Hi everyone! I'm new to this site, but I am considering having lap-band surgery. I have been doing my own research for about 2 months now, but now that I made the decision that I want it, I'm not sure what to do. Can anyone please tell me what is the first step to get started? And also tell me how long it takes from your first step to actually having the surgery? I appreciate any responses! Thank you! =)

Welcome to LBT. The first step is generally finding out who preforms the surgery in your area and then attending their seminars. I would recommend checking out more than one surgeon, if you have options. If you have weight loss surgery covered on your health insurance, you're going to have to get the ball rolling in that area. My health insurance doesn't cover it, so I just had to make an appointment with my surgeon of choice, book my surgery, and go through his office's required medical testing and classes. I went to the seminars in June, saw the doctor probably late June to early July, and although I could have had surgery in late August, it didn't work in my schedule, so I went in the first week of September. As you might imagine, the time frame greatly varies from doctor to doctor. If you have WLS on your health insurance, some require a six month diet, but not all have that requirement. Some surgeons also require a supervised diet for three to six months, but mine didn't. I did have to do a two-week "liver shrinking" pre-op diet.