Hi,

I am new here - was banded October 26,2007.

My biggest frustration is that everyone in the world is used to seeing people who have had gastric bypass surgery lose like 30 pounds in the month after surgery. With L.B. surgery it takes a while to lose and I feel like people are looking me up and down wondering why I still look the same after over two months. Does anyone else have this problem? This is why I kind of wish I hadn't told anyone I had the surgery!

QUOTE: "I know so many people who had gastric bypass and have gained most of their weight back. They lose weight really fast in the beginning but they don't have to learn new habits the way bandsters do. After the first year, they are all gaining weight back." QUOTE

In defense of GBS, those who do take it seriously, need to change their eating habits if they want to keep off the weight.

My sister had the surgery about 6 years ago and my mom had it about 4 years ago. Both are doing really well and my sister has had 3 kids since then. On the other hand her husband had the surgery, expected the surgery to do all of the work and he has since gained all of his weight back. So I have seen both sides. The difference in attitude between my mom and sister vs. her husband is drastic. I honestly think the same can and does happen with bandsters as well.

I am personally looking into banding for several reasons.

First, I don't have as much to lose as my mom and sister.

Second, I don't like surgery and don't want something as invasive as GBS.

Third, I have a toddler at home and a husband who is a fireman so is gone part of the week. I simply can't be down as long as GBS requires you to be.

Fourth, much as I would like to wake up one morning skinny, I really don't want to lose weight too fast. I'm hoping that since I didn't start gaining weight till my 20's that I won't have much loose skin [i graduated high school at about 120lbs, 20 yrs later, I'm about 230lbs.:thumbup:] and by slowly losing the weight, the skin might, just might, tighten up a little as I go [could be too that I've gone back to my fantasy world. I like it there!:biggrin2:] I also don't intend to tell many people if I do go through this, so losing slowly helps with that plan.

You shouldn't have a problem with skin since you don't have very much weight to lose. You sound pretty much like me. I graduated h.s. at 110 lbs. I had surgery at 215 lb and the only skin that bothers me is my arms. I am older than you too, so I have a bit of the turkey neck goin on too.

I do exercise a lot though, and have a lot of muscle in my legs. It's good that you can see both sides of the coin with GB. My daughter had

GP at age 25 and I was very against her having the surgery. I know a lot of people who had it and have had a lot of complications. She is pregnant right now. I hope she doesn't have trouble losing weight after the baby is born. She has never acquired the exercise habit that I have.

I have hardly told anyone I had my surgery. When people say I have lost a lot of weight, I tell them it took a year of watching what I eat, and exercising nearly every day.

:rolleyes2:I dident NOT tell any one about my Lap Band. Most people do not even know the difference.

And now that it's noticible with my slight weght loss, I just say it was much safer than Gastric By-Pass even though its much slower, and leave it at that.

C/C:tt2:

Thanks, Denise. Makes me feel better about losing slowly and excess skin.

It's pretty crazy, but growing up, I thought I was fat. I was the smallest in my family and have hips but my perception was obviously skewed. I look back at pictures now and wonder what the heck I was thinking. I'd been "normal" [at least weight-wise :biggrin2:] and didn't even know it. Now I'm almost 40 and for sure am fat!

I think in my mind, at this point, I'm ready to do this. I haven't been to the seminar yet [that takes place on the 19th] and I'm not even sure my insurance will cover it and I'll have to travel for everything [Kaiser and they don't do this at the hospital that's only 1hr away, looks like I'll be going a couple of hrs away] but I'm kind of excited right now. We'll see what happens on the 19th!

Have a good night.

That is what i worrried about I didnt even tell my family (mother and sisters) until the day before surgery.didnt help anyway they seemed to tell everyone they ran into.So insted of 30 lbs in a month its been like 36 lbs since oct.26th 2007. but I am happy with my desicion I would choose the band again. We do not have to explain anything to anyone. It may take us longer but we will get there.

Hi:

I told everyone, and they're all complementary and supportive and have been the entire time. I think it helps that they can see my commitment to changing my unhealthy habits. They see me walking all the time and eating small amounts.

As of this morning I've lost 107 pounds and that's since last April 23rd. So, ten months since I started dieting. I was banded 7/26/07. Since banding I've lost 70 pounds. I'm averaging 2.4 pounds per week since starting last April.

So, screw what others think or say. Work the band and exercise and you'll have success.

Take care.

Sue