A friend of mine (my best friend) said that if this works for me, she's thinking of getting the magic pill. I asked her what she meant by "magic pill" and she thinks that with this surgery, it's a guarantee and the "easy" way to do it. :faint: I really couldn't believe what she was saying.

We did have a bit of a tiff over it and both agreed to disagree. How do you handle people like this that think the lapband is the easy way to lose weight?:puke: I thought I'd just blow it off, but I seem to be stewing about it. How do you handle people like this?:help:

I've just been approved (insurance) and am waiting for the last test result to come in (sleep clinic) to be able to schedule the surgery.

Wow Tracy, have your friend come here and read the posts from the people who are struggling so hard not to 'eat around the band'. Have her look at all the support and determination it takes to eat healthily and exercise.

The band does not make you lose weight. You lose the wieght. To me, the band is just there to temper me from going overboard to the point of eating myself to death.. which I easily could have done prior to the band. It is merely a tool, a reminder, a friend who "elbows you in the gut" when you eat wrong. The rest is up to me.

I agree with Susan, have her come here and see for her self.

This is the main reason I have not told everyone at work. I tell if they ask & seem supportive, otherwise clam up.

What's your friend weigh? If she's thin then she can never understand. If she's heavy then trust me, she's jealous.

How do you deal with it??? Lose a bunch of weight and tell her IT IS the "magic pill" and then stick around after her surgery and hold her hand while the "magic pill" does all the works......waaahaaaaahaaaaaa (evil laugh)

I agree with the previous posters. Just tell her it is a "tool" and give her a few websites, including this one. Let her come to her own conclusions.

Shawn

I'm pre-banded....

I gotta say that after reading 1 page about the band, I certainly don't see it as a "magic pill".

The hardest part about losing weight is getting your mind/brain to realize that you don't need the amount of food that we eat. The band simply enforces that fact but I can't believe that it takes away the fight that goes on in our heads with food.

If our mind's had that control over our bodies than most of us wouldn't be in this position.

Maybe your experience of weight loss will be easy and that would be great and your friend could have a positive experience through you. But I personally think the argument that I'll have in my head will try to get the better of me and my band will fight back....that's not easy or magic. Food is my comfort even when I don't need it.

Have your friend think about "why" she hasn't lost weight on her own...minus a "magic pill". Maybe food is her comfort or her mind can't get around the fact that she must portion control. Non-the-less our thoughts can control us and mine have lead me to the point of needing some help with my weight.:cry Not an easy thing to deal with at all.

Anita

:puke:

Wait, bot so many of our bansters, our celibrated Rabbits, it really does seem like magic. It has worked almost like magic for my husband, who most definately is a Rabbit.

Something that has me viewing eating as a chore many days MUST BE MAGIC.

Something that has given me back my life MUST BE MAGIC.

Something that has given me back my husband MUST BE MAGIC.

In many cases the only difference between magic and technology is understanding the science. Since they don't know exactly why the band work, because they only theorize that because of the way the band is place people feel satiated.

This is in some respect the easy way. I mean, I can't even begin to count the number of people who've lost 50, 75, 100, 150, even 200 pounds with the band. For the first time ever for so many people, they have success. THEY HAVE SUCCESS. Not only have they lost the weight, but they have kept it off. They have success. THEY HAVE SUCCESS.

And not everyone has struggles with eating around the band.

I say if your friend is interested in the band, why are you upset?

Wow, my first thought reading that was that it is not magic. I still have insulin resistance, I still have PCOS,I still have a screwed up metabolism... I am still losing slowly. There is no "magic pill" and never has been. This is hard work, but it DOES help all the effort work. If she thinks this is the easy way, yes, it is easy for some. For some it is the "EDGE" they always needed. It is still hard work and effort for most.

A few people that know I have the band have made similar comments about it being "so easy" for me to lose weight now. My cousin asked me how much weight I'd lost and when I told her she said, "Well that's all because you took the easy way out." I said, "Well that's the last time I'm telling you how much I've lost." I hate it when our efforts are so trivialized. There was nothing easy about making the decision to get the band, getting the band, and now paying for the band let alone living with the band and making sure I work my butt off every day so I can still lose weight. I'm with Didi in that this is why I haven't told many people. I have never worked so hard in my life to lose weight and FINALLY, with the help of this "magic" band, I am seeing results. Every day I am so thankful that I made the decision to get the band. It's given me my life back.

Thank you all for your replies. I have understood all of them and thank God again for this site.

I am not upset that she would want to do the band ... more power to her. :clap2: What made me upset was her thinking that it's going to be easy.

I've explained to her that it is another tool in my arsenal of losing weight. Only this tool will allow me to have physical control of the amount I eat, I will still have to deal with the mental.

Again. Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

I hope that next time I post a message, I'll have a date for the surgery.:puke:

As far as it being "easy" I guess I would say it depends on someones perspective. I would say that through the years and years of dieting, this last journey has been the easiest to follow diet because it was forced. I didn't have a choice because otherwise it was pain. The fullness feeling makes it "easier" to walk away from food. The band also allowed me to lose weight a bit quicker than I have done in the past. However, it is also the most expensive diet tool I have had, yet the most effective thus far.

So when people say it is the easy way out..... I just reply "maybe... but it was a way out". I would much rather be the one that found the easy way out than still trying to find the right door!

I have to agree with other posters, this is the reason I don't tell. Easy way out, not for me! Pain on the first bite of every meal, slime several times a day, Pbing all too often and the net result is half a pound a week. There are some of us who think the band makes losing weight "easy", but there are just as many who don't. Perhaps it has something to do with the result you got when you dieted preband? I could never lose more than 10-15 lbs on ANY diet. Some lost 50 only to regain 60. Everyone is so different. Perhaps if a person has no physical, emotional, or mental issues the band makes it "easy", but that's not where I live.

Tracyd. I understand where you are coming from. After all the pain, PB'ing liquids for 6 weeks etc, I also fee insulted if someone called it a magic pill. However, I know in my heart that my band has given me so much back. I have my life and I feel good about myself for the first time in a long time. I'm so happy, that I say let them think what they want! I'm going to laugh all the way to my goal weight and I'm going to sing as I stay at the goal for the rest of my life

I lost my band due to erosion. I'm losing weight very slowly, but I'm STARVING most of the time. The amount of food it takes for me to lose weight is very small. If I eat more than 1200 - 1500 calories, the weight doesn't come off. So I eat my tiny meals that don't last in my belly till the next meal. I'm always hungry, always cranky.

When you have a band, the food stays in your pouch long enough that you don't have to suffer physical hunger. I was hardly ever hungry when I had the band, because my pouch stayed full for hours and hour and hours!

Don't worry about what your friend says because she doesn't know what it's like to feel hungry all the time. Your belly feels satisfied with just a little food that lasts when you have a band. Being hungry all day is no picnic - literally.