Anyone have any regrets that they did the Lapband. The closer the date the more I am freaking out. Getting ready to start my 2 week pre op diet and am having my last few sodas before I start. Having no more diet sodas for the rest of my life will be hard, but I am sure I can do it. Does everyone go through this before their surgery. I am so tired of being overweight and definitely want to change...but does it have to be so drastic...so permanent. I am so mad at myself for getting into this predicament, but if I don't do something I am afraid that I will be at the point of no return. Any thoughts or suggestions??

I have found this thread really inspirational. Thank you everyone

I was banded one week ago today, and after reading these posts, feel better than ever about my decision. I went through a brief day of regret last week, when I was having trouble getting Water down (and had to have a defil - my surgeon put in 2 cc's during surgery) but now that the swelling is down, I'm already enjoying the "full fluid" phase with lovely Soups and horrid Protein shakes.

My pre-op diet was only one week, and since then - I've lost a total of 24 lbs - which is a quarter of what I want to lose! Wow! Yep, I have no regrets

The only regret I have is not doing it 3 years ago when I first looked into it! Although a lot has changed in that time according to my surgeon and they do things as far as nutritional value different now.

I was banded 3 months ago tom and I am down 41 lbs 51 from my highest weight! Yeah!

I wish I could say it has been really easy but like everything thats worth anything it takes patience and persistence!

I started drinking diet coke when I was 11yrs old. It's the first step I took in almost 30yrs of diet. I drank it obsessively. I couldn't imagine how I was going to stop drinking it. As I was doing my pre-op diet I kept wondering about my decision. Kept worrying about the scars, what could go wrong, how the port was going to look / feel, would I be able to ever sleep on my stomach again? Even laying there right before surgery having such anxiety and thinking I should just get up and change my mind. But I focused on the reasons I decided to have lap band surgery and sucked it up and did it. I'm 2.5 weeks post op and Friday I can start mushy foods. The first week with the gas was rough. I haven't missed one diet coke. Not even really given it a second thought. I can't believe it. If I need a drink on the go I get an unsweet ice tea. And a small not a large lasts me for hours and hours. I went to lunch with a friend today and had a few bites of some soup and got up and she said to me "it's ok sit down and enjoy your meal" and I told her "I did. I'm stuffed". That felt so amazing. I barely ate anything. I've lost 22lbs since starting the pre-op diet and my clothes are comfortably loose and I feel healthy and energetic and I have to say I do not regret a thing so far! I've gained so much more than I've given up already!

These are very inspirational.

Absolutly, no regrets!! I am loving the new me!

My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. Don’t worry about what you “can’t” have, focus on all the good that comes with being a healthy weight. I really don’t miss any foods, there is so much more to my life now that I don’t need the crutch of bad food to make me feel better. I have found that there is about a 10 minute window for most cravings, if you can get past that time the craving will pass.

I am two years post op, have been at my goal weight for over a year and lead a happy and healthy life. I work out 4-5 times a week (because I love it), I regularly participate in 5ks, half marathons and even triathlons. No one that meets me now believes that I was ever fat, that say “no way, you are in such great shape and you look so good”. I didn’t have any co-morbidities at the time of my surgery, but I am convinced that if I had kept that weight on I would have been headed for diabetes, heart disease, and an early death. My regular doctor just told me the other day that he wishes more of his patients were as healthy as me.

After 16 months I am getting my band out in one week due to phrenic nerve pain. However, I still do not regret getting the band because I have learned so much! I used to be the first one done at the table because I'd take a bite, chew 3 times and swallow. Now, even though I have a complete unfill and *could* return to the same shark-like attack on my food, it's become habit to take small bites, chew well (not to mush) and eat slowly. I also learned to eat 3 meals a day rather than several meals a day and stabilized my blood sugar to the point where I was off all my insulin as of December 2010. The most important thing I learned...the source of my hunger...and knowing that it can be controlled without the band. So despite having to go through another surgery to have it out...not one regret.

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I agree, these stories are so inspirational! i can't wait to be banded and start this journey! So many things I want to do and try!

Well, I wish I had done it sooner... But, I also *slightly* think maybe I didn't need it. It's been a much needed kick in the pants, and helps me stay on track, but I think I thought it was going to do something different. Maybe do more of the work for me? It's great it controls my hunger.. but I figured It would do more of the work.. haha I'm lazy. But overall I'm happy so far, and I have no problems.

Im totally encouraged.

I think freaking out a bit before surgery is a normal part of the process. So you are right on track!

I'm only 2 months out, but I don't regret it.

I have to be honest. I guess I'm in the minority.

I hate my Realize Band. I wish I never would have gotten it.

That "full" feeling everybody talks about is not like really being full. It's an uncomfortable chest pressure. It's not a full feeling...so once the pressure goes away, I'm left still feeling hungry. I guess I have severe issues with head hunger...and my food addiction was far to strong to get this band.

I slipped once and I haven't lost anything since getting refilled after the slip. I've gone back to the original "good bandster rules" and continue to gain.

of course...my surgeon thinks I'm lying and cheating my way through this band, and THAT MUST be why I'm unsuccessful.

Boy...do I WISH that was really the case. *shrug*

Again...I'm probably in the pathetic minority. I wish like heck I woulda listened to the first surgeon who didn't recommend the band because he thought my eating disorder was far too deep for the band. I WISH I WOULD HAVE LISTENED TO THAT GUY.

Krista

I have to be honest. I guess I'm in the minority.

I hate my Realize Band. I wish I never would have gotten it.

That "full" feeling everybody talks about is not like really being full. It's an uncomfortable chest pressure. It's not a full feeling...so once the pressure goes away, I'm left still feeling hungry. I guess I have severe issues with head hunger...and my food addiction was far to strong to get this band.

I slipped once and I haven't lost anything since getting refilled after the slip. I've gone back to the original "good bandster rules" and continue to gain.

of course...my surgeon thinks I'm lying and cheating my way through this band, and THAT MUST be why I'm unsuccessful.

Boy...do I WISH that was really the case. *shrug*

Again...I'm probably in the pathetic minority. I wish like heck I woulda listened to the first surgeon who didn't recommend the band because he thought my eating disorder was far too deep for the band. I WISH I WOULD HAVE LISTENED TO THAT GUY.

Krista

I'm with you in the minority, Krista. I regret spending my entire savings ($14,000) to have the band put in, plus an additional $1000 on fills so far. It's been over two years and I'm only down 22 from my starting weight. I gained 20 back after the intial loss.

I never feel full. I'm always hungry. I can eat anything. I learned to take my time eating and chewing, but all that did was drag out a meal to 30 minutes and still never felt full, so I just kept eating.

My family doctor tried talking me out of the surgery, telling me there are other ways to lose. I work with people who have lost more weight than I have and they used the Medifast diet. For $14,000 I could have bought a lot of Medifast and lost more weight!

The band has not been at all what I had hoped for. I knew it was going to take a lot of hard work on my part, and for months I gave it 100% effort. But what do you do when you still feel hungry, never get full, the fills cost $200 each and they don't seem to make any difference?

I'm in need of some helpful answers and I'm ready to give this one more try if I wasn't hungry all the time.

Gaelic Gal

sorry to hear of the distress in the above posts. Early on I was advised that "No Bandster has ever died of hunger".

PreBand I would awake with a drive (not 'hunger) but a definite sensation that meant eat! And I somehow became unaware of the difference between 'full' and 'enough'. I focused on eating until it was gone, or until I had eaten some of everything within reach, then collapse in self embarrassed dejection as the factorial !EAT had again overtaken my life. What my Band gave me, was the wonderous sensation not of 'full' but of, finally, 'NOT hungry'.

It was a quiet discovery I could well have missed on my way to another bag-o-burgers for a snack before another meal to be gulped down while fantasizing about what I could eat next while planning my next eating episode after that. And so forth. Having been slowed down enough by the Band to become temporarily unable to tamp more down with my eating shovel, I gradually discovered what that little voice was; it was one I had not heard in so long I didn't recognize it. I believe it plays an important role every day in my life.

That little voice brought me out of the trance, the hallucination, that all my sensory taste demands had to be met, and at once, in ample and ever increasing amounts. I have no answer for those who suffer without some benefit of the Band process. I could well have been one in such a circumstance. If there is any encouragement or help possible from mere words, I would deliver them at once. I had to abandon some of my former notions about many aspects of my own life.

The errors I made in thought and behavior required changing. Seeking behavior that produces the desired results is a delightful journey.

Hunger is not what must drive our behavior to succeed.

I have to be honest. I guess I'm in the minority.

I slipped once and I haven't lost anything since getting refilled after the slip. I've gone back to the original "good bandster rules" and continue to gain.

Krista,

Read the boards long enough and you'll find you are not in the minority. There are a lot of people who never lose the hunger even when their band is so full they can't eat the food they need to <raising hand>. For the most part they tend to lurk, though, because they get tired of being told they failed the band...when the reality is that the band failed them.

If you're following all the rules, and depending on what those rules were, you should have been losing even with the hunger. Since you aren't, and since you're still hungry, it might be that you're more sensitive to certain carbs than others are. You might try a very low carb diet that eliminates all grains, starches and fruit. It's worth a try. I discovered that once I eliminated these things from my diet, my hunger vanished. It took about a week or so after I stopped eating them but my hunger has not come back for close to 2 months...and I dropped about 15 pounds in 6 weeks. Phenomenal since I'd been losing barely a pound a week on a 1200 calorie, low carb (30-60gm per day) diet. Not being hungry has allowed me to drop my calories to around 900 easily. The bonus is that I also feel so much better! Mentally and physically, I have so much energy!

I'm getting my band out tomorrow due to phrenic nerve pain and I'm doing it without regrets because I know that as long as I avoid the grains, starches and fruit, my obsession and hunger with food is gone. Some people might think they can't live without these foods and, yes, I'm going to miss them...but it's worth the tradeoff.

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