not over weight but still want lap band

[daisy1978 0]

can someone get the LAP-BAND® if they aint over weight . im 31 and slowly gaining weight ...that has been inposible to loose . my mother and grandmotherS are big latina woman they just stop tryn after years of giving it good eforts .what if this my chance to stop it before it gets out of control . i do eat healthy but my portions control is not good i wnt to have self control but i fail, i exersize often but dsnt help . can i get this done not to loose weight but to prevent my self from ganing it????

has it been done before anyone know???

[BetsyB 9]

Well, I'm not going to say you're nuts for wanting it, because really---I think the band will be of far more use to me in maintaining weight than losing. I totally understand your desire to keep your weight at a healthy level by addressing a problem before it really becomes a big one.

That said, the band doesn't work on its own. Doctors look for patients who ARE able to lose---because that means they can comply with the band's requirements. Limiting your portion size is critical--banded or no. It usually takes a period of months before restriction is achieved; during that time---and even after, if you eat the wrong foods--it's more than possible to gain. The band is good "insurance" for many of us, but not well-suited for all.

That doesn't mean you won't find a doctor to band you, or that it would be the wrong thing to do. But you're going to be expected to do some REAL work on yourself before anyone will go forward. I also think you can expect a great deal of resistance from surgeons you see; most have a particular BMI in mind when assessing patients, and if you fall below it, you'll have to be prepared to put on a pretty strong case. Most want their patients to demonstrate a history of loss and regain. (I am NOT advocating you do this! It would be so much better if you just got a handle on portion control.)

You say your mother and aunts gave up. You don't have to. Banded or no, there is HUGE personal responsibility for outcome; if you are not able to exercise Portion Control now, then that won't magically change with a band----you will still have to use your own judgment to limit portions.

Please don't let your thinking about banding be magical thinking. Do your BEST with eating and exercise. Nip the gain in the bud.

You might want to attend a surgeon's free seminar to hear more about what banding involves, as well.

Lastly, you can definitely expect to self-pay. Unless you have significant weight-related health issues, insurance will not cover banding for people whose BMIs are, generally, less than 40 or so.

Good luck---and good for you, wanting to get the better of a weight issue before it's overwhelming.

[AlienBandit 10]

can someone get the LAP-BAND®® if they aint over weight . im 31 and slowly gaining weight ...that has been inposible to loose . my mother and grandmotherS are big latina woman they just stop tryn after years of giving it good eforts .what if this my chance to stop it before it gets out of control . i do eat healthy but my portions control is not good i wnt to have self control but i fail, i exersize often but dsnt help . can i get this done not to loose weight but to prevent my self from ganing it????

has it been done before anyone know???

What is your height? There are many people on this forum that have started with low bmi's please check out

Low BMI Bandsters - LAP-BAND

As for me I started with a BMI of 33 but in Korea that is not really seen as being a low bmi because people are so skinny here so it is acceptable to have weightloss surgery at that weight. I am 5'6 and want my bmi to be about 23 or near there. Having the band is not going to make you lose weight. You must change your attitude and feelings towards food. If i wanted to I could gain weight with the band eating bad foods like ice cream pop beer fried food etc but I was dedicated to losing my weight and worked hard towards that goal.

[adagray 1]

A lot of surgeons will band you (self-pay) w/a BMI as low as 30 (that is the standard definition of obesity). Insurance usually won't cover anything unless you have a BMI of 35 w/comorbid conditions or 40+ without comorbid conditions. You can calculate your BMI here: Calculate your BMI - Standard BMI Calculator

If you search around, you might be able to find someone who will band you in the range of 25-30 BMI (that is considered overweight). You might have to find a surgeon outside of the US to do that, though. It is not recommended by the manufacturers of lapband or the realize band (the only fda approved bands in the US).

[minimeme 1]

I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't even consider it. There are better solutions.

The band is a serious medical device and requires a lot of follow up. It is expensive, there is much more to it than just the cost of surgery.

You should also read up in the forum for people who have problems with the band. The band can slip, erode, develop leaks, and you will be right back in the operating room again (which means more money).

Personally, my surgery was VERY painful. And the upkeep is hard. There are constant visits and fills and meetings.

You will still have to diet and learn what foods will be effective with the band and which ones you can over eat. And getting stuff stuck is so not fun. Search the forum for slimming and puking. Not to mention the constant gas. :frown:

[ElfiePoo 109]

can someone get the LAP-BAND®® if they aint over weight . im 31 and slowly gaining weight ...that has been inposible to loose . my mother and grandmotherS are big latina woman they just stop tryn after years of giving it good eforts .what if this my chance to stop it before it gets out of control . i do eat healthy but my portions control is not good i wnt to have self control but i fail, i exersize often but dsnt help . can i get this done not to loose weight but to prevent my self from ganing it????

No doubt...the band does help control portion size. It does not control our food choices and there are some things that slide right through. Even healthy foods can be slider foods so it's still up to us to choose wisely and practice self-control.

The band isn't a magic wand that will automatically keep you from gaining weight and there's a lot of work involved with it. Contrary to the opinions of a few of my more tactless family members, the band is not an 'easy way out'.

Whether or not someone should get banded when they have a minimal amount to lose (what's minimal to one may not be minimal to another) really comes down to the individual.

At the age of 12 I was not overweight. I fell right into the insurance weight chart 'ideal' range. By the time I was 15, I weighed 160 pounds. In 3 years I put on 55 lbs. Based on that, knowing what I know about the band and if it had been available back then, yes, I would've gotten the band.

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[daisy1978 0]

thank you all for your replys its nice to see that you guys dnt think its stupid for me to consider the lap band as an option. i will look up all pro and cons . the fear of becoming over weight is stressing me out becouse of my family history once they gaind the weight they never lost it .

[daisy1978 0]

how old wher you when you first started to gain weight? what if you could have done something about it . im just looking at my options , i will try my best to control what and how i eat .

[daisy1978 0]

No doubt...the band does help control portion size. It does not control our food choices and there are some things that slide right through. Even healthy foods can be slider foods so it's still up to us to choose wisely and practice self-control.

The band isn't a magic wand that will automatically keep you from gaining weight and there's a lot of work involved with it. Contrary to the opinions of a few of my more tactless family members, the band is not an 'easy way out'.

Whether or not someone should get banded when they have a minimal amount to lose (what's minimal to one may not be minimal to another) really comes down to the individual.

At the age of 12 I was not overweight. I fell right into the insurance weight chart 'ideal' range. By the time I was 15, I weighed 160 pounds. In 3 years I put on 55 lbs. Based on that, knowing what I know about the band and if it had been available back then, yes, I would've gotten the band.

.

thank you i realy think you understand were im coming from:thumbup:

[BetsyB 9]

how old wher you when you first started to gain weight? what if you could have done something about it . im just looking at my options , i will try my best to control what and how i eat .

I was an adult. But I've been "fat in the head" my whole life (thanks, Mom). In other words, I've always seen myself as fat, even when I haven't been. And even as a child, my mother had me on crazy diets---when there was no need.

When I began to gain, I did what I suspect you've done---I gave it my ALL to lose. And I really am awesome at losing weight---but as you know, lost weight tends to get found pretty quickly!

In the Houston hospital where I worked in the 90s, banding (early-generation---quite different procedure) was routine. I swore I'd NEVER be banded, based on outcomes. I worked with several banded nurses; they were thinner, but malnourished, bald, and ill. Good Vitamin and Protein supplementation was not available, and the nutrition information given to them was quite different than that given today.

So banding really didn't become something I considered until very recently. I waited until it came a long, long way.

During that time, I had 2 kids, returned to normal weight (without much effort), and went right back up. Much of the gain was very abrupt. No real metabolic cause was identified, but *something* just isn't normal---I think my body just got sick and tired of the yo-yo I was tormenting it with and said, "Uh-uh. No more of that nonsense. I'm not budging!"

If a SAFE and EFFECTIVE band had been available, I would have hopped in line for it in the 90s, when it was easily available to me. At the time, I was about 50 pounds overweight.

I would NOT choose to do it to keep from becoming overweight (if nothing else, I'd educate myself very well about nutrition and exercise; that knowledge is necessary no matter what course of action you take)---but I do think it's perfectly reasonable to have the surgery to nip a developing problem in the bud.

I don't think we're likely to see insurance agreeing with me regarding the importance of nipping it in the bud--so I think people who do so can expect to self-pay. But really--I think most of us, in retrospect, can say we'd love to turn back the clock and halt our gain before it impacted our lives profoundly over time.

Before your weight issue gets out of hand, have you tried any of the plans that require real lifestyle change? Programs like Weight Watchers, while not for everyone, can do a really good job of helping you shift your relationship with food and exercise in healthy, positive ways.

If you could learn to make the changes without having surgery, that would be really awesome.

But I totally get where you're coming from, and think you're smart to be thinking of ways to STOP the gain before it affects you the way it's affected most of us.

[minimeme 1]

I was an adult before I became overweight. I guess I was one of the few people in the world who didn't see being overweight as horrorific. The only reason I am banded is because I have serious health issues, worst being cardiomyopathy.

What I am going thru now is worth being healthy, it is NOT worth being thin by itself.

You keep mentioning that your female family members became overweight and it scares you, yet not once have you mentioned illness. I honestly do believe you should spend your money right now on counseling, vs getting banded. You need to examine your real motives behind this. We lie to our selves to justify our issues all the time.

[RavenClaw779 2]

Besty B and I have the same childhood background re; controlling, diet obsessed mama!

My mother is 5'6" and 118; ditto for her mother...however her brother(my uncle) is obese as is my brother so weight issues can be both environment(emotional) and hereditary.

I started really battling my weight in my early 30's and have been severely obese for 10 years. For me the band is the last step in a growth process not limited to nutritional counseling and admitting I have a problem I can't control on my own.

That said, my on-going nutritional counseling, learning about Portion Control and healthy eating/cooking is going to allow me to truly control my weight and my health. It won't and can't be the job of the band alone.

Start with meeting with a registered dietation. Maybe have an indirect calorimeter(test that tells you how many calories you need on a daily basis), learn portion sizes, food journaling BEFORE you take a drastic step like surgery.

[daisy1978 0]

I was an adult before I became overweight. I guess I was one of the few people in the world who didn't see being overweight as horrorific. The only reason I am banded is because I have serious health issues, worst being cardiomyopathy.

What I am going thru now is worth being healthy, it is NOT worth being thin by itself.

You keep mentioning that your female family members became overweight and it scares you, yet not once have you mentioned illness. I honestly do believe you should spend your money right now on counseling, vs getting banded. You need to examine your real motives behind this. We lie to our selves to justify our issues all the time.

:ohmy:ok i can tell you are complitly against me even looking up this type of information . it does scare me becouse i go back and forth on my weight i keep 4 different size jeans folded just in case and no my famiily has no real medical problems just realy bad attitudes and self estem isues and im sorry you do have med problems that prevent you from being your ideal non horrific weight ... so you wher a happy person when you wher overweght thats good but i dnt see my self being happy and maibe counseling is what a need i will keep that im mnd as an OPTION thanks

[Ses 0]

:ohmy:ok i can tell you are complitly against me even looking up this type of information . it does scare me becouse i go back and forth on my weight i keep 4 different size jeans folded just in case and no my famiily has no real medical problems just realy bad attitudes and self estem isues and im sorry you do have med problems that prevent you from being your ideal non horrific weight ... so you wher a happy person when you wher overweght thats good but i dnt see my self being happy and maibe counseling is what a need i will keep that im mnd as an OPTION thanks

Well, counselling is also a good idea. IN fact I'd suggest it for anyone who has a lapband anyway. :thumbup: Fat isn't just physical, it's in the mind too, and we've gotta change so much of ourselves...

I wouldn't recommend it for you if you can avoid it, but I won't say no either. :wub: But before you head for the operating theatre, try the counseller.

You could start to behave as if you already have the band? We have to do things like buy smaller plates/bowls to make the portions smaller, eat reeeaaal slow, no drinking during a meal or for half an hour after. Get smaller meals when you eat out. That sort of thing. Your body would get used to the changes with or without the band, it'd just take a bit longer.

[daisy1978 0]

i have tryd every diet its just not working anymore my body seems to just want to store everything as fat. i work at the olive garden and dnt even eat their 85% of my diet is white meat ,fish ,toffu and fresh steamd veggies . im just realy tired of not knowing exactly how to prevent gaining weight