Hi,

As you may or may not know I blog for my doc. Dr. Titus Duncan realresultswls.com I have had a sweet time with my band from August 2009. It has been as much a psychological journey as a physical one. It's been pretty much smooth sailing for me. Don't get me wrong, I've had to figure this fickle little thing out the hard way a few times but in general it has worked to curb my appetite, keep me full with just a few bites and the weight has come off at a slow pace the whole time. Generally 4 to 6 pounds a month and honestly, I exercise sporadically depending on the season and my busy schedule.

I attend our Real Results monthly support group in Atlanta and I read posts here. I hear people struggling. I hear everything from I fell off the wagon and gained weight to I can still eat as much as I want with no restriction to I still crave my old favorites and can't say no.

If you struggle with any of these issues I'd like to hear you story. I'm trying to understand these issues better so I can help more people. I'd like to know if the band simply has no effect on you or do you think you are still eating emotionally. Does your family or work dynamic make it difficult for you to utilize your band. I'd just like input so I can give some perspective to people in my group. I just hate to see people struggle. We've struggled with weight for so long, taken drastic and costly measures to get help and if that help isn't working I'd like to try to figure out why.

Please let me know how long you've been banded. How many CC's you have in your band. And exactly which issues you struggle with. Ability to eat as much as you want. Never feeling full. Still craving old favorites. Eating much less but still not losing.

All input would be appreciated and maybe there will be others here that can give you some positive perspective or answers.

In actuality this procedure 'should' work for everyone but it is often more difficult for some than others and I'm on a Quest to figure out why.

Thanks for your input....besides, if you are struggling this is a good post to vent in.

Well, isn't it different for everyone though? I mean, I can eat as much as I want (well with in reason obviously), I feel full because I eat a good amount of food... I struggle mentally, forcing myself to eat less, because I know I wouldn't be hungry with less food, I know the band doesn't know how much food I eat... I'm never hungry at all. I just can't be mentally satisfied with 1 taco... or a baby size sandwich. Should I be? I still have cravings, but it's really not that bad.

I feel like every person uses the band differently, and their body reacts differently to it.

I have 5.5ccs. I don't really think I need more fill. My hunger is gone, full for 5+ hours.

Thanks. I think I get where you are coming from. The band is doing it's job but smaller portions are not emotionally satisfying. There is still an emotional sense of deprivation, I get it.

I had that issue at first but my band has always been pretty tight so after a few times of trying to eat a little more than 2 ounces at a time I ended up uncomfortable and vomiting. Eventually my mind sort of retrained itself to see food in much much smaller portions and I got over that emotional need to have a large portion. It took a while but it happened and I could be satisfied on smaller portions (except ice cream).

I get where you are coming from though. Thanks for the input. I'll pass that along to people in my group. Very informative.

Hi: The last time I had a fill, I stayed nauseated for a while. I noticed it the most when I laid down. Then sinus drainage did not help that at all ! ! !

I thought maybe, a little to tight.

Now almost 90 days later. I find myself getting hungrier through the day. I'm scheduled for the end of July to go back in for a fill, but I don't want to be to tight. (I HAVE BEEN IN THE RED ZONE BEFORE, AND IT'S NO FUN.)

So I'm thinking of just trying to start to figure out all these different foods that I do eat for Protein, and Calorie Purposes, and somehow change things around to satisfy myself.

Also still thinking about a slight tweaking. at the Surgeons Office.

I have 2.75 in a 4cc Band.

So trying to figure out how to make this work They would like tight , because they don't want to see weight gain.

Well I don't want weight gain either, but don't care for this nausea.

I'll see if he prescribes something or maybe some PEPCID COMPLETE

will do it.

PCP won't touch it ! Even if it is sinus drainage also....

Hi, I was just so hoping this last 1.5cc would have helped with the restriction but no ..... I can eat any quantity of food I wish too. I don't because I would regain the poor litte 18 lbs I have lost in 3.5 months. I am struggling every day with my willpower.

I now have 10cc in a 14cc band. Still not working for me. If I didn't get stuck with dry chicken once in a while I would think I never had this surgery.

When I read here that people lost 100 lbs in the same laps of time I could cry my eyes out. I had hoped for at least 30 to 40 lbs within 4 months (reasonable I thought).

I read every comment here and I so wish to be in a good zone very soon.

Wanna

I have been successful in loosing my excess weight, but the band hasn't been the tool I hoped for. In the process of getting fills/unfills I spent a lot of time either hungry (especially come late afternoon) or getting sick. There didn't seem to be much of a happy medium. I was in a good place for about a month here and there. After maintaining my weight loss for a few months I decided to have a large unfill. I wanted to be able to eat in the morning, before the unfill I was too tight for solids until lunch time, and eat some rice, bread, pasta. Would I do the band again? Probably not. I wish I had given it one more shot on my own, I hadn't "dieted" or excersised in years before I got banded in Nov. 09. Anyway, now my struggle is maintaining my weight loss. I weigh in every day and have managed to stay within about a 5 pound range.

The band has worked absolutely brilliiantly for me, but without blowing my own trumput, its becuase I've learned how to work it and how to control my urges.

I believe it DOES curb my appetite, but not to the extent that I'm conscious of that. I'm not one of those people who forget to eat because they're not hungry, I get hungry regularly. And I'm not one who only eats due to hunger either, I'm as prone to emotional boredom eating and eating just because as I ever was, the band has not changed that at all.

What it did for me - I got fast, automatic weight loss at the start - I had superb restriction due to swelling, I had a 12 week period of feelign like I did on duromine (phentermine). No hunger, no thoughts of food, no interest in food, full on teeny portions - without the fast heart beat, dilated pupils and urge to vaccuum the house at 2 am. I lost about 40lb in that 12 weeks, more than I'd EVER lost before and that got me going. The first year, that feeling gradually wained, I"d say by the second year, fills were working for me but that normal appetite and interest in food had returned, but this time, I was almost at a normal BMI. Now, I never had fast weight loss - 3 to 5lb a month after that first 12 weeks, but it did continue on during the second year and into the third where it might have been 5lb every now and then, over three or four month periods.

During this time (years 2 to 6), my life and eating were much more normal - periods of being "good" followed by periods of falling off the wagon. Falling off the wagon was not like before because I physically couldnt eat as much, so I wouldnt decide to go and have McDonalds for lunch followed by pizza for dinner like I previously would have, instead, I would ditch meals and eat nothing but sugar all darn day, Cookies, muffins, washed down by coffees. I could/can do this for days on end before I get my ass in gear again. The day to day eating, the band helps me do that better than I did and in better quantity, but the food choices, the discipline of 3 meals, the saying "no" to band foods, that's all down to me. Its willpower pure and simple. There is only so much the band can do and there is NO amount of fill that will stop you choosing poorly and overeating the wrong foods. A large number of people expressing their frustration and grief at this fact, that their band isnt woring, they cant tolerate enough fill to help them, a good percentage of those people are simply not facing that truth. That isnt meant to be harsh, but its a big realisation and its a hard one to reach, it really is a kind of epiphany that you have to have, and some people are banded before they're ready for that. Others of course really do have real problems with their bands.

Its a tool, it gets so annoying to hear that over and over again, but six years out, at a very successful BMI of 20, I still have to wake up and affirm this every single day. i still have to drag myself back on track, I still have lots of bad days. I've really had this reinforced to me because I had my band unfilled for a big surgery and have remained so for 8 months. You know what? I've maintained my weight without fill, and I really dont think I could have the discipline and willpower to eat little enough to lose without fill, but I have maintained and its by doing the exact same things I did WITH a working band, its really not that much harder or any different.

And a big factor for me is an hour's run five days or more a week. I've experimented with exercise, I'f fallen for fashion and fads and believed it when I've been told I must do more strength training and less cardio for the body I want but I've really come to the conclusion after years of experience at this - a sh*tload of cardo keeps the fat off you, pure and simple. Five or six hard sessions of sweat inducing high heart rate cardio is AS important as a band or dieting. It will be much harder without it.

Sad to say, its simply a no bullsh*t approach. Its the basics, done day in day out. The band helps, nothing more.;