- You could always tell them that the death of the person has you too upset to eat.

- Bring your protein shake and say that you're getting over a horrendous stomach flu. Thoughts of vomiting and diarrhea usually stop any further discussion.

At her peak weight of 308 pounds, Jen Larsen would dream about getting skinny.

"I fantasized about it," Larsen, overweight since childhood, told ABC News. "It's the fairytale of weight loss. You lose the weight, and you are beautiful and you are happy."

Larsen's dreams drove her to undergo bariatric weight-loss surgery in 2006.

"I saw the before and after photos, and I leapt into it," she said. "I had tunnel vision. All I could see was this idea of me being thin."

Larsen, 39, of Ogden, Utah, did become thin - she lost 180 pounds. But she also found that as her weight went down, her unhappiness crept up.

"Being thin didn't make me happy," she said. "I'm still looking in the mirror, and I'm still hating what I see."

The unhappiness confronted by Larsen, which she wrote about in her book, " Stranger Here: How My Weight-Loss Surgery Transformed My Body and Messed With My Head," is not uncommon, experts said.

"Obese people live with the illusion, or the fairytale that if they lost the weight their lives would be better," said Dr. Bethany Marshall, a California psychoanalyst.

"What happens is, when they lose the buffer, they feel that people are scrutinizing them," she said.

Larsen said that after her own weight loss she too had to deal with what she called her "real psychological struggles," including depression.

Still, Larsen said she did not regret going under the knife to lose weight, and said her life was easier as a thinner person.

She did say, however, that it was important to look beyond just the number on the scale.

"I want my goal to not be a size and a number," Larsen said. "I want my goal to be strong and to run a marathon and to be comfortable in my own skin."

"I am pretty happy," she said.

Haven't heard of him, but hello from Bridgeport! 

You need to remember that the band has only been approved in the US for about 12 years. But the intent is that once it's in, it can stay in forever.

In their experience with 276 patients, who underwent LABG a minimum of 9 years ago, despite good initial weight loss, 146 (52.9%) patients had at least one complication requiring reoperation.

Presently, only 148 (53.6%) patients still have their original band, 49 (17.8%) had their original band replaced with a new one, and 79 (28.6%) had their band removed.

Doesn't say how many "had to" have their band removed and, once again, it was a study of less than 300 people.

there was a study that showed something like 80% of people needed it removed or replaced in eight years or less. 

Can we see a link to that "study", please?

I don't listen to anything but my iPod, but I do have a "gym mix" of songs that either have good, fast beats (100 bpm) or just motivate me in general (like "Feelin' Stronger Every Day".)

Are these actually LAPBAND issues, or SURGEON/HOSPTIAL issues???

Yes, it WILL be a calorie increase, but if you stick with the program, it's not like you'll be going from 500 to 5,000 calories a day. You can do it!

I find it depends on both the brand and the flavor. Chobani I am no much of a fan of, because I notice that its acidity (or whatever) makes my mouth feel weird. Okios I like and I ADORE their toasted coconut vanilla flavor so much that when I can find it, I buy almost all they have, Big Y brand is very good, too.

Those options used to appear at the bottom of every posting, and now they're gone. Yet another OH change for the worse?

All my friends in Colorado can't figure out why I am hating this snow here in CT. I'm not a big fan of winter in the first place, and this is not making me like it any better. It WOULD be nice if the city would plow the streets so emergency vehicles would have a shot at getting in to help people.

http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/lapband/