Have heating pads and someone to massage your shoulder post op.
It is no fun.

Hi everyone,

Wow it's been just under a year since anyone posted in here, but it's still an open thread and I'm sure people read it so I thought I'd put in my 2 cents.

I am 25 and had lap band surgery when I was...21? 22? I can't remember. It was successful at the beginning for me, but then my emotional issues got in the way.
I've been a big girl my whole life, and I guess developed that sort of persona. People didn't tell me how good I looked or how beautiful I was and I've always been shy around strangers, particularly guys. Going to parties, walking into a roomful of strangers is really nerve wracking for me. So when I started losing weight and walked into a new year's party where I knew 2-3 people and one of them started shrieking at the top of her lungs about how amazing I looked, and that I'd lost so much weight it scared the crap out of me. I was used to not being noticed and didn't enjoy that experience of everyone in the party staring at me one bit.
So I started putting it back on.

With the lap band, there's no restrictions on what you eat, just like an diet you have to do that yourself. The food they want you to eat more often is bread and meats like steak because they're hard to eat, they make you feel full REALLY quickly, and if you try and eat any more you generally have to throw it up. That goes with whatever food you eat, there's a discomfort stage but if I eat too much I often have to find a bathroom. I used to do this a lot, not so much anymore which is SO much better.

Ice cream and chocolate etc, that stuff melts down to nothing when you eat it so it slides through the band easily and you can eat as much as you want. Which kind of isn't the goal, but if you're comfort eating then it's very easy to do.

I lost about 20kg before I started comfort eating, and DELIBERATELY sabotaging my weight loss cos it was too scary being thinner. It's 3-4 years later and I'm only 6 kg lighter than I was when I went in for the operation.

HOWEVER. If I had NOT had the band, I'm terrified to think of the size I would be, because the lap band DOES restrict my intake of foods, and I have to stop eating. If you're really determined, give it 10 mins and you can continue eating and eat the same amount of food that you would have, but you try not to do that.

The psych evaluations are important, I don't think I was the best candidate to be a SUCCESS with the band, but I do believe having it has helped me overall because I know I'd be a lot bigger than I am now without it. I should go to a therapist, I know this but I can't seem to make myself stick to one. At the moment I'm trying to make myself eat something in the morning and focus on exercise because it's just as important.

Really, I'm here because I'm looking for support in the weight loss journey, and regardless of having the band I'm going to have to do what everyone else does. Work on my diet and exercise.
Hope I helped someone, even if it wasn't those who last posted here.