I am going to discuss the Lap Band with my Dr next week and have a couple of questions.

Does your skin sag a lot once you start losing weight or is it OK since the weight loss is slower?

How long of a process is it from the time you visit with the doctor until you actually have the surgery? What do they make you do before you can get the surgery?

I am a business person and have to go to business lunches a lot as well as luncheons where they serve you a pre-selected meal. How do you deal with this?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Regarding the "sagging" skin....

The amount of excess skin after weight loss has to do with several things:

1. The amount of weight lost (greater than 100 pounds is considered "massive weight loss" by the bariatric community)

2. The time over which the weight is lost (from a physiologic standpoint, massive weight loss over the course of 1-2 years is considered "rapid".)

3. Your skin quality (In general, older skin that has been subjected to multiple weight fluctuations is most likely to "sag")

4. The type of bariatric procedure you have (this is related to the amount of weight lost and the speed of weight loss)

So, yes, it is true that people who undergo gastric banding tend to have less "sagging" than compared to other bariatric procedures. This is likely due to a combination of slower weight loss, less overall weight loss, and a better nutritional state during the weight loss which leads to better skin quality.

Good luck and congratulations on your first step in the weight loss process.

Welcome! You got an answer from the expert.

Well - looks like you got good "saggy skin" answers. I'll try and tackle the others.

The amount of time between initial consult and surgery depends largely on your payment method. If you self-pay, it can take as little as 30 days. If you have insurance red-tape to get through, or a requirement for a 6 month supervised diet as some insurance demands - it can take, well....up to 6 months.

I do a lot of business lunches too - and have 2 strategies for dealing with them. First, I almost always carry a protein shake meal replacement in my purse just in case I hit a meal I just can't eat. Second, I can usually eat parts of what is served. Since the band is primarily helpful in portion size control - you can often just eat half of what you are served. If sandwiches are provided - I usually eat just the insides, to avoid both the carb-factor in the bread and the fact that bread can get stuck in the band.

Hope that is helpful. Good luck on your journey.

Another comment on saggy skin -- even if you have some you'll still look way better than being fat. Clothing covers most of it anyway.

I'm looking to find some way to affort plastic surgery when I hit goal to get rid of my tons of belly skin. Even if I can't, I have to believe wearing a size 10 pants instead of a size 6 is still a gimongous improvement over the 26/28 I was wearing before banding. :biggrin2: