Getting banded Monday......YIKES!!!!!

[Starprincess 0]

I am getting my lap band on Monday and am beginning my liqiud diet today.

I had some problems sticking to my pre-op diet the last week because it was my birthday and I wanted to enjoy one dinner, one last time the "old way" before my surgery.

I made the decision to have the surgery last December, but had ins. approval issues, that just got resolved in late May.

I am in a completely different head space now than I was then. I want to have the surgery and make the necessary changes, BUT with the 5 month wait, I now have an extremely high dose of fear (food was a "friend"). I am cautionsly optimistic and am pushing forward nad looking forward to my new life.

[Will_B_Healthy 0]

I was banded exactly three months ago so my memories of the pre-op anxiety is relatively fresh. By the time I had my surgery, I was ready, truly committed to making a huge change in direction. I am not here to tell you to not worry or relax or anything soothing -- how could I do that? I have no earned "cred" with you. I do hope you have or are building a support team of friends and family from whom that advice has value. This isn't something you can do in isolation.

For me electing to get banded was the most selfish decision of my life and the smartest choice I've ever made. Within a few days post-op when I was walking around the block for the first time in years I knew this was a great adventure.

It didn't take long to understand what my surgeon told me early on: the band is just a tool, offering a temporary and artificial barrier that most any human can overcome. Homo sapiens are notoriously creative problem solvers and have a superb ability for self-deception, too. We can convince ourselves that what we are doing is really okay even if all the evidence points otherwise.

There is post on this site about how a bander was able to eat a Big Mac and fries; all he had to do was chew and chew and chew. My older sister was banded two years ago and has lost a total of thirty-five pounds; considering she still tips the scale at over 200 pounds and is only 5'3" that is not too noteworthy. Her portions are small but it is what she is eating not how much that is her undoing. She is the poster girl for pathetic rationalizing.

But I have also read and spoken to hundreds of successful banders who have been down these paths, pranced and preened, and have sometimes run with abandon, sometimes stumbled, even fallen, and yet found something somewhere important enough to get back on the course.

It isn't just will power, or commitment, or routine, or any one thing. It is finding what will work best for you. It is taking charge of your life, of learning all you can and not being afraid to ask when you don't know, of setting achievable goals and looking at how far you have come rather than how far you have to go. In short it is finding your own way. And understanding we often get in our own way.

You have begun a journey that will be unlike any other. Guaranteed. Enjoy the scenery, get actively involved, be bold and open as you gain confidence in what you are doing.

And don't forget to post and visit this site.

Regards as always,

WB

[LinKo 0]

Will_B_Healthy, that was very inspirational. Thank you. I'm just starting the lap-band journey, so I'm trying to read as much as possible. Your post really spoke to me.

[Starprincess 0]

Thanks that was very helpful........