When I came out of the operating room on Wednesday one of my girlfriends who was there told me that my surgeon told her I got the small band. It's by Inamed. What criteria goes into which band is selected. I'm such a big woman I was surprised. I'm 5:10 and weigh 360. Do you think this is a good/bad thing?

Marie

Well I don't know if it's good or bad. But I also have the small band. At the time of surgery I was 5'5" and 333 pounds, so by no means small. I can tell you that I felt a lot of restriction even without the fill , due to swelling. And then have only needed a few fills so far.

I thought it was according to how obese a person was, but my doctor explained it's all about your size on the inside. My mother and I both have the smaller 4cc band

Marie:

I was 324 to start, and 287 at surgery, and I got the smaller Inamed band. I'm at 219 now. I actually had some restriction before getting fills. In fact, I got stuck with tuna that was very mushy when I was on mushy stages. So, be careful.

I have a friend whose son is banded. He was banded a week after me. He must have a much larger band. He's not lost as much as me - about 20 pounds behind me. I know that he can eat alot more than I can. In fact, she said he ate a steak & cheese sub the other day. It hurts for me to even think of eating something like that. I'm glad though that I can't because I would be tempted if I could.

Good wishes with your small band. I love mine!

Sue

How interesting. I'm 5'3 and at the time of surgery I weighed 208. The nurse told me I have the Large band. I must of had a huge stomach then? LOL Thats what I get for being a Diet Coke addict for so long.

I wondered what the sizes actually met, thanks for explaining it.

I have the AP small 10 cc band. My doctor said he rarely uses the large AP band.

I feel better after reading the responses...thanks folks!!!

marie

Yep, it relates to the size of your stomach, not your weight.

I've got a small band at 5ft 10, although my BMI was 36 when I was banded, I considered myself a big build - built like a brick shithouse as the saying goes.

As it turns out, I'm rather fine boned and naturally meant to be slender, and I have never had tight restriction even with the small band. I have had good enough restriction to lose all my weight and I have really enjoyed my lapband journey, it hasnt hindered me but I can eat bread - well an entire sandwich - with 3cc in my 4cc band - just about unheard of - becuase it simply isnt tight on me.

It hasnt mattered, I've had good enough restriction to lose weight but likely I'll always be looser than the next person at a given Fluid level. The doc said after my surgery he'd put on the small band because my organs werent that big.

Its suprised me somewhat just how small my build really is, I've never been this size as an adult and at a BMI of 23, I could still lose quite a bit of weight without becoming scrawny or skinny.

So you may weigh in big now, but you may find you're not as "big boned" as you think you are. Your organs may not be that large at all either.

jachut- I can now completely understand what you're saying. I used to thnk I was "big boned". Well as it turns out I have really small bones inside. My wrist keeps on shrinking, now at about 6.5 inches, down from 8. And I have discovered my knee caps, yes sounds strange but they are tiny little things slightly larger than golf balls. Go figure. I haven't seen them in years, literally atleast 10 years. DH thought I had some sort of birth defect because he's never seen them until recently. He even started looking at my family's knee caps a few years ago to see who else was defective. It turns out my mom has small ones like me, but my dad, brother and sister all have ones as big as if not bigger than softballs.

it's amazing what you'll find under all these pounds of fat.