I'm having my lap band done on Aug 30th and I'm so scared that like everything else I've tried in my life this too will fail. Did you all feel like that?

Depends on how you measure success. My NSVs alone have made the band worth it.

I am losing slowly but the best thing has been coming home from vacation without a weight gain...now I know I'm on the right track.

When I have those rare times that weight comes off quickly, I get all excited. But when it is coming off slowly, I also see results (in inches, energy, etc). I am also being forced to develop new good habits - chewing my food instead of inhaling it, small bites, etc.

Yes, its been worth it and I know when I finally hit goal I will be doing a big hapy dance.

The thing that I have noticed is that I am not losing as fast as I wanted to but over time I am not gaining weight either. If I don't gain and lose a few pounds here and there in a few months everything will even out. I was gaining about 4 pounds a month over the last few years. I would lose and then gain it back. The band seems to have balanced that out.

I had an "I love my band" moment on Sunday. We ate Japanese for lunch after church. The guy cooking the food in front of us kept piling it on. I ended up taking home an entire plate full of food that, before, I would have eaten right then and there. It was dinner. I was eating slowly, chewing well, left full and happy, and still had all that left over. Wow. Yep, it's working. Some days it's a real head-game but the band usually wins.

Don't be scared...here is what the public does not tell you. The only true solution to weight loss for most people who have been predisposed to obisity is surgery. So we feel like we can succeed at anything. We are failures at all other diets... we don't have the energy or the will power. But it is not just us. It is our body physically demanding more... it is our minds playing tricks on us and our friends and family sabotaging us... because they just don't or won't understand.... This is not a magic solution, however it is a tool to help with all the things I mentioned above. So don't be scared, you are brave and you are worth it!

I have my surgery on the 30th too....

Dont worry, just think the positive long term picture of a new healthy and thinner you!!!!!!!

It's totally normal to be worried about the unknown. I was the biggest baby of them all - I drove everyone I know crazy about the ups and downs and what if's (especially the WONDERFUL people here on this board). It finally boiled down to - "If you always do what you've always done - you'll always get what you've always got." So, if other things havn't worked for you - you need to try something new. Good Luck.

Thanks everybody for your wonderful support. I can tell that I'll be coming back to this board often.

I'm not banded yet, but the fears and feelings that you are having are the same ones that I am having right now. I went back and forth with not knowing if I should get the band or have the RNY for the longest time, because I knew that I was guaranteed to lose weight with RNY, but I just was not so sure about the band. I still have my doubts, because I have just never been able to successfully lose and keep off weight. However, since joining this site, I have been encouraged a GREAT deal by everyone here. They have encouraged me to go with the band. My thoughts toward the band have been so much more positive, and I am really hoping that I have made the right choice and that the band will work for me. So, you are not alone. Like myself, I am sure that you will find all kinds of support and encouragement right here that will aid in your success. We have to believe that we CAN do it! I wish you all the best with your surgery.

The RNY is just too scary for me! I feel that "Cut & Paste" is strictly for the computer - not my body!

The safety factor on the band is very reassuring for me.

Here's good luck to ALL of us!

:]

Hello!

Yup!!! And look at me now, 154 pounds lighter and very happy in my size 12-14's...... Down from size 28!!!

Babs in TX

334/180/170

-154

Banded 6/23/03

The band is the best thing that ever happens to me. I can no longer use food as solutions for everything and I have no other way but to really introspect myself and hopefully this will be for the better. I am forced to re-learn good eating habits. I don't have to worry about calories - as I can't eat a lot with the restrictions (although I still have to concentrate on the changes I need to make when I eat). Although there will be ups and downs even with the band on, but overall it's for the better. With the band on, I can finally see the end of the so-called tunnel - there is hope to get to my goals of living healthy physically and emotionally and not only wishful thinking with other diets.

I thank God for my band everyday. I cannot even begin to describe the thousands of ways my life has improved and how much better I feel.

It has worked for me and I am a notoriously slow learner, stubborn and rebellious. But the band won and I have surrendered to it.

So true! Even if I never lost another pound, it will still be worth it!

Depends on how you measure success. My NSVs alone have made the band worth it.

Yes I feel the same way but I'm REALLY trying to think positive.

HUGS!!