Question for seasoned bansters

[Anna Banana 555 0]

Was banded 10/5/07 and have just had my second fill. Anything I eat will get stuck unless it's absolutely chewed to nothing. Ok, so we all know we have to take small bites and chew chew chew. Here's my question: If we're chewing so much that our food turns to the consistency of Soup in our mouth, doesn't that mean that it'll just go straight through the band and not stay in the pouch? The whole thing about not drinking Water is so that food wont pass though the band too quickly but how can it not when it's watered down so much with our own saliva?

And another thing... even when I chew really well, I sometimes still get a bit of stuck feeling and that causes me to stop eating immediately. I never get a feeling of fullness or even satisfaction, I just get a feeling of discomfort and that's what stops me eating more because I know pain will follow if I don't stop? Will that satisfied feeling ever materialize?

(I think the reason the band works so well is because our jaws get too tired from all the dang chewing so that's what causes us to stop eating!! ha ha Plus it takes so freakin' long to eat anything that there's never enough time to finish!! )

[wombat712 2]

amen! lol

I feel the same way

I just don't chew as well as I should I guess and I take too big of bites. Good question though - maybe someone has an answer ...

[mariaxoxo4u 0]

Great question! This question has been on my mind for soooo long, thanks for putting it into words. Let's hope to get some responses.

Maria

[nomadem 1]

good question. I too want to know, do I stop when I get the discomfort or con't? What if I dont have all my Protein in for the day??

is the discomfort actually restriction?

[TracyinKS 7]

I'm not as seasoned as many here, but I would say that your version of feeling full changes...... no more will you feel like a stuffed turkey on thanksgiving..... its not the same sensation.

However if you continue to stuff yourself it will come back to bite you in the butt as you run to to toilet to PB. :smile:

[travelgirl 3]

I think the key is to look for the feeling of NOT HUNGRY vs. FULL. Not hungry = Satisfied.

You may not feel satisfied because you haven't eaten very much compared to what you *think* you should be eating, but that's not physical, that's mental. This is one of the very hardest things to get past after banding.

As you eat, you're not looking to feel stuffed, you're looking to feel NOT HUNGRY. I know this goes against every fat person in the world's belief system. Normal weight people don't eat to feel full, they eat to feel not hungry. This is what we're after, essentially.

I doubt that this is what you want to hear, but it's what I truly believe, and I hope I haven't offended anyone, because, believe me when I say, I'm right there with you.

[IndioGirl55 32]

I think the key is to look for the feeling of NOT HUNGRY vs. FULL. Not hungry = Satisfied.

You may not feel satisfied because you haven't eaten very much compared to what you *think* you should be eating, but that's not physical, that's mental. This is one of the very hardest things to get past after banding.

As you eat, you're not looking to feel stuffed, you're looking to feel NOT HUNGRY. I know this goes against every fat person in the world's belief system. Normal weight people don't eat to feel full, they eat to feel not hungry. This is what we're after, essentially.

I doubt that this is what you want to hear, but it's what I truly believe, and I hope I haven't offended anyone, because, believe me when I say, I'm right there with you.

Travelgirl - I agree 100% - I think in may be the odd man out cuz I do have to say that after I have eaten my meal - I do get that full sensation and sometime the turkey day stuffed without pbing..

But still have SO MUCH HEAD HUNGER from not eating the amounts of food that I use to :smile:

And in imho - this post in no way could offend anyone ....

[Wheetsin 714]

Below in blue.

If we're chewing so much that our food turns to the consistency of Soup in our mouth, doesn't that mean that it'll just go straight through the band and not stay in the pouch? The whole thing about not drinking Water is so that food wont pass though the band too quickly but how can it not when it's watered down so much with our own saliva? Few different things going on here. For one, saliva is a LOT thicker than Water. It's thicker than you realize, because you're usually only dealing with a small amount at once. So you can't think of food mixed with saliva as being the same consistency as food mixed with water.

Water swishing food through the band has never made sense to me, so I kind of reject it. :smile: To me, not drinking when I eat is all about pouch capacity. Food hits the stoma, it sits. If I throw water on top of that, MAYBE the water seeps through the food (kind of like how oil seeps through cracks), but most likely it just piles on top of the chewed food that's already there. And trust me, that hurts. Perhaps if there's just a small amount of food in the puch the water could push it through and as such wash away the sensation of being full, if there's not enough food in the pouch to "clog" and it's just like a quarter of a pea clining to the side of your esophagus or something.

Food chewed to goo is going to be the same thing as the saliva. You can't compare water going through the band and chewed food going through the band as things with the same consistency. Chew up some food really well, then spit it out. I guarantee you it's not going to flow like water. And anything viscuous is going to bottleneck at the stoma, hence why even gooey food can get stuck. Heck, if you're tight enough, water can get stuck.

And another thing... even when I chew really well, I sometimes still get a bit of stuck feeling and that causes me to stop eating immediately. I never get a feeling of fullness or even satisfaction, I just get a feeling of discomfort and that's what stops me eating more because I know pain will follow if I don't stop? Will that satisfied feeling ever materialize? I really can't even guess what your sensations are going to do. I know for me, pretty much from day 1, I have four sensations around fullness/eating. There's "not full" which means I'm ready to eat, there's "no longer hungry" which is my new full, there's "stuffed" because I perosnally do get that "overate on Tday" sense of being full, I got it today after eating two animal crackers. And then there's "uh-oh" which means something's not playing nicely with the band.

(I think the reason the band works so well is because our jaws get too tired from all the dang chewing so that's what causes us to stop eating!! ha ha Plus it takes so freakin' long to eat anything that there's never enough time to finish!! Yeah, that's a lot of why I quit eating red meat. About 8 weeks after I was banded my husband wanted to go to Fuddrucker's (burger place). I took a bite of his burger, and my jaws wore out before I had it chewed to a point that I was comfortable swallowing it. Same with the first time I tried steak post-op. And then I realized - ok, this never really tasted that great to me (umm except for extra rare sirloins, those tasted pretty damn good), and when you chew it for a while the texture pretty much sucks, and even if it does taste good, the litte bit of goodness isn't worth all the chewing, especially since the taste is gone, and I'm still working my jaws trying to be able to swallow it.

[Lisa99 1]

Hi Anna,

It's possible that you have just a tad too much fill.

I've been filled to the point where it seemed that no matter what I ate or how small of a bite I took it felt stuck. I ended up eating ice cream and other junk because I rationalized "I can't eat so the calories won't hurt". After about four months of this nonsense I got a tiny unfill (.02cc)

I went from not being able to eat without PBing or feeling stuck to being able to eat just about anything, but I get full quickly and the fullness lasts for hours. I eat about 1/2 cup for a meal just like the brochure says and since I've gotten the unfill I've lost about 15 pounds (I was stuck at the same weight for months).

[TheGh0st 9]

banana 555" data-cite="Anna banana 555" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="46528" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic">

(I think the reason the band works so well is because our jaws get too tired from all the dang chewing so that's what causes us to stop eating!! ha ha Plus it takes so freakin' long to eat anything that there's never enough time to finish!! )

Here's one more reason you didn't mention. It takes so freakin long to eat that your food gets too cold to want to finish eating it! :tt1:

But seriously I think Wheetsin nailed it in her post. The only thing I might differ on is the effect drinking Water can have on eating. Everyone's experience is different mind you, but for me if I drink small amounts of Water from before I start eating and consistently through my meal I do find I'm able to eat larger quantities of food. THIS IS NOT A GOOD THING! It does not make me feel any more "full" no matter what your definition than if I don't drink water. Now if I don't drink before my meal and eat even a small amount of food before taking a drink, the water just feels like it is sitting on top of the food below with no watering down effect just like Wheetsin described, infact it often makes things worse at that point.

As for feeling "full" I like Wheetsins different descriptions of full. I might go a bit further and say there are two versions of "stuffed" for me. There is the I feel completely stuffed like I couldn't possibly take another bite but mentally I still want to eat more so I find my self stretching, yawning, shifting in my seat anything I can think of to try to find room for that "one last bite". This is a feeling I use to associate with family gatherings like Thanksgiving even pre-band. There were too many great choices and just not enough room in my stomach to eat them all. Then there was the stuffed feeling I associated more with buffet restraunts though to be honest it was frequently the next feeling to hit me at Thanksgiving as well, and that was the feeling of OMG I am SO FULL I can hardly breathe, walk or keep my pants buttoned & zipped up. Post band I do still get that feeling of I'm so full but if I could only find room for one more bite I'd gladly take it. What I never get is that "Do you think anyone will notice if I unbutton my pants?" feeling any more. That version of stuffed has to do with our stomachs being so full of food it is pushing into other organs making us physically uncomfortable something many of us overweight people have turned into thinking was the true feeling of full or satisfied.