What does it FEEL LIKE to have the band?

[TheCascadian 1]

Hello all,

I have this idea of what it will be like to be banded. Mostly, in my imagination, I'll eat a few bites and will feel stuffed.

I have always had a distorted/missing sense of satiety, so I'm just picturing that a small meal will feel like a jumbo-blowout buffet... But I have a great imagination and want to know the real deal...

Does the "full" or satiation sensation happen now if it didn't before? Or is it just that distended-gut-holy-crap-I-ate-a-lot feeling happening more quickly?

Is stomach hunger less intense or more manageable after the band?

I mean, how much to you guys eat in a meal? I'm having trouble imagining what portions sizes look like on the band... Would one of those little McDonalds Cheeseburgers be a big (if unhealthy) portion size?

I do have direct experience with cravings/head hunger and weight loss. After a few months of Atkins, I didn't ever want to see or eat potatoes ever again- nasty. Only whole grain breads and Pasta tasted right- white bread and normal Pasta seemed flavorless.

But my chocolate addiction was in full-force, perhaps even stronger! LOL. The darker the better, sugar content/sweetness was irrelevant. I was even trying to score real cocoa Beans to brew into a coffee-like death-drink! LOL. So I'm ready for that to happen all over again, but maybe the band is different?

Did your tastes change drastically as the weight came off?

(With the weight back on and my insulin resistance back up? Potatoes, white bread and pasta started tasting good again... *sigh*)

:hungry:

Thanks!

[marjon9 6]

Hi Cascadian. I ain't no expert, but I'll chime in with a few observations.

What you are saying is essentially correct. The idea with the band is that after you eat a few bites you will feel stuffed. But it's not quite that simple.

To try and give you an example, did you ever try and use rabbit ears to get a picture adjusted on one of those old black and white TVs? If you did you will recall that you had to constantly adjust the rabbit ears. It was tough to get the picture just right. And even if you did, it was likely to change the next day, or the next week.

The band is sort of like that. When you have it working just right, you feel stuffed after a few bites. But it needs adjustment in the form of "fills" and "unfills" until you and your doctor settle on just the right amount of "restriction." When you find that perfect restriction it is called the "sweet spot." You can reach it after one fill. You can also miss it after 9 fills. A few people say they never find it. Some people have it just from the surgery and never need any fills.

So, it's really hard to predict how the adjustment process will work for you. But once you get it adjusted right, the band does effectively control stomach hunger.

But it's just a tool, and head hunger is your own responsibility. The band can't help with that, and some people do manage to defeat the band eating chips and ice cream and never lose any weight. (A few people also don't lose weight when they seem to be doing everything right, but those people are pretty rare.)

Yes, a McDonalds cheeseburger is a big portion with the band. But beyond that, you may well not be able to eat something like that. Probably more than half the bandsters have trouble eating bread at all. And more than that, since you are so limited in what you can eat, you need to really pay attention to getting the nutrients your body needs into the little amount you are able to eat. With that in mind, you would rarely want to waste the space on worthless fluff like a McDonalds hamburger bun. Bandster nutritionists recommend that you start with Protein items, then eat vegies and maybe some fruit. You also need to take a Vitamin supplement and Calcium supplement, and drink a lot of Water (which is a big task in itself, since most people can't take big gulps with the band). I also have started taking some cod liver oil to get the Omega 3.

So that's a little overview of information I've learned from reading a lot of posts on this forum and a little bit of personal experience.

Good luck getting it all figured out. So far I'm feeling like I've really done a good thing here by getting banded.

[sherilynn 1]

Marjon!!!!!!! PERFECTLY SAID!

[TheCascadian 1]

Marjon,

Thanks for the quick response!

Did your tastes change, like WHAT your head was craving?

[marjon9 6]

Marjon,

Thanks for the quick response!

Did your tastes change, like WHAT your head was craving?

Yes, my tastes have changed as well. I used to love bread, Pasta, pizza. I ate sandwiches all the time. Now I don't even think about that stuff because there is no room for it anymore. With a smaller stomach you have to be pretty deliberate about eating nutritious food. If you use up the room you have stomach on fluff, you can become weak. For a while my biggest problem was finding a way to get in enough calories to avoid feeling weak. How's that for a change of perspective.

And when I do eat I often find that I enjoy it even more than I did before. I have to eat slowly and chew very well so this sort of forces a person to really taste the food. In the past I would just stuff the food in without paying much attention in a sort of shark-like feeding frenzy. Food just has a different role now. Now I enjoy the amount I need to feel healthy, rather than wallowing in a feeding trough in response to some sort of a compulsion.

I do want to mention that I am not suggesting that everyone has or will have the same type of experience I do. One of the more interesting things about the band is that there is so much variety in the way different people experience it. I'm just describing my own experience.

[Wheetsin 714]

Did your tastes change, like WHAT your head was craving?

Pre-op I used to crave McDonald's (plain doube cheeseburger or a McChicken), and Reese's, bacon... the stuffed & fried jalapeno peppers...and a few other things that aren't coming to mind.

Now my main craving is for chocolate chip Cookies, which I don't care much for chocolate and I was never a cookie eater before surgery. But now it's all about the warm & melty chocolate chippers. I also crave fruits, just because I don't eat them very often. And oddly enough, most of my "cravings" are still there, but I now crave foods that are part of my typical diet.

Oh I also crave (and eat on occasion) the wheat honey pretzel braids. I love the combination of sweet honey with the salt. Kind of the way I love the salty pretzels and sweet ice cream combination of Chubby Hubby, but we won't go there.

[TheCascadian 1]

Thanks guys.

I'm glad I made a serious, if eventually failed, effort to diet before getting a WLS. I think it has been good preparation.

This sounds pretty similar to my Atkins experience, especially with regards to tastes changing and head hunger.

Anybody else wanna chime in? Does the band provide that sense of satiety if you didn't have that before?

For those "big losers" out there, does your urge to eat drop away with the pounds?

[GayleTX 1]

Mark gave a very good description of living with a band from my experience. I have very little interest in food (I'm 10 mo out)...in fact, my biggest problem right now is getting in enough calories....and when you get too few calories for too long a time your body metabolism goes into hibernation and you quit losing. I track all my intake on fitday.com so I'll be sure to get enough calories. I shoot for an average of 100 gr protein/day, eat no white carbs and keep the good kinda carbs less than 50 net carbs/day.

As for chocolate cravings....not a problem - there are some great chocolate Protein supplements on the market (keep searching...they're there) and you can have all the chocolate you want in a day in the form of good Protein ( powders such as Matrix , RTD's, and bars such as Power Crunch).The sugar free syrups such as Torini can help with sweet cravings and give you lots of variety....carmel, peppermnt, peach, butter rum, etc) and you can put them in your coffee, tea, Protein Shakes, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc.

Sounds like you are putting a lot of thought into your decision-making....if you decide you do this,you will no doubt be successful. Most of the people who struggle seem to be those who didn't bother to research and who didn't realize that getting the band was just the beginning of their lifestyle change. It still takes a great deal of awareness of everything that goes in your mouth and self-discipline for the rest of our lives.

Best wishes to you......

[TheCascadian 1]

Gayle,

I was Atkins for life and committed to only the allowed "cheats".

If the diet had not failed me and I had not started to regain weight despite staying on the plan, I would still be at or under 290lbs.

The good thing is, my exercise routine allowed me to get a better job (I work in Law Enforcement) and has kept about 10 inches off my waist DESPITE being back at my pre-diet weight.

When I started having trouble with my knees again and had to stop running again, that's when I realized I would need this surgery...

I'm MORE THAN ready mentally, I'm just getting every bit of wisdom I can get about the details of this surgery and its after-effects.

I bought some low-sodium bullion (beef and chicken) and some new fruit juices (acai, anyone?). I'm going to try out the makings of a preop diet in the next few weeks and really get used to that.

I am so appreciative of everyone on here for helping fill in the blanks and avoid the rough spots. You guys just rock.

Anybody else wanna throw their .02 cents in? I'm shooting for 10 bucks in this thread, minimum! LOL.

[Wheetsin 714]

I have this idea of what it will be like to be banded. Mostly, in my imagination, I'll eat a few bites and will feel stuffed. It may take more than a few bites, but yeah - that's pretty much it.

Does the "full" or satiation sensation happen now if it didn't before? Or is it just that distended-gut-holy-crap-I-ate-a-lot feeling happening more quickly? For me, it didn't just come. I had to learn to "listen" to my body, and recognize the difference between no longer hungry and full. Before surgery full had no meaning to me, because for the most part I was either hungry or so full I was miserable. Having been able to recognize that state, I've felt "gut-busting full" maybe twice since surgery, always a result of Protein Drinks. In the beginning I listened for this no longer hungry state because I was afraid that going over it would mean having to bring the extra back up. Now it happens without conscious thought. So - woohoo - I'm unconsciously competent!

Is stomach hunger less intense or more manageable after the band? Well - I felt extraordinarily hungry right after the band, but had no appetite. Sounds weird, huh? He's how I explained it at the time: it feels like I have two stomachs, a top stomach and a bottom stomach. The bottom stomach is growling and growling, and as much as I know that means "feed me", I'm not hungry and have no desire to eat. I was one of the lucky ones (subject to POV) because I lost my appetite on the pre-op diet and it still, nearly a year later, hasn't really returned. I rarely feel true hunger, and when I do I either eat or ignore it because I have no interest in eating.

I mean, how much to you guys eat in a meal? I'm having trouble imagining what portions sizes look like on the band... Would one of those little McDonalds Cheeseburgers be a big (if unhealthy) portion size? Quantity-wise I could eat a cheeseburger. If I go to McD's I get the "Fruit n' yogurt parfait" and don't finish it. Once, about a month post-op, I got a chicken nugget happy meal and one nugget in I was stuffed. Part of what you'll realize is that you eat different amounts on different days, because as much as it doesn't make sense what you can eat and the amount is almost constantly changing (though there certainly are some consistents). And I have days where it's just hard to eat anything, no matter how easy it normally is. But back to quantiites... do you ever go to Chipotle? One of my most frequent "grab something on the way home" is a Chipotle bol, no rice, extra black Beans, chicken. I will get at least two meals out of that and most often three. For lunch yesterday I had one of the small Lunchables (I think it's 8 crackers, 8 meats and 8 cheeses) and couldn't finish it, but Sunday I ate a full piece of quiche.

I do have direct experience with cravings/head hunger and weight loss. After a few months of Atkins, I didn't ever want to see or eat potatoes ever again- nasty. Only whole grain breads and Pasta tasted right- white bread and normal Pasta seemed flavorless. I had the same experience. Wheat flour products began to be the only ones that tasted "right". (I followed induction for over a year, then branched out into the different rungs)

But my chocolate addiction was in full-force, perhaps even stronger! LOL. The darker the better, sugar content/sweetness was irrelevant. I was even trying to score real cocoa Beans to brew into a coffee-like death-drink! LOL. So I'm ready for that to happen all over again, but maybe the band is different?

Did your tastes change drastically as the weight came off? Not a whole lot, but in some areas. I crave completely different foods now. And while my tastes haven't necessarily changed, I've found it very, very easy to give up certain foods for band-related reasons. One of these is red meat. I haven't had a piece of red meat in nearly a year, because for me, by the time I'm done chewing it enough that I feel comfortable swallowing it, it's a tasteless wad of muck in my mouth. And with meats like hamburger, realizing how impossible it is to chew it thoroughly made it that much less appetizing.

(With the weight back on and my insulin resistance back up? Potatoes, white bread and pasta started tasting good again... *sigh*) Do you plan to also watch your carb intake in addition to eating the bandster size meals? I watch mine. Just because I feel better when I do, and it does help my weightloss. Weird. I don't watch them like a hawk the way I did on Atkins, but I try to maintain an awareness.

[Betsyjane 2]

I'm pretty new at this, but here goes. After I was banded, I felt good restriction for about a week while my stomach was inflammed post surgery. so I had one week to know what it was going to be like. then no restriction...and none after my first fill, and none after my second fill. But after my last (3rd) fill, it's working, and I can do what was impossible for me to do before! I have lost weight on Atkins and with diet pills, but it came back. With the band, I feel totally different. I'm so happy to have it. In the morning, I have a lot more restriction. I heat up my Protein drink (sometimes mixing in some fruit). Heat helps open the band some. I have to drink it slowly to get the drink through, but I don't feel deprived. Sometime before noon, I start drinking Water and get down at least 20 ounces. Around 1 PM, I have a bit less restriction and can get down a hot homemade Soup filled with meat and veges. As a snack in the afternoon, I often have a Balance 100 calorie Protein Bar. Sometimes a scrambled egg. Mid afternoon, I start slugging down Water again...at least another 20 ounces. I have a nice dinner of meat first and then veges. I can usually eat 4-6 ounces total, but sometimes the band is a lot looser and I have as much as 1.5 cups of food. For the evening, sometimes I have a sugar free popsicle. And more water. On bad days, there might also be a few other cheats, like 2 spoons of cottage cheese.

I don't crave sweets (I think because of my Protein shake-Muscle Milk is so yummy). I don't crave Pasta. I occaSIONALLY DO WANT ICE CREAM, AND IT ALWAYS GOES DOWN WELL, SO i HAVE TO GRAB A BOTTLE OF WATER INSTEAD, AND OCCASIONALLY i HAVE HAD A SCOOP OF ICE CREAM.

(Oops...didn't know I hit the caps. Sorry.) Here's the comparison for me. Before the band, I could eat alot of fast food, as often as 6 times a day. I could eat massive amounts of ice cream. I was never satisfied. I was always grazing. Always. Always.

I feel like I've been let out of a cage.

Now I just have to think about what I'm doing. I don't have to fight insurmountable cravings. It's more like being a normal person deciding to exercise disipline! It's do-able and not impossible. I just get full. And I like good foods better than bad ones. I can be wise now and I couldn't before.

[juliegeraci 7]

Does the "full" or satiation sensation happen now if it didn't before? Or is it just that distended-gut-holy-crap-I-ate-a-lot feeling happening more quickly?

It definitely happens. I've had 5 fills so I'm not exactly sure how it will be for you just being banded. With me I definitely get a full sensation or start to hickup when I am full.

Is stomach hunger less intense or more manageable after the band?

Way more manageable. Especially the hunger. I am never hungry. I can eat Breakfast at noon.

I mean, how much to you guys eat in a meal? I'm having trouble imagining what portions sizes look like on the band... Would one of those little McDonalds Cheeseburgers be a big (if unhealthy) portion size?

I can eat 1/2 of a McDonalds cheese burger. No more than that. I can eat 1/4 of a sandwich, no more. I can eat about 3/4 cup of cottage cheese or a yogurt. You get full faster.

But my chocolate addiction was in full-force, perhaps even stronger! LOL. The darker the better, sugar content/sweetness was irrelevant. I was even trying to score real cocoa Beans to brew into a coffee-like death-drink! LOL. So I'm ready for that to happen all over again, but maybe the band is different?

You can still have head hunger with the band. You have to be careful not to overindulge. chocolate goes down too easy so that will be your red light food.

Did your tastes change drastically as the weight came off?

I just don't want to eat as much. I love food still but my craving have diminished to nothing. Its great.

(With the weight back on and my insulin resistance back up? Potatoes, white bread and Pasta started tasting good again... *sigh*)

Yes, I love potatoes and rice. I just can't eat too much of them. They are filling.

[vintagehound 1]

hi

I expected something totally different than it is. I feel like it has done nothing to make me feel full or less hungry.... I do however eat so much less because I have to chew chew chew! I have actually chosen to not eat when I want to because I am too lazy to have to chew it! I get sick of chewing and eating before I feel full, it just sort of lost its appeal and as a result I ate very little compared to now. It is very much a tool, the wrong stuff still goes down great like ice cream... I just stay away from the bad stuff as much as I can! Fried food goes down ok too, so I try not to cheat and eat the easy stuff. I go for the Protein and veggies first and then get tired of chewing and quit eating. It is a very bizarre experience, but I am so glad I did it!!!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes I eat chocolate.< /p>

[Surby 1]

My experience is similar to Vintagehound's......... now that I'm at a very very good restriction level, eating is kind of a pain in the neck. It takes so long to eat anything that I get tired of it and just give up; however, when I do that, I realize that I'm satisfied but not stuffed. I can still eat anything, including bread, if I chew it forever. I love this band!!

[JulieNYC 4]

Does the "full" or satiation sensation happen now if it didn't before? Or is it just that distended-gut-holy-crap-I-ate-a-lot feeling happening more quickly?

It took me several months to sort out what I was feeling, but now I'm good at stopping (usually, at least) when I'm comfortably full instead of when I'm holy-crap full. At first, I ate until I was holy-crap full because I didn't realize how LITTLE 1 cup of food is compared to pre-band and so I ate right past my "comfortably full" stage. You'll get the hang of it.

Is stomach hunger less intense or more manageable after the band?

8,000 times more manageable. I'm rarely truly hungry. When I am, I eat, then I'm full for 5 hours. It's great. I never, ever fight that constant pre-band hunger. I just don't have that thing in my head anymore that says "eat the other half of that [iNSERT food HERE] that you know is in the fridge/pantry, etc." It's just not there.

I mean, how much to you guys eat in a meal? I'm having trouble imagining what portions sizes look like on the band... Would one of those little McDonalds Cheeseburgers be a big (if unhealthy) portion size?

One little McD's cheeseburger and maybe 10 fries (not even half of a small fry -- literally 10!). That would be a big meal. I think you understand that the choice is questionable, but yeah, that's about the size. My days of 6 cheeseburgers (or, in my case, bean burritos) are over. Occasionally I still think "I can't possibly get full on one bean burrito, I'll order 3" but even when I do that, I wind up laughing and throwing 2 1/2 of them away. The band works for Portion Control.< /p>

Did your tastes change drastically as the weight came off?

Not so dramatically. I want to eat healthier because I want to lose weight faster. But, I'd still LIKE to eat take out Mexican or pizza every night -- I just have an easier time NOT doing that with the band. I'd still like to though. I analogize to a piano. My "you must eat Mexican food" was playing with the amplifier pedal depressed every single day. Now it occasionally still plays, but with the damper pedal pressed. It's easier to make a different choice, even if the desire for the not-so-healthy choice is still there.