Hi, my name is Liz. I am in the middle of the prep work to get the surgery. I meet with the surgeon on Friday to go over things. I have been reading all the information on the website and find it helpful.

I'm undecided whether to do the gastric by pass or the lap band. I'm leaning to the lap band but the surgeon wants me to get the gastric. Any thoughts on this would be helpful. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. Right now I would be getting my lap band in September.

I am going to be getting my band 8/6 so I don't have the first hand experience to share, so I'm only going by my research and my surgeon! The band is the least invasive of the two, yes you will lose the weight much faster with bypass but you have to think about how healthy that really. Please do lots and lots of reading, get as much info as you can. I'd be happy to share my experience with you.

Hi Liz.

I had the lap-band in May 2007. I found it to be a complete failure. When I was doing the research, it soundd like a good idea: not too invasive, reversible if needed, no cutting of my stomach... But, after having the lap-band, I realized the flaws. Here are my issues. A band is placed around the top of your stomach so you can only eat a little bit of food at a time. So I found that my little pouch was full, but my large stomach under the band was still hungry. If I drank my calories, both my stomach and pouch were satisfied. After I had a small fill to tighten my band, I was unable to eat much of anything and just about threw up every time I did try to eat normal food. So, I had to have the band completely loosened which allowed me to eat anything I wanted because the food just went through the little pouch right into my stomach.

I had a heck of a time for 2 years. Then a friend of mine was going to get the gastric sleeve. I looked into it and decided to get that. The surgeon said I had a lot of scar tissue around the band. This was mentioned on a tv program - scaring - and how after 5 to 10 years the band fails. Europe is the only place that has had the band for about 10 years and a lot of them are having it removed.

I had the gastric sleeve in October 2010 and would not trade it for anything. I have never thrown up once with the sleeve and there is no malnutrition like there is with the bypass. Sure, in the beginning it seemed like I would never be able to eat normal again, but now I can eat 1/2 a cheeseburger at the restaurant and am perfectly content. Today, I can't imagine eating like I used to - "can you super size that" or eating almost a whole pizza.

Currently, I have lost about 90 pounds. With the lap-band, I lost about 30 pounds and then put it all back on plus. I have never lost more than 20 pounds on my own. I can for the first time go to a regular clothing store and fit into an XL. For me that is a miracle. I am still working on losing more - I am a terrible snacker and like to graze all day, so I currently get too many calories. But if I gain 2 pounds, I just pay a little more attention and lose those evil 2 pounds. Me keeping 90 pounds off for over a year is incredable - and I don't think I will be able to gain any of it back.

I know this was long, but I hoped it helped. I would never get the lap-band again. Plus, it felt like a foreign object was inside me (well one was - the band) and the port where they fill the band feels hard under the skin and is very strange.

Good Luck!

I have to disagree with some of the above posters comments, its media hype and simply not true that .. ' a lot of people in Europe are having the band removed' all i can say is, dont believe everything u read in a newspaper or watch on tv...

There are people who just arent susccessful with the lapband, but equally there are people who arent with a bypass or sleeve, its a personal choice and one should make it based on advice from your surgeon, knowledge and information and knowing how u are and what level of committment u can give the band. If you want to continue eating food as described as above then maybe the lapband isnt for you, if u want to change your eating habits and get back to being healthy and eating healthy then go for a band..

If my band ever needs removing i have learned my lessons in life regarding eating and portion size and exercise ... it will be hard but the weight is off now, it isnt going to come back

Yes we might have a foreign object in our bodies, but so do people with joint replacements etc, its that or having half your stomach cut away and your intestines re-routed .. to me i start at the bottom of a risk list , not at the top

good luck and hope u can make your decision that suits you

Hey, I am not saying that the lap band doesn't work at all. It does work for about half of the people who get it. The news article was on ABC in March 2011. They said half of the people who got a lapband had to have it removed. This could be due to the fact that they were some of the first people to get it, so maybe today it has a higher success rate.

I just wanted to let you know what I went through when I had the lapband.

FYI- the gastric sleeve does not remove any of your intestine like the rny does.

Trust me, I did change my eating habits when I had the lapband. If I didn't, I would not have been able to eat anything when I had even a small fill. If I ate the Protein that I was supposed to, I would throw up about 10 minutes later.

Nothing is a magic bullet. I know people who got the gastric bypass, lost a lot of weight, and then gained it back plus. Then I know others who did exceptionaly well with the bypass.

It is very difficult to know which one will work for you. I tried both and would pick the sleeve anyday.

Cazzy - just my opinion and what worked for me. Have a good one.

I have to disagree with some of the above posters comments, its media hype and simply not true that .. ' a lot of people in Europe are having the band removed' all i can say is, dont believe everything u read in a newspaper or watch on tv...

There are people who just arent susccessful with the lapband, but equally there are people who arent with a bypass or sleeve, its a personal choice and one should make it based on advice from your surgeon, knowledge and information and knowing how u are and what level of committment u can give the band. If you want to continue eating food as described as above then maybe the lapband isnt for you, if u want to change your eating habits and get back to being healthy and eating healthy then go for a band..

If my band ever needs removing i have learned my lessons in life regarding eating and portion size and exercise ... it will be hard but the weight is off now, it isnt going to come back

Yes we might have a foreign object in our bodies, but so do people with joint replacements etc, its that or having half your stomach cut away and your intestines re-routed .. to me i start at the bottom of a risk list , not at the top

good luck and hope u can make your decision that suits you

Totally agree with this ..

Miranda and Cazzy both make very good points. One thing you will find there are some people who do great with the band and some who don't. It is a very personal decision you have to make. You can get opinions all day long but in the end that is all it is. Everyone is different.

In my case I didn't want to have my plumbing rerouted and since I didn't have any other health issues I decided to go with the band. I have to be honest though and tell you I was very concerned about the band not working for me because I am so big. I was 450 when I was banded in April. So far I have lost 47 pounds since then. Now on the flip side I have had my ups and downs mentally. Because I am so big I feel as though my weight loss is slow and at times wish I did the bypass. Once I snap out of that frame of mind and I look at my numbers and the calendar and I realize well, i am doing pretty good.

In short if you want to lose weight really fast the band may not be for you. Even for smaller folks it takes time. I am happy to be banded and I am giving it all I got. Whether or not I will be completely successful is yet to be determined.

Read a lot, talk a lot and get all the information you can. You will hear a lot of pros and cons and you need to remember we are all different and our bodies react differently.

Thanks for all the feed back. All of it is good because I also wanted hear from those for whom the lap band didn't work. Like everything there are pro and cons. I just want to talk to people who have had this done. Surgeons for the most part haven't had the surgery and don't know all the answers. Kind of like driving a car you want to make sure that it fits your lifestyle and the goals are realistic in nature.

I will have to make a decision soon so I want to get all the information I can.

I had a hiatal hernia. docs told me I had to have surgery so I thought, let's put a band on that stomach! I wanted to do a surgery without all of the cutting and rerouting, yes, the weight loss is slower but, I am sooooo much healthier now. I decided that loss of weight was the goal not a specific time frame. once I really believed that, everything started to be much more real for me. this is my "new life" not a new diet. I want to grow old and be healthy, if being thin happens too, great!

Here is a chart that may be helpful.it is very informative comparing the different surgeries and it seems pretty unbiased

Weight loss surgery site for info

http://www.trueresul...-loss-surgeries