I've been reading through this thread and I'm pretty surprised about the hype around the gastric balloon...it's been around in Germany for a long time, and has proven not to be the best idea.
You can cheat (all liquids and liquid food can still be consumed), which means you might keep your weight. As soon as the balloon is removed, chances are very high that you'll get the weight back, because you actually haven't learned anything about nutrition, or how to keep the weight down.
Somebody mentioned baby food, which made me laugh a little...I had a gastric band a few years back and ate the baby food, until I noticed the calorie content of that stuff....some of these glasses have more calories than a proper meal, so chances are if you keep on eating that stuff, you'll actually gain weight, despite the balloon.
I have changed my eating habits on the 8th of August, and have lost over 30 lbs so far. I am not dieting, I am not starving myself, I am just paying attention to what I eat, and how I eat it, and do 45 minutes of exercise a day at the moment. I am continually loosing between 3 - 4 lbs a week, without any weird objects being put into my stomach, and without putting my health at risk.
I am not blaming anybody for chosing to have the balloon put in, but I would caution everybody who wants to do it, and suggest that they try a more natural and healthy approach to weight loss. It's much more fun to be able to eat pretty much whatever you want (within reason), feel healthy and lose the weight for good than to have something stuck in your stomach, live of mashed potatoes and baby food, and pile the pounds back on as soon as the thing comes out.