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my first fill didnt work either so I know what your feeling. the fact my son was getting married in 3 months made me stick to the diet and lose otherwise I wouldnt have lost an ounce. the others are right though about having to wait a few days sometimes for the fill to kick in,thats happened to me a couple of times. I know what you mean about having to diet without restriction, if I could do that I wouldnt have needed the band ! your probably the same, sometimes I wonder where the docs heads are at. for instance, the 1st doctor I saw wanted me to lose 80lbs before I got the band and eat what I would be eating when banded to "prove my commitment" huh ????? the surgeon who banded me has a wife who has been also banded and he knows all the thrills and spills, asks you not to eat meat and bread and candy, fills you then will add a bit or take some out until your comfortable and leaves it up to the patient to judge whether the fill is working or not. to my mind that makes more sense. as for exercise I was far to big to be exercising and Im still not, thats cos Im lazy no other reason, but the weight still comes off at my size even if I dont. no doubt that will change as I get lighter *sigh I read somwhere that you have to run up the stairs of the Eiffel tower and back down again 165 times to lose 3lbs of fat --so thats my excuse, I live too far away from Paris !! after a year (today) of the band, my need to lose it and lose it fast has diminished a lot, this will no doubt happen to you and you will realise that once you get the right amount in your band and you folllow the rules you HAVE to lose weight. Its hard to get the yo yo dieting mentality out of your head which was for me, omg I havnt lost weight this week, omg Im going to stop losing and gain it all back, panic panic panic then I realised that there will be highs and lows and that with the band the general direction is down, with a few bumps along the slope good luck and hopefully he will realise that you need more restriction. fingers crossed for you

thanks for the lovely welcome, I had good advice from an experienced bandster before I went for the band which was DIET ! so thats what I've tried to do, some days ive been naughty but most days Ive stuck to around 1200 calories and found it very very easy compared to the days without the band.

pre-banding, I never felt as though Id had enough to eat, I was never satisfied, even after christmas dinner Id be stuffed to the gills, then half an hour later, Id be looking for more food to pick at. When my mother would comment on my large portions I would deny that they were out of the ordinary and nothing would have convinced me otherwise. I realise now that this was simply because I was used to that amount and it looked normal to ME. recently I went to lunch with a fellow bandster and two ladies who are morbidly obese and thinking of getting the band, fellow bandster and I ploughed our way through a bowl of soup each while the other ladies got through 3 courses (big portions) whilst all the time lamenting that they didnt eat that much and planning what they were going to have for dinner that evening, going into fine detail especially where the sweet was concerned. I realised that that was me a year ago, as I was eating, I would be planning my next meal, in fact, I thought constantly about food, the only time I DIDNT think about it was when I was actually eating it and stuffed it down as fast as I could. Im fat because I ate too much, I have tried and tried to think of psychological problems I might have that have caused me to overeat, cant come up with any, my "enough button" was broken and now its fixed. If someone pinched my band when I wasnt looking I have no doubt that I would be back to normal, so maybe fixed isnt the word, but its fixed while I have good restriction and thats enough for me.

the only time I get reflux probs at night is when I eat late maybe about 4 times in a year ive suffered from it, pre band I suffered nightly, daily afternoonly and morningly !!!!!!

I have the cousin band hich holds 9cc and have 6.5 cc in it. I think this is my "sweet spot" fingers crossed I cant eat meat of any kind, bread, fruit, (mashed banana is fine) rice, pasta unless I chew it to death. And im losing weight fine. my downfall is mints like altoids, I swear I wont eat any each day then cave and eat lots of them, so they are slowing my weight loss a bit but I shall battle on against the cravings.

I cant eat bread, meat Pasta or rice, I tried, lord knows I tried lol but I was in too much pain so ive left them alone. I only eat what I can comfortably break with the side of my fork and I stay pain free. In the UK we call this pain a PB (productive burping) might be the same here but by any name it isnt pleasant is it. after my fills I usually stay on Soup for a couple of days whilst the band adjusts to its new filling. but yes, the restriction your feeling is correct it makes it hard to eat the way you did and it takes a few days to realise that its a whole new ball game once more. try eating more mushy stuf like soup, cottage pie and if you can cut out the bread and pasta as it doesnt break down well to go through your newly smaller opening into your small tum. you will soon get used to what you can have and cant have. good luck and look foreward to a whooshy weight loss !! re the first post saying food was my friend but now my band is, I couldnt agree more I realise now, food was my enemy, pretending to be my friend, it was killing me (410lbs) now I love being in control, and eating small portions, feeling full is new to me, I could never get enough, now I can stop and forget about eating until next time I feel a bit hungry or more correctly "peckish" as hunger isnt a problem for me now

Ive had 5 fills so far and not one of them was even slightly painful. not even when he puts the needle into your skin ! I am also a coward so I was worried when I went to the first fill but honestly it will be fine I have several friends who have had the band and they all agree that the pain ranges from nil, to slight ok this is my experience of the fill, you go in get weighed and then lie down he cleans the port site with a medi swab wipe and then takes a few ccs of saline in the syringe prods about a bit till he finds your port and puts the needle in as Ive said Ive never experienced any pain with this, two of my fills I got a slight "sucking" sensation then thats it, he sticks a little band aid on the site and off you go. My surgeon gives you a glass of Water to drink. sip it slowly and feel it going down, you should feel it sitting there slowly going into your tum, try drinking a couple of glasses at least before you leave. if the water just goes straight down with no problem, its worth asking him if you could possibly have some more in your fill. the best fill I had was when the water was sitting there for about 10 mins before it went down properly,and I kept burping the worst fill Ive ever seen was my friend whom I went with (300 miles) for her fill and it seemed fine. then, on the way home,she realised she was sealed shut !! so we had to turn around and go back another 150 miles, just caught her surgeon leaving,but he took one cc back out and she was fine then --- went on to lose 50lbs before she needed her next fill. the fills are very much a hit and miss thing in my experience, my first one I got 5 cc from a surgeon other than my own, and couldnt understand why it wasnt working, when i went to my own guy, my band was completely empty !! obviously the first guy had missed the port opening. I think I have reached what they call the "sweet spot" which is just right for me. I might not need another fill now ever !! so fingers crossed sometimes you think that you have a wonderful restriction, then next day, its gone and you panic, next day its back with a vengeance, mine is looser at night than early daytime. with two of my fills I thought they hadnt worked much until about 3 days later when the restriction got a lot better. good luck and lets know how it all goes

aww, dont worry, everyone is right, you just need a fill, once you have that you will realise the difference. your tum is made of elastic ! it will stretch to accomodate a lot of food (ie, chistmas dinner) then it simply goes back to its proper size thank heavens or mine would be the size of a bouncy castle by now, so dont panic about stretching your top tum. once you have the fill the band will tighten and leave a much smaller hole for the food to drop through into your big tum and you will be full much faster and providing you dont drink whilst eating (this will wash it through faster) it will stay in the top bit longer thus satisfying you for a lot longer than now. good luck and dont be fretting over something you cant help, by the way that weight loss is fantastic well done