Here's my quandry. So if we are counting calories and protein and fat, sugar, etc., what actual 'role' does the band play? Is it that it shrinks your stomach so you get full faster? Sometimes I feel like if I had stuck to all of these guidelines to begin with, why did I need the band. I'm not trying to be negative here, I'm really asking. How do you feel the lap band is different from all the other programs we've tried?

Here's my quandry. So if we are counting calories and Protein and fat, sugar, etc., what actual 'role' does the band play? Is it that it shrinks your stomach so you get full faster? Sometimes I feel like if I had stuck to all of these guidelines to begin with, why did I need the band. I'm not trying to be negative here, I'm really asking. How do you feel the lap band is different from all the other programs we've tried?

What's different is that the lap band dims your appetite. It won't stop you from eating badly, or overeating. But if you aren't hungry all the time, you're more likely to be successful in long-term weight loss. As for daily management, you can take things to any extreme you want, but you don't necessarily need to do that. I don't actually count calories, in the traditional sense. I pay attention to, and maximize my protein, minimize my carbs, and try not to eat a lot of sugar or fat. Actual calories consumed is less important to me. I can tell whether I've eaten 'good" or "bad" for the day by keeping track of what food I've eaten. I don't graze or snack, but I do allow for a planned, healthy midday meal, if I think I need one. it's an eating plan, not really a diet.

This link will probably help clear up some of the confusion. It's by Dr. Terry Simpson, titled "It is NOT About Restriction." I find it's a great help to explain things. http://drsimpson.net...estriction.html

Dave

Thank you! That was an extremely helpful article and answered my questions and thoughts.

What's different is that the lap band dims your appetite. It won't stop you from eating badly, or overeating. But if you aren't hungry all the time, you're more likely to be successful in long-term weight loss. As for daily management, you can take things to any extreme you want, but you don't necessarily need to do that. I don't actually count calories, in the traditional sense. I pay attention to, and maximize my Protein, minimize my carbs, and try not to eat a lot of sugar or fat. Actual calories consumed is less important to me. I can tell whether I've eaten 'good" or "bad" for the day by keeping track of what food I've eaten. I don't graze or snack, but I do allow for a planned, healthy midday meal, if I think I need one. it's an eating plan, not really a diet.

This link will probably help clear up some of the confusion. It's by Dr. Terry Simpson, titled "It is NOT About Restriction." I find it's a great help to explain things. http://drsimpson.net...estriction.html

Dave

Yep, the band helps you to feel satisfied on less food, and to stay that way for a longer period of time. It's a help but surely not a magic solution. I very much feel like I am dieting still, but not in a bad way! I think not having that "when will this be over?" feeling helps. I know it's never over.

GREAT LINK...THANKS!

What's different is that the lap band dims your appetite. It won't stop you from eating badly, or overeating. But if you aren't hungry all the time, you're more likely to be successful in long-term weight loss. As for daily management, you can take things to any extreme you want, but you don't necessarily need to do that. I don't actually count calories, in the traditional sense. I pay attention to, and maximize my Protein, minimize my carbs, and try not to eat a lot of sugar or fat. Actual calories consumed is less important to me. I can tell whether I've eaten 'good" or "bad" for the day by keeping track of what food I've eaten. I don't graze or snack, but I do allow for a planned, healthy midday meal, if I think I need one. it's an eating plan, not really a diet.

This link will probably help clear up some of the confusion. It's by Dr. Terry Simpson, titled "It is NOT About Restriction." I find it's a great help to explain things. http://drsimpson.net...estriction.html

Dave

FASCINATING information Dave, thank you! This is probably the best info I have gotten yet since before my surgery! LAP-BAND fills... restriction

I asked the very same questions as Jennypenny and started to regret ever getting the surgery until reading that. Kinda wish the Docs would have filled me in earlier on about this...excuse the pun.....

I have said this on another thread but apparently the band is different for everyone because for me...

IT IS ALL ABOUT RESTRICTION!!

I used to be able to eat a ton of food and appetite wasnt the reason for it...now I can barely eat a cup of almost anything... so I lose weight! I dont diet, I dont ever eat low fat or low sugar foods, I dont work out but I consistently lose weight because I eat less due to restriction. OK, yes, if I ate ice cream all day (it slides right thru the band I guess) I could probably gain 100 pounds but with regular food I just cant eat as much. When my fill is right I lose about a pound a week. I have had two very long plateaus (one was 8 months and the other 2 or 3 months) because I needed a fill and couldnt seem to get down to LA (5hours of hellacious traffic) to do it...no big deal, its not a race.

I was bursting the seams of a size 18 and now I wear a Gap or Calvin Klein size 10 consistently. Got a fill a week and a half ago and have already lost three pounds...I got a fill doc closer to home...good luck to all.

I'm so glad you wrote your experience, because this was my expectation of how it would work for me. I don't plan on eating ice cream, Cookies, cake etc., but if I can get full on a cup or less of anything, I will lose. That combined with doing my part of eating healthy.

Love the pic of your two pairs of pants! haha

Also, you have aprox the same starting weight and goal as I so I'm going to friend you.

I have said this on another thread but apparently the band is different for everyone because for me...

IT IS ALL ABOUT RESTRICTION!!

I used to be able to eat a ton of food and appetite wasnt the reason for it...now I can barely eat a cup of almost anything... so I lose weight! I dont diet, I dont ever eat low fat or low sugar foods, I dont work out but I consistently lose weight because I eat less due to restriction. OK, yes, if I ate ice cream all day (it slides right thru the band I guess) I could probably gain 100 pounds but with regular food I just cant eat as much. When my fill is right I lose about a pound a week. I have had two very long plateaus (one was 8 months and the other 2 or 3 months) because I needed a fill and couldnt seem to get down to LA (5hours of hellacious traffic) to do it...no big deal, its not a race.

I was bursting the seams of a size 18 and now I wear a Gap or Calvin Klein size 10 consistently. Got a fill a week and a half ago and have already lost three pounds...I got a fill doc closer to home...good luck to all.

Great to hear from you...I LOVE my band and if I could ever follow a diet and/or exercise regimen long term why would I need a lap band!? So many people on here are exercising like fiends and counting every calorie...and I just keep my band tight and eat less...I am too old and lazy for all that! Thanks for friending me...

Great to hear from you...I LOVE my band and if I could ever follow a diet and/or exercise regimen long term why would I need a lap band!? So many people on here are exercising like fiends and counting every calorie...and I just keep my band tight and eat less...I am too old and lazy for all that! Thanks for friending me...

OMG I totally love you for sharing all that Xavier! I was really happy when I read the link that David posted until I realized after reading it a few more times how much it scared me. I felt so discouraged today after spending all day yesterday doing research and talking with people.

If you ever come across one of the things I posted today, it says.... "Feeling discouraged...What's the point?"

My only thought all day was... all this hell for nothing (had a bad surgery experience, as well as post op complications)? Whats the point?... I WANTED it to be tight and restrict my food intake....like you said "if I could ever follow a diet and/or exercise regimen long term why would I need a lap band!"

I'm thinking now that I really need a more care free attitude about this and to stop all this worry...

I know! Xavier is my hero! I feel more relaxed now. There's so much info out there it can become discouraging and overwhelming. We can do this!!!

OMG I totally love you for sharing all that Xavier! I was really happy when I read the link that David posted until I realized after reading it a few more times how much it scared me. I felt so discouraged today after spending all day yesterday doing research and talking with people.

If you ever come across one of the things I posted today, it says.... "Feeling discouraged...What's the point?"

My only thought all day was... all this hell for nothing (had a bad surgery experience, as well as post op complications)? Whats the point?... I WANTED it to be tight and restrict my food intake....like you said "if I could ever follow a diet and/or exercise regimen long term why would I need a lap band!"

I'm thinking now that I really need a more care free attitude about this and to stop all this worry...

I agree with Xavier, I dont count any of those things. I prefer to listen to my body. I eat till I'm satisfied/no longer hungry - not very often until i'm really full - and because of my band, that point comes before I've ingested too many calories.

My rules are: 3 meals no Snacks, healthy food most of the time, exercise every day possible. I favour a simple approach. I dont count a thing, for me personally, that's obsessive dieting behaviour that prevents a healthy relationship with food, it makes me think about and obsess over food all day. I eat what I feel like eating at each meal - and when I really think about it, normally that's reasonably healthy food.

Even exercise can be simple. I just go out the front door and run, sometimes I chuck a heavy sandbag around and I like body pump classes. I dont worry about all that crap about working individual muscles, supersetting this, pyramiding that, special shake before exercise, Protein shake after, this supplement or that.

I really believe eat less (that's where the band helps), move more. Its all you need to worry about. The rest you can do if you enjoy it, but its not strictly necessary.

I agree with Xavier, I dont count any of those things. I prefer to listen to my body. I eat till I'm satisfied/no longer hungry - not very often until i'm really full - and because of my band, that point comes before I've ingested too many calories.

My rules are: 3 meals no Snacks, healthy food most of the time, exercise every day possible. I favour a simple approach. I dont count a thing, for me personally, that's obsessive dieting behaviour that prevents a healthy relationship with food, it makes me think about and obsess over food all day. I eat what I feel like eating at each meal - and when I really think about it, normally that's reasonably healthy food.

Even exercise can be simple. I just go out the front door and run, sometimes I chuck a heavy sandbag around and I like body pump classes. I dont worry about all that crap about working individual muscles, supersetting this, pyramiding that, special shake before exercise, Protein shake after, this supplement or that.

I really believe eat less (that's where the band helps), move more. Its all you need to worry about. The rest you can do if you enjoy it, but its not strictly necessary.

It's funny you should say that about "that's obsessive dieting behaviour that prevents a healthy relationship with food". It's one of the first things I ever thought when I was first told to start counting calories. I relate it to my parents who obsessed about health food when i was growing up and that's all that was ever talked about and thought about was researching on health food... The more obsessed we became, the more I wanted to binge on Burger King and Wendy's. I found myself becoming an over-eater who never stopped thinking about food, eating 1-2 gigantic, loaded up plate fulls of healthy food at home, and then doing the same thing with junk food when out with friends later. At home I obsessed about eating healthy, and outside I obsessed about trying to get food I wasn't "allowed" to have.

I went on the whole calculating your calories and BMR, BMI trip, researching every detail, lost 30 lbs in 4 months, then gained twice as much back the second I got exhausted with counting and torturing myself over exercise.

I truly appreciate your layed back attitudes, because I need to find that in myself again.

So thanks to You, Jennypenny, Xavier and the others...

<a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"><img border="0" src="http://tickers.myfitnesspal.com/ticker/show/909/6236/9096236.png" /></a><p style="text-align:center;width:420px;"><small>Created by MyFitnessPal - Free <a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com">Calorie Counter</a></small></p>

Here's my quandry. So if we are counting calories and Protein and fat, sugar, etc., what actual 'role' does the band play? Is it that it shrinks your stomach so you get full faster? Sometimes I feel like if I had stuck to all of these guidelines to begin with, why did I need the band. I'm not trying to be negative here, I'm really asking. How do you feel the lap band is different from all the other programs we've tried?

I have felt that very same thing! I have been having to go onto Meal Replacement packs which is costing more money on top of aready money spent on the Gastric Baloon which perforated on the stomach.. Then to have it removed and the band fitted which then the PORT Flipped and have it resited.. So not a Good Journey for me thus far on this Battle with the Flab.

I have to restrict what I eat ridgidly.. I think I will need a bit more of a fill soon I was told I had 5mls in the band.t I can eat soft bread and chicken..

Rice and breast of chicken drier meats get stuck.. But never get that really full feeling. I can also feel the food going through the band.

I am not sure if this is meant to happen so readily?? I am restricting my own intake.. ..I think the only thing the band is doing for me is to stop larger amounts going down which helps avoid the weight gain..I can maintain but losing has been harder at my age.. Menopuse 54. Grrrr

Oh well onwards >>>>

Dawn

Thanks for all the compliments...i really do want to help and have have gotten great help from a couple of band rock stars who blazed the trail before me...one of them is Jachut, (Goddess above)who always talks straight with no bull! She is kind of an exerciser but I dont hold that against her! The other is band_groupie with her blog called the sweet spot. Shes lost 100 pounds and hasnt really dieted or exercised....I wish you all the best and would generally say, with the right level of fill (which can be hard to get to!) this is actually pretty easy. I have something I never had before ( a waist? Ha!) no the complete faith that I will never gain the weight back, which of course I did with every loss on a diet before I got my band! Good luck to all! Diane

Thank you all for your posts. I've been having such a hard time with my band. I've been very discouraged for the exact same reasons as you all mentioned. I've been eating around the band and not listening to it. On top of that, I HATE exercising and just plain don't want to do it. You've restored my motivation! I'm going to start listening to the band more and stop beating myself up about not wanting to exercise and count calories. I've tried to lose weight my entire life and was having a hard time thinking the band wasn't working for me at all because I was going to have to "diet" anyway. I'm going to continue to eat healthy, smaller portions and listen to what my friend, the band, is telling me. Thank you all very much for helping me even though you didn't know it!