i am starving! well not litterally, but i am so HUNGRY! I had some restriction and was barely able to eat a cup of food before my first fill...guess it was swelling?....Anyway, since my first fill I have been hungry! All the time even a half hour after eating, i am trying so hard to obey the rules and only eat a cup of food, get my protien in etc. Any tips for banishing the hunger? I assume this is bandster hell, but im starving and not even losing weight! Help, please!

Try doing a low carb, high protein diet like the "south beach diet." It's very band friendly and will help with the hunger pangs in between fills.

Keep your fill appointments as close together as they will let you. For most this is about a month apart. At my center they allowed you to come back in two weeks. The sooner you get restriction, the sooner you will be controlling your hunger.

Do a bit of exercise. This can suppress your hunger too.

Drink herbal tea or broth or eat diet jello.

I hope this helps!

Good luck on your journey,

I would speak to your doctor's office and see how much time you need to have between fills. Mine is also two weeks. While they are often booked weeks in advance; I call and ask if they have any cancellations. I work from home so my calendar is flexible. I would keep cut up chicken breast in the fridge so you can have a solid Protein snack. I often have a a large gap between lunch and dinner (since I go to the gym between them); I keep Premier RTD Protein shakes in the fridge (160 cal 30 g of protein). If you don't have BP issues my nurse recommended dill pickles for a crunchy snack because they have very little calories.

I feel you pain. Presurgery I was on my own diet and was loosing more than I am with the band prerestriction. Frustrating.

Hang in there. Restriction will come. For now, I would focus on eating the right things, even if your portions are larger than they will be once you are restricted. I also highly reccomend the South Beach diet. Good luck!

Ditto on the larger portions. I never had to go through bandster hell because my surgeon did not require his patients to eat the limited quantities they supposedly would after their fills. I just followed his advice and made good choices, eating reasonable portions. For me that meant about 3-4 oz of Protein, 1/2-3/4 cup of low carb vegies and maybe 1/4 cup of rice, potatoes or some other type of starch...and I never 'eyed' anything. It was always measured.

I'm dealing with hunger right now and find that a hot cup of chicken broth mid-meal with soothe the belly and keep me going until my next meal.

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