xavier

100% happy with my band. I am able to make some small behavior changes permanently and the band does the rest. I think the sleeve is for people who have a little more of the "fat/crazy" which I think we all have some of. I still want to eat when I am not hungry etc but I was never one to sit and binge on ice cream and cry about my life. I think if the crazy part is pretty strong a person may need the sleeve. But if you still have a little bit of sanity in there to make some changes, the band is probably better.
I hope I haven't offended anyone, my theory about the "fat/crazy" voice in our heads is just that, my theory.

Well I would think the only risk would be if you accidentally swallow it! Otherwise I cant think of any reason not to...I just dont like gum so I guess I dont know.

I had a plateau for about 7 or 8 months and since I was able not to gain I thought I was ok restriction-wise! Wrong! Its all about the fills...if you are not losing weight you are ingesting more calories than you should be...get a fill even if you have to go to a different doc.

I have a very simple piece of advice for you and you can take it or leave it of course. Imagine it is 20 years down the road and oyu are having a conversation with your children who are now in their 20s and married. They tell you they are in the exact same situation as you are in right now. Do you tell them to stay or go? That is your answer because you love them more than you love yourself and you will help them do what is right. Good luck dear!

Sorry it hasnt worked out for you but if you believe as you state, "Some people can starve themselves and not lose weight" you are always doomed to fail. Take a look at people who are truly calorie-deficient (Africa, concentration camps etc - no fatties!) I always thought I was starving and not losing weight and then I got my band - when restriction was good and I could not eat as much I lost weight...simple as that. That's what the band does, but what I have to do is not eat the stuff that slides through like ice cream or chocolate. If I ate those all day I know my band would 'let me' gain 100 pounds!

I have to say I completely disagree with the doc that its not about restriction (for me). Heres why:
Back in the day I could probably eat a whole cake and now I can barely eat a whole cupcake - thats restriction!
If it was all about appetite we wouldn't eat when we are not hungry and if we are being honest most of us will admit we can and do eat when we are not physically hungry! I still want to eat when I am not hungry and sometimes I do eat, but not very much due to restriction!
PS: Amazing pix - they say it all!!!

I have to say I completely disagree with the doc that its not about restriction (for me). Heres why:
Back in the day I could probably eat a whole cake and now I can barely eat a whole cupcake - thats restriction!
If it was all about appetite we wouldn't eat when we are not hungry and if we are being honest most of us will admit we can and do eat when we are not physically hungry! I still want to eat when I am not hungry and sometimes I do eat, but not very much due to restriction!
PS: Amazing pix - they say it all!!!

Great if it works but most diets are short lived...thats why we needed surgical intervention. I never dieted since I got my band and I believe my past diets are actually how I got obese. I now only make changes I can keep up for a lifetime.I became vegetarian with some fish before I even got my band...any doc who tells any patient (banded or not) that they should be eating meat is just plain wrong. Theres nothing wrong with eating meat but not eating it is one of many healthy lifestyles to choose from. Unfortunately a lot of the nutrition info people are getting from their nutritionists and nurses and doctors is way out of date.

Great if it works but most diets are short lived...thats why we needed surgical intervention. I never dieted since I got my band and I believe my past diets are actually how I got obese. I now only make changes I can keep up for a lifetime.I became vegetarian with some fish before I even got my band...any doc who tells any patient (banded or not) that they should be eating meat is just plain wrong. Theres nothing wrong with eating meat but not eating it is one of many healthy lifestyles to choose from. Unfortunately a lot of the nutrition info people are getting from their nutritionists and nurses and doctors is way out of date.

I think you are fine! I lost at about a rate of 6 pounds a month and I am now a steady size six whose weight does not fluctuate at all...others lost faster but from where I am sitting now I dont care and also I feel I adjusted really well to a lifestyle I can live with forever! Good Luck!

Well I 'only' had to lose 70 to get to normal BMI so of course I had to self pay. I consider myself a low BMIer. I can eat anything or drink anything and I dont chew obsessively...BUT...I can only eat about a half a cup of anything at a time. My husband teases me that I eat so little I am a very cheap date! I can order a regular meal in a restaurant (come'on, girls we all know those portions are for an NFL linebacker, but we know we have eaten them!) and take the rest home and live on it for days!
I LOVE my band because at the right fill level it absolutely prevents me from overeating. I have never dieted, counted calories, eaten diet food or low fat food, or exercised since I had the band, Hell, I had done all that many times before and failed or should I say succeeded in getting fatter everytime i lost then regained the weight?!
I definitely eat and am more than happy with tiny portions but people do notice it when I eat with other people and I just had to get over that feeling of being judged. I didnt tell anyone except immediate fam that I am banded so I think my friends who see how little I eat think I am starving myself and maybe they even think I am judging them for eating the whole restaurant meal. I used to feel bad about that and would even overeat to the point of having to yak to try to cover how little I would eat...I dont do that any more I just dont care what people think! Getting to that point was probably the hardest thing about having the band. I went from a size 16 jeans to a size 6...nuff said!
Juicy, good luck...thanks for friending me and dont listen to people who say its about following the rules and living at the gym (if we could do that...) its all about restriction...fight till you get your RIGHT level of restriction!! After that, its a (tiny) piece of cake!

$1100.00 would really be pennies for RNY. That is a major operation and a copay on good insurance could be that much.

Well I 'only' had to lose 70 to get to normal BMI so of course I had to self pay. I consider myself a low BMIer. I can eat anything or drink anything and I dont chew obsessively...BUT...I can only eat about a half a cup of anything at a time. My husband teases me that I eat so little I am a very cheap date! I can order a regular meal in a restaurant (come'on, girls we all know those portions are for an NFL linebacker, but we know we have eaten them!) and take the rest home and live on it for days!
I LOVE my band because at the right fill level it absolutely prevents me from overeating. I have never dieted, counted calories, eaten diet food or low fat food, or exercised since I had the band, Hell, I had done all that many times before and failed or should I say succeeded in getting fatter everytime i lost then regained the weight?!
I definitely eat and am more than happy with tiny portions but people do notice it when I eat with other people and I just had to get over that feeling of being judged. I didnt tell anyone except immediate fam that I am banded so I think my friends who see how little I eat think I am starving myself and maybe they even think I am judging them for eating the whole restaurant meal. I used to feel bad about that and would even overeat to the point of having to yak to try to cover how little I would eat...I dont do that any more I just dont care what people think! Getting to that point was probably the hardest thing about having the band. I went from a size 16 jeans to a size 6...nuff said!
Juicy, good luck...thanks for friending me and dont listen to people who say its about following the rules and living at the gym (if we could do that...) its all about restriction...fight till you get your RIGHT level of restriction!! After that, its a (tiny) piece of cake!

I have been banded more than two years and I have improved to a near normal state in terms of how I eat but I still have the crazy thoughts, just much less of them. I assume it is a lifelong process. A small part of me wonders if I might wake up in the morning obese again and a small voice criticizes what or how much I eat but I would say that voice is 90% less. I dont diet, I never eat low fat, low calorie, or diet food, and other than walking my plump dog, I dont exercise. I just eat tiny meals of whatever I want, focusing on Protein and it seems to quiet the fat/crazy voice I think we all have!
I am continually astonished how it seems to me the vast majority of people on this site who are banded continue to diet and try to work out like mad and continually feel bad about not being good enough at either....I got my band (cash out of pocket) to stop that insanity which only made me fatter anyway!

I got my first restriction at 6ccs in a 10cc band...how much do you have?

Well I 'only' had to lose 70 to get to normal BMI so of course I had to self pay. I consider myself a low BMIer. I can eat anything or drink anything and I dont chew obsessively...BUT...I can only eat about a half a cup of anything at a time. My husband teases me that I eat so little I am a very cheap date! I can order a regular meal in a restaurant (come'on, girls we all know those portions are for an NFL linebacker, but we know we have eaten them!) and take the rest home and live on it for days!
I LOVE my band because at the right fill level it absolutely prevents me from overeating. I have never dieted, counted calories, eaten diet food or low fat food, or exercised since I had the band, Hell, I had done all that many times before and failed or should I say succeeded in getting fatter everytime i lost then regained the weight?!
I definitely eat and am more than happy with tiny portions but people do notice it when I eat with other people and I just had to get over that feeling of being judged. I didnt tell anyone except immediate fam that I am banded so I think my friends who see how little I eat think I am starving myself and maybe they even think I am judging them for eating the whole restaurant meal. I used to feel bad about that and would even overeat to the point of having to yak to try to cover how little I would eat...I dont do that any more I just dont care what people think! Getting to that point was probably the hardest thing about having the band. I went from a size 16 jeans to a size 6...nuff said!
Juicy, good luck...thanks for friending me and dont listen to people who say its about following the rules and living at the gym (if we could do that...) its all about restriction...fight till you get your RIGHT level of restriction!! After that, its a (tiny) piece of cake!

The addiction to food is hard to break, as is the drive to overeat even when it is painful. You are doing the right thing to start over with liquids and advance your diet slowly to try to get back on track. The hardest time is at the beginning where I assume you are...this is a lot of work but it does get easier! Good luck!

It all comes down to calories (taken in and burned)...I think if you are female you need to be under 1200 a day and get enough fills to make that easy or at least doable for you. You MUST know how many calories you are taking in every day to know why you arent losing weight...part of why we have all had weight problems is we have lied to ourselves a bit about what we eat and how much...do a log and find out exactly how much you are taking in...

You MUST learn not to get stuck either by eliminating that food, chewing better, eating less, or more slowly! This damages your body and we did this to get healthy right? Getting stuck is not because your band is too tight, it is because of something you are doing and need to change (well, unless every single bite you eat gets stuck, than your band is too tight)...bast of luck.

Mollie is exactly right...during the night body fluids shift out of our cells and into the spaces in between cells...mine goes exactly like my wedding band snug in the morning (shake only), good during the day, and then too loose at night...my ring is slipping off and I have to have the discipline not to do the evening snacking while watching TV!!! I think since I am three years out this variabilty is the hardest thing about the band...

The addiction to food is hard to break, as is the drive to overeat even when it is painful. You are doing the right thing to start over with liquids and advance your diet slowly to try to get back on track. The hardest time is at the beginning where I assume you are...this is a lot of work but it does get easier! Good luck!

The addiction to food is hard to break, as is the drive to overeat even when it is painful. You are doing the right thing to start over with liquids and advance your diet slowly to try to get back on track. The hardest time is at the beginning where I assume you are...this is a lot of work but it does get easier! Good luck!

It all comes down to calories (taken in and burned)...I think if you are female you need to be under 1200 a day and get enough fills to make that easy or at least doable for you. You MUST know how many calories you are taking in every day to know why you arent losing weight...part of why we have all had weight problems is we have lied to ourselves a bit about what we eat and how much...do a log and find out exactly how much you are taking in...

The addiction to food is hard to break, as is the drive to overeat even when it is painful. You are doing the right thing to start over with liquids and advance your diet slowly to try to get back on track. The hardest time is at the beginning where I assume you are...this is a lot of work but it does get easier! Good luck!

If you wait long enough, if it is hunger you will know it because you will be ready to eat your own leg! Using food to 'settle your stomach' is a habit you will want to start breaking...