Not getting good restriction, only bad restriction.

[WrenBird 11]

Hello everyone.

I've been looking everywhere for this answer. I've been goggling it for days and noticed there's a few people who have this problem, but I haven't found any answers.

I don't ever feel full.

I was banded about 4 weeks ago, 3 days ago I had my first fill. I feel like I could eat 3 pizzas, but even though I'm hungry, it gets stuck unless I blend it up finely. It hurts when it gets stuck and apparently this isn't restriction...

I feel like the band isn't really working for me with this problem...I don't ever feel full, I just feel 'hurty'. I can eat as much Soup as I want because it just slides down between the band, anything thicker and I get a huge amount of pain in my tummy every 5 seconds. It's like the only restriction I get is bad, painful restriction.

Does anyone know what the problem might be? Has the band been positioned incorrectly? Is anyone else having this problem?

I've had the problem since I got the band, without fill and with fill...Increasing the fill may result in me not being able to drink liquids so that's probably not an option.

I'm just so hungry.:wink2:

[flossypops 0]

Hello wrenbird, when you have that hurty feeling, in my experience it usually means i have eaten too much, too quickly. I also don't feel "full" as such but after 7 months i now now when to stop before i get to the stadge that i bring up loads of slime stuff. The eating slowly and small bites is the single most difficult thing i have had to learn to do since the band and even now i still struggle some days.

Also, you have only just had your 1st fill. Many people need only 1 or 2 but some of us need more to find our correct restriction. Keep trying with a whole range of food, eat slowly and carefully and hopefully the hurty feeling will go x

[WrenBird 11]

Hello wrenbird, when you have that hurty feeling, in my experience it usually means i have eaten too much, too quickly. I also don't feel "full" as such but after 7 months i now now when to stop before i get to the stadge that i bring up loads of slime stuff. The eating slowly and small bites is the single most difficult thing i have had to learn to do since the band and even now i still struggle some days.

Also, you have only just had your 1st fill. Many people need only 1 or 2 but some of us need more to find our correct restriction. Keep trying with a whole range of food, eat slowly and carefully and hopefully the hurty feeling will go x

Thankyou :-)

The hurty pain doesn't bother me at all because I don't eat food like that anymore, it's more that I don't get full on the types of food that I can eat.

Cheers,

Lauren

[iwokeupfat 0]

I'm glad you asked this question. I'm having the same problem. I had my 4th fill almost a month ago. I have been hungry but can only eat a tablespoon of baked Beans or soft foods at a time. I get that 'feeling' too. After that 'feeling' passes I'm still very hungry and eat another tablespoon or two. I think this way of eating isn't right. I should be able to eat a cup of food at my 1/2 hour sitting and be satisfied for a few hours, correct? What I'm doing is grazing, isn't it? Not good eating habits. Like you... Soup easily goes down and satisfies me for a bit.

This is what my normal day looks like:

Isopure Protein shake in morning made with a couple tablespoons of plain low fat yogurt, ice, powdered milk, Water and a little flaxseed oil.

mid morning: 8 ounces of homemade thin soup. Usually chicken broth with very well cooked chopped broccoli, onions, carrots, celery and brown rice.... with some low fat Velveeta melted into it for creaminess.

lunch: a one ounce Louis Kemp single crab stick with finely minced celery and low fat mayo. Sometimes I can make tuna fish salad.

later after lunch: 4 ounces of non fat, vegetarian baked beans

dinner: two one ounce mashed meatballs with a little Tomato gravy. Sometimes I can get some salmon or cod down... but just a little.

dinner sometimes varies: I sometimes have mashed cauliflower or mashed potatoes.

And then during the day I also have a scoop of unflavored Isopure zero carb Protein powder mixed into one cup of sugar free drink mix (like 4C iced tea... or Crystal Light). I don't like it much... but I want to make sure I get enough Protein.< /span>

Now and then I can get a low fat baked Triscuit down with some Laughing Cow Light cheese. Oh what a joy to give my teeth something to do! My teeth are lonely.

I can't get chicken down... pork or ham comes back up. I'm not sure if my band is too tight or not.

I see my doc this morning. I'll try to return to this thread to see if any 'veterans' can help with their own advice. I'm struggling here.

Best of luck to you. It's not easy.. but we'll do this. :wink2:

[WrenBird 11]

I'm glad you asked this question. I'm having the same problem. I had my 4th fill almost a month ago. I have been hungry but can only eat a tablespoon of baked Beans or soft foods at a time. I get that 'feeling' too. After that 'feeling' passes I'm still very hungry and eat another tablespoon or two. I think this way of eating isn't right. I should be able to eat a cup of food at my 1/2 hour sitting and be satisfied for a few hours, correct? What I'm doing is grazing, isn't it? Not good eating habits. Like you... Soup easily goes down and satisfies me for a bit.

This is what my normal day looks like:

Isopure Protein shake in morning made with a couple tablespoons of plain low fat yogurt, ice, powdered milk, Water and a little flaxseed oil.

mid morning: 8 ounces of homemade thin soup. Usually chicken broth with very well cooked chopped broccoli, onions, carrots, celery and brown rice.... with some low fat Velveeta melted into it for creaminess.

lunch: a one ounce Louis Kemp single crab stick with finely minced celery and low fat mayo. Sometimes I can make tuna fish salad.

later after lunch: 4 ounces of non fat, vegetarian baked beans

dinner: two one ounce mashed meatballs with a little Tomato gravy. Sometimes I can get some salmon or cod down... but just a little.

dinner sometimes varies: I sometimes have mashed cauliflower or mashed potatoes.

And then during the day I also have a scoop of unflavored Isopure zero carb Protein Powder mixed into one cup of sugar free drink mix (like 4C iced tea... or Crystal Light). I don't like it much... but I want to make sure I get enough Protein.< /span>

Now and then I can get a low fat baked Triscuit down with some Laughing Cow Light cheese. Oh what a joy to give my teeth something to do! My teeth are lonely.

I can't get chicken down... pork or ham comes back up. I'm not sure if my band is too tight or not.

I see my doc this morning. I'll try to return to this thread to see if any 'veterans' can help with their own advice. I'm struggling here.

Best of luck to you. It's not easy.. but we'll do this. :wink2:

Oh thank goodness I'm not the only one. I searched and searched and I knew other people were having the same issues as us, but no one had answered them!

Yes, it pretty much is grazing what we're doing...I ate a massive bowl of Pasta tonight and it took me about 2 hours to eat but afterwards I was still hungry...

I think all of the weightloss I've been experiencing has just been from me exercising an hour a day and eating healthy foods (besides the Pasta, of course, but that was more of an experiment to see if I'd still feel hungry).

I've been working my butt off and I'm just so worried that spending so much money on this procedure has been a waste. It could just be something simple that can be easily fixed...I hope so. Eeek.

Anyways thanks so much for letting me know. I hope all goes well tomorrow :biggrin:

Cheers,

Lauren

[iwokeupfat 0]

Wow... you can eat Pasta? You're killing me here. lol... I haven't tried ... but I'm told it's a no-no. :wink2:

[WrenBird 11]

Wow... you can eat Pasta? You're killing me here. lol... I haven't tried ... but I'm told it's a no-no. :wink2:

Hmmm yeah...Don't get me wrong though, I have to chew it until it turns into a paste and take a pea sized bite everytime lol. I can pretty much eat anything I want as long as it's chewed enough (though I haven't tried red meat). My band is very tight though, if I eat too quickly I have problems even getting Soup down.

I didn't know Pasta was a no-no...Before I had my fill I could eat spaghetti easily...Like it slipped through the band really easily. Same with bananas...Maybe the pasta thing is a conspiracy, because it actually seems pretty easy for me to eat lol.

[ElfiePoo 109]

ok...first, at 4 weeks postop it's highly likely that you have not yet reached restriction and at 3 days post fill, you're getting stuck on some things because of temporary swelling...and getting stuck will continue to irritate the band area and prolong the swelling. Change what you're eating...eat softer foods.

You said you can eat what you did before but then said it took you 2 hours to eat a massive bowl of Pasta. First, why are you serving up 'massive' bowls of anything? That's just an invitation to eat. Second, if it took you 2 hours to eat it, then you really can't eat what you did before because I'll bet in the past you didn't take 2 hours to eat that same sized bowl, yes? You shouldn't be taking more than 20-30 minutes to eat your meal. If you are, then you're grazing.

Some ground rules for making the band work...

• Portion out your meal according to what you know you *should* be eating. Don't go back for seconds.
  
• Take small bites, chew well and put your fork down between bites.
  
• You should be able to finish your meal in 20-30 minutes.
  
• Don't drink once you take your first bite and not for 30 minutes afterward.
  

Pay attention to your body. When you reach a good restriction, you'll just know you've had enough and when you take that bite too many, you'll know it because it feels like it's kind of stuck in your throat (but isn't).

I eat every 2.5 hours. Protein shake for Breakfast, then two main meals. In between my meals and once in the evening I'll have a healthy 'snack'...a Protein Shake, 2 oz of cheese, hard boiled egg or something similar just to keep my blood sugar stable.

.

[ElfiePoo 109]

I should be able to eat a cup of food at my 1/2 hour sitting and be satisfied for a few hours, correct? What I'm doing is grazing, isn't it? Not good eating habits. Like you... Soup easily goes down and satisfies me for a bit.

This is what my normal day looks like:

To be honest, I see nothing wrong with the way you're eating. The diabetic community has been saying for a long time that it's better for us to eat 6 mini meals, rather than 3 main meals.

The only thing I'd do differently is to avoid eating carbs (e.g. potatoes) as one of your mini meals. Eat Protein. It will help keep you satisfied longer whereas the carbs, particularly those in potatoes and flour products, will start you craving more carbs. At the main meals, make sure you're getting your Protein and vegies in. Here's a typical day for me...

Breakfast: Low cal/low carb protein shake made with unsweetened almond milk.

mid-morning: Protein Shake or hard boiled egg or 2 oz of cheese (sometimes with a multigrain cracker or two)

Lunch: 3-4 oz of protein, 3/4-1 cup low carb vegies (e.g. broccoli or a small salad) and 1/4 c. starch (Pasta, potatoes, rice, beans)

mid-afternoon: same as mid-morning

Dinner: Same as lunch

mid-evening: same as mid-morning.

At my main meals, I eat my protein and vegies first and, if I'm still 'not content', I'll eat my starch.

Since my last fill two days ago, I'm not even eating this much...most likely due to temporary swelling.

.

[BetsyB 9]

I don't ever feel full.

You may have to redefine what "full" is. If you're looking for the sensation you experienced preoperatively, you will not experience that again--ever. It's gone.

Instead, you will have to work to identify a new "full." You will not have the same sensation of a stretched stomach. Those receptors will never be stimulated in the same way. You will instead learn to work with "not hungry" and "satisfied."

If you are reaching the point of pain, in terms of eating volume, you are likely eating too much. With time and practice, and a new sense of perspective, you will learn to listen to your body's "not hungry" message and STOP.

It really does take practice, and it also may involve a little mourning. But you will come to realize that "not hungry" is good---and that even a bite more can push you into territory you want to avoid.

If you genuinely cannot eat healthy solid foods, I'd talk with your doctor about adjustment.

But I'd also focus on making good choices (pizza crust can be problematic, so that might be a food you find you have to avoid; my local pizzeria makes a crustless pizza that is great--maybe yours will, too). Cut your food into small pieces, and chew enough that nothing you swallow is larger than a pencil eraser. Eat slowly enough that you can "listen" to what your body is saying, in terms of satiety.

"Not hungry" is very, very different from the "full" you know and love. You have to stop chasing that "full."

[MLBL 2]

Thanks for starting the thread, and thanks for so many helpful responses. It is so good to know I am not the only one wondering about these things.

[Momto3redheads 18]

Hmm....I hope your doctor is able to help you figure out what is going on with you. All we can do is tell you what we have experienced - and everyone is different!!!

For the first 6 weeks after surgery I didn't focus on weight loss - as I was told to worry about letting my body heal....not to say I didn't try and make good choices, but I knew I needed to get enough calories to let my body heal itself and get off to the right start. I remember feeling "hurty" in my chest whenever I had crossed the line and taken one bite too many...I was full. I did get hungry between meals a LOT...that's part of bandster hell, too.

You shouldn't be able to only eat a few bites of food at a sitting, I wouldn't think - but I guess it depends on how big your bites are? About a cup of food is normal - though I cannot sit and eat a cup of chicken...usually the size of one or two chicken tenders and I am stuffed. But I can sit and eat a large chili from wendy's if I haven't eaten anything solid prior that day...which is a good 28 grams of Protein and leaves me full forever. I found the key was eating good solid Protein - to stay full the longest...especially until you are at your "sweet spot" and not experiencing hunger between meals. (now I am rarely ever hungry - my band is at the right spot and I have to remind myself to eat) New problems come with the sweet spot, tho, as you still have to remember to make good choices....now with all this haloween candy around at work it is easy to eat a mini candy bar here and there and the problem with that is that then I haven't any desire for my real food as I am not hungry! So it is a journey...and I don't think it ends with losing the weight you wanted to lose - you still have to continue to make good decisions and eat right or else you will start gaining....like the failure stories everyone likes to tell us about. It took me a good 5 months before I was at my sweet spot and losing steadily....was it frustrating? YES! But then the next thing I knew it was coming off every week and things got easier with time....hang in there - you can do it!!!!

Best wishes,

Kim

[WrenBird 11]

ok...first, at 4 weeks postop it's highly likely that you have not yet reached restriction and at 3 days post fill, you're getting stuck on some things because of temporary swelling...and getting stuck will continue to irritate the band area and prolong the swelling. Change what you're eating...eat softer foods.

You said you can eat what you did before but then said it took you 2 hours to eat a massive bowl of Pasta. First, why are you serving up 'massive' bowls of anything? That's just an invitation to eat. Second, if it took you 2 hours to eat it, then you really can't eat what you did before because I'll bet in the past you didn't take 2 hours to eat that same sized bowl, yes? You shouldn't be taking more than 20-30 minutes to eat your meal. If you are, then you're grazing.

Some ground rules for making the band work...

• Portion out your meal according to what you know you *should* be eating. Don't go back for seconds.
  
• Take small bites, chew well and put your fork down between bites.
  
• You should be able to finish your meal in 20-30 minutes.
  
• Don't drink once you take your first bite and not for 30 minutes afterward.
  

Pay attention to your body. When you reach a good restriction, you'll just know you've had enough and when you take that bite too many, you'll know it because it feels like it's kind of stuck in your throat (but isn't).

I eat every 2.5 hours. Protein shake for Breakfast, then two main meals. In between my meals and once in the evening I'll have a healthy 'snack'...a Protein Shake, 2 oz of cheese, hard boiled egg or something similar just to keep my blood sugar stable.

.

The getting stuck part doesn't bother me. Sorry, but I probably should've made it a little clear that that's not the issue here. I do eat soft foods and I chew them very very well.

"First, why are you serving up 'massive' bowls of anything?"

(Response earlier in the thread) "(besides the Pasta, of course, but that was more of an experiment to see if I'd still feel hungry)."

This isn't a regular thing. I don't eat huge bowls of pasta everyday. The only pasta I really eat reguarly was before my fill and that was the canned spaghetti kind (for kids) that slipped through the band easily.

[WrenBird 11]

You may have to redefine what "full" is. If you're looking for the sensation you experienced preoperatively, you will not experience that again--ever. It's gone.

Instead, you will have to work to identify a new "full." You will not have the same sensation of a stretched stomach. Those receptors will never be stimulated in the same way. You will instead learn to work with "not hungry" and "satisfied."

If you are reaching the point of pain, in terms of eating volume, you are likely eating too much. With time and practice, and a new sense of perspective, you will learn to listen to your body's "not hungry" message and STOP.

It really does take practice, and it also may involve a little mourning. But you will come to realize that "not hungry" is good---and that even a bite more can push you into territory you want to avoid.

If you genuinely cannot eat healthy solid foods, I'd talk with your doctor about adjustment.

But I'd also focus on making good choices (pizza crust can be problematic, so that might be a food you find you have to avoid; my local pizzeria makes a crustless pizza that is great--maybe yours will, too). Cut your food into small pieces, and chew enough that nothing you swallow is larger than a pencil eraser. Eat slowly enough that you can "listen" to what your body is saying, in terms of satiety.

"Not hungry" is very, very different from the "full" you know and love. You have to stop chasing that "full."

By full I mean 'no longer hungry'. People have explained to me what restriction feels like and unfortunately that's not what I'm experiencing. :-(

"Cut your food into small pieces, and chew enough that nothing you swallow is larger than a pencil eraser. Eat slowly enough that you can "listen" to what your body is saying, in terms of satiety."

That's something I have to do in order for it to not get stuck. Things don't get stuck anymore because I'm very frightened of it hurting. It getting stuck isn't really the issue for me, it's more that after I eat foods that I can eat, I still feel hungry...Apparently I need resitrction. Apparently it getting 'stuck' isn't resitrction lol.

[WrenBird 11]

Hmm....I hope your doctor is able to help you figure out what is going on with you. All we can do is tell you what we have experienced - and everyone is different!!!

For the first 6 weeks after surgery I didn't focus on weight loss - as I was told to worry about letting my body heal....not to say I didn't try and make good choices, but I knew I needed to get enough calories to let my body heal itself and get off to the right start. I remember feeling "hurty" in my chest whenever I had crossed the line and taken one bite too many...I was full. I did get hungry between meals a LOT...that's part of bandster hell, too.

You shouldn't be able to only eat a few bites of food at a sitting, I wouldn't think - but I guess it depends on how big your bites are? About a cup of food is normal - though I cannot sit and eat a cup of chicken...usually the size of one or two chicken tenders and I am stuffed. But I can sit and eat a large chili from wendy's if I haven't eaten anything solid prior that day...which is a good 28 grams of Protein and leaves me full forever. I found the key was eating good solid Protein - to stay full the longest...especially until you are at your "sweet spot" and not experiencing hunger between meals. (now I am rarely ever hungry - my band is at the right spot and I have to remind myself to eat) New problems come with the sweet spot, tho, as you still have to remember to make good choices....now with all this haloween candy around at work it is easy to eat a mini candy bar here and there and the problem with that is that then I haven't any desire for my real food as I am not hungry! So it is a journey...and I don't think it ends with losing the weight you wanted to lose - you still have to continue to make good decisions and eat right or else you will start gaining....like the failure stories everyone likes to tell us about. It took me a good 5 months before I was at my sweet spot and losing steadily....was it frustrating? YES! But then the next thing I knew it was coming off every week and things got easier with time....hang in there - you can do it!!!!

Best wishes,

Kim

Hmm, it's so weird that people say they feel 'hurty' when they've eaten too much...I know I can eat A LOT and not feel that. I only ever feel that when I don't chew something properly. lol.

Is Optifast considered proteine? I was contemplating going back onto that stuff to see if that would work. If it does then I'm assuming my fill needs to be adjusted to a smaller amount...I'd never thought in a million years that having less fill would actually help me in losing weight.

If that's the case then I'm assuming it means I need less fill for stuff to go down easily, thus giving me the chance to eat quicker and making me fuller? Grazing isn't good...I just end up eating a lot.

Yeah I know what you mean about eating well. Really the only mistakes I've made are Pasta which I've only just heard from this thread are bad...But it goes down so easily lol. I exercise an hour a day and try to keep my calorie intake under 1000 calories a day (used to be under 500, but that was more of a problem than a solution).

I think that's why I'm losing weight. At the moment the band has really only helped me eat more liquidy foods. I know I shouldn't complain because I'm losing weight but I've spent a lot of money on this thing and it'd be great if I got the restriction results that everyone else was getting. I just can't help but think the only reason I've lost weight is because I've worked really hard at it. My main motivation for working my butt off is 'you've just spent so much money on this thing, don't let it go to waste!'...lol... One of the main reasons I got the band was because I hate being hungry lol...I know that sounds silly, but being hungry makes me irritated. Plus I'm fat and needed it, but my main motivation was to stop the hunger.

I wonder if it's because I have too much fill? That's definately why I'm grazing...Maybe I need to eat easy to swallow foods a little quicker...

Thanks for your input. :-)

I am so glad at around this time that I live in Australia ahahaha that way I won't have the temptation of halloweeen and thanksgiving food. Eeek :-/ lol.