What to REALLY expect...

[mlevel 0]

I am on FastTrack awaiting insurance approval. I have been so stoked about this new life change...following all of the 'rules'...but then people have been telling me stories of 'friends they know' who after 6 months have only lost 20 pounds.... How discouraging is that? I have a significant amount of weight to lose. Is that really what I should be expecting? It will be years before I get my BMI down at that rate. Help! I need some encouragement!

[giveyouthemoon 4]

The band is a tool meant to help. It's not a given that it will work. You have to work the band, it doesn't do all the heavy lifting. It's not magic.

If you eat the right foods, eat small portions, and exercise (meaning, live by the rules of the band) and barring any other medical conditions that would prevent weight loss, then yes, you can expect to lose a significant amount of weight.

Look around at the signatures of the veteren bandsters around here......

[Wheetsin 714]

who after 6 months have only lost 20 pounds.... How discouraging is that? I have a significant amount of weight to lose. Is that really what I should be expecting? It will be years before I get my BMI down at that rate. Help! I need some encouragement!

It's hard because weightloss rates vary so much person by person. It's ABSOLUTELY possible for someone to be banded and lose 20 lbs. But you have to look at all the factors involved including (but not limited to):

How much weight they had to lose

Diet habits

Exercise habits

Level of restriction

Post-op diet and adherance

Individual metabolism

And on, and on...

[lisah25 3]

The good and bad thing about the band is that you have to do your part. It's good, because I really believe that baring some medical condition, we have the power to finally lose the weight. Once and for all. It's "bad" because in order to, we have to indeed follow the rules. The band hasn't really made it effortless for me, but it so far is making it very doable.

My DH has an aunt who got banded about two years ago. She hasn't lost much at all, but then she has only gotten one fill. She drinks beverages with calories. She eats all the wrong stuff. So yes, some people don't lose much.

But as Karen said, look at some of the sigs of posters here, some are doing wonderful.

[threebeauties 0]

It's a lot more work on my part than I had hoped. I am doing well and still think it is the best decision I could have made.

For me, not matter how often I heard "the band is just a tool to help" I guess somewhere in the back of my mind I thought it would do more of the work but ,no, I have to do the work.

The best thing is you have to make the right choices. With the band, if you follow the program, you will be healthy, not just thin.

[mlevel 0]

Thanks! I needed the boost desperately today. I appreciate you taking time to respond to the posting. I have been following the restrictions of the band and have added exercise to my daily schedule to begin my life overhaul before the band so everything is not such a sudden jolt and I am losing weight in the process. I need to focus on this forum and not stories of 'others' that can so quickly cut your hopes down. Thanks for the focus!

[threebeauties 0]

One more thing I wanted to mention.

Soon after my surgery I read a tread about "band regrets". The only regret MANY bandsters had was that they didn't start excersizing sooner!!

Good for you for starting before the surgery. Good luck, you sound like you have your "head on straight" and will be successful.

[cinward2001 0]

Tomorrow is my one year bandiversary. I've lost 82 lbs...had a goal to lose 84 lbs the first year. How close is that? LOL Of course, the scales are going to stick right here just for spite. :rose:

This is my personal opinion on losing weight, based upon my own journey and reading about so many others so it may or may not apply to you. I think that many (if not most) obese people have a much more emotional relationship with food than we realize. We eat when we're happy, sad, bored, stressed, tired, etc.

In MOST cases, when people get banded, they're ready to WORK at severing those emotional ties to food. The band helps with the physical hunger and physical restriction...but it won't stop us from eating for other reasons. I think that, for the small percent of people who do NOT do well with the band, they didn't realize this and/or aren't ready to give up their relationship with food. When that happens, you can read all sorts of "excuses" for eating. I'm weak from hunger, I couldn't help myself, I was just trying one bite, but I LOVE bread (or any other food)...and the list goes on.

Even though I'm almost at my goal, I STILL do this sometimes, too. I've been sick this week...so I'm eating more sweets 'cause I'm tired, my throat hurts, I'm mopey 'cause I hate feeling bad, and I want to eat something that tastes good going down. In reality, those are excuses. Eating sweets won't help me get better faster. But at least with the band, I recognize when I'm doing this, and the band doesn't allow the quantity or even some of the same junk that I used to get to go down...so where pre-band I would have gained weight from this emotional eating, now I just stay the same until I get my act together again.

In a very real sense, I think that DS and bypass are the easier surgeries *in the beginning.* Because they're malabsorptive, it doesn't matter if you eat the wrong things or overeat (they're also restrictive, so you can't eat as much). Your body doesn't absorb the calories anyway. With banding, if you eat it, your body uses it. With banding, you HAVE to change your head and your habits. DS and bypass do more of the work for you. I also think that's why so many studies are showing that, at 3-5 years, banding has the same success rate as DS and bypass...and at 5+ years, bandsters are MORE successful. That's because, with DS and bypass, when the body compensates for the surgery (pouch gets larger, absorption improves), the person hasn't learned how to deal with the emotional eating or changed their habits...so the weight starts coming back. Of course, that doesn't happen with ALL DS and bypass patients...sometimes, losing the weight initially leads to such lifestyle changes (exercise, new relationships, etc) that the weight stays off.

With the band, that doesn't happen. You either learn to deal with the head hunger and change your habits, or you don't lose much weight. Also, if you start sliding backwards, you can get a fill. But that's also key...some bandsters don't get fills once they realize that, with good restriction, you likely *can't* eat a hamburger or french fries. Some bandsters really just aren't ready to give up some of those foods.

Sorry to be so long-winded with this. I think that the band is a WONDERFUL tool and am so thankful that I did it. But I really get annoyed when someone isn't doing well and they blame it on the band because they're not doing what they need to do. It does take work, but for most people, the pay-offs are worth it...and as you start dropping weight, it gets easier to be motivated because you see and FEEL it working.

Cindy

[juliegeraci 7]

Its hard to say what you will lose. I am a slow loser at 40 lbs in 7 months. I wouldn't do anything differnt though. I think you will find good weight lose if you follow the rules. Best of luck to you.

[Betsyjane 2]

Remember too that you may not feel help with the band before your firsdt fill...and your first fill might get absorbed by the dry band so you may not have restriction...so it may take MONTHS before you have the help you need from the band! Everybody's got a different story. And you hit plateaus. and I guess as much as anything else, there's a HUGE learning process as you go along. For me, it's like going from doing the impossible, to doing hard work. I'd much rather have hard work that has a more than reasonable hope of success!

[Jachut 487]

Cindy said it so well - those who do well were ready to really work at it. That was the scariest thing about getting banded - realising my days of using food as a crutch, or inappropriately, were over. I wasnt sure I could do that, I couldnt imagine what I would replace the empty space with.

As it turned out, it wasnt too bad at all. But work at it I have.

I'm not always perfect and I dont want to be - this is my life, not another diet. But whilst I have to do the right things to lose, I just cannot eat enough to gain - given milkshakes, ice creams and other easy calories were never a favourite food of mine anyway, so I've never had a habit with them. My bad foods were carbs - muffins, cake, Cookies. I cant eat those so easily, so I can eat them but not overeat them. If I have a little cookie binge, I usually cant eat my dinner, so it evens out even though that of course is not ideal. I have no fear whatsoever that I am going to regain the weight I've lost.

But it doesnt come off without putting the work in. Luckily I love running, so getting plenty of exercise is pretty much effortless for me.

[Wheetsin 714]

One thing I didn't realize when I got banded, and wish I would have (even though it wouldn't have changed my mind) is that PBs *hurt*.

It's nice to know that. I've had calls from bandsters, and we get several posts here, who are experiecing "just" a PB, but are absolutely freaked out because they don't associate it to pain, and they think something really bad must be wrong.

[TracyinKS 7]

Cindy: WOW great post!

[serious 2]

I am a new bandster, banded 12/5/06. I have not had my first fill yet, but If I follow the bandster rules, solid Protein first, veggies, etc, I get full on smaller portions. I agree with everthing Cindy said so eloquently. The band does exactly what it is intended and advertised to do; if you follow the bandster way of eating, it limits the amount of solid food you can comfortably consume. Therefore, it works great for people who are volume eaters of solids. I have a friend who does not want to be bothered with the work involved with the lapband. She has opted for the gastric sleeve. She states there are too many "bandsters" who come to her doctors ofc who live off of coffee and cigarettes. I explained to her that those people are "too tight." The lapband can't stop you from living off of coffee and cigarettes, it doesn't make moral judgements about what you put in your mouth. I would much rather have a tool that I work with, as opposed to having 95% of my stomach removed to lose weight as my friend has chosen. Someone said the lapband is not a bus, where you pay your fare, get on and kick back. It is more like a bicycle, you do have to pedal to reach your destination.

[mlevel 0]

One thing I didn't realize when I got banded, and wish I would have (even though it wouldn't have changed my mind) is that PBs *hurt*.

It's nice to know that. I've had calls from bandsters, and we get several posts here, who are experiecing "just" a PB, but are absolutely freaked out because they don't associate it to pain, and they think something really bad must be wrong.

I hate to sound so ignorant but would someone please send me a manual of "Interpretations for Dummies" because I can not for the life of me figure out what "PBs" are....help! (Thanks in advance!)