Need Lap Band Success Stories

KCGFNP

I am about 3 months post op!! I love my band!! Onlly 22 pounds off. Its not as fast as gastric bypass, but there is nothing wrong with slow! You have to learn how to eat right and keep your portions small. I also feel that with slow weight loss you don't get as much loose skin! I love my band.. I never throw up, and infrequently get stuck. I learned early on to eat SLOW and SMALL!! I need friends on here! I live in the Alaskan Bush and would love to chat! Kristen

Health_Gal

Why would you only want to hear success stories?

If I was thinking about doing something like that, I would want to hear ALL the stories -- the good, the bad and the terrible!

katherinemm31

Hi everyone, and especially my new band friends! If you have the band and we haven't friended yet, perhaps you could send me an invite.

I'm three years out with my band. I am 5' 9". At my highest, I was 265 lbs. As of two days ago, on my scale, I was 195. This is a drag, frankly, because I was down to 178 at one point, then back to my usual, annoying plateau (set point?) of 187. I don't freak out at 187 because I've been stuck there before. But then a couple of things happened that brought me back into the 190's.

First, I began exercising more, so yes, there is some muscle mass accumulating. Since I get obsessed with numbers, unfortunately, and my legs actually look bigger (albeit less flabby) when I exercise, I'm not thrilled, nor can I trust that the gain is muscle.

The second thing that contributed to my demise was a trip to Mexico which I had SO been looking forward to but which was cut in more than half because between the band, the altitude and food, I got seriously sick--so much so, that I had the choice to go home or admit myself to the nearest hospital. The pain was unreal--I couldn't even get a sip of water down, I was so inflamed. When I came home, the doc had to remove all the fluid, which put my hunger, morale and motivation on hold. I slipped back into pre-band eating. When I went to the doc's office, it appeared I had gained 19 pounds in a month! This made me crazy, especially because the doc's scale is always about 7 lbs higher than mine (clothing, time I weigh in, etc.).

When I started MFP, I was around 197, my scale. I got down to 189. Now I am back to 195. Some of it might be water retention, so I am going to weigh myself post-period this weekend. But obviously, I can't blame it all on water retention.

Really, the Mexico incident was my only serious issue. Prior to that, I had hair loss the first few months post-surgery and later, I had four or five vomiting episodes because I ate something too fast. When I eat too much, I know it's that I am grazing, which is also called "eating around the band." I've had the most success when I eat healthy food, lots of vegetables, three meals a day plus a protein bar. If I do that, I can keep to about 1500 calories. With exercise, I can go up to 1800, according to MFP. Problem is, I'm gaining, and if exercise and go below 1800 calories with exercise, I'm starving. Doc says not to eat more than two cups of food per meal, but that's not enough sometimes, and yes, I do get some emotional eating during PMS and other times (not as bad as it used to be, and certainly not binging as bad as I used to).

Point is, there might be complications, and you still have to work. I'm demoralized right now because I thought going to Mexico where I could exercise a lot in a higher altitude and the natural food they cook would let me lose the rest of the weight I wanted to. Instead, I gained. I can totally see why people who have the band removed gain all their weight back.

I want to increase the days I work outside the home because I eat less, exercise more and feel better emotionally. Working on getting more work that makes me leave my desk.

DEEDLYNN

I had it...I LOVED it. I lost 20 lbs and they took it back.....so in essence I lost $17,000. I'm a fan of WLS tools, but there are things that everyone should know when getting band. If you want anymore details...I'm happy to share....just message me.

Either way....Good luck on your journey.

Dee