Why a Gastric Band

I have been thinking about having a Gastric band for several years now and have finally made the decision to go ahead. I have tried every diet going known to man from clubs to tablets you name it and i've done it. This cyucle has been going on for 20 years.

Every year seems to get harder and no-ones getting any younger
I seem to be on a revolving wheel where each Xmas I feel crap and then decide to do something about it normally with a degree of success. Christmas 2007 I weighed 19 stone and with a cycling holiday booked for June and a charity bike ride from London to Paris at end of July I had to get my act together.

I joined WW but wasnt getting a lot out of it so I bought some digital scales and decided to get weighed at same time each week and record in my filofax.
the allocated time was 7.15pm the same time as WW Class.

I promised myself that I would take drastic remedial action if I put on in any given week and lost every week sometimes half a pound but always losing.

I basically found it was a three pronged attack that worked for me

1. Reduce calorie intake - switch to healthy option

2. Reduce alcahol - still had wine every night but not as much

3. Increase exercise - spin classes at gym and road cycling

All was going well and I managed to get down to 16 Stone for the summer

Then the wheels fell off so to speak, The bad food habits started again with takeaways etc and suddenly I was downing too much wine and I seemed to have forgoitten the way to the gym and bike was getting dusty.

So by Christmas 2008 I was back up to 19 stone 2 lbs and so it starts again

I knew I had to do something about it so decided to try Lighter Life as a new option and did that for 4 weeks but had to come off it as had no energy for cycling and gym. Now I don't just want to lose weight I want to increase my fitness. Some people have incredible weight loss on Ll but only 500 cals a day you are soon in Ketosis but I wanted to be able to exercise at the same time. I was also very concerned about maintaing the weight loss but that was for another day first I had to lose it. It did claw away at me though the praise at losing weight and then seeing people again if you regained - Not good

I am pleased to report that since coming off Lighter Life at end of Jan I have maintained my weight, I put about 5 lbs on staright away but have managed to lose that over the last 3 weeks. Thats not bad considering I Knew I had to do a pre op diet so have had a few last suppers in the last couple of weeks. I didnt go overboard but I did enjoy myself - Naughty but nice

I am reasonably fit for example I have cycled 90 miles in the last 2 days but at 17st 11 lbs it kills me on the hills .

As well as losing weight I am hopefull that my band will assist me in improving my health. I am suffering from the following

Diabates

High blood pressure

High cholesteral

Over the last 2 years my medication has gone up I used to be on 5mg ramipril wheras now on 10 plus have to take an extra tablet I didnt used to need before.
I also sometimes forget to take my meds which is not clever but these ailments have no side effects so you dont actually fell like your health is at risk.

Sadly my beautiful wife died suddenly of a brain haemmorage 6 years ago so I have brought our two wonderful children up - At the back of my mind I am worried about stroke orr heart attack and have tried but struggle to mainatin - Hopefully the band will be the permenant fix ive been looking for

I made a decision on weekend after I came off LL to to go for the band.
i Had already done lots of research and had selected WLS group. I saw Michelle on TV Extreme Slimmers programme

Amazingly I called Called WLS on the Monday morning in London and spoke to Colleen. By pure chance ( Or was it fate ? ) Wendy who does the fills had a clinic in Leeds that day and agreed to see me so within 3 hrs of phoning up I was sitting talking to Wendy which went well. I then found out they had a cancellation for 4 weeks later which is 10 Mar so I booked it and here I am one week out.

I have not gone in to this blind and have spent many weekends surfing the net reading 100's of peoples diaries about banding. I am aware of the issues re slippage and erosion and can see that it does not work for everyone but am committted to try and make it work for me

I expect that the band will give me 30% but i've got to give 70%

I hope to lose 7lbs on the pre op diet so should be 17st 4lbs on surgery day Tue 10 Mar

My target weight that I have set myself is 14 stone ( 196lbs )
This will be a post surgery target of 3 st 4lbs but the main thing is maintaining, my worry at the moment if I was not having this procedure is would I put the weight back on?

If I can acheive and maintain at 14 st I will be delighted it will help my health and hopefully a reduction of medication and will certainly help my cycling

According to BMI I should be with the range of 9st 9lbs to max of 12st 6lbs which seems crazy