I have been overweight all of my life. I was a fat kid before there were fat kids. Starting at age 6 I really started to put on the pounds and that didn't stop for years. As an adult I have gone through a ton of counseling and have found that my weight has stayed right around 350 for the last 5-10 years and every time I go on a diet I end up right back at this weight.

So I actually have a couple of questions.

1) I'd like to hear from people who have been fat all their life that have been banded to see if their results are any different than those of people who got fat during their adult years.

2) I'm hoping the fact that my weight has been steady for the last several years is a sign that I'm not doing too much emotional eating, and wondering if that fact is going to increase the chances that I will be successful after my surgery which is scheduled for Jan. 3rd.

I starting gaining major weight at about age 9. I don't think they size you start out at or how long you have been fat really dictates how successful you are going to be. Now I think it definitley plays a part in whether or not you will be needing surgery afterward. But I think the single most important factor is how ready you are for the surgery. If you are looking for a quick fix, you are not going to be as successful. If you are not willing to put a lot of effort into it, you are not gonig to be as successful. You definitely get out of it what you put into it. I often say getting this band was the hardest thing I have ever done (the whole process, including now, not just the surgery itself) but it is the best thing I have ever done. I have worked my ass off for every single pound I have lost. I have improved my eating, I exercise daily, I take better care of myself. But what my band has done for me is keep my weight off when I need a break. When I am tired of exercising, when I am tired of healthy food, when I just need a break from losing weight, my band helps me to keep off the weight I have lost. It helps me maintain. And I don't think it has anything to do with how fat I was or for how long, it has everything to do with the fact that this time I am ready to keep it off for life.

I was the 2nd fattest kid in my entire school (grades K-6) by the time I was in the 3rd grade. I began gaining at 7. I had only a small period of time in my college years when I did every diet drug known to man and was able to starve myself to semi-normalcy, but after school it shot back up once again. I've been obese other than that period for my entire life. You can see my stats bellow. I consider myself a HUGE success story. I figure if you've been stable for a while (I was stable for about two years before surgery) you're at your set-point and your body is adjusted to the intake. Regardless....it can be done!

I know where you are coming from. I was always the fat kid in school, although when I was young it was refered to as "Husky". I was on one diet or another for my entire life and was 360lbs when I was 33, which was the heaviest I have ever been.

One of my major concerns when I was looking into the lapband was that it would fail like everything else that I had tried. I think that being overweight one's entire life we are conditioned to think that diets dont or wont work for us. I was very concerened that the band would be another failure, and my most expensive failure ever.

As it turns out, the lapband has been a tremendous success and I have lost 125lbs since my surgery in February. I called my family doctor in my hometown to see when the last time I weighed 235lbs was. It was 1988, I was in grade 9, and I was 12" shorter than I am now. I have never been at this low a BMI in my entire life.

That is my story, so yes there is hope for people who have been overweight thier entire life.

Andrew

I was fat my entire life until about 8th grade. I then started to eat better and exercise. Through high school I was an athlete. After high school I ballooned to 320. I've been banded a year and a half and I am now down to 218. I was 282 when I had surgery. It was the best thing I've ever done. Good luck.

I never thought of myself in elementry as fat, I was always told "you've got big bones".

Well, I will never forget standing in the lunch line in 4th grade and overhearing 2 boys decide who was the fatest person in our class. They both decided it was me. I couldn't believe it - my classmates thought I was the fatest person in my entire class. I was crushed - they never knew I overheard them, but it has remained with me all my life.

Hearing that conversation started my "dieting". I quit eating, then binge, I would quit eating again, then binge - this went on until I went to High School. It was in High School I discovered "diet pills and Water pills". I became obsessed with water pills because I could take 1 and lose 7 lbs overnight. It got really bad for me - I was able to drop down 135 lbs but I would rarely eat.

In college, I met my Husband, and by the end of my freshman year I crept up to 195 lbs - from 135 to 195.

Every Jan 1 I would swear this was going to be the year, I would start my dieting again. It was in college I learned of "drugs", but I didn't take the drugs to get the druggie feeling, I took then because I learned I could lose weight with them. Oh my life became a mess. My weight would go down, go up, go down, I was out of control. I also learned of a medicine you can give children if they get into poison to make them throw up. I started taking this after large meals.

I hate myself and finally my DH learned of my disorders and took me to some meetings.

Well - fast forward to our wedding day, by eating a little bit, I managed to get down to 155 - then after we were married, I quickly got back to 195. Then came my pregnancy - I gained 80 lbs! Yes, 80 lbs, the baby only weighed 7 lbs 11 oz, OMG, I was a pig - after all, I was eating for 2.

Well, after my 2nd pregnancy, I managed to get down to 235 - whoopie. I was still fat and miserable and my marriage was falling apart. I decided it had to be my weight - I started the liquid diet - supervised of course, wll, I lost 80 lbs! I was thrilled, I was almost at goal, for 2 seconds. The second I started eating, the weight came pouring back like a freaken tornadoe.

I dieted for the next 17 years, lose 50 lbs, gain 60, lose 70, gain 80.

I am a binge eater, I know that and this is something that I am working on everyday to control. I found out about the Lap Band after researching RNY and a friend who got RNY suggested the Lap Band. Well, I decided this was my last chance.

Because of getting an overfill and ending up in the hospital, I had to get an unfill - a lot taken out. This brought me down to barely restriction or no restriction as I thought.

I have been on a binge for a month practically, the last week I've avoided the scales because I always gain so much during my binges. Today I decided I would step on the scales and face the music.

I am shocked I only gained 1 lbs from 2 weeks ago. Pre band I would have gained 10 - at least. I stepped off the scale and started crying. I can't believe I found something that will never allow me to be fat again. Trust me, I've tested the band over and over and over. It has stayed true to me, it hasn't let me gain more than a few pounds. I love my silacone buddy, I really do!

I'm so sorry to give such a long drawn out story, I'm just so emotional and happy today and feel like I'm in control again. And I just don't have to worry about being fat again, I feel like I finally won!

My mom agreed to help pay for the LapBand, because I was born obese. Heh. No really, I have been fat since I came out of the uterus! Because of that, for most of my life I didn't know any better. Of course I was made fun of in school for it (and because I was always the tallest girl), but I thought they were just idiots. When I finally realized I was so overweight, and started dieting, it worked for the time, then I'd gain it back + some. I still have no idea what it feels like to be a normal size. I'm anxious, definitely. Until I was about 15, there was no stylish plus size clothes. In 8th grade I went to our homecoming in an old woman's dress. 9th grade prom too. I saw pics of that not too long ago, and I still cringe.

I still don't believe I'll ever be a normal weight, that's the negativity, or just hard coding in my head. I can't fathom it.

I know a lot of reasons I'm overweight, but they're things I literally can not make myself control. <3 my band.

I too have been fat mojority of my life kids didn't start to call me fat til maybe 2nd grade but it was clear I was a big girl I was very tall than all the other kids. I never went to dances, school gatherings or none of that because I didn't have anything to wear. I rememeber when I was in 5th I was voted 3rd runner up for school queen but I think it was cause one of my classmates that was the clss clown he had a tad bit of a crush on me and he had all his little friends vote for me too. But I think I won cause of academics. I was the smart fat girl ... I wasn't pretty so I compensated with knowledge. I didn't go to parties so I just sat in my room and read books and did homework. And than I began to gets some curves to my weight and everything changed. The first guy that approached me I nearly peed my pants. But men were full of it back in high school ... I start to feel pretty just cause guys liked me so I thought the self esteem issues were over WRONG!!! After I was raped that hitting a whopping all time high. I was so depression and felt worthless and useless and every bad negative thought that I couldv'e thought about myself but I had to snap out of it or I probably wouldv'e commited suicide but things got better and wounds healed my husband fell in love with "the fat" me!! And I love him for that and now I still have the self esteem issues along with the PCOS!! I hate it. But I have to fix it and I am willing to do whatever it takes to get the weight off. I am tired of being fat and starting a diet and then stopping cause no results than starting and stopping UGHHHHH!!! It's a nightmare I can't risk gaining anymore. and I am not going to!!

I have been fat since I was five years old. I think I have been on every diet known to man. Even tried the supervised Dr. diets, lost a lot of weight and then gained it all back plus a few extra for good measure.

When I turned 50 the weight began to take it's toll, had to go on bloodpressure medication, was border line diabetic, chloresterol was high, had sleep apnea and just plain didn't feel well.

I was banded on 10-25-07, lost 25lbs prior to the surgery and another 30 since. I can honestly say that this is the best decision I ever made. Off one blood pressure pill already, almost off the second, do not need the CPAP machine for my sleep apnea but most of all, I feel a whole lot better.

As everyone mentions, its not easy. You need to commit and work at it, but believe me - IT WORKS!

Good luck...................

03-24-07 - 374lbs - started journey

10-25-07 - 349lbs - surgery date

12-05-07 - 319lbs - first fill (3cc's in a 10cc band)

Always was the fat girl since i about 1st/2nd grade... but im down 70lbs as of my 9mths post-op and am thrilled by my progress... If you work with the band you will be successful!!!