Will try to lose weight without surgery

[debi]

After reading post after post of people's problems with the band, especially Geezer Sue's (LBT forum) posts about the real story behind the band, I've decided to try to lose this weight, once again, on my own. An RNY or DS is definitely out of the question -- won't even consider them.

I'm not disgarding the lapband as an option -- I'm just shelving it for the time being. It just seems that there are so many daily problems and possible long-term complications, and I just don't see any info on folks who have really had this band long-term anywhere.

Perhaps I over researched. That's just my Type A personality. In any case, I need to make one last attempt to do this journey without surgery.

I'll continue to check in and will let everyone if I decide to go with the surgery.

Thanks.

Regards... Debi

[Barb]

After reading post after post of people's problems with the band, especially Geezer Sue's (LBT forum) posts about the real story behind the band, I've decided to try to lose this weight, once again, on my own. An RNY or DS is definitely out of the question -- won't even consider them.

I'm not disgarding the lapband as an option -- I'm just shelving it for the time being. It just seems that there are so many daily problems and possible long-term complications, and I just don't see any info on folks who have really had this band long-term anywhere.

Perhaps I over researched. That's just my Type A personality. In any case, I need to make one last attempt to do this journey without surgery.

I'll continue to check in and will let everyone if I decide to go with the surgery.

Thanks.

Regards... Debi

Good Luck in all you do. May I make a suggestion? Go to an actual support group meeting and talk with the people there. I have found that LBT has too many drama queens there..and what they post will really turn you off. I had to leave LBT for awhile because of it. Thank you Dawg for starting this site!!! Even my doc told me to stay away from the boards. The only thing I can figure with those people is that maybe they never had surgery before or just have issues other than their weight. I am being banded Wednesday and had it not been for the local support group I think I would have been in trouble. I was a nervous wreck, but am now unusually calm after going to the meeting this past thursday!
But whatever you chose, I wish you all the best!!

[Barb]

Debi,
I just went back and read what she wrote. That doesn't happen to all. She even claims to eat whatever she wants, so it would seem that she did that to herself. She also mentions she doesn't exercise. She mentions a doc in europe...but who and where? No real credibility there. Band slipping? that was an old surgery, they now do it so it can't slip. pars flaccida technique is what it is called, they wrap a part of your stomach around the band-it can't slip then. Yikes I can't even read anymore of what was posted "over there".

[Telly]

Debi,

Geezersue let it be known that she has abused her band. She has openly admitted to eating a whole bag of peanuts and a whole bag of candy. She has stated that she has no control and she wishes she could change. She is not a model bandster in my opinion. She is one of the ones that is taking the band to areas it shouldn't be in. Please pick and choose good forum posts that will help you, not disuade you.

There are people who would spend 10k only to try to make this banded life fail, to test it and drive it to the limits, even to the point of arbitrary slippage. I am not saying GeezerSue has done that, but if you read posts very closely..you will see banded people with dedicated lifestyle changes to include cutting out junk food as well as include exercise in their daily regimine.

[Kathy]

GeezerSue has always been very honest about her band journey, and I admire her for that. She's incedibly well-researched and realistic about banded life. I love her perspective. It's an important one to read. I do find that I don't relate to her issues with the band, and I'm finding a different outcome for myself. My band is working for me.

Debi, in my opinion, you are wise for shelving WLS to see if you can get your head around getting this weight off on your own. I hope you can! If, and when, you choose to band, you will be ready. You don't want to do it any sooner. Good luck, girl! You can do it! And if you can't, you have plenty of folks who can relate to your struggles right here! Banded life is wonderful, even with the things I have to "put up with". If this path is for you, you will walk down it in your own time.

In the mean time, stay logged on and participate in our Challenges, ride the motivational waves here on b2g! You don't HAVE to be banded for that! :D

[503-250]

There are definitely some non-banded weight loss success stories here so it's definitely a possibility.

I've read GeezerSue's posts as well, and when reading them, ask yourself if you did go through with this surgery, could you remember that it's only a tool, and not a miracle solution. Speak to some of the success stories here (there are some 100lb + losers here) and ask them what it was like. Out of all the stories I have heard, the only real difficulties have been people who did not follow the program. I don't want to insult anyone who has had slippage or erosion, and I don't claim to know everything, or everyone. I am just saying my personal experiences have been that people who eat too soon, eat too much, or refuse to work the basic program wind up with issues.

I would never be able to do the RNY, so I am in the same boat, all I can say is that after a TON of research (I'm a google researcher on the side of my normal job, and my wife is a medical coder) I found an extremely low rate of problems, an extremely high success rate and the option to remove it if it doesn't work or goes wrong. I view it the same way I view a new shirt, if I don't like it I can get rid of it.

I like mine, 51lbs later and still going. I wish you the best of luck in this difficult situation, but be sure to keep coming back here to let us know how you are doing.

[Natural-1]

Hi Debi, I am gald you came over here to even tell us of your decision. I consider myself a Lap Band success story that I don't mind telling. I started this journey knowing what was required of me and I had to ask myself a lot of questions, but I did decide it was for me. Like you, no other WLS was an option for me, I just couldn't do it because of all the complication and long term effects.

Am I a model bandester all the time, NO, but I am on point most of the time and I believe that makes a difference. I have enjoyed my band but I always let people know it's a love/hate relationship sometimes, not because of the band but ME and my way of wanting to do things. If you are not committed to changing your lifestyle, then the band may not be for you. It takes a lot of committment and I thought I was ready but I have had to re-prepare myself on more than 3/4 ocassions.

It's no joke, it really is a tool that needs to be worked by you and if you don't than it will not work. I have read a lot about people not being successful with the band, some was of no fault of their own but 98% of the time it's because of their own bad habits and wanting the band to do everything, and it will not!

What ever you decide, I wish you the best but please don't just look at the negative, there are many of us who have made it work and we are still working it.

[kelliebelly]

Hi
I was a model bandster for the first 12 months and lost 70 or so lbs by being so. I have been pretty naughty in the last 6 or so months and have fallen on and off the wagon countless times.
I have only lost 10 lbs or so since then because of that, without the band it would have been a 10 or more lb gain.
The band is only a tool and I remind myself of that daily. I know without the band I could never have lost this much weight and kept it off. I also know there is no permanately falling off the bandwagon. You can always jump right back on there.
I am trying to find my way back now, with food choices and kicking in the exercise. These things, I think are a must to be successful.
There will always be the people who push the band, test it, like me. There are so many issues to get through after being big for so long and having such hard habits to break.
You can only do what is right for you, but I know, no matter how many diets I tried before banding they just never worked or I would lose a little only to put double back on.
I wish you all the luck, but give or take everything thats happened.....I LOVE MY BAND!!!

[dawg]

If you have a good support struture it is possible to lose weight with or without a band.

If I didn't have my support structure I doubt I could have made the progress I have. We'll be happy to help you to make the journey no matter what you do Debi :)

[Richard Froshiesar]

good luck to you, but also just wanted to say talk to alot of people who have had the band, not as many issues as you might think. from us here in idaho to you have a grt day.

[debi]

You folks are so nice. Thank you for your support. I have an appointment scheduled with the surgeon's nutritionist and nurse practitioner on November 9. In the meantime, I'm going to make an all out effort to rein myself in and get in at least a half hour of walking everyday. If I find myself getting nowhere by the time of my appointment, at least I'll have given myself a little more time to come to a final decision about getting the band.

There are a lot of scary people on LBT. Barb you are right -- I probably should have stopped focusing on all the negative posts, but there are so many! It's not good to over research. In the beginning, your doing it to educate yourself, then it starts to backfire.

This forum is doing a great job. I will keep checking in here and will definitely let you know how I'm doing.

Thanks again for your support and encouragement!

Debi

[Momotrips]

I found that I needed to just steer clear of the "Complications" area at LBT completely, as I am a worry wart and a hypochondriac. Heh. I figured that the majority of the people on a support board were either researching banding, new to banding or having complications. Those would be the people that you'd hear most from. Successful bandsters (those at or very near goal) would be out enjoying their new slimmer bodies and not as likely to be sitting at a computer looking for support. I know this from being a mother of triplets - in the beginning, all the pregnant moms, new mothers and the ones that are having difficulty with having multiples are at the support group meetings desperately seeking advice and the mothers of toddlers and preschoolers are there giving advice. After the moms "get a handle" on things, the kids go off to school and they feel like they've been successful through the hard infant and toddler times, they drift away from the groups. So in reality, all the people you really hear from are pregnant or new moms, moms that are "hatin' life" and some semi-experienced moms. By and large, the moms that have made a "success" of it all have moved on as they don't need the support anymore and are a little weary of helping the newbies. They've found their friends elsewhere that will support them through school-age stuff, like after school activities and fund raisers and homework. It's kind of the same on these boards, although, I'll say that a lot of the folks here have been successful, but choose to stay around because everyone is so friendly.

I also didn't care for the people that hung around and complained about their band failures all over the threads - whatever the cause. I understand that they are frustrated and in pain, but perhaps there should be a separate board for them somewhere. Then there are those that had band failures that stayed around and you never hear whining. They are still wonderful supportive members and are using these communities to help them with their unbanded weight loss. Those are the folks that I admire, not the cranky ones that want to make everyone else cranky, too. The majority of banded people do not have major complications, especially those banded more recently. I'm sure that's the reason that other countries around the world rely soley on lap band for WLS and don't do the other surgeries.

Good luck in whatever you choose and make the right choice for you - don't let anyone elses experience good or bad make that decision for you.

[debi]

I also don’t understand why some folks (not all), who no longer have the band, stay on a forum to discourage others. It is discouraging and scary to read a post where every positive thing about the band is reduced to it worst possible outcome down the road. I do wish some really long-term folks would stay on as moderators to offset this for newcomers. I’d love to see people who are banded for 4 or 5 years refuting or elaborating on these negative posts with positive ones. The doom & gloom stuff is not good for people without personal experience.

Anyway, I appreciate the positive point of view from the folks on this forum. As I said, I’m just going to give this “on my own” one more try. My biggest problem is finding time to exercise. I leave the house at 7:30 (I have to allow myself an hour to get to work) and I’m usually not home until 6:30 or 7:00. At 55 years old and having more than 100 lbs. to lose, I have a lot less energy at the end of the day than I did before. There are rumors that the company I work for will be having layoffs in October or November. At this point in my life it wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen to me. I could use some time off to focus on me, with or without surgery. I think my husband would be thrilled. We have a condo in Florida that doesn’t get much use and he would love to spend more time down there, especially in the winter.

Did I mention that I’m feeling hungry? Real hunger, not the head stuff. Time for my apple.

Regards… Debi

[NotSoFunny]

Debi I respect your choice here, and applaud you in thinking heavily about this. It is a MAJOR change to your life, and a big surgery for your body. Research is very important, and knowing all about the things that can go wrong is EXTREMELY important.

First of all, keep in mind always that the majority of people who are on support boards are the ones who are early in their band journey, or having trouble. This is one of the reasons it is hard to find long time bandsters on support boards. I believe we have one or two here, but they are few and far between.

Secondly, I agree that it is difficult to be on a board with someone who has lost their band, and is very down on everyone because they are succeeding where they had previously failed (for whatever reason). Unfortunately there are not many sites out there for folks like this, and they feel more at home, in dealing with their grief, letting people know how upset they are about their loss and not wanting others to succeed. Not all people who have lost their band are like this, but there are many out there. Its hard. We can only recognize these people, and listen to their story, but realize that their accounts and stories are not the norm.

Thirdly, I changed my date a lot. Things kept coming up, I thought I was going to have an apron removal surgery before the band surgery, etc. Life was just in the way. I was able to lose a lot of weight before my surgery though, and it was helpful. But keep in mind that if you get too small, and find that it is too hard to get all the way to goal, you might butt heads with the insurance company due to a successful weight loss record, and a possible low BMI. Just look at the long term picture.

If you are able to lose the weight on your own without the band, you are doing a great job! I really hope that you have great success. We have a lot of non-banded people here using the site as support for their weight loss journey. Please stick around and participate. You are always welcome, no matter what stage you are in. And we would love to hear how you are doing!!

[debi]

Thank you, Funny! and congratulations on your NSV (crossing your legs).

I have about 150 lbs. to lose. My PCP encourages me to have the surgery, which makes me very fortunate. She actually has other patients with the band and she promises me that she'll be there for me if I have any problems. She knows I'm very squeamish.

This is a true story: my husband had surgery a few years ago. He had a basal cell carcinoma removed from the corner of his eye. It was so small and I was expecting it to be just a minor excision. I should have known better because they referred him to an opthalmic plastic surgeon. Anyway, when I went to see him in the recovery room I saw blood on the bandage and I just said to him, "Bill, I think I'm going to faint." He said, "Deb, please don't." And I was gone.

As far as the band goes, I think I've just been scared silly. My husband gets a little concerned too. If I can lose some weight on my own, either prior to surgery or without surgery, it will be better for me. I really needed to see this situation from a different perspective.

I enjoy reading about all of your successes and, yes, the problems too. It just helps more to see things in a balanced way. So I will keep tuning in and keep everyone updated.

Debi

[NotSoFunny]

good! I would hate to see you not coming around, and struggling. whether you are banded or not, we are all trying to lose the same weight, and we can help each other out. *hugs*

[Jachut]

Its a good way to go Debi, I decided the same thing for myself. I got banded in the end but I did shelve the idea for six months. Its something you have to be totally ready for, committed to and I think you have to have exhausted other possibilities.

Banded life is nothing like I imagined though, its like life was before only with a bit less food.