Advice Please

I have been thinking about LAP-BAND®® since 2007, yet I still havent made any moves towards having it done. I was about 240lbs then,and 3 years later I am now 270 lbs. so, I need to do something asap....What's your advice for someone contemplating surgery .....

-pros and cons?

-what was your diet like in the begining and what is it like now?

-how often do you exercise?

-did you have anyd difficulties?

-can you drink alcoholic beverages (not a big drinker, just curious)?

-did your insurance cover surgery, and if so what did you have to do for them to agree to cover the surgery?

-what has been the hardest part with having LapBAND?

Any extra info you would like to offer would be great! THANKS!

I weighed 267 and in six months I am down 72 lbs!!!! Nuff Said? I took Celebrex for pain in my legs and feet, could not wear high heels, no sexy clothes either! I was border line diabetic, took Metphormin for that and now I take no meds at all, occasional Tylenol and a Multi-Vitamin.

I ate a low carb diet in preparation for the surgery, still do it works and high protein! I try to eat small portions no more than 8 oz per meal and I have 5 or 6 small ones a day. I drink lots of Crystal Lite, love it. No sodas they are loaded with sugars and make you fat! You can have an occasional beer or wine, but alcohol the first year is pretty much out. It interferes with your weight loss.

It is not hard to stay on a plan, cause you don't get hungry with the band. DO IT! You will never reqret it!

Hello, I am Ken (Giby97) and I was overweight for over 10 years and finally met my match at 270 which had many sideaffects. Those being: feeling tired all the time, loss of flexibility, loss of self esteem, not wanting to go places with the family, etc. I love to bass fish using a float tube and felt awkward fishing cause I was always the last one to get into the water, bending over to put the fins on was tiring. Anyway my wife convinced me to check the lapband surgery out with the doctor interview on 3 Dec 09. At that visit I decided I was going to do it and set it up for 4 Jan 10. I do not regret it one bit, because after 12 days, the energy levels seem to be never ending for me. I can't pin point it but the energy is there-all day. Just follow the diet plan, and you will loose. I did occasionally drink a beer every now and then but since the surgery, not alcohol or sodas since 3 Jan 10. Suspect after one reaches his/her goal then possibly they could consume some alcohol, but not a lot. Socialize drinking, not binging. I had my surgery done in Korea, and it was simple, no pre-op stuff, just stop eating at 12 midnight on 3 Jan 10 and show up on 4 Jan 10 at 0830. Of course I did not have to wait for any insurance, I paid cash up front, about 6,500.00. I do have a steady weight loss with some leveling out about 5 days prior to my fill dates. Yes I already know when I am expected to go to the doc for fills, it was every two weeks, but I made it three week intervals. Next week on 27 Feb 10 I will go for my 3rd fill, 2 more cc's which will be 6 cc's in my 11 cc band. I know I will feel much restriction, and that's what I want-you loose more. I travel about 4.5 hours one way to get to the doc's office and then wait there for 25 min after the injections, which do not hurt, and try to drink water. You need to be able to drink water no matter what, so that is my #1 check. Once ok, then I am off on my return trip home. After my surgery I had for breakfast, shakes and vitamins, for lunch soups, then for dinner shakes again for a few days. Then on the 4th day I moved to mushy foods-soft foods, mash potatoes, pork and beans, any cooked beans with soup. You need to eat protein foods. Then after a day or so, I went on to fish, chicken or beef, about 2.5 oz. with mac and cheese noodles or mashed potatoes. (veggies 1/2 cup) (Meat 2.5 oz). Did not drink anything for 30 min afterwards. Then when inbetween meals I had a 1/2 glass skim milk with a slice of cheese. At night I had either sugarless jello, pudding, or popsicle. At breakfast I moved up to oatmeal, and or cheese omelet. Lunch was a package of tuna salad with 5 crackers, or Tuna in the special packs at the store-very cheap. I have managed to exercise about 3 nights a week but since yesterday I am on a daily program of riding a stationary bike. When it warms up outside I will walk at night. Plan on doing 1 hour tonight on the bike. The lapbander that commented prior to me is 100 percent on with what she said. Read through all the lapbander's posts and see for yourself how you will improve your life style. There are some pretty interesting stories out there, many of which are valuable support for new banders like yourself. Join the gang and feel wonderful in one year or less. It's your move.

-pros and cons?

Pro is I am loosing weight for the first time in my life. I have gained 5-10lbs a year since I was 22 or so.

-what was your diet like in the begining and what is it like now?

In the beginning I was on a liquid diet, then I progressed to mushies, and now I eat a low carb diet. I eat 5-6 meals of 1 cup or less.

-how often do you exercise?

I started exercising the day after surgery and havent missed a day since.

-did you have any difficulties?

Yes, the surgery was VERY painful for me. But I think that was a mixed blessing because I am very careful with my meals because of it. I wont overeat for fear of needing more surgery (slipped band/dialated pouch)

-can you drink alcoholic beverages (not a big drinker, just curious)?

Yes, I drink. No more than 2 drinks at a time and usually once a week.

-did your insurance cover surgery, and if so what did you have to do for them to agree to cover the surgery?

Yes, my insurance covered it. Out of pocket costs for me were around $750. But they charged my insurance over $200,000. This worries me because I am a long term employee and have known people who have exhausted their life time cap and been without insurance.

-what has been the hardest part with having LAP-BAND®?

It is unforgiving when you eat too fast, overeat or eat the wrong foods. And the "wrong foods" are not what we have learned from previous diets.

A bag of cheetos will go down no hitch, but fiberous green beans gave me trouble.

Also, there is a LOT of aftercare. Lots of visits and fills. Make sure you know who will be doing your fills and make sure you are VERY comfortable with them. I have had issues with my fill person I wont go into on the open forum. I love my surgeon, but his fill person, not so much. :frown:

I am a long-term yo-yo dieter (up to 50# at a time). I no longer diet at all. I eat what my family eats and I still drink alcohol in moderation, almost every weekend and wine with an occassional weekday dinner. I've been an obsessive exerciser with past 'diets' and I exercise now about 2-3x a week for 30-45 min....for me this was all about living my new lifestyle from the very beginning. The hardest part...NOT dieting...I'm a good dieter, but who can live that way forever...it's been slower WL than dieting, but I can truly say I'm not going to be doing anything any differently when I get to goal...I've been in the 'normal BMI' range for a month or so now. I'm an open book on my blog:

THE SWEET SPOT

Thank you all for your input. It was very informative, and any more info would be greatly appreciated....

I had the band done in 2007 and lost 80Lbs within the first year. But it didn't come easy, many visits to the doctor to have the band filled/unfilled. After a year i developed severe acid reflux and went through a year of pain and discomfort. I would throw up acid, not food, on a daily basis and would often wake up in the middle of the night choking on acid. They came to the conclusion my band had slipped. Even taking all the liquid out of the band didn't help any so they recommended i get the band removed. Which i did this past November and too my surprise when i went back for the post op they found out they left a piece of the band inside of me. So now i have to deal with that issue. The first year of the surgery i would've been on here ranting and raving about it's success so i don't want to bash the surgery by any means but i just encourage you to look at the big picture and really make sure this is something you want to do. I also paid for everything out of pocket so it's a bit tougher to swallow since i literaly wasted thousands and thousands of dolors.

After the first year and the complications i started gaining weight back b/c the only thing my acid reflux would allow me to eat was Mashed Potatoes and Milk Shakes, both not good when you're trying to loose weight but it was the only thing that made my acid reflux somewhat bearable. Even water was painful to put in my body for fear i would throw it up 10 minutes later.

So while the surgery did help me lose weight - i am now only 40Lbs lighter than pre surgery and am back to struggling with my weight and trying to lose the other 40Lbs. If you have issues with food and it's an emotional thing, my advice is to figure that issue out first, no surgery will solve that.