iinde1

I'd never be one to try and talk someone into having surgery. But I'd also never try to talk someone out of it, if it was something they felt would help them. Sometimes people just need to come to terms with their own reality.
To the OP, all I can suggest is you take a step back and look at your life up to this point. How long have you been overweight? Are you morbidly obese? Do you have any comorbidities? Is your weight affecting your quality of life? Do you want it to be different? What exactly are you doing to change that? Every person on these forums has been down the "I promise I'll do better" road a thousand times. We're experts at fooling ourselves into thinking "This time it'll be different!" But it never is. We diet and diet and diet till we can recite the popular-diet-dujour litany verbatim, yet when the fuss is over, we're still standing there fat as ever (or MORE fat than ever) with nothing to show for the effort but less money in our pockets, lower self esteem, and another diet failure to feel badly about. When will you have had enough of that kind of failure to finally make a REAL difference in your life?
As to your fears, face them:
A sleep apnea test is nothing more than sleeping in a hospital bed while wearing a series of wires that monitor how good or bad your sleep is. It's painless. And it could save your life.
Being "cut into, as in the operation" is almost a non-event. Most lap band surgeries leave five or six small puncture-type scars, and one about two inches long. There are even lap band procedures that go in through a single incision near the belly button, for those who don't want multiple incision sites. The days of wide-open zipper-scar surgeries are long gone. Things are done laparascopically now.
You're "having a hard time writing down" what you eat. A food journal is easy to maintain, unless you're embarrassed to have a written record of your food intake. Using a phone app is fine, but there are limits, as you've seen. Websites like caloriecounter.com or livestrong.com can help you find the caloric amounts in restaurant foods, and even let you calculate your own recipes, so you can get a pretty good idea of what you're eating.
If the "surgery only cuts down on food intake" and you can do that yourself, why haven't you? If dieting that results in long-term weight loss is SO easy, why isn't everyone skinny? Simple: Because as soon as the diet is over, or the person goes off that diet, the weight comes flooding right back.
As for a "new technology that makes lap band obsolete," what's stopping you? Lap band surgery is removable and reversible. If something new and better comes along, you can have the band removed. But chances are you'll be pleased enough with it that you wouldn't want to, even if something else came along. And BTW, diet and exercise ARE the technologies that will make a lap band obsolete. If you get off your couch and exercise, then eat properly, you'll lose weight. But you haven't done that very well so far, or you wouldn't be here. Not judging, just saying.
If you don't want anything inside you, all I can tell you is the band doesn't have a pulse, it doesn't weigh anything, and only rarely do I feel it. If anything, I feel the port, which is where they add or remove saline to adjust the band. But the band being there isn't being felt. I don't know your gender, but if you happen to be female, and if you have menstrual cycles and use tampons or birth control devices, I'd wager you've had something a lot more troublesome inside you. The band is a non-issue.
My bottom line: After decades of fooling myself into thinking "This time it'll be different," I finally stood up to myself and made the decision to have surgery. I'm losing an easy average of about ten pounds a month so far. And I feel awesome. I look and feel years younger, I have tons of energy, I sleep better, I'm better at my job, and I'm delighted to feel this way after all these years. My only regret is that I wasted all those years lying to myself. I wish I had done this years ago.
So those are my comments. I don't mean any of them to sound mean, only to give you some food for thought. Keep reading, keep researching whether banding is the right answer for you, and I sincerely hope you come to the decision that's right for you. There are other weight loss options, all of which require cutting and removing body parts. Banding is by far the least invasive.
Wishing you the best of luck with your decision.
Dave

Kinda have to disagree, I do not get hungry. as for all the pain I had it for about 3 days post op but have felt wonderful since. I really doubt that is the main reason old bandsters leave the site i would think maybe it is because they are moving on in life and no longer need the support they have gotten here, which is wonderful. I would say if you are tired of people asking all these questions maybe you should think it is also time to move along. I have found the questions here very helpful as alot are the questions i myself have had. So smile and don't let life and the actions of others stress you out. and always give to your fellow man and you will find most will be grateful and return the favor.