Ok I am sure I will get some negative feedback after this post but maybe that is what I need. I was banded 4/27/12 and have lost 15lbs just from pre-op to now. First fill is not until 6/6. At first I followed liquid diet I had no desire to eat and it would not have went down anyway. When I was allowed to eat soft foods I did it cautiously. However last 4 days I have been HUNGRY and have been eating, eating, eating following the same patterns that got me here!!! Although I still can't eat say a hotdog bun at this rate I will regain any weight loss by 6/6 feeling like a total failure and ashamed. Any constructive criticism and/or words of wisdom and why am I sooo hungry?

A couple things...

First, you must stop beating up on yourself. It does no good whatsoever. You need to chalk it up as a mistake and move on with good food choices. If you have a defeatist attitude of "Oh I messed up, screw it!" then it will become a self fulfilled prophecy.

Second, you also need to remember the first 4-6 weeks after surgery are for healing not weight loss. Weight loss will come once you have some restriction, which leads me to my third point...

Third, you need to remember you band is likely empty right now. If you do have something in it, it's very little, and either way you have very little (if any) restriction. Most people take a couple fills before they have restriction and often call that phase in between surgery and restriction as "bandster hell", because until you've had the fills you can likely eat just like you did before surgery. Bandster hell is truly a matter of white knuckling it to eat the right things and portions. Either you can grit your teeth and fight through the hunger until you do have restriction or you can simply try to do damage control and not gain a ton of weight until then.

Rest assured what you're dealing with is normal, just hang in there and be patient until you've had a couple fills. In the meantime, just try your best to make smart food choices.

Best wishes.

I recommend you buy a food scale and start measuring your solid protein (my doctor says 3 oz). Then eat low fat/cal veggies until full. Trust me after 3 oz off of protein there is only going to be so much raw sweet pepper, carrots, mushrooms you can eat. When you eat junk food french fries or mac and cheese you get head hunger. You keep eating because it TASTES good. Plain mushrooms don't taste so good you're willing to eat a whole bunch. And raw veggies are very low in calories.

You are hungry now because the swelling from surgery has gone down. If you want to lose weight at this point, you really need to diet or else you will just eat the way you always have. A good analogy is that you've got yourself a car, but no gas in it. When you start adding gas, it will run.

OMG!!! I am in the same boat. I was banded 12/6/11 and have lost a total of 23 lbs. I am hungry a lot of the time and the doc keeps saying, when it gets adjusted right it will work. Well I have run out of co pays with so many adjustments. I can eat most things still and am ashamed that I do somewhat. If I could stick to a diet I would not have had to come here to begin with. I have cried so much recently that I am getting depressed. People look at me and my own mother called me fat ass, and she used to be 300 lbs before she had bypass and almost died. I started at 249 and today was 229 again. :<((((

OMG!!! I am in the same boat. I was banded 12/6/11 and have lost a total of 23 lbs. I am hungry a lot of the time and the doc keeps saying, when it gets adjusted right it will work. Well I have run out of co pays with so many adjustments. I can eat most things still and am ashamed that I do somewhat. If I could stick to a diet I would not have had to come here to begin with. I have cried so much recently that I am getting depressed. People look at me and my own mother called me fat ass, and she used to be 300 lbs before she had bypass and almost died. I started at 249 and today was 229 again. :<((((

I am so sorry..why won't ur doctor fill ur band? I am hearing good advice and reassurance that it will get better with fills...hang in there and keep me posted...good luck to you. Your mom is wrong...ignore that mess...I would love love love to be 229 right now.

thank you for responding, I did not think anyone would. You just made my day. My doctor does do fills. It works for like 3 days and then it is not the same. Maybe I just need more fills then the average bear. I know others that have had the band and are down 40 pounds by now. I guess I compare too much. I also have severe thyroid and take 3 pills a day and PCOS. I just feel it should be more. FASTER. dont we all want faster??

It took me 6 months + to get restriction. My band is nearly full at 10.9 cc's. It really boils down to as I mentioned earlier measuring out Protein (3 oz is not a whole lot. It looks really small on the plate); and choosing low fat/cal veggies. I don't keep my trigger foods in the house crackers, Cookies, rice cakes, sweet Cereal (this includes low fat versions). I also don't keep low fat ice cream in the house if you eat them several times a week they become a food habit and THAT is what got me here.

Even if you feel you don't have good will power; you can see this as a chance to develop new food habits. While some thin people have terrible food habits most of them eat much healthier and smaller portions than we do. When I go shopping if I would be embarrassed for my doctor to see me buying a food item I don't buy it.

I am a slow looser. Those of you having problems what is your exercising program? There is only so much weight you will lose by cutting calories alone. I do a minimum of 7 hours moderate cardio a week (sometimes 2 hours a day); but I am still losing less than 1 pound a week.