Hi folks. I am in Manchester UK. I have paid privately for a band which is due to be fitted on 12th Feb.

I am 49 and have battled with 'our problem' all my life. I see this as my only option to spend at least some of my life the size I would love to be, and also a chance to give myself maybe 10 extra years.

Q1. I am on a pre-op diet that my doc gave me. 2 Yoghurts a day and 2 pints of milk with other fluids. This seems harsh to me but the doc tells me its to shrink my liver. I am just about dealing with it.

Is this the norm in the USA?

Q2. I have read lots about people being hungry afterwards. I will be so dissapointed if I am after this commitment and having spent so much money (£7k).

Is it normal to be hungry afterwards or does the band get rid of that feeling completely?

Q3. I have a mother-in-law who is an incredible cook. Guess who she likes to feed up?

What is the general plan for dealing with this type of thing and restaurants?

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Lord, I hope that's just your experience and not the norm.

My Doc agrees with the 75/25 analogy - this is why the band is only suppose to get rid of 50% or 60% of your excess weight in 2 yrs. That's what they advertise (you got 100 lbs to lose - they expect you to lose 50 with the band and that's it) that’s bs in my opinion

Well you have to change your whole mentally about food if you plan on losing and keeping the weight off.

The battle is more mental than physical - You think you are hungry when you really aren't - you are filling time - soothing emotions etc - You gotta add exercise all this is mental the band is only a piece of plastic in your stomach - it doesn't make your food choices or make you get out and exercise - it's doesn't counsel you about your issue around food and why you over eat.

It is a physical barrier that can stop you from over eating by causing you to PB (which isn’t good for the band) – I can tell you from experience that I am physically full after dinner 99% of the time – but still want to continue to eat - or you can eat around it – sugar loaded foods – high fat foods.

Those are the facts – so you think you only have to do 30% of the work and the band will do the rest?? You think that it’s all about the physical and not the mental

I guess we just have a diff of opinions – I wish you the best with your weight loss and beating your addiction to food. (just like a drug addict who gets clean - their brains still crave the drug for the rest of their life - it's not physical it's mental)

I'm not sure if you are speaking to the OP or me. The only reason I questioned her response was she said the band does 25% of the work and you do the other 75%. Whereas I'v heard the opposite - the band helps with appx. 75% and you need your 25% or more.

If the rest of the response was directed to me, I'm not sure where you got that insight into my life/head just from a one sentence post. If it was directed to the OP, my apologies.

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Lord, I hope that's just your experience and not the norm.

JustinsMama

I was responding to you both really.

I am the one who said band does 25% and the other 75% is up to you..

I have found so many people go into this surgery and then are dissappointed that they aren't losing the weight - it's cuz they haven't done the head work and expect the band to to all the work. This is a lifetime lifestyle change and you really have to prepare your self for this.. That's all I am saying..

It's just my opinion based on the information that I have learned from my doctor - being on this site and my own experience.. The band is only a tool.

My team didn't break it down into percentages for me. They basically said, "All we can do is help you with portion control. If portion control was your only problem, you probably wouldn't be here right now." I looked at why I was eating.

Maybe 20% of the time it was because I was hungry (those 3 meals a day). I added a morning snack around the coffee pot at work with my co-workers because that's what they were doing. Then there was that mid morning cookie between classes. In the afternoon I would grab something while we had coffee in the kitchen. Then after dinner I HAD to clean the kids' plates (and obviously couldn't clean them into the trash). Then when I would fix the kids a bedtime snack I had to have just a smidgen. When DH wanted ice cream about 10 I couldn't let him eat alone. And all those NON-HUNGRY times of eating were super high cal, super high fat. There's nowhere in that day for Water. No time for exercise.

So they put a band around my stomach. Do I still get hungry? Damn right! By lunch time I want to gnaw off a finger (though before I would have wanted an entire leg). When it isn't meal time and I'm feeling like that I grab a low-cal, high Protein alternative. When its time to clean the kids' plates, DH does that now. We cut out the evening Snacks. Kids don't need to learn that lesson and all it was doing was feeding my butt. Coffee time is tough. I really WANT that cookie or bun. I would kill for just a slice of banana bread. Trust me. At those times I am STARVING. Problem....not physically, mentally.

I also have to shop. And my band doesn't walk past those muffins. My band doesn't ignore the beer aisle. No little piece of plastic looks at the frozen pizza and steps away. THAT is serious work.

My little buddy inside doesn't get off the couch and put on tennis shoes and go walking when I don't want to.

And when I have taken the break, like I did this month, and not done MY part (IMHO the biggest part) I don't lose weight. And when I don't lose weight, it's hard to convince yourself that this was a good idea. Prepare yourself for this journey. Be sure of what it is going to take to succeed. Commit to success.

My band is a tool. Without it I would still be 220 and gaining. By now I'd probably be 230. Instead, I'm hoping that on Monday I hear a number below 190. For 3 months commitment, I'll take that...and look forward to the rest. My band was the best decision I have ever made (besides the one to marry my DH). The $13,700 I spent to do it, chump change compared to the million bucks I feel like everytime that scale goes down.

My team didn't break it down into percentages for me. They basically said, "All we can do is help you with portion control. If portion control was your only problem, you probably wouldn't be here right now." I looked at why I was eating.

My band is a tool. Without it I would still be 220 and gaining. By now I'd probably be 230. Instead, I'm hoping that on Monday I hear a number below 190. For 3 months commitment, I'll take that...and look forward to the rest. My band was the best decision I have ever made (besides the one to marry my DH). The $13,700 I spent to do it, chump change compared to the million bucks I feel like everytime that scale goes down.

Very well said Twilght :regular_smile:

I truly feel regardless of percentages that the real work in losing weight even with the band is mental - the band our interior motivator...

I don't know if I can apportion percentages for the band itself. It's there to physically stop me from making bad choices, but 100% of those choices are mine. I can still make bad choices. I can still fail at this.

What the band doesn't do is stop me from thinking. I can still think I'm hungry when I'm not. I can still think I don't need to exercise when I do. I can still think that certain foods will go down no problem at all when they won't. All of this I have to do on my own. The band doesn't do any of that.

So if I were to think for a second that the band was going to take care of 70% of the effort needed to lose this weight, I'd be setting myself up for failure. The reality is, it doesn't.

What it will do is stop me from eating too much when my restriction is in the right spot. What it will do is make me physically ill when I've eaten too much or eaten the wrong thing. But I still have to make the choices of what to put in my mouth to begin with.

I could cheat by sitting here all day and popping an M&M in my mouth every 20 seconds and have it slip through my band without any problem at all. It's ME that makes the choice not to do that 100% of the time. Not my band.

But could I lose weight successfully without my band? Absolutely not. And that's why I don't know how much of a percentage to give it. While all the decisions are mine, the band is a stomach conscience that can't be bargained with. But it's not made of magic. It doesn't lose the weight for me. It just stops me from making the wrong choices and that's it. And I feel, like some of the others, if you believe this band is going to be doing all the work for you when it comes to losing the weight, you're doomed to fail. It won't.

Hi, I am having my band surgery on February 20th and right now, I am on my liquid diet. On my 4th day which is tomorrow, I can start adding a small green salad for one of my slim fast shakes. Does anyone have any good ideas for liquids other than the broth and slim fast?

Twilight-

I loved your post, it is absolutely true. That is why I made the decision to add counseling to this weight loss journey, if that little plastic band in my belly could only control my brain I would have it made. Unfortunately, you gotta be willing to do the work, which in my case means getting the help to figure out how I got here in the first place, and how I can change it for a LIFETIME. So, I agree, its 25% band, 75% hard ass work!

T

Hi, I am having my band surgery on February 20th and right now, I am on my liquid diet. On my 4th day which is tomorrow, I can start adding a small green salad for one of my slim fast shakes. Does anyone have any good ideas for liquids other than the broth and slim fast?

Kat - You gotta ck with your doctor - each one is totally different and we can't tell you what to do - only he can - but fyi I did call my doc and asked the same thing - call yours and see what he says.. Good luck and welcome LBT..

My team didn't break it down into percentages for me. They basically said, "All we can do is help you with portion control. If portion control was your only problem, you probably wouldn't be here right now." I looked at why I was eating.

Maybe 20% of the time it was because I was hungry (those 3 meals a day). I added a morning snack around the coffee pot at work with my co-workers because that's what they were doing. Then there was that mid morning cookie between classes. In the afternoon I would grab something while we had coffee in the kitchen. Then after dinner I HAD to clean the kids' plates (and obviously couldn't clean them into the trash). Then when I would fix the kids a bedtime snack I had to have just a smidgen. When DH wanted ice cream about 10 I couldn't let him eat alone. And all those NON-HUNGRY times of eating were super high cal, super high fat. There's nowhere in that day for Water. No time for exercise.

So they put a band around my stomach. Do I still get hungry? Damn right! By lunch time I want to gnaw off a finger (though before I would have wanted an entire leg). When it isn't meal time and I'm feeling like that I grab a low-cal, high Protein alternative. When its time to clean the kids' plates, DH does that now. We cut out the evening Snacks. Kids don't need to learn that lesson and all it was doing was feeding my butt. Coffee time is tough. I really WANT that cookie or bun. I would kill for just a slice of banana bread. Trust me. At those times I am STARVING. Problem....not physically, mentally.

I also have to shop. And my band doesn't walk past those muffins. My band doesn't ignore the beer aisle. No little piece of plastic looks at the frozen pizza and steps away. THAT is serious work.

My little buddy inside doesn't get off the couch and put on tennis shoes and go walking when I don't want to.

And when I have taken the break, like I did this month, and not done MY part (IMHO the biggest part) I don't lose weight. And when I don't lose weight, it's hard to convince yourself that this was a good idea. Prepare yourself for this journey. Be sure of what it is going to take to succeed. Commit to success.

My band is a tool. Without it I would still be 220 and gaining. By now I'd probably be 230. Instead, I'm hoping that on Monday I hear a number below 190. For 3 months commitment, I'll take that...and look forward to the rest. My band was the best decision I have ever made (besides the one to marry my DH). The $13,700 I spent to do it, chump change compared to the million bucks I feel like everytime that scale goes down.

Great post well written, well done so far and thanks.

I am surprised to be honest about the fact that people are saying that so much effort has to be put in after the band is fitted.

However, I am soooo glad that I joined this forum and found this out, because absoloutly no-one has said this to me. They have told me that the band represents 70% of whats required to lose the weight, and that is about it.

I am now prepared. Had I gone into this and not had the info that I have read here I would have been disspointed, de-motivated and struggling.

Thanks to all.

I am surprised to be honest about the fact that people are saying that so much effort has to be put in after the band is fitted.

However, I am soooo glad that I joined this forum and found this out, because absoloutly no-one has said this to me. They have told me that the band represents 70% of whats required to lose the weight, and that is about it.

I am now prepared. Had I gone into this and not had the info that I have read here I would have been disspointed, de-motivated and struggling.

Thanks to all.

Grayorm

We want everyone to be successfull and we want to let the newbies know that this isn't the easy way out - that it does take alot of hard work on your part to be successful - the band is only a tool ...

When I first joined this was repeated to me over and over again - We don't want you to be dissappionted - de-motivated - we want you to succeed..

Good Luck on your journey...

Grayorm

We want everyone to be successfull and we want to let the newbies know that this isn't the easy way out - that it does take alot of hard work on your part to be successful - the band is only a tool ...

When I first joined this was repeated to me over and over again - We don't want you to be dissappionted - de-motivated - we want you to succeed..

Good Luck on your journey...

Thanks, I am excited and looking forward to it. I truly beleive I will do better having visited this place.

B-Day next Tuesday I am coping well on 2 yoghurts a day and 2 1/2 pints of milk. Can't wait to get on with the liquid only bit and watch the needle fall. I have lost 9lbs since Monday on the yoghurt & milk.:glare: