I am in the middle of the approval process for the band. I have done the research and understand the physics behind the band and why it works but I want to know why it REALLY works for people? Why you can stick with this more than your average diet especially people who may have been emotional eaters? I am 5'6 and I have dieted my way UP TO 245. I can stay on a diet and lose 20-30 lbs but I gain it back plus more and sometimes eat to the point of being uncomfortable. If you were in my same shoes how has the band helped you? I really want to commit to the band and make this work for me.

katcap13:

It works for me because if I don't do it right I get sick, and also because I want it to work, and 99% of the time I do what I'm supposed to do, and I only get hungry at night. So, I make myself go to bed early when I do get hungry. I've just had my 2nd fill and I don't think I've found my sweet spot yet, but I'm gonna give it a couple of weeks to find out.

I think my doctor helps make it work for me too. Not only is he supportive, but his staff is, and the support group at his office helps make it work too.

This website makes it work for me too. I find out alot of info on this site that helps me every day.

It also works for me because I walk 4 to 5 miles per day, 6 days per week. It was painful at first because my feet were killing me at 324 pounds, but it's not painful at all now.

I think that the success makes it work for me too. When I can see that I've lost 83 pounds in 7 months it is very motivating to keep going. I figure that I'll be very close to goal, if not at goal, by next Thanksgiving.

Good luck.

Sue

Why did it work for me?

In the beginning, it controlled my portions, so I could concentrate on on WHAT I was eating.

The band has made it so a "normal" portion looks normal to me now, not small (I, like a lot of overweight people had a distorted view of what a normal portion was)

The band was the kick in the ass I needed to change my lifestyle. *I* did the work that was needed to get the weight off. I still had the option to eat chocolate and sit on my backside all day. But I wasn't going to have surgery to stay fat.

So I worked at making dietary changes I could live with long term (not just till I had lost weight, and got to goal) and I found an exercise I really love (and I do love it) and I exercise daily.

Really, what it came down to for me was making a "lifestyle" change. Above and beyond trying to lose weight. A life long change that would see me get the weight off, and keep it off.

Thanks Chickie and Sue Magoo for your insight. I think if I can use the lap band as a tool to keep me honest I will stay on track. On past diets I will work hard for 3 weeks and lose some weight then gain it back in one weekend. If the lap band limits my portions and makes me sick or uncomfotable when I over eat I will learn my lesson fairly quickly. If it helps me get over a bad spell sooner and with less weight gain I think I will be sucessful.

It prevents me from eating too much.

And if I do, my body expells it.

This is how the band is working for me.

Thanks Chickie and Sue Magoo for your insight. I think if I can use the lap band as a tool to keep me honest I will stay on track. On past diets I will work hard for 3 weeks and lose some weight then gain it back in one weekend. If the lap band limits my portions and makes me sick or uncomfotable when I over eat I will learn my lesson fairly quickly. If it helps me get over a bad spell sooner and with less weight gain I think I will be sucessful.

Looks to me like you've answered your own question!! :clap2:

There is a certain amount of portion control, but more than anything, the band is a constant reminder that I have to change my lifestyle and exercise and eat right. This is a lifelong commitment to being healthy that I am willing to make and this is because I have my band.

I was a fast food junkie and I no longer tolerate fast foods. They just don't go down. It's forced me to choose better foods and best yet, I prefer better foods now. And not in huge quantities.

Something happened to me when I got the band. I must have psyched myself or something because my determination and my will-power jumped to levels I never knew I had. For me, it has actually (dare I say it) been rather easy. I don't feel like I have suffered at all or been deprived. I have excellent restriction and I have to be VERY careful with the quantity and quality of food I ingest. If I screw up it can be very uncomfortable for me. It is a learning process for me and I think I am heading for the downside of the curve now. It has been so long since I put large amounts of food in my stomach I no longer seem to have appetite fits (you know...when your eyes glaze over and you froth at the mouth and all you can think about is getting to Taco Bell (or wherever) for that "fix"). When I DO get an inkling of the "munchies"...I go and get something to eat. Even if I head for something that I really shouldn't have, I find I can only take about three bites at best, and then it goes in the trash or wherever, and I do NOT go back to it....the appeal is gone within those three bites. I also find that a lot of these foods I just loved don't give me the satisfaction I used to get. I truly think the satisfaction came from the gobbling plus the taste, rather than just the taste itself. Now that I cannot gobble...a lot of the appeal has gone out of it and I think more clinically about my food.

The kickstart it gave me enabled me to put in place the necessary lifestyle changes. I will go to my grave declaring that its my running that has had the most impact on weight loss and keeping me thin, not what I eat, I'm no perfect eater, not by a long shot. But the band enabled me to lose enough weight to begin running, to get quite good at it and from then on I was committed to it.

Now, the band keeps me on track. It does not make me choose good foods and I can still eat quite a lot but in general, unless I were to really cheat the band with ice cream and chocolate - which I have enough willpower not to do - I dont gain when I'm being slack - like on holidays, or over Christmas when diet is not my focus, I still dont gain weight.

I can always decided to be strict and lose more, but I dont then fall off the wagon and gain it back.

And I TOTALLY agree with the gobbling thing - a lot of my previous binge foods, the satisfaction was in shoving it down my pie hole faster than the speed of sound. Huge bites, one or two chews, swallow. McDonalds eaten in tiny mouse bites chewed 100 times is actually a pain in the arse, its not much fun at all. I cant be bothered. Same with cake and stuff like that, I have to eat it soooooo slowly that the explosion of taste and texture (drooling just thinking about it, lol) just isnt there, like when you eat it in big bites. I cant be bothered with that either.<!-- google_ad_section_end --><!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

I truly think the satisfaction came from the gobbling plus the taste, rather than just the taste itself. Now that I cannot gobble...a lot of the appeal has gone out of it and I think more clinically about my food.

That's what I'd like to do - think of food clinically, just as fuel for my body and not as a form of comfort or entertainment. I, too, love to "gobble" or "scarf" as I call it. Nothing calms me down like eating a large quantity of junk food too fast - how pathetic is that :think? I keep thinking if I could just get to that place I'd be OK but I'm realistic enough to know that all my other problems, quirks, neuroses will still be there - I just wouldn't have food to help me deal with it.

If you have the correct fill, you won't be able to eat bread, noodles,

rice or pizza. These foods may work in the beginning, but after good restriction, it's just not worth it. It will get stuck and cause pain.

For me it is all about restriction. I love the fact that I can enjoy all my favorite foods but just less of them and still lose.

And I TOTALLY agree with the gobbling thing - a lot of my previous binge foods, the satisfaction was in shoving it down my pie hole faster than the speed of sound. Huge bites, one or two chews, swallow. McDonalds eaten in tiny mouse bites chewed 100 times is actually a pain in the arse, its not much fun at all. I cant be bothered. Same with cake and stuff like that, I have to eat it soooooo slowly that the explosion of taste and texture (drooling just thinking about it, lol) just isnt there, like when you eat it in big bites. I cant be bothered with that either.<!-- google_ad_section_end --><!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

And don't you find some things you previously thought were just delicious really DON'T taste that good when you savor them slowly...?

I bought a "favorite" pie for Thanksgiving, hoping everyone else would gobble it up and I wouldn't be tempted for days. I ate one small slice and found it, it really ISN'T that good.:heh:

why the band works for me...because it had to. I hated myself hated my life and was never happy. Im 22, in school supposed to be having the time of my life, and instead I wanted to disappear...I knew this was it. If I didnt make this band work, I was done for and would have to be lifted out of my house with a crane in 10 years.

It wasnt the money, insurance paid for most of that, it wasn't the restrictions- bc I can eat as much ice cream as I want and dont throw up..Its me. I know that this band gave me a choice..become a real person, a become a lump of blubber. I realized that if I didnt do this now, I would never be happy, I would never be me...the band has allowed the true me to start to come out...that is why it works for me, because once a little bit of myself came out, there was no stopping me!

I used to come home and snack till dinner than afterwards..sunflower seeds, popcorn, ice cream, cokes and pizza...that is what made me feel ok..now its when I hold that last crunch for 3 secs longer, when I form that first bead of sweat, when I dont eat the food on the table because Im not hungry..thats me happy. and thats why it works for me...

Definitely Nanarenan - I think I must have eaten certain foods for the sugar rush or whatever because when you really TASTE them, they're just not that good.