I don't know what I want to do!? I really thought I made the decision to do this, (made seminar date...Jan 19, 2010). Am unsure and scared about the surgery and complications...I know they are about as much as say my knee surgery...which was laproscopic too...but when you sit and read all the complications its so intimidating. Has anyone else has 2nd thoughts? Or completely changed their minds? I want to change, and have done pills, diets, exercise etc and all have ended in weight gain or loss and gain back. :ohmy: I want help in making a decision, hubby is concerned about restrictions and basically leading a normal life, because I said you have no avoid this n that and he is concerned about the restricted living, ideas, thoughts, comments??! Help! I don't want to lose hope, am thinking about trying to do the preop liquid diet and then go on a 1000 cal diet alone before all this and see what happens???

I lead a very normal life with my band. There are a few foods that I can't eat such as bread and eggs but I don't miss them. food no longer plays such an important roll in my life as it once did.

I still go out to eat with my husband to nice restaurants, I eat meals with the family, I just eat much, much less than I did before the band.

If anything, the quality of my life as improved drastically. I am much more active which my husband is thrilled about. Our vacations are centered around activity instead of food as well as our entertainment.

I can now buy cute clothes instead of buying something just because it fits. I feel great and I look better with each passing day. Our sex life has also improved, we can play around with different positions I couldn't do before.

As far as I am concerned, getting the band was the best decision of my life. My only regret is not doing it sooner.

I've had my band for over a year, and I've never had any of the restrictive eating problems that some people report. Basically, I stay away from celery because of the stringy texture. I eat filet mignon (3 oz, so I always have leftovers for home), pizza (one slice, and I'm full), homemade yeast rolls (1/2 of small), etc. I've had the infamous sliming issues less than a handful of times. I can name the times, and the fault was mine...eating too fast a few times, and eating too much once (it was tough chicken from a Chinese restaurant that I no longer frequent :redface:). I don't have bags stashed around in case of sliming, because it just doesn't happen to me.

Like happy, I eat out with my husband and friends without any worries. Nobody would ever know I have a band based on watching me eat. I order regular meals off the menu and know that I'll either share some of my meal with my husband or have some great leftovers the next day..sometimes two. :ohmy:

I lost over 2/3 of my excess weight in my first year, and I will say the last twenty pounds are coming off slowly, but although this past week I didn't lose any weight, I put on a belt yesterday that I haven't worn since last week, and I had to do the happy dance when I realized that I had gone down a belt hole. :confused::thumbup:

I love my renewed active lifestyle. I love eating small healthy meals and not getting hungry again for several hours. I love that I can buy clothes without sifting through a pile of 18s to find something that "fits". I'm so happy that I was able to have this surgery before the co-morbidities started piling up. High blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease run in my family, and I'm thankful every day that I missed those bullets, but I never forget I was on the barreling down the road toward those problems.

Edited November 25, 200916 yr by kiz

Thank you both for your replies...def made me think twice and smile as many of your comments I could easily say myself....such as finding clothes that just "fit". So want to get rid of that stigma!! Def looking for more positive stories and comments, thanks all your awesome

For the last week prior to surgery I was waffling about going through with it. Lots of 'reasons' popped into my head...risk of surgery, band failure. At some point I realized they were not reasons. They were excuses. Excuses to keep me from getting the surgery and thus being able to continue to eat the way I had in the past. You know...to excess.

I'm 3 weeks past surgery and eating normally for one meal each day (I do Protein shakes the rest of the day), although eating much less because the band itself provides some restriction even with no fill which slows down how fast I eat so my stomach and brain say 'full' at the same time.

.

My surgery date is December 7 and this helped me also! thanks so much for the positive feedback. I've been waffling back and forth for a while - but still want to go for it. Good luck ocean, no matter what you decide.

i was recently banded. BUT -- 3 years ago i went to a seminar and when i walked in i knew i would have the surgery. when i walked out i had talked myself out of it.

my only regret is that i did not have the surgery 3 years ago and how much my general health has suffered for it.

there is no stigma to the surgery if you don't assign a stigma to it.

I am in day 3 of the pre op liquid diet, and started convincing myself no to do it...today. My surgery is on 12/8. I am going through with it...my husband is super supportive and keeps telling me why I want to do this. I'm starting to believe its all amind game that I keep playing with myself. All supoortive words would be great!!

Thank you so much elfiepoo, def is probably exactly what Im doing is making excuses not reasons....am going thru with seminar appt for sure now...

Many of the comments posted here make it clear why I'm doing this. Thank you.