dustout

I would say get a slight unfill if it doesnt get better soon. Once unfilled a tiny bit, you will be able to eat more solid food so you wont get so hungry by dinner. Being overfilled causes you to eat softer foods which partially defeats the band's method of action. Also try a snack between lunch and dinner. Unless you have optimum restriction, you may get too hungry between those meals and that causes your brain to tell you to eat more. My doctor said this too. Better to eat a healthy, high protein snack than to starve so much that you eat the equivalent extra of several snacks at dinner. :regular_smile: Keep us updated and good luck!

trapped inside, The most I've had with the band was about 5 hours. But for the most time I'm usually around 4. Right now I'm only about 2 hours of satisfaction. I need a fill horribly band but my doctor is booked up for TWO more weeks. It's awful. So hungry right now. I've always gotten in the moment I needed a fill, but not this time. I guess everyone is needing fills lately... Its been too long between fills and too much weight lost. I can't believe I just said too much weight lost! haha! I'd say that I _LOVE_ the band, but hate got to the doctor for getting fills... but I need them. I've also heard that as you lose more weight you start needing fills less and less since there's only so much fat around the upper stomach, so maybe things will get better for you there too. Do you have the A.P. (advanced performance) lapband? That's what I have...

It sounds like you are just getting to the edge of the restriction. I have had to get a fill about every 20 pounds I lose, but im getting a lot more fill each time... maybe your doctor could give you a more vigorous fill. Does your doctor use flouro or do they just go off of what you tell them? My doctor goes off how much I say I eat and how long it takes me to get hungry again after eating.

alamess you probably need more fill. My doctor gave me a ton more than .5 per fill... I would have gone insane... I bet you will like it more once you have restriction

That's sounding about like me... I'm starting to eat about 1 cup of food each meal (was .5 cup for a while after last fill), but it only keeps me satisfied for about 2 hours now... fill scheduled for 2 weeks from now.

Same here.... I called to schedule a fill and they cant get me in until the 15th... Always before they got me in the next day! Aahhhh two weeks! I am going to have to take up mountain climbing or something to combat all the food I'm eating! Okay, it's a ton less food than pre-banding, but it's still no fun to slow down on the loss journey.. plus I dont like getting hungry so often. It was so nice to be happy with a few meals and a Protein drink. :crying: They said to try calling back to check for cancellations so I might do that... Woot! A cancellation! I'm getting on the 8th. Thanks goodness.

The last time I needed a fill, I was eating about 1 and 1/4 cup food, and getting hungry between meals and snacking. Right now, I'm only eating 3/4 cup food, but I lways get hungry between meals now and am snacking between meals as a result, to hold me over (trying to stick to healthy snacking, but its still adding too many calories). I was just wondering if others get hungry between meals when they need a fill, even if they aren't eating a whole lot more than half a cup. My doctor seems a bit strict on giving fills if you are eating less than a cup, but I'm hungry often. I swear it's generally not head hunger, though I have experienced that (head hunger to me feels more like a craving, actual hunger more in my stomach). The lack of hunger just doesn't seem to last long lately... perhaps a couple of hours. Also, I'm NEVER getting any kind of stuck feeling or caught in the stomach feeling. I used to get it occassionally for a second or two if I rushed things or carelessly swallowed a large chunk. I THINK I'm just stopping too early or something at the hint of satisfaction and it's the food moves through too fast. So in short, do you ever need a fill due to getting hungry too soon rather than just eating too large amounts? Is the band tricking me into stopping eating before I get enough of the 'full' sensation to keep me satisfied long enough? I'm not losing very much weight anymore either. I do need to exercise more, but at the same time, I'm still doing some and making healthy food choices... but I'm eating pretty often the past couple of weeks. It's solid foods (mostly chicken and various veggies and such) and I'm not drinking for a little bit before and for at least 30 mins after and I try to stretch that to an hour if im not too thirsty. Thanks for your advice. I just dont want to go into my doctor and be denied a fill or anything. It just seems like I should be eating larger quanties if I needed a fill. I've only had two fills that gave actual restriction, with the last one giving me the most. I'm still kind of getting used to this fill stuff. Oh, and I've lost about 22 pounds since my last fill about 9 weeks ago. More than the 2lb/wk. Most of my weight loss was in the beginning though.

Correct! Sorry about it being kind of unclear... it's kind of a hard question to figure out how to ask.... If you've reached your sweet spot at least once, then lost restriction from losing weight and and got more fill to fix that lessening restriction, then you're perfect to vote.. :crying: Basically I want to omit people that are new to the band and are trying to trying to get that first sweet spot. A lot of them can eat like they dont have a band yet...

Hello! I need some advice really badly. I need to find some foods that have good crunch and are healthy (especially low calorie. Protein, Fiber, etc are important too). I am doing HORRIBLE with the band lately. I've been craving crunchy foods since the pre-band liquid diet and lately I just can't stay away from them. I discovered the joy of cajun organic seseme sticks and homemade granola from the local health-food store. I am now forcing my roommate to eat the ones I bought since I'm addicted to them. I'm not much of a cook so I have a hard time making good things to eat. Add in my desire for something with a crunch, and I'm screwed. The chicken & veggie meal just doesn't cut it without some crunch. The best success I've had is tossing on a few bits of seseme sticks on my chicken. This adds some crunch and since it's only a few pieces, it doesn't add many calories, but I tend to want more. I also am trying to decide whether to get a fill now. I had been losing about 3lb/week until I gave into my crunchy desires. This last week I lost zero pounds (well, close enough neither of my scales register it). Part of that is being lazy this week. I went on Spring Break so I wasn't out and about walking to classes daily and the gym hours were restricted severely. My restriction isn't very good either right now. Put simply, I'm not making good choices since I'm munching on seseme sticks and granole. BUT, if I got a fill, I would probably have less desire for these. When I have good restriction, my cravings for these things are VERY managable. Part of me wants really badly to schedule a fill for this Tuesday (my doctor can get me in at one days notice for a fill). I think the more responsible thing to do though would be to wait it out a week and watch more closely what I'm eating, exercise properly, and see how I lose. Another question: When its time for another fill for you, do you JUST get hungry often, or JUST eat a lot more at each meal, or a combination of both? I'm sticking to around 1/2 cup but I'm getting hungry in about 2 hours. After my last fill I could go 4-5 hours Sorry for the rambling. I keep leaving this site for a long time then coming back and exploding with questions! haha! I need to stick around more consistently instead of wandering off for a while on my own. I am going to convince myself to at least wait a week so I can address my recent eating habits more and see if I need a fill yet or stick it out a bit. I know I have room for a fill but I dont know if still losing enough with my current state (when im not eating seseme sticks at least..)

Good luck with surgery! I'm sure you will love being banded! Just at least make sure to go to full liquids when they tell you to so your stomach will be relaxed and ready for surgery. Good luck and keep us updated!

Congratulations!!!!

62 pounds lost! I'm currently doing horribly at keeping myself from cheating. I'm in my senior year of college and I tend to 'reward' myself for getting through a horrible day with eating something less healthy. It's something I need to continue to work on. Interestingly as I got MORE restriction, I got more of a desire to eat less healthy things. I think maybe that since quantity of food went down, I desired more 'tasty' things? I'm doing great at eating healthy when I don't cheat though so I'm still losing decently. I just need to stick to it and work on my weakneses. My roommate is skinny and can eat anything he wants in and quantity and he is more lazy than me and he gains no weight so that makes things a little harder. He is amazed I can live on the band diet, lol.

I haven't found any foods that I can't eat. I've only 'slimed' once (and purposely did a PB in respsonse). A few days after a fill I was back on solids. I went out to eat with a friend about 15 minutes after waking up. I got some noodles. Since I had just had a fill I wanted to be safe and eat something I knew would go down easily just in case since this was my first fill with real restriction. Well, the noodles clogged up good and I slimed for the one and only time. I got a stuck feeling and it wouldnt go away. After a few minutes of feeling awful and it not going down, I went to the bathroom, leaned over the link thinking I would spit out maybe a piece of noodle I hadnt chewed good. Instead, a few bits of chewed up noodle came out and a ton of clear mucus. So gross. It was like a huge drooly blob of clear slime. Yuck. I instantly felt better though and was able to continue eating although I chewed my noodles to liquid for that meal. I'm tighter in the morning. I've gotten a couple of stuck feelings since then but only for a few seconds. My biggest problem now is that this is the point in a diet where I would normally fail and quit. The band won't let me though. I've been eating pretty unhealthily lately... I'm still losing though. The band is working well for me. I keep the Protein up, but I keep giving in to bad choices. When I follow the band rules, I lose 3 pounds a week. Eating whatever I want I lose 1 pound. I need to get back on track. I think I'm falling into my old habbit of thinking "It's been a bad/hard/long day, I will cheat tonight to lift my mood". But then it takes less and less of a bad day to get me cheating. Oops! Sorry, I got way off track!! I haven't been on here much lately...

I have not used insurance for fills yet since I'm under the grace period still.... HOWEVER, my insurance tells me that, YES they DO cover fills if they covered the surgery. We called on two separate occasions to verify this. They gave me this Insurance Reference Number to give my doctor: 0207589397001 I would suggest calling and checking to make sure they will cover it for you but it looks like it's a YES. My doctor says they won't bill insurance for fills since they usually don't cover it but when I told them that my insurance said they cover it, they said they would be happy to file it for me. woot!

They appear to have a NEW policy on the band effective January of 2008. It looks about the same as the previous one except it adds more information about what revisions of previous band/bypass surgeries are covered and what isn't... it's basically the same policy but expanded with many more details. Kind of harder to read now though.... Lapband Policy for anthem BC/BS as of January 2008: SURG.00024 Surgery for Clinically Severe Obesity Interestingly, I also found this policy on when they cover Panniculectomy and Abdominoplasty (removal of stomach sagging down from lots of excess skin)... This is good info to know for the future if you encounter problems with the stomach area: SURG.00048 Panniculectomy and Abdominoplasty Hope this helps!

I have not been thirsty a single time since surgery EXCEPT when eating or after until I drink... but I can't drink then so I have to wait. Once I drink I instantly lose my thirst. I keep forcing myself to drink. I have NO restriction against Water so I can drink plenty of it but I have no desire for it so it's kind of unpleasant to drink it... it's like my body is saying BLEH! I'm not thirsty! I've taken to filling up a bunch of water and sitting it out to remind myself to drink. I know getting enough water is an issue for many bandsters but I was curious if thirst was mostly gone in the same way for others. It's very strange... I'll just keep reminding myself to hydrate between meals to try and keep myself in a good hydration range.

So does liquid back up if you don't just sip when drinking? I can down a ton no problem... of course, I don't think I have much restriction. I'm losing weight still so my doctor won't give me more fill yet. I'm curious what it's like drinking after you have good restriction. It doesn't sound very pleasant...

I found out the hard way that peanutbutter dissolves gum. I was chewing some in highschool (not allowed) then a friend gave me some peanut m&m's.... well. I just popped them in and chewed it all together. the next thing I know, I've got a mouth full of glue. It dissolved the gum into a sticky goo. I spent all lunch break trying to get it out since it was so gooey and gross.... I swallowed maybe half of it and the rest I used paper towels to try and wipe out lol. It was awful... It happened fast too. Very strange.

I had it occassionaly pre-surgery. Absolutely none after surgery. I love my band!

I got my second fill yesterday, one week after the first since the first didn't do anything. My doctor allows a bit of tweaking one week after a fill of the first one didn't do anything. I'm not at 6.0cc in my 10.0cc AP band. They said most people there are between 6.0cc and 8.0cc in this band. I'm on mushy until tomorrow afternoon so it's hard to tell if I have much restriction yet. I just ate one very very muchy scrambled egg though and it seems to have been more filling than I would expect so I'm hopeful! Even without restriction I've still been losing though so I'm fairly happy. I just look forward to being less hungry when sticking to the band diet. Has anyone else had a second fill or up to around 6.0cc's yet? Also I'd be curious to know how many calories a day you are consuming. I'm keeping my intake at or slightly below 1000 calories.

I have _PERFECT_ restriction! 4 ounces makes me feel perfectly satisfied to stop eating, and I'm staying full long enough. Yesterday I actually had to remember to eat because I hadn't had enough to eat in the day due to not getting hungry. I'm so happy!

I got my second fill yesterday, one week after the first since the first didn't do anything. My doctor allows a bit of tweaking one week after a fill of the first one didn't do anything. I'm not at 6.0cc in my 10.0cc AP band. They said most people there are between 6.0cc and 8.0cc in this band. I'm on mushy until tomorrow afternoon so it's hard to tell if I have much restriction yet. I just ate one very very muchy scrambled egg though and it seems to have been more filling than I would expect so I'm hopeful! Even without restriction I've still been losing though so I'm fairly happy. I just look forward to being less hungry when sticking to the band diet. Has anyone else had a second fill or up to around 6.0cc's yet? Also I'd be curious to know how many calories a day you are consuming. I'm keeping my intake at or slightly below 1000 calories.

The support groups can definitely be useful! It's really good to hear from others going through similar things and understand how things are for you. A lot of people just don't understand it all. Support is good.

Remember that liquids will go down easily so you will intake too many calories to get full. If you're sliming or filling 'stopped up' TOO much you may be too tight. By being too tight it sounds like you're eating too soft of foods to try and avoid the problems but this causes you to not loose weight. Talk to your doctor and see about getting a little fill removed. You should certainly be able to eat SOLID food! That is very important for the band!

I was banded October 15, 07 and felt the same way. I was up and around the day after surgery and could swallow just fine. I got my first fill last week but it didn't do anything so they put more in yesterday. I just finished eating a really runny muchy scrambled egg an I'm full. My only real symptom of having the band before now was burping much much more than I used to. Just hang in there! I felt like they didn't give me a band and I can definitely tell it's there now. That was a tiny egg! I could eat anything before the fills! Sandwich with soft untoasted bread? No problem! I think that's changing though. Good luck to you all!