To those who are succeeding: What are the Critical Success Factors?

[eGomer 0]

I was banded Nov '06. I am 54 and the Lap Band is really my last chance at health. I lost several pounds post op while on liquids but then stopped losing. The failure I've experienced up to now has been mine, not the Lab Band's. I am determined to turn this around and make it work.

I am asking for support and help from anyone who has been successful post op, most especially from anyone who did poorly for a while after getting banded but then somehow turned it around and became successful.

I'm looking for the fundamental points: What are the three or four post-op things that you realized or learned or started doing or stopped doing that have helped you to turn around a bad start and made you successful in the end?

If I get a good response, I can put together a kind of Top 10 list for Bandster Success. If you see that someone has posted a point that is true for you too, please reinforce it. If I see trends of repeating learnings and strategies and techniques, I'll know I'm on to something that is generally sound, and not just meaningful to one person.

I'm not looking for overnight miracles or easy answers. My objective is slow. steady, sustainable weight loss and the adoption of life style changes and behaviors that will promote life-long health.

Thanks for your help. I really need it and I will value it.

[areellady 1]

I am going to answer all though I have done extremely well and have had no bad times.

The first thing that I really truly believe to be the core of the lap band is IT IS NOT A MIRACLE!! A person has to be willing to work at it with all their hearts. I read many many posts of people continually eating treats and candy, drinking pop, eating out daily.....This is not going to work!!!I think a lot of people go into the surgery thinking it is going to be piece of cake(no pun intended) and it is NOT. It is just as hard as any diet I have ever been on to eat the right nutritious things. The difference being, this time, there is a tool in place so that if I do have something that is not the best nutritionally, I don't beat myself up and give up. I start again and the tool is still there. I think people think that they are going to magically not ever be hungry again, and this is simply NOT true. You will get hungry again and then you have to do some work and eat healthy!!!! Exercising is the next important step in this puzzle of obesity. So many people hate it and so many people don't do it!!! People want to believe that they can simply never have to move their bodies and be fine. A person may very well be able to lose weight without exercising, but what about strength. We lose so much muscle when we lose weight if we are not doing strength training. We have taken a step to be healthy, why not just take the next step and start what you hate to do....exercise.

Next I think that self hatred can be the worst thing that a "dieter" has to deal with. Self hatred of a body that is not losing fast enough, body image disorder and hanging skin. I think we all need to learn to love us for us. I am not saying I am there yet, but I am a lot closer than I was three months ago.

These are just a few thoughts that poppes into my head as I read your post....I don't know if it is what you had in mind but hope it helps.

[Candice 1]

I totally agree with all the points you gave, however, you must continue to get those fills. I have been very successful by losing 150 pounds and reaching my overall goal. I have already had a Tummy Tuck, breast lift and my arms tucked, and continue to fight to keep the weight off. I have learned to maintain by sticking to my regular diet. During the plastic surgery I had my port changed out to a low profile port so it wouldn't stick out anymore. Some of my saline was lost during this change and I was able to eat bread and all the things I had given up, so as soon as I could, I ran back to the doctor and had a fill. I am going again this week because they didn't give me enough. I was at my "SWEET SPOT" before surgery and I want to be back there now that I am heeled up. That sweet spot is exactly that.....it's where you feel at home with your band. You'll know it when you get there. I went through periods when I did not lose a pound for two or three weeks, but it really is your body having to play catch up with the weight loss. Also, you need to make sure you are not doing what I did and eating too little calories. If I didn't eat at least 1000 to 1200 calories of the right foods every day, my body would go into starvation mode and I would stop losing. I would also do an ample cardio and strenth training session at least three times a week to work off enough calories to equal one meal for that day. Don't be so hard on yourself.....that was a huge lesson I learned on this lapband journey.