620to?

hi, my name is michael. i'm 49 i managed to get up to 620# by dec of 2008 before i started to diet.. i'm at 285 today, at a bit of a plataue for the past month. i've started the process for getting a band. labs,xray,ekg, primary's letter all done. pysch eval first of october then, consult with surgeon etc. i've been lurking here for 3 weeks or so. done a fair bit of reading. honestly i'm apprehensive, moreso the longer i spend time here. i think i'm a glass half full person too. my initial goal is 240 depending on how much lean mass i hold onto. right now bio imp tests from a machine i have a fair bit of confidence in says i have 207# lean mass. so it appears i'm pretty close to getting where i want to be. i'm athletic large frame but if i look sloppy at 240 i'll still drop weight but i think bmi numbers are bunk. i'd like to get there faster naturally but my reasoning for the band is to give me a tool to not only get to finish line but to keep it off. in college i got to 300# and got it off back to 190#, said i'd never be fat again. ha, the ignorance of youth! either way,just like everyone here i'll struggle the rest of my life. in my adult life i've been over weight all but 4 years and for 20 years leading up to 620 i'd didn't try to diet at all, i just forfeited. i'm interested in your perspective if you were in my shoes would you knowing what you know now still have the surgery? thanks!