knickerbocker

Greetings, Does anyone know the average cc. content to reach full restriction of the 9cc Realize band? I've had 5 fills totaling 4cc & I don't feel hardly any restriction at all. My Doc.will only give me .5cc per fill at this point.

Most people find their sweat spot between 6 and 8 cc.

I have 6cc in my band and I had surgery on October 29th and I am doing just fine - starting to get some good restriction.

isn't what the patient looking weight loss? What other things are you looking for?

Weight loss is a given with either band if you do what you are supposed to do. I feel that I will lose a comparable amount of weight with either band. So it is the smaller things that make the difference to me.

You're telling me to get a life yet you voluntarily jumped into this thread attacking and making judgements when you clearly have no knowledge of Gastric Banding or advances in medicine. The bottom line is you cannot produce a study which shows superiority in EWL for the Realize Band because there isn't one. I'm sharing with you information that most people don't know and you're making me sound like I'm doing something wrong.

While I don't agree with how the other poster made his/her point, I think they have a valid point. I agree with providing information, but you seem to be very aggressive in your distaste for the realize band and just hang out in this forum saying everything you can against it. Sometimes I think you work for Lap-Band.

You made a choice and I am making the opposite choice. Your so called evidence comes from one source - it reality, there needs to be more studies done to come to a clear conclusion. I think both bands offer advantages and it all depends on what a patient is looking for.

Maybe you should just town down your comments.

I just got my temp code (the one that lets you use parts of the site, but not the full version- you get that at surgery). I like it so far. It reminds me a lot of Weight Watchers online- food diary, etc. when you enter a food in, it lets you pick specific brands and types, which makes it easier- no trotting to the kitchen to get the package to enter it in every single time. For example, I just entered "oatmeal" and about 30 varieties of oatmeal, cereal bars, cake, and Cookies came up and it had the Quaker fruit and cream variety I had eaten. When I clicked it, it put it into the diary and told me the fat, Protein, carbs, and calories. Another neat thing it has is that when you add a food, you can also tell it that you had trouble with the food and it will remind you. It also has an easy, clickable Water tracker (little glasses of Water that you click when you drink 8oz) and the same for Vitamins. They have a similar thing for exercise. You tell it what you did and how hard and it will tell you approx how many calories you burned. You can set up goals, appointments, etc. You can also opt to share all this information with your doctor so they can check out how and what you're doing. I like it so far!

Yeah, I have the temp code as well and I have gone through what I can. I am looking forward to really diving into some the features more.

For those that don't know, there is a seperate forum for us Smashing pumpkins!

For those people who have had it done, how helpful have you found the website?

It's your weight loss journey. Your doctor is doing the exact opposite of what the latest research states determines sustained and faster weight loss which less aggressive fills.

Well, he stated that his aggressive fill is 2.5, which in my mind is not all that aggressive. I think it is a relative term.

I also clarified with him and he does place the lap band in empty.

After talking it over with my doctor, I have decided to stick with the realize band.

roackband - you seem to pretty much hate the realize band which is your decision, but I feel more comfortable with it. My doctor implants both empty and is able to fill the realize more aggressively and sooner than the AP. So that is what I am going to do.

I once drank 5 optifasts a day for 4 months and that was it. I lost a lot of weight, but gained most of it back. that is why I am having the surgery. The first week is hard, but after that is is easy. Just remind yourself why you are doing it.

I have told my wife, her parents, my parents. That is it. I am not telling anyone at work - I am actually using vacation time for the surgery so I don't even have to say I am having surgery. I feel this is private to me and is my choice - I don't need to tell people about it.

October 29th for me. It is cool they have these month forums for us that are getting banded around the same time.

Well, I don't have surgery until October 29th, so I am going to give my doctor a call and see what the story is and I may switch the lap-band. I like the idea of having restriction at the start.

I would consider that if the LAP band is filled at surgery, then you would see more weight loss with the LAP, but I did ask my doctor is both bands go in empty and he said yes.

I am not saying that the study you found on the internet is false - I am just saying it is one study. I have touched both bands and I liked the realize better.

One study may suggest that - but I asked my doctor and he said he sees his patients having the same loss with the realize and the LAP band. I don't personally think the band brand has an impact of weight loss.

From what I have read, the average loss with a LAP band is 40% of excess body weight. The 62% number is just too high to be realistic - that is higher than the average RNY number.

The average weight loss in year 1 with the Realize/Swedish band is 32%, the average for the lapband APS is 62%.

That is complete baloney.

Well, I cannot speak from a pre-op diet standpoint as I am just entering the process of getting banded.

But eight years ago, I did an Optifast diet for six months - 4 months of which I only drank Optifast.< /p>

The first two or three days are really tough - you will feel hunger like you have not felt before. But it gets better. I suggest mixing the vanilla shakes (the dry mix kind) with different flavored drinks like no calorie orange soda or sugar free Kool-aid. Add some ice and it makes a more filling shake.