This quote from DH. He says, "Wouldn't it be easier to just eat half as much food all the time, instead of having a band?" I sort of didn't know how to answer. I said, "well, you eat slower so you feel full sooner and for longer" . He says "so why don't you eat slower and take small bites...without the band? Especially when there are erosions and slips and all this stuff you keep telling me you read about on lapbandtalk ?"

(so yeah, I did tell him I was learning of more of the downside of banding recently)

He isn't being devil's advocate, he's asking some questions that are challenging my mental preparedness for the band. Help folks! Why IS the band better than just portion control and/or dieting?

It´s better because most of us don't have the physical will power to eat smaller portions and to eat slower with out some sort of consequence. The band makes it physically impossible to eat more then we should and it gives our body a reminder when we are doing something we shouldn't, and the band never stops or goes away.

We might diet for a few weeks but after that give up and go back to our old ways. The band physically will not allow us to do that. For me at least its what I need to make me eat proper and to stop when I don't need any more. Otherwise I'll just eat and eat until I feel sick and guilty. If we could eat smaller portions and slow down eating etc....then we wouldn't have gotten this fat to begin with.

I have been asked this question many times, and as far as Im concerned they may as well have asked "why cant you just cough and cough and get better on your own instead of taking anti biotics for that pneumonia !!

the band makes a small tummy at the top and leaves a tiny hole leading into your big tummy. the food goes into the small one and slowly slowly lets it drop into the big one and then gets digested as normal. so the feeling of being FULL is there very fast and stays there for a long time. THis is new to me because I never ever felt full. didnt know what it meant unless you talk stuffed to the gills like after christmas dinner. Now I feel full faster, longer and no longer think of food all the time. Im back in control, and can go for 5 -8 hours without even thinking of eating, in fact, I eat like a thin person eats, slowly, and enjoy the taste of the food (or not, as the case may be) Yes it would be far easier to not have the surgery and just eat smaller portions slowly and carefully but that doesnt mean that you wont be still hungry and thinking of more food as your digesting the tiny portion.

the band is an exellent tool to help you lose weight if you use it properly and follow the rules, so ask your husband just how much hes paid for power tools, cars, and all the male paraphenalia they have to make life easier for the male species, you only have to go into a DIY super store to realise that there must be vast armies of men somewhere thinking of how to make life a breeze . ha ha

shh dont tell him I said that

As much as I try, I can not portion control. Oh, I might be good for a week or two but then bang, I gain the weight back and then some. I can not control it as much as I have tried in my 40 years of living and believe me, I have tried and failed more times than one can imagine.

The band reminds me to stop. Example, the other day I went to the cheese cake factory for dinner with DH and DD. I had the asian lettuce wraps.. yummy choice btw. Both my DD and DH had cheesecake and I only took one bite of each of theirs and was full. Before banding I would have eating a regular dinner, appetizer and desert all by myself. So you see, even with the teeny restriction I have now, I AM doing better. I've come to realize that I won't be one of those people who will lose weight over night with the band. I'm loving being able to enjoy life, food and still lose weight as slow as it may be. Its a wonderful feeling to be able to take a bite or two of something and not feel guilty. I'm greatful I'm not going in the other direction for once in my life.

Tell your DH that just like a person who is ill, or has an addiction to something... you need help. Being overweight will only cause medical problems down the road and thats what your trying to prevent now.

Hugs and Good Luck !!

The answer is that portion control and dieting DO work, but can you maintain that yourself for the rest of your life? If your history is anything like mine, the clear answer is no.

Dieting works only while you're doing it. The band keeps you doing it. Period.

Its a new experience for me to buy 4 cream cakes and then, a few days later find them at the back of the fridge and have to throw them out!!! they would have been gone, 2 of them on the way home and the other two later on in the day. But throwing food out is a whole new thread !!!

lol

I just want to thank you for this thread. I get this question sometimes and others like it. I seem to be dumbfounded or speechless at it and only think of witty things to say so long after the question has been asked that it's no longer relevant.

Thanks again for helping me be prepared.

I have been banded for 5 months and EVERYDAY I still have to force myself to slow it down when I eat, take small bites, etc. If it's been 5 months and I am still "retraining" my brain, then I am even more sure I couldn't have even begun to do that without the band.

I asked myself this question so many times as I was waiting for my surgery date to arrive. I felt so guilty for spending so much money on the band when I was going to do all the typical weight loss things anyway. The only thing that got me over that was realizing that I had done those things - so many times I'd lost count, and I was still getting fatter every year.

I recently went through a week of feeling down about the overall idea of weightloss. For the first time since starting my band journey, I saw no loss on weigh in day. The voices began in my head.. It was going to take too long.. I didn't really feel any difference in my body.. I was growing bored with the whole diet obession - again! I recognized this point in the weightloss process. I'd been here before. And it was here that I'd given up and allowed myself to slip back into the old ways of eating. Pushing the thoughts of dieting and weightloss aside as I replaced them with my good old friend, food.

But here is where every penny I spent on this band was repaid to me. In spite of my feelings, in spite of my depression, boredom, and loss of belief in my success... the band kept working. I'm sure I'll go through this again, and when I do I will be reminded yet again - THIS is why I got the band. I need that safety net for the times I slip emotionally or physically.

Y'know what?? If I could have done that... stuck to any diet for any period of time... then I wouldn't have needed it in the first time. Reality for me was the Lap Band was the first time I ever lost weight of any significance (more than 10 lbs.) and ever maintained it. In 20 yrs or so of dieting. I had done personal trainers, diet meals delivered to my home, nutritionists, residential programs (spas and pritikin), psychiatrists, OA, WW, Diet Center, Jenny Craig, diet pills (I remember ordering them from the back of a mag when I was like 11 and they were not supposed to be used unless you were 12 or 13 or over), etc.

I think the weirdest thing with the Band was being full after eating a Lean Cuisine... or an appetizer... or whatever. I had never really experienced what being full felt like. It was so strange.

I think the problem is that still a majority of people do not see obesity as a disease, but they see it as a choice. If you really really wanted to, you could be thin. Yet it is a disease... and the research is proving that it's quite a more complicated disease than previously thought. You wouldn't say something like that to a diabetic (Gee... don't you think you could just avoid carbs and sugars the rest of your life instead of needing insulin???) so why is it acceptable to say that to an obese person. Surgery is the only treatment that has proven effective long-term. The only one. It's not a perfect treatment, but it's all we have. Hopefully, one day there will be other solutions.

Ya know what, I dont think it is a matter of eating less and chewing slower - well it is but.... the reason I CAN eat less is BECAUSE of the band. By having the band, that makes us have our pouch which takes less to fill and makes you feel full longer. Without that.... No small amount of food would satisfy me. I mean, I did millions of diets and ate like a bird all day but man, once it got dark out and nobody was looking..... That does not happen anymore, because I do have that fullness and am not starving by 8 pm.

This quote from DH. He says, "Wouldn't it be easier to just eat half as much food all the time, instead of having a band?" I sort of didn't know how to answer. I said, "well, you eat slower so you feel full sooner and for longer" . He says "so why don't you eat slower and take small bites...without the band? Especially when there are erosions and slips and all this stuff you keep telling me you read about on lapbandtalk ?"

(so yeah, I did tell him I was learning of more of the downside of banding recently)

He isn't being devil's advocate, he's asking some questions that are challenging my mental preparedness for the band. Help folks! Why IS the band better than just portion control and/or dieting?

I can speak to having been banded, eroded then had band removed and not dieting.

IT SUCKS!! LOL!! Ok got that out of the way.

The band limits and quiets the head demon. If he is not overweight and does not battle the weight issues like we do then he might not understand period.

Here is something I have used in the past to explain it to someone.

Preband you can eat a horse and have no idea you are doing it.

With the band you can eat a horse hair and realize that is too much.

Of course this is over-exaggerating but you get the pic.

With the band you get this feeling that if you eat another bite you will explode. It drastically limits how much you eat therefore cutting down on calories.

Without the band you don't have that little indicator to warn you. So you can continue to eat. The statement of "just eat less" doesn't work for us without the band. I am struggling to just eat my Nutrisystem meals and not grab something else cause I don't have that limit indicator anymore.

Hope this helped.