Just say NO!

That's what the Lap Band is all about!

Once again, I'm back with my end-of-September All Lapband Talk....answering all those questions about life (my life, that is) with a Lap Band!
A life that includes NO DIETING!

When I look back at my dieting life, I realize that I spent years and years dedicated to one diet or another......
No carbs.
No fats.
Little pills.
Secret potions.
Group meetings.
Food logs.
Doctors.
Programs.
Clinics.
Injections.
Books.
Magazines.
Fasting.
Food combining.
Gurus.
Packaged meals.
Diet shakes.
Calorie counting.
Cleansing.
Yadda. Yadda. Yadda.
My life became all diet-all the time.
Was it a habit or a hobby?
Your guess is as good as mine.
What was the end result of all that dieting? I was obese.

Reflecting on it all, what I walk away with is this thought....so many diets.....so little time. In life.
I can't get back those years or recapture that effort or that energy or that money.
Perhaps I don't want to or need to. Perhaps I just need to chalk it up to part of the journey that brought me to where I am today......


Now, on to those questions about DIETING.....

*What is different about having a Lap band and going on a diet?

In my dieting life, it was all about deprivation. Sure, the folks who sell those diet programs will tell you that you will never feel deprived. Maybe I never figured out how to not feel deprived. But, no matter what program I was following or what I was doing--there was deprivation in my life. Whether I was deprived of fats or carbs or not having the extra funds to buy shoes because I was dolling it out to some program or doctor or buying some fancy packaged meals or paying for a promising medication or injection--I felt deprived. I am a girl who does not like to be deprived. I enjoy food way too much to give up an entire food group and I'd rather spend time with my family than going to weekly meetings or appointments. And, as you can imagine--I'd rather spend my hard earned money on clothes and shoes and lip gloss than on packaged meals, pills and diet doctors or programs. But, for years and years I did it. Only to find myself obese at the age of 48.
Why is the Lap Band different? Because it is NOT about deprivation. It's about eating and living your life. Now, you are probably scratching your head here because you're thinking about the pasta and the bread that I can't eat these days. I can understand your confusion. What I can tell you is that my Lap Band is a part of my body that helps me to limit my food intake. My body does not want that food. I am not feeling deprived in a physical sense. The emotional side takes a while to catch up--granted. However, it all comes together once you start losing weight and feeling better about yourself and fitting into smaller sizes and hearing compliments and having more energy. And, when you realize that is a life long thing.....you get it. The light bulb goes off. The diet is not going to be over like every other diet you've been on. All of this makes a huge difference in how you go forward!
I know, I know....I sound like I'm selling Lap Bands. Trust me, I make no profit from anything I say on my blog. In fact, I'm sure the Lap Band manufacturers would not pay me to advertise for them because sometimes I don't follow all the rules. They say no caffeine. I say screw it. I can't live without my chai and my iced tea. They say no alcohol. I say that's not my life--I love my weekly gin martini and sipping my wonderful wines. I'm sure there's other rules I don't follow but damn, I was never a rule girl. I have made the Lap Band work for me and my life and I truly---down to my toes that currently need a pedicure--believe that everyone has the opportunity to make it work for them if they give it a shot.
I'm not dieting. I'm living. That's the bottom line.

*If you are able to lose weight on diets but could not keep it off then what made you believe that you could do it with a Lap Band?

You know, I think by the time I decided on getting weight loss surgery, I had already convinced myself that I was done with dieting. I had given up, I was disgusted and I was feeling like a complete failure.
Before I got the Lap Band, I didn't do any major research. I heard a commercial while I was frantically trying to find something to fit me to wear to a formal Christmas dinner party that was happening in less than an hour. I was within minutes of calling the hostess to tell her that I had some terrible illness. I actually stopped and listened to the commercial--even though I was in a major panic. That commercial gave me some hope that I could finally solve my weight issues and it helped get me out the door. Even though I don't think I made the final-final-final decision at that moment to get the Lap Band--the seed was planted and the rest is history. To be honest--I am not sure if I believed for sure that I could keep it off. I had done everything else so I figured let's get it a shot. Now that I am living the Lap Banded life, I know it was the right choice for me. It is a permanent solution. It is what I needed. My diets were all temporary. I am a believer. My own personal experience is what makes me a believer.

*How does maintenance work with the Lap Band?

Maintenance was the one thing that I was terrified of. Past experience with trying to keep the weight off was not good. Thus, a big part of my terror! As I edged closer and closer to my goal of losing 100 pounds, that fear fell to the wayside and I began to worry about other aspects of maintenance. At that point, I trusted my Lap band and had faith in myself so I wasn't worried about gaining weight! One of the things I was concerned about, however, was getting to the point when I was not being rewarded by weight loss. Never in the my life had I ever tried not to lose weight. I just loved losing the weight--I loved all the excitement of weighing myself and seeing the scale go down, I loved seeing my pants get too big and having to buy a smaller size, I loved people telling me that I was "looking good"! I didn't know how I was going to stay motivated when I wasn't being rewarded by the number on the scale. Although at first, I did struggle with those things, I also found myself so thrilled with my accomplishment that I floated on that bubble for quite some time.
As with anything, if you do it long enough, it becomes a way of life even though sometimes you slack off a bit here and there. That's what happened with my Lap band. My maintenance is not so much about doing some kind of maintenance program--it's more about continuing to live with my Lap Band. It's not burdensome nor does it interfere with my daily living. It's just there. I liken it to the way the never-overweight or never-obese people of the world integrate eating into their lives---it's just what they do!! I don't think there's a magic to maintenance. What I do think is that because my weight loss happened over a two year period, the way of life became my new normal. Somedays I do find that I eat a little bit more of this and a little bit more of that but my Lap Band has been the tool that has helped me keep things in check. I'm pretty sure that's what maintenance is all about.


Sometimes when I end my blog, I am shocked at how much I have to say.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I have a lot to say about DIETS.....

I'll be back tomorrow to answer those questions I received about "Lap Band Issues".......
I'll bet you just can't wait!!!