I’m sorry that you are frustrated and I don’t want to take anything away from your vent because it is ok to feel the way you feel.
There are a lot of things your Dr doesn’t tell you. I feel like I went into this blind even though I thought I had done my research. There was nothing in the surgery pamphlet that told me about PB'ing which I found out after surgery.
It does take a lot of time to get to restriction. I have the smallest band and it took me a year to get there, but he’s right...if you adjust too fast without letting your stomach heal from the last fill it can hurt you.
I do feel like I did this all on my own without help from the band to "put me in check" but it is possible…. I had lost 86lbs at my 1 year check up and that was without having restriction (only had restriction now for two months) I have asked myself why the hell did I have surgery if I could have done this on my own, but the truth is I couldn’t have...the band may have not given me a physical "check" but it did give me a mental "check" I am terrified of messing up my band so I followed the rules.
Hang in there, you will get there eventually...but you can do it without having full restriction too. I know how hard it is, I describe it as putting a rock in front of a crack head and telling them they can’t smoke it...food is an addiction at least for me it is and we have to face our addictions three times a day. We can't just quit food like someone can quit smoking. I wish I could tell you that the brain changes with the band, but it don’t fix that part.
Best wishes,
Jen