I have been wondering why I try to push my band so much. Eating around it and then eating too much to the point of PB. Well, on most days I have decent restriction. But there are those days that I can eat a lot at one sitting like my band was never there. When I have times like this it is like my brain goes buck wild and tries to eat everything in sight until I PB and then get swollen and then can't eat regular food for a few days, then I loosen up, try to eat a big meal again just to see if I can get it down and then the whole cycle starts over again. WHen I have good restriction my mind tells me not to even try putting certain things in my mouth but when I am wide open it's like all bets are off. Then they stay off until I push it too far. I have been on this cycle for over a month now. Does anyone else do this and keep their weight the same or gradually start moving back up? Has anyone ever gotten a good reason why the band can be so different on restricition even from one meal to the next?

ITs because the band is on our stomachs and not our brains. I am the same way. It is like if I got down to 120 lbs and the band was removed, I'd still gain the weight back. I HATE this! It is called addiction. I have been clean and sober for hmmmm 20 years in April, God willing, but this food thing is harder to KICK than HEROIN! I'd bet that if I got a hold on the food addiction I would have a sudden urge to go to a casino and gamble, or maybe shop, or???? who knows. I have an addictive personality and it sucks!

I could have written your post. I just had my one-year post op appt and told the doctor that all day I am tight and at night the flood gates open or some days I can sit and eat like I have no band and other days I am too tight for any food. When I can eat on those "no-band" days I take advantage and then want to kick myself for it!!

I have had this band for almost 3 years, and I have.... as for lately done the same thing. I know all about addiction, like some others I have been Clean for over 24 years. I have also lost over 1500 lbs in that time. Until this LAP-BAN. The 200 I have lost....... ain't never coming back. What is needed is a fill. That goes for me also. I need to have my band tighten, when I can eat too much, and throw up, my band is too loose. I would have had a fill last year, but here in North Central Florida, there are a couple of doctors who do the surgery, but they won't do Fill's on anyone who did not get there Lap-Ban installed by them. So I am going back to New York this spring and have it done there. I am pissed at the dostors down here, but what can Ya do. Even though I have been able to eat like normal people, I am still loseing weight (Thank GOD), but I still have a long way to go, and I ain't gett'in no younger. Make an appointment for a fill with your doctor, and you will be, back on track.

Butch

I don't need a fill because most days and meals I do great on restriction. Like eating barely half of a chicken sandwich for lunch and that is all I can get down. Maybe 6 bites at dinner. It is just those days that come by when I will sit down to a meal and order what I want because I think I will only get 5 bites down anyways and then I can eat everything on my plate plus dessert. I know I shouldn't let the band do ALL the work but most days it does, so I feel let down when it takes a day off.

It is so true, if I gave up my food addiction, it would be something else. WHY can't I be addicted to exercise like some people!!?

Kim, I have pretty good restriction, and I am usually wide open at night too. What I try to do to keep that food demon from getting into my head is to eat lunch a little later than usual, like at 2PM instead of 11:30AM. That way I'm not hungry by the time I get home at around 5:30 or 6, and I have made it a personal goal of mine not to eat after 7. So, my thinking is, if I'm not hungry at 6, then I won't be hungry at 6:30 (since it takes me 1/2 hour to eat anything now).

I've been doing good like that, the only thing I have to make sure is that I get in a good amount of Protein at both Breakfast and lunch.

Lately, it's been helpful that I have been not getting off of work until 7:00 and I don't want to eat that late either, so my last meal is around 4:00. It has helped. It is all in my head and I just need to wrap myself around that.

Kimalicious -- I have the exact same pattern and was always testing my band! At each meal I would eat as much as I could until I felt a PB was coming. I finally realized that I was working AGAINST my band -- and why? Just cuz I can, just cuz I want food, just 'cuz I've always eaten as much as I could. I then realized that I got banded b/c I want this to STOP. I started working WITH my band rather than against it (well, for the most part) i know this is easier said than done. I now try NOT to eat unless I need it, or am hungrry, rather than eat it just 'cuz I can. I think it's too bad the band isn't a mental tool but just a physical one. The band is helping me reshape some of my mental attitudes towards food though, and I think that that is the biggest benefit of the band -- not just the physical restriction it offers. Since I've tried to shift my attitude this way, it's easier to try to not to trick my band, and to avoid over doing it on the occasions that I can. I still go beyond what I should at times, but not like pre banding. Don't beat yourself up for it though, just start the next day again, and do the best you can with it.