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Thanks for the reply. I know its not easy, and it is also easier to "lose weight" as a man. The point I was trying to make was that fitness is the thing to concentrate on, and after that with a healthy diet, the weight drops off by itself. I didn't mean to offend anyone. I know many people struggle to lose weight at that particular BMI, but I think the mentality that many people have is to concentrate on losing weight too much so that as soon as you put it back on, it becomes discouraging. The reality is that weight should be taken over an average of the week because it fluctuates. @bellavp, did you take your weight as an average over the week, or as one offs? I know for example, my weight on a wednesday is higher by 2 kilos on average than on a sunday because sunday is my day of rest, meaning i eat and drink less. @elcee I know its a touchy subject and you have every right to be mad at me. I'm sorry for making you upset. I'm glad that the banding has helped you. @laddie1229 I don't know if you were referring to me but I wasn't judging.

Just saying...out of 1000+ RNY he's made about 2 million bucks, Out of 100+ lap bands he's made $400000....not that he's doing this just for the money... but don't forget that for an hours work, he gets a large paycheck, so its not surprising that he wants your business. I'm not saying that its really bad, but all surgery should be a last resort, when it becomes too dangerous to do otherwise. Once you're dead, you're dead. P.S. Don't think i'm biased, i'm a med student thinking of studying surgery. But even i am scared of being operated on.

Tell us how it is affecting your "quality of life," and what you have tried to do to change. As with all surgery, it has its benefits and its risks. Have you tried a personal trainer. Doubled with a dietician (most personal trainers can give you "diet" tips too), this is actually a more surefire way to lose weight. P.S. I hate the word diet as it actually has connotations of starvation and hunger. When I say diet, i mean literally no processed foods (chips, cakes, museli bars, baked goods, fish fingers, chicken strips, anything that has been on a production line bar dairy products), and eating foods that are quickly/lightly cooked and with low salt and fat (inc. butter, oil, etc.) and whole grains instead of processed. This means brown instead of white rice, wholemeal in place of ordinary. However, you should never be "hungry." On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is starving, and 10 is as full as you can imagine, 5 being satisfied, you would be aiming for 4.5 to 5.5. Good luck, and in the words of my favourite athlete "Never give up"

Sorry to sound harsh, but this is surgery, with small-medium but significant risks (including death - depending on how good your surgeon is). Have you considered getting a personal trainer? At a BMI of 37, its not that hard to lose weight, and a personal trainer can have you fit and looking good within a year or two. I found having someone/something to motivate me was all that i needed. Also, a personal trainer for a year is likely to be cheaper than surgery, and you will be healther in the long run. Also, as a side note, I know BMI is not that good an indication of how "fat" someone is, its really the skin fold test. Anyway, i think if you start by eliminating all alcohol and pre-packaged foods from your diet, you might be surprised how effective it is. I know its hard. I had a BMI of 30 about 4 years ago. I didn't have any co-morbidities. I set myself a diet plan. 2 weetbix and milk for brekky. 1 medium apple and small tub of plain/natural yogurt (in one of those snap packs - try to find the one with the lowest sat fat and free sugar) for a snack. 2 sandwiches with wholemeal bread, tomato, lettuce, beetroot, 2 hardboiled eggs, gherkins/pickles and 2 thin slices of honey roasted ham with no butter (the key is no butter). One more apple for a snack. and whatever roast or Pasta (no cheese/olive oil/pesto etc.) for dinner. The other key is 0.5 to 3/4 of an hour of solid exercise per day. This means sweating and pushing until you're breathless - this is where the personal trainer comes in. Do this, and you will lose a lot of weight within 6-8 months and be very fit. It will be easy to start, but a lot harder after the 1st week, and hard for at least 2 or 3 months to come, and during this time you will lose a lot of motivation. But push through and you will feel happy that you didn't do the surgery. I don't like to say how much weight I lost (it was a lot) but that shouldn't be the main goal. I always told myself that If i become fit, the weight will come off by itself. Before i started, running 300 metres was a struggle. After half a year, i was running 3 kilometers non stop, an improvement of 10 fold. Last year, I ran the melbourne half marathon, and this year, I am playing in the glen iris open championships in tennis. P.S. the food doesn't seem a lot, but eat it slowly, and you will realise that it is.