In my opinion, the people that do well with the band are people that are very good planners in their daily lives and are able to go to their surgeons office frequently for adjustments and support. Most likely the band seemed like the best choice at the time because it does have the least risk and possibly was the least expensive. But it does have the highest failure rate as compared to the sleeve or bypass. And you may have been like many people that felt that the bypass was just too drastic of an operation to lose weight, or maybe you had heard a story of a gastric bypass gone wrong. Most likely the sleeve was not even given as an option when you decided to proceed. So you can beat yourself up all you want, but like all decisions we listen, we think, and we choose. And no one always makes the best decision. One of the secrets to the successful mindset is to not let failure beat you down. Learn from it and then go to plan B.
There is no operation that will do all the work for you. You have to learn to follow some eating rules. The gastric bypass, the band, and the sleeve are tools to help you follow these rules. We use tools every day for almost everything we do. They vary in their effectiveness and so does the above procedures. The bypass and sleeve have an advantage over the band because of the way they cause chemical changes to our bio-chemical pathways involved in metabolism. In other words, they do more of the work for you.
The sleeve had its beginnings around 2003. In the beginning we thought that its effectiveness and risk was somewhere between bypass and band. We now have some five year results that show it to be nearly as effective as the bypass and with risk of problems closer to that of the band. The more we do the sleeve the better the results seem to be. We underestimated the sleeve’s ability to trick these complicated bio-chemical pathways that make weight loss so difficult. We have all felt that gnawing feeling that drives you to eat. It is very uncomfortable. With the bypass and sleeve that sensation is gone from the night of surgery on. These chemical effects will disappear over time, but it takes years. These two operations give you plenty of time to learn good eating rules and lock them in. If you do not take advantage of this time to learn and lock in these rules you will re-gain weight.
The mindset needed to follow these necessary eating rules is explained in my book, Skinny jeans at last!! secrets to long term weight loss success. The book may be a good starting place. Read it and ask yourself, can I do this? The most difficult person to be truthful to is ourselves.
The following page explains to process of converting a band to a sleeve. And very soon we will have video testimonials of patients describing how different the sleeve feels as compared to having the band.
Learn more about your Houston lap band surgery options by requesting an appointment with one of the best Houston lap band surgeons, Dr. Thomas!
About Clifton Thomas
Dr. Clifton Thomas is bariatric surgeon with over 25 years of experience. He's been featured on TLC's documentary “ the half ton Mom” and “the half ton Dad”. He's the author of the new best selling book on Amazon "Skinny Jeans...at Last".
