Just wondered how restricted you are when first banded, without any fill. There has to be some restriction, but if it is a month or more before you get a fill, is that just to let everything heal? Sounds like most newbies lost mega pounds before ever getting a fill.

Hey Teasie, welcome to LBT.

Restriction in the first few weeks comes from the swelling. Some people take several weeks before the swelling is down enough to feel no restriction. When I first came home from the hospital, it felt like a thimble of Water was a lot. Over the next few days I started drinking from a plastic medicine cup that comes on top of cough syrups and gradually progressed to being able to drink 1/2 cup of liquid at a time. By the time I could manage a whole cup, it was time to move on to mushies.

A lot of people lose weight quickly during the pre-op diet and just after surgery. There is a large decrease in your caloric intake. It starts to level out about the time you need a fill. :hat:

It depends on the band because there are differences, but an unfilled band (from the pics my doctor showed me) is smaller in diameter than the natural diameter in your esophagus. So apparently the band in and of itself will cause some small amount of restriction. It looked very small, maybe 10 - 15% decrease.

Yes on the healing. I had surgery 2 weeks ago. My surgeon does the first fill 4 weeks after your staples come out, which is 5 weeks after your surgery. I was talking to my regular doctor (familiar with lap - has several lap patients) about this and she said that not only is it time to heal, it's also good for giving us time, psychologically, to adjust to banded life. If you woke up one day and had perfect restriction, you'd have little time to adapt and learn the rules... and learn what the early filling up feels like.

Like any other decrease/restriction in diet, you're first few weeks will be the most productive in weightloss. I know everytime I'd diet, I might lose 10 lbs the first week, maybe 7 the second, and then 1... 2... 0... 3... 1 :hat: