Hi,

I'm from Sydney Australia and I chose this forum because it looked to be the best.

I am 33yrs old and I weigh 100kg, my BMI 38.

I've decided to change my life and have Lap Band Surgery. Some support me and some don't. My best friend said to me that this is a drastic decision. I think getting to 40yrs old and weighing in at 120kg with more aches and pains than I have now is drastic.

There a few things I know about myself and some really difficult truths.

I'm lazy and do not like exercise, I love my food and don't need to be hungry to eat, usually at the end of a meal I'm thinking of the next. Love Mc Donalds and there is alot that I won't do, my weight does holds me back. My little girl likes the beach, not a chance! Last summer my other half took her and I stayed at home. Sex life? not much of one due to not being comfortable in my own skin. Really the list goes on.

A woman that I know had it done twelve months ago and has dropped 32kg now in a size 10, had a tummy tuck and let me tell you she is looking hot!

I spent alot of time on forums reading and rang a few clinics in Sydney that do the procedure. I am booked in for my operation on the 1st of October. At the moment I am doing Optifast and have dropped a little in a few days. It's funny when you make such a decision to change your life that you are in a different head space almost instantly.

What I won't to achieve from this decision is change in eating habits, change in the way I view food this means no more calorie counting and yo yo dieting. Oh and I want a new wardrobe!!!

I wont to be sexy, feel sexy and successful.

It's a shame that one of my closest friends can not see this, this is the friend I mentioned earlier. She rang me last night after having dinner with a friend who had lap band done 8yrs ago.

Apparently this woman is constantly throwing up, her teeth have gone rotten and she can not eat anything except for bags of chips and lemonade. This woman states that she has not learned anything about eating habits. Has anyone heard of such a horror story?

Wow I've said alot, Just needed to get it out and talk to those who can relate. Thanks for reading and I hope to be as successful on this journey as some of you.

Cakes

congratulations on deciding to make this life change decision. being banded was the best decision i personally have ever made!!! my friends were very supportive even though they may have not thought i needed it. i am 5'8'' and was 242 pounds--i was banded 06/20/2008 and now weigh206---lost 36 pounds in 3 months and i feel great!!! last night i went out and had to actually roll the waist down on my jeans cause they were falling off!! did you ever think you could say that!! you will--banding defiantly works, you'll start excersing and feel guilty if you miss a day. i have only thrown up a few times due to not properly chewing my good----chew,chew,chew thats the trick. good luck to you..ps....my teeth look great along with my now thinner face!!!:thumbup:

IRISH!!!!!

That is excellent, I had to jump on google and convert the pounds to kilos to understand the weight loss You must be so excited, I'm excited for you. Now that's the stuff that motivates me. Good on you and I'm glad you still got your pearly whites.

You say chew your food, alot of people say this, I am trying to train myself now, I am also an eater and drinker when I found out I could not do both at the same time I freaked a little. But I will make sure I follow everything to a tea and I am grateful for the 12 months program because I know that will give me th support I need.

So happy for you I think your weight loss is smashing news :thumbup:

Regards

cakes

HI CAKES!

I am a bandit from Tasmania and I have had my band for just 16 days and I have already lost 7 kgs. Its fabulous! I wish I had been 33 and had it done as I would have had a lot longer of my adult life to feel slim and healthy. However I will make the most of it, even planning a tummy tuck to take care of the leftovers.

If you need to have a real time chat you can via msn messenger ID bluesmumma.

Congratulations Cakes! It is such a hard decision, but once you really make up your mind, you are right that you have a complete mind shift. (At least that was the case with me.) I was banded 6 months ago, and I've lost 61 pounds (28 kilos). I still have a ways too go, but I know that I have a great tool that is going to help me succeed. It is perhaps the best thing I've ever done for myself. I've always been a very confident person, but I'm definitely feeling better about myself than I have in years.

As far as throwing up, I haven't really had that experience. Twice I've had food get a little stuck, and then it comes up. Both times it was after a fill when I was much tighter. I've had a little hair loss (doctor says my body is in stress mode from the weight loss), but my doctor assures me it will come back. The good thing is that my hair, skin, nails are all very healthy...probably from all of the Protein and Biotin I take to help prevent hair loss. You mentioned your friend has a friend whose teeth have rotted. If I were guessing, that's probably because she's not getting the proper nutrition if she only eats chips. I would say those types of stories are very few and far between, and I have to question why someone would allow that to go on for 8 years...they could always have the band removed.

Good luck! I think you will find a lot of support here.

Cakes- Congrats on your decision!!! :eek: It will be the best thing you have ever done for yourself!

I wish I had done it at 33 (I tried to have bypass done, but insurance denied me, and it was really expensive back then) I guess I am glad it happened to me though, because I feel lapband was the right thing for me.

You sound a lot like me... I L-O-V-E food :cool2: I would actually lay in bed at night and decide where I was going to go out for lunch the next day. :thumbup: To be totally honest, I still think about food, but not in the same way, not in that desperate "what good things can I possibly have to eat today?" way. Now I think... "what can I eat that is good for me, and will help my weight loss?" It is quite a change for me.

I also have a young daughter who is losing out by my weight. There are so many things I can't/won't do. I would not have taken her to the beach, either.

Please don't worry about what your friend told you. While it is true people can have problems with the band, they are probably 99% of the time the persons fault. You have to eat slow, take small bites and chew,chew,chew. (I am sure you have already heard this a hundred times...but it is true!) The friend of your friend who threw up all the time never (I'm guessing) learned or did this.

Again, congrats on your decision. I'm sure it is the right one, and you wll do well.

julie

You've gotten great tips here! Your friend's friend needs to have some fill removed, most likely, and chew etc. AND if she can only eat

"lemonade and potato chips" she could be having instead Protein shakes etc. She's doing that because she wants to! Some people want their restriction so tight they cannot get many foods down but in its way that is "eating around the band" ... the point is to have enough restriction to prolong satiety, but allow you to eat most all foods in moderation.

I think you will love your band! I love mine!

Hi all, Thank you for your responses it sure does make me feel better.

This morning I was on lapband.com and I was reading the testimonials and risks involved. It did scare me a bit and found myself questioing the surgery. I would just die if something really serious went wrong.

kayleighsmommy, you made me laugh. Its funny how food is such a huge part of my life, everything revolves around it even trying to go to sleep we are thinking about food. Why can't it be our next excercise session that we are thinking about.:thumbup:

I weighed myself this morning and I have lost 3.5kg. The Dr wants me to lose 5kg before the surgery (01.10.2008) to reduce my liver. I feel good and I was thinking to myself why can't I just continue on like this and get to my goal weight without the band. But deep down I know that is wishful thinking and I would just regain in time.

Has anyone else been in two minds even though they made the decision to have the band? Have you gone backwards and forwards?

The only thing, I am disapointed in myself and feel a little ashamed is that I have not got the discipline and strength to do this on my own. Have you ever felt this way and how did you over come it?

Regards

Diane

The only thing, I am disapointed in myself and feel a little ashamed is that I have not got the discipline and strength to do this on my own. Have you ever felt this way and how did you over come it?

Regards

Diane

I can tell you the epiphany I had that led me to quit feeling that way. I felt getting the band would be "cheating" in some way...that I SHOULD be able to find a good "diet" and stick with it. Then one morning a few months ago it occured to me...that If I needed a pacemaker for my heart, I would NOT say "NO that's cheating. Not everyone needs a pacemaker for his or her heart, so I shouldn't either" I WOULD say "OK let's move let's get it let's save my life!" Well....I think of the band as a pacemaker for my appetite. Not everyone needs or wants one, not everyone who needs one has the courage to get one. But I did. Sounds like you want to save your life, too.

Thanks for the tip, I've never looked at it that way.

It's so good to be on here and have such great support and tips from those who have gone through with lap band.

I am new to forums and it is pretty addictive.

Diane,

The funny thing is that I DO think about exercise a lot now!!! I still think about food, like I said, but exercise is up there in my mind too. And, believe me... exercise was a word I wouldn't even say...let alone something I would do pre-band :cool2:

What you are feeling is completely normal. I went back and forth in my feelings, I also knew I would never lose all the weight I wanted/needed to lose on my own. :thumbup: I needed help, and the lapband is a wonderful, helpful tool.

Please don't feel ashamed that you are unable to do this without help. The fact is DIETS DON'T WORK!! (And we should all know, since we have been on hundreds, right?)

Feel free to take a look at my blog (I love when new people look at it!!) Also... if you need someone to talk to, or have any questions...please feel free to PM me. :eek:

julie

kayleighsmommy, you made me laugh. Its funny how food is such a huge part of my life, everything revolves around it even trying to go to sleep we are thinking about food. Why can't it be our next excercise session that we are thinking about.

I weighed myself this morning and I have lost 3.5kg. The Dr wants me to lose 5kg before the surgery (01.10.2008) to reduce my liver. I feel good and I was thinking to myself why can't I just continue on like this and get to my goal weight without the band. But deep down I know that is wishful thinking and I would just regain in time.

Has anyone else been in two minds even though they made the decision to have the band? Have you gone backwards and forwards?

The only thing, I am disapointed in myself and feel a little ashamed is that I have not got the discipline and strength to do this on my own. Have you ever felt this way and how did you over come it?

Regards

Diane

This is a huge lifestyle change and not to be entered into lightly. That's why I am doing my homework while I'm going through the six-month process required by my insurance company. I really liked the analogy that Restless Monkey used - "pacemaker" for our appetites. Diets don't work, and the LB is the tool that will help get us to goal and stay at goal. But not without effort on our parts.

I'm curious in the process you have to go through.

In Australia we make the decision and see the surgeon and then your surgery is booked within a fortnight. 6months is a long time, why is that?

Insurance is a private consumer-driven industry over here. It is often a benefit provided by employers to their employees who pay only a portion (or rarely, nothing) for the benefit. Most employers want to maximize coverage and minimize cost. Insurance companies are in business for the money...so many of them will require prerequisites before the surgery can be performed. Some require a 6-month supervised diet and occasionally a person decides to continue on that path rather than get the band. There are other clearances various insurance companies may require (exercising for 3-months, various post op tests, etc) Because the policies are underwritten by different companies, and because employers can often modify policies to suit (ie some exclude bariatric surgery, or psychiatric treatments for example) what a policy covers is often confusing and obfuscated. That's why 6 people across the USA may have, say "Aetna" and have 6 totally different policies.

Then we have our government funded coverage for the disabled (medicaid) and the elderly (medicare), and coverage for active duty and retired military .... so you can see why we all have a different tale to tell.

While on the surface it may seem shortsighted for the insurance company to try to stall and even deny any patient who is obese and needs surgery, but always with an eye to cost, many employers will frequently switch insurance companies to maximize the coverage at a cheaper rate. So a person may have Aetna for 2 years, then Blue Cross Blue Shield for a year, then on to someone new. So Aetna could feasibly be out a chunk of money to pay for surgery, and then the person get switched to a new insurance company and Aetna get no "benefit" in insuring a healthier individual. Confusing, isn't it?

Wow Cakes!

You have got yourself lots of great advice there. These girls know where it's at!

Deb