5 years banded, i mostly live in peace with my band, but i joined this forum after a bad fill last saturday - encouraged by the camaraderie onhere, i visited a clinic yesterday and was aspirated which showed last weeks fill had missed completely. so i had the elusive .5 put in and am now back to 4.5 which is my maintain level. this is also good as i feared my port had been damaged and leaking so at least now i wont need revision surgery. But typically, as a bandster who keeps it tight, a little voice in the back of my head is saying ' you wont lose any weight - its not tight enough' - and this is because i just drank a coffee n didnt pb it. i really want to beat this fear - made this decision a while back - so today i am playing tennis for the first time in 30 years - i have a match in the club tournament which i just joined 2 weeks ago so i cant back out!!! and having read many posts on here, am going to make like a newly banded person and keep a food diary. i hope this will help me focus on my intake in a positive way and take me back to the core rules of banding which i had seriously forgotten for the most part. Any other long termers gone back to the drawing board?

I'm not an oldster, but wanted to recommend fitday.com to you for journaling--it has helped me identify when things need tweaking, as well as what to tweak, when necessary.

(I have good restriction and losing well, and can drink Fluid very freely--a coffee wouldn't slow me down at all. I know you like things good and tight; I just wanted to offer the perspective of someone who's taken it a bit more relaxed---in terms of fill, not in terms of food choices--and done really well.)

Olwen - Please don't equate being tight with the ability to lose weight. I did this and was miserable for about 6-7 weeks. My doc's office really cautions people on their forum to try and leave the band a little looser rather than too tight. I was reading some recent statistics yesterday concerning the band and noticed that between year 2 to 3 with the band the average slippage rate goes to 10%. That is a huge concern to me.

I have been tight and have been where I am now and still been able to loose weight effectively. Just because I can eat more comfortably doesn't mean I can eat more in volume. But I sure have more of a variety of foods I can tolerate.

It's really important to be able to get your fluids in daily. That was also an issue when I was tight. It was difficult to drink 64 oz in a day. Now, no problem. I can't chug it, but I can take 3-4 medium size gulps with no issues.

I am just really concerned with those who choose to keep their band tight. Because it is a really slippery slope in terms of taking chances with a slippage. Good luck to you in your journey!

sincere thanks to you both for yr replies. after i posted i then thpought - hmmm now io need to set up a journal - n lo n behold! the recommendation for fitcom - have had a quick look n it seems perfect for me :biggrin: thank u so much for that :thumbup: n the second lady - i did worry bout sliipage etc n did struggle with heartburn etc n night coughs when stupidly tight but i do have a lil perspective now n am ok with tight but not tooooooo tight :laugh: i played my tennis match today n got slaughtered but i did win a few games n was just eleated to have run round a court for 2 hours :frown: i'm back!!!!! the demons came a-calling - just coffee till late afternnon then a slim finger of low fat cheese plus a half stick of celery - but insanely loose tonight so made a veg curry - for me, i seem to have a head mess where, cos i spent a coupla hours preparing n cooking my curry from scratch, i equate this with being out of control. many times i have emptied the full contents of my freezer (never much in it really) plus the full contents of my fridge, into the bin. as i am single n generally buy food daily, the fridge tends to hold mostly condimetns for the chosen meal of the day. but sometimes i feel out of control when i have anything in the place. does anyone else have this issue? i have summarisd this behaviour as me being a natural purger - im the same with my wardrobes n drawers, not just my kitchen cupboards..... not enough in, i worry - too uch in, even if it is salad, i feel over faced n panicky. someone please tell me its not just me?