lellow

I was talking to my boyfriend about some of the people I've met on here, and being all the way on the other side of the world, I doubt it would ever happen, but in terms of people who have supported me, inspired me, challenged me and made me laugh, I have to say, given the chance, I'd love to meet some of my fellow bandsters like bayousgirl, Mystic Highwayman, carolinagirl, hazelbliss, bandedblake, Solacspree and some oldies like Jachut and elcee (who actually live near me lol), BigLou, maenchen and rolltide, though there are plenty more.
Some of the friendships I have made on here have been amazing, and online or not, they have been true friendships.
One day I hope to go to the beach with bayou, or see Vegas with Mystic, or go spend time on the farm with hazel or party with maenchen and rolltide, but until then, I hope they know that they continue to be some of my best support and great friends.

I love how every thread these days seems to turn into a band vs sleeve thread.
To the OP, the band, like any surgery, will have those who love it and those who've ended up having bad experiences and therefore won't recommend it. Whether it will work for you or not, whether you will suffer complications or not, is really not anything anyone can promise you one way or the other. Go into it with your eyes open, expect complications, and if, like me and many others, your weight loss is smooth and uneventful, well, it'll be great, and you will likely (like me) get to a point when you have lost all the weight you wanted to, the band is doing what's it's supposed to, and you can go on living your life without much thinking about it anymore.
Or you may have complications. Complications aren't as common as it seems by looking at this forum. You're less likely to actually have complications than to NOT have complications. But be prepared in case you do because, let's face it, anytime you fiddle with your insides, you're accepting that there may be a risk of something going wrong.
But we all go into this with the hope that the benefit outweighs the cost. And for many people, it does. So it's as simple as that, really - you do it because the potential benefit usually outweighs the cost. Just make sure you're aware of the potential benefits, and the potential costs, and weigh it all up for yourself.

Girl, YOU are an inspiration. YOU are a success. You are beautiful and amazing and have the biggest heart ever.
I hope people read this post as they're starting out and realise that we all started out unsure about what the future held for us, but with hard work and a bit of luck, those size 6 jeans are possible for them too!
xxx

I'm sorry I can't disagree with ebud. No amount of game will mean I'll sleep with someone really overweight. Attraction is important, even to women. I'm no 9 or 10 but I'm not half bad and I will chose the thin jerk over and over again. I'm not going to pretend to be less superficial just coz I'm a woman. Just as he desires a hot body, so do I.

5 year vet now, and I've tried before to get a vet thread going. Went well for a while then it kinda died. Why? I reckon it's coz people who are doing well tend to not talk about the band anymore when it becomes second nature, like breathing. How often can someone talk about how they're breathing? Lol!
However it's nice to have a place like this, nonetheless.

I actually went and got 0.1cc of the 0.2cc out yesterday. I talked to my doctor and she said maybe I only needed a smaller fill after all. So we took it out.

So right now I'm 0.1cc up from where I *WAS* feeling hunger, and nope, no difference. Still no appetite, still no interest in food. So I've decided to keep this itty bitty 0.1cc and just set alarms to eat. It's how it works for me. It's not a bad thing as long as I manage it.

Ok I thought I had explained it well enough but I obviously haven't. I am a lap band veteran, I've had my band for a long time. and for me green zone means no appetite. I can eat fine, in fact yesterday I ate 2 cups of chicken and veggie stir fry for dinner, DESPITE not feeling like it. I'd like to know who out there that is 'too tight' can do that. I know what tight feels like, I'm not too tight. What I am, is uninterested in food. The band dims YOUR appetite, well it takes my appetite right away. Funny that it can be different for different people, huh?
I know I need to eat to fuel my body, in fact I have no interest in losing any more weight, I'd like to maintain actually. My doctor gave me a tiny fill because I was able to eat quite a lot, had hunger pretty consistently and had gained a little bit, but even that little fill pushed me into the zone of 'no appetite'.
I understand it's not what people typically feel, which is why I was looking for others like me. I want to hear about how people manage the 'flip side' of the band, the one that sometimes removes any desire for food, pretty instantly. And to be honest, it's quite a nice side effect, after struggling with hunger all my life (and the better part of the last 2 years with the leak). Yes I often forget to eat, especially in the last week since it's pretty 'new' to me again, but that's why I posted, to talk to others who experience the same side effect, to find out what strategies THEY use. How do THEY ensure they don't lose too much? How do THEY ensure that they eat well and remain healthy? How do I make sure I get enough in my system so that I can continue to lift weights and exercise to maintain the HEALTHY life I've adopted.
I know it doesn't make a lot of sense to many of you, after years of trying to lose but it's a legitimate question and I'm hoping people understand the context now. I am not anorexic, I don't want to be a size 0 again. I just want to live with my band, just like every else is trying to, so I was seeking support from others who are experiencing the same effects as me.

The hormone you're talking about is ghrelin and I don't think lap banding reduces the production of it. However the band does put pressure on the vagus nerve which can provide feelings of satisfaction for long periods of time, sometimes 24/7, I guess.

The fact is you don't wake up from surgery and the band has changed everything about you. The only way to lose weight is to eat less calories than you expend. In the first few weeks post surgery, your body has been traumatised, you have 'shocked' your body with a liquid diet and you're recovering. Given all these factors, why would anyone expect to be losing huge amounts of weight in this time??
The liquid diet, imo, sets people up with unrealistic expectations. They lose big numbers on the liquid diet by virtually starving their body in order to reduce the fattiness of the liver, and then wonder why they aren't losing big numbers after their band is placed. Except the liquid diet serves a medical purpose, not a vanity purpose. No one can lose weight in a healthy way by only drinking VLCD liquids. It's a short term thing only.
Once banded, you go through a period of healing from the abdominal surgery you just had. Healing is what is important. However, if you want to lose weight in this time, by all means exercise, burn off more calories than you consume. It's simple math. Eat less calories and exercise to lose. But the band will not likely even be working yet at this point.
Once you start getting fills and feel the band working, controlling your hunger will be easier, but it still won't control the amount or type of food you choose to put in your mouth. Most banders could be too tight and still gain weight by eating ice cream (and I see them on this board often).
So there you have it. Understand your band, understand the process, and be realistic. Otherwise you're going to quickly get disillusioned by the band when in fact it can be really effective for most people.

I'm in my 5th year with the band, had complications (a leaky band) and opted to have it replaced with another band last year. I hit goal in 7 months from my first band placement, have been under goal for most of the last 5 + years except for a couple of months when the band was leaking. I'm back under goal now, got there within weeks of my new band being placed.

The bands placed 10 years ago are also different from the bands placed 5 years ago, and again different from ones placed more recently. Like any new medical innovation, it takes years to learn and improve on it. So the longevity of the bands placed 10 plus years ago shouldn't be compared to the longevity of the ones placed now.
I would keep replacing any band that 'gave out' between now and the end of my life if they were to fail, as long as I could do that. I hope every band I get will last forever, but I'm also prepared if they do not.

I'm in my 5th year with the band, had complications (a leaky band) and opted to have it replaced with another band last year. I hit goal in 7 months from my first band placement, have been under goal for most of the last 5 + years except for a couple of months when the band was leaking. I'm back under goal now, got there within weeks of my new band being placed.

The bands placed 10 years ago are also different from the bands placed 5 years ago, and again different from ones placed more recently. Like any new medical innovation, it takes years to learn and improve on it. So the longevity of the bands placed 10 plus years ago shouldn't be compared to the longevity of the ones placed now.
I would keep replacing any band that 'gave out' between now and the end of my life if they were to fail, as long as I could do that. I hope every band I get will last forever, but I'm also prepared if they do not.

The fact is you don't wake up from surgery and the band has changed everything about you. The only way to lose weight is to eat less calories than you expend. In the first few weeks post surgery, your body has been traumatised, you have 'shocked' your body with a liquid diet and you're recovering. Given all these factors, why would anyone expect to be losing huge amounts of weight in this time??
The liquid diet, imo, sets people up with unrealistic expectations. They lose big numbers on the liquid diet by virtually starving their body in order to reduce the fattiness of the liver, and then wonder why they aren't losing big numbers after their band is placed. Except the liquid diet serves a medical purpose, not a vanity purpose. No one can lose weight in a healthy way by only drinking VLCD liquids. It's a short term thing only.
Once banded, you go through a period of healing from the abdominal surgery you just had. Healing is what is important. However, if you want to lose weight in this time, by all means exercise, burn off more calories than you consume. It's simple math. Eat less calories and exercise to lose. But the band will not likely even be working yet at this point.
Once you start getting fills and feel the band working, controlling your hunger will be easier, but it still won't control the amount or type of food you choose to put in your mouth. Most banders could be too tight and still gain weight by eating ice cream (and I see them on this board often).
So there you have it. Understand your band, understand the process, and be realistic. Otherwise you're going to quickly get disillusioned by the band when in fact it can be really effective for most people.

5 year vet now, and I've tried before to get a vet thread going. Went well for a while then it kinda died. Why? I reckon it's coz people who are doing well tend to not talk about the band anymore when it becomes second nature, like breathing. How often can someone talk about how they're breathing? Lol!
However it's nice to have a place like this, nonetheless.

This happened to me the last time I was in the green zone. I lost all appetite, eating became a chore and I would look for ways to avoid eating rather than eat. I lost a lot of weight and eventually my doctor threatened to unfill me, so I started forcing myself to eat.

It's only been a week since my last fill (and I haven't been in the green zone since my band replacement) and already it's happening. I don't feel "hungry" at all. My stomach is growling but I have no desire to eat, and in fact the thought is a bit distasteful. I know it's the band because when it's not at this fill level I still enjoy food.< br />
This last fill was only 0.2cc. Not a big fill at all. In the last 9 days since my fill, I have probably gone 6 days with only one meal a day, because as long as no one is watching and making sure I'm eating, I just don't eat. I don't even think about it. I'm hoping it will settle this complete distaste for food won't be so bad.
Am I the only one for whom the band works like this?

That was a truly brave story, and I won't lie, I had moments too in my time where I was convinced that the tighter my band was, the better I would do. There are lots of really ingrained ideas that we get as overweight people that actually sabotage us, e.g. we should lose the weight at any cost, not eating at all is better than eating healthily, fast weight loss is what we look for, and anything less than that is failure.
I do think that it's why support places like LBT is so important. Because if you want to, you can find people who have had success by following the lifestyle that you're supposed to live with your band, the lifestyle that won't cause you damage in the long run.
It took me a while to get it, but when I realised that a super-tight band was counter-productive (and in fact could be dangerous), when I realised that if I wanted to lose, eating well while exercising was the best way to do it, and when I realised that all the band did was help with your physical hunger, that's when living the band life became easier. It was people on this very forum who taught me all those things, and for that I'm grateful, and probably why I've hung around this place on and off for the last 5 years like a bad smell.
I really applaud you for telling your story with so much honesty. The band can be dangerous with misuse, as your story clearly attests to, and I'm sorry that you suffered as a result. I wish you all the very best for your start-over, I for one believe you can do it this time without any further damage to yourself.

I am 5'4" and was about 209lbs on the day of surgery. I was overweight most of my life and struggled with losing and keeping it off.
I am now 3 and a half years post sx and I lost all my excess weight plus some. I no longer knee probs, am low risk for heart disease and diabetes, have a resting heart rate of 60 beats per second and am more active now than I have ever been in my life.
I changed my lifestyle. I did exercise, I ate well. And it worked, and it has stayed off. I now work on maintaining a healthy weight (as in not losing too much as opposed to gaining too much) and my band is loose enough that I can actually eat most things with ease.
It's ultimately your decision, but the band is an excellent option for low BMIers especially, so don't be scared to take that step.

I am 5'4" and was about 209lbs on the day of surgery. I was overweight most of my life and struggled with losing and keeping it off.
I am now 3 and a half years post sx and I lost all my excess weight plus some. I no longer knee probs, am low risk for heart disease and diabetes, have a resting heart rate of 60 beats per second and am more active now than I have ever been in my life.
I changed my lifestyle. I did exercise, I ate well. And it worked, and it has stayed off. I now work on maintaining a healthy weight (as in not losing too much as opposed to gaining too much) and my band is loose enough that I can actually eat most things with ease.
It's ultimately your decision, but the band is an excellent option for low BMIers especially, so don't be scared to take that step.

my goofy selfie to try to get my man off his PS4 and call it a night

My NSV: last week my 22yo son said to me that he can't remember what I looked like when I was heavy.

5 years + banded, I've been heavy longer than I have not, but he can't remember anymore. He was 17 when I got banded.

My NSV: last week my 22yo son said to me that he can't remember what I looked like when I was heavy.

5 years + banded, I've been heavy longer than I have not, but he can't remember anymore. He was 17 when I got banded.

Doctors no longer wanting to place a band is actually not a global phenomena, just to be clear. In Australia, lapbands are still routinely placed. I have concerns with anyone who talks about long term complications without context. "Complication" is such a subjective word. There may be more complications with lapband surgery (ranging from minor to major) but the ones experienced by sleevers are often more significant, and often require far more invasive surgery to rectify. I don't think any complication should be taken too lightly here. or the long term affects of both, not JUST in weight loss but overall health.

I don't think this is as simple a decision as someone saying 'go for it'. There are many factors to consider for both surgeries and these shouldn't be glossed over. These include complication rates, types of complications, ability to rectify complications, access to after-care, quality of aftercare, and as a veteran of WLS, the LONG term ramifications of WLS. It's hard to believe that concerns like 'i need to eat for health reasons' might be anything you might worry about now, but believe me when I say it's possible. I have had my band loosened when I was losing too much. Nice to have the option, but not something you think about when you're heavy and only just starting out. It's why, when my band developed a leak and I had the option of revising to another band or a sleeve, I chose another band. Because I weighed ALL the factors and came to the best decision for ME. Not you, not the guy next door, and not my insurance company or the doctor I happened to be seeing, but me.

Doctors no longer wanting to place a band is actually not a global phenomena, just to be clear. In Australia, lapbands are still routinely placed. I have concerns with anyone who talks about long term complications without context. "Complication" is such a subjective word. There may be more complications with lapband surgery (ranging from minor to major) but the ones experienced by sleevers are often more significant, and often require far more invasive surgery to rectify. I don't think any complication should be taken too lightly here. or the long term affects of both, not JUST in weight loss but overall health.

I don't think this is as simple a decision as someone saying 'go for it'. There are many factors to consider for both surgeries and these shouldn't be glossed over. These include complication rates, types of complications, ability to rectify complications, access to after-care, quality of aftercare, and as a veteran of WLS, the LONG term ramifications of WLS. It's hard to believe that concerns like 'i need to eat for health reasons' might be anything you might worry about now, but believe me when I say it's possible. I have had my band loosened when I was losing too much. Nice to have the option, but not something you think about when you're heavy and only just starting out. It's why, when my band developed a leak and I had the option of revising to another band or a sleeve, I chose another band. Because I weighed ALL the factors and came to the best decision for ME. Not you, not the guy next door, and not my insurance company or the doctor I happened to be seeing, but me.

Doctors no longer wanting to place a band is actually not a global phenomena, just to be clear. In Australia, lapbands are still routinely placed. I have concerns with anyone who talks about long term complications without context. "Complication" is such a subjective word. There may be more complications with lapband surgery (ranging from minor to major) but the ones experienced by sleevers are often more significant, and often require far more invasive surgery to rectify. I don't think any complication should be taken too lightly here. or the long term affects of both, not JUST in weight loss but overall health.

I don't think this is as simple a decision as someone saying 'go for it'. There are many factors to consider for both surgeries and these shouldn't be glossed over. These include complication rates, types of complications, ability to rectify complications, access to after-care, quality of aftercare, and as a veteran of WLS, the LONG term ramifications of WLS. It's hard to believe that concerns like 'i need to eat for health reasons' might be anything you might worry about now, but believe me when I say it's possible. I have had my band loosened when I was losing too much. Nice to have the option, but not something you think about when you're heavy and only just starting out. It's why, when my band developed a leak and I had the option of revising to another band or a sleeve, I chose another band. Because I weighed ALL the factors and came to the best decision for ME. Not you, not the guy next door, and not my insurance company or the doctor I happened to be seeing, but me.

Doctors no longer wanting to place a band is actually not a global phenomena, just to be clear. In Australia, lapbands are still routinely placed. I have concerns with anyone who talks about long term complications without context. "Complication" is such a subjective word. There may be more complications with lapband surgery (ranging from minor to major) but the ones experienced by sleevers are often more significant, and often require far more invasive surgery to rectify. I don't think any complication should be taken too lightly here. or the long term affects of both, not JUST in weight loss but overall health.

I don't think this is as simple a decision as someone saying 'go for it'. There are many factors to consider for both surgeries and these shouldn't be glossed over. These include complication rates, types of complications, ability to rectify complications, access to after-care, quality of aftercare, and as a veteran of WLS, the LONG term ramifications of WLS. It's hard to believe that concerns like 'i need to eat for health reasons' might be anything you might worry about now, but believe me when I say it's possible. I have had my band loosened when I was losing too much. Nice to have the option, but not something you think about when you're heavy and only just starting out. It's why, when my band developed a leak and I had the option of revising to another band or a sleeve, I chose another band. Because I weighed ALL the factors and came to the best decision for ME. Not you, not the guy next door, and not my insurance company or the doctor I happened to be seeing, but me.

Sue I'm so sorry to hear that your band has eroded. When I was leaking, my dr suspected a leak or erosion. He too said erosion can happen with no symptoms except the ability to eat more and loss of restriction. I'm truly sorry to hear, my friend.
I don't have any answers for you regarding what happens after but wanted to send you good wishes for the removal and the repair.