I found this question on other site. I am very interested in everyones response. It would be a great help to us newbies.

I know that I wouldn't have lost as much as I have if I didn't exercise the way I do. In fact I had a plateau for about 2 months when I had some personal things going on and couldn't get to exercising. As soon as I got back to it, I started losing again.

It's ALL you...with the incentive from your band. There are ways to work AROUND the band so if you try to put it on the band alone, you will find that there is little success (in other words, if you are a chocoholic or a pizza freak you CAN find a way to take in this stuff and BEAT the band).This is behavioral retraining at it's finest.....but only if you WORK at it.

I think it is a combination. I know that prior to my band, I would of eaten a entire Bucket of chicken, now I dont.

Before the band I would of eaten a entire pizza by myself..NOW I dont

Before the band I would of eaten 7 dollars worth of chicken drummies from the work cafe, and now I dont

Before the band I would of consumed a case of soda's a week, stopped on every road trip and bought a 32 oz fountain drink, now I dont.

I know that before my band I was not exercising at all.

Now, I do.....Now I

walk more

ride my new bike as much as I can

complete new goals that I set for myself

drink allot of water

try new foods

bring a heathier outlook to my house and for my children

have become more active with my husband outside activities and indoors:)

Am happier

Am more confident

Love buying new clothes

Love looking Sexy

Love the way my body feels after I work out

Love the reaction of people who have not seen me...

AND I GUESS YOU CAN SAY

I LOVE MY BAND

I am lazy. I would say that 80% is the band and 20% is me. Now I need to reverse that since I have 35 more lbs to lose.

I'm with Kacee--there certainly ARE ways to trick the band--eating five or six times a day, taking down chocolate, (which melts very easily, I can assure you!) cakes, or other goodies--ingesting way too many carbs!

I was even eating 1/2 cup of oatmeal for Breakfast and decided it was too much and cut it back to 1/4 cup--was I still hungry? No--because I told myself breakfast was done!

I've gotten two fills and I know I have a way to go to my "sweet spot" (I've got 1.5 cc in a 10 cc band)--so until I reach the right cc for me, it's GOT to be a lot of me! (Visits for fills are six weeks apart) That's why it is SO important to have the proper mindset when deciding to get the band--the band is NOT going to do the work for you!! :confused:

My experience is the band does AT MOST 50% of the work. It's a reminder when you are eating to stop, to slow down, to chew completely. For the first 2 or 3 months, until I had good restriction after a few fills, it was all me, and I lost very slowly after the initial liquid diet phase (post op). Now I eat healthfully, exercise regularly, and the band does about 1/2 the work. HTH.

I'm with Juli, I know we gotta work the band and all.. but I feel like the band does at least 80% of it.

I don't keep bad things that go down easy and fattily, so that's all me hehe.. But when I eat, I don't eat diety, and if I COULD, I'd be eating a lot of it.. but the band doesn't let me. Hoorah band.

hi

i think 70 pct is me and 30 pct is the band.

i've had my best weight loss when i approach it this way.

in the beginning i was thinking the band would do it all...and it was quite slow.

it is way too easy to eat ice cream, candy, etc and much more difficult to eat good food.

end may... after reading some of what i consider success stories on this site...i realized i needed to take a greater role of participation in this journey

so in the area of eating i've needed discipline to make the right choices.

i also ramped up exercise from 0 to a much higher level.

exercise has been key in my weight loss and that is totally in my control and not the band.

when i ramped up exercise....my scale started to hum (downwards)

the band does prevent me from bingeing ( i was a big quantity eater). it also helps me to rationalize not to fall too far off the wagon after having such an operation

hope this makes sense...

For me it is 95% me and 5% the band. I work everyday to make healthy choices and exercise my body.