10 days since surgery--Why is it so easy to eat?

After many months of of agonizing about having the lapband surgery, my wife and I had the surgery 10 days ago. After 4 days of liquid diets we slowly (quickly) started adding solids. We are really trying to be careful but eating is easy. I feel no discomfort or pressure. We started off with scrambled eggs, baked fish and tuna salad. We actually had a small piece of pizza last night at our daughters birthday. Other than eating smaller portions, I feel no different than before the surgery. Guess I was thinking it would be worse. Weight has dropped 20 lbs since start of presurgery diet and 15 of that was post surgery. I know we added solids back in faster than we should have but just don't see the problem. What am I missing? Advice? Are we sabotaging ourselves?:huh2:

Yes. You want to rest your stomach to give the band and your stomach around the band (where it is stitched into place) time to heal. Imagine having stomach surgery (not hard to imagine at this point) and doing sit-ups. Now that doesn't make any sense. Yes it would hurt, but you would probablly also be afraid of pulling or straining the stitches. When your eat solid food your stomach moves, contracts, and generally "works" more. That gives your band a better chance to slip or move around before it is healed into place. Let your body heal.

No it wasn't hard for me to eat either, but take it easy. I got to start on soft food pretty quickley but be careful. Number 1 rule is to follow the advice of your doctor. Get your protein in and don't eat unless you are hungery. Really hungery. If you start to look for food ask yourself if your stomach is hungry. Now is the time to get used to the guidelines. Do that now and when your hunger is more controlled after you have had a few fills you will be well on your way!

Good luck!

Thank you Julie Ann. We are very aware of not overdoing it, but just felt like maybe we were doing really unknown damage.

I am in the same boat as you and your wife. I was banded 3 weeks ago yesterday. I have been able to eat just about anything this week. I have lost 30 since the presurgical diet but feel like if I don't get a handle on it, it could come back. At my first follow up the doctor said that the band is empty right now and will most likely be filled at my next appointment just before Thanksgiving.

I had the same problem of being really hungry right after surgery and I received an explanation that really helped me understand it. My band had no fill put in at the time of surgery so it was like a loose belt sitting at the top of my stomach. It was there but it was just hanging out and not doing anything for my hunger control yet because it was so loose. My doctor waited a few weeks before putting 1 cc in it and fills it up gradually because there is post-op swelling and they don't want to irritate it too much.

He said that years ago when they first started doing these surgeries they used to fill it up a lot at the time of surgery and found that the rate of band slippage was really high so they stopped doing that. Our bodies need to take this change gradually.

It took me about 6 fills of 1cc each to really start to feel restriction. It's a bummer because it really does require will power for several months after surgery and I had thought that I wouldn't have to do that anymore. I am really glad that I did do the surgery but that was something that I hadn't understood or anticipated before doing it. Hope this helps! Just pay attention to the doctor's rules and you will be fine. Good luck !!!

Banded on 7/6/09

Pre-surgery weight 242lbs

Current weight 212lbs

I was banded Wed. 10/28. I feel very restricted as if I have a knot in my chest and not the least bit hungry. I'm sure it is swelling that will go away fairly quickly. I'm enjoying the fact that I'm not hungry though.