Hello! I was banded July 19th 2011 and I have not lost a single pound. I am the exact same weight when I went into surgery as I am now. I got my first fill September 25th and I feel NO restriction. I feel like a failure, I am overly frustrated and discouraged!! Someone please help!!!!

Apparently this is not an uncommon problem. After surgery (December 2010), I lost about 30 lbs within a couple of months. It was awesome. I then noticed that I was able to eat way more food than I should have been able to comfortably eat. My clothes were getting baggy, but weight loss had kind of slowed down.

I went in and got another fill. Wasn't quite working for me. Still stuck. I finally asked the doctor a couple of weeks ago for an "aggressive" fill. She agreed and told me to stick to liquids for a day and mush for two days since I was pretty tight.

This last fill was AWESOME! I now find myself satisfied with MUCH less food, and because I'm not hungry all of the time, I actually am able to make wiser food choices. This last fill taught me that there is another area of existence called "hungry," and "not hungry." The goal is to go from hungry to not hungry. Prior to the lap band, my states of existence were "starving" and "stuffed." Before I go out to eat with friends, I eat a Protein bar. I can then make much better food decisions. I'm now trying the grilled fish with rice and vegetables rather than the largest portioned meal on the menu. I made home-made barbecue spare-ribs for the family and ate one spare-rib, a small serving of corn, and a dinner roll. I was totally full, but not stuffed. I feel alert after dinner, not in a food-induced fog.

I say all of this to say, ask your doctor for an aggressive fill. You'll probably be a bit nauseated for a couple of days, so just eat chicken stock and light Soup for a couple of days. You will notice a huge difference. I still see the menu pictures with plates of biscuits oozing with gravy, but they just don't have the same appeal. One bite of the biscuit and gravy is enough to satisfy the cravings. Poached eggs and whole grain toast do it for me now.

Once again, ask your doctor for an aggressive fill. It really helped get me back on track. Hopefully it will help you as well. If it's too tight, they can fix it.

I was banded on 8/12 and have had one fill. I have no restriction to speak of, but have managed to lose weight. But that is just my body type and metabolism. My struggle has always been keeping the weight off.

The best tool that I have found to help me stay on track is a food and exercise tracker. I use Livestrong (www.livestrong.com). But I have heard other people on this site use other alternatives. (myfitnesspal etc...)

I track my food throughout the day. I am honest with my portion sizes when I put them in. The website keeps track of my caloric intake, fats, cholesterol, sodium, Proteins etc. I like Livestrong because it also has a mobile app that runs on my phone. So I can enter my food intake even when I am out at a restaurant.

Seeing this on one page helps keep me honest. I really see the spikes when I eat too much....and can track my weight loss success or failure to those spikes.

This tool will also help you see if you are eating too little. You set your weight, weight loss goal, and it calculates what you should be taking in for calories. Stay within that range and you should have success.

Best of luck to you!

count me in as disgruntled too, read my blogs and updates and you will see. We need our own forum. Disgruntled bandsters! I wish you guys were around when I was getting banded. I regret my decision totally!

Try adding more protein. I find that I lose better when I have 80-100g of protein a day. I have a 50g protein shake for breakfast (during a long drive to work), cottage cheese with bacon bits and sunflower seeds for lunch, Greek yogurt or a 28g protein shake in midafternoon, string cheese as I drive home and something light for dinner, like cheese or pistachio nuts. I have really good restriction, so that helps. Get lots of water in and don't drink anything for 30 minutes after eating. I got real serious a few weeks ago after foundering for months. It's paid off with a good loss.

I think Julia N nailed it, from a sideways point of view. People who think they can get the lap band and not change anything at all are going to be sorely disappointed. The lap-band is a tool. It's kind of like saying, "I've got a hammer now, why isn't my house built?" In my case, I spoke with my doctor about my concerns with the slower pace of weight loss than I wanted. I, like Julia, have increased my Protein intake and combined it with the aforementioned aggressive fill. I'm starting to see weight loss again.

The lap-band is a tool. It has to be in conjunction with lifestyle changes. I know of someone who got gastric bypass. The guy lost 100 lbs of weight within about a ten-month period. We are now 3 years later, and he's gained his 100 lbs. back. By his own admission, he's not doing what he needs to do to keep it off.

If you're not losing, talk to your doctor.

I'm not where I want to be yet, but I can see the pathway there.

I was banned on July 20th 2011. I have been in the same boat no weight loss I have been down the same 11 or 14 pounds since the first few weeks of surgery. I am on my third fill and starting to feel restriction. The best advice I can give is to start going to support group meetings. The band does not simply work on its own u have to work with it. Even if you don't have restriction you should try practicing putting the fork down when you feel satisfied. I know how difficult it is bc I am a true foodie. But if you want to see results you have to control it. I gave up Alcohol today I made a promise to stop drinking until New Years Eve..Pray 4 me this is going to be a huge challenge 4 me since I love wine.....But somethings gotta give and I want to be at my goal my next summer....