I was banded nov 8. Got my second fill yesterday. At 4cc total. This morning after a larger breakfast to try it out I still feel like I have nothing inside me, no band, no tool. So I will go back to starving and portioning out doles of food, hoping for the will power to say no to bread and pasta and all the carbohydrates I crave and got fat on, but that didn't work before so and I don't have any reason now to believe its going to work this time. Beginning to think I just totally wasted 15 grand. Now before you go all nuts, I know that the band doesn't do all the work, its not a magic pill, I know it is "just a tool" but right now I don't feel like I have anything helping me to lose this weight.... I am starving and excersizing and drooling over food i shouldn't eat, Just like I have before and have always failed at.

Time is our ally. If we do what we are supposed to do the band will help. I believe!

I guess I'm kind of confused why you were "trying out it"! This made me laugh! I know it's probably not funny for you! I'm not sure what others doctors recommend, but mine suggested that I go back to the mushy stage for 2 or 3 days after a fill! I have heard people say that you can feel different restriction depending on the day! Be patient! Everyone gets there eventually! I, at first, insisted the doctor didn't put the band in me because I was up and running around like normal after 3 days! I was wrong! Lol...Don't bank on not being able to eat bread, I can eat everything I did prior to the band. However, after 6 years I have yet to be able to have a fill and keep it! Everyone's bodies are so different. Do the things the band requires and you will get to a point where your so happy with your band no one will be able to wipe the smile off your face!

Here's the way I look at this bandster he'll...most, if not all of us have been able to lose a considerable amount of weight

Sorry about that!!! So, most of us have been able to lose a considerable amount of weight with the many diets we've tried throughout the years but have not been able to keep it off for the long haul. Not sure who on this site says this on a regular basis, but it's 100% true...until restriction, it's just another diet! Use this time to learn and practice the eating habits of a skinny person. By the time you would typically have lost a bunch of weight in a diet, you will have gotten several band adjustments that will help you from putting the weight back on. You must take the time now to do the diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes so when you finally do have restriction you are that much more ahead of the game. I know it's hard but you can do it! Just because you can eat it, doesn't mean you should!

I think part of the problem is you're expecting the band to physically stop you from eating. That's not it's job. It's job is to keep you satisfied on less food for longer periods of time. "Trying it out" with a big Breakfast won't do anything but result in you over eating. This is exactly why it's so important we stick to band sized portions of a cup or less of food per meal. Have a look at this link, I think it can give you some valuable information: http://drsimpson.net/fills/Lap-band-eating/lap-band-not-restriction/lap-band-and-restriction.html

In time, after you have adequate Fluid in your band, you won't be hungry all the time anymore. As a result, you won't have the same preoccupation with food you're used to either. This is a great thing, and believe me, it helps so much. However, it still won't stop you from drooling over them or actually eating them. As Floridays aptly said, the band is around your stomach not your brain. It can't change the way we think or feel about food. Band or no band, we still have to make good choices and have some self control not to revert to old habits.

Best wishes

Thanks guys! I always appreciate your input. I realize this evening that I may have been complaining too early as it was six o'clock today before I realized that I hadn't had my second meal for the day yet! Maybe this thing is doing something.

I am really hoping that eventually I have a difficult time eating bread though. I absolutely HATE puking or anything like t and I know that would keep me from even wanting

bread and such.

Great Advise from you all. I get banded Monday and your words will be helpful to me in the future. thanks

Ah, the bad old days of Bandster Hell....I don't miss that at all!

It often takes several fills for a bandster to feel "restriction". Restriction is a lousy term but it's what we have right now to describe the band's optimal effect: early and prolonged satiety. Once you get there, your band isn't going to sound an alarm to tell you to stop eating. Well, it might, if you go on overeating to test your band. But the alarm system (hard stops such as stuck episodes, PB's/regurgitation, sliming) can trigger complications that you don't want, especially after spending $15,000 on your surgery. So for the rest of your life, you will have to treat your band, and your body, with respect. That includes careful eating, every single day.

A surgeon I interviewed when writing Bandwagon told me that his self-pay patients often were very successful with their band because they had paid for it out of their own pocket. Kind of a "you get what you pay for" thing. So maybe if you look at your band as a longterm investment, it will be easier to hang in there until it starts paying some dividends.

outstanding jeannie and 100% dead on:

So for the rest of your life, you will have to treat your band, and your body, with respect. That includes careful eating, every single day.

I'm right there with you. I was banded Nov 2012 and have little restriction with one fill. I've noticed some days it's more than others. If I eat solids in the am I tend to eat more during the day. If I drink a protein shake for breakfast it tends to help my eating desire and intake volumn throughout the day. Take your time eating and listen to your stomach. It's probably more out if habit than actual hunger. At least that's what I keep telling myself and it does help. Also, in between meals drink, drink, drink... Water, Crystal light, coffee, tea...

I'm right there with you. I was banded Nov 2012 and have little restriction with one fill. I've noticed some days it's more than others. If I eat solids in the am I tend to eat more during the day. If I drink a Protein shake for breakfast it tends to help my eating desire and intake volumn throughout the day. Take your time eating and listen to your stomach. It's probably more out if habit than actual hunger. At least that's what I keep telling myself and it does help. Also, in between meals drink, drink, drink... Water, Crystal light, coffee, tea...

I just posted this(see below) on another thread and seems like it might fit you as well? We're about 1 year apart in being banded:

My experience was very similar to yours. I was banded a little over a year ago(11/28/11). I lost 12 lbs the first two weeks and then nothing for the next 3.5 months. My band did seem to give me a sense of being full quicker than before surgery but I fought the hunger(Bandster Hell) every day.

Then I got my 3rd fill at around my 4th month being banded and met with my nutritionist. The weight began to fall off after that. Relax, what you are experiencing is very normal and has happened to many of us. Seems like I was hungrier after the surgery than ever before. But, I was a good boy and ate healthy foods, but maybe not the 1/2 cup I was told to eat.

Sounds like you could use another fill and I strongly urge you to speak to your nutritionist/dietician as soon as possible. She helped me so much.

tmf

I go back to the dr next wk. can't wait for another fill. I agree 100%.