5 fills and Starving

[Nicolasjon 4]

I have had 5 fills and I am NOT losing weight. I am recently always hungry.

I am worried that there is something wrong.

Today for dinner, I ate a Atkins frozen dinner followed by three pork chops and a Atkins Meal Bar. I am still hungry.

[2muchfun 8,927]

So, you feel no restriction and you've been banded for nearly a year? But, you've lose 105 lbs?

First, with a loss of 105 lbs why question success?

But, it's no fun being hungry. What about satiety/restriction? You must not get stuck often if you can eat 3 pork chops? Do you get any satiety signals like runny nose, burps, hiccups?

Is your surgeon giving you small fills? How about any fills under fluoroscopy?

[SandyM 1,956]

Question is, is this hunger or head hunger? If its head hunger, the band isn't going to stop that.

[Nicolasjon 4]

I lost the majority of the weight before I had the surgery. I followed the diet as recommended. The day of the surgery in May 2013 I weighed 331..

Today I weighed 317...

I was told the band wasn't a miracle cure and that I needed to follow the diet. I slacked off and I have been following the diet off and on.

The doctor was right! The lap band is not a miracle cure, it's just a tool.

To bad the tool isn't helping me like I thought it would.

I didn't choke, or get a runny nose. I have experienced food not going down, and for some reason that's not happening.

The starving feeling is probably in my head.

[kimk1999 450]

Any clue what amount is in your band? I've heard of a lot of surgeons that only give like 0.5 to 1 cc per fill. I'm at a 5.8 in a 10 cc band. The quantity of fills doesn't matter as much when compared to the qty in the band.

Ask your doc to be more aggressive with fills if you're not feeling full with little amounts and hungry all the time.

[Nicolasjon 4]

I have no clue what band I have or where it's at. I need to make another appointment and get this high dollar tool fixed right.

[luv2golfnow 29]

I am shocked the pork chops didn't get stuck. Definitely go see your doc. That is too much for sure.

[☠carolinagirl☠ 18,721]

to lose weight (with any WLS) one must not eat more calories than one can burn off

3500 calories is a pound ate or drank......and sometimes when the scales don't move or go slower,

sometimes we lose inches which is a sure sign of weight loss......eat smart, eat as clean as you can and exercise....but if you are truly hungry, eat.....but that doesn't mean 3 pork chops ......

Edited April 3, 2014 by ☠carolinagirl☠

[Jim1967 3,569]

Hi Nicholas,

Just a couple of thoughts here and it is just my opinion and you know what they say about opinions.

• Next time you feel hungry stop and ask yourself is your stomach wanting the food or is it in your mind. Seriously, stop and think about it before eating and have an internal talk with yourself.
• You should be shooting for 4 to 5 hours in between meals without truly feeling hungry. If you cannot go that long than you may need a fill.
• Perhaps schedule an appointment with a Nutritionist and if you're not doing it already then start logging your intake and take it with you to that appointment. Seeing it on paper provides a lot more clarity and it also provides the Nutritionist a baseline to work with you on.
• Knowledge is power living with the band. Keep a journal containing band size and amount of fill so you know what you're working with at all times.
• Aftercare with the band in my opinion is more of a responsibility of the patient than the doctor. You're living with this thing not the Doctor. If something isn't working for you then do everything you can to figure out why. If you wait for someone to come to you, you will be waiting and waiting. Seek them out for answers and if they cannot provide answers then find someone who can.

Lastly, Living with the band does not mean diet. It means adopting a new lifestyle. I can eat almost all the things I ate pre-op just a whole lot less and not as often. Quality foods with reasonable quantities but that's not to say you can't have a slice of pizza just don't eat the whole pie.

If you got a few minutes check out this site: http://drsimpson.net/fills/Lap-band-eating/lap-band-not-restriction/lap-band-and-restriction.html

Edited April 3, 2014 by Jim1967