marianthelibrarian

I lurk here occasionally, but I registered today so that I could respond to this post. I'm almost 4 1/2 years post-op, and I've had some ups and downs on my banding journey. Here's my story. I started out at 342 lbs. I'm 5'9", so my BMI was 49 or so. I didn't have any comorbidities. The surgery went well, and I did great with my weight loss. (I was really watching what I ate!) I lost 146 lbs in the first year after banding. (I got down to 196.) The I battled about 16 lbs for another year. Then some things changed in my life (MIL issues, moving to a neighborhood with no gym, general stress), and I reverted to my bad lifestyle choices-- no exercise and lots of sugar. Needless to say, I gained up to 262. I finally decided to get myself under control again. I started getting some therapy to help me find other ways to deal with stress other than trying to eat away my problems. I found out that I had a leak in my port/tubing, and I got that addressed. And I'm seeing a personal trainer. I am back on track. I've lost 22 lbs of my regain, so I'm down 102 lbs from my pre-band weight. I'm working everyday to get the weight off. The good news is that my band works just as well now as it did four years ago. However, I think now I'm more accepting that this is a life-long battle, and that I will always have to watch what I eat and will always have to exercise regularly.