Hello! I wanted to start up a ongoing support thread for all of us who are actively seeking the extra help from either regular Weight Watchers or most especially Weight Watchers Online.

I do not have the money to fork over for extra fees to attend the WW meetings etc. I also am not sure how many banded folks there are on their message board. I thought this would be a good place to hang out, discuss how well or not well we are staying within our points system, our extra activities and whatnot.

We can share ideas or new recipes, or just anything related to Weight Watchers... and even keep each other accountable.

Help me, I need support!!

I'm so glad I found this group. I've been looking for lap banders that are doing WW. May I join you?

Lisa

This is great, I just rejoined WW two weeks ago. I was banded on Sept. 16, so I am making them both work for me. I am glad to be apart of this group.

Hi All, I was banded 6 days ago, so I am still feeling full just on my liquid diet. I guess the swelling takes a while to go down. I am an old WW member also. My question for those of you currently banded and going to WW is: did you tell the leader and members that you have had bariatric surgery? If you did, what was the response? WW has always touted that you can kind of have it all, within their points limits. But those of us who are banded obviously realized we needed more help than WW alone. So, I would love to hear from some folks who are doing both and what is the support for you at meetings like? I always loved the WW philosophy, I just needed more help with my food addiction. Thanks, Arlene from Boston

I really want this to be a revitalized topic that we post to daily. Anybody else interested?

Hi All, I was banded 6 days ago, so I am still feeling full just on my liquid diet. I guess the swelling takes a while to go down. I am an old WW member also. My question for those of you currently banded and going to WW is: did you tell the leader and members that you have had bariatric surgery? If you did, what was the response? WW has always touted that you can kind of have it all, within their points limits. But those of us who are banded obviously realized we needed more help than WW alone. So, I would love to hear from some folks who are doing both and what is the support for you at meetings like? I always loved the WW philosophy, I just needed more help with my food addiction. Thanks, Arlene from Boston

I haven't told my leader or anyone at the WW meetings. While it's possible they'd be supportive, my gut feeling is that they would not be, that they'd just think I was cheating. Or something like that.

I only told the nutritionist at my surgeon's office, and she advised on modifications that can be made to the plan. There are WW/lapband support groups on the WW website, but I haven't found them to be very active.

Thanks Onyah. I was very curious, but agree with you. They likely take a "purist" attitude with their program.

I'm trying to figure out the points plus system in combination with the band. I'm not too successful so far.

anyone out there having success and figured out how to use it with the band?

I eagerly await ANY advice on this!

thanks,

e

I would guess that you take your points and use the bulk for protein , the rest for veggies and fruit.

I am not yet banded, but I am finally in the works for it. I have had my consult and egd, and have my phsche and nutricion appts within the next month. Then on the the rest. I figure my surgery for mid to late January. I will try to do Weight Watchers as good as I can once I'm on regular foods. I have done WW so long, it's what I know, and I know the support is there when I show up. I do NOT plan to tell anyone about the band. I don't there to be any misconceptions about it being "the easy way", because from all the reading I've done and all the people that I know who have had it, I KNOW that is not true. We still have to make the right food choices for ourselves. Like another poster said, the band is a help with "bingeing" and eating too much of a portion. That's what I needed the most help with.

I agree that it would be great to get this going more, for support.

I am 4 1/2 weeks post band. I rejoined my WW group 1 1/2 weeks ago. My nutritionist from my bariatric center thought it was a good idea. She just advised to eat protein , fruits and veggies. She advised me to stay away from snackie type stuff, though i do enjoy the weightvwatchers giant fudge bars! My WW leader was very supportive. She said she has had other members who have had WLS. Most days I am not able to eat all the 29 points. It's hard to do when fruits and veggies are now zero points. But it is keeping me on track. I lost two lbs at my weigh in last Wednesday. I've lost 23 total since pre op liquid started on 9/28. I was banded 10/12. I don't plan to tell the other members though. But I was happy my leader could be supportive. It's amazing to me that I can't eat all my points! And I have no fills yet. I would love to hear from others.

Arlene from north shore of Boston.

I too just rejoined WW this past week. After about 15 months post-band, I keep gaining and losing the same few lbs, I realized I needed to do something else. I need that accountability more often.

I have been eating all my points and some of my xtra's each day. The scale has finally started to go down again. I think the biggest help for me is tracking. I do it via etools which is really helping me stay on track.

I haven't told anyone at WW about the band, and I don't really plan to. I feel I'm like others there who have 30ish lbs to lose.

GL to everyone!

So I have been back at WW for 3 weeks and I am glad to be back. I also track with etools and it is so easy. The accountability is so key for me. I even tracked my turkey feast yesterday and was ok with using some of my weekly allowance points. It got me right back on track today. I don't have much restriction yet because I haven't had a fill. I go on 12/1. So I feel like WW has been the tool that has helped me to stay a "loser". Lol. I am not in bandster hell because I am in a good mind set, but I look forward to getting some restriction. How are other bandsters doing?

Hi my question is. Is it really worth it to joined Ww and if so how much weight have u lost.and how long u been doing it.

Hi my question is. Is it really worth it to joined Ww and if so how much weight have u lost.and how long u been doing it.

I personally wouldn't have joined right after being banded. I lost weight very easily all through the process until a few months ago. So for me, a year after being banded, it is now helping me make better choices. I don't know so much if it would help everyone, but for me it's really helping to make me track my food as well as be accountable more frequently to someone who is checking my weight. It's also nice getting tips from other people on healthier food options. With the WW now being geared more towards protein type foods, I feel this is a good fit.

I just started a few wks ago. I lost 4 lbs the first week, gained 2 over thanksgiving, and now lost 2 lbs this week.

I joined WW a week ago. I'm a little over a year out and have been plateaued about 20 lbs from my personal goal for almost 3 months. I need a little fill, but have to wait until after the holidays to get into my doc's schedule. After I gained after Thanksgiving (my first weight gain since August 2010), I knew I couldn't wait until January to get back on track.

I don't know about you all, but now that I'm wearing medium clothes, the mental motivation to keep pushing had disappeared. I need the structure to get the last pounds off. So since I've always found WW to be effective for me for about 20 lbs and that's how much I have left to lose, I figured it was worth it.

First week and I've lost my Thanksgiving gain, so that alone was worth the money for me. It's the tracking that's imperative. I was really starting to eat a good amount of volume again, so I have to pay better attention.