Initially, you will be interviewed over the telephone to provide basic information that will be used to establish your eligibility for gastric band surgery. If you meet all the criteria for gastric band surgery, you will be asked to come into the Center for Weight Loss to meet with one or more members of the surgical team. They will discuss the details of the procedure, its risks and potential side effects and the follow-up program that follows surgery.

You will be referred to the Weight Management Program for diet and behavioral modification guidelines before the gastric band surgery.

As you prepare for your gastric band surgery, you should eat sensibly - as if you had already had the surgery. Try to limit your total intake of calories by 25%. Do not put yourself on a fad diet or go on an eating binge. Start increasing your physical activity by walking, biking, swimming or other activities you enjoy and would be likely to do after your surgery and for the rest of your life.

You should see your primary care physician for a preoperative checkup. Additionally, your surgeon may request other specific consultations or examinations.

Before your gastric band surgery date, you will have an appointment with your surgeon. This is when you should bring up your questions or concerns. During this visit, you will be given specific instructions about lab work, where and when to arrive, medications and appointments after your surgery.

Make sure that you let the nurse coordinator know when you schedule your gastric band surgery if you are on any blood thinning agents, such as Coumadin, Plavix, aspirin or ibuprofen.

The day before your surgery, you will have a regular breakfast, followed by clear liquids the rest of the day. This includes water, clear juice, tea, coffee, popsicles, gelatin and broth.

Any heart and blood pressure medications should be taken as usual until the night before your gastric band surgery. Other medications require specific recommendations from your doctor or surgeon.

After midnight the evening before your gastric band surgery, you may not eat or drink anything (not even water) unless told otherwise by your doctor. If you have any questions about your instructions before surgery, contact the nurse coordinator.

Just before your gastric band surgery, you will be taken to a room to wait for your procedure. The nurses will start an IV on your arm. Your abdomen will be shaved if necessary, and special pneumatic compression devices will be put on your legs to help prevent blood clots from forming while you are under general anesthesia. You will also be given antibiotics and, possibly, a small dose of heparin (to prevent blood clots). You may be given a sedative if you and your anesthesiologist feel it is necessary.

If your gastric band surgery is done laparoscopically, your surgeon will make several small incisions (each about an inch long) in various places on your abdomen. Tubes will be put into these small incisions to provide a passage into your abdomen.

One tube will have a very tiny camera through which your surgeon can see inside your abdomen on a video monitor. Others will allow the surgeon to place the gastric band around your stomach. If any difficulties arise, your surgeon may use an open procedure. In this case, he or she will make a vertical incision about eight inches long in your abdomen to expose your stomach.

During the gastric band surgery, your surgeon will place the band around your stomach to create a narrow opening between the upper and lower parts of your stomach. Another tube with an inflatable balloon will be passed into your mouth, esophagus and stomach to allow the surgeon to make the upper pouch the correct size. When it is, the surgeon attaches the band and secures it in place by sewing parts of the two sections of your stomach over the band. Then the tube and balloon are removed from your esophagus and stomach. The surgeon will implant the reservoir port just below your rib cage.

Patients are usually able to leave the hospital the day after gastric band surgery, but this depends on your surgeon's recommendation about your specific case. You should return to your surgeon for routine postoperative care about a week after you leave the hospital. Also at that time you should enroll in the Weight Management Program.

When you get home, you should walk as much as is comfortable for you. Light housework, driving and other daily activities can usually begin five days after surgery. You should avoid heavy exercise and limit lifting to 20 pounds or less. Although some patients are able to go back to sedentary jobs within a week after surgery, it is more usual to wait two to three weeks.

Almost all people who require bariatric surgery have had problems with overeating. The reasons for this are complex and may involve genetics, emotions, upbringing or brain functions.

None of this changes after gastric band surgery. The only difference is that the upper stomach is now restricted. Eating more than the new pouch can hold or eating too many calorie-dense foods can cause vomiting, expansion of the pouch, weight gain or even rupture of the stomach.

Education, counseling, group support and certain medications can help to prevent overeating. These are just as important as diet to the success of your operation.

You should be monitored closely during the time when you are rapidly losing weight. You will be seen at the Cedars-Sinai Center for Weight Loss about every three months during the first year after surgery.

The amount of weight lost after gastric band surgery varies, depending on your age, your weight before surgery, your ability to exercise and the type of weight loss surgery you have.

On average, patients lose about a third of their initial weight in the first year to 18 months. Heavier patients tend to lose more weight, but initially lighter patients are more likely to lose a greater percentage of their excess weight and come closer to their ideal weight.

Necessary laboratory and diagnostic tests will be recommended when appropriate. You may need to return at unscheduled times.

The most common complications occurring in the first few months after gastric band surgery are nausea and vomiting. This may happen after eating too fast, drinking liquids while eating, not chewing enough or eating more than the pouch can comfortably hold.

After surgery, you will need to train yourself to chew food thoroughly, eat slowly and not overeat. While fluids are necessary to avoid dehydration and constipation, you will need to drink liquids between meals rather than at meals because there is less room available now in your stomach. Eventually, the pouch will expand to allow four to five ounces to be eaten at a meal.

Ulcers, extra stomach acid or heartburn may result from the contents of the stomach flowing into the esophagus or by swelling of the pouch. You will need to:

• Avoid citrus juices, which have a high acid content
• Avoid aspirin-type medications, such as MotrinŽ, ibuprofen, AleveŽ and AdvilŽ because they can cause ulcers. TylenolŽ may be used for minor pain.
• Take multivitamins to prevent vitamin or mineral deficiencies that can occur from losing weight too quickly

If you are not losing weight, your surgeon may put more fluid in the band to decrease the size of the opening. On the other hand, if you are losing too much weight, your surgeon may remove fluid from the band to increase the size of the opening. In rare cases, your surgeon may have to operate again to reposition, remove and replace the band.