ElizabethAnne

My insurance requires physician visits like yours for 24 months.

Thank you for the good advice, journey4me!

I hope I am doing the above "quote" right: I will be eager to read the responses to this question. Thanks for asking it. I am assuming exercise will be a key component since the material I have read indicates one needs to exercise moderately for 30 minutes a day.

I do appreciate the positive perspective here. As a newbie who hasn't yet had the band placed, I am mostscared it will be yet another failure. The innumberable diets I have tried have initially been successful, but though I am an avid walker, I always end up gaining the weight back again because I eat way too much. As most of us know, one CAN become obese on healthy food choices if that individual eats incessantly. I am realistic and don't expect the band to zap the pounds away; I just want something that will help curb my hunger so that I can do my part. Thank you all for giving me hope that the band can indeed help me!

I received one negative response to my first post. However, I want to make the best decision possible for me and am here to learn about much as I possibly can about the pro's and con's of the band. I expected some of the information posted at this site to be negative because some people tend to be pessimistic. With anything, most people have less-than-perfect experiences, and it then becomes a matter of one's perception. Some see the glass half-full, while others see it half-empty. This site is invaluable to me because I have been able to collect a wealth of good information in a relatively short time period. It's fairly easy for newbies like me to differentiate those who are here to help from those who aren't. And who knows, perhaps the positive majority here will eventually inspire change in those who are stuck in a negative rut.

Thanks again for the helpful replies. Could someone please tell Mickey how to move his post to create a new topic? I am new and lack the know-how to help him.

I discovered this website last night and literally spent hours reading about the lap band. I am trying to become as educated as possible about weight loss surgery options and appreciate all the helpful information posted here. Until I read it here, I didn't realize there were different lap band sizes. Can anyone tell me what determines which size is used? Does one offer advantages (or disadvantages) over another?

Thank you all for your replies, which help a lot!