Hi All,

I am new to this site and I am looking for some advice and wondering if anyone out there can set me straight.

I am a 29 year old female who lives in London and decided over the summer to have the single incision LAP-BAND®® surgery as I did not want to obese anymore, be the largest member of my immediate family and the largest lady in my office (I am 5'3, size 22/24 and weighed until recently 18 stone). I contacted Healthier Weight and have booked to have surgery on 21 November in Manchester. I had strong objection from my family who felt I should just diet and exercise (my family is a mix of sizes) but I still booked the surgery and had a consultation with Dr Ashton in London. I have only told one friend who has also had the LAP-BAND®® surgery in Australia and she does not regret it and my partner has said he will stand by me whatever I decide.

So I was all set and went on a 3 week holiday in California with my partner with the idea to start the pre-op diet when I returned which means starting tomorrow, but I am now in complete doubt as to whether I should go ahead with the surgery.

I have been overweight my whole life and diets don't seem to work for me. However, I know that I don't look that large and on returning from the USA, some of the women there are a lot bigger and just seem to get on with it.

I don't know whether choosing the LAP-BAND® is just the easier option, have I given diet and exercise a proper chance. Will I be able to stick to the pre-op and post-op diet especially with the Xmas period coming up?

But on the other hand I know that doing this surgery is the best way to ensure that I have a healthier life. I am able to diet and exercise for a couple of months max and then fall off the wagon.

I want to be healthy and I want to be slim and not have any problems when I decide to start a family but is surgery the way to go?

If anyone could offer any advice or let me know whether they also struggled with the decision it would be much appreciated. :w00t:

You posted your thread back in November 2009, it is now March the following year - so did you goahead?

I was banded back in December 2007 - and I had objections from my siblings but I went ahead and I am so glad I did.

Let me disabuse you of a commonly held misconception - getting a lapband is by no means taking the easy way out - the easy way out is to stay obese. Having a lapband just makes it harder to eat too much. I can still eat biscuits and sweets and chocolates without restriction if I want to - the things that are restricted are the sensible foods - especially carbs and Proteins. This can be frustrating. I can't cele brate with food any more. I can't take out my frustrations with food any more. The whole way I deal with food and my life has changed.

Having said that, with dedication you can overcome restriction and overeat and some people even manage to gain weight with a band. My best advice is that given to me by my banding surgeon - he told me that if I couldn't change my lifestyle and diet before a band was fitted then I would never be able to change it afterwards either. I lost 5 stone (70 lbs) before he would band me - and I made sure that my changes weren't don in a diet mentality. I know that if I ever went back to the way I used to eat then I would go back to the way I used to look and feel too.

Diets do work - it would be impossible for them not to - the problem is that people think of a diet as a short term solution and they forget that if and when they go back to how they used to eat and live then the weight will soon return. It isn't easy but it aint rocket science either.

The band is a tool. It can be useful when you take an interest and use it wisely and correctly. Over restriction (too tight a fill) can cause weight gain - although my surgeon says that the majority of his patients are always pleading for more fills and more restriction. Apparently too tight a fill leads to the temptation to drink more calories because you can't eat at all without pbing and liquid calorie sources tend to be denser than you think (milk shakes and stuff, I suppose).

The band is a useful tool, but you have to know how to use it in order to get optimum function from it.

So, did you go for it.....?

Hi Ohm,

Thank you for the post and your kind words of advice.

Despite the opposition from those around me, I did go for the surgery and had it done at then end of Nov 2009. It truly was not easy and although I did very well initially, due to the lack of calories (200 per day), I did feel tired all the time.

But 4 months later, things are going very well if not a little slow. I have lost 10kg and I am down 2 dress sizes. My family have now accepted that I made the right choice but i have decided not to tell my friends, only two of my close friends know.

Your right the band is a tool and not the answer and I still find myself every day learning new things about what i can eat and how the band reacts. However, though difficult and sometimes frustrating that I can no longer enjoy the foods I once did. But I know that this is the only answer for me, so I will take each day as it comes.

I hope you’re doing well and stay in touch.