I'm posting in a few places hoping to get advice. There is so much stuff out there that I don't know where to start. I need to get my weight under controle some how. How did you all start?

Hi there, it's important to know that Lapband surgery has quite a bit of aftercare -- I have 11 visits in the first year. For me, I like the accountability; touching base with my medical professionals is reassuring. This is the "adjustable" part of adjustable Lapband surgery. The band can be tightened or loosened not to provide restriction -- that's not how the band works! -- but to dim the appetite properly so we can make healthy choices. I like it that I can still enjoy real food.

This is a great website for explaining different types of weight loss surgeries: http://drsimpson.net/fills/Lap-band-eating/lap-band-not-restriction/lap-band-and-restriction.html

Check out the menu on the left. Like you, I started thinking about weight loss surgery and began reading all the posts I could and asking questions. I had to ignore some stuff that was obviously ridiculous -- people can be weird and every one thinks their surgery is best -- but in this process I started to be able to see patterns and why some people were very successful and others not so much. That has to do with willingness, I think -- for me I felt so desperate that I would go so far as to have surgery, so I felt willing to do whatever I needed to do to make it work. Also know that there is not one "right" surgery for every one. We are all different and people choose a particular surgery for different reasons. Whatever surgery you choose there will be a process, so you may want to start with a primary care provider who can help steer you in the right direction. There will be a lot of labs and pre-op hurdles -- I had a psych eval and two visits with a nutritionist prior to meeting the surgeon. Then from there it went pretty quickly. I felt really ready and while I was frustrated by how long it all seemed to take, as I look back I think that time was important to that readiness. Also I upped my exercise and saw a counsellor to peel back the layers of my overeating behaviors so I was coming to this from a place of brutal honesty -- that I needed help, that I could not succeed on a diet, and I was ready for surgery. Hope this helps! You are choosing yourself and your healthy future and that is a very powerful thing. All of us here have felt the powerlessness of battling significant weight loss challenges and started right where you are now. Best wishes to you!

Thank you for this post! When you say that you saw a counselor to peel back your layers of overeating, what exactly did you to? I feel like overeating is one of the main issues that I have. I just mindlessly eat for no reason sometimes. I know that I need help, I don't know why food is such a mental struggle for me. Are there any surgeries that help specifically with the mindless eating aspect of things?

That's the one thing none of these surgeries can do. Much of this is mental. You have to be in the right frame of mind. The surgery just helps to dim the appetite or prevent you from eating too much at one sitting. Everything else is on you. Some folks go to therapy, others just find things to occupy themselves so as not to mindlessly eat. I used to sit in front of the TV alot and now I don't do that anymore. Too many food channels, too many food commercials. I do other things. Just understand that all WLS are tools and not magic wands. The weight does not come off by magic and even if you lose it fast, it can come back just like any other diet. I see posts all the time from folks who have gained some or all of it back. ..

You need to just call a weight loss surgeon in your area and set up an appointment. They will go over all of the different surgery options, pros and cons of each etc.

I will go out on a limb and say that if you don't have insurance you might want to consider something other than the band due to the fact that the ongoing follow up visits would get very expensive.

excuse me, what is plication and what i sits advantaage?

Hi Martha...

I had lap band with plication…..basically the plication is just like the sleeve without actually removing part of your stomach. They fold the stomach in on itself and suture it to look like a banana. In addition to having the band it makes your stomach smaller.

Not all/many doctors do it that I have heard of. My doc was doing a study to see the long term results of having lap band with plication together.

For me, from what i get from my follow up visits to the doctor, I don't have cravings like I used to, my hunger is under control right from day 1 of surgery, and I have not needed a fill yet. They cannot definitively tell me that this is from the plication but Im guessing it has something to do with it.

I know of a couple of other people that also had plication with their lap band and their hunger returned right after surgery and they have needed fills to help them get to their green zone.

So , with everything else, it is very different from person to person.

Hope that helps!