Lap band Inquiry

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amarie36
amarie36 Posts: 65 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
For those who have information, from experience, regarding the lapband I am interested in your story. I am considering having it done and have an appointment with my doctor in two weeks to discuss it. I have been struggling with my weight for 8 years. I have tried diet and exercise, weight loss pills, b-12, weight watchers, counting calories ect. It has been a rollercoaster ride with my weight of losing and then gaining it back and some. I am currently at my heaviest...I dont even know exactly how much I weigh anymore. Once the scale said 220lbs a few months ago I fell into a depression and havent been back on the scale since. I stand at 5'1, 220lbs or so, and top heavy (38G bra). I'm experiencing shortness of breath, its difficult/painful to exercise, standing for long periods of time kills my back, riding in the backseat of a car kills my back, I can barely bend to put on socks ect. I'm so desperate to lose weight I will try almost anything. I'm not sure if I will qualify for the Lapband (i dont have any other health issues thankfully), but I sure hope so.

Replies

  • wibutterflymagic
    wibutterflymagic Posts: 788 Member
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    I have a friend you recently had gastric bypass because of her diabetes. It is a long process and a MAJOR lifestyle change. It's not something where you just have the surgery and then immediately you just eat smaller portions. It is way more complicated then that.

    When my friend was in the hospital, post surgery, one thing that she said to all her loved ones was
    "DO WHAT EVER YOU HAVE TO DO TO LOOSE THE WEIGHT TO AVOID THIS SURGERY!!!"

    I have only changed my eating habits in the last 2wks and I can honestly say it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be because I am totally committed and am not expecting immediate results.

    Lap band or gastric bypass is your absolute LAST resort. If you commit yourself to making changes to your diet and begin some activity I think you will see results and be much happier then taking the so-called easy way with surgery.

    So, my 2 cents worth after seeing what my friend had to go through and how her life is drastically different is DO NOT DO IT!!!! Friend me if you'd like.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    Instead of opting for surgery and a life of deprivation why not deal with your food issues and get on a road to health? Lapband is not the easy way to lose weight, it's probably the hardest and unless you learn to deal with why you over eat you'll end up putting all the weight back on again anyway. I know people who've had it done 3 times and are still failing because they won't do the work they need to. If you can live on 5 spoons of yogurt after surgery you can do it without surgery.
  • JennaM222
    JennaM222 Posts: 1,996 Member
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    Is your photo a current photo? If so, I dont think you need the surgery.

    Like others said, maybe therapy to figure out WHY you keep putting the weight back on, then start a new healthy lifestyle. :)

    good luck!
  • DEEDLYNN
    DEEDLYNN Posts: 235 Member
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    I had the LAPBAND....I had to pay for it myself...$17,000. 3 months later and the 3rd surgery in a year, it was removed because it failed me. for $17,000 I lost 25 lbs.

    What I learned.....

    1) WLS is a tool but not a SOLUTION....(PLEASE REALLY THINK ABOUT THIS!)

    2) Even with WLS you have to do the work...you have to learn to readjust your eating......for me....my afterthought is, if I can't learn to curb my eating without the LAPBAND....is the band going to make a difference...probably not, because you can eat around it, by eating soft foods. It's so much easier to log food, eat healthy, eat good portions and excercise.

    3) This will always be a MENTAL struggle for me, and the LAPBAND couldn't restrict my head/thoughts.

    I can only tell you it is a TOOL, but in my opinion, WLS is an abused tool. Many don't realize the HARD work that still comes and complications that you can't imagine....(Your head is begging you to eat....your stomach can't hold no more without upchucking).

    Many regain the weight. They come to depend on the tool, rather than using the tool to achieve results from hard work and effort.

    Good luck on your decision. I'm guessing you can see which side of the fence that I fall on as far as advice.
  • berrythin79
    berrythin79 Posts: 28 Member
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    Hi, I would encourage you to look into it more and see if your comfortable with it. I had gastric bypass in August 2011 and I'm still struggling to loose weight. I'm 5'1 and started out at around 290. So I do understand. WLS is not a quick fix for all. Although I didn't experience many side effects with the surgery. I had friends who had both lap band and gastric and stayed in and out the hospital. I thank God that I didn't have all those issues. I still have to take pills to control my eating because my body basically dumps food faster than most people which is the main reason I struggle with weight loss even with surgery.

    I lost a lot of weight using Micheal Thurman's six week body makeover before I had to take steroids daily. All in all its your decision but with drive, encouragment and self-determination you can do it. I found what worked for me was accepting where I was with my weight and then making short-terms goals to get it off. I thought I'd be 150 pounds in no time when I had the surgery and when my weight loss was slow I became depressed and had me thinking I'd made the wrong decision. I've had to re-accept my weight for what it is even with WLS.

    Good luck and feel free to add me as a friend.
  • amarie36
    amarie36 Posts: 65 Member
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    This photo is not current. I wish it was. :-(
  • cebreisch
    cebreisch Posts: 1,340 Member
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    I started off my journey in April/May, 2011, believing that lap-band surgery was the only way to go, having been to Weight Watchers, counted calories, did the diet shake thing, etc. etc.

    They told me I'd have to lose 90 pounds before they'd do it - they like people to get to 50 BMI before doing surgery. They told me about logging on MFP, and I had monthly appointments with a nutritionist, and also went to see a therapist that June. I did go ahead and join Weight Watchers again online. The nutritionist wanted me to stick to 1500 calories, and that was proving to be really hard. With WW, I got to eat more food. SO, I kept logging on MFP, and converted points to WW because with MFP, I could see the quality of food I was eating. Logging on WW doesn't necessarily help you do that.

    Since then, I've lost 106 pounds, and have put off having surgery. This means it CAN BE DONE without surgery, it's all about working with the right people.

    More about my story:
    http://baysweightloss.blogspot.com/2012/03/losing-weight.html
    http://baysweightloss.blogspot.com/2012/05/things-that-have-helped-along-way.html
    http://baysweightloss.blogspot.com/2012/05/dealing-with-demons.html
    http://baysweightloss.blogspot.com/2012/06/know-what-youre-aiming-for.html
  • wildechild74
    wildechild74 Posts: 64 Member
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    as with most other responses, i am going to say 'last resort'. any WLS can fail, give you lifelong complications, etc. and studies show that a large % of people who undergo WLS eventually get another addictive habit (alcohol being #1). it's true, a person swaps one addiction (food) for another (ETOH, pills, illegal drugs, etc). seen it happen first hand. good luck with everything.
  • blessedmomof1
    blessedmomof1 Posts: 5
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    I had lap band surgery about 2 1/2 years ago and then had it removed last year due to complications. I wasn't able to swallow certain foods and at times water would get stuck in my esophagus and not move up or down. The surgery itself was easy, not much pain involved. The emotional side of the surgery is horrible. I had to do a 6 month medically supervised diet prior to my surgery before insurance would approve the surgery. I lost 40 pounds in 5 months on this diet and did absolutely no exercise. After the band I only lost 23 pounds in 14 months. I started at 300 pounds before the medically supervised diet and lost down to 260. After the band I got down to 237 and that's it. Like I said if you are an emotional eater, then this is not the solution for you. You can sabotage the whole surgery if you aren't ready emotionally or mentally. I don't mean to sound so negative, but this was my experience. Best wishes however you decide.
  • needles85365
    needles85365 Posts: 491 Member
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    I was all set to have the vertical sleeve done last year. The requirement involved 6 months of 3x/wk exercising, monthly meetings with a nutritionist, personal trainer, and support group. I attended it all faithfully, surgery date set when I decided that I have been successful losing the weight on my own. It was going to TOTALLY change how I eat. I met several people who had the surgery and were joining again to have more surgery done, or who had ongoing complications. I came to realize that if I can't do this by watching what I eat then I'm not going to be successful if I have the surgery. The things your need with your surgery is reducing portion sizes, exercising and support. I was able to do all those things without surgery and I don't have to worry about any complications-infection, protein and vitamin deficiency, dumping syndrome, band slipping, pain, 'puking your toenails' to name a few. Try it yourself, take 6 months and do the changes that you have to do after surgery. You can be successful at weight loss but you have to work at it everyday, every minute. Surgery will not be a cure all to instant weight loss.
  • Flutterby6
    Flutterby6 Posts: 13 Member
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    I have had lap band surgery... I had 218 pounds that I needed to lose to get down to my goal of 175 (which still is kind of high for someone 5'2". It's almost been a year since I had the surgery and I've only lost 30 pounds since I did. I lost some weight by seeing a nutritionist and the diet you have to be on for 2 weeks before the surgery to shrink your liver. About a month ago II had my band tightened because I wasn't losing anything, I joined MFP and was determined that I could do this without getting my band tighter, I am strong and I didn't need any help, I would just do what the people here did. By the end of the day I would be starving and no matter how hard I excercised I couldn't lose weight. I hit a plateau for about 5 months where I would stay with in the same weight (plus or minus 2 pounds), that was really frustrating! I stayed within my calorie limit set for me and tried many things. Since I've had it adjusted I've lost 4 pounds in about 2 weeks, which I'm happy with. It's a surgery that has a much quicker recovery time, but the weight loss is a LOT slower. You still have to watch what you eat and eat very slowly; I can't have any solid food until about 10:00 or 11:00 in the afternoon and I wake up at 4:00 am. It still takes a lot of hard work and sweat and it isn't easy. It's still all a mind game and you have to make big changes. Check out https://www.lapband.com it has a lot of information on there. It can be done without surgery, and it is expensive if your insurance doesn't cover it. Good luck with your decision.:flowerforyou:
  • Flutterby6
    Flutterby6 Posts: 13 Member
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    Like I said if you are an emotional eater, then this is not the solution for you. You can sabotage the whole surgery if you aren't ready emotionally or mentally. I don't mean to sound so negative, but this was my experience. Best wishes however you decide.

    I agree with this, it is still something I'm trying to overcome. At least now I realize when I am eating becuase I'm upset and try to stop it, but I attribute that to this site
  • cebreisch
    cebreisch Posts: 1,340 Member
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    I had lap band surgery about 2 1/2 years ago and then had it removed last year due to complications. I wasn't able to swallow certain foods and at times water would get stuck in my esophagus and not move up or down. The surgery itself was easy, not much pain involved. The emotional side of the surgery is horrible. I had to do a 6 month medically supervised diet prior to my surgery before insurance would approve the surgery. I lost 40 pounds in 5 months on this diet and did absolutely no exercise. After the band I only lost 23 pounds in 14 months. I started at 300 pounds before the medically supervised diet and lost down to 260. After the band I got down to 237 and that's it. Like I said if you are an emotional eater, then this is not the solution for you. You can sabotage the whole surgery if you aren't ready emotionally or mentally. I don't mean to sound so negative, but this was my experience. Best wishes however you decide.

    What she said!! ^^^
  • loreren
    loreren Posts: 1
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    I had lap band surgery 2 months ago. I prepared for it for about 10 months. I have lost 33 lbs since the surgery. However, the lap band is by NO means a fast or easy fix.

    I think that the lap band is a great tool if you are mentally ready for it and can commit to a new lifestyle. The lap band only 1) makes you feel full after small portions, and 2) you stay fuller for longer. Here is what the lap band doesn't do:

    1. It doesn't stop you from eating multiple times during the day. For example, you could eat a meal (which is about 2 ounces meat & a couple of tablespoons of veggies and/or potato) at noon. Then, you could eat the same mini-meal at 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 (even though you won't be hungry.) So essentially your calorie & fat intake could be just as high, or higher, than before surgery. You really have to have a ton of self-control and only eat when you are actually hungry.

    2. It also may not really change what types of foods you can eat. So if you eat high calorie/fat foods, if you drink high-caloric liquids or alcohol, or if you snack a lot, you won't lose weight.

    3. It doesn't make you exercise. You have to motivate yourself to exercise regularly.

    4. Lap band patients lose about 1/3 less weight on average than those who have had other gastric surgeries (according to the lap band stats) - evidence that it is not a quick & easy fix.

    Bottom line, if you have not fully committed to a totally new lifestyle, the lap band probably will not help you. There are tons of stories online where people have not been successful with it. My best suggestion for you is that if you are really serious about lap band, then take at least 6 months to institute serious lifestyle changes. You may find that you don't need it after all. However, you may be like me - it has been a very useful tool & has helped me tremendously thus far.

    Let me know if I can answer any questions for you. Best of luck!
  • axialmeow
    axialmeow Posts: 382 Member
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    Do you log calories here? I have pcos and that can make weight loss tough. But logging cals here has helped. I guess define the "diet and exercise" you tried. Maybe we can make suggestions.
  • sleepygirl38
    sleepygirl38 Posts: 114 Member
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    DONT DO IT!

    My mom did it and she still refuses to admit it was a waste of money. Originally she lost 70pounds. Great right? Wrong. She followed it at first. then she got sick with pneumonia and it got displaced. She had to pay to get it fixed. Twice! She paid 17,000 originally plus the other 2 operations. It has been 6 years later and she is back at her max weight. So not worth it.

    Oh and being her daughter I got to watch it make her throw up every freaking day because even if she ate one extra bite it made her sick. Its not worth the cost. Just start counting calories
  • KourtneyP83
    KourtneyP83 Posts: 319
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    I know someone who had it done and she said if she eats too much it makes her throw up...I don't want anything that is going to make me throw up like that. I'm too scared of those surgeries!

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