catpawent

I'm so glad to have found this forum! I was banded 5/19/2007. I am going in for my fourth fill tomorrow. (First two fills essentially resulted in no saline in the band. With an initial fill of 2.0cc and a second fill of 4.0cc in a 9.75 Inamed band, I wound up with 0.6cc. My surgeon did a fluro, fill to 2.6cc and checked the following day. No leakage noted. I still feel restriction 7-8 weeks later.) I'm a bit discouraged since I've lost approximately 37 lbs total including the pre-op diet that I followed for 4 weeks prior to surgery. Most of the weight loss was during the pre-op and liquid phases following surgery. Mostly I'm working to maintain the loss and fluctuate around a 4-6 lb range. I have been tracking calories and trying to keep to around 1200 per day with 25% Protein, 25% fat (max), and 50% carbs. I haven't been exercising at all. (Beginning BMI was 52.) I've noticed that even though I am noticing restriction early in the day or at the beginning of a meal, once I am able to get things down I can eat quite a lot. I'm not sure what 'packing the pouch' is, but is that what I'm doing when I eat a sizable amount? It is weird because sometimes I am PBing, though that usually only happens now when I'm not paying attention to how much or how fast I'm eating and don't chew thoroughly. If I do PB, I stop eating and then drink warm liquids a few hours afterwards to sooth my stoma. From reading other posts, it looks like I need to (1) keep on top of fills to achieve good restriction, (2) track my food intake until I hit the 'sweet spot' and feel full, and (3) begin exercising. Does anyone out there have anything else they can suggest or recommend?