Once your banded can you ever eat normally again??

[spoiltmom 44]

What I mean is I was talking a girl I know who had Gastric Bypass. She had it several years ago and now she has about 40 pounds left to lose. She said it's hard b/c now her stomach is bigger and holds normal amounts of food again.

Will you ever get like that with Lap Band? I would think not but I'm just asking:)

[btrieger 21]

You'll eat normal for the rest of your life.

We didn't get fat by eating "normal." We gorged ourselves.

Bypass patients lose weight quickly but as there stomach stretches the weight loss slows. Those that do as they're told, don't have a problem with their stomach's stretching.

With the band, there are adjustments and we see our surgeons a lot more often. As long as we do what we're told and are honest with the surgeon during follow-ups. The correct adjustments are made and we are better off that bypass patients.

[BetsyB 9]

Yes, you'll learn to eat normally--none of us really did, before surgery. We may have eaten properly, but even then, we ate too much.

Gastric bypass produces a faster loss, but the body is pretty amazing and compensates, after the first year and a half or so, for much of the malabsorption that helps promote loss.

So, after a honeymoon period---even if the pouch is not stretched--the "effortless" loss stops.

To be a long-term success, with either RNY or banding, you have to commit to long-term changes.

The great thing about the band is that you can continue to tweak its adjustment ad infinitum---so if you feel as though you've lost a bit of restriction, you can have it adjusted.

"Normal?" Yes. But definitely not the "normal" lots of us started out with!

[shelley1057 0]

Kind of makes me think of a waterbed. You fill the mattress with Water until you achieve the desired firmness. Then months later the vinyl of the mattress has stretched so you can add more water to get back the desired firmness again. I think the band can be added to if you lose the restriction. Am I right?

[Froggie D 1]

That is the beauty of the band, as you change, you can have it changed. It is adjustible.

I have only been banded a few months, but I feel like I am eating "normally" for the first time in my life. I eat well, actually far healthier than I was before my band.

Before my band, I thought there were only two choices

1). overeating and feeling stuffed for a while and doing it all over again

2) depriving myself and being hungry.

With the band I find there is another option - eating healthy and feeling satisfied until the next meal.

It is not 100% and takes work, but now I can do it!

Your PA should focus on giving factual information, both pro and con, and not sharing so much personal opinion. Not very professional in my estimation.

Good luck to you!