It is a struggle as Gren says to lose the weight and keep it off.
Things that **** me are the haters, people who can see I am losing weight and know I am going to the gym and working hard. I have those people trying to get me to eat cake and chocolate, bringing it into my office and telling me it won't hurt once. They also sneer at me and call me a gym junkie on the way out of the building each night when I am off to the gym and they the Pub, telling me I am sad etc. I figure they are haters (all overweight themselves) at my motivation, dedication and determination. Some nights in the gym when I am hurting and think about giving up I think about certain items of clothing I want to wear again and that pushes me through the pain and tiredness. After on the way home I feel pumped, alive and proud of myself.
On the subject of clean eating, once you start it's not easy to eat **** food. A few weeks ago I decide to have a cheat meal at a business meeting electing to have barramundi and chips. OMG, what a bad decision. At 9pm my tummy started to feel heavy and by 11pm I started vomiting. Deep fried crap is now off the table for cheat meals. Back when I used to be super slim and fit I found I couldn't eat junk food for the same reason, used to make me feel ill for hours.
I watch ads on TV for lite meals, shakes and other meal replacements wondering why people do it. Those fads are quick fix, once you drop the weight you go back to eating your pre-diet foods and wham - fatty boom boom again.
Lap banding is fine by me as a kick start to losing weight but if you are simply going to push bad food in smaller portions down your throat there is a high chance when the band comes off (I assume this is what happens) you are just going to start eating bigger portions of bad food and stack it back on. You should also exercise daily, get your fat ass off the couch and go smell the roses. As someone once said to me, we are going for a brisk walk, not stopping to examine dog **** along the way!!
Also alcohol is a killer for putting on weight. I will admit stopping my nightly glass of wine or stubbie of beer after work was a challenge as I enjoyed it taking the edge off my day (I have a high stress job at times) but I treat myself to a glass of red on a weekend.
Like Gren, I am determined to keep the weight off as I know it is far better living with a healthy fit body.