Confusing title I know but – to make this long story short - the fact that I self-paid all that money to GET the band, and it didn’t work, plus I knew had to pay all that money to get it REMOVED made me so disgusted at myself that I lost the weight…

The story begins in May of 2008. I was a borderline BMI person (BMI ~35) and was stagnant at about 35 -50 lbs over my target weight. Prior to having the surgery, I already had doubts about its effectiveness in my particular instance. I already felt I had been eating small portions and hadn't been losing any weight so I figured I must have been cheating more than I thought since I'm a male, 5'11", and weighed 255 lbs. I figured, with the band, I wouldn't be able to cheat and I'd lose all that weight and get back to my perfect size of 215-220 lbs. It didn't work out that way for me.

I initially lost a few pounds due to the surgery and being on a liquid diet but I promptly proceeded to go right back to 255 and slowly, over the next few months, crept up to almost 270.

I had my band filled as much as I could stand it and was periodically throwing up because I could literally feel when one of the openings in my stomach would get stopped up. Either because I wasn't chewing well enough or I was eating the wrong fibrous foods or I was just eating too fast - what ever the reason - I found myself in awkward positions where I would have to run off and "expectorate" (hurl) so that I could clear the opening to remove the pressure and feel better. I did this for a year.

Finally, in May of 2009 (one year with the band), I had had enough. By increasing my exercise, I had worked my weight back down from 270 to 253 and I figured I could lose the rest without the band and periodic stoppages (which was more of a nuisance than anything to me at this point) so I had the band zero-filled.

I wanted to have just the port removed (which is a much lower cost than full removal) and just leave the rest of the apparatus in place since it wasn't causing me any issues but my doctor talked me out of it. He didn’t recommend leaving the tubing inside for any length of time as it has the potential to work it’s way around and cause other types of issues such as punctures. I think that initially he was skeptical that I was losing weight despite – not because of – the band and he suggested that I go zero-filled for a few months and see how it went. Somehow his skepticism motivated me more!

Now that I could eat normally again, my only issue still with the band was the protruding port. I would always find myself rubbing on it and looking at that “bump” in a mirror (it was even visible to me with certain shirts). To me, it looked like my stomach had a bulbous growth on the left side but it wasn’t too noticeable when I was 255 lbs.

After I left my doctors, I decided I needed to really get with the program and I did what I call my 3-phased weight loss effort. 1. I increased my weight-lifting to improve muscle mass, 2. I bought a new expensive road bike and started riding long distances for cardio, and 3. I got an application for my iPhone that allowed me to track every single calorie I ate throughout the day to ensure I ended up with a calorie deficit and on track to lose 2-3 lbs every week. This combination of actions had quick results. I dropped 30 lbs and a whole lot of bellyfat over 5 months. Now my port was REALLY starting stick out and look like I had something wrong with my stomach. I was too self-conscious to go shirtless at the beach or when I sat at the pool on a recent cruise I took. Now I felt I had to get the whole thing removed.

I just had my band removed 7 days ago and so far, my stomach has TWO lumps on it that look like they’re bigger than the port lump was. I’m hoping that after all the swelling goes down my stomach will look normal again (except for the scarring). I’d have to say the whole experience hasn’t been worth it for me.

By the way, I should also caveat that my doctor did a good job and the band worked as designed but that it didn’t correct my problem. My problem wasn’t the “quantities” of food I was eating – it was “what” I was eating. I’ve made a major switch to eat a less beef, and less junk and eat a whole lot more salads and other veggies.

Mines was a unique situation and after reading through this forum, I think the band appears to be a very good thing for most people. BUT…for a few folks, I’d think long and hard about going through this ordeal. It worked for me indirectly but it didn’t have anything to do with the physical device. This whole ordeal helped me to get mentally fired up and finally lose the weight I was supposed to.

So banding worked for me (but not really).

Hi bigboned-I had my band removed about a year ago and I had a large 'mass' where the port was, it is completely gone now, I don't remember quite how long-but I'm thinking it was a couple months before it was gone-swelling and scar tissue build up or something-I just remember thinking-something must still be in there it felt so hard-just wanted to share that mine did eventually go away, hopefully yours is gone by now. Good luck!

Hi bigboned-I had my band removed about a year ago and I had a large 'mass' where the port was, it is completely gone now, I don't remember quite how long-but I'm thinking it was a couple months before it was gone-swelling and scar tissue build up or something-I just remember thinking-something must still be in there it felt so hard-just wanted to share that mine did eventually go away, hopefully yours is gone by now. Good luck!

Thanks for the update jclue...

My incisions and lumps aren't completely gone but I am seeing a lot of progress so feedback like yours helps me feel that my results may be typical for this type of surgery and that it's just going to take time.

I had my removal on 10/31/09 and 1-month later the lumps are less visible to the point where I can wear regular clothes again - it no longer looks like I'm hiding a golf-ball under my shirt.