I was banded Feb 9th, 2011. I lost a total of 15 lbs with the band and 19 before being banded. The past two and a half weeks I have flipped flopped between 224 and 226. I AM SO FRUSTRATED! I exercise and eat MUCH smaller portions...I go for my first fill on the 22nd but If I don't start loosing after my fill I don't know what I will do. I am so disappointed and depressed. Old habits are starting to sneak up on me again since there have been no 'rewards' of my work. Has anyone else had a plateau so early on? What did you do to make the weight come off? HELP please...I just about giving up.

Oh dear - you are not at a plateau! You have barely begun your journey!!!! The first 6 weeks post surgery are to let your body heal - not drop lotsa weight! My doctor stressed that to me - so I wasn't worried about weight until I got my first fill at 6 weeks post op....it didn't do a darn thing and I was hungry between meals (aka bandster hell), but the next fill did the trick....and things went MUCH smoother from there. You have to be patient as until you hit your sweet spot you will struggle - and it does tend to feel more like a diet then....but you can do it! Some folks take no fills (lucky dogs) and others take a full band to be at the sweet spot....it is hard to be patient when you want to just be there and start losing. But this isn't the gastric bypass, we WON'T lose weight fast - it is slow and steady. A friend of mine had the gastric about the same time I did - and now, 2 yrs out, we are both at about the same place....so I feel good about my journey, even if it took me longer to get there!

Don't give up!

Kim

My doctor also said it's very normal not to lose much weight after surgery. I went for my first fill last week and told her that I was upset because I was hungry ALL THE TIME!!! She said until I get my fills to that "sweet spot" I will probably start to feel more hungry toward the end of the month before my next fill. I've already dropped about 4 pounds since my first fill - but before that I didn't lose anything for almost a month. The key for me is to eat SLOWLY. If I watch television or play around on the internet when I'm eating I tend to put the fork down and take a lot of time eating. The other day I ate two scrambled eggs with a "smidge" of melted cheese on them for Breakfast. Because I was playing around and taking my time eating - it took me about 20 minutes or more to finish eating. What was great about this was that I felt FULL after I was done. I hope it continues like this!

I really don't know of anyone that this has not hap pend too.. So don't get to down... It takes time for the body to catch up to the weight loss with the lower calories. Once that happens,, it will start back up. But remember: If your not losing weight, your losing inches. So that's how the body catches up! Either way,, even if it's small,,,,, it's a loss for you.

One day at a time ! One of your goals should be lets see what I have lost in a year....

That's realistic, because this is a slow go.

Good Health, Shirley.