carlamcgrath

i know how you feel, i am hoping and praying this will work. I am just waiting on my insuranse to give me the final ok so i can start the 2 week liquid diet. Good luck

I was scared of failing too. I thought, if anyone is going to fail this band, I bet it's me.
But then I pulled myself up and thought, stuff this, I am so NOT going to fail this. I just need some help, a little push, to control the hunger, and I'll be fine. And I was.
I recently sprung a leak and I have no restriction and I can tell you now, fighting with hunger again is no picnic. The band took away my hunger, and with some readjustments to the way I thought, I tackled the head hunger while the band tackled the physical hunger. It IS easier to work on the head hunger when the physical hunger isn't derailing you.
So make the decision - you are NOT going to fail this. Set yourself mini goals that you'd like to achieve. Remind yourself of the prize that awaits you. You can make up your mind to do this. You just have to believe it.
And no, I didn't fail. I lost all the weight plus some. And even now, with no restriction, I'm maintaining my weight on my own. If I can do this, someone who was overweight all my adult life, so can you. I'm not special, trust me. So make the decision.

good luck - with this website we can all help each other - my surgery is 3-30 - I'm afraid I will fail also, but together we can encourage each other - god bless all of us and give us the strength we need!

this sounds like me as well...im preband and have my surgery scheduled in 1 week...i was just telling my friends this week that im so scared i will screw this up and fail..and i just dont think i can handle that if that happened! but im trying to stay strong and positive! good luck and thanks for expressing what we all feel!!

I think it's only natural to be afraid of failure. Most likely many if not all have tried to diet and "failed" at it. Obviously! lol I think it makes sense that this experience would make a person feel the same way. Once you start this journey and the weight starts dropping you will be surprised at how much confidence you will have that you CAN do this! We are all in this together!

This blog sounds like me also. I have to convince myself daily that I am not a failure. I actually got banded 3 years ago and fired my surgeon shortly after (poor choice of doctors); however I'm starting over and it feels great. Everyday is one day at a time. I began to blog for the support and day by day, it's getting a little better. I've learned that there is a substitute for every craving, find your fix, you would also be surprised how soon those cravings go away if you just ignore them.

weren't

I'm like Cfalbro, wait when did I right this.? It's easy to think this because all our lives we have failed and failed to lose weight the way society dicates we do, and some of us have people in our lives that don't let us forget that we should lose weight and that in itsself is another failure that people can't see us for who we are but look at the weight first.
To make the lapband work, you do need to follow the regime set by dr, at least for the first few months and then afterwards, you can start experimenting foods, to learn what you can and cannot tolerate.
Sweets is a big addiction. Be careful, be honest and let your nutritionist know so they can help with alternatives. I didn't know this , but it was a big eye opener. Last night my hubby spoke to a co-worker who he knew had the lapband and she knew I had mine. She's had her for 3 years, and recently said on Facebook , lapband failure, all I lost was 20 lbs. Well she didn't mention , that she ate candies all the time, drank shakes, sliders as they call them. She even had her 10cc band filled to 9ccs in effort to lose weight and all she could get down were shakes, not the protein kind, but the cool whip on the top kind , with ice cream. And now she is diagnoised with diabetes and with poor leg circulation because of it.
Its not you wanting that stuff its your body. Its not a craving that's gonna be turned off overnight, but its one you have to learn to control. I'm the biggest whiner/baby because I can't eat something anymore, But if I look at the scale my body is following along, its my mind that is kicking and screaming. And I do indulge myself in a bite of pasta here or bread there, but I've gotten to where that's enough.
You will be ok, we are rocks in all areas, but sometimes we don't see it because we have been told we were.
I wish you the best!

Hey, I had the same fears as you, and I think the way you feel is totally normal! The day before my surgery which was just this past monday, I had a huge craving for carbs like nobody's business! I'm not going to lie, it was hard to walk away but I had to really think about it before I had put it in my mouth. Right now I am 48 hours post op and I can't even think about food! It's super hard for me to just drink the liquids I am suppose to have. For example, I have been sippin on an 8 oz bottle of Isopure for the past 4 hours and I'm just about to finish it now. (I have been sipping water in between as well as taking my pain meds with sugar free apple sauce as my surgeon told me to do). As of right now, I have no cravings for anything and maybe you will feel the same too right after your surgery! Don't give up before you even try!

If I didn't know better I'd be pretty sure this was something I wrote.
I'm 8 days post-op. I've lost 12 pounds. Literally, everything you wrote is me. I'm terrified of failure. I just know I'm going to do something wrong. But it keeps me honest. I've been extremely careful about what I eat. And as for the sweets- well, I haven't had any real problems. I had a tiny bit of fat free frozen yogurt about 5 days post-op and that was SO good, totally took care of the sweet craving I was having. And I froze some 100% fruit juice into ice cubes- they help with the sweet cravings too : )) I hope that helps. Good luck.

Totally agree. People think that if you got "banded" you ought to be dropping weight like crazy. I'm 4 months post-op & only 20 lbs down & have been discouraged. Until I saw the nurse pract. at my surgeon's office & she "got in low gear" (don't you love that saying?) w/ me & helped me see that I haven't really been using the band like I should. I've been so discouraged b/c I too have lost & gained 100's of lbs over my 40 yrs of life & I struggle finding the reason that I sabotage myself. But I think at that appt last Friday I had an "aha" moment & realized that this band ain't the easy way out. I already have learned how to eat around it, so I know I better get myself in line if I plan to use this thing & not have wasted the time & money.

great post! i have been doing an internship with substance abuse addicts for the past 6 months and realized i had so much in common with them in my relationship with food. i was shocked and amazed. i am one of those bandies who has been shouting from the mountaintops about my wls and have found that most people do think it is an easy way out...although i am barely 3 weeks banded i am here to say that i have never worked so hard for something in my life!