If you're 'not known for your willpower', you should forget about the idea of surgery right here and now. Living on the restricted diet that the band forces you to requires more willpower than any lifestyle change, diet or exercise program. I can tell you now, without the shadow of a doubt, that the band will not help you, and all you will achieve is a heap of medical problems on top of the extra weight.
The band doesn't help you to manage your 'eating disorder' (which I don't think you have in the first place, just for the record). On the contrary, it will actually give you one if you're not careful. The band works by punishing you for overeating (and sometimes, just for eating at all). You eat too much, or the wrong things, or too quick, and the punishment will be violent pain, cramps and vomitting (in the best case). A similar concept as a well known eating disorder - you eat, then feel bad for eating, and bring it all back up. The only difference is that in the first instance it is the band that makes you throw up, and in the second, you actively do it yourself. The result is almost identical though.
Apart from that, I whole heartedly disagree with your 'not everyone can lose weight with exercise and diet'. Yes, everyone can. Unless there is a serious medical condition that makes it impossible for you to lose weight despite being in a caloric deficit and regular physical exercise, absolutely everybody can. And medical conditions like that are rarer than winning the lottery three times in a row.
Yes, everybody is different. Weight loss is different for everybody. There is no 'one size fits all' rule on this. But the basics are the same for everybody: If you eat less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. Period. If you add exercise to the mix, you have a good chance of losing weight faster, since you burn more calories.
There is no need for running or doing aerobics, a simple walk in the park can be added as exercise if that is more than you are doing right now. There are plenty of ways to include exercise without overdoing it. When I started, I was almost 400 lbs. I couldn't run (heck, I still can't), and Aerobics were a distant dream. I started by walking, and swimming. Swimming is brilliant - no impact, gentle on the joints, yet done on a regular basis and properly, it can definitely help you lose weight and get you into shape, maybe even enable you to go on to more rigorous exercise after losing some weight.
In the end, yes, it is a personal choice. But to me, as somebody who has been there and done that, the band is the answer to looking for a quick fix, looking for something that will do the job for you rather than doing it yourself. You don't want to learn how to control yourself, you want something to control things for you, something that 'forces' you to change your eating habits rather than changing them yourself. And for a short while, it will work. You can't spend any amount of time eating almost nothing and vomitting your heart out and not lose weight. So yeah, you'll get your kickstart alright. Of course there is the issue of not learning anything, and not being able to eat healthily due to the restrictions of the band, and the fact that once the band comes out, you still won't have any willpower and an even bigger craving for the food that you have been deprived of for the time you had the band, thus being at immense risk of putting the weight back on. But hey, in the end, it is your body and your decision, and the only real way to learn something is from your own mistakes.
Originally Posted by Sally Anne Dore
Hi, having read this thread I feel that the response to surgery has an option to weight loss is an over-reaction. We are all different and our bodies handle the extra weight differently. Because one person looses their weight through exercise and diet does not mean that everyone can. I don’t think surgery is a quick fix, I think it provides a “control†that forces you into learning how to manage your eating disorder. Personally I am considering surgery to supplement a eating plan and exercise regime - I am not able to run/fast walk or do aerobics etc without doing serious injury. And personally if I am prepared to pay for the surgery I think its really a personal choice. I am not known for my willpower and if I can get a kickstart somehow I am grabbing it with both hands. You are all also forgetting the psycological aspect of weight and the feelings of helplessness and hopelessness one ends up with after having failed at hundreds of diets, and countless hours in the gym. My body, mind and spirit need a change!
Take care.