During the seminar, my doctor indicated the average weekly weight loss for lap band patients was 1 lb./week.

You can imagine the shock from everyone in the room. Many questions followed.

To clarify: He said if a patient has 100 lbs. to lose, for example, then it will typically take them 100 weeks (almost 2 years) to do it.

He said if you look at the total amount any person has to lose and the amount of time it takes them to lose that amount, it averages to 1 lb./week for most people.

He did say in the beginning most people lose 3-4 lbs./week but that as they get closer to goal, and weight loss slows. He said it can takes weeks or even months for some folks to lose the last 10, 20, or 30 pounds.

Any thoughts on this from the group?

I only weigh once a week, before I have had anything to eat, and in the nude. If I weigh more often than that, I lose my mind.

My doctor says once I'm banned have someone hide the scale. He said go to the pharmacy and weigh once a week only. I think I'll just have my daughter bring it out once a week for me. I have no will power. I'm on weight watchers now and weigh my self several times a day. lol

At work I weigh myself daily but I only take the number on "weigh-in Wednesday" seriously. This way I see what's going on but I don't freak out daily.

I've always been told that the average is between 1 and 2lb per week. After almost 11 months and an almost 80lb loss (official weigh in next week), I am running at an average of 1.6lb per week, which is right in the middle of what I expected. I have allowed myself 2 years in total to get to goal, but I am expecting to be close to it within 18 months and for the last few pounds to be the hardest and take the longest. I seem to be on track for that.

I used to weigh every day and I still do when I am at home. However, I am lucky in that I work 8 days away on a mine site, so can't weigh myself in that time. I really look forward to seeing a real change when I get home and have learned to be far less obsessive about the daily fluctuations when I am home.

Also, I find that my weight goes down in close relation to my monthly cycle. For the week leading up to my ToM and during it, nothing I do shows up on the scale as a weight loss. I will often show a slight gain in this time. Then, a day or so after my ToM stops, my body lets go of all the Fluid it has been retaining and my loss for the last 2 weeks shows up in one big hit, often 2kg (4-5lb) at a time. For the next 2 weeks, I will show slow losses of around 1lb a week, then back to nothing and/or gains as the cycle completes. It works out at anywhere from 4 - 8lb a month, depending on how much I've been exercising and how well I've been eating.

I have accepted the fact that if I don't weigh myself everyday, and track all the food I eat, that I will not succeed at losing the 150 or so pounds that I need to lose, even with the band. I was banded in June of 2008, and have so far lost only 33.5 pounds (although quite a bit of it has been recent, after my last and tightest adjustment).

I've had my band 10 days. With the two week diet, I have lost just under 1 kilo/2/2 pounds a week. I expect this may slow down when I hit solid food again. I have PCOS, so weight loss for me is going to be tougher going anyway. I'm really happy with my loss so far, because at least its a loss.

I actually suspect that I have/had PCOS ... When I was at my heaviest, my cycles were at around 60 days, and now they're solidly in the 32-35 day range. Since my latest adjustment, I've been so tight that I've hardly been able to get in 1,000 calories per day. Since October 30th (my last adjustment) I've lost close to 10 pounds. Of course, I'm thrilled, but also trying to make sure I get 100% of my RDA of protein, which is difficult, to say the least. I'm seriously hoping that I can get the first 80 pounds off by next year, and then I will chip away at the rest ... It's hard work, but SO worth it.

Great job on the weightloss. My doctor says when I get banned he wants me losing 2 pounds per week. Would be nice- I could have my weight off in a year.