I'm eager to hear some stories... I realized that I needed the band after accidentally losing 39 pounds (college starvation... Definitely not recommended). After starving I came home from school and really fell deep in love with food. I also wanted to lose more weight. A year after deciding to lose weight I gained 70 pounds... I passed the 300 mark and my plus size curves were no longer sexy and I couldn't work it off for the life of me. I was depressed and I was talking to some random lady at the bus stop and she told me about the lap band and like a week later I talked to my doctor... Now I'm getting ready for orientation next week!.... Any other stories ?

It hit me that i needed the band when I started yet another of thousands of diets and this time could not even lose and keep off 5 pounds. I had a "come to Jesus" meeting with myself and concluded that i HAD to have help - i could no longer do it on my own. Once i made up my mind to do it - like a peace/calm came over me and I've never looked back. I have never been more sure about a decision - and no matter how scared my husband was about the whole thing (and he begged trying to talk me out of it) I remained resolute - NOTHING was going to stop me from getting that surgery - period! It's been 6 months and 85 pounds gone - best decision I ever made!

It's good to here there are hardly any regrets about lapband surgery. I haven't had mine yet. I still am leary about it. My husband is against it also, but if I am serious about it and dedicated he will support me. I'm most concerned about the family get togethers and feeling comfortable or still a part of what's going on which is usually food and drinking. I'm concerned about depression which I already struggle with. It sounds like a person has to be for themselves and focus alot on living a different life which makes me wonder if it will take away from my family. I'm really still wondering if it's all worth it. I have diabetes and only 1 kidney - so I guess that should be motivation enough......with that all said I should know it's for me now. ??

I havent had my surgery yet..but I can tell you the precise moment I said enough!...We went to Disney world and they have those pictures that they take of you while your on the ride. I was on Space Mountain and when we got off the ride I was mortified at my picture. I looked like a sausage stuffed into that seat. I was so mortified I didnt want anyone to see it. I had lost a lot of weight a few months before but didnt realize I had put so much of it back on. So there I knew I had to do something *again* I immediately came home and went back through all my diet journals...I was trying to figure out what diet I was going to use...flipping through I was thinking 'Oh, I lost 20lbs in a month on this one.."Oh on this one I lost 30 over 3 months"...and so on..but as I kept reading I kept realizing..these were all so temmporary..and that I needed more help than I could give myself. I needed something more permanant. I started doing research and got scared away a couple times...thinking "Oh, if I have to be on a liquid diet for 4 weeks..Ill just do it on my own"...and it worked..then it failed again...so...here I am..I finally accepted I need more help than I can give myself and hoping to get surgery at the end of this month

I spent the summer around 1400-1600 calories a day, exercising an hour a day and lost a whopping 10lbs. After determining pregnancy had totally killed my metabolism as I had feared, I got sick right after the fall semester started. I went to urgent care and my BP was at 167/100. I was freaked out. I have a medical grade BP monitor because it went high when I was in grad school for my MA from birth control, and then on low dose BC with baby #2. I monitored it between that appt and the appt my PCP. The day before my PCP appointment I'd managed to get it to about 150/93. I decided that night that I would speak to my PCP about it, and if she said it seemed like a good idea, I'd go for it. I spoke to my best friend and my husband about the plan... and in less than a week I'll be banded. I've managed to bring my BP down a little bit, because it was so high they said I couldn't get surgery because they wouldn't be able to put me to sleep! but it was at 135/104 my last appointment so... hopefully this week with the liver shrinking diet it'll go down or I'll be sol.

Many "ah-ha" moments. Others don't want to sit next to you on trains, buses.Caught a glimpse of myself in store windows. Even your underwear is tight. High blood pressure, pre-diabetes. Hard to walk up stairs. Skin rashes due to excess fat, swollen legs. Not wanting to be photographed.Avoiding social situations, even close friends weddings and funerals. Being the biggest one in your circle. Getting close to 300 pounds. Huge ah-ha moments......

I seen a Plastic Surgeon for a matter at The U of M in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He told me I was going to die if I didn't do something about the weight. I said I new that, he said Of course you do,,, or you wouldn't be here !

So I said what do we do about it ? Bariatric Surgery is the only cure for this disease, So he sent me to Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, where I attended a seminar.

I learned the difference between a lot of surgeries, and I new I would never be the same after surgery, but what if they were wrong ! Hmmmm. There is no going back except for the Band, and I didn't want to be gutted like a Fish. So I chose the Band rite there and then.

I have had a few hic-ups, but all in all.

I'm still here, they were right, so NO REGRETS !

I had a stroke at 39. This was after I had changed my diet and had been exercising daily for 8 months. After the stroke I had a routine eye appointment where they saw a problem with my optical nerve. I went to a specialist and he asked me "Have you ever considered weight loss surgery. We have a Bariatric Dept I can give you a referral if you need one." I was so upset. I had improved my diet and was continueing to exercise and was feeling good about myself. Less then a month later I went for my consultation and I weighed 332 lb.

My "ah ha" really happened while I watched a video of myself performing. I can remember when I was performing feeling more beautiful than I had ever felt. I felt stunning. When I watched the tapes, that's not what I saw at all. I saw fat. If that's what I saw from the outside, others see that too. I just want others to see what I see in myself.

My Dr was talking about me getting a lapband for 18 months, but I didn't want to, until my younger brother called me to tell me his wife was pregnant after years of trying. And then he started crying because his doctor said he would not live to see his child into adulthood because of his heart problems and diabetes related to his obesity. And I hung up with him and thought: I want to be here for my (then) 2 year old son into HIS adulthood. The next day I called the lapband surgeon, and less than 4 weeks later, I was banded.

I lost first my Brother at the age of 60, then my sister at the age of 64, both with numerous ailments from being obese. Diabetes, heart problems, amputations, blindness, balance issues, surgeries related to circulatory issues, infections, skin issues, you name it!

My brother wound up in a nursing home after having a stroke. He was such a mess being so large and paralyzed on one side, no one can take care of him at home.

My sister wound up in a nursing home, and died of renal failure after her kidneys shut down.

I have always been a active person, but there I was, overweight, diabetes, high blood pressure, and then cardiac issues.

I needed to loose weight. I tried every diet plan I could over a 30 year span, and although did well in the beginning, wound up gaining more weight that where I started!

Sitting there in my PCP office he said I was going to die soon, just as my brother and sister did before the age 65.

He said if I could loose 50-60 lbs, all of this would go away!

I never though of surgery, and did not think I was a candidate. But it was my PCP who suggested it to me right there and then.

Had my surgery Jan. 2011. It has saved my life. All my medical ailments have been reversed. I am successful at loosing weight, for the first time in my life!

For Me, the lap band is the EASIEST method for loosing weight. I know other people say it is only a tool, but for me it has been that "Magic" solution, where I could not overeat no matter how hard I try because I have this "Thing" surgically wrapped around my stomach, and adjusted "Tight" enough to prevent me less I experience pain or vomit!

When I slowly realized I was always too tired to play with my daughter who has autism. I would want to come home in the afternoons and just sleep or lay around. She would always try to get me to play and I would turn on the TV so she'd watch it and let me rest. I realized I wasn't being the best mommy for her and decided on the band. With little to no research three weeks later, I was banded and I must say this has been easy for me.

As a former football player and former power lifter, I have always been a large man. It never affected my health until age 35 when I developed high blood pressure. Everything else health wise was always good. Then about 2 months ago, my pcp had to put me on another pill for blood pressure and told me that I was very lucky so far, but the weight was starting to take over. He told me that "I WAS GOING TO DIE A YOUNG MAN" if I didn't change something very soon. He had suggested lap band in the past, but he was pushing it as save your life kind of thing at that point. I had lost 80 lbs a couple of years ago on Atkins, but I couldn't do Atkins forever and had gained it all back plus 15lbs.

I scheduled my surgery, insurance denied it (GHP doesn't cover weight loss), and made the choice to go ahead with it.

My doctor was trying to scare me and it worked. I'm on my way.

I didn't fit into my clothes anymore. I wore sweats and baggy t-shirts. I was on yet another diet that wasn't working. I saw that BCBS would cover the surgery. The idea was there. I went to my PCP, he didn't like the idea-I wasn't "that fat" and "if you cant stick to a diet now what makes you think you can then". I went home more depressed then ever. I fired my PCP and got a new one. He listened and started the process with me. I went thru all the hoops, got aproval on the first letter. I've lost 50 pounds in the past 5 months and have never felt better.

I very much follow after my mother. She is over 400lbs., has angina, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol. I, fortunately, didn't have any comorbidities, but knew they were right around the corner.

I first looked into bariatric surgery in 2003 and wanted to do the RNY. I went through the whole pre-op process, but then stopped short when I realized that, while not wanting to be like my mother was a great motivator, at that point what I really wanted was for people to look at me and treat me differently. So I needed to work on me.

In 2008 I looked into things again because how people saw me was no longer the motivator. By this point, I had had plenty of time to research and decided that I didn't want to have my innards rerouted so I would do the LapBand. Again, I went through all of the pre-op process but again stopped short when I realized that I hadn't tried everything there was to try, namely exercise, and that I still hadn't faced my issues with interacting with the opposite sex. Thus, I still needed to work on me.

Finally, this school year brought into my life my wonderful friend C, a bandster who, due to an illness had to have her band removed. Her illness had been treated and she was ready for a new band (much of her weight lost had been regained). Having a friend who had been through the process gave me a sounding board and a comrade at arms. As I had already worked on the issues I still hadn't tackled and already tried, unsuccessfully, adding exercise to my daily regimen, I knew that the only way I had any chance of losing weight and keeping it off was to have WLS. She and I saw the doctor in October and were both denied by insurance. Thus, we had to go the self-pay route. I had mine placed 5 January and she will have hers placed next month. And for the first time in my life, I am not hungry and am losing. I don't know how much officially yet, as my first weigh in is tomorrow night, but my Wii Fit says almost 18lbs.!

When I was at my highest weight ever. I'm only 48 and my cholesterol and triglycerides are so high and am taking meds for them. Also had cardiac ablation last year - my heart races so I also take a beta blocker to slow it down. I feel so much older than I am and so out of shape. Couldn't join one more diet program. Talked to so many people who had lap band done and they all said best thing they ever did! That was when I made the phone call to the doctor.