Am I working or is the Band going to work

[shelyshely 0]

I'm so confused, on my second adjustment I told my doctor that I was trying to cut back on my food and control my intake, he corrected me and said "You don't work the band let the band work for you" he went on to say eat until you are full. I know this was not a free pass to gorge myself and eat like crazy, I still try to contain myself and eat a sensible amount of food. Well I have not lost any weight at all and at my last adjustment which was fill #4 he seems to be concerned that I have a 14cc band with a little over 10cc, he won't tell me exactly how much is in the band, he says that is not something I need to focus on. But he did tell me that the misunderstanding of the pouch filling with food and giving a feeling of fullness is a misconseption that most bandsters hold. He said the purpose is to slow down the eating process so that you will eventually stop eating because you feel that you have been eating long enough so therefore should be full.

Here's my real issue: I don't have a problem eating anything, I can eat bread, rice any meats, anything. Some stuff sticks a little (rarely) I just stop eating for a minute and it passes through and I continue on. I need the band to work for me like he originally said, I have no real self control that's why I'm the way I am. If the band is just there to slow me down but I can still eat as much as I always could and anything I used to eat this is not going to help at all. My dieting record is three months then I lose all will power and go back to my bad habits.

Someone please reassure me that this is not all there is, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and the band will assist me in my control issues. I need it to help me more than this, I'm losing control.

[Knaroz 31]

You will find your sweet spot, everyone is different. My Doc is the same wont tell the CC but believe me, 0.1 CC can be the difference between loose, tight, and too tight. It just takes time to find it. While I agree you should let the band work for you, you still have to work a bit (ie no soft, mushies, high cals) Have you reduced your hardware? By that I mean what size plates and utensils are you using? My wife and I are using 6" plates that we picked up at the Dollar Tree (we are going to go get a nice set of small plates soon as we find the size that works the best for us) and also use baby spoons and cocktail forks. What this does is we cant overload the plates with food (portion control) and we can blitz through the food (portion extension). By using the smaller utensils it allows us to savor the food, takes longer to eat, and we fill full with less food. We even use them when we go out just beacuse I dont know if I could actually use a normal size fork or spoon again lol.

[Melissannde 41]

I'm so confused, on my second adjustment I told my doctor that I was trying to cut back on my food and control my intake, he corrected me and said "You don't work the band let the band work for you" he went on to say eat until you are full. I know this was not a free pass to gorge myself and eat like crazy, I still try to contain myself and eat a sensible amount of food. Well I have not lost any weight at all and at my last adjustment which was fill #4 he seems to be concerned that I have a 14cc band with a little over 10cc, he won't tell me exactly how much is in the band, he says that is not something I need to focus on. But he did tell me that the misunderstanding of the pouch filling with food and giving a feeling of fullness is a misconseption that most bandsters hold. He said the purpose is to slow down the eating process so that you will eventually stop eating because you feel that you have been eating long enough so therefore should be full.

Here's my real issue: I don't have a problem eating anything, I can eat bread, rice any meats, anything. Some stuff sticks a little (rarely) I just stop eating for a minute and it passes through and I continue on. I need the band to work for me like he originally said, I have no real self control that's why I'm the way I am. If the band is just there to slow me down but I can still eat as much as I always could and anything I used to eat this is not going to help at all. My dieting record is three months then I lose all will power and go back to my bad habits.

Someone please reassure me that this is not all there is, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and the band will assist me in my control issues. I need it to help me more than this, I'm losing control.

The way my doctor has us eat is to weigh and measure our food, not to eat till full. The full feeling is different after banding... what we're really trying to achieve is a feeling of being satisfied, not full. He suggests 3oz of Protein and 1/2 cup of veggies per meal. That's what I serve myself (I use a scale I bought years ago to do eBaying.. think I might have pd $20.00 for it, or less). I eat that, wait 20 minutes. IF still hungry after 20 minutes, I'm allowed more veggies. Most of the time, the 3oz & 1/2 cup is enough.

If you don't have a food scale.. 3oz of Protein is about the size of a deck of cards (3 dimensional) or the palm of your hand. 1/2 cup of veggies is a Large serving spoonful or about the size of a tennis ball. Those little glass custard dishes from my childhood hold about 1/2 cup of veggies too.

You could try eating the way my doctor suggests and see if that will work for you. We are allowed Snacks between meals if needed. Keep them low calorie, low carb and high protein. Things like reduced fat string cheese, low carb yogurt, 1 teaspoon (not tablespoon) of Peanut Butter and an apple, 100 calorie packet of almonds, 50 calorie packet of beef Jerky (jack links teriyaki steak nuggets are really good).

Between meals, get in your Water. Minimum of 64oz a day.

And the previous poster is right.. a teeny fill can make a huge difference. Hang in there.

[HeatherinCA 10]

Yea hmm I could eat hell of a lot of food if I ate till I was "full". I think it's about learning what proper portion sizes are and learning what a 1200 calorie a day diet looks like. I will say, this "diet" is WAY easier than anything else i've done in the past. The band certainly does help, because I never feel hungry, or really dissatisfied. But I still have to do the work and watch what I'm eating. I'm very picky about what goes in.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

I'm so confused, on my second adjustment I told my doctor that I was trying to cut back on my food and control my intake, he corrected me and said "You don't work the band let the band work for you" he went on to say eat until you are full. I know this was not a free pass to gorge myself and eat like crazy, I still try to contain myself and eat a sensible amount of food. Well I have not lost any weight at all and at my last adjustment which was fill #4 he seems to be concerned that I have a 14cc band with a little over 10cc, he won't tell me exactly how much is in the band, he says that is not something I need to focus on. But he did tell me that the misunderstanding of the pouch filling with food and giving a feeling of fullness is a misconseption that most bandsters hold. He said the purpose is to slow down the eating process so that you will eventually stop eating because you feel that you have been eating long enough so therefore should be full.

Here's my real issue: I don't have a problem eating anything, I can eat bread, rice any meats, anything. Some stuff sticks a little (rarely) I just stop eating for a minute and it passes through and I continue on. I need the band to work for me like he originally said, I have no real self control that's why I'm the way I am. If the band is just there to slow me down but I can still eat as much as I always could and anything I used to eat this is not going to help at all. My dieting record is three months then I lose all will power and go back to my bad habits.

Someone please reassure me that this is not all there is, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and the band will assist me in my control issues. I need it to help me more than this, I'm losing control.

What your doctor has told you just reinforces what I have been saying and that is that bariatric doctors are all over the place and there is no standard of care for pre-op and post op testing or the pre & post op diets, how the band works or what and how to eat (and drink) when you start on real food. I think there should be a consistent standard of care and because there isn't there is much confusion on the part of patients. The doctors should be on the same page and the fact that they're not just shows me that they really don't know how the band really works.

I have early stage breast cancer. No matter where I would have gone for care, the process would have been the same (either lumpectomy or mastectomy - my choice) - a sentinel node biopsy, radiation and possibly chemo (depending on pathology report). But with lapbands it varies greatly from doctor to doctor. Some let you eat full meals until the day before surgery - others (like mine) require a strict 2 week liquid only diet.

That all being said you have the right to know how many cc's are in your band. Nothing should be a "only the doctor needs to know" - it's your body. You should know. And the doctor should pull out what is in your band and measure it before doing a new fill.

Ultimately you will learn what works for you. But for some, like me, the band does not work as promoted.

[Kalipso2 25]

the way i see it is if all you had to do was eat slowly until you were full, you wouldn't even need the lapband! i think i read somewhere that if a "normal" person gets full after 20 minutes of eating slowly but the band does much more than that for me! after the 2+ years of being banded, i know my body and my band so well that i can tell if i take one more bite i'll throw up. i don't understand why doctors don't want to tell their patients how much is in their band! seriously, this foreign object is inside ME, i deserve to know what's going on. i always ask how much fill is going in and what my total cc is. it's your right to know!

[happygirl65 5]

My doc says, every normal person can eat 3 oz of Protein and some veggies and after 20 minutes the hunger hormones abate and that satisfied or "not hungry" feeling will last about 2 hours.

With the band you can eat the same 3 oz Protein and 4 to 6 oz of veggies and be "satisfied" for 3 to 4 hours.

Hunger feelings and full feelings vary widely from person to person. The band will not control how much you eat, you have to control that. The band will not control what you put in your mouth, you have to control that. All the band is there for is to fool your brain into thinking you have eaten more than you have. He says also that it should take about 20 minutes to eat that 3 oz portion of meat and 4 to 6 oz of veggies and if there is anything left at 30 minutes, you are done. There is no room for grazing (which is any eating taking longer than 30 min) or you will defeat the band. No eating mushy foods or liquid calories because the defeat the purpose of the band.

If you are able to eat pretty much anything as you have said I highly recommend food journeling so you can see exactly how many calories of coming from where. When you can measure it, then you have a better idea of what is going on and can make better choices. When you reach a good fill level you should be able to eat the 1/2 c mean and 1/2 cup veg and be satsified for 3 to 4 hours. If it's sooner for you, then you just have to keep working on getting more fills...and it will get better.

[mattie7632 24]

That's a great idea on the utensils! Thanks! I believe that will make a difference!

You will find your sweet spot, everyone is different. My Doc is the same wont tell the CC but believe me, 0.1 CC can be the difference between loose, tight, and too tight. It just takes time to find it. While I agree you should let the band work for you, you still have to work a bit (ie no soft, mushies, high cals) Have you reduced your hardware? By that I mean what size plates and utensils are you using? My wife and I are using 6" plates that we picked up at the Dollar Tree (we are going to go get a nice set of small plates soon as we find the size that works the best for us) and also use baby spoons and cocktail forks. What this does is we cant overload the plates with food (portion control) and we can blitz through the food (portion extension). By using the smaller utensils it allows us to savor the food, takes longer to eat, and we fill full with less food. We even use them when we go out just beacuse I dont know if I could actually use a normal size fork or spoon again lol.

[HeatherinCA 10]

I swear by my baby utensils! Now it's so funny to see a regular fork it's so huge!

[Knaroz 31]

I swear by my baby utensils! Now it's so funny to see a regular fork it's so huge!

LOL I totally agree, we went to a restaurant the other night and I had forgotten my fork and I looked at the one on the table and I turned to my wife and said "How in the world do I eat with this monster" lol

[Humming Bird 275]

IMHO it sounds like your doc may have used a band that was too large, but he is the expert and must have seen something during surgery that made him use a large one. I think it will still work out fine for you, but it may just take longer and more fills for you to get to your sweet spot/green zone.

I can only go from my own experience, but once I reached my sweet spot the band has really done the work like he told you. I don't have to diet or try to control my portions. I don't have to obcess over calories or anything else. The only things I have to do is pay attention to my full signal, chew everything well (not to liquid or mush), and stay away from foods that give me trouble (bread, steak, rice.....) You can get to the point where you do not have to weigh or measure anything. If you are still feeling like you can eat too much and you get hungry too fast, you are not in that green zone yet. As you get closer, a very tiny fill could put you in the red zone (too tight). You may just have to be patient with the process and diet for a bit, but I really think you will get to that point where the band does do much of the work for you.

[ElfiePoo 109]

I'm so confused, on my second adjustment I told my doctor that I was trying to cut back on my food and control my intake, he corrected me and said "You don't work the band let the band work for you" he went on to say eat until you are full.

As someone has already said, it is unfortunate that so many band doctors have no clue how the band works. As a result, there are way too many people looking for the band to physically restrict how much they eat and they're ending up overfilled and dealing with stuck episodes on a daily basis. That way leads to a greater risk of band erosion and slippage over time. I will qualify this to say there are exceptions to everything, and some people do get physical restriction, but based on the posts here on the LBT, most of us do not.

The band works by putting pressure on our vagus nerves which then tell the stomach to quit producing ghrelin, the hunger hormone. Some people get enough pressure with just the band. Most of us need varying amounts of fill. When we get to that sweet spot of just enough pressure, we can eat a reasonable meal (my doc says 3 oz Protein, 1/2 c. vegies, 1/4 c. starch...maybe) and go 4 hours or so without hunger. So what you want to look for is cessation of hunger.

As for his 'advice' to let the band do the work and not you...he's misinformed. The band will help with the hunger but we still have to choose to make good food choices and we still have to choose to put the fork down because even when I was overfilled I could overeat and eat the wrong foods.

I have 7cc in a 14cc band as of 2 weeks ago and this is a typical day for me now:

B: 2 scrambled eggs in .2 oz butter

L: a cup or so of boston lettuce with 3 oz of some type of Protein (grilled chicken, deli ham, hard boiled egg, tuna, etc.) with homemade blue cheese dressing

D: 3 oz protein, 1/2-1 c. vegies

[Humming Bird 275]

The band works so different for everyone. I don't know if it would help if all the docs followed the same rules and guidelines. I have several friends and family members that are banded and it works so different for all of us. I think it's so important to find your own methods and what works for you keeping in mind some very general things about the band.

For me, the band does stop me from overeating. It has also decreased my hunger. Of course it can't stop me from eating milkshakes and candy bars, but in general my band is very much in control.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

The band works so different for everyone. I don't know if it would help if all the docs followed the same rules and guidelines. I have several friends and family members that are banded and it works so different for all of us. I think it's so important to find your own methods and what works for you keeping in mind some very general things about the band.

For me, the band does stop me from overeating. It has also decreased my hunger. Of course it can't stop me from eating milkshakes and candy bars, but in general my band is very much in control.

The band does work differently for everyone and they usually will find out by trial and error if and how it works for them. However, I still insist that bariatric doctors should have a set standard of care from the time you go to the seminar until you have surgery - from the basic testing, to the pre- and post-op diet requirements as well as recommendations for the solid foods and liquids. There should be a model of the band and stomach in each office and its and the port's placement explained. Patients should be told the size of their band and why and how many cc's in each fill. Patients should be told that they could be hungry until they reach that sweet spot. They also need to be told that the band doesn't work for everyone. Each person will have problems with certain foods that others don't, but that is not what I mean. Doctors are just all over the place with their advice and explanations resulting in tremendous confusion in patients.

[Cocoabean 430]

The band works by putting pressure on our vagus nerves which then tell the stomach to quit producing ghrelin, the hunger hormone. Some people get enough pressure with just the band. Most of us need varying amounts of fill. When we get to that sweet spot of just enough pressure, we can eat a reasonable meal (my doc says 3 oz Protein, 1/2 c. vegies, 1/4 c. starch...maybe) and go 4 hours or so without hunger. So what you want to look for is cessation of hunger.

As for his 'advice' to let the band do the work and not you...he's misinformed. The band will help with the hunger but we still have to choose to make good food choices and we still have to choose to put the fork down because even when I was overfilled I could overeat and eat the wrong foods.

I snipped your post a bit.

I've been wondering about your posts talking about ghrelin being influenced by the band. I was under the belief that bands didn't affect it. But I found this study http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/reprint/88/9/4227.pdf Interesting reading.

So many times medical 'science' finds something works, thinks they know why, does more research, finds out it is an entirely different mechanism.

For me, my band works like Humming Bird's. I don't weigh and measure my foods. I eat until I hear a "whisper of satiety" as I call it. I try to make healthy choices most of the time. It has worked as I'd hoped it would. My band DOES limit the amount I can eat at a meal. I cannot eat portions the size I used to. It isn't possible for me to do it, unless I sat there for an hour or longer waiting for my pouch to empty and nibbling on the food. But that isn't the goal of being banded. This is my experience only, but if I have to wait a while to be able to eat more of my meal, then my meal is over. If I tried to eat the same size portion I used to, I'd be in significant discomfort.

In between meals, I have to fight the urge to graze. If I am truly hungry, I'll eat. If not, then it's a battle of the brain. But the band gives me control of the physical hunger making the battle with my brain a little bit easier. I don't always win that battle, but I win it more than I lose it, and that makes me feel as though I have won the war.