Burlingtongirl

Hi PuppyPaws57, http://bodywellfitness.com/2012/03/25/de-mystifying-dr-obriens-the-8-golden-rules/ Dr. Paul O'Brian is an Australian doctor considered to be the expert and a pioneer of the Lap-Band. I had my surgery in Canada and my doctor had trained with Dr. O'Brian. I was sent home with a copy of the 8 golden rules. My doctor instructed one cup of food per meal, but that was the only difference. I attached a link.

Thanks everyone, it's so great to hear the stories of others. I am such a compulsive eater (such an impulsive person in general) and I know I'm not being successful because I'm eating junk. I get so desperate about food. I need to realize that I'm not going to die if I don't give in to my thoughts to eat junk. I bought a mindfulness CD. I am so tired of getting in my own way. I need to start fresh! So hard!

Hello, I was banded in Mississauga, Canada June 28, 2013. I'm over a year into this and I'm still struggling to recognize my green zone. I have a large band and have been up at almost 9 ccs and am now sitting at 7.4 ccs. I think at first my expectation was that the band would make me not want to eat and the weight would just fall off. When that didn't happen I sought restriction. I find stress really makes me tight (and silly stress like having people over for a BBQ or going on vacation). I lost 25lbs on the horrible pre op liquid diet and have only lost 20lbs in the last year and a bit. I got so bad a few months ago that I couldn't eat anything and was living on Gavescon and bringing up acid in my sleep. I ended up having an emergency fill and they took 3 full ccs out. I was back to starving and really kind of beaten up mentally. Now I am trying to be smarter about understanding my band and what the green zone really means. I think it means that if you eat according to the 8 rules that you won't get stuck or slime very often. I think it means that if I am honest with myself I don't feel much physical hunger (my deep fried loving brain, that's a whole other post). At 7.4 ccs I am mildly hungry when it's time for my 3 meals a day, but I don't really need a snack in between lunch and dinner. If I eat slowly I can feel my band doing its thing and become satisfied pretty quickly. If I'm honest, I'm still eating more than a cup a food per meal (more like a cup and a half). I think I might be in my green zone. I know what the red zone feels like (got the t-shirt) and that didn't result in any weight loss (just me sucking on cheesies to get easy things down). Did anyone else struggle to find the right fill?