did you question yourself...

[ivy20062007 0]

I really want this surgery but I find days when I start thinking that it just won't work because nothing else has. Did getting the lap band motivate you to exercise because right now I always say I need to but never do. I am paying for the surgery myself so it freaks me out to think of spending all that money and it not working. Did anyone else feel this way and what did you do? Is is worth the money I will spend??? PLEASE GIVE ME SOME ADVICE!!!

[2Flyguys 13]

i honestly did not lift a finger b4 i was banded...i swear to u...u can't pay me to stay out of the gym now...i think the motivation comes from faster loss and not feeling miserably hungry like u do on conventinal diets...my surgeon continously told me to walk...walk...walk...from the 1st time we met...he clearly explained to c faster results i would need to work with my tool (exercise)...i listened...listened...listened and have had a unbelievable year with my band...

[canadiangirl 0]

Hi Ivy,

I started at 338lbs almost a year ago. I couldn't lose the weight and when I did I would gain it back and then some. I had no energy and was unmotivated to excersise. I called my clinic at the beginning of Nov. for a consult and flew to have my surgery 3 weeks later. I am now at 261lbs (i still haven't excersised, I still feel self concious and uncomfortable about doing it) but I have a lot more energy, I go out more, run up and down the stairs to get things (I don't delegate those tasks to my kids anymore) I feel that I am thinking more and more about excersise (which in itself is a huge thing for me..lol). It has taken me about 7 months to FINALLY get used to this band. It has been hard, and in the beginning I had regrets..now I am happy that I did it. Everyone is different. Some of us went out and worked out, ate well and thats awesome, but for me I'm doing it my way and it works for me! What really helps is that you find someone on this site that you can relate to for support. I have a new great friend that I met on this site, we talk to on the phone and Facebook eachother for support. We slimed, threw up, ate too much/too fast, never excersised and complained about our bands and how tight they were and what was "normal" ,and made fun of some of the "know-it alls" on this site and shared laughter with eachother...but we support one another and THAT has been part my success, oh and lots and lots of Protein..LOL!

Good luck with you're decision. I paid out of my pocket and I would do it again!

I hated being over 300 lbs. and now that I am not, I feel great!

[ParrotheadCathy 0]

I would say that everybody on here has made some attempt(s) to lose weight. Lots of us lost and then regained multiple times. So, OF COURSE, it should cause a bit of leave-taking as part of the thought process. Like, "why should this time be any different?" or "why should I think I could finally be successful?" or simply, "why waste my money?"

Well, here's my personal truth, and most of the others on here have their own version. I'm down 79 pounds. I have a ways to go but I haven't been this small in about 20 years. In that 20 years, I've dieted and ALWAYS fallen off the wagon, gotten discouraged and given up countless times. And I KNOW BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT without this band, I would have given up a good while ago and started with the regaining. But after a couple of days of a pity party, I realized my band wasn't letting me eat my misery.

Not everybody loses as fast as 2Fly and not everybody is willing to post a picture in a bikini like Jachut ... BUT success is there in the future as long as you are willing to start the journey and use your band for the tool that it is.

[Lana24 10]

Yes, I questioned it...could I or would I. But the fact is I want to lose weight, I had to quit smoking, stop eating out and recover for surgery. Walking is the easy part in my point of view.

Good luck

[sushi_flower 0]

Yes I questioned it, I was scared to death it wouldn't work. I lost 40 pounds in the nine months before surgery with a huge struggle. Just a little over two months out I've lost 46 more pounds and its been hard but im not discouraged....I now think it was worth it.

[PSF 0]

I think everyone had doubts about the surgery. I questioned my decision up until the day, then I told myself --- Well there is no backing out now. I have been banded now for 2 months, everything that I thought would be problem -- so far has not been. I have had two fills and that worried me how I would be afterwards... So far so good. I would recommend it.

[bella71 0]

I am so happy that I had the surgery. I am almost three weeks out, and right now, I am just grateful not to be on a liquid diet anymore. pureed tuna and scrambled eggs never tasted to good! :redface:

Regarding exercise, I did a lot of soul searching. I realize now that I am much more consistent about working out if I am doing it in preparation for a specific, concrete goal. I need to feel as though I am "in training" for something. Just doing it to be healthy is not enough to get me off the couch. So, I am currently training for a 5k on June 5th. I am following the c25k (couth to 5k) program. You can find it online.

Best of luck everybody!

[LeighaMason 19]

I was self pay too. And I started questioning my decision after surgery. I gained weight after the surgery but before my first fill. So then I thought Crap! Another failed diet, but this one had a $10k price tag! Then after my first fill everything started working out wonderfully. I just had my 3rd fill and I am sailing right along averaging 2 lbs a week. I even started working out last week!

[sandi2004 2]

I really want this surgery but I find days when I start thinking that it just won't work because nothing else has. Did getting the LAP-BAND® motivate you to exercise because right now I always say I need to but never do. I am paying for the surgery myself so it freaks me out to think of spending all that money and it not working. Did anyone else feel this way and what did you do? Is is worth the money I will spend??? PLEASE GIVE ME SOME ADVICE!!!

There are so many questions tied into your post, let me try to answer some of it for you. First, I paid cash myself and was just as worried as you that I would fail at this, just like I failed at every other attempt to lose weight. But here I am, almost 6 years post banding having lost 250 lbs and maintaing it. I LOVE my new life. Just getting started- the liquid diet immediately before and after and the surgery itself contributes to kick starting your weight loss, especially when we have LOTS to lose (I started at 424 lbs). Then you are almost afraid to take your first bite of soft food, but you do. Just follow the rules of the band and you can do it. it is not easy, it takes effort on your part, but it is certainly worth it, and you can get and keep your weight off. Second, about exercising- at 424 lbs exercise was getting out of bed. I didn't begin anything besides walking a little more (and it really was just a little) until I had lost almost 100 lbs. Then I figured I could do something- and the Water was the only solution since I had a bad knee. I started swimming. First for 5 minutes a day 3 days a week, slowly working up to 15 minutes and finally getting to swimming 7 days a week for 30 minutes to an hour. You are not, even if you are very young and I wasn't, going to be able to exercise hard for an hour or more right at the beginning. Nor will you find th emotivation to do uch. it's kind of a why bother thing, right? I should do this and I should do that.....Let me tell you, Once the weight starts coming off and you realize it is actually happenning you suddenly start feeling better about yourself and want to do good things for yourself- good things that DO NOT include food rewards.LOL.......Stop beating yourself up and start thinking about the first day of the rest of your life- If you want to read more about my story of the trials and tribulations of losing 250 lbs go check out my blog at :

Sandi's Banded Living — My Lapband Weight Loss Success Story

I'd be interested in your feedback

[serenity55 15]

Canadian Girl, and ParrotheadCathy, you are perfect examples of why I love this site. Thank you both.

I don't think I questioned what I was doing until the day of surgery, but that was because I was afraid of the procedure--being put to sleep.

Getting banded is the best thing I could have done for myself, and though I still have a long way to go, I know the weight I have lost is weight I wouldn't have gotten rid of without the band.

As someone said, I still eat junk, just much less of it--I've tried that before, and it just led to binges.

I exercise at least three times a week, but if I don't I try not to beat myself up about it. Some days are better than others; I definitely have days when I eat more than I should, or make unhealthy choices. . The point is that I'm losing weight; maybe not as quickly as others, but it's coming off, and that's what matters.

Good luck, and let us know how things are going for you.

Debbie

[JulieNYC 4]

I'm one of those obnoxious bandsters who runs marathons. I run marathons because I want to be a size 4 and I want to kick my brothers' butts in family sports like I never could growing up. But that is IRRELEVANT to band success. It's completely relevant to health, but in the words of my band surgeon, the band and weight loss in general is about eating less. It's not about exercise.

It takes about 3600 calories of exercise to burn one pound. At my size, I can run an entire marathon (26.2 miles) and I will only burn about 2700 calories. A whole marathon and I don't even lose a single pound!! Yet, if I was eating 3000 calories a day, if I cut back to 2000, I could lose 2 lbs a week. See, it's MUCH easier to lose weight through Portion Control than through exercise. Portion control gets you to a healthy WEIGHT, not exercise (at least not exercise alone).

Now before I get yelled at (haha), clearly I advocate exercise. There is so much more to a healthy life than weight. And exercise will speed weightloss -- it's just not the primary contributor (portion control -- fewer calories in is the primary). Exercise makes you healthy, makes you feel good, makes your body look better, etc., etc., but you WILL lose weight with the band, whether you exercise or not.

So, don't let that deter you. Worry about exercise later. Get the band now. Even if you only get 2/3 of the way to goal because you never set foot in a gym, think of how much healthier you'll be than if you do neither. (And, of course, you can do both! I'm just saying don't postpone for fear that you'll never be one to exercise).

I hope this post comes off the way I mean it to. It's meant to be band-positive, not exercise-negative.

[sandi2004 2]

I'm one of those obnoxious bandsters who runs marathons. I run marathons because I want to be a size 4 and I want to kick my brothers' butts in family sports like I never could growing up. But that is IRRELEVANT to band success. It's completely relevant to health, but in the words of my band surgeon, the band and weight loss in general is about eating less. It's not about exercise.

It takes about 3600 calories of exercise to burn one pound. At my size, I can run an entire marathon (26.2 miles) and I will only burn about 2700 calories. A whole marathon and I don't even lose a single pound!! Yet, if I was eating 3000 calories a day, if I cut back to 2000, I could lose 2 lbs a week. See, it's MUCH easier to lose weight through Portion Control than through exercise. Portion control gets you to a healthy WEIGHT, not exercise (at least not exercise alone).

Now before I get yelled at (haha), clearly I advocate exercise. There is so much more to a healthy life than weight. And exercise will speed weightloss -- it's just not the primary contributor (portion control -- fewer calories in is the primary). Exercise makes you healthy, makes you feel good, makes your body look better, etc., etc., but you WILL lose weight with the band, whether you exercise or not.

So, don't let that deter you. Worry about exercise later. Get the band now. Even if you only get 2/3 of the way to goal because you never set foot in a gym, think of how much healthier you'll be than if you do neither. (And, of course, you can do both! I'm just saying don't postpone for fear that you'll never be one to exercise).

I hope this post comes off the way I mean it to. It's meant to be band-positive, not exercise-negative.

Julie:

I basically agree with you. don't count on the exercise. Once you have portion control down- calories in reduced enough that you are losing weight, then exercise becomes of multiple benefits for you. First of all it helps to boost your weight loss since you are burning calories, then it helps you to continue and to maintain your weight loss since muscle burns more calories than fat just sitting still, it conditions your cardio vascular systme resulting in better health and it creates all of those feel good endorphines to keep you coming back for more. BUT, the weight l,oss and learning to eat the right foods in the right proportions is primary.