Hello...trying to decide on WLS - need opinions!

mbumblebee · February 23, 2009

Hello,

I have not had WLS yet, but I am considering the band. I have a BMI of 41 and am 33 yrs old.

For my entire life I have been overweight - but I periodically go on diets and can lose weight -- I just can't maintain. It always seems to creep back up there. Last year I lost over 50 lbs on weight watchers, but once I got tired of calculating points at every meal I slowly gained everything back.

After all this, I feel like even if I do start a weight loss program like WW again I know the weight will just come right back sooner or later.

So, I am considering WLS. The lap band seems least drastic (though I recently let my DH know that I was thinking about it and you would have thought I had told him I was considering removing my right leg).

Can WLS can help me? I love food. Portion-control is not my forte, and I also love to snack throughout the day. Sweets & carbs especially!! I know better - but I feel like I just can't help it! When I snack, I am not necessarily very hungry - just feel like I could eat. Does the lap-band help people like me? Will I feel full so I actually am averse to eating?

I realize the lap-band is not cooking my meals for me -- I just wonder how it feels to have the band as opposed to just dieting.

Thanks for listening!!

mbumblebee

marcyinak · February 24, 2009

My only regret is that I waited so long to do it. It's been 1 1/2 years and I've lost 50 lbs. and KEPT IT OFF. I love food also so I've actually decided not to have a fill for several months so I could "enjoy myself"...mind you, I haven't gained anything while doing that. I know now that if I diet, the weight will stay off. That was impossible before!

I like my Lap-Band because of two major reasons: removable and adjustable. With the other surgeries it isn't reversable...even if I get sick! I like knowing that I can cinch myself up if I need to or let it all out.

To note: I'm a RARE example of someone that can eat and drink things that others can't. I can drink soda with no problem (diet is a little bubblier than regular though). And "crap" goes down easy. I don't even crave breat or Pasta anymore (those would be the two things that throw me over the edge...of the toilet).

I went to Dr. Kirshenbaum in Denver lapbandrockies.com and he has a "package price". There's a thread on here for him "Considering Dr. Kirshenbaum" and there are LOTS of positive things said about him...good guy and "guarantees" his work for a year! Can't get better than that!

Good luck with whatever you decide!

mbumblebee · February 24, 2009

Thanks so much Marcy! That's just the type of info I was looking for!! Seems like I should check into the food restrictions. I do love soda (all kinds) but I'd be willing to give it up if nec.

I think I'd be ok with the occasional "pb" (I read about that on this board) -- but the "dumping syndrome" with a bypass sounds scary... heart palpitations etc.

Also, I am registering for the info seminar at the hospital here that has a special program for bariatric surgery - Central Dupage Hospital (Winfield, IL) -- some other posters have had good experiences there. Can't hurt to go over the types of surgeries again.

Thanks again!!

mbumblebee

marcyinak · February 24, 2009

You are correct...do as much research as you can. Every doc is different with each procedure too (my docs pre and post op diets and instructions were quite different than others). My background is in health care so I didn't feel I needed to be coddled by my doc. although I've heard that Dr. K is a coddler when needed.

I have friends that have had the bypass and the sleeve. They all lost weight QUICKLY, but I just don't think that's healthy...slow and steady...and I've kept it off. ALL of my bypass friends have gained some weight back. My sleeve friends just had it done last year so they haven't really "bottomed out" so don't know if they'll gain some back or not...that's why I like ADJUSTABLE. :-D

I have issues with meat, but have found that I do ok when it's greasy like meat balls, Jerky, roast chicken that's not dry. The great thing is that (even though this took about a year) I don't crave things that I have "trouble with". So...if I get a fill and can't drink soda I'm sure I'll lose the craving for that too....

It's fun and quite interesting how it happens.

Jachut · February 24, 2009

You sound very similar to me - I just love food and I was an all day snacker mostly on sweets and carbs.

I dont really know how to describe how its different - but I spent a good year and a half feeling decidedly UNhungry, like I'd just eaten a big meal all the time. In that time I lost most of my weight and I took up running and became dedicated to it. My eating habits and the help the band gives me slid a little over the next 2 years, well I make that sound wrong, but the initial incredible motivation and drive inevitably wanes, and the band doesnt provide such great hunger control - although this is adjustable of course,- I found I got less and less appetite control as time went on, I have plenty, but its not like it was at first. At first I was aware that I was not hungry if that makes sense, now its kind of unconscious, I have more interest in food than I did and am not aware of being "full" but I have way more self control so that's obviously a bit of a mental adjustment that you make over time, as you forget what you used to feel like. I eat carbs - bread, Pasta, Cereal, the odd cookie. I eat everything in moderation.

A lot of those sweet carb foods - donuts, muffins, cake just feel horrible to eat too - they block you up as if you'd tried to eat a kitchen sponge, erk, they jsut dont appeal to me anymore. I sometimes might still buy a muffin because I feel like it, but I'll have it in a take out bag, I'll nibble a bit, put it away for later becuase there's no way i can eat it all at once. Now for someone who used to be able to eat six (I kid you not, I occasionally did that) enormous muffins over the space of 2 or 3 hours, to make one last all day effortlessly is kind of amazing. I dont put it down and have it call to me all afternoon and resist it, I just dont want it becuase 1/4 of it makes me so full its a few hours before I feel like anything again.

Cookies though,......mmmmmmm. I stay away from them! Most of the time :-p

It really DOES help. I never got hungry pre band, I ate just becuase and never gave myself a chance to get hungry. I regularly get starving now becuase I havent eaten for a few hours. I also notice I've gotten good at eating what I really want, most of the time thankfully my tastes are healthy, but if I want a Mcdonalds cheeseburger (the only burger small enough for me to be able to eat) then i darn well have it. If I want fries and a coffee I"ll have it. If I want a piece of cake I'll have it. I've entirely let go that emotional tie that good food/bad food has on you because whilst nobody would say its healthy to eat cake for lunch, its nothing more than calories and energy for your body and if that's what you want one day, it really does make NO difference in the scheme of a healthy diet. Now that nothing's forbidden, its amazing how much you dont want it.

I dont really agree with getting banded and then following some super strict regime the way it seems to be done in the US, but that's more a personality thing. For me it was important and is important that I can have what I like in the scheme of a balanced plan.

Edited February 24, 2009 by Jachut

mbumblebee · February 25, 2009

Thanks Jacqui & Marcy - you really helped me make up my mind on this.

A year and a half would really go far in helping me change my bad habits of overeating. That would be much different than dieting. Usually when I lose weight I stop after a few months, and it's easy to go right back after such a short time.

I also agree about not being super-strict. But I never could really do "moderation". I have the mindset of either being on a diet or not. I think the band could help me in that area.

And I suppose the feeling of discomfort would assist with controlling my carbs. When I diet, and slip up and eat a donut - it's easy to eat 3 or 4 (and then feel guilty). From what everyone says it would be physically impossible to eat that many with the band!!

Thanks for all of the good info!!

Mbumblebee

Jachut · February 25, 2009

Oh, yes, I can virtually promise that there will be no 3 or 4 donut binges - OUCH. I can do one, but how much damage does one donut very occasionally do? Learning how to fit those foods into the occasional category and enjoying them appropriately is just as important as eating healthily and appropriately for most of your meals. This is a mental as well as a phsyical journey and much more than a matter of deprivation of all foods. Its about learning to manage our eating in all situations.

So that's good news and bad - sometimes its easier to draw a line in the sand and not cross it, take those foods OUT of your diet and forbid them, but I differ from many in that I dont believe that helps you develop a healthy relationship with food. To me that means being able to cope with all foods, not falling apart if you dont have control of what you're eating, being able to eat treat foods without overindulging etc. I really dont think strict "rules" help much in the long term.

Lovinglapbandliving · June 7, 2009

That is sooo true! this is exactly how I am too! I was banded on may 19th 2009 and this has been the biggest change for me so far, EMOTIONAL! Before the band I spent all of my adult life trying to be so strict on my self to loose weight it was self distructive! CARBS BAD MUST NOT EAT CARBS..... then what do I crave?... CARBS..... then I bing and soon the GUILT and depression SETS IN! and emotionally I was just exausted!!!! It was a total mind trip. I would try one METHOD after another "How to eat healthy" and sooner than later, BING, GUILT, Depression, more binging.... WHat a cycle! I was cooking one taste less meal for me then one good meal for the family. what do you think I ate after the tasteless meal???? yep, the good one! Of course this was after dinner and while no one was looking so I would feel less like a glutton... I know I am not the only one who was on this distructive path. CRAZY!!!! The band has freed me from this distructive cycle by changing my thinking. NOTHING is OFF LIMMITS. I can eat so little even of a not healthy craving food I cant do all that damage! so having no forbidden foods has helpped me have less cravings for those XXX foods! So I just eat what sounds good with no more guilt! I can finally eat with the family. THEY ARE SO RELIEVED I AM NOT COOKING THOSE CRAZY GROSS HEALTHY MEALS! I know this is a stage and my weight loss may not be the best but I am enjoying the fact that I have rediscovered taste! and I have lost 12lbs in the last 2 weeks! So I am very thankful for the lapband it is a GOd sent device that has freed me from guilt, and shame. It is ok to eat! I just cant eat as much as I use too! I LOve it!

I hope my experiance has helped.