Disappointed Big Time

[legallyKristin 0]

I don't know about everyone else, but I have a weight problem because I don't consistantly follow rules.

If I followed the lapband rules before I had it implanted I would have lost a ton of weight. If we all ate 1/2 c. of food 3x a day (even if it was ice cream)

we would lose weight. Right? I know I would.

If our gastric bypass friends followed the rules they wouldn't gain anything back either. Right?

For me, it's easier to follow the rules since the band. I don't constantly have a growling tummy. I am able to be satisfied with a smaller amount of food for longer. I made bad choices when I got so hungry, I would eat whatever I could find. Now, I eat so little, I have to make good choices. That's just my experience.

Kristin

[gordonfamily3 0]

"The band isn't for everyone some use to the fullest extent and some don't..the key w/ the band is that you have to use your tool the way it's suppose to be used".

I don't know about everyone else, but I have a weight problem because I don't consistantly follow rules.

If I followed the lapband rules before I had it implanted I would have lost a ton of weight. If we all ate 1/2 c. of food 3x a day (even if it was ice cream)

we would lose weight. Right? I know I would.

If our gastric bypass friends followed the rules they wouldn't gain anything back either. Right?

Well no I didn't loose the weight before the band, I have been heavy my whole life. Yes if I could follow the rules better some of the diets might have worked but have a tool w/ me 24/7 makes me follow those rules alot better then when I didn't have a tool w/ me. It is my tool that makes me eat less which is a rule of the band...so I persoanlly kinda disagree w/ that because I tried on my own and if I ate a 1/2 cup of food w/o the band I would starving....so to me and my doc a "band rule" is cutting your portion size. As for the ice cream...you would have to eat more then 3 - 1/2 cup servings because you don't have any protien and you would get hungry again and so therefore I don't think you would really loose any weight that way - again another band rule eat protiens first. That is just me I guess I look at everything as a band rule now that I have band. It's all stuff I didn't do before the band. I do have good days and bad days...don't we all.

That was my point about the bypass friends - they don't learn the rules the first year because the weight is just falling off they don't change their eating habits except for portions so that is why most gain weight back after the first year. They ones that learn it don't gain. I work w/ both types one that has never gained and one know trying to loose what she has gained.

That is just how i see it...everyone is different the band isn't for everyone but I still beleive if you use your tool to the fullest extent it will be successful. Again that is just my opinion. Sorry so long...

[Ana Maria 0]

Vanhos,

Pain and/or extreme discomfort are not something you should have to live with. For reasons I don't think anyone fully understands, some people do really well with the band and experience minimal discomfort. They lose weight and their lives change for the better. I admire anyone who can learn to live with the band and make it work. It is not an easy thing to do. Any kind of weight loss requires effort and hard work - banded or unbanded.

By the same token there are those of us who have experienced a lot of suffering since getting banded. I suffered for 3 years, lost 38 pounds, developed acid reflux, constantly felt like all the throwing up was damaging my esophogus, food just didn't go down (yes I chewed and ate small bites) COULD NOT eat healthy, did not feel healthy, was beyond frustrated, band slipped, had it removed: best thing that ever could have happened.

No matter how much weight you've lost Vanhos - 50 pounds or 150 pounds - it's not worth it if your health is at stake. Just losing weight does not automatically mean a person is more healthy. Bandsters are just as likely to regain weight as anyone else. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the number of people I have met through these boards/forums/lists who have done just that.

The bottom line is that if you are suffering and uncomfortable you don't have to live with it. Go see your doctor/ do some research for yourself and try and find some answers. I waited for 6 months and lived with pain until I finally went in to my surgeon. I was sure it was me doing something wrong and not the band.

I wish you continued success. Despite the different opinions expressed here I've found this forum to be the BEST one on the internet. No one flames you here for talking about problems or accuses you of being non-compliant. People really seem to want to help in a non-judgemental way.

Keep posting and let us know how you are.

-ana maria:)

[Deewillbethin 0]

:cry please help me with some advice i have been banded for 1 year and i gained weight not lost:cry i am so depressed and cant get anywhere.

I wish that I could, this is scaring me because I have 6 cc's in my 10 cc band and still no restriction and I to have put on a couple of pounds since my lapbad in March. I had no idea that restriction meant food getting stuck or feeling like it was stuck so I would get it down and continue eating. I wasn't full afterall??

[gordonfamily3 0]

I totally agree w/ Ana Marie - if you are in pain go to your doc and get it taken out. Like I have always said the band isn't for everyone. A healthy you band or no band is what we all want for you.

[missymaxie 0]

Well Don't feel to bad...I have had eight fills and no weight lost but the loss I had before the bad.....and this this all since Feb 2005 now I am having complications.....what is funny three of us women who husbands work at the same job....all three of us have not lost weight and two friends of mine had to have theirs removed.....we all went to the same doctor......Think we have a problem?

[GeezerSue 7]

Comment about comparing LapBand to RnY:

For those who were not at or near goal two years post-op, the RnY person usually lost and regained and the LapBand person never lost much...and they both ended up at the same place.

For those who were at or near goal two years post-op, the RnY person had 18-24 months "free time" but then had to learn how to MAINTAIN that loss. The LapBand person had to learn from the beginning or the loss would not have happened.

In both cases it's about learning...it's the sequence that varies.

From what I understand, the DS is less about learning because there is more malabsorption, which is why I went to that. You CAN regain after losing with the DS...I know of people who have. But the malabsorption (and related problems) are ongoing, so the learning SEEMS TO BE more about eating Protein first and taking supplements galore!

[bbd 0]

I keep telling everyone, IF I WANTED TO DIET I WOULD HAVE, What good is the band I want to know if I STILL HAVE TO WATCH EVERYTHING AND DENY MYSELF.? My band was on April 1, 05, it is May 15 , 06, and the only weight I lost was the first 2 weeks, because I was scaired to death to eat, now I can not eat meat, only hamburger, I ate a Jack In the Box new Breakfast sandwich, about 1/3 of it and vomited it all back up. Well, i did not want to eat anymore I can say..what pain, trying to wait for it to go down!!!I was 324 pounds and am 293 now..never lost another pound and have to keep fighting to keep what I did lose off...barbara in California

I do not, do not eat the Protein first like you are supposed to...to me , Protein is meat the very thing I can not eat...I have a Vitamix machine and make huge Fruit drinks for Breakfast , very little if nothing for lunch, and then a small dinner, what hurts is the pain of food going down , ecspecially if I am very hungry...then I :think eat too fast.

[bbd 0]

What are the abbreviations you are using? Are we supposed to know ? bbd

[bbd 0]

What is RnY? what is DS?

[bbd 0]

bread hurts meat hurts anything but soft foods hurt, drinks are wonderfull, Soup, pudding , cake, salad hurts some, mashed potatoes don';t hurt and neither does my bowl of Cereal at night...it was not worth it at all.Going for bypass.

[Nana~ 4]

if all that hurts sounds to me maybe too tight? or eatting too fast If I eat too fast I get golf ball feeling and that hurts

[Nana~ 4]

here ya go~

http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=7959&highlight=switch

[DonnaB 3]

I keep telling everyone, IF I WANTED TO DIET I WOULD HAVE, What good is the band I want to know if I STILL HAVE TO WATCH EVERYTHING AND DENY MYSELF.?

It does not sound as though you got all the information you needed while making your decision to have lapband surgery. You DO have to diet. You DO have to exercise, and your surgeon should have made you aware of how the surgery works to assist in weight loss. The point of the band is to keep you feeling full longer so keeping to a diet is EASIER to do.

It sounds to me like you thought the lapband was like a RNY, but I see from another of your posts that you don't know whay a RNY is either. RNY is the procedure where they separate or remove a portion of your stomach and re-route your intestine. The stomach remaining is smaller so you eat a smaller amount of food. The intestinal re-routing is to give the food less time and space to be absorbed by your body. It is a malabsorptive diet. With the RNY you cannot tolerate sugar - or at least most people can't - and you suffer from what is known as sugar dumping, or dumping syndrome. My understanding of sugar dumping is that you feel very sick and weak, your heart races, you sweat profusely and you feel nauseated and very, very, ill.

I can't give you information on the Duodenal Switch (DS) - I'm not even sure I SPELLED it correctly. So someone else will have to help you with that procedure. I expect that if you were to "Google" the name of the surgery you'd find ALL KINDS of information about it on the internet.

My band was on April 1, 05, it is May 15 , 06, and the only weight I lost was the first 2 weeks, because I was scaired to death to eat, now I can not eat meat, only hamburger, I ate a Jack In the Box new Breakfast sandwich, about 1/3 of it and vomited it all back up. Well, i did not want to eat anymore I can say..what pain, trying to wait for it to go down!!!I was 324 pounds and am 293 now..never lost another pound and have to keep fighting to keep what I did lose off...barbara in California

You cannot eat junk food and lose weight. I'm not suprised you couldn't eat a breakfast sandwich from a fast food restaurant. Your next post says bread hurts. Isn't there bread on a breakfast sandwich? I think the only way the band is going to work for you is if you start from the beginning and relearn to eat. It sounds like you're in a cycle of irritating your stomach, eating, vomitting and irritating your stomach. You'll never get out of that cycle unless you change your eating habits. You sound suprised by your lack of weight loss but don't you see that you cannot expect to continue eating the type and quantity of foods you always have and expect a result that's different from the one you've always had. You must change your habits to change your weight. Period.

I do not, do not eat the Protein first like you are supposed to...to me , Protein is meat the very thing I can not eat...I have a Vitamix machine and make huge Fruit drinks for breakfast , very little if nothing for lunch, and then a small dinner, what hurts is the pain of food going down , ecspecially if I am very hungry...then I :think eat too fast.

Do you have access to a nutritionist? By not following the rules of the band - did you know in advance there WERE rules? - you're not giving your band a chance to work for you. Eventually your band will slip from all the vomitting and eating foods which irritate your stomach and you will have to have it re-placed or, more likely, removed. It's time for you to have a frank discussion with your surgeon to decide on a future course of action.

[bbd 0]

For me, it's easier to follow the rules since the band. I don't constantly have a growling tummy. I am able to be satisfied with a smaller amount of food for longer. I made bad choices when I got so hungry, I would eat whatever I could find. Now, I eat so little, I have to make good choices. That's just my experience.

Kristin

Kristin, Not all people react the same. True, maybe if I followed the rules I would have lost more, or some more than I did the first 2 weeks. but even the nutritionist never said there were "RULES" or there was no success? I thought the whole purpose of the band was to feel full so you did not overeat??NO????Well mine never made me feel full ,,,,never. barbara in Ca. bbd