:ban: Okay, I'm quite new around here, and I haven't been banded yet, but I've been reading alot of threads here to get educated. What I don't understand and please pardon my ignorance, but why is it that some people have stopped losing weight or worse, gained weight? How can I(we) eat what I(we) have to get to be overweight, then can only eat 1/2 to 1 cup of food per meal (which I'm sure I saw a chick-a-dee eat more the other day...lol) and NOT lose weight. I don't get it! As a newbie, I think I'm missing something. I'm hoping theres no loophole, cause Im the one who'd find it, when it comes to dieting .:party:

Well, there IS a loophole (there always is!). Things like candy and ice cream and soda and potato chips and cheese and every other type of yummy, high calorie, dense food can go RIGHT THROUGH THE BAND. Before you get banded, you'll probably have a pre-screening where they'll explain to you that the Band won't work for you if you don't have the self-control to stop eating all the junkfood. What it WILL do is massively cut down on the amount or volume of regular food that you can eat. For example, I went out to dinner with the BF the other night and ordered the roasted chicken -- well, out came a MASSIVE hunk of meat, a baked potato and lots of veggies. Back in the day, I would've eaten a few rolls before dinner was served (no way I could have that now) and I would've eaten a VERY big portion of that delicious chicken! Now -- I barely made a dent in the chicken, had a few bits of baked potato and a few bites of salad and I was completely FULL. That's the difference.

It's very easy to "eat around the Band" by eating junkfood, drinking lots of alcohol, etc. So you really DO have to have some self-control.

Good luck!

I haven't been banded yet, but from what I gather, there are several factors. And some of them are "cheating".

1. drinking with meals. this kind of flushes food down the drain

2. eating wrong foods. you can still eat ice cream

There are other ways I think "around the band" but these are the two that I have gathered right off the top.

And as with anything, nothing is fool proof. Even RNY people have ways to cheat.

eat 1/2 to 1 cup of food per meal and NOT lose weight. I don't get it!

Lots o' factors come in to play: someone can be banded and not lose weight because their bodies have reached equilibrium between caloric intake and energy expenditure. This can be considered "maintenance". Someone can be banded and not lose weight, but lose fat. Weight does not equal fat. Someone can be banded and not lose weight because even though they are eating smaller portions, they are also making poor food choices. Someone could gain weight in the same way. Bandster portions are pretty close to "normal" portions, and normal portions of nothing but crap will lead to weight gain.

As for a loophole, of course there are loopholes. liquid or soft calories are a huge one. Learning to eat around the band, e.g. drinking during meals are another. This isn't a fail safe guarantee of weight loss, it's something that will help you control your portion size so that in addition to doing the work of healthier eating or "dieting", you can more easily maintain healthy portion size.

That makes sense. Thanks for the info. I'm not a big sweet eater, more a burger and pizza girl, so hopefully this may work to my advantage. Have a great day!!!

Also, fills and exersize make a difference. I could probably use a slight fill now but I hate the fill process so much that I keep putting it off. I also stopped exersizing and now have started again. Weigh loss stalls when your body catches on to what's up and you have to exersize or change what/when/how you eat to jump start it again.