I weigh 340 lbs so I am obviously over eating. The thing is, I eat 3 balanced meals/day with only small amounts of carbs. A typical day I eat an egg white and veggie omlette for Breakfast. A turkey sandwhich on "air bread" (the kind you can see through it is so thin) and fish or chicken with a steamed veggie for dinner.

I wonder if doing the band will actually make me loose weight.

What are you drinking? If you are taking in a lot of calories by having soda, juice, cocktails, etc., that could be the problem.

Have you tried tracking all of your food/drink intake, measuring and logging every bite?

Your diet sounds much like mine, but I was taking in much more than I thought I was. I knew my portions were sometimes out of whack, but apparently they were out of bounds more often than I thought.

When I log my food and keep the portions under control, I lose weight. Unfortunately, when I do that, I'm REALLY hungry, ALL the time. So I finally decided that the lap-band was for me. I didn't think I was actually going to get approved (and if I did, I wasn't sure I would go through with it), so I started eating like I was already banded for my 90-day required supervised diet.

For me, that just meant paring down my portions, because like you, my food *quality* was already good.

I hope the band can help me continue to keep the *quantity* under control for the long haul.

If you haven't already, give food logging a shot and get a totally accurate snapshot of what your intake is over a span of time. You might also want to have your thyroid checked. Even borderline hypothyroidism can slow down your metabolism considerably.

yeah, your diet sounds like mine too, I havent been banded yet, but I made the decision when I found out that I had PCOS, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and that was potentially preventing me from losing weight, thus my obesity. I sometimes think the band wont work for me either, because I don't grossly overeat, but I am obese, so its a bit puzzling. Must just be the PCOS. have you been tested for possible thyroid problems or PCOS?

I don't have PCOS, but my thyroid levels are borderline. My caloric intake has to be between 900-1100 calories/day for me to lose weight, which is way less than what Weight Watchers and other programs say it should be.

I lost 100+ pounds between 2004 and 2007 doing Weight Watchers (mostly) and it took me all three years to do it. I was hungry every single day, and the weight came off SO slowly. I got pregnant again in 2007 and put it all back on during pregnancy and afterwards --- and I was still eating all my healthy foods, just WAY too much of them (about 2000-2500 cal/day) for me.

Lap-band for me is a last-ditch effort to control my portion sizes and to reduce/eliminate that all-consuming appetite/hunger that comes with a permanent small-portion diet.

I don't think my surgeon's office believed me when I told them my story and my what my typical diet and exercise is. All I did was reduce my portions, I didn't change anything else during my 90-day supervised plan. They believe me now.

The cool thing is that everyone from my surgeon to his staff to most of the hospital staff (for my pre-op testing) to my contact with my insurance company says that I am an ideal candidate for lap-band because all I need is help with portion control. I've already conquered so many of the other food demons that others are still battling. It took me a LONG time to do all that, but it's habit now, reinforced by wanting my kids to grow up making healthy food choices too. :cursing:

It sounds like you may be in a similar boat as far as diet/portions. Talk to a good surgeon and see what they say! I know several folks who have had other WLS up in your direction, but no one who's had lap-band surgery. You do have a lot of choices up in the DFW area, though! :ciappa:

I have thyroid and PCOS problems. Those along with Type II diabetes and HBP really took a toll on my body. I have been dealing with the PCOS since I was around 30. The rest of the medical issues surfaced due to my 2nd pregnancy at age 36. My diabetes specialist has stated that people with PCOS do have a harder time losing and maintaining weight loss. She was really on board with me having the lapband surgery to give me an edge with weight loss management.

I have always exercised and I truly 'thought' that I was eating well. Before I was banded I started using FitDay.com and logging my foods. I was a bit amazed at the quantity and calories that I was eating. I guess that I was unaware of my portion sizes and my random bites of this and that throughout the day. I think for me it really did come down to the random bites from the kids Snacks or meal plates.

I would suggest that you use a tool like FitDay or WWonline to log your foods for a couple of weeks. Be completely honest with what actually goes into your mouth. Weigh your foods and measure your portions. If you find that you are actually eating within a healthy calorie limit then maybe the band won't be too beneficial for you.

I have been banded for about 2.5 months and have lost around 38 pounds. It seems that I am a slower loser than most others that have posted on here....about 18 pounds of that came during the pre-op liquid stage. I am happy with my weight loss and am working to find a balance between exercise and food quantities. Even with my PCOS I am steadily losing weight. I hope that the band will be my answer to actually keeping off the pounds that I am working so hard to lose!

I really wish you good luck with your decision to get, or not get, the band!

All the other replies have really good points to take into account.

Just in case it's still only food-related, though, I admit now to being one of those people who just didn't think I was eating *that much*. However, I didn't look at labels, ate too many processed foods, and my former portions, though they fit into a regular Soup bowl, were 2, 3, even 4 times what I can eat now having been banded. Even more if I went back for seconds.

I had a real wake up call just yesterday when I went shopping. Earlier this week I had purchased a store-made chicken caesar wrap package, something I enjoyed previously. I used to eat the whole package, which was in four portions. It had chicken breast, lettuce, etc. and looked healthy enough. I knew it had a slice of cheese in there but it wasn't like it was dripping with dressing. Just this past week now that I can eat soft foods and chew them well, I had a day where I bought one and ate one portion, SLOWLY, chewing all the way. For lunch I had another portion, which I ate slowly, chewing, etc. All going fine. I think at dinner I almost had another one but my son came in and asked for the other two portions, so I let him have them.

In the store for some reason yesterday I looked at the nutrition label and holy cow! Each PORTION was 320 calories! That 4 portion sandwich was 1280 calories altogether!

Worse than a Big Mac. I won't be doing that again!

So ... just to say ... check your labels. I think all of us were taking in far more than we wanted to admit.

if that's seriously all you eat then there's something really not adding up, I agree, because your portions would have to be simply enormous to cause weight gain and a weight problem.

Do you never eat butter, cheese, any dairy, any other food than that? Is it all no fat/steamed and no carb? is that fish and chicken simply plain, a fillet steamed or grilled?

Or are you really eating processed foods of a much wider variety and whilst not obviously overeating or pigging out taking in more than your body uses?

To weigh 340, your body would require significant calories to not lose weight and I cant fathom how you could possibly take in that many on such a tiny variety of low fat food. I'd be insisting that it be checked out. Keep a journal for a few weeks perhaps?

I weigh 340 lbs so I am obviously over eating. The thing is, I eat 3 balanced meals/day with only small amounts of carbs. A typical day I eat an egg white and veggie omlette for breakfast. A turkey sandwhich on "air bread" (the kind you can see through it is so thin) and fish or chicken with a steamed veggie for dinner.

I wonder if doing the band will actually make me loose weight.

Maybe you should try going on a regular exercise first.