Considering a lap band

flutestar · 05-15-2008, 09:31 PM

Hi, I'm new to the forum, hope I'm posting in the right place. I'm seriously considering getting the lap band, but I wonder if it will work for me. I'm 53 and have been overweight all my life. I eat even when I'm not hungry or even already full. Will the lap band help me? Can it stop me from overeating?

At present, I weigh 275, I'm 5'4" tall and am 54 years old. My husband has Parkinson's disease and I'm under a lot of stress, which adds to my overeating, which makes me more stressed. I'm worried I'll have a heart attack, although I'm in good health, no diabetes, and I exercise occasionally--dancing and bike riding, mostly.

I want to stop eating so much and lose weight. I want to be healthy and more active. Does the lap band help you in these ways?

flutestar

samlaj · 05-15-2008, 10:38 PM

I just started my Lap Band journey, but from what it sounds the Lap Band could help you. You don't have to make a commitment now, but find an informative meeting! Its the first step. I hope you'll be ok with all of your stress. Good Luck! :)

salsa1877 · 05-15-2008, 10:43 PM

Well...yes...but you have to do some work too. You obviously recognize that you overeat because you are stressed and are an emotional overeater. The band will prevent you from eating large amounts of certain foods. I could probably eat 20 gallons of ice cream (if I hadn't become lactose intolerant!) but might only be able to get in 12 bites of chicken.

Let me give you my back story. A typical day of eating for me was to stop at Carl's Jr. and get a loaded breakfast burrito with 2 orders of large hash browns and a large orange juce. Then get to work and have doughnuts that my students would bring for breakfast in AP Chemistry. Then at break I would have at least 1 snickers bar...or 2...or yep 6! Then at lunch when I would eat in front of the other teachers I always had a modest sandwich or soup or small amount of leftovers. Then when I was back in my classroom I would eat something that I had stashed...Lord knows what it was...if it was bad for me...I ate it. Then after work I would stop at Carl's Jr and get 2 big hamburgers and eat them in the 4 minutes it would take me to get home. Yes there was discomfort but who cared...I could have been a world record holder in how fast I could swallow food. Then I would get home and an hour later have a double portion dinner meal followed by SOMETHING for dessert. So was I an overeater...well...what do you think!?!?! I ate for emotional reasons, boredom, control, lack of control, hatred of myself, to just eat. You name it...I had a reason for eating. So I decided to get the band as I sat in my living room bawling my eyes out while I devoured an entire 9x14 cake pan of carrot cake. I haven't looked back since!

I think it would be a good exercise for you to start keeping a journal now of what you eat. Not to count calories or try to diet, but to write down WHY you are eating. Try to start listening to your tummy...when you think you are hungry...sit down, close your eyes and tyr to feel your stomach...are you truly hungry. These are all good practices to put into place before you get your band. It is NOT the cure...it will NOT take away your desire to eat. It will make you very miserable if you overeat. If I eat too much I get this horrible pain in my chest. Stomach pain never caused me to STOP eating...pain in the chest...now that does. But the band is just a tool. I don't know that a lot of people get this message. There are going to be times when you want to just rip open your stomach and pull the dang thing out because you want to eat something and it says no! But to be honest with you... I have lost 96 pounds of fat and gained 154 pounds OF ME! If you would have told me 6 months ago that I was going to train for a half marathon I would have looked at you and called for the guards with the straight jacket. But with the weightloss, I can move around and be healthy. I didn't have health problems before I was banded...but I was headed there. My mom died at the age of 53 weighing 300+ pounds with heart disease, diabetes and a whole host of other things. NO WAY WAS I GOING THERE!

Good luck and ask all the questions you need to!

samlaj · 05-15-2008, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by salsa1877

Well...yes...but you have to do some work too. You obviously recognize that you overeat because you are stressed and are an emotional overeater. The band will prevent you from eating large amounts of certain foods. I could probably eat 20 gallons of ice cream (if I hadn't become lactose intolerant!) but might only be able to get in 12 bites of chicken.

Let me give you my back story. A typical day of eating for me was to stop at Carl's Jr. and get a loaded breakfast burrito with 2 orders of large hash browns and a large orange juce. Then get to work and have doughnuts that my students would bring for breakfast in AP Chemistry. Then at break I would have at least 1 snickers bar...or 2...or yep 6! Then at lunch when I would eat in front of the other teachers I always had a modest sandwich or soup or small amount of leftovers. Then when I was back in my classroom I would eat something that I had stashed...Lord knows what it was...if it was bad for me...I ate it. Then after work I would stop at Carl's Jr and get 2 big hamburgers and eat them in the 4 minutes it would take me to get home. Yes there was discomfort but who cared...I could have been a world record holder in how fast I could swallow food. Then I would get home and an hour later have a double portion dinner meal followed by SOMETHING for dessert. So was I an overeater...well...what do you think!?!?! I ate for emotional reasons, boredom, control, lack of control, hatred of myself, to just eat. You name it...I had a reason for eating. So I decided to get the band as I sat in my living room bawling my eyes out while I devoured an entire 9x14 cake pan of carrot cake. I haven't looked back since!

I think it would be a good exercise for you to start keeping a journal now of what you eat. Not to count calories or try to diet, but to write down WHY you are eating. Try to start listening to your tummy...when you think you are hungry...sit down, close your eyes and tyr to feel your stomach...are you truly hungry. These are all good practices to put into place before you get your band. It is NOT the cure...it will NOT take away your desire to eat. It will make you very miserable if you overeat. If I eat too much I get this horrible pain in my chest. Stomach pain never caused me to STOP eating...pain in the chest...now that does. But the band is just a tool. I don't know that a lot of people get this message. There are going to be times when you want to just rip open your stomach and pull the dang thing out because you want to eat something and it says no! But to be honest with you... I have lost 96 pounds of fat and gained 154 pounds OF ME! If you would have told me 6 months ago that I was going to train for a half marathon I would have looked at you and called for the guards with the straight jacket. But with the weightloss, I can move around and be healthy. I didn't have health problems before I was banded...but I was headed there. My mom died at the age of 53 weighing 300+ pounds with heart disease, diabetes and a whole host of other things. NO WAY WAS I GOING THERE!

Good luck and ask all the questions you need to!

Wow that was an amazing story. I don't know you but I am sooo proud of you and wanted to let you know that people like you are my inspiration! Congrats!

minidriver · 05-15-2008, 11:16 PM

wow, Salsa. That's such an amazing story . . . and very hopeful. I am so out of touch with my hunger that I have no idea when to eat anymore so I just eat to be eating . . . I have been so worried that I will have no success at all with the band and it will just be one more failure. It's great to hear that it can work, even for people who eat when they're not hungry!

MollyMolly · 05-15-2008, 11:36 PM

Hi Flutestar! Yes, I think the band will help you. At least part of the way. Yes, you will have to learn some strategies for emotional eating, or will end up sabotaging yourself.

BUT -- once you are healed up and get the band adjusted properly, which can take some time, you won't have that driving hunger to eat all the time. You'll definitely eat less at meals. And that will allow you to get help with the emotional eating and figure out how to not turn to food when you are stressed. It didn't ever seem possible before banding, but the band helps SO much.

I feel SO much better now, even though I'm not at goal. Now, though I know I can get there if I want to! Hope is priceless, really.

Good luck in making your decision. It's a very personal one, so don't let anyone talk you into doing one thing or another.

salsa1877 · 05-16-2008, 05:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by minidriver

wow, Salsa. That's such an amazing story . . . and very hopeful. I am so out of touch with my hunger that I have no idea when to eat anymore so I just eat to be eating . . . I have been so worried that I will have no success at all with the band and it will just be one more failure. It's great to hear that it can work, even for people who eat when they're not hungry!

I think most of us got fat by eating when we are not hungry. This does work, but you have to learn to get in touch with your hunger. IF you had asked me before the surgery if I only ate when I was hungry...I would have said yes. I had deluded myself to that point that I honestly believed I was hungry ALL THE TIME. I wasn't. So as I mentioned earlier start that process now of listening and feeling your stomach. It is a powerful tool.

cleanteeth · 05-16-2008, 05:13 PM

Hi Flutestar. This is a great place to get tons of information. I think most of us are here because of our hugh eating problems. Me included. One thing that I have really had to face is my food addiction. Once I started on this journey it just smacked me in the face. The main thing I'm getting from all this is that Lap Band is not an easy out.. It is surgery, it is a hugh commitment, and it takes alot of work. You just don't have surgery and boom.. your skinny again.

Good luck to you. Keep reading here, do your homework and research, and you'll make the decision that's right for you

Molly