So I have a friend who had the sleeve surgery almost two weeks before my band surgery. She picked it bc she lives too far for going for fills. I didn't want a more invasive surgery out of fear (never had surgery b4 the band). I felt good about the choice but honestly didn't know much about the sleeve. Well my friend lives several states away and didn't tell anyone at first she was having the sleeve nor did I about the band.

Fast forward to today, she is down 52 lbs since early March. Me I'm struggling to hold constant @ 20 and not gain! I'm following the rules and even cut calories down to 1000-1200 just to make the scale budge 0.5. Of course the scale is up and down everyday.

I'm committed to working hard and I'm not throwing in the towel. It just SUCKS to see people lose so much more than me. Even here. I'll be 8 wks post op Thursday and should have fill #2 the following week.

Sorry for whining!! Thanks for lending an ear!!

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Don't give up! What's done is done and you picked the band, give it some time. One of the "downsides" of the band is that the weight loss is much slower, only 1-2 lbs a week if that, so you can't compare yourself to your sleeve friend. It is proven to be not only healthier to loose weight slower, but also you skin bounces back better, and the weight is supposed to stay off better if the weight loss was slower. So hang in there!!

Look at the big picture- does it really matter how fast or slow you lose? All that matters is that you have lost weight and are still working towards losing. Fast forward two years from now: You and your friend are both at your goal weights. Does it matter who got there first? Nope.

This is your journey. One of my favorite quotes is "comparison is the thief of joy". Stop comparing yourself to her and embrace your own success.

i also found that it helped not to rely so much on the numbers of the scale, but the size of the clothing that i wear. it's how i judged my progress and it helps me to not obsess if the numbers go up a few pounds or drop a few pounds. in fact the only time i ever see how much i weigh is when i'm at the doctors office on a follow up. as someone else pointed out, lapband is much slower than the other than the other types of surgery. you cannot compare your progress to someone else's, especially on a different type of surgery. it's not fair to you or the other person. it also takes away the thrill of your own progress.

I only had about 75 lbs to lose. If I compare myself to "Joe" who had 175 lbs to lose, it's almost certain that Joe will lose more in the beginning than me. Many obese people retain much more water/fluids than others. The weight lost in those first few weeks is mostly water/fluids.

Once you both rid your bodies of the excess fluids, the rate of fat loss should even out.

"The jealous competitor. – Don’t be jealous of others. Jealousy is the art of counting someone else’s blessings instead of your own. Stop comparing your journey with everyone else’s. Your journey is YOUR journey, NOT a competition. You are in competition with one person and one person only – yourself. You are competing to be the best you can be. If you want to measure your progress, compare yourself to who you were 30 days ago or last year"

well, I am guilty of comparing myself also to others. I have a great friend who has the sleeve also and you know what, I have lost MORE than she has..she is saying to me here lately, maybe I should have got the band....the point is, you lose at your rate to fit your body. the larger you are, the quicker you lose...no idea why but its true....so who cares (like miss and tmf said) who loses why before you do..does it matter? did you have a time limit set to lose before your arms fall off? ......what matters is you are losing weight.....end of story........and just because someone has the sleeve or the bypass, it is not a guarantee they will lose, you still need to change what you eat.....the amounts and have a mental attitude of wanting to lose weight, not just have surgery to lose weight....sorry if this is rough, but come on. it just burns my gears to see you not even giving you and your band a chance to work and YOU WILL....you just started your process...do what you have to do to lose weight.....and it looks as if you are..i see no issues...I see only success so far