sanket

Hello All, A little about myself first. My name is Sanket Sant and i have done my PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Dallas. Currently i work in the bay area (Fremont, California) in a company called LAM research corporation. I am 5'8" tall and i weigh around 360 lbs. I am a very active person and like to play all kinds of sports, go to the gym atleast 5 days a week (45-60 mins cardio, 30-45 mins weights) but my biggest problem is my metabolism. I have lost upto 45 pounds by just working out and eating less, but the moment i travel (part of my job) or stop going to gym the weight rebounds back like an elastic. That is when i finally am seeking surgery as an option to help me reduce weight. I am not completely relying on the band to lose weight but i am surely relying on it to help me not rebound back in case i dont exercise for some periods of time. I am happy to see so many helpful people on this forum. I have lots of questions on how the exact procedure of lap band surgery is, the risks associated with it and the post operation differences in lifestyle if any. For now i have been going to an endocronologist named Dr. Pavan Katta with washington medical group. He refered me 2 months ago to Stanford medical hospital and i have an appointment with Dr. John Martin on 1st Feb 2008. Could someone help me answer some questions listed below? 1) What are the steps that we have to go through before the lap band and what are the average times between each step (i have heard you go through psychiatrist, dietrician, etc.) 2) After operation do you get a constant feeling that you have a foreign object embedded in your body, like if you wear a ring, you feel it on your finger. Does that irritate or cause pain? 3) Does your lifestyle change after operation in the sense of physical activities allowed, sports allowed etc. 4) Are there any serious threats of this surgery? Please help me answer these questions. And thanks a lot for having such a wonderful forum where people help each other so much. Thanks Sanket Sant, PhD