I am a 29y/o mother of a 1y/o and a nurse. I gained over 85lbs with my pregnancy my whole life I have been up and down on the scales. The lowest I have weighed in the last 5 yrs is 20lbs and I am 5'6''. I am thinking of banding I have an appt with J. J. Gonzlaes in San Antonio, TX on friday. I have already asked my ob gyn about the surgery and she reccomended it. I just want some honest opions from people who have had it done the good the bad and the ugly. I have some friends who have had it done and they say even with their complications they would do it again.

I'm not sure that you would qualify. I calculated your BMI at 32 at 201 lbs. (would be more if you weigh >201) I read that between 30 and 40 you only qualify if you have one or more comorbidities, e.g. high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc. To be sure, call the nearest bariatric office and ask. My BMI was 42 and I was on the fence for a long time myself. I went through the 6 months with my family physician just in case I did go through with it and we talked about it each month. It wasn't until the 6th month and meeting with the surgeon that I finally made my final decision. If my BMI was 32, not sure that I would go through with it. But then again, I'm only two weeks post-op and haven't seen a lot of results yet of course. Good luck to you and take time to research and really think it over. It is a major life change.

My BMI was 32 and I would do it again in a heartbeat. For those of you that are bigger 32 may not sound much but at only 5' I looked like the pilsbury dough boy. I carried all my weight around my stomach and it was awful. I struggled to buy clothes as if they did up around my middle they were way too big everywhere else.

To me it is better to try to sort out a problem sooner rather than later. Everybody that gets to a BMI of 40+ had a BMI of 32 at some point. They never managed to lose the weight and keep it off by themselves so why should you have to wait to do something positive about your health.

I did have high BP but I still do in spite of the weightloss so mine was obviously not caused by excess weight.