Is lapband surgery really easier than following a healthy diet/exercise plan? I hear of reflux, being stuck, slippage, fills, Vomiting, head hunger, hair loss, not enjoying alcohol, Water not going down, pills not going down, constipation...etc. In all the research I have done, getting serious about diet seems much easier life than being banded for life. What do you post- banders think? Im a pre bander just trying to make the right decision....

Dear G Love,

For me, these days life is pretty simple. I take Protonix once a day for reflux, have learned how not to get stuck, still sometimes eat when I'm not hungry, my hair looks great, I drink wine or a cocktail every day, no problems with pills, Water or constipation. AND I just tried on a pair of my daughter's size 2 Abercrombie shorts and they fit! The truth is I usually wear a 6 and those shorts were micro short!

OK so I love the band (I even self payed!)but I was a slow learner and I did struggle but heres the big picture for me:

I am 48 years old and I was obese and dieting for nearly 20 years. Some wise person once said that the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. That was me on every diet never keeping the weight off but expecting to!

Maybe you are a young pup who can realistically hope to "get serious about dieting"...if so, great! But after nearly 20 years I really had an "aha!" moment that told me I had officially failed at dieting.

Good luck, these decisions are tough since we cant see the future...I was so afraid I would also fail the band...

Is lapband surgery really easier than following a healthy diet/exercise plan? I hear of reflux, being stuck, slippage, fills, Vomiting, head hunger, hair loss, not enjoying alcohol, Water not going down, pills not going down, constipation...etc. In all the research I have done, getting serious about diet seems much easier life than being banded for life. What do you post- banders think? Im a pre bander just trying to make the right decision....

When people bring the terms "weak" and "easy" into their evaluation of a weight loss method, they usually have some morality based values or beliefs about obesity and the obese that I just don't identify with. So, I say this as someone who doesn't get what is "weak" about taking advantage of a medical procedure to treat a medical condition. The very mindset is baffling to me, so I'm not sure if my experience will be relevant to you but I will offer it anyway.

The band is both easy and incredibly difficult. I lose weight the "old-fashioned" way by dieting (choosing my foods somewhat carefully for nutritional value and low calories) and by being more active. The band makes it easier to do long-term-- hopefully forever-- because it decreases my hunger and makes me feel satisfied with amounts of food that typically would leave me feeling very physically hungry and incredibly mentally deprived. The hunger, both psychological and physical, is what makes keeping weight off long term impossible for me. It's something I can tell you with absolute certainty because it's not like the lap-band was my first successful attempt at losing lots of weight (hahahaha-- I wish, I would have loved to spare my body and metabolism the abuse of years of yo-yo dieting).

I've had my band over a year and have gone from 293 to 160'ish lbs. I have never vomitted, I take regular size pills, and I have been stuck a total of one time. It was unpleasant, but I got through it (a piece of raw broccoli that I didn't chew very well). I drink wine every night, though I don't recommend it as I've stalled on my weight loss since I added a daily glass of wine to my diet- I should save it for when I'm at goal and ready to maintain. There is nothing I CANNOT eat though there are a very few things I have to be careful with and make sure I chew adequately. Frankly, the speed of my eating and my manners are much better now because I have to be more mindful but it hasn't changed much other than my portion size.

I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I don't know what my future holds-- I hope to lose 15 more lbs but if I maintained my current weight, it would be so amazing and unlike any other experience I've ever had with weight loss in my life. I can even say that if I end up having complications down the line, I still can't imagine regretting this decision.

I wish you the best in doing what's right for you.

Thanks stateof zen...you are an inspiration to all...you are really doing it! You deserve that glass of wine!

Keeping it off is really the key issue. Personally speaking id never lost more than 20 lb on my own, i simply had no willpower! But with a properly adjusted band its nigh on impossible to really gain weight, even if youre only a moderately successful loser. My dh has put no work into his band, he eats what he wants and doesnt exercise, but he still lost about 70 % of his excess and has never regained.