Newbie here in Missouri 816

 I am a newbie looking for information and support. I just went to the doctors yesterday and weighed in 290.4 lbs. That has been hard to type and say. I am looking for buddies cause I am rather shy in a lot of ways. I do not drive so if anyone wants to car pool to seminars and support meeting I am willing to help any way I can. I really do not know what to say....so i hope HELLO will help


Thank you Leelee

Hello and welcome to the Missouri Board. I am 7 years out and live south of KC so can't be any help with going to seminars and support meetings but I am here if you need questions answered.

Hugs
Barbara

 Thank you. I bet I will have many. Like for starters why did you choose RNY over other surgeries??

 Welcome to the Mo board. I do not think I am close by but I do come here often so if I can answer any questions I am happy to help. We all understand what you are going thru.

 Hello and how are you?

Hi, I live south of Springfield about 70 or 80 miles , dont know where Riverside is? clue me in.
I will have my 4year anniversary in August....I see you ask why someone chose RNY over the band, my reasoning was i didnt want something in my body that can slip or break and make me lose what ground i had gained plus the endless fills you have to have to get to the spot where you start losing. also for me it was because of my age , dont have years and years to reach where i should have been and the band requires someone that has good will power , which i dont have. If i would have had good will power then i would have never gotten fat in the first place. I admire people that are able to lose weight and keep it off with the band but i knew i wouldnt be one of them....i knew if i didnt have the restrictions from the RNY that make you not eat the things that made me fat i knew i wouldnt be able to do it.
But deciding which you want to have is a very personal decision .....I just know from observations this last four years that it was the right choice for me. ...
glad to see you on the board and hope we can help you in some way. ask any questions we love to tell our stories and what has worked for us.

Welcome to the MO. board Leelee. I live up I-29 from you and have had my Band for over 2 1/2 years and have lost a little over 130 pounds and still losing. If you have any questions about the Band feel free to ask. You ask why we selected the type of surgery we did... that is a complicated question and everyone has their own reasons of course. For me it was a combination of being so ill that my Cardiologist would not clear me for the more invasive surgery of the RNY. I wanted the Band anyway cause I was concerned with the 'dumping syndrome' of the RNY and the excessive wrinkling of losing weight too quickly. There are other reasons but I won't bore you with all of them. The fills are normally not that many nor that often. I haven't had a fill in well over a year and am still at good restriction. And the chances of breakage or slipping is much less than most of the other complications the RNY has. And some have the idea they don't want anything foreign in their bodies but to me it is the same thing as having a artificial hip or knee. They too are as foreign as a Band but certainly beneficial for someone who needs them. By the way you can not feel the Band inside you, in case you were wondering, that is a common question I get.
The Band curbs your appetite so dramatically that your desire to 'cheat' is diminished greatly. But with the Band you don't have to depend on vitamins and supplements as you are able to get the required nutrients with your food if you follow the rules.
Do your research and spend alot of time weighing the differences so you and your surgeon will select whichever surgery will help you the most.
Good luck with your journey and once again if I can answer any questions feel free to ask.
Connie

 Once again Thank you all for the comments.  I am in what i am calling the  READING AND RESEARCH PHASE. I have not seen much success with the band..but then the people i know have all had the RNY or the VGS...

I still dont know where to go with this..but I have signed up for my first seminar.  Step one is done...now I must go.