Hi Brooke,

I had lap band surgery in 2009 after both my parents had it and were successful (momentarily as I look back now). I was 385 at the time of surgery (I’m 5’8″ and 42 now and am down to 305 – my lowest was 267). I have had some vomiting and regurgitation over the past year so I asked my doc for an Upper GI to check out the band. I have just begun to follow the SO protocol and am not yet fat adapted. I just met with the surgeon and he said I have a stretched esophagus and slight hiatal hernia and he wants to take the band out. I’ve also had gall bladder attacks the last few years. So, on September 12th, I’m having both my band and my gall bladder removed. He said I need to wait 6 months to have any kind of revision surgery. So many thoughts and feelings happening…
-I did not expect that I would HAVE TO have the band out – he said I have been fed a line of bullshit from the medical community and he removes 1-2 bands a week and they’re meant to last 2-5 years and he’s never had a patient have it last more than 10 years. I know the band failure is not my fault although I definitely should have had it checked out sooner.
-I hoped I would go in, tell him I wanted a revision to the sleeve which is less risky than the gastric bypass and works really well with a food plan like you’re suggesting (primarily so I don’t gain the 80 lbs back and obviously I’d like to lose another 100 at least). He said because of my damaged esophagus, the sleeve is not an option and he suggests the gastric bypass in 6 months.

So after I let my brain have a little “I’m a victim of circumstance tantrum”, I’ve decided that this happened the way it was supposed to. The band helped me maintain an 80 lb weight loss and surely kept me from gaining more. I have 5 weeks til surgery and I’m ALL IN on the no flour/sugar, 2 meals, 16:8 fasting plan. That way I will more than likely be fat adapted by surgery and hopefully have a few more lbs off. After surgery, I want to continue this protocol. My ultimate goal would be to lose this weight, become a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and go to your 2018 certification to be a life and weight loss coach (possibly using the niche of people with failed weight loss surgery). Kind of a crazy goal for someone who has never kept weight off ( when I told my mom this she said…shouldn’t you be thin in order to do that job…YES MOTHER…cue eye rolling).

Part of me feels like this is the perfect opportunity to prove to myself I can do this and then teach people how I did it. But I’ve been overweight since I was 9. I’ve lost and gained a million lbs. I don’t know if I can physically lose this weight and I don’t want to fail in advance which I now know I’ve been doing all my life. Getting gastric bypass would make it easy to lose weight fast but even then people gain it back and then there’s the lifetime medical ramifications. I want to spend that 6 months after surgery convincing myself that I don’t need a revision surgery. Am I crazy to think that I can do this?
UTM
C-removal of lap band
T-I’m going to gain this weight back because I’ve never been long term successful with weight loss
F-fear
A-research gastric bypass
R-get gastric bypass and ???

ITM
C-removal of band
T-this was meant to happen to allow myself to prove what’s possible
F-scared but excited
A-use this as an opportunity to prove I can do this and teach others
R-lose the damn weight, get certified, make shit happen!

This second model is what I want – but I don’t really believe it. How do I believe it???