Emily51501,

Ok, here my 2 ¢ .. none of these operations are successful weight loss surgeries, and all of these operations are successful weight loss surgeries. Sounds like I just contradicted myself, well yes and no. It’s truly not the operation that causes the success, it’s the person. These operations are tools, and you need to be willing to work the tool in order to be successful. If you’re thinking the operation will do it for you, you’re sadly mistaken.

While some say bypass allows you to lose more weight then a band, that’s also not 100% true. The averages show that folks lose between 60% and 80% of their excess weight with bypass, compared to 40% to 60% with a band. However, I know bypass patients who haven’t loss more then 30%, and band patients who have lost at least 80%

I wanted to lose 220 pound, and my Doctor said, while it would take a great deal of work, it was possible to do it with the band. I was 435 pounds. I am happy to say, I WORKED my band, and lost as much as a bypass patient. I am elated to say I made my 220 goal. That's almost 90% of my excess body weight. It took 3 years, but I did it.

What you need to stop and decide is what type of eater are you, and your medical condition. If you have type 2 diabetes (for less than 10 years) you can address that quicker with a bypass then a band (however it is possible to address it with a band – I know a few people who have). If you like sweets, then bypass may be the better choice. If you’re a large volume eater, then band may be the best choice.

Finally, as for Doctors concentrating on one certain procedure over another, I personally haven’t heard that. In fact I spoke to various Bariatric Doctors in NJ about this, and none have heard that Doctors are opting out of one style for another. Not saying it’s not true, it’s not common in NJ. While I am no medical expert, my feeling is if one operation was truly more successful then the others, then the medical community (and insurance companies) would demand folks get one procedure over the others. An example, in NJ the “Rose" procedure is no longer being covered, and many Doctors are no longer doing this procedure because they feel it’s not been successful.

No matter what procedure you decide to have, know I (and many others) are here for you. It doesn’t matter if it’s band, bypass, sleeve, ds, bib, etc. How we get healthy isn’t important. Getting healthy is.