Okay - I am about to be banded. I am reading all of these posts from successful banders and the general message here is "I made my goal. All you have to do is eat right and exercise and make the band work for you and you can do it too". This sounds like the same jargon I espoused by all the diet machines I have failed at for years. Why does it work now? No one says "Hey that lap band really made me quite eatin like a pig" Everyone is saying they changed their eating habits, they exercised, they eat healthy foods now - I don't get it - weren't all of you people fat as hell and out of control like me??? How exactly does this surgery turn you from me into one of the thin types???

Honestly... I ate WAY too much. It did help. Right now I've had an unfil... and I've gone right back to eating too much. I've realized that I will NEVER be able to not have the band. I'll gain it all right back again. I'm a pig... I eat way too much, and I was always starving. I did change what I ate, you don't really have a choice about that. It does work. I personally believe that you start losing weight (and it's hard) and then you are motivated to do more. I couldn't exercise till I lost weight... and now I love it. The more you lose, the more you can do. It's like a win/win situation. It's not like a machine or a diet, because you don't really chose it. Yeah.. you can eat the wrong foods, like cake, cookies, and ice cream... but, if you are fat because you just eat too much... this will work for you. If you are fat because you eat the wrong food, then it might not. You can still snack all day on fatening foods if you want... but, if you want to lose weight, this will HELP you restrict the amount of food. AND if WORKS!

Okay - I am about to be banded. I am reading all of these posts from successful banders and the general message here is "I made my goal. All you have to do is eat right and exercise and make the band work for you and you can do it too". This sounds like the same jargon I espoused by all the diet machines I have failed at for years. Why does it work now? No one says "Hey that lap band really made me quite eatin like a pig" Everyone is saying they changed their eating habits, they exercised, they eat healthy foods now - I don't get it - weren't all of you people fat as hell and out of control like me??? How exactly does this surgery turn you from me into one of the thin types???

Noahsmomm

This surgery does not work for everyone - it's not a guarantee. It's a tool only.

For me it was the exact tool I needed to control my portions. How did that change my eating habits you ask.. Well for me I had major frickin surgery - I'm 53 yrs old - I want to extend my life.

While on the mushie stage I came home tired and hungry - started to make some cream/white gravy for mashed potatoes(would be considered an allowed food at that stage sorta not low fat but a mushie)- as I was frying the bacon (yep pork fat ruled in my book) I look at it and said to myself - Janet you had major surgery and you are going to eat crap like this - you aren't going to win this war - you will continue down the road of self destruction - So I threw it out - NO MORE - YOU ARE DONE.

I call my band my interior motivator - I would say for me this tool helps me use what I have learned in all my past attempts to lose the weight.

I eat healthy 98% (low fat - mostly sugar free) I exercise 3-4 days a week. I allow for treats but they are within my daily calorie budget. I don't feel deprived at all. I feel 10 yrs younger - have 110% more energy.

I didn't take having surgery as a quick fix or as a minor thing - I could have died on that operating table. For me I have had my AH HA MOMENT.

I am only 10 months out - who knows were I will be next year at this time (will I still have this motivation or will I be struggling - for me it's one day at a time). But I know that I have my little motivator planned in my stomach. I know that food was my drug of choice and I have made up my mind that it will no longer control me (for me I think the battle against food is more mental than physical and that's where the real work has to be done)

The band makes a hard job easier - but it doesn't do the work - you do.

I feel full on a smaller portion of healthy food - junk food and sweets weren't major problems for me - it was my home cooked high fat diet large portions (1st - 2nds & 3rd) and lack of exercise.

For me I think you have to want it bad enough - I think you have to prepare yourself that this is only a tool and that the majority of the changes that are needed are in your head and not your stomach..

Good Luck on your journey........

Janet said it perfectly!!!

I agree that it is a tool, but for me the key is the portion control, enforced portion control. I eat healthy food; I just ate WAY TOO MUCH of them. I was hungry all the time. With the band I am not hungry for three or four hours after I eat one third of what I used to consider a meal. The not being hungry is where the band earns its keep. It is soooo much easier to resist all the food that is placed in my path since I don’t feel hungry. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

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Then, as has been said the choice of what to eat when you are hungry is up to you, high-fat, high carbs for me would remove the success I have had. I am a happy camper on scrambled eggs, fish or chicken and some sort of veggie or fruit. I also include occasional treats in the sampler size; in fact I can have a sample from the store bakery and be happy on a one inch chunk of cookie or cake. <o:p></o:p>

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When I get into trouble is when I buy a treat that is bigger than I can eat, I tend to try to eat it all and BLAH it comes right back up. Enforced portion control!<o:p></o:p>

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Best success with your band!<o:p></o:p>

Lanie<o:p></o:p>

For me it's all about the satiety. I used to eat all the time, even when I wasn't hungry. I could eat a huge meal and be in the mood to snack an hour later. You could call it "always being hungry" -- like I had no shutoff switch.

Now, I eat my small portion of food (I aim for ~1200 cals per day) and because of the band being there, my body gets a signal when I eat, and that translates into "hey, not hungry anymore!". It's wonderful.

So yeah, I still have to make good food choices, because it'd be easy to pick junk food and get in way more than 1200 cals a day. It'd be easy to drink my calories -- milkshakes, coffee drinks, ice cream, chocolate -- which doesn't give me the satiety signal because the band works on solid food, not liquids. And I could graze, but I don't need to anymore -- my body doesn't cry out constantly for more food.

It won't solve emotional eating -- that was my downfall about a year and a half into this where I stalled for a long time. I'm back on track to reach goal though, now that I have tools to deal with this.

It's not a con. This is really an amazing tool.

I already knew what I needed to do to lose weight before being banded. I have lost 50+ pounds 3 times in my life, and various other amounts depending on my motivation level.

So why couldn't I keep it off before . . .

1) the biggest reason is because I was HUNGRYYY and I like to eat. Physical hunger had a lot to do with it with some extra head hunger thrown in for dessert. It is my reward for everything . . . and my solace when i am feeling bad. It is my way of unwinding at the end of a long day;

2) because I had an unhealthy mind set that obsessed over food when I was dieting, or not dieting and I felt I could only be successful if I was feeling incessantly deprived. When I was in strict diet mode, I would even have constant dreams where the entire theme was about eating . . . I kid you not.

One thing I would also like to mention is that I was never overweight until I was an adult. I never gave thought to what I ate as a child. Over time, the heavier I got, the more I obsessed over it and went to very strict measures (impossible to continue long term). Even as an adult, I never gained weight from not dieting . . . it was always the yoyo effect that seemed to start tipping the scales in the wrong direction.

For me, and this might sound ridiculous, it almost seems like there was a relationship between the heavier I was at any given point in time, the heavier I was going to be in the future. It was almost as if dieting made me heavier in that I tried too hard and if I failed at all I had a massive failure. I have had a very successful life professionally and in relationships but my weight was the bane of my existence;

3) in for a penny, in for a pound . . . perhaps I goofed at lunch time on my unreasonably strict diet and so, since I already feel extremely guilty and ashamed, why stop there. I'll start again with the diet tomorrow or the next day and so dinner can be whatever I want. Self sabotage was imbedded cunningly in feelings of guilt. I never could find a middle road somewhere between deprivation and gluttony.

So, how has any of that changed with the band???

1) I am not hungry all of the time. I did not realize what a massive impact that would have on my ability to lead a normal, healthy relationship with food.

2 & 3) I am not obsessing over food. I feel like a weight has been lifted in that I will eat as much as my body will tolerate. This is the most non-diet eating plan I have ever been on. There is no need to feel guilty for overeating because I cant really overeat by much. It also can not trigger binge behavior for me because there is no room.

Another side effect of the band is that I have occasionally made a rare decision to eat something not very healthy for me . . . and my body rejected it causing me to have a distaste for whatever it was and a desire not to repeat the experience. I have become very sick and miserable over a slice of pizza, french fries doctored with melted cheese, sour cream and chives, and a piece of cheesecake. I can tell you that I only tried these items once post banding and I dont want to try them again.

I also tell myself that the only requirement is that I eat my Protein, veggies and fruit first and if I want something a little different I can have it . . . but I dont have any room for it by the time I am finished and the desire is gone. I can eat 1 triscuit or 1 bite of chocolate over a period of several weeks, feel satisfied and not worry at all. Food has stopped being good (boring) or evil (off limits but the epitomy of gastric desire). Food has become just food for me. I just make small decisions that lead me in the right direction.

and finally . . .

Success breeds success. It is easy to be motivated when you see things moving in the right direction.

I am exercising daily now because it is easier at a lower weight and my fitness level has improved.

I am learning to have a healthy, normal relationship with food.

I feel good about myself and it inspires me to reach further and attain my goals.

The band was just what I needed to get back on track with real life. Some days are easier, some are harder, but it is all within reach for me with reasonable effort and healthy decisions. It doesnt do all of the work for me, but it certainly takes the edge off. I may not be able to scale the mountain alone, but I can certainly climb the hill with a little extra help :0).

Has the band affected anyone else in a similar way?

Edited May 21, 200818 yr by HeatherO

Portion control really is it. I have to call on "willpower" for want of a better term to quit the in between meal eating, to say no when the Cookies are offered, etc etc. Which if you want to call it dieting is what we always had to do. I just found the strength to do that this time not because of the band but because in deciding to be banded I'd finally reached the stage where I was just ready to stop making excuses and bloody well DO it.

But when I've been good all day I cant do what I used to do and then eat an enormous dinner to fill me up! My meals are small, as long as I stuck with 3 meals a day I lost weight and now I maintain.

That and running nearly every day

But it is a "non diet" plan definitely. I dont really worry about "what" I eat anymore, i dont fuss about Protein, carbs, etc I just eat what I want when I feel like it, and that's usually pretty healthy.

The surgery doesnt turn you into one of those thin types, most of us will never be that. I have to control my eating, I dont think there'll ever be a day in my life where I dont think about eating the way I used to, I will never be "not interested" in food the way naturally thin people are and I will never be able to quit exercising.

Heather this was a great post!!!!!!!