Today, 3/10, I went for the fluro x-ray thingy so my Dr. could see what was going on with my band and he said it looked perfect -- positioned correctly and my esophagus looked great -- he was even stumped, no I think he used the word "amazed" at how I was able to eat the foods I did without restriction.

I have a 10cc band and am now up to 9cc's fill and still feel hungry morning noon and night and can eat almost everything except bread (PB's are few and far between). Granted the portions I eat are muuuch smaller, but I feel like I am not getting the results I want/need. I wanted to get so sick I couldn't/wouldn't want to eat the "wrong" foods -- meaning Starbucks huge arse Cookies or brownies. Then I feel I could lose the weight at a steadier pace. In the last 6 weeks I have only lost 4 pounds (cookies most likely the culprit). BTW I was banded on 8-2-05 and have lost a total of 40 pounds, Whoop-de-do-ding-dong!

I just don't get it. How could the band be where it is supposed to be and yet I can down a 12 piece chick-fil-a nugget pack just fine? (trying to stick with the Protein when I can)

I'm simply afraid. Scared to danged death I will return to my old eating habits and fail once again at trying to lose the weight. This Lap-Band was supposed to be my knight in shining armor/titanium to rescue me from this prison I have created for myself. I just feel betrayed by the hope that this would work, this band would keep me from the foods I loved and punish me if I returned to the "old ways." I know this sounds sadistic but I guess I need a constant reminder that I am trying to change my life and the wrong foods are the enemy.

I just feel disappointed...................................................

Scoot over, Dear!! I will take one of those paddles from you and we can hopefully turn this boat around!!

For me, it's those blasted girl scout cookies!!! Curses to those little pigtailed, uniformed, freckle-faced smiling demons of destruction!!!!!

I really thought the band would help me more than it has. I will do super-de-duper (ie. exercise, eat right, plenty of water) and see nothing. So, this week I finished off three boxes of G.S. Cookies, and I am exactly the same as I was before my binging...ridiculous!!!

I am only 1.5 in a 10cc band, and I DO have restriction (ever so slight) that I can't eat breads at all. I have to chew chew chew everything to get it in, but I keep forgetting to NOT drink with my meals, so I end up pbing cold Water and slime pretty much daily.

Let's see if we can't turn this boat around and get on course, girl!! I'll lean on you and you lean right back on me - okay?

~cheri

First things first here. What is a typical diet look like for you in one day? That could explain alot.

Second are you drinking your water?

Are you exercising?

We are all here to support your battles. It is a struggle every day sweetie whether you are banded or not.

I'll make a suggestion, for what it's worth. Banded or not, I have to try to avoid sugar. If I have sugar, I will crave junk food and make bad choices at meals. Even with the band. And yeah, I can't eat large quantities like I used to, but a cookie here and a cookie there add up. Think about it: one measly little Oreo cookie per day will add up to over 8 lbs per year. A decade later, you're 80 lbs overweight and wondering why.

My recommendation: make a commitment to stay away from added sugar for 2 whole weeks. No chocolate syrup in the latte, no Cookies, no ice cream. And then see after two weeks how you feel. Are you eating less? Does the band seem to be working better in keeping you full between meals?

Really truly this is what I have to do to stay on track. When I decide to have a little sugar, the ramifications are far beyond just the few extra calories I ingested right then. I have to white-knuckle-detox off sugar again over the course of a couple weeks to get back to feeling normal.

It really sucks but that's how it is for me. Not saying it's true for everyone, but it's worth a try if you are frustrated with always craving junk.

Hi Yall!

I'm new here but this just hit home.

I am in the same boat and need to turn it around. I keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result! I drink when I eat, which means I can eat almost anything. I got a fill last week and can tell a HUGE difference. I've PB'd often. But, for instance, I just ate a whole small Quiznos sub. The last 10 bites or so I knew I was full...oh, I drank a large sweet tea also with it, anyway, the last 10 bites I knew I was full. Now I feel sick, but it all went down and I need to throw up...(Yuck). How do I get my head straight? I've lost a total of "about" 30 lbs, and 2-3 sizes. I just feel like this far into it I should be further along.

:help:

I thought that not drinking while I was eating was going to be one of the hardest things for me. I just made my mind up that I wasn't going to do it. I sit at my kitchen table with a tiny water glass far away from my plate and chewed each of my bites 25 to 35 times and come to find out I didn't really need to drink. I haven't drank and ate at the same times in 6 months. When I get to feeling like a need a drink while I am eating...that is a signal to me that I am not chewing well enough or taking to big of a bite. Good luck on breaking that habit, Machelle...I know you can do it!

Hi Whoyah,

I was having very slow results. I waited too long to get my fills to good restriction. Now I do have restriction, but I was eating around the band and still was not losing (I wasn't gaining anymore after getting the correct restriction though :hat:). I decided that I was going to have to got to plan B and diet. I signed up for the medical weight loss plan at a Dr.'s office that I'd gone to before and lost weight with. I didn't tell them that I have a band. I have to journal everything i eat and I do 1000 calories a day. I work out now at their gym 2x a week.

I have to get in 100grms protein, 75 carbs, 25-30 fats, and it is all working now!

The band is making it so I CAN go on a diet and not feel deprived. I've lost 4 lbs in 8 days. So maybe a diet plan with accountability would help you too?

Hey Kerri,

everything you said is sooo true. I was really having problems not drinking until the last couple of months. I just don't do it. For a while there I was not getting in enough water, but now, every time I'm about to eat I ask myself if I am thirsty. If I am or think I will be soon, I drink and wait 15 minutes until it all goes down past the band and then I eat. I'm restricted enough that I really can't drink anyway with a meal. It will just come back up. Have you noticed that you hesitate to eat hot sicy food now because you know you can't drink? I sure have.

You know whats true I thought getting the band I would not have to diet but you do and it has taken a long time to resolve to that fact blahhhh.

I decided that I was going to have to got to plan B and diet.

and it is all working now!

The band is making it so I CAN go on a diet and not feel deprived. I've lost 4 lbs in 8 days. So maybe a diet plan with accountability would help you too?

YES! That's it for me, too! I NEED to have that "I'm in Diet mode" mindset in order to do well. Left on my own, I'm choosing poorly and not getting anywhere.

Others refuse to ever diet again, take on that "it's a lifestyle change" mentality (I persoanlly don't get that...for some reason it goes over my head?) and do really well.

Do what works for YOU! If it means going on a diet in your head...your band is super good at helping you stick to it. Good luck!

Whoya, Breaking the habit is a biggie, first of all don't bring it in the house, (remember I know ya), you can't bring pizza's in just to challenge your band and mind. My personal downfall is I keep forgetting to eat Protein first and not enough of it. When I first started my journey I was doing really great, then back into the whatever handy to eat syndrome.

I'm trying really hard to remember protein first. As for a diet, I avoid the word, cause I keep telling myself I didn't spend $16,750.00 to diet, I spent the $$$ out of pocket to help me change the way I eat and the amount I eat. For the most part the band has done it's job, the rest is up to me.

A little exercise for me would probably work wonders,:banana

Good luck girlfriend(s)!

I got a fill last week and can tell a HUGE difference. I've PB'd often. But, for instance, I just ate a whole small Quiznos sub. The last 10 bites or so I knew I was full...oh, I drank a large sweet tea also with it, anyway, the last 10 bites I knew I was full. Now I feel sick, but it all went down and I need to throw up...(Yuck). How do I get my head straight?

Machelle, this is a really key point that you have made: YOU KNEW YOU WERE FULL. This is HUGE!! You have a physical sensation of being full that possibly was absent before banding. Now what you have to do is surrender to it, allow it to dictate your behavior and not fight the feeling. This is the whole point of banding, to FEEL FULL and then to STOP EATING. The band helps with the first part, which is its miraculous power, but nothing can help with the second part until we're ready.

I found, early on, that sometimes when I reached that point I had to physically get up and walk away, throw away my food and just wrench my mind into doing something else. Sometimes this involved yelling, briefly. :hat: But each time, after a very few minutes it would be clear to me that really, I didn't need any more food and I was in fact done eating. The next meal would come soon enough and there'd be more food then.

Now throwing food away is second nature. Here's hoping it will be for you too, soon.

THROW IT AWAY!! That's how we lose weight with the band.

My recommendation: make a commitment to stay away from added sugar for 2 whole weeks.

A counterrecommendation from a sugar fiend: Make a commitment to stay away from sugar for two whole hours. Then see if you can make it through the entire day.

Damn, I really didn't mean to offer advice, just support. Can you and Cheri make room for a lapsed bandster on that bench? I think I have "Band Fatigue" -- after a year and a half, I'm bored with the band rules, even though I know they work. A scoop or more of ice cream every day, on the other hand, does NOT work. My problem lies not in the band but in myself.

Just wanted you to know you're not alone. And, by the way, Whoyah, 40 lbs. gone in seven months is a real achievement!

You know whats true I thought getting the band I would not have to diet but you do and it has taken a long time to resolve to that fact blahhhh.

I really had a mind problem with that. But now that I know I do have to "diet" with the band, and have found it to be a game I can win at with the band, I'm okay with it. I'm not deprived or suffering in mind or body this time and that is a huge advantage over my previous self! I hope I continue to see the scale move down now that I found the way to do it with help from that tempermental band. I'm excited to see the results I get in the next 3 months. I'm hoping to be at goal by then.

What about Weight Watchers Online? I joined and am now am intermittentantly recording points to see where I fall and need to improve. When I get my surgery, I WILL stick to my daily points values so i can lose the weight. Maybe something more structured would help you? With WW, nothing is off limits.

I'm glad you posted this thread and greatfull to all of you who have replied. I needed to hear all of this all over again:)