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Wow, you are sure a bitter person....your aura tells me you probably never worked the band and lie to yourself about your food intake....I can't very well wish you luck, but I do wish you peace. Mimi

Thanks for the clarification. If I were in that BMI category I'd want someone with a lot of experience myself. Well, even at a BMI of 36 to start, I wanted someone with lots of experience. It would be interesting for the OP to ask for a copy of the surgical report and find out what the surgeon saw inside. We can all comment on what we think should have happened, but the surgical team are the only ones who know what was found inside.

Hi Paul. Welcome aboard. Your fears and questions are mostly normal for someone who is just starting to look into banding as a possible option. The very best thing you can do is read everything you can find about it, filter out the obvious things that don't apply to you, and then get down to the basics of what banding will and won't do for you. Then you can decide for yourself if this is something you want to do. The band is not a magic bullet. If you're lazy, want to do nothing to assist in your weight loss, and expect it to carry you along, you WILL be disappointed. Like any good tool, you need to learn how to manage it. The more knowledge and experience you have, the better prepared you will be to get the most from it, and the best possible results. So expect to have to get out of your chair and exercise a bit, plan that you'll have to learn how to eat proper, nutritious food, and know that your weight loss is your responsibility. You'll get out of it what you put into it. As for your other fears, consider that there are THOUSANDS of people who have band surgery every year. Of those, a relative handful have problems, and that group is the people who post on forums like this one. The vast majority of bandsters have no issues, and are out living their lives without complaint. Take the complaints you read of with a huge grain of salt, because some people just like to complain, or they freak out because they haven't done any research, and they think since they had surgery three days ago they should have lost fifty pounds by now. (I'm being facetious, but you get the point - keep it in perspective.) The liquid Protein diet is no big deal. As part of my daily diet I drink Protein shakes that taste like chocolate milk. But I eat regular food in moderate amounts the rest of the time. Yes, during my surgery they inserted a catheter. They took it out within an hour or so after I was out of recovery. I was unconscious when they put it in, it didn't hurt being in, it stung when they pulled it out, but the pain immediately went away. After I could pee normally they let me go home from the hospital. Some guys have issues with that because of the anaesthetic used in surgery turns off the bladder muscles for awhile. But within a day or two I was back to normal. It was collectively no big deal. There are adjustments required for every new bandster, as they get used to having the band placed, as they heal from surgery, and they learn how to live with the band. It takes work to stay focused on the steps required, but let me tell you - the results are SO completely worth it! If I ever have to give up my band it's going to have to be cut out of my cold, dead body. I'm never going back to what I used to be. I started this journey at 320 pounds. Now, just under eight months later, I weigh 212. That's 108 pounds gone for good! I started this wearing size 3X and 4X shirts. Now, XL shirts are getting to be a bit big. I started this wearing 44-46 inch waist pants. I'm currently wearing 34 inch waist pants. When was the last time you wore an XL shirt or 34 waist pants? I'll bet it's been awhile, right? So relax, stop worrying about things that are non-issues, and study up on whether banding is the right choice for you. If you decide to move forward, there are plenty of people here who have already walked down the road ahead of you, who are willing to lend you a helping hand. Good luck! Dave

Ok so I was mistaken....I talked to Anne the RN at my Drs. She said I could have jello and popcicles!!! YAY!!! And 3 pieces of fruit a day.....OMG !!! feel like I am entitled to a buffet now!! lol (meaning the extra 2 pieces of fruit) I told her about this site....she said that it sounded wonderful and she was going to check it out!....feeling much better about the whole "fasting" diet now

I was banded on 10-26-09. Since then I have lost 125lbs only 20 more to go until goal weight......

i eat 5 small meals per day - approximately every 3 hours. if i didn't, i'd never hit anywhere close to the amount of calories i need...in fact, even with eating 5 small meals, most days i average about 850-900 calories. my surgeon is quite happy with me eating that way. i've never been told to just have 3 meals a day. i think, as long as you get in the protein and calories you need, you can be flexible with your eating schedule.

Sorry for your struggles w/your band - Maybe surgeon not the actual band was your problem.. Hope you get well soon I'm 4 yrs out and no issues - little heart burn now and then - nothing a tums doesn't take care of - lost 114 lbs and have maintain that loss for 3 yrs now. But the band didn't lose the weight - I did - it's only a tool and you have to maintain that tool and follow the rules for it to work. If you don't want complications ck your surgeon - follow the rules - that being said - sometime crap happens..

I don't really miss the bad foods but if my husband or sons are eating something that is tempting but not something I should be eating then I ask for a taste...that satisfies my curiosity and I don't feel like I have to eat more than that. It has actually turned into sort of a family joke with everyone offering tastes of their food whenever they have something I don't normally eat.

I would go with the Drawstring to keep them up. I don't know about where you live, but here you trade in your old scrubs, and they pay you so much twords a purchase. Now that can be Brand New or Something that someone has traded in, like you would have done. These are Scrub Shops So you might want to look around, and see if you can find anything like this, and purchase some Scrubs.

I agree with Cindy and tried to find a way to post similar thoughts without causing trouble. I believe that the super obese do not qualify for the band and the surgeon should have known that. I feel bad for the original poster but I wouldn't keep that surgeon. Mimi