Hi All,

I'm new to the forum & need a little encouragement & support to keep me on track. I recently went to see my PCP and she suggested that I have the lap band surgery due to the numberous health concerns that have came about over the past few years due to the large amount of weight that I have gained. At first I was upset that she even suggested that I have the surgery but after I thought about these last few years and how much weight I have & all my health problems I decided that she was right & I needed to start taking this big weight gain seriously. I'm 34 with 2 kids and I am the biggest I've been in my entire life even while pregnant. I am really interested in the gastric sleeve for a number of reason but my insurance (Anthem) won't cover the procedure. I was sad to find this out and got in a big funk and said the hell with it I'm just not going to have anything done. I decided to look into the lap band procedure more and saw so many success stories that I decided to go forth with the lap band surgery. I had to remind myself that this surgery is not just about me but my kids as well. I use to love to go out & do things with my family & friends but since I've gained so much weight I hate going outside now to even go grocery shopping. I hate how people look at me & the one's that haven't seen me in awhile always start the conversation off like "Hey I didn't even know who you were you gotten so fat" I feel like running & hiding at the site of old friends. I've actually shut myself off from the outside world. My 13 yr old actually told me mom your a loner.....I felt like I wanted to die inside. Because he was right that's how I really feel at times. I lie to the few real friends (2) I have about why I can't go out just so I won't feel like the elephant in the room. Today was the day I decided to do something about it and contacted the surgeon's office to schedule my 1st appointment. From my understanding my insurance doesn't have any waiting periods or anything of that nature I know I have to see several specialist & attend a support group or two. I did the seminar online because I just hate going out since I've gotten so big. But I'm starting to get excited becasue I know today was really a big step for me & I can't wait to be a success story not just for me but for my kids as well.

Blessings

The band is a lot of work and requires you change your eating habits to healthy foods. Can you do that? Can you avoid high fat processed food? We mostly eat fresh fruit, vegetables, fish and chicken. Lots of salads.

Sounds like a diet but it's not. Since we can't eat as much we try to eat healthier foods. And for heavens sake, do not consider the band as a panacea. The band will not help you shop for healthy food, it won't make good choices for you if you are a fast food junkie, it won't reach out and take that bar of chocolate away from you. It will help you to feel full or more satisfied with less food if you follow the rules.

The band is a much slower method than the others. You may lose 30 lbs the first month and 50 through the 2nd month. But then it will slow to a crawl. 2-6 lbs a month after that. Sometimes months with no progress. Some are lucky and lose consistently every month. They're in a very small minority.

This could be the hardest you've ever worked to lose weight. Not necessarily because you feel deprived, but because you will be changing your life as you know it. And it may sound fun and exotic, but it's traumatic, humbling, but deeply rewarding.

Glad to see you have seen a light. Keep walking towards it.

tmf

Welcome to LBT.com! The best advice I can give you is educate yourself as much as possible before surgery. There's a lot of great books including Bandwagon, written by our very own Jean (you can find her on the boards and she writes for the LBT.com magazine board). WLS for Dummies is another. Also stalking this forum is very educational. Have a question, ask. Knowledge is power!

Good luck on your journey! Hope to see you around!