I know that you would be risking a lot by having the band removed buy has anyone done it after they reached their goal and maintained it. I understand that we get the band because we cannot control hunger and portions so removing it would make us go back to our old habits but i am just wandering if the months or years of having the band has taught us the discipline to do it on our own. Just wandering

I'm sure it's possible, but it's highly unlikely you'd keep your weight off. In fact, I know of a couple people who have met their goal weight and for whatever reason had to have their band removed, so they opted for another WLS in it's place. They knew maintaining their weight loss on their own wasn't going to happen successfully.

I would probably never do it, but we are supposed to be learning to eat "right" or "healthy". So you should be able to continue those habits. I can't imagine having mine removed though unless it was a necessity.

I'm 3 weeks post removal and can honestly say the band helped my eating habits. I can have a couple bites of the really really bad stuff instead of eating til I'm stuffed....however, long term it would be a major struggle.

I've read somewhere that with the band your body gets used to having very small portions of food. After band removal, when you back into "normal" portions (and I don't mean those large portions that made us obese in the first place -- just normal) you will regain quickly. I can't remember where I read it, or who wrote it, but it just seemed to make a lot of sense to me. I have already made up my mind that if I ever had to have my band removed, I'm going with the sleeve, if possible!!! I don't ever want to have to white-knuckle diet again if I don't have to!

It's not true. Try having an unfill for a period of time and see how quickly your hunger comes back. After we have been banded for a while we may think that we have it all down pat but we forget that the band is helping to control our hunger.

Instead of having your band removed if you think you can cope without it have a complete unfill and see if you manage to maintain your weight loss, at least it is still there to be refilled when you find you can't.

I can never understand why people think like this. If it was something like a pacemaker we wouldn't be asking if we could have it removed once the heart rate returned to normal would we? Obesity is a disease and it is one that needs a permanent solution.