Why did you choose this surgery?

My husband is looking into this surgery, or the lapband and I am trying to figure out the best way for him to go. He is not good at following a consistant good diet. He is good at the beginning , but then always falls off the wagon.  I have done a lot of research and know some of the basic differences, but would like your opinions. Thanks/

The Lap band is restrictive only.  And it doesn't work very well.  I know of only one person who has been long term successful.  I knew it wouldn't work for me because I hate throwing up and I knew I would learn fast how to eat around it.  Shakes, ice cream, and slider carbs go down easy while it's almost impossible to eat the protein foods you are supposed to eat.  I knew after doing the diets for decades I would not be happy living on a starvation diet for the rest of my life.

I had the DS because I wanted to be able to eat and live like a normal person postop.  The DS is the best WLS out there for longterm success.  The tradeoff is that we take lots of supplements and require a high protein diet.  If he is unwilling to do this, the DS is not for him.  Those 2 things are not negotiable.

I chose the DS mainly because of the longterm success of the surgery.  I have no issues with taking the required vitamins/supplements.  I have a friend that have had the gastric sleeve and she stopped losing weight for a year 75 pounds shy of her and her surgeon's goal.  She is now considering the DS option to lose the remaining 75 pounds.  Your husband needs to understand that carbs are not his friend.  If he cannot handle the no carb/high protein diet, then this is not the WLS for him.  I have found that I do not crave carbs like before the surgery.  When I do have a carb craving I will have a (single) cookie.  They are actually super sweet to me now and that will satisfy my craving for a long while.

The DS is the perfect "Man's WLS", as it is a high fat and high protein diet.  This makes the wonderful things like steak, bacon, butter and gooey cheese suddenly health food.  The one thing all of us with every different procedure have to be mindful of is sugar and other white carbs (pasta, bread, rice).  They're not an absolute no-no, but something we absorb the most of.  The trade off is paying extra attention to nutritional health, and adding vitamins to your daily routine is easy.  I chose it because knowing how my body resisted my every effort to lose weight, the metabolic changes of the DS gave me the best chance at success.

I wouldn't recommend the Lapband for anybody these days.  There have been way too many complications with it, from simply not yielding results, to the band eroding into the stomach, so that the stomach has to be torn apart and dissected to remove it.  All of that for a 10 year shelf-life inside of the body, however many have it removed in the first few years.  The replacement procedure for restriction-only is the sleeve (VSG).  

I'm a doglover too. (*grin*)

There were many sound, scientific reasons I chose the DS. It has the best long-term, maintained weight loss stats, the best stats for resolving or preventing diabetes and high cholesterol, a fully functional stomach, the ability to still take NSAIDs, very little risk of dumping syndrome or reactive hypoglycemia, food intolerances are rare, etc.

But the bottom line was I wanted to STOP DIETING. At 45, I'd been on one diet or another since age NINE, and I was sick and tired of it. I like to eat, and I wanted to be able to eat well, without guilt. The DS was the only form of WLS that offered that to me.

I'm a born carnivore, so the high-protein, high-fat, moderate-carb 'diet' of the DS suits me to a T. I do eat carbs, but I eat protein and fat first, then I don't usually have room for enough carbs to hurt me. Some days I do over-do the carbs, and I suffer for it. (Makes me gassy!)

Of the four currently offered forms of WLS, the LapBand has the worst long-term results, and the DS has the best. Comparing the Band and the DS is like comparing oranges and orangutangs. Google 'failed LapBand" and you'll quickly decide he should strike that one off his list.

The DS has the best statistics of any bariatric surgery for percentage excess weight loss, for maintaining that weight loss, and for resolution of almost all comorbidites. The lap band has the worst statistics for all these parameters. And, while the lap band is touted as being lower risk, it is only lower risk for the day of surgery. The complications occur late, and the reoperation rate is the highest of any bariatric surgery. Far, far too many people need to have or choose to have their lap bands removed either for complications, or because it never worked (a common problem) or because they could not tolerate it - also a common problem.

If your husband has lap band, if it works at all, he will need to remain on a low calorie, low fat, low carb diet for the rest of his life or he will gain back whatever weight he loses. Does that sound like your husband? I doubt it. With the DS, we can eat as much protein and fat as we like, and jus****ch the carbs. It's the most normal diet of any bariatric surgery, and very liberating after years and years of dieting, often to the point of near starvation, without success.

It is great that you are "trying to figure out the best way for him to go" and that he has your support, but really HE needs to figure out the best way for him to go. He should be doing his own research, and taking a good, hard, honest look at himself and what he can and can't do longterm in terms of diet and exercise. I could never had lived with a lap band and the required very restrictive diet. Since I don't know your husband I can't speak for him, he needs to be the one learning about the pros and cons of all the different bariatric operations before he makes this big decision.

I will also send you a pm.

Larra