I am having serious second thoughts about my upcoming surgery. I am scheduled for the 24th of this month. I have been following the south beach program and have lost 15 pounds so far in 14 days.( I have about 85 to go to my goal) I feel I am really clicked into it and am considering cancelling or at least postponing my date. I mean if I can follow this program without the aid of the band then why put myself through the risk of surgery. Has anyone gone through this phase. Am I nuts to think that I can follow this on my own?????

Dont take this the wrong way please..

It is not mean to sound mean or spiteful but honest..

how many other diets have you tried in your life time and been somewhat successful? How many times did you give up ? How many of those times did you gain the weight back? If it were that easy for us morbily obese people, none of us would be here.

My take on this and it is my opinion only is that any person who has 100 lbs or more to lose needs the help of a tool like the band. The time it will take to get the 100 + lbs off, many or most get discouraged before they finish, to only gain the weight back again. For me losing 73.5 lbs in 9 months is something I have never achieved any other time in my life and I have tried all the diets known to man. This is the first time in my life that I do not diet. I eat what I want..I do not weigh or measure or have to eat specific foods or count points and I am losing weight, how great is that?

Do you really want to follow a prgram for the rest of your life? I sure don't..I ate this Thanksgiving , I ate holiday crap all this holiday season and only gained .5 of a lb, that has never happened in my lifetime and now I have that .5 of a lb gone plus one more this past week. If you have any doubts then I would cancel..but just think about the questions I asked you . I knew I could not do it on my own, or otherwise I would have..I knew if I tried I would get discouraged and tired of following a strict diet I was 100% honest with myself and 100 % sure.. and knew it was time to have the lap band! No more fooling around.I wanted this monkey off my back once and for all!!!

best of luck to you on whatever you decide..only you can make the final decision, we are just hear to give our input and support. Your 15 lb loss is great in just a short time, maybe you are an acception and wil lbe able to achieve "permanent" weight loss with the South Beach diet..I did not..I tried it, lost some weight, got fed up with having to follow the program. I gained what I lost back and then some

Hi Seppi,

Have you ever successfully lost weight on any diets in the past? Did it stay off or did you gain it back? This decision is totally up to you and your personal history with dieting. I have heard good things about the south beach diet but are you truly going to be able to follow it for a long time and maintain the loss? The surgery for the band is truly pretty minimal but your right, why have it done if you can do it on your own. You could always continue to try what your doing for awhile and decide later about the surgery but if your insurance is covering the surgery you might have to go thru the whole process of getting it re-approved. Best wishes to you, Teresa

Seppi, we're not here to "help" you decide for or against the surgery. Only you can do that. We can share our own experiences though, for what it's worth.

In the 8 months prior to my banding I lost about 30 lbs "on my own" -- that is, with only the help of an over-the-counter product (the now-banned ephedra). I first decided to seek surgery in the summer of 2002. Motivated by my decision I found a new determination to cut calories and lose weight and went from 340 to 310 and maintained that, for a while. I even briefly considered dropping my battle with my insurance company over banding, since it seemed like this approach was working.

But I stopped taking the ephedra out of concern for my life, and the weight started to come back on as it always had before. I realized surgery was still my best chance for a permanent solution. It's easy to look at surgery as a failure, especially when you've been fighting as long as I have, but I choose to look at it as a new weapon. Is it one you need in your arsenal? Only you can decide that.

THank you so much for your thoughts. You are right about 1 thing I have lost the weight before and have always gained it back. I even went down to about 185 at one point. I of course gained it back, and then some. I have been on one diet or another for the last 20 yearss. I am at about 250 right now, I am not a big person, so maybe I should just look at this as a step in the right direction towards a better life and health.

Seppi, there's a lot of mental work to do along w/eating healthy and exercising - for any successful weight loss to work. You have to be at a point where you want to make positive changes and you're willing to do what's necessary to succeed. If you honestly think you can do this on your own, then perhaps you should cancel the banding surgery. Only you can answer those questions. I personally had gotten so down on myself that I had just literally given up and figured "Why try, it won't do any good any way?" I didn't think I was worth it. That was then, this is now. I am worth it! Best of luck to you on whatever you decide to do.

Seppi... I think a lot of us have had some of the feelings you have been experiencing... especially right before surgery. I had to admit that I was great at dieting... just not great at lifetime change and therefore... I gained it all back plus more. I needed a tool that would help me make lifetime changes... I got it. I still have to work with this band of mine and you will too... it's not the easy way out... it's just an effective one. Wishing you the best!

Darcy

Seppi, what I like about my band is NOT being on a diet, and making wiser food choices and having my band as a tool to help me. If I could make the right choices by myself I wouldn't have needed the band either. Everyone's different, I couldn't get my band soon enough. My first surgery date had to be changed by the doctor, and I had to wait an additional 3 weeks. I looked at that as 3 weeks I lost with my band.

The morning of my surgery I drove myself to the hospital, (had to be there @ 5:30am), my hubby and mom arrived before surgery. My mom asked me right before I was being taken to surgery, "are you scared"? I told her no, that I have never felt more at ease about anything I've ever done for myself. I had a calm about me, I knew this was mean to be.

Good Luck!