If you allow me.....................

You are welcome..I am no longer in the service but once was.  I deployed with my job working with the military.

I am happy for your success and I thank you for sharing such a positive story! 

I am scheduled for 4/26/11 and it's always good to see examples of the tool working as designed. 

Seems like there are daily posts offering 'less than positive' commentary, so your post is extremely refreshing.  

 Congratulations on your long-term success!  I agree with you so much regarding the band as a maintenance tool.  It bothers me when I read posts that say things like, "I didn't get a band just to diet like I did before!"  Sorry, fact is, it does still take "dieting" to lose weight.  But, I never, ever could maintain weight loss in the past, no matter how I lost it.  I  even got to goal 15 years ago, losing 90 lbs. over a two year period with healthy foods and exercise (so not a "fad" diet), but I still regained the weight within two years, and then proceeded to add more to it.  

Since being banded, I lost my mother to cancer, have had two additional surgeries, became an empty nester, went through a year-long period of severely reduced income and living off retirement savings, moved to a new state, switched jobs, menopause, and have had a completely unfilled band for almost two months.  Any of those events could have triggered weight gain, but I'm 8 lbs. from my lowest weight.  The band *does* help with weight loss, but the best part is keeping the weight off, even when life's road gets a little rocky.

Tami

Thank you so much for sharing your story you have really encouraged me!