Help Me! ....eating After A Lap Band Fill

[momnear40 1]

Hi Everyone, so an update. My doctor took all the Fluid out and found out I only had 6.5 in my band. The last guy who did my fills missed my port a couple of times. Well now I have had three more fills and still haven't gone into the green zone or even lost one pound!!!! I am so frustrated and want this thing out. My doctor only does .5 at a time. Sometimes if I eat regular sized bites and eat fast (forgetting I have a band) I will get stuck and throw up but then can eat. I don't know what to do. Am I too tight or just not there yet? I never thought it would take this long. I was banded March 15, 2011 and have only lost 20 pounds and that was before and right after surgery. Are there people out there that never lose weight with the band? I am going to ask my doctor if I can take an appetite suppressant at this point. So incredibly frustrated. And yes, I have been working out. I was doing cardio for 30 minutes so my doctor said do it for 40 minutes and don't do 30 on the treadmill and then switch to the bike for 10 minutes as my heart rate will apparently go down just walking to a another machine 5 ft away. I work out three to four times per week. I might as well have just gone on a diet on my own! Help! I need advice on hitting that green zone. I feel like I will never find it. I have had 11 fills now!

[Humming Bird 275]

No, I don't think you're too tight. I think you have never reached the green zone. The number of fills doesn't matter much. It's the total amount that makes it in the band. You can't even count the fills that missed the port. It sounds like someone is making quite a bit of money off so many tiny fills. I would say you are past the point of getting large fills now anyway. As you get closer to the green zone a large fill could put you in the red zone. One more of those tiny 1/2 cc fills may just get you there.... I hope it does and you can experience how the band really does work.

[NJGirl32 43]

He may have missed the port OR you may have a leak. Next time have him take out the Fluid and see what's in there. If you have insurance I would insist on a fluro fill-absolutely. Something just doesn'r seem right. Before you give up make sure you don't have a leak and if all in fine then you just need a ltlle more-you're almost there girl-don't give up yet-you CAN do this! I simply cannot overeat-can't do it withthe fill I have now or I will get sick. Sometimes I really want to eat a lot, but I can't. Good luck to you-I wish you the best! Be an advocate for your band!

[momnear40 1]

Oh, and my band is 14 cc. I was wrong on that in an earlier post.

[momnear40 1]

I have had two fluros and also had all the Fluid taken out and put back in. This is when they realized the other doc missed my port a couple of times. So hard to keep the faith. I feel like I am just doing it on my own. I wish I didn't feel like eating. But even at that, I don't eat as much as I used to for sure. How little can a person eat? NJGirl32...how much do you eat in a day or did you eat when you were getting adjustments?

[NJGirl32 43]

I have had two fluros and also had all the Fluid taken out and put back in. This is when they realized the other doc missed my port a couple of times. So hard to keep the faith. I feel like I am just doing it on my own. I wish I didn't feel like eating. But even at that, I don't eat as much as I used to for sure. How little can a person eat? NJGirl32...how much do you eat in a day or did you eat when you were getting adjustments?

I had my surgery on May 25th and from that date till August 23rd I pretty much could eat normal food (I would need to stay a little away from bread). I could easily go out to dinner and eat a meal. I could eat pizza. With each fill things got a little different. Then on August 23rd I got the fill that did it for me. It was a huge learning curve becuase my mind wanted to eat but the band would say "Oh no you don't." I usually have a granola bar or a yogurt for Breakfast. I drink coffee-I like it and I only drink 2 cups. At lunch-well that's a tough one because I really can't eat a lot at lunch. I am going to try a Protein shake next week for lunch. If I don't eat lunch I will come home and have a snack (nuts/raisen mix or cheese on a cracker-something like that). For dinner I will either eat a small portion of what I am serving my family or eat 2/3s of a lean cusiene. Then I like my night time snack so that will vary-maybe SF pudding wih whipped cream or a granola bar (I love them) or popcorn-it depends.

With that being said it it very easy to eat around the band. Ice cream goes down fine, so does chocolate, and alchol too! I find that if I eat solid Proteins first then I am not hungry for crap. I also found if I skip lunch I get very hungry -so I am working on that. Last night I went out to dinner and I had a small flounder stuffed with crabmeat (the size of a deck of cards)and 2 tablespoons of spinach- it was perfect-except for the Toostie Roll Martini and beers. I don't drink that often and I am losing so a little indulgence is okay for me.

I hope things work out for you-you might just be 1 or 2 fills away from the perfect zone.

[agdunkle 3]

Hi Everyone, so an update. My doctor took all the Fluid out and found out I only had 6.5 in my band. The last guy who did my fills missed my port a couple of times. Well now I have had three more fills and still haven't gone into the green zone or even lost one pound!!!! I am so frustrated and want this thing out. My doctor only does .5 at a time. Sometimes if I eat regular sized bites and eat fast (forgetting I have a band) I will get stuck and throw up but then can eat. I don't know what to do. Am I too tight or just not there yet? I never thought it would take this long. I was banded March 15, 2011 and have only lost 20 pounds and that was before and right after surgery. Are there people out there that never lose weight with the band? I am going to ask my doctor if I can take an appetite suppressant at this point. So incredibly frustrated. And yes, I have been working out. I was doing cardio for 30 minutes so my doctor said do it for 40 minutes and don't do 30 on the treadmill and then switch to the bike for 10 minutes as my heart rate will apparently go down just walking to a another machine 5 ft away. I work out three to four times per week. I might as well have just gone on a diet on my own! Help! I need advice on hitting that green zone. I feel like I will never find it. I have had 11 fills now!

It's really a good thing that your doctor fills you so slow.. it helps to not be sick! My doctor does the same thing and while my weight loss has been slower than others, i haven't been sick at all. I don't think you're there yet, in your mind and in your band. I too have been banded since March (3rd to be exact) and it's taken a while to wrap my head around this new way to eat.

What are you eating? Low fat, high Protein, low carb? High fat, moderate Protein, high carb? I would suggest keeping a food diary for a couple weeks that you log what you eat, when you eat it, and why. I found that even know I eat sometimes because I'm bored or sleepy. After that, you can really see how you can begin to modify what you're eating to give you success. There are different definitions of low carb, but my doctor says low carb is under 50 grams advises me to eat less than 50 grams of carbs, less than 15 grams of fat, and at least 80 grams of protein.

As far as exercise, your body plateaus. I'm a personal trainer, and I can tell you that if you've been walking or biking the same thing for the past 8 months your body says..meh... been there done that let's go. It would be more beneficial to do some interval training so maybe for 1 minute while you bike you peddle as fast as you can, and then for 2 minutes you peddle normal. Maybe when you walk for 1 minute you increase the speed and incline and then 2 minutes take it back down. Once all of that is comfortable, change it up again! Then you can begin to add in some resistance training which will really amp everything up.