Hi, I had my first fill of 5cc two weeks ago and I still have zero restriction at all. I can eat anything at all with no problems. I have never vomitted or had any issues with food getting stuck. I am trying to follow all the rules of chewing my food and all the others but with no restriction at all it's very hard to stay on track. Can anyone tell me how long it was before you got some restriction and also if you have any tips for me to hang in there until my next fill which is April 11th. Thanks! Elaine

It's different for everyone but you may get some good restriction sooner than most with getting 5cc's on your first fill. It took me 7 months before I got to 5 or more cc's in my band. I am at 7.3cc's now and feeling pretty good with it. I don't get hungry unless it's been more than 4 or 5 hours between meals and some days I don't get hungry at all.

Hi, I had my first fill of 5cc two weeks ago and I still have zero restriction at all. I can eat anything at all with no problems. I have never vomitted or had any issues with food getting stuck. I am trying to follow all the rules of chewing my food and all the others but with no restriction at all it's very hard to stay on track. Can anyone tell me how long it was before you got some restriction and also if you have any tips for me to hang in there until my next fill which is April 11th. Thanks! Elaine

Having the same problem; I believe I have about 4cc's right now and the only time I really feel restriction is when I first wake up. I have never had any trouble eating anything and most of the time have to stop myself from eating as opposed to actually feeling satisfied. I have only found a handful of foods where I feel full after eating a few bites. I'm thinking about going in for another fill but am really trying to step up the exercise and make more efforts on my own to try and lose the weight. I have never PB'ed or slimed (which is good), but I really feel like it would make life a lot easier avoiding my temptations if I wasn't physically able to eat them as opposed to telling myself no....

Everyone is different. But do you know what size band you have?

It is very common not to feel much (or any) restriction for months. It took me about six months to get to my sweet spot--then the hunger was gone, portion sizes were easily tolerated, and the weight started going much faster. I went into surgery knowing that beforehand and knew I'd probably need to be patient. Preparing myself to wait for the good stuff made that six months much easier.

There seems to be considerable range of what we expect as well as what we observe. I was perhaps fortunate, in that my own 'first fill' was six full months postOp. It was during that time I learned the most about eating, overeating, being hungry, being full, and being at that blissful state of 'not hungry-not full-just right'.

It was also the period of my greatest weight loss.

Ever concept I had of 'feeling full' somehow the gold standard of whether I needed to eat was changed.

At long last, after the initial 3-weeks fluids/3 weeks mushies, and then into the real solid food, I began eating more or less 'normally'.

That was my first experience with the symptom of becoming hungry, then eating, finding that hunger sated, and then stopping when no longer hungry.

Full had nothing to do with it.

And the first time I got truly 'stuck'.....was with dry triscuits (about 3 of them) and the sensation I was going to die over a period of increasing discomfort for several hours. I put in emergency call to the surgeon's office, expecting to be directed to the local ER. Instead, one of the front office girls had the Band installed about 3 months prior to mine. She guided me through and I recovered, although I still 6 years later do not eat triscuits.

We can learn a lot from our collective experiences, without expecting them to all be identical. And I believe not one story I've read here in the past 6 years exactly mirrors any one else. There are a lot of similarities though.

We can let the experience of others be a GUIDE, nothing more.

Thanks everyone. I do believe patience is the first thing you need to learn in this process.

Fills are not always what you need. You have to learn the difference between wanting to be stuffed or just comfortable and no longer hungry. I never had a fill for one year and have only had two since. I dont really have restriction I just eat normal portions and only when my stomach is growling not because I think I need to eat. Staying off the scale is another thing you need to avoid. I was a daily wiegher and realized it was more harm than good. Since I stopped weighing myself I can see the difference in my clothing so I dont care anymore what the scale says. As long as my clothes are getting loser then I know I am getting smaller. I eat three meals a day 4 to five hours a part and one protein bar a day to make sure I get all my protein. I cant say that for most of us we really ever knew what being hungry was before now because we never hardly ever let our selves get hungry when we were obese. We ate just to eat and I think now knowing what if feels like to be hungry helps me to not overeat because I really only eat when I am truly hungry.

"We ate just to eat and I think now knowing what if feels like to be hungry helps me to not overeat because I really only eat when I am truly hungry. " Agree!!! Well stated!!!