did before, and it has shrunk significantly. I was so excited to see how healthy I am getting inside and out!!!

Yeah actually having issues with food smells. Apart of changing our lifestyle had to realize how much tasting while cooking I was doing. Packing on the calories. My stepmom came to stay after surgery she cooked for herself and opened a bottle of wine. Thought I was going to die from the smell of wine in her glass. Kind of like after a hangover when you smell alcohol. Anyway life goes on. See surgeon tomorrow should be on soft foods. Hope you are well. Sent from my LGLS990 using the BariatricPal App

well, let's see..My dad was an alcoholic so my mom would give me anything to keep me quiet, so she could deal with him...I was an only child, I guessshe figured taking care of a drunk and a colicy child plus working full time was reason enough not to have anymore kids...Anywho, I see pictures of me as a child and I look healthy but then I go to school and get teased as being fatty..Although I still may have been bigger than your average child, the pictures tell a different story.I remember gaining weight at about 11. Like I said my mom rewarded me with foods to make up for something she thought I might be missing, I dunno really..My parents never called me fat.I did loose it around the age of 15, but married very early in life and started a family just as soon too..Gained 60 pounds during first pregnancy..Hubby never calls me fat..Thank GOD! I suffer depression, my son has a disability and I care for him, he is 21..So I don't work outside the home.And I bore easily too..I eat for all the wrong reasons and I know how to eat right, I just don't..I did south beach diet and had great success..But gained it back..So here I am , no major health problems but problems related to gaining,loosing,gaining you get the idea..Surgery is dec 19th..Can't wait..

I found this in an article called "8 Reasons Why You're Not Losing Weight" on sparkpeople. I remembered this question and thought I'd post it here. #1 You're eating back all the calories you burn. When you work out, you're burning extra calories. That's why exercise is so important in the weight-loss equation. But a lot of people overestimate how much they burn—and even use the "I exercised today" excuse to later overeat, overdrink (think alcohol) or overindulge. How many times have you faced a food temptation and thought, "Well, I worked out today, so it's OK this time." Or even, "I'll have this now, but work out extra hard tomorrow to burn it off." If that sounds all-too-familiar, this is one major reason why you're not losing weight. For the exercise to help you lose, you can't re-eat all those extra calories you burned. And in most cases, we overestimate how many calories we actually burned and underestimate how many calories we're actually eating, which means using that 3-mile walk (240 calories burned) to justify that restaurant meal (1,000+ calories, anyone?) leaves you in a worse position than if you may realize: at a calorie surplus. The Takeaway: Exercise can help you lose when you're really using it to burn extra calories, not as a reason to eat more.

I probably shouldn't be posting this but I am an alcoholic who doesn't like to get drunk- make sense? I started drinking 1 month after surgery. Pinot is my absolute favorite!!!! Last night I had two glasses but couldn't finish the second. I haven't found a change in my palate- I just can't drink as much and it's not because I'm drunk - I just lose interest after a certain amount. And I'm not like most people who get drunk faster- I haven't noticed any change with that. I am 6 weeks out from surgery.

How was the hangover? I haven't had alcohol yet.

Not following the eating and behavioral WLS instructions re what and how WLS patients should eat post-op obviously hasn't stopped some people from losing all their excess weight and maintaining that weight loss -- as evidenced by some posts above. But it seems clear that those "independent" folks have indeed reduced considerably the amount of food and the calories they ate pre-op. But this "independent" approach to navigating WLS is disastrous for others -- particularly those who have diagnosable eating disorders, who can't stop drinking significant amounts of "liquid calories" (think sweet tea, sugar sodas, high-calorie coffee drinks, sugary alcoholic drinks, beer, etc.), who snack continuously ("graze") on "slider foods" (those foods that have lots of carbs, are heavily processed and have little Fiber in them, and that move rapidly through the stomach into the intestines -- leaving the stomach empty and wanting more). I don't think it's a question of proving one's "worthiness" for surgery. I think if you have eating disorders and/or horrific eating habits pre-op that you know you're still going to be challenged by post-op you really will have to build some very different new habits and tools. One of those additional tools IMHO is the support and guidance of a therapist who knows what bariatric patients are struggling with and can support the changes you're trying to make in your lifestyle. None of us is guaranteed an excellent result post-op. But we can increase the odds of our success if we know our own personal challenges and try to reduce the risk of failure by pushing all the success levers we possibly can.

Because it seems completely clear to me, I often make the mistake of thinking it must seem obvious to others. So here it is: If you are over-weight and don't have a band, losing weight without eating well/exercising is damned near impossible If you have a band and don't eat well, don't exercise or have no restriction, you're pretty much as above If you have a band, don't eat well, don't exercise and have some restriction, you may still lose, but probably not much, and eventually you'll probably start regaining If you have a band, eat well, don't exercise and have no restriction, you might still lose, but slowly If you have a band, eat well, don't exercise, and have restriction, you will lose steadily but may not lose ALL your excess weight. If you have a band, eat well, exercise and have restriction, you now have the trifecta and have given yourself the best chance of success with weight loss. I am a realist. If I don't exercise, I don't expect to lose fast. If I drink alcohol, then I expect that I will have to burn that off. If I don't have restriction, I expect to GAIN. The responsibility of how well I do is in my hands. No one else, and certainly not the band's alone. People say the band is a tool, and this is what it means.

My rule was that if the ingredients had any kind of sugar, corn syrup, or sugar alcohol it wasn't for me. It works.