My first post, thinking of banding, lots of questions

[salsa]

Hi all,

This is my first post and it took a while before I was able to maneuver around this board, finally made it. Okay, I am at the surfing the internet phase and was hoping some of you might give me some friendly advice. I am not chronically overweight, I weigh 180 at 5'2" but like many have not been able to loose it for many years and I feel it in my knees. What I wish to know is this: do you honestly feel it is worth the permanent life style change with food and gas pains etc. for me to take off 50 pounds? How many follow up fills are involved and do you ever reach a point when no follow up is required?

Looking forward to your response, thank you.

[PAMMIE]

Hi all,

This is my first post and it took a while before I was able to maneuver around this board, finally made it. Okay, I am at the surfing the internet phase and was hoping some of you might give me some friendly advice. I am not chronically overweight, I weigh 180 at 5'2" but like many have not been able to loose it for many years and I feel it in my knees. What I wish to know is this: do you honestly feel it is worth the permanent life style change with food and gas pains etc. for me to take off 50 pounds? How many follow up fills are involved and do you ever reach a point when no follow up is required?

Looking forward to your response, thank you.

WELCOME!!!

I'M 5'3" AT MY HIGHEST WEIGHT I WAS 192. ON SURGERY DAY I WAS 184. I'M NOW JUST HANGING OUT AT 157 BUT I HAVEN'T WORKED AT ANY OF THIS SO FAR. I FEEL I'M AT A NICE COMFORTABLE FILL LEVEL, NOT TO TIGHT AS I DO WANT TO EAT LOL

HAS IT BEEN WORTH IT? OH HELL YA!!!

I'VE NEVER BEEN A DIETER, THERE WAS NO WAY THE WEIGHT WAS COMING OFF AND EVERY YEAR I'D JUST GAIN A FEW MORE POUNDS. I'VE QUIT SMOKING, OK ONE NOW AND AGAIN LOL AND LOST A FEW POUNDS IN THE MEAN TIME AND I FEEL GREAT!!!

SOME WOULD SAY, GEEZ PAM, THAT'S ALOT OF MONEY FOR 27 POUNDS AND I SAY YEP, AND I'D DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN TOO AS IT FEELS GOOD GETTING 3 BOWLING BALLS WORTH OF WEIGHT OFF...... FOR GOOD!!!

GOOD LUCK IN YOUR JOURNEY

[salsa]

WELCOME!!!

I'M 5'3" AT MY HIGHEST WEIGHT I WAS 192. ON SURGERY DAY I WAS 184. I'M NOW JUST HANGING OUT AT 157 BUT I HAVEN'T WORKED AT ANY OF THIS SO FAR. I FEEL I'M AT A NICE COMFORTABLE FILL LEVEL, NOT TO TIGHT AS I DO WANT TO EAT LOL

HAS IT BEEN WORTH IT? OH HELL YA!!!

I'VE NEVER BEEN A DIETER, THERE WAS NO WAY THE WEIGHT WAS COMING OFF AND EVERY YEAR I'D JUST GAIN A FEW MORE POUNDS. I'VE QUIT SMOKING, OK ONE NOW AND AGAIN LOL AND LOST A FEW POUNDS IN THE MEAN TIME AND I FEEL GREAT!!!

SOME WOULD SAY, GEEZ PAM, THAT'S ALOT OF MONEY FOR 27 POUNDS AND I SAY YEP, AND I'D DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN TOO AS IT FEELS GOOD GETTING 3 BOWLING BALLS WORTH OF WEIGHT OFF...... FOR GOOD!!!

GOOD LUCK IN YOUR JOURNEY

Wow Pam this was the answer I was waiting for. Although if I thought I was capable of loosing ten or more pounds prior to surgery I might not need the surgery . . . thanks.

[salsa]

Wow Pam this was the answer I was waiting for. Although if I thought I was capable of loosing ten or more pounds prior to surgery I might not need the surgery . . . thanks.

By the way, how many fills did you have and did you return to TJ each time for a fill or someplace else?

[PAMMIE]

By the way, how many fills did you have and did you return to TJ each time for a fill or someplace else?

AT MY HIGHEST WEIGHT I WAS 192 BUT I'D BEEN HANGING OUT AT 182 FOR OVER A YEAR. I DO GO DOWN TO 155 BUT BEEN HANGING OUT NOW ABOUT 157. I KNOW, I REALLY SHOULD WORK A LITTLE AT THIS BUT I'M JUST LOVING IT. IT'S REALLY ALL ABOUT PROTION CONTROL AND THE BAND IS JUST THE LITTLE HELP I NEEDED.

MY HUBBY WORKS FOR THE AIRLINES SO GETTING BACK TO TJ ISN'T A PROBLEM FOR ME. MY FIRST 2 FILLS I DID GO BACK FOR THEN HAD ONE DONE LOCALLY. I ALSO WISH I NEEDED ANOTHER FILL AS I'M KIND OF MISSING THE WHOLE BAND THING DOWN THERE LOL I WILL AT LEAST TRY AND GO BACK FOR A ONE YEAR APPOINTMENT IN AUG.

HERE'S A FEW PICTURES OF MY FIRST FILL BACK IN TJ. MY FRIEND SANDY AND I BOTH WENT BACK AT THE SAME TIME. SHE WAS A LOCAL FRIEND THAT WANTED THE BAND ALSO SO WE FLEW DOWN AND HAD SURGERY ON THE SAME DATE.

http://www.lapbandforum.com/index.php?showtopic=899

MONDAY I MEET WITH A PLASTIC SURGEON, LOOKING INTO TUMMY TUCKS WOO HOO!!! LET THE FAT COME OFF LOL

[LisaVA]

Hi all,

This is my first post and it took a while before I was able to maneuver around this board, finally made it. Okay, I am at the surfing the internet phase and was hoping some of you might give me some friendly advice. I am not chronically overweight, I weigh 180 at 5'2" but like many have not been able to loose it for many years and I feel it in my knees. What I wish to know is this: do you honestly feel it is worth the permanent life style change with food and gas pains etc. for me to take off 50 pounds? How many follow up fills are involved and do you ever reach a point when no follow up is required?

Looking forward to your response, thank you.

HI! I have been a lifer in the dieting world - I'm 47 years old, 5'5" and was 241 pre-op, 228.5 on surgery day (tomorrow will be ex 1 month) and I'm 221.5 as of yesterday. Was it worth it? I'm with Pammie - HELL YES! I know that I now have a tool - a secret weapon - to help me for the rest of my life. Fills? Dr. Ortiz told me that the average bandster has 3 fills for life. There are more and less, of course, but that generally speaking - 3 fills should do it for the average person. That indicated to me that once my "correct" level of fills were acheived, unless I wanted/needed it tweaked, that would be it !

Best of luck to you - there's a lot of GREAT information on this site -- and as you can tell we are all

quite devoted to Dr Ortiz - his whole staff has taken customer service to a level you will not see anywhere else in your life. It still amazes me !

Good luck !

[PAMMIE]

By the way, how many fills did you have and did you return to TJ each time for a fill or someplace else?

JUST AN UPDATE FOR YOU SALSA.

AFTER MY POST, I'M NOW WEIGHTING IN AT 152 WITH NO PROBLEMS HOLD THAT.

[stevek]

Hi all,

This is my first post and it took a while before I was able to maneuver around this board, finally made it. Okay, I am at the surfing the internet phase and was hoping some of you might give me some friendly advice. I am not chronically overweight, I weigh 180 at 5'2" but like many have not been able to loose it for many years and I feel it in my knees. What I wish to know is this: do you honestly feel it is worth the permanent life style change with food and gas pains etc. for me to take off 50 pounds? How many follow up fills are involved and do you ever reach a point when no follow up is required?

Looking forward to your response, thank you.

It's the best money you'll ever spend as it will change the rest of your life for the better ! If you have struggled with the weight for almost all of your lifeof life as most of us have, it will probably continue unless you do something drastic, right? For me, the lap band is a tool that I use to keep myself in check and keep me from binging which is my weakness. In the beginning it's a little tough- you need to keep your mind on the goal and learn how to eat right. Once you start feeling satisfied with less it gets easy and as the weight comes off and you need to go get those new clothes, you'll be hooked. The really neat thing is that you can be confident that it's not going to come back as it has with past diets as the band will act as a watchdog to help you stay with it.

As far as fills go- I have only needed one so far and may one or 2 more to get to goal. Everybody is different on those- check out what you are going to do for fills beforehand so you have everything in place. You can always go back to Dr Ortiz for these but I found a local doctor willing to do them near me so it's easier.

Best of luck in your decsion making process!!!

[NoWorry]

What I wish to know is this: do you honestly feel it is worth the permanent life style change with food and gas pains etc. for me to take off 50 pounds? How many follow up fills are involved and do you ever reach a point when no follow up is required?

Looking forward to your response, thank you.

My 2 cents: I would never, never consider surgery until I had exhausted every reasonable attempt to lose the weight without surgery. The average weight loss for all Lap-Band patients is 60% of excess weight. In your case, this would be 30 lbs. Would I take the risk of major surgery, permanent life style change, pain and discomfort for 30 lbs? Not a chance. With your BMI, most US surgeons would not even accept you as a patient! Try to lose the weight through diet before you even consider drastic surgery.