slikchik10

I've never been a size 6. Even back in high school when I weighed 140 I was wearing 14s. Back then I thought I was fat because all my friends were 110. I wore baggy clothes for some reason, so I don't know what size a pair of form-fitting jeans would have been. I would love to wear single digit sizes. My first goal will be to be able to walk without pain. Then to be able to run.
I started at 303 and now weigh about 290 pre-surgery. I have my surgery this Thursday and hope to hit somewhere around 140 again by September 2014.

I agree with karen, I am so looking forward to a pair of hot jeans and knee high hooker boots. I coudnt even wear ankle boots until last month(fat cankles). But I am starting to get definition in my legs.I would love to be in a single digit clothes but I can not even remember them as I have been overweight since grade school. I am looking forward to that whole new world. being healthy will just be icing on the cake.

I have told almost everyone in my life...i feel it will save me time afterwards trying to explain people how I'm losing weight so quickly(fingers crossed)I'm getting to old to worry who will say what about what I'm eating.if someone has that much of a problem or can't handle that I don't want to shovel it down anymore then they can spend time with someone else.im doing this surgery for me.im doing this so I can live another 40 plus years..so I can date,go upstairs,wear normal sized clothes and travel on an airplane without a seat belt extender.the idea that I'm gonna be embarrassed or made to feel bad about eating small portions in front of other people is nuts.i played around with the idea of telling no one.its just not me.

Hi all. I've just been sleeved on 5/20; that's the new part. The old part is the lapband I also had removed on 5/20. I haven't participated on either of the forums in quite a while, but I look forward to enjoying the journey with many of you. So far things are different, but not so different that I am nervous about being sleeved. I figure that taking it a day at a time is all I can do. So I make sure tomorrow is better than yesterday. Best of luck to us all. :-)

I consider myself a LapBand success (banded in 2006, reached goal 1 yr later, kept it off for 5+ yrs) and do NOT regret choosing the band at all. I think that, like any other WLS, you're going to find situations where it didn't work, either from complications or "user-error." Just as I'm sure there are plenty of people with VSG who have managed to "eat around" the sleeve...they're just not here posting about it.
For me, the Lapband taught me a different way of eating. I didn't PB and/or slime very often at all. The trips to the dr for fills was a good thing because they kept me accountable and with support. I liked knowing that it was adjustable and reversible.
When the weight started creeping up, those were MY mistakes. Reverting to drinking sweet tea and eating junk. Then, as I started to want to drop some weight again, I found that I'd kind of missed my "window of opportunity." Signals become muted, your body adapts, etc. Which ALSO happens with the sleeve. The band wasn't helping as much as it did in the first few years, but again, that was a lot my fault for changing back to old habits.
Why did I revert to a sleeve? In the last few months, I've started dealing with reflux and coughing at night. I also think I developed a lung abscess due to aspirating in my sleep (lung dr doesn't think the band was the cause...I do). So, in a nutshell, the band had lost its effectiveness while now causing some issues. I could have had saline removed but then my weight would increase even more...so I chose to remove the band while converting to a sleeve.
Would I recommend the band? Probably not. But I also don't want people thinking that the sleeve is the "miracle WLS" while the band is crap. You CAN fail with either one. You can also SUCCEED with either one. Both have their pros and cons and long-term, they BOTH ca have issues.
I think what's MORE important is YOU and the work you're willing to do to make ANY WLS a success. I honestly think that, by having the band, I'll do better as a sleever. Having lost a good chunk of weight, I had time to adjust to my new size, new way of eating, etc. I also got to experience re-gaining 25 lbs so that I KNOW I don't want to mess this up. Maybe if I'd been sleeved first, I never would have re-gained and all would have been great...or maybe I would have taken it for granted and then needed a band over VSG...or conversion to bypass.

Hi all. I'm 6 days post op and was having terrible gas pains. Believe it or not, 4 oz. of Greek yougurt helped tremendously! I'm wondering if the good bacteria that aids digestion helped a bit in the new set up, thus...less gas produced. I know they pumped it in...but I was having the "gurgles" awfully bad and this helped. Just a thought.

You are NOT going to get an unbiased discussion here. Just know that. I would recommend the sleeve for all the reasons the banders board would tell you not to--- its permenant, its a lifestyle change, its not reversible, it does take work. I would NOT recommend a band for all the reasons you've read here, the pro's--- temporary, slips, erosions, breakage, did I say expensive-- breaks and has high complication rate. I wish I had done sleeve first-- it just wasn't available to me when I had my band. My recovery was better/easier w sleeve--- it was less of a shock to me after having had a band--- your a virgin so get ready for the mental screwing of your life which ever way you go. You will find that your food relationship is warped and needs adjusted. Good luck !!