Hi guys. I was banded 5/16/03. I lost 19 pounds during the first two weeks of post-op liquid diet...not a bad start, I thought. But then, when I went back for my fill yesterday, I discovered I had GAINED BACK five pounds!

Well, obviously I needed the fill, but I'm still discouraged because it seems like almost everyone else on the mailing lists I read who had surgery when I did has already lost a lot more than that. For those of you who also started out slowly, how long did it take before you started to see steady weight loss?

I am really scared that I will keep going back up, because all this time I still FELT like I was losing and wasn't eating so much, so the five pounds was an unpleasant surprise.

I too read about people who lose a lot right out of the gate, but I'm not worried about it at all. The band, as we all know, is designed to work AFTER a fill and not necessarily before. I figure any weight at all taken off before my first fill is just a bonus, and your bonus is now 14 lbs in about 9 weeks. That's a good rate of loss even for someone WITH a fill!

You're off to a great start, quakergirl, and now that you've had a fill you'll probably start to see those numbers dropping soon. Good luck!!

Yup so far I have lost about 20lbs. I won't be going for my fill till September 4th. But everyday I notice that I eat a little more. I just try to eat healthy stuff and hope for the best.

Prefill stage is the worst, I swear.

But those weight losses are great! Think of this way....Inamed (the manufacturer of the band) stated to me that they expect it take 2 years to lose 100 lbs, that this was a reasonable and realistic expectation.

You're already halfway there! In my mind you're months ahead of the game!

And be careful about eating too LITTLE. You don't want to throw your metabolism out of whack. Sometimes upping calories (esp protien) will kick start the loss again.

And sometimes...we just plateau no matter WHAT we do and patience is called for. I've had plateaus last 6 months. I remember them vividly...in the 230s and the 190s.

Robin

Everyone says prefill stage is the worst, but I plan to get through it by remembering what's REALLY the worst: pre-BAND stage! For the last year I've been reading about people frustrated with with their pre-fill loss and wishing that was me. Soon it will be, I guess, but I doubt the feeling I'll have is frustration. Opportunity, that's what it is!!

I'm looking forward to being able to say I'm plateauing at 230, or even 270! Since I'm currently plateaued in the 320 range, we'd be looking at a huge improvement!

Thanks for the support everyone! I think you're right that this was just a pre-fill thing. The fill does seem to be helping me with my appetite. I didn't expect much because it was only 1 cc, but it definitely seems like I'm staying fuller longer.

I was concerned about not eating enough during the liquid phase, but now eating too little is definitely not a problem.