I'm a newbie (no surgery yet) with a question for you old time bandsters: banding requires a serious lifestyle change - new eating habits, less dependence on food, increased activity level (i.e. exercise, yikes), close medical supervision, etc. I understand that. My worry and fear is this: I've never been too good at making serious lifestyle changes in regards to my weight/health -- if I had, I'd be thin and healthy! Surely I'm not alone here, right? So how do people go from being undisciplined eaters who don't exercise - to being a changed person after banding? If I failed before banding - will I fail afterwards too? I don't want to, I really feel motivated! But I always felt motivated before starting all the other gazillion diets too! :help:

Please share your story about how you made the switch to new healthy behaviors after banding -- especially those of you who were once like me -- constant failures at "lifestyle change". I want to be successful this time, but will I be? I know myself and I'm scared of failure...:phanvan

I did commit myself to 30 minutes of exercise 6 weeks before surgery.

Then I had the surgery.

The band let me get that full feeling. I was always a bottomless pit.

The full feeling let me eat less. I lost weight.

Losing weight made it easier for me to exercise and that let to me exercising more.

More exercising led to more weight loss.

Exercising felt good and and made me feel powerful and healthy.

It was a domino effect for me.

band + less food + more exercise = lifestyle change

edie

I've always been a good dieter, I'm what they call a career dieter. However, I've never been good at lasting more than 3 months and then gaining my weight back and then some. I'm a pro at yo-yo dieting.

I do think you have to be serious, you have to be at your last stray and ready to make changes. No, I could not do it on my own. The band is a tool to help me. Even when I say screw it, and want to binge, it won't let me. I'm full and cannot eat, period.

Like Edie, I did have to make a commitment to exercise. I believe exercise is a must, I exercise 6 days a week from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on my mood. If I don't want to exercise, I just do my bare minimum of 30 minutes, but other times, I go for the gold and complete my hour. Exercise has made a huge impact on my weight loss.

Also, you do have to make the right food choices, you can't eat ice cream or puree snickers and think your going to lose weight. I eat a lot of grilled meats and avoid the bad stuff. Yes, I do splurge every now and then, like last night, I'm on my monthly, and was craving cake or chocolate like no other, so I had a slice of german chocolate cake. The difference in pre-band and post-band is, before, I would have eaten 2 or 3 or maybe even 4 slices of the cake, now that I have the band, I had a slice and I was done.

I think you have to be serious, if your not it won't work. My cousin just had gastric bypass (she was not serious about losing weight), I have lost more than she has with my band. It takes a mind change and determination, and the band will be your friend and be your tool, but you have to do the work as well.

Good-luck with whatever you choose.

Hi, you expressed your,also my feels, very well. i am so very scared. but i am also so looking forward to the band.I have NEVER liked exercise!!! Not real sure what type i will stay with. the staring 6 wks before, sounds like a great idea. my dr. tells me i must have a game-plan for every area of my life for this to work in the long run, i agree. so good to hear others are making it work. i am 56 yrs.old, i really want this to work.i never thought my food-choices would caught up with me, but they have, i am a diab.have high b/p,sleep apnea, fatty liver(go figure)& MEMAPAUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!thank you all for your comments, nancy

When you get banded you start losing weight. When you are on the post op diet (especially at first) you can't help but to lose weight. When the pounds start melting you suddenly find motivation that you never knew you had before. Between the weight loss and realizing that the band is working you come to know that those pounds really are gone forever. Then you want to see more pounds go.

Exercise is a challenge for a lot of people but I think when we are banded it kinda comes down to how badly do you want to lose weight? If you want it bad enough, you'll exercise. Without a band we pretty well know we'll be wearing those pounds again in the future and it's hard to make yourself move. With a band you get a whole new look at the process and you want to lose, you want the pounds to go away.

I exercise most everyday for anywhere from 45 minutes to 2.5 hours. That is treadmill. I just bought a bowflex and as soon as I figure out what the heck to do with it I'll start using that too. I want to get to goal and I'm busting my back side to get it done. I want it bad enough to do it.

Exactly what Edie said. Getting results for the first time in my life made it easier and easier to keep going and then one day, WHAM, about 10 months out of surgery, I realised these new practices had become new habits.

To help answer this question i will share one of my nsv(non-sclae victories). Before banding my attitude was i would rather work out than have to give up my food but the other day as i was trying to motivate myself to go work out i thought "I'd rather just not eat and do liquids today." I did end up going to work out but to me that was a pretty big victory in changing my way of thinking.

Thanks everyone, I'm feeling better about this surgery already! I'll be cash pay, and facing that kind of expense with that old ugly "negative voice" in my head telling me "You can't do it, you always fail, you'll gain it back before you get your bill paid off..." is scary! So really while I'm focusing on the lifestyle changes, I need to be focusing on shutting up that negative voice FOR GOOD. I never really had much support before, just doubting family members giving me "the look" after I lost weight and saying "you look great, try to keep it off this time...". I'll turn to this board for the encouragement and support I need, as well as to the local support groups. I'm proud to be among a group of such strong "warriors" in this challenging battle. I can do it. I can!

Well, for me, the LAP band has allowed me to focus on the EXERCISE lifestyle changes.

I've found my band to be pretty "self-disciplining" in the food arena.

A few episodes of PBs (productive burping - puking without stomach acid), SLIMING (my experience of this is something getting "stuck" and then every saliva and mucous gland in my head, neck and mouth producing OVERTIME, trying to lube it loose! and making me spit, blow my nose, and in general feel like a ball of goo), and chest pain - made particularly embarrassing because in line with Murphy's law, they usually happen in public- and I was "persuaded" to remember the importance of small bites, chewing thoroughly, etc.

I've also found without the strong hunger and cravings of my pre-band life, I am able to make better choices at meals and Snacks (higher Protein, less junk), and to actually stop when I am full. The mouth seems to have less sway than it used to (note - the mouth used to be the only one in charge, and whatever it wanted to eat got eaten!).

I am sure everyone's experience is different! Good luck to you as you journey through this exciting ride!