Maybe this info will help, posted on the Yahoo graduatebandsters board (I hope this is not terribly bad form to post here without his permission - if so, my apologies):

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HI again, folkses! Wellll, I promised I would post regarding the significant something that I learned last weekend, tomorrow, but I'm at work with not too much to do today and need to look busy, so I'll type this on wordpad and cut 'n' paste into an e-mail! >;o)

When I was in Tijuana last Saturday getting my fill, Dr Kuri showed me that my restriction was in fact adequate on the flouro. Being the stubborn cuss I am, I asked him for a small top-up anyway, because I've been HUNGRY for the last three or four weeks, and my weight loss has essentially stopped. (Please see my post just prior to this one for the continuity) I could also eat a horse; hooves, tail, shoes and all! I have had some meals in those last three weeks or so that would AMAZE any bandster! An Example: one dinner was a McD hamburger (bun and all), a Del Taco bean burrito, and a Del Taco taco-supreme (WITH the tortillas). Any ONE of those should have been enough, but in LESS than 20 minutes, I ate all 3, with NO golfball!!!! I felt like my band was WIDE open. I wasn't even particularly careful about chewing well. I felt each bite I took go through the stoma within SECONDS of swallowing it - it wasn't staying in the pouch, and I wasn't getting filled up! - Logical conclusion: My band is too loose. Maybe I have a tubing leak, or a bad port. Maybe I just lost too much weight and the fill I got on Jan 9th wasn't enough. - I dunno, so it's off to see the wizard, and I wind up telling Dr Kuri what I have just related to you all.

Dr Kuri asks me what I eat for the whole day, and I tell him. I have ALWAYS been too tight to eat solid food in the morning and ANY attempt to do so resulted in me looking at my Breakfast again! I always had 20 oz of hot tea and then 8 to 10 oz of lowfat milk with a scoop of powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury Protein in it, instead. lunch isn't much better, but I could get a Protein Bar down if I took my time and went slow - DINNER was the only meal loose enough to be able to eat solid food.

When I told him that, Dr Kuri was HORRIFIED! He told me to make LUNCH my biggest meal of the day and to have a very light supper (dinner - whatever you want to call it...). I have heard this advice before, but I had always discounted it as "cultural bias" because that's the way Latin American countries customarily do it, and then they sleep off the big meal in the afternoon siesta before returning to work. A very nice custom, but not conducive to the way things work here in the states!

Welllll - I was wrong! Dr Kuri explained the reasoning behind it to me and it made sense: the big meal doesn't pass out of the pouch before you go to bed - a large portion just LAYS there in your stomach while you go to sleep. The stomach isn't designed for prolonged food storage. It is designed to help break the food down and mix it with the acid then send it off to the intestine quickly. When the food just sits in there, it irritates the finicky thing and makes it swell up, so when you get up in the morning, you can barely drink WATER! Because you have to wait for the swelling to go down, you get insufficient nutrition during the day. So, by evening you are HUNGRY again and you get your maximum hunger at just the same time as your band finally opens. You then overeat, which causes the whole cycle to start over again! By having a larger meal at lunch time, you are still fairly full by dinner time, and you can get by with a light meal - say a bowl of Soup or some such, that passes out of the pouch completely before you go to bed. Result: no overnight swelling and you can eat breakfast again the next morning!

Sounded good in theory; Lets see how it works out in practice.... I wanted to wait to post this info till I had had a chance to try it out and could report ACTUAL RESULTS! Well, the results are - Dr Kuri was (as usual) Right!!!!! I have been able to eat breakfast again every morning since I started following his advice (note: for this to work, you HAVE to start with a big lunch, then a light dinner, then sleep, then the next morning's breakfast will go down!), and my weight loss has resumed. If anything, I'm almost uncomfortably full all day without eating NEARLY as much as I was before I tried this and was still hungry within an hour or so even then!

I took a banded friend with me who thought she also needed a fill because weight loss had stopped and she was able to eat the whole house, including the linoleum, in the evening, too. She got no fill, but DID get the same advice from Dr Kuri as I did. She has been trying the same regimen as I have, with similar results; weight loss started again, no more HUNGRY feeling all evening, and the restriction provided by the band is again adequate to the task.

I now believe that MANY American bandsters are in the same situation and for the same reasons as I have just discussed. And, MANY others are OVERTIGHT and suffering reflux from getting too tight a fill to try to deal with this very problem! Instead of getting another fill when you are already at your sweet spot, when the loss begins to slow and stop, and the hunger returns, LOOK AT YOUR EATING PATTERN!! If your big meal and/or problem time is in the evening, this is very likely what is affecting YOU! Before getting another fill and becoming overtight, try altering your meal pattern as discussed above - give it a week or two and try to really follow it carefully - I'm here to tell ya, IT WORKS! What the heck - if it doesn't, you can always still go get another fill, but hey; it's worth a try isn't it? (Not to mention being a LOT less expensive!) What have you got to lose besides a hundred pounds or so... ?

polarbear Mike, Hesperia CA

Dr Kuri, 5/8/03, 378 at surgery

427/250/227-180 (-177 so far)

BMI 53/32/22 (50 at surgery)

Thanks Donali, I'm gonna give it a try, sure makes sense. This board is so valuable. My doctor suggested I join a support group for lap banders, told him I already belong and I don't even leave the comfort of my home. You guys are the greatest!! Gabby

Donali,

THis is very interesting. I was having the problem of being hungry at night time. I almost alway skip breakfast because I am too tight in the mornings. Since my most recent fill, I am tight all the time, but less so in the evening. My biggest challenge recently is getting enough calories in a day. I know, some would say this is a luxury problem, but it really isnt. I do still have the ability to eat more in the evening that in the morning. I wish I had tried this before I had my most recent fill though. I am not PBing, but eating is a challenge and I am almost never hungry. I am going to try this approach and see if it works better than what i am doing now. thanks for bringing it here from the other board.

Babs in TX

334/241/180

-93

I am in plateau hell at the moment.....

Thanks for the cut and paste!

Makes perfect sense to me, based on my experiences six months and two fills later.

Elizabeth

Donali, thank you (and thank Mike!) for the great insight! Words to think about indeed.

In general I'd suggest getting the poster's permission before passing along any tidbits. Unless there is a blanket OK that you know about it's always possible that someone might object to being quoted.

Donali,

How's breakfeast going? Is this working for you too? I'm going to start this tomrrow!

Wow. This is exactly the same problem I am having. I am always looking to eat more at night. I have tea and a Protein drink for breakfast, something small for lunch and definitely more for dinner and then I am always looking for something around 9:30. (I go to sleep around midnight) The thing I am wondering about is how long it takes the food to leave your stomach. If I am eating around 6:30 would my stomach be empty by the time I go to bed (if I didn't have something at 9:30?)

I guess I will have to try this new plan!

Donali,

Thanks for that info....it sounds just like me....and it really does make sense. I had some reflux the other night after eating late and going to bed. First time it happened since I was banded, boy I sure dont miss that! Thanks again....Joann

I haven't had a chance to try this yet, although the last couple of days I haven't been particularly hungry anyway, so I can't comment yet if this works for me.

Last night my bigger meal was dinner (almost my only meal!), and a late night kingsized Butterfinger snack (I know, don't ask - what was I thinking?!?! lol), and this morning I am pretty tight and not hungry yet.

I'm interested to hear if this makes a difference for anyone else?

I'm bumping this as it's GREAT information. I read it on another thread that was an eye-opener and the support and information given there has truly been remarkable.

I'm having surgery Monday morning and would like to ask, is this the regimen that most bandsters try to adhere to? Do you try to eat your biggest meal at for lunch? Makes complete sense, I'm just wondering if a lot of you have seen success with this method.

I'm aware of the Protein first, veggies second, and carbs last. I'm very interested in your thoughts and ideas.

thanks,

What I'm trying to figure out is, when Donali posted this message. Was she able to eat alot because her band had eroded and she didn't know it yet? It seems the orginal post was made on 2/27/04 and her band was removed on 7/2/04. Donali, are you around? Can you help me out here? BTW how are you doing "flying solo"? I think about you all the time.

I could just hurl right now. I'm suffering from a stuffed up throat making it hard to swallow and even hard to catch my breath because I eat too late. Just another bad habit I need to break. Thanks for sharing.

6 a.m. here and tight as a drum.

Hi Chris!

Yes, I'm still around, and flying solo is, well... the same as not being banded, I'm sorry to say... But, I continue to have hope that everything I know will eventually save me from myself!

I don't believe my erosion had anything to do with the quantity of foods I could eat, because I maintained good restriction - I never felt a loss of restriction "all the time" - just the normal tight in the mornings, loosening up at night.

I never had much success with evening out my restriction, although I did try the advice above. I was always pretty tight in the mornings, but not so tight that I couldn't eat yoghurt for Breakfast.

This sooooo did not work for me. I don't eat much at any meal, but anything solid before noon just doesn't work. WHat are the other reasons for this. I have heard because you are laying flat at night your esophagus constricts and then takes time in the morn to stretch back out. Are there any doctors that have a real reason that this happens. I know almost every bandster has this issue. Is it medical or mental?

bumping for people unable to eat in the morning.

My doc subscribes to the eat early rule too. This works for me because (as usual) I'm backwards and can eat more at lunch than at dinner. But doc also said if you can't eat earlier, just don't eat within 3 hours of bedtime! This eliminates the food in the pouch problem. And it COULD even lead to being able to eat breakfast or a bigger lunch since there will be less overnight swelling.