After 3 years of my doctor encouraging me to talk to a gastric surgeon, I have finally been looking into weight loss surgery procedures and have almost decided that the lap band is the way for me to go. I find the various gastric bypass surgeries way too invasive. So now, I am information gathering.

My cousin had what he called a "Realize" lap band procedure done a week ago and he's already raving about how glad he is that he had it done.

I just thought I'd check it out and I'm almost convinced. I really would like to feel better which would be more important to me than even looking better.

Can anyone tell me what it's like in 2 or 3 years when all the weight is off? I can't find that information anywhere.

Thanks!

I've had my band almost 4 years now.

Life now is pretty good, I feel better both physically and mentally not having a BMI of 35 anymore, in fact I feel downright attractive most days :-). I have plenty of confidence in my appearance which has translated into a lot more confidence to tackle other areas of life where I gave the impression of confidence but in fact felt out of my depth, work, job interviews, that sort of thing.

I feel better than I did at 20, because I'm way fitter than even when I was a healthy 20 year old! I took up running and I would never give up this level of super-fitness that I have achieved, I will be running when I'm 70!

Managing my weight by eating and exercise is a day to day thing, I still think about it every day, I still have to make good decisions and am not always successful at it and of course, I have the day to day reminders that I have a lapband - nearly ever meal will include a "discomfort" or two meaning one or two bites may go down too fast, not be chewed enough or be too big and you have to stop and let it just pass through a bit and every time you eat out with others you have the pressure to eat carefully so that no embarrassing incidents occur.

Every now and then I will vomit up something, in fact I've done it twice this week from taking a Vitamin pill with a swallow of coffee, I'm just tight this week for some reason and cant swallow the big pill. That's annoying, not painful, awful or scary and its not nauseous acidy vomiting like when you're sick, its simply regurgitation. It comes with unmistakeable stomach feelings which again, i wouldnt classify as pain, more a warning.

Bands are fickle, your retriction varies from day to day and especially for women over the month, so really you can never ever be completely confident that you know your band, your body and how it will react in any given situation. I say that not to scare you but to be honest, you dont get a lapband and then forget forever more that its there, with the only change that you eat less. You are aware of it every single time you eat, but its not a bad thing.

Every day, I try to eat well, and like normal thin people. some days I dont! I eat more on holidays, I can enjoy special occasions but most days I also run about 8kms.

that's my life in a nutshell, I would never regret or change the fact that I had this done, for me it was the absolute best decision for my health - and to be honest, my satisfication with my appearance - that i could ever have made.

but I strongly think you need to be the right candidate for a band, you MUST be prepared to work hard at it or the weight loss will be disappointing, good eating choices and exercise are key.

Thank you Jacqui for the great information!

Jacqui,

That was really helpful info. I'm only a month post surgery, and its nice, and comforting, to hear your experience.

Joan

After 3 years of my doctor encouraging me to talk to a gastric surgeon, I have finally been looking into weight loss surgery procedures and have almost decided that the lap band is the way for me to go. I find the various gastric bypass surgeries way too invasive. So now, I am information gathering.

My cousin had what he called a "Realize" lap band procedure done a week ago and he's already raving about how glad he is that he had it done.

I just thought I'd check it out and I'm almost convinced. I really would like to feel better which would be more important to me than even looking better.

Can anyone tell me what it's like in 2 or 3 years when all the weight is off? I can't find that information anywhere.

Thanks!

One really hard thing about WLS is that it's like looking at a pair of shoes and trying to decide if they will fit. You don't really know for sure until you try them on. Sadly, you can't do that with WLS. The best you can do is know all the procedures inside and out and fully understand why you want one procedure and specifically why you do not want another.

You need to fully understand *how* each procedure works and specifically what your role is. In all WLS types you have to do your part, you have to change your eating behaviors, watch food choices, be aware of the "fat mentality" as well as exercise. Exercise is the most important part of weight loss.

You need to look at risk and not just with the surgery but long term. Surgery isn't the only risk of WLS, complications long term are probably a bigger issue in the whole scheme of things. People look at the band and believe it is the safest overall. It is not, there are many complications with bands and many are revising to sleeves, bypass, and DS.

When I originally had my band (I have a sleeve now) I thought banding was the safest. No malabsorption, no extreme surgery, nothing like that. I was dead wrong, while I knew the band provided the lowest and slowest weight loss of all surgical procedures I knew I would work hard. What I was not prepared for was the complications. I have esophageal damage from the band and always will. I found the band far more difficult than I banked on. I'm not talking about food choices and exercise, I was a pro at that. I'm referring to the vomiting, restriction issues, foaming, sliming, esophageal spasms, embarrassing moments in public, having to keep containers of some sort with me to puke when I wasn't planning on it. ;o)

The big issue with a band is that everything affects restriction, everything! Time of day, time of month, food temp, weather, altitude, stress, emotions, hydration level, everything. I could either eat an entire steak with all the trimmings in one sitting or I couldn't swallow my own saliva. I'd be drinking Water and it would go down just fine and BAM! My stoma would obstruct and for no reason.

After 4 months on liquids I finally revised to a sleeve.

Banding is not easy and I'm not referring to the weight loss. Pain with eating, getting stuck, maintenance on the band for life, everything. All WLS types are hard, banding is the hardest to live with on a daily basis.

Please know ALL the surgery types, only go to a WLS that does ALL surgery types. These doctors are in business to make a living like the rest of us. Don't go to a band mill... someone who does gazillions of bands and only bands. Don't go to a bypass mill. Go to someone who does all procedure types so their information will be more balanced. If you go to someone who only does bands and bypass they aren't even going to mention sleeves since they do not do them. They are in business to earn a buck, nothing wrong with that. But they aren't going to encourage you to look at a procedure they do not do. If you do not completely and totally understand all surgery types you really do not know why you aren't choosing that particular surgery. Too many people get a band and then start learning about other surgery types. That isn't the best way to approach surgery. ;o)

Life after weight loss is fantastic! You get your life back.

Thanks, Jachut and Bubble for your information input. You've both given me things to think on. I'm going to keep on doing research for a while and talk to my doctor as well. Even though he's been encouring me to have WLS of some kind. He will reap no benefit whether I do it or not or even what kind of WLS I have.

He's retiring though so I need to get with him quickly.

Thanks again!