Is Goal weight possible or only 50%?

TrimKim · 08-09-2007, 10:51 AM

I wonder if some of you long time banders can tell me, why do Doctors say LAP-BAND^® will only help you loose just 40-50% loss of your excess weight? How likely is it that I can loose all my excess weight? So many LBT members have tickers that show them near their goal weight, so I know it is possible, but how likely?

If I excercise regularly and folow the LB rules is that enought to guarentee that I can meet my goal within two years or less.:help:

**Wheetsin** · 08-09-2007, 11:03 AM

Goal is entirely possible. The long term averages incorporate a variety of issues. A lot of people have the surgery thinking the band itself will lose the weight for them, and never do their part. These people will probably never see goal, because there's only so much that portion control is going to do on its own. There are also people who learn to eat around the band, and several other very real scenarios that will likely prevent people from hitting goal.

JulieNYC · 08-09-2007, 12:11 PM

Those numbers also include patients who got banded and never got fills when they needed them. The band without fills when you need them is not much of a WL tool. I think (with no study, but for my observations on LBT and elsewhere) that the numbers are more like 70-80% for someone who makes a basic level of commitment to the band (getting fills, trying to choose healthy foods most of the time, getting some exercise). Getting to 100% excess weight loss is hard on any program, but it can be done if you make it your goal (i.e. higher commitment to diet and exercise). That's the thing about the band -- it CAN be done if you want to. You WILL be able to follow a diet, unlike before. Before the band, I tried and tried but it couldn't be done.

WASaBubbleButt · 08-09-2007, 12:16 PM

I always wonder if those numbers are just designed to make stats look better.

If someone doesn't put forth any effort at all and the let the band do everything they aren't going to get to goal. Yet if they set the numbers so that they only have to lose 50% and they only lose 50% then they reached a goal that makes the stats look good because they'd be considered successful.

The band is whatever you put into it. If 50% was reasonable I could have quit working on this 24 pounds ago.

Sunta · 08-09-2007, 04:09 PM

There is absolutely no reason why everyone can't reach their goal weight given proper restriction and hard work. There is no magic percentage after which the body decides not to lose anymore, or after which the band just "stops working".

If a person is consuming fewer calories then they are expending, they will lose weight. From now until the end of time, through every percentage point, through thick and thin (no pun intended), this rule will always work (barring certain medical conditions of course).

I think the 50-60% comes from those who ate around the band, or who had to have the band loosened and thus had a harder time getting to goal.

For example, I have an extremely loose fill right now which gives me much less restriction than I had previously. It's basically up to me now. I have started exercising 45 minutes a day, counting calories, and taking Alli to further cut calories as well as green tea pills to raise metabolism. I've lost 92 pounds to date and have 63 to go, and I am not going to let my loose fill stop me. I am going to reach goal come hell or high water.

With this loose fill, I have really struggled, gaining about 7 pounds and then losing it, then gaining back two pounds. I had been bouncing around on the scale for three months, losing and gaining 2-3 pounds, when I finally made the commitment to exercise. That was a few weeks ago and today I weighed in at my lowest weight in 10 years, at have lost about 5 pounds in the past two weeks. I am thrilled to be losing again.

I know if I stick to my commitment to exercise and count calories I will make it to goal. I am finally in ONEderland, and I plan on staying here!

We can all reach goal if we work just a little harder! I'm not letting any statistics stand in my way!

HamuChan · 08-09-2007, 04:42 PM

It is definately possible to lose 100% as you've heard from other banders in this thread. My response is the same as theirs.

I hope I can lose 100% of my excess weight as well. The 1st 50 lbs was the easiest, after that my own effort had to be put into this. I need a nice tight fill and exercise and I can successfully lose.

liberty2003 · 08-09-2007, 05:03 PM

Goal is possible. I am 14.5 lbs away from goal. I am down a total of 131 lbs.....in two years (friday is my 2 year bandanniversary). I am hoping the 14.5 lbs will come off before the end of october ..If you follow the rules and work out regularly you can make it no problem.

Jachut · 08-09-2007, 05:08 PM

I think exercise is really key here too. By the time you're coming to the end of your journey, you'll probably be working pretty darn hard to keep that weight coming off but if you do it, you'll get there!

Anyway, think of the statistics for people who just diet! They tend to GAIN weight.

cazulay · 08-09-2007, 05:42 PM

I think this stat. is to cover the dr.'s a**. That way in case the patient does not put forth his/hers best effort and does not lose all the money a lawsuit is less likely to occur because there were never any 100% weight loss promises made. So, with this stat. any dr. has a whole lot more happy patients.

TrimKim · 08-09-2007, 09:00 PM

Thank you so much everybody!! I feel so much better now. It only makes sense that rewards will come to those the work hard and follow the rules. My band-day is August 27th. As my date gets closer I find my self thinking constantly about the outcome of the proceedure and what I can (and can't) expect. This sight has really helped me work thru my questions and anxieties. Thank you!!

**Wheetsin** · 08-10-2007, 03:45 PM

Quote:

I think exercise is really key here too. By the time you're coming to the end of your journey, you'll probably be working pretty darn hard to keep that weight coming off but if you do it, you'll get there!

This is definitely important. I've always known it was important and advocated for it, always, but I'm really starting to see just how important it is. For a long time, I thought this was largely a numbers game, with a few variables thrown in. That's what the science, books, articles, research, and definitely the logic tells you -- consume under your BMR and you will lose weight, pending the anamolies such as plateaus that we're occasionally plagued with. But I think it's way more complicated than that. Long story short - and MHO - the band will do so much. Follow the dietary rules and it will give you some amount of weightloss on its own. After time, regardless of the calories game, it will not give you any more and at that point, you may very well not lose any more unless you step up and begin to try and meet it in the middle.