Hello everyone.

I just got referred to the options program through Kaiser (so cali) and am very excited to start this process. I was wondering you all can share with me your weight loss stories. How long have you had the band? Weight before/after band? What has changed in your eating habbits?

Also, a little freaked out about anasthesia!! Have people actually died getting a lap band? I know the bypass is dangerous, because they re-wire you ... but the band? It seems so much less invasive !!

I am happy to hear everyones experience and goals ... Thanks

FUTURE BANDER ...

I was banded on 6-26-08 my surgery weight was 239 as of yesterday i am 214 !!! i am soooo thrilled, it is work and effort,but so much easier to diet successfully with the band! i eat about 1000 calories a day and never feel hungry! best thing i ever did. i wont lie though the first 2 weeks i wished i had never done it, uncomfortable,depressed , etc.... but best believe it gets better, i had my surgery at Cedar Sinai

I was somewhere between 245 and 250 before band (converting in my head from metric) and am about 154 now. I've been banded 3 years, it took probably 2 years to lose that 100lb or so, I did it by eating all foods in moderation and taking up running.

Eating habits - well, I tend to eat 3 meals a day now, I'm still a carb eater, my diet is based on wholegrain carbs so I eat foods like cereal and toast for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, meat and 3 veg for dinner, lots of healthy choices like tuna, avocado, salad fillings for sandwiches, plenty of fresh fruit. When I do well eating like that, I really dont have room for crap, or if I do, its not much.

I no longer really like things like pizza or fish and chips, so we make those choices as a family far less often and when I'm caught out, and need to rely on take away, I dont see it as an excuse to pig out and go crazy, its just a meal, I eat till satisfied and that's it. I dont then think well I just had pizza for dinner, so might as well have 3 wines and a block of choclate too.

My food intake is steady now, its the same day in day out, weekday, weekend, holidays. Not up and down pigging out one week, starving the next like I used to.