How many fills before this thing starts working?! :)

[sandy1 1]

Thanks everyone for your input! After my well-deserved smack down I did some experimenting that night and had a solid Protein meal. I ate slowly and listened to what my stomach was telling me and indeed didn't get the stuck feeling even though I was eating the same sort of stuff that was getting me stuck just a few days earlier.

In retrospect I realize that my doctor told me two things that I ignored... 1st was that in the first three days after my first fill I should eat soft foods since my stomach was going to have a natural swelling reaction to the first fill. 2nd was that I really should be waiting quite some time before adding liquids on top of the food, and definitely not trying to wash food down if I began to feel stuck. What I realize was happening is that indeed I was too tight in the first days after the fill, but by the time the swelling went away and I loosened up I was eating soft foods so I wouldn't have even known. I did the complete opposite thing of what I was supposed to be doing! :-)

So in the days since my first post, I've eaten numerous meals of solid foods and had no problem. I can tell now that I think I'll still be okay with another fill or two, but I'm eating slowly and getting used to the idea that I need to stop and figure out if I'm still eating because I'm not satisfied or because of habit. More often than not I can realize it's because of the latter.

Still more work to be done no doubt, but deconstructing the feeling I had in the first few days after my fill definitely helped me understand better what I should/shouldn't be expecting with this band.

-Brendan

Great news!!!!! Glad you are doing better.

[steveelea 61]

Glad to hear that all is working well for you now Brendan...I know that I have to have only liquids on the day of the fil and soft foods the next day or 2 then start eating slowly

I have been told that I am only aloud to eat bite sizes the size of a 5cent piece (I am in Australia so probably doesn't help you when I say that) but its not a lot bigger than a pea....maybe 2 peas size per bite, chew chew chew then put my cutlery down in between each bite so as I don't scoff it in....I still find this so difficult and its harder when I am really hungry, but it does help me to feel fuller if i eat slowly.

Thanks for the info Rachel, as I said I am supposed to take teeny bites and chew well so I probably consume about 2 cups of food which is what our surgeon says is the right size that we should be eating. I still find at night though I am always looking for more food....not sure if its that I am hungry or its a bad habbit as I have trouble walking away from food especialy when there is leftovers and I have enjoyed it so much! dinner is my favorite meal of the day!

I am going to my surgeon and dietition next week and am not sure if I should ask for another fill or not....they generally go by weight loss but I have been working out at the gym pretty hard and also have been sick with the flu for a couple of weeks so lost a few kilos just with that.....i certainly dont want to be overfilled but I am just not sure what to do

HOw come so many on this forum say that they just cant overeat???? What is with that????

I have known people that can eat a meal like half a cup of food and be totally full on that till there next meal????? I dont think I will ever know that feeling.

I have a 14cc band and have 11.25cc in it so I dont know if thats normal either or if its a lot of fill. So many questions LOL

[Rachel412 116]

HOw come so many on this forum say that they just cant overeat???? What is with that????

I have known people that can eat a meal like half a cup of food and be totally full on that till there next meal????? I dont think I will ever know that feeling.

Sounds nice doesn't it? I'd love that- IF I wasn't also constantly getting stuck or PBing or sliming. If all of that comes with feeling STUFFED, I think I'd rather stay on the loose side...

[steveelea 61]

Sounds nice doesn't it? I'd love that- IF I wasn't also constantly getting stuck or PBing or sliming. If all of that comes with feeling STUFFED, I think I'd rather stay on the loose side...

Too true Rachel....it is so nice to be able to still eat a nice variaty of foods and not have to stress about things getting stuck so much....then I know if its too tight we tend to go for the easy option of junk that slides down and then you have the weight gain.....like someone said on the video on the sight you suggested "If only they could come up with a band for the brain" ....hey then I would be set

[losethemess 14]

I was banded May 3rd, with a 2cc fill at the time of surgery. My first fill was 6/22 when I got an additional 3cc. I've been scheduled for my next fill on 7/27.

After the post-op diet wrapped up I was having so many uncomfortable "stuck" episodes that I've basically modified my diet to be primarily soft foods for the last month, or eat so slowly and such small bites that it can pass through without getting stuck. But of course in doing so I've been able to eat almost as much as I did before surgery and my weight loss has plateaued.

How many fills did it take you before you could eat normal-consistency foods but not get stuck? I'm ready for this thing to start "working" and get out of this feeling like I have to circumvent the benefits of the band to not end up in the bathroom five minutes later.

Thanks!!

I've had about 8-10 fills ( I'm at 6.8 ccs i think maybe less) and although I complained so much about my Doctors office filling me so slowly after reading all these posts about people getting stuck and having to get unfills I'm thankful. An experienced Dr. will fill you slowly.

[AlanSimmons 1]

This is the best explanation I have ever heard of how this thing works! Thank you SO much for posting this!

So when they started doing the band surgery, they thought just what you're thinking- that the band causes a small upper pouch of stomach to fill up, and that small pouch would then empty slowly, keeping us feeling full. They've recently realized that this isn't true at all. When we eat, each bite passes through the band within a minute. I personally know this to be a fact because I can feel everything that passes through my band (liquids, food, burps even!).

So when we eat dense Protein, I think of it as a strength game at the fair. SOMEHOW the dense food rings a bell in our stomach, and that bell triggers our body to say "I'm not hungry anymore, thanks." If we're eating just shakes, or chips, or food that slides easily right through the band, that bell doesn't get rung as easily. Our stomach doesn't really fill up- not the upper portion, and not the lower portion either unless we overeat. It's just that the hungry signal gets turned off, and if you're at a good fill level, it gets turned off after a small portion of food and it STAYS off for 4-5 hours after eating.

I'll give you an example of my lunch today because it was a really bad series of choices. I was at church after a long week of VBS. We had a pizza party to Celebrate the week, plus to reward everyone for helping to clean up. I ate three pieces of cheese pizza, a brownie, and a cookie. If I had finished the first piece of pizza and waited 5 minutes, I would have felt satisfied and that would have kept me satisfied until dinner, but I quickly started on slice #2 instead of stopping. When I was to the crust of #2 I realized that I wasn't hungry any more and I was satisfied. Not hungry, not full- satisfied. But I WANTED to eat more and I lost the willpower battle. So I had a 3rd piece, and then both Desserts. The band didn't stop me from eating and I probably could have eaten more! I chose it IGNORE the feeling that the band was giving me in order to eat more pizza.

[rflint82 0]

That's awesome. Thx!

[Gabandgirl 1]

I had surgery May 3rd 2011 and have lost 46 have had 2 fills currently have 4.5CC's and next fill appt scheduled for Aug 10th. There are times I can eat a little of everything on my plate but more often than not my busy lifestyle doesn't allow me to eat much probably because mornings I am rushing to the gym, at lunch I am just too rushed. I find if I am rushed it goes down like a rock and instead of pushing myself or getting the slime going I just stop. I could NOT eat the amount of food being described here nor would I want to try because isn't the idea to loose weight. I do plan for the occassional splurge like banana pudding Sunday but it is rare and because I ate some lunch and the pudding my stomach would not accept any food that evening. If I had eaten something that evening it would have felt like I was eating after being stuffed after Thanksgiving Day dinner! I am probably a little tight but if all rules are being followed I usually do ok. I have realized that this band works its our heads that don't always listen to what the band tells us! I thought the technician was crazy when she said if you feel something stuck QUIT EATING! I thought who would keep eating....ummm, me sometimes, but I am trying very hard to eat what I want just a very small amount. I am wishing everyone on here luck. Just for inspiration I saw a lady at the gym yesterday and she was sooooooo slim probably a size 5 and I said to her "I guess you have always been that slim" she said no that this time last year she was 267lbs and had lost about 115! She said her Doctor scared her to death and she was denied lapband so she got a head set started walking and working out with the marines (she works civil service at our base) I was very impressed! She was quite the inspiration!