I am going back and forth on whether to have the surgery or not. My family and ultimately my initial support group is saying that if I cannot follow any other of the diet plans that this won't work either. Anyone have any comments to help me to get them to understand where I am and how this is different?

Of course, ultimately, the choice is yours to make. However, here's my 2 cents. I never had much luck with diet plans and would always end up off the wagon within a few days. I once lasted several months, but that's not the norm for me. I now look at the band as a tool to use to help keep me honest with my diet. I'm two weeks out from my surgery and at first I thought "oh no, what have I done," but that passed. I'm really liking the band. I'm not liking the post op diet phases until I get to real food, but I'm trying to be patient with it. I think you might want to do a lot of research that you can show your family and support people in your life to show them that it does work. We all have to keep in mind that the band works as well as we work it. If we cheat a lot, then it will eventually not help. My problem has always been portion control, so I think it will work for me. Good luck in your decision. Either way you decide to go, you'll definitely need people to be supportive.

I'm a binger and a grazer. The worst of the worst. The honest truth is that with my band, when I screw up royally, I stop losing, BUT I don't gain! That's a first for me. And when I get back on track, I lose! Over time, food is losing it's hold on me. I couldn't ask for anything better..... It's not magic, but it's just what I need.

Im getting the band soon and i hope i never learn how to cheat.

You will probably learn how to cheat. The difference for me with the band is that I can then say I will get back on track, and I actually can! It broke that pattern for me of failing at weight loss. I am human and not perfect, and I can still follow through. I'm even losing all that self blame stuff. I feel like a normla thin person who can say "I think I'll lose some wieght" and actually follow through and do it. It's an interesting journey, much of which, fo rme, has been about my habits and self=expectations. Wish I'd done it decades ago.....

Thank God its an Implant!

I'm a binger and a grazer. The worst of the worst. The honest truth is that with my band, when I screw up royally, I stop losing, BUT I don't gain! That's a first for me. And when I get back on track, I lose! Over time, food is losing it's hold on me. I couldn't ask for anything better..... It's not magic, but it's just what I need.

Bestyjane

This is great to hear - I to am a binger and grazer (from head hunger)

I am being banded 7/17.. and This is why I am being banded - if it will stop me from eating 1/2 of what i eat now - I will lose weight...

(I'm not banded yet)

The band is a tool, not a cure. Here's how I think of it and explain it to the few people I tell about it...

Say you're standing in the store and see a fun item you weren't planning to buy and is a bit expensive. If you have the cash in your pocket it would be easy to buy it. If you have to leave the store, drive to the bank, go inside and withdraw the cash, and go all the way back to the store, it would make the purchase easier to resist and you probably wouldn't bother.

That's how I look at the band. Right now it's easy to drive into a drive-thru and eat bad food. With the band I would REALLY have to work at cheating over and over and over. It would be easier to have something small and be done with it. I'm too lazy to bother cheating. LOL!!!

A friend of mine is banded and says that another great thing is that if you are craving say ice cream, you can have it and be satisfied after only a few bites. That rocks! :whoo:

Some of my family members were less than excited about me wanting to be banded. But, I did my research, took them to my support group and, now that I'm banded, have shown them that I'm serious. Getting banded was the best thing I ever did for myself and I'm so very glad I did it. My husband has always been on my side and supported me, but it took the rest of the family a little while to come around.

It IS a fantastic tool and helps keep you from falling too far off your line (if you fall at all). Personally, I'm terrified of hurting my band, so can't see me doing too much in the way of cheating. My own problem is slowing down my eating. I try, but I can still blast through my meals quickly. Gotta figure that out.

Steph

I WAY don't agree about the ice cream! Ice Cream goes through the bandeasily, as does chocolate! I'm enough of a sugar addict that I mostly still have to avoid those things or I'll overdo. For me, the band just makes me like normal people. I can pick at my food and eat little, and I can choose not to eat some things and stick with it. Or I can splurge on ice cream and then head to the gym to work it off. You know...all those things skinny girls do!

On the grazing, I found that that was the weird part. Food was what I went to when I was bored...when I watched TV...when I worked on the computer. I actually found that without the doping of food, I haven't been able to sit and watch TV as much! There are so many subtle changes. It's quite a journey.

I am 5 weeks out and am now on real food, I never thought that I would go through the stages of mourning the loss of food and I did. Also I never thought that I would have a single regret. Today I have no regrets. During the liquid stages I had regrets. I always keep this in mind. 5 weeks I've lost 16.5 pounds. Had I waited or not had it done I certainly would gain that amount if not more, I was on BP meds and GERD meds, post op I have not needed any of these. If I had continued to gain I would probably be facing diabetes, heart disease and other complications. I am concerned that your family and friends are not being more supportive, I say prove them all wrong, and if they are over weight as well tell them to jump on "the band wagon". Hey what do you have to loss? I can tell you what you can gain 5, 10, 20 years of life. Think about that.

I'm with you, Jo Anne. I'm 8 months out, and for every day that I stay the same or lose weight now, it's a day that I would have gained weight before. I stopped telling people about it,though, unless I had the time and inclination to educate them. I think mostly people are just uneducated about morbid obesity and the lap band. There's so much on TV about "diet and exercise" or you're just lazy. We know better.

its hard if your family doesnt understand, i can relate. my family are all trying to talk me out of the lap band or the bypass. they harp on my weight but tell me that i need to exercise more and make better choices. ive been there and done that. i go through stages where i exercise all of the time but i never lose the weight. part of it is because i snack throughout the day mostly when i have the day off. i am trying to work on that though. back to getting support. i am choosing not to tell my family that i may be having this surgery, i know that they will try to talk me out of it and i dont want to hear it, you have to really think this through and try to get support in other ways, for example support groups, this website, try to talk to other banders. at first my husband didnt support me but now he's coming around, he has his moments that he thinks that i cant do it but other days that he says if this is what i want than its up to me. it is hard when you dont have support!!!!!!

Hi indio I am also be banded on 7/17 I think I can't wait thats a suprise since I started this joutney saying that I was only looking into it

Hi there:

I wanted to send you a quick email to add my two cents to the discussion.

I got banded on 6/22.

It's only been a little over two weeks, but the band has changed my life.

So far my weight loss has been steady, of course keep in mind, that I am only on liquids so far. I went into the surgery at 216, I am now 196.9! I haven't been under 200 in years and for the first time in a long time, I am optimistic about my battle against my weight.

Here's the thing. If we were all super successful at all the other diet plans, we wouldn't need the lap band! If Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Diet Workshop, South Beach, and plain old diet and exercise with a dash of starvation worked for me, then I would not be here.

All of us here need to lose large amounts of weight. Not the 5 to 10 lbs some people put on over the holidays. Not the 30 or 40 lbs some women put on after having a child. With that in mind. We need some extra help. And there is nothing wrong with asking for a little extra help!

The band will only get us so far. But the extra help the band gives us is just what we need to keep going!

Good luck!

Sonia

I am going to be banded in 4 days and I just told my family about 2 weeks ago because I KNEW they would not be supportive....to be honest....I have found few people who are. My husband and a few close friends is all. I love to log onto this site....you have all helped me tremendously!! THANK YOU!!