Hey, all! I started the process about 8 months ago, and I have my surgery date in less than 3 weeks!

My big question is, how easy or difficult has it been for people to lose weight? Just a little poll here...

It is easier because my constant hunger and tendency to overeat has gone away. This has really helped me to stop obsessing over food. It has also curbed cravings. I can eat one bite of cake on a special occasion and be done with it, move on, and not feel deprived at all. Eating used to be everything to me, now it is an afterthought on most occasions.

If I eat too much, I am sick. I hate being sick, therefore I stop before I overeat. Even if my brain tells me to overeat, there is a hard stop in that my body will reject anything beyond a reasonable portion.

However even with the band, I still have to make good decisions with food, avoid grazing between meals and get exercise. It is similar to dieting as before, but lack of hunger and inability to overeat make it a heck of a lot easier to deal with.

I have lost this much weight before, but it takes twice as long and is usually accompanied with constant feelings of deprivaton and obsessing over food. The band was worth every penny and I have no regrets.

I really can't answer this poll. In the beginning it was hard. I lost 22 lbs in the 4 weeks on liquids post op. Then I lost nothing for months and I was really discouraged.

I really can't say when things changed for me. I never lost weight every week. I went on long plateaus and was sure I was going to be a person that the band just didn't work on. Then all of a sudden, I would drop 5 lbs and the plateau would start all over again. I am sure if I didn't exercise, I wouldn't have lost as well. I already had the exercise habit though before I was ever banded.

Recently, I have lost another 5 without really trying. I just follow the rules and slowly my weight went down. I wonder now if I will continue to lose. It's nice to have a little wiggle room now.

Still new to all this, I just wanted to say to HeatherO that you are doing so well!!

I agree with Denise. This is a hard question to answer. I can say it has been very difficult for me, but worth it. I had to completely change my life and what was important to me. I gave up fast food, junk food, candy, comfort food, I learned to deal with events without organzing them around food, I learned a new way to deal with my problems rather than feeding them, and I learned a new way to committ myself to me.

I work out every morning for 1-1.5 hours something I NEVER EVER would have done before. Each pound I lost was a reward for my hard work. And now I am becoming the person I need to be so it was worth every step.

I follow the rules, and made a change. Change is hard but good! :biggrin2:

It is one of the easiest things I have ever done. Before the band, I ran 3 marathons while doing Weight Watchers and I lost 10 lbs at most. The band is the best decision I ever made, and I have been so surprised at how easy it has been! So - I just eat less because I am full faster. That's all. And you can see form my signature that I started out at a lower BMI.

Also, I believe lots of cardio makes you more hungry than if you had not done cardio. I am all for working out, but I only do Pilates 4x/week and my whole body is lean and strong now. Never would have gotten this with cardio. I have read a number of articles and studies that seem to back me up on this -- but heck, there's a study to back up every type of approach to exercise and weight loss.

My doc gave me a great piece of advice: "Don't think about the band so much. Just go out and live your life." Once I took that to heart, a bulk of the weight just melted away.

Sometimes *thinking* about the band can be counter productive. So, for me, being on LPT for hours and fixating on calorie counting, band feelings, etc. seems to work against me.

Just some thoughts.

The first 40 pounds were very easy, the next 20 pounds were difficult, the last 20 pounds are extremely difficult.

somewhat easy not because of the band, but because my heads in it this time. i'm self pay so i stick to the plan because it means a lot to me. i've only had one fill so it isn't easy to diet, but when you're ready...you're ready..you know?

I agree with Bozzi- for me it's been extremly easy - but again I have had my ah ha moment when I went under the knife to get this surgery.

I have never ever attained a goal in all my previous attempts to lose weight - with the help of the band I have ... But again my head is totally in the game - this is a lifetime lifestyle change in eating healthy and physical activity..

I opted for Very easy....

I am never hungry anymore I don't even feel the need to eat... therefore I can consume food with the intent of fueling my body. While I enjoy the taste of it I am learning that head hunger and body hunger are 2 completely different things.

The reason I didn't choose the easiest one is because I do work out very hard some diets I have just cut calories and lost weight.

I gave up fast food, junk food, candy, comfort food, I learned to deal with events without organizing them around food, I learned a new way to deal with my problems rather than feeding them, and I learned a new way to commit myself to me.

This says it all in a nutshell, BBK. Some people do expect the band to do most of the work. I gave up all that stuff too. I know the difference this time was that I didn't give up when I hit those plateaus. In the old days, I always said "I am not losing anyway, so I might as well eat

-----(whatever junk food I wanted at the time) I guess I was more determined this time to just follow the rules and not give up.

I have to say, it is a lot easier now. I have perfect restriction and I don't get hungry very often.

I agree with both BBK & Denise - We now deal with our issue without the food - I really beleive it's the whole mind set - the band doesn't make my food choices I do - the band doesnt go to the gym 4 days a week I do

I had major surgery to get this tool - I was tried of being fat and that fattness limited the quality of my life.

The band is the perfect tool for me - it gives me the portion control that I need - I can't say like so many that I am not hungry - but I have learned to deal with my head hunger issue and to be able to idenify the diff between head hunger vs real hunger..

The band does make a hard job easier - but it's still work..

I just had my surgery May 22 and I'm not at restiction yet, so it is a liitle hard for me to answer. I have lost 12 pounds, but it has not been easy at all to lose. It has been very difficult. But I have made major life style changes. I now only eat when I'm hungry and I only eat enough to fill full. I no longer drink any type of soda, I eat very little bread, and I work out everyday. It is basically like most other diets with one major difference, I don't get hungry much at all. That used to be my major problem, I stayed hugry all the time. That's why most diets failed for me. I also used to have a lot of cravings for fast food and junk food. But I no longer have those cravings. I'm not sure if that's something to do with the band or not, but not having those cravings now is great. Once I get my last fill, I am hoping the weight comes off a little faster.

I really believe that there comes a time in every overweight persons life where the mind will go "click, click" it´s time to deal with the weight issue. We get into the whole mind set of doing it and for a lot of us normal dieting can be done and goals achieved.

Then there is another group of overweights where, they also get the "click click" in their mind to start their journey. Then life throws a lemon or something at them and their determination is jaggered. This is the group that I fall into.

I seriously am not a junk food person, I´d rather eat veggies, salad, fish, fruits and healthy choices .... BUT... my biggest weakness is bread. It´s my manna from heaven. If I am hungry and need to eat I would always go for bread and butter. Now I can´t do that. I am cutting bread out my diet completely. I know it´s my enemy so I have to do away with it.

I have not voted on the poll, I am only one week into this and I have no idea if it´s easy or not. At this stage, it´s VERY easy. I have a lot of restriction and feel satisfied after my liquids.

Give me a few more months and I will be back to vote on the poll.

Thought it was going to kill me but this was the easiest weight loss for me....

and I've been on every diet, program, etc.

the first 3 months i found somewhat daunting - because my weightloss just was so slow, i mean snails pace. BUT i was not gaining, for the first time in forever, so i focused on that. i sorta burried my head in the sand with exercise & retraining my eating habits & concentrated on 10lbs at at time. get out of the 190's, 180's & so forth - i found looking at losing 80lbs all at once overwhelming .... so i kept my focus in small itervals.

now i can say it's easy, proper eating habits & exercise are the norm - not something i have to fight myself with. if i over indulge or not exercise one day, well tomorrow i can start anew - the band lets me get back on track rather than the "old days" of starting the diet back up on MONDAY.