I want to get a lapband. My only major hangup is that I feel like I would be cheating if I got it. I feel like I put this weight on and I should be able to take it off and my inability to do so is lack of willpower and/or laziness. If I got the band, I'm afraid that I'll just feel sort of ashamed of myself that I couldn't do it on my own.

I know two women with bands, and I fully understand that this is not a simple weight loss method. I know how hard those girls work and I know that it requires a lot of effort on the part of the patient. And I certainly do not feel like they are cheating or being lazy or whatever. It's just how I am afraid I would feel about myself. Last year I lost some of the weight and was running up to 18 miles a week and I felt great and so proud of myself. Then I hurt my hip (as a result of being an overweight runner) and I haven't run in 8 months and the weight has just poured back on. My hip is still injured and I just don't think it is going to get better at this weight.

I really want to lose this weight. I really do. Did anyone else have similar issues to deal with?

I find it as a tool. Plain and simple. I still need to count calories, drink my water and exercise. Obesity is a disease that while managed through diet and exercise is not curable. Good luck with your decision. I find the lapband to be wonderful. Julie

I know exactly how you feel. I too am struggling with the decision to go for the proceedure. I need to lose about 45 pounds and am looked at as not big enough to need this. This adds to my guilt and dilemma. But I see it as a tool and a change of life pattern. So I am leaning towards going for it.

What I SHOULD be able to do, and what I CAN or WILL do are two different things.

I have given up on what I SHOULD be able to do... Trust me, it is still plenty of work to lose weight, even with the band to assist.

If loving my band is wrong, I don't want to be right.

:]

No. I've had really no luck in finding a sweet spot, so I do feel like I've had to dig deep and find a lot of strength in myself. I got a great boost at first because I got 8 or 9 weeks of superb restriction before my first fill and lost probably half my weight in that time. Then it waned a bit and I got my first fill at 12 weeks and although each fill has brought me up by small increments (my first fill was 1 ml and then I've had five tiny ones), its never ever given me the kind of restriction others talk about. I dont have a dilated pouch or any other problem, I just seem to have a smallish stomach and I never had a lot of internal fat, my doc remarked on that after surgery. I'm sure another fill would mean I could no longer eat bread and such, and be restricted to less than a cup of food, but well, I've gotten to goal so why bother?

I've run my ass off quite literally. I've exercised long and hard throughout this journey, very consistenly six times a week or so. I've ignored hunger, I've ignored cravings and I've eaten what I know I should (even though I believe in carbs), I've avoided fatty, calorie dense foods and I've had enough restriction from my band to prevent over eating and to make fast foods and very heavy stodgy foods too much trouble to bother with. My diet's changed markedly through a COMBINATION of my band and my efforts.

I needed this tool, desperately, I could never have gotten here without it, but I dont for a minute believe its solely responsible for my weight loss.

...I feel like I would be cheating if I got it. I feel like I put this weight on and I should be able to take it off and my inability to do so is lack of willpower and/or laziness. If I got the band, I'm afraid that I'll just feel sort of ashamed of myself that I couldn't do it on my own.

I felt the same way, which is why I didn't do this two years ago when my insurance would have paid for the whole thing. I worked out with a trainer, followed an eating plan, swam and tried to stay active and I lost a total of 2.6 pounds.

I got the band last Thursday.

I have been successful on many diets, only to gain the weight back again.

I always felt hungry several hours after a meal. I would exercise, paid much money at the gym for a personal trainer. I got in shape, so to speak. I was a sturdier, fat person. I am still an advocate of exercise, but no matter how much I worked out, I didn't lose more than 5-6 pounds.

I took countless diet pills which are addictive and unhealthy, to lose weight. I never once asked myself if those pills were "cheating"

because I was so desperate that I overlooked their side effects.

After researching the lap band, I felt this was a much better alternative.

If I were going to lose the weight "on my own" it would have happened by now.

I still am going to have to diet with my bad, use portion control, make healthy choices and utilize my band as a tool that it was meant to be used for.

I am glad to have my band and am looking forward to having a slow continuual journey that will teach me to make the changes I need in my

issues with food.

Glad I did it!

I want to get a lapband. My only major hangup is that I feel like I would be cheating if I got it. I feel like I put this weight on and I should be able to take it off and my inability to do so is lack of willpower and/or laziness. If I got the band, I'm afraid that I'll just feel sort of ashamed of myself that I couldn't do it on my own.

I know two women with bands, and I fully understand that this is not a simple weight loss method. I know how hard those girls work and I know that it requires a lot of effort on the part of the patient. And I certainly do not feel like they are cheating or being lazy or whatever. It's just how I am afraid I would feel about myself. Last year I lost some of the weight and was running up to 18 miles a week and I felt great and so proud of myself. Then I hurt my hip (as a result of being an overweight runner) and I haven't run in 8 months and the weight has just poured back on. My hip is still injured and I just don't think it is going to get better at this weight.

I really want to lose this weight. I really do. Did anyone else have similar issues to deal with?

It's not cheating. It's using all the tools in your arsenal. Sometimes I feel a twinge of guilt, but I get over it quick. I was talking about this to a friend of mine today who is nearly 300 pounds. I said if someone didn't physically stop me from eating, I would be as big as a house. The band physically stops me from over-eating. You said "I'm just afraid of how I would feel about myself". You will feel GREAT about yourself, because you will be healthier, more active and look better too! Good luck to you and keep us posted on your decision.

Thank you for being supportive, understanding, and most importantly for not being offended by my post. I was at the store with my daughter after posting and I was very worried that people here might feel that I thought people with the band were taking the easy way out or something. That is definitely NOT how I feel. If anything, I admire you all for taking the leap and being so proactive about your weight.

Your comments have made me feel so much better. I am deluding myself if I think that somehow my next attempt at weight loss will be magically successful while the countless other well intentioned good efforts failed.

What a nice bunch here on this board!

That's the definition of insanity isnt it? Continuosly and repeatedly doing the same thing yet expecting a different result.

There is a part of you that just has to accept that something is broken and needs to be fixed. Obesity is a disease. I think we are so strongly conditioned to feel that its our fault, that we shoudl be able to control it but its just plain truth that so many people cant. I have a lot of trouble getting my head around this concept, I admit that I STILL tend to think I could now keep my weight off without the band. I still find myself wanting to say to people that are struggling, "you just have to DO it". Dont eat the crap, dont eat so much" but it is not a helpful answer. Its not the way obesity works.

Yes, that thought crossed my mind, too. But, I wanted to have surgery last year and and had to be on a supervised diet etc., etc. Well, I lost just enough weight to think that I didn't need the surgery. Hah! Over the next 4 months I started putting it back on. I knew I only had a certain amount of time in which to get surgery approved, so I decided to go for it. That was in January. It's now April and have finally been approved, but I don't have a surgery date yet. So, when I saw your post I thought-yup, that's what I've been kidding myself with for a long, long time. And yes, if I could have kept it off before, I wouldnt have tried every diet under the sun and still managed to gain more back with each regain. I've decided I won't be cheating when I get my lapband, I'll be kind of like a diabetic who needs their shots to help stay healthy. Their shots aren't cheating, and the lapband won't be either.

It's like you all are in my head saying exactly what I am thinking. I am going to go for it. See if I can also use this as a tool to help me live a healthier life. My mother and grandmother suffered from being over weight and had heart attacks. I am so afraid of that for myself. I need to take this step. I am just so afraid. But I will trudge on and see where this new journey takes me.

I think I would have been cheating myself out of the life I have now if I had *not* been banded.