How normal is this?

chica · April 15, 2008

Hi Cyrena,

I'm curious given the small amount of food you eat now, how well do you think you meet your nutritional needs, specifically in the area of Protein? I have yet to get a fill, but I focus on protein... not really counting calories or carbs at this point. Portion Control sounds great, but I want to know that even when properly restricted, I can get enough Protein in. Thanks for all your posts with your experiences...:thumbup:

pammie · April 19, 2008

Hello Cyrena. Sincere apologies for not replying sooner. I have been terribly busy. BUT I have also lost 5lb and gone down a dress size so I am ecstatic. I read somewhere (I cannot even remember where now) on this site about a 5 day band test. I did it. This is day 6 and final weigh in day and I am very happy. I intend to follow your examples although I know I need a little more Fluid in my band as I do not get signs of fullness like you and the others who have optimum restriction, have. My fill is booked for 7th May. I am being guided by the visual of the cup you gave me and whilst I am NOT full, I am not hungry. I could very easily eat more though and so am using restraint to stop myself eating. Rather dangerous I fear!! I thank you for all your great advice and help. You really have made a difference. I will be calling on you again if you do not mind.

Fanny Adams · April 19, 2008

Ok, I posted this in another thread but it is so relevant to this one, I think I'll do it again:

Okay, I'm going to put an idea out here but before I do, let me first state that I DON'T know if it is a good one and it might actually be a very bad one, so before anyone tries it, have a good hard think about how you would do it. I would also recommend waiting after you read it to see how many long term bandsters tell me it's stupid or even dangerous - and if they do, don't try it!

My idea is this: For those people who have had 2-3 fills and feel that they don't have ANY restriction at all, try cooking up a really big pot of spaghetti bolognaise meat sauce and mix it with some Pasta (eg elbow pasta). Make it a really good one, high grade minced beef and no oil in the cooking. If you use a good recipe, this should be less than 300 cal per cup, so one night's "blow out" on this won't be utterly disastrous.

Take a measuring cup and measure out exactly one cup into a bowl. Sit down and eat it slowly and carefully following bandster rules for chewing. Wait for at least 15 minutes. Go back and get another cup full. Eat that slowly and carefully. Wait 15 minutes. Listen to your body. You might not be full yet, but are you still HUNGRY? If you are, go back and do it a third time. If necessary do it a fourth or more times. Try to find that spot where your body is no longer telling you that it is hungry. I think you'll find that you reach it at about 2-3 cups at most.

I know in pre-banding days, I could EASILY eat 4-5 cups of this at my first sitting and about an hour later could tackle another cup or two for "seconds". After my first fill, however, I would eat one cup and still be hungry and think "I don't have restriction yet!" so I'd eat a second cupful. I felt more satisfied then but still didn't feel FULL like I used to. I stopped at that point, because I COULD control the hunger by then and COULD stop, but I probably could have squeezed in a third cup if I had tried. Pre-banding days and there's no way I could have stopped. If I was trying to diet and NOT eat 4-5 cups, no matter how much I promised myself that I'd be good, I'd go back to the pot and pick at it for the rest of the night till it was all gone :cry_smile: I absolutely could not do that after even the first fill and now (after 3), the one cup is my limit.

If you can still easily down 4-5 cups of spag bol & Pasta after 3 fills, then yes, you are probably not feeling any restriction and you might have to wait for several more before you get there. However, I'm betting that you will find that you aren't hungry after only 2 cups and are probably feeling quite full after 3-4 at most. The band IS giving you SOME measure of restriction, even if it isn't as much as you were expecting. You just have to learn to listen to it and not seek that "stuffed full till it hurts and I can't move" sensation. That was BLOODY HARD for me to accept and to give up, because I was ADDICTED to that pain sensation - weird, I know, but I am realising this truth now.

Now I would NOT recommend doing this until AT LEAST 4 weeks after surgery. I know we all get worried that we might "stretch our pouch" but I don't think this can happen in one night of pushing the limits. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND taking this as slowly and carefully as you can so that you don't do yourself any damage. However, I think it would be a worthwhile experiment to do for just one night because I think it would "prove" to you in your own minds that the band really is doing it's job and that you WILL get to the sweetspot eventually. Ok, it might not be making you satisfied on half a cup yet, but if the first fill gets you down from 5 to 3 cups and the second fill gets you down to 2 cups, etc, at least you know it's doing SOMETHING.

Like I said - it's just an idea and it might be a horrible one, but perhaps worth pondering at least... If the long term bandsters think this is utterly stupid, please say so, coz I really don't know but it makes sense to me.

I think many of us, including myself, have a huge problem understanding what "restriction" really means. I used to think it would mean that I would never be hungry or that I would feel FULL like I used to after a Christmas dinner pigout. I am coming to the realisation that that just isn't the case. I do feel hungy at times, some days more than others, but occasionally almost as ravenous as I used to feel pre-banding. However, if I really stop and think about it, I don't think I could squeeze in the gargantuan meals that I used to be able to manage. Also, I am much more able to stop at a "reasonable" quantity that I have ever previously been able to manage - sometimes in the past, once I started eating it was like I went into a shark feeding frenzy, and no matter how much I "wanted" to limit my quantities, I just couldn't stop until the pain of almost bursting physically stopped me. In my first few months of banding, I kept looking for that same pain signal, thinking that that was what it meant to be "full".

I am gradually learning to recognise and accept a new physical sensation - that of "not being hungry". It is very new territory for me and I don't always find the boundaries. Quite often, I will go beyond them seeking the "full" feeling, but I have discovered that even when I do, the feeling isn't the same. For a a start, it is in a different location that previously felt. In the past, I felt that distended stomach "oh my god, I'm so STUFFED!" feeling that I was (let's face the truth) ADDICTED to, in the lower regions of my abdomen. Since banding, I am ashamed to admit it, but I have eaten until I felt I couldn't force in any more food - and the feeling is SO NOT the same. It is higher in my body, it doesn't come with that same sense of satisfaction and gratification, but it does come with the same pain and shame!

Since discovering this new "bandster" sensation of being "full", I am coming to terms with the idea that I have to train my body into accepting DIFFERENT levels of satisfaction, because I will never achieve the same feeling I felt before. That's fine with me, because it also means I am learning how to listen to my body and actually hear the signal that says "I'm not hungry" - which is something I have NEVER heard before.

In the past, all I have ever heard from my body is "I'm STARVING - FEED ME NOW!!" or "OH MY GOD, THAT HURTS - WHY DID I EAT SO MUCH?" There was no middle ground for me. Now I'm finding the middle ground and I'm LOVING IT! Good luck to all of you on your journeys.