I have NO doubts now that this surgery is the right thing, but being in the beginning processes I'm still amazed that I'm doing this some days. I think back about 6 months and where my head was at that point...I would never have even considered WLS (way too drastic). <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

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Sure I, like most of you, have plenty of embarrassing weight-related stories I can tell and plenty of specific depressing moments...those moment usually spurred me into yet another diet. But I remember the "Moment", the EPIPHANY that made me even consider looking into something more drastic, which brought me to the LB. What was your "MOMENT"?<o:p></o:p>

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I'll start...my daughter was studying abroad in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:country-region><st1:place>France</st1:place></st1:country-region> and we took a family trip to <st1:City><st1:place>Paris last May</st1:place></st1:City>. This wasn't just ANY trip, we can't really afford a trip like this, but this was our last chance to take a great trip before the kids get old enough to go off and have their own lives. So this was our "Trip of a Lifetime". I dieted and used the treadmill every day in preparation (I was lighter than now- but still 208# then). Our first day in <st1:City><st1:place>Paris</st1:place></st1:City> we climbed the steep wide staircase up the hill to Montmarte-village (235 steps). It was a killer, but I made it after a few rests. Then we climbed the narrow spiral staircase to the top dome of Sacre-Coeur-church (another 237 steps). There's no turning around (you come down a different staircase)...my legs were shaking and I rested in the few tiny alcoves on the way up and flattened myself (yeah, right) to let people pass...I really thought I was going to lose a lung or have a heart attack. My family was waiting and wondering what happened to me at the top. The next morning we visited Notre Dame cathedral (402 steps to the top)...I was sitting on the plaza while the rest of my family waved to me from the bell tower...my "Moment".:angry_smile:<o:p></o:p>

Congrats on your decision...you won't regret it.

I think it was a series of things for me, but when it passed the point of vanity and affected my quality of life, and then I got diabetes and realized it was life or death, I started thinking about it. It took a couple more years of "just trying one more time on my own" and then I finally gave up. It is the best thing I have ever done and I wish you the best of luck!!!

My moment came in a children's museum with my son. I was walking (panting and sweating) with my son. I couldn't keep up. I decided that we would leave, and my son looked so crestfallen. Yet he acted as though he was used to me saying we had to go because I was tired. What kind of life is that for a child?

I didn't have a moment really. I got fed up, looked into WLS, decided I needed to try harder, did great, life happened, gained back, lived that way a while, got fed up, looked into WLS, decided I needed to try harder, did great, life happened, gained back, lived that way a while, rinse and repeat. After my oldest son died of leukemia (at 13 years of age, coming up on two years ago in January), I decided life was too short and that one of the ways I would honor his memory would be by making my body as healthy as I have control to make it. When my grief eased enough for me to not wish I had died right along side him, I began counseling, did my research, chose my surgeon and I took the plunge. I am doing very, very well.

After my oldest son died of leukemia (at 13 years of age, coming up on two years ago in January), I decided life was too short and that one of the ways I would honor his memory would be by making my body as healthy as I have control to make it.

I'm SO sorry for your loss...what a moment, and what a way to honor him...you have amazing strength and love!

Hello all,

My name is chad. I have been trying for months to get my insurance to aprove the lapband.......YEA!!!!!!!!! they finally did. I am being banded 12-18-2008. I started looking into wls after I got on a roller coaster that I have been trying to ride for years. Every time I went to the park something happened to keep me off the ride....line to long, breaking down, once I even sat in the seat was all locked in and it started to lightening and they closed the ride. This year I went waited in line sat in the seat, and the belt did not fit. I had 3 people trying to cram the harness down, then I had to take the walk of shame in front of eveyone to exit the ride. I was so embarrassed that I lied to my wife and told her I did not ride it because the harness hurt my shoulder I had broken in a car wreck a year earlier. That is when I said enough is enough.:thumbup:

It was a friend I knew from a mothers forum getting banded. In the back of my head I knew about it but only vaguely and had never known anyone who'd had WLS. I'd had vague fantasies - like I wish I was fat enough to get my stomach stapled kind of thing, that's all.

Anyway, it was a light bulb moment when she posted that she was getting banded. I suddenly thought - well she's not massively obese - in my head WLS was for people who weighed 700lb - and you know I am NEARLY as fat as her. Why dont I think about this?

I honestly never placed myself in the category of being obese. I had my head int he sand. I knew I didnt lookt he way I want to, I knew I was starting to feel crappy, and the scale TOLD me there was at least 30kg more than beofre I started having babies. But it just didnt sink in until this moment.

I'd given up on dieting, I knew that wasnt going to work.

It was a quality of life moment for me. I knew I just could not continue to keep going on like this. I was laways very active as a teenager and twenty-something woman. Jogging every day and lfting weights, but then work, school, and family took up my time and my weight just kept going up.

I could not jog. My right knew hurt. My ankles were sore. My thyroid went crazy. I was a mess. Then I looked at my mom and thought, if I do something now, I will be as unhealthy as she is now. I want to be active and healthy, so I made the decision. And I am so happy I am banded.

30-pounds down and I can walk and it does not hurt. My knee does not hurt and my ankles are not sore. I don't have back spasms any more. I feel so much better and look for to the New Year.

When my diabetes got out of control and none of my clothes fit me comfortably anymore and I couldn't stand to look in the mirror anymore I had a good cry then picked myself up and called to get into a seminar. That was January 2008 (almost a year now, wow!). I had my surgery on October 7th and am 35 pounds down from my highest pre-surgery weight (two weeks prior to surgery). I am figuring my losses from the highest weight when I started this journey as I have had to work hard for each and every pound lost and am celebrating each and every victory. I had my second fill today and I am in a much better place today than a I was a year ago. I am no longer on diabetes medicines and I have quit smoking so I am so much healthier than I was then. I just wish I would have done this sooner!

I was totally in denial about my weight. Never thought I was ever as big as I was. My 'moment' was when I decided to have a tubal reversal surgery to have another baby.... I was told I was too high risk for the surgery and was pre diabetic.

I am eligible for the surgery now and plan to have it after my wedding in February.... All thanks to the band.

My moment was when I went for followup after my labs tested positive for PCOS and I asked for phentermine.... and my doc basically said HELL NOOO! I had tried it all... and I had gained so much in such a small amount of time. I have gained 40-50lbs in the last year alone. Something has to give....

I don't really have a moment, mainly because I was told in october last year that I should consider getting the lap band by my respiratory doctor, he said I should maybe write to parliment to see if I can get it funded or get the money, next thing you know in january I've got a appointment with an endo/diabetes doctor, then got shoved back and forth and had an appointment in july this year with the lap band doctor, now over a year later they've told me I might be having it this month - actually it was meant to be early december but yeah lol. So technically I didn't have a moment, I've known about the lapband but after my doc said that I got on here and started researching, technically it wasn't even my idea, you could basically say I've been pushed into it, but I wouldn't have it any other way, I don't have to go through insurance like most on here and be screwed around, so in that case I'm lucky but time wise and how long it's taken really I'm not

Great stories...keep'em coming!

Sounds like a lot of us thought WLS was "too drastic for me" initially...I know I like was surprised I was even a candidate when I decided to "just take a look" at LB...denial.

I have always been in such denial about my weight. My feeling have been hurt from people, including my mother by saying..."You have a pretty face, if only you could lose weight". I don't think people realize that is not a compliment.

Anyway, I was meeting with a business consultant and he was talking about losing weight before vacation. I didn't think he needed to lose a pound but he made the comment that his wife didn't sign up for what he has become when she married him. That made me think about my husband and what he signed up for.

Then I found out that my consultant who consults with myself and 12 other collegues once a month, was taking all of them to Breakfast and lunch on a regular basis. I was shocked when I discovered he had never taken me out to eat, he just met me in my office. When I started asking questions about why he wasn't taking me out to eat, he informed me that he didn't want to be an "enabler". Wow! That cut me to the bone. At that time I realized how others were seeing me and I decided to talk to my PCP. She ran some tests and told me that I was diabetic, had PCOS and high blood pressure. Further tests revealed sleep Apnea.

All of these events lead me to my decision to have LB and I am so happy I did.

I have lost 51 pounds and my blood pressure is down to normal and my glucose levels are back to normal.

I guess it took being insulted to lead me to my PCP and have a heart to heart about what I was doing to myself.

June 2007 we took a family trip to Rocky Mountain National Park with my husband's brother and sister and their families. I was at my all time heaviest (290) and had to buy new shorts to wear because nothing fit. Size 24's :rolleyes2:

I have always tried to be active and competitive so I wasn't going to sit on the sidelines. They were all going to go horseback riding, I even asked if I could go.. I didn't want to break the poor horse's back, my brother-in-law said they match you to a horse, so I was pretty upset when everyone else got the pretty brown horses, and I got the big ol stock horse!

Then we drove Trail Ridge Road and got to the top of the mountain. THere are steps that take you farther up. I stated to climb and I nearly about died, but I made it to the top of the mountain. What a moment. I was crying for two reasons 1) it was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen and 2) I felt so miserable I knew then that I had to do something.

When I got home I started looking into the LB surgery again and Nov. 5, 2007 I had it done! All I remeber was waking up in the recovery room to a picture of a mountain on the ceiling! That was my sign that this was all meant to be.

I am now 99 lbs lighter than I was at the top of the mountain and we are planning to go back to Colorado this summer so I can do everything over and more. I plan to actually hike this time! My big goal is to lose at least 20 more pounds by then. Wish me luck. The scale hasn 't budged for three months!

I was so tired of being sick and tired and fat. I made an appointment with a Registered Dietican, I needed some help. I followed the diet she put me for a total of 1 1/2 days. I was disgusted with myself that I could not follow a proper eating plan. I then spoke to one of my aunts who told me she had the lap band done and had lost 30 pounds. I talked to my husband about it, once again and this time he agreed. I have never looked back I'm so glad I did it.