Hi all, I was banded in 22nd April 2013 my op went good but my recovery was 4 days in hospital as I'm allergic to all medication I was given so I was very sick the week of my op! I have had 5 fills I believe I'm at 5.4mil in my band and I have only lost about 5kilos since my op! Weightloss is so slow and I'm not eating much at all! My starting weight was 103kilos I'm 172 cms tall and my current weight is 98.8kilos and I feel like theirs something wrong with me as my weightloss is just so minimal! Im also walking 3-4 times a week!I'm going to the doc today to see if my thyroid is Woking correctly so I can rule that out! Can anyone relate to this or maybe I need more fill..........!?

Do you count calories? I know it helps me to lose to count calories. I was decent with estimating portion size but I really didn't know how many calories things contained.

I recently went out to dinner with friends. They all got dessert. I did have one bite to taste. I later looked up the dessert to count the calories of that one bite (yes I count even a bite) and the whole dessert was more than 1000 calories. Yes it was big but I would have never guessed over 1000! That only reinforced that I needed to continue to count calories.

And I've been on thyroid meds for years. If you do have that problem being properly medicated will help. But it still comes down to consuming less than you burn.

Before you decide if you need more fill, I'm going to suggest that you keep a food journal and track all your calories for a few days. The reason I suggest that is because I have a friend who is also banded, who exercises far more than me, who isn't losing weight despite 'eating very little'. One day I spent the day with her and I immediately figured out why.

Basically she ate very little hard Protein and instead grazed all day on cookie dough or drank coffees with 2 sugars or would have 1/2 bottle of wine every night. While she felt like she wasn't eating much, in terms of calories, she was ingesting the most highly processed kind she could have been getting. It meant that no matter how tight she was, she not only couldn't lose, but gained sometimes too. She has lost less than 10kg in 3 years and unless she changes the way she eats, I can't see her losing any more.

Part of your success will come from your band, but the rest will come from learning to eat well. And of course exercising helps. So start with learning about the quality of the food you're eating.

Before you decide if you need more fill' date=' I'm going to suggest that you keep a food journal and track all your calories for a few days. The reason I suggest that is because I have a friend who is also banded, who exercises far more than me, who isn't losing weight despite 'eating very little'. One day I spent the day with her and I immediately figured out why.

Basically she ate very little hard Protein and instead grazed all day on cookie dough or drank coffees with 2 sugars or would have 1/2 bottle of wine every night. While she felt like she wasn't eating much, in terms of calories, she was ingesting the most highly processed kind she could have been getting. It meant that no matter how tight she was, she not only couldn't lose, but gained sometimes too. She has lost less than 10kg in 3 years and unless she changes the way she eats, I can't see her losing any more.

Part of your success will come from your band, but the rest will come from learning to eat well. And of course exercising helps. So start with learning about the quality of the food you're eating.[/quote']

I use the free FitnessPal app! It's awesome & helps!!

Thanks for your replies! I will start to use my food diary again and see how I go! I go back to see my fill doctor next week and talk to her again with my food diary! Thanks again for your helpful advise!

Also, make sure ur not eating a lot of salt. Salt retains Water weight. I learned this from eating Ramen Noodles back in college. ?

My first week out of surgery i lost only 5 lbs while every one else here on the site were dropping 9 or more their first week. I too was too nauseated to eat or drink those first 4-5 days so idk why the slow lost.

Also, I hadnt gone #2 since night before surgery so a good laxative helped with that bloat and water.

Jst a few things to consider..

Good Luck!

Before you decide if you need more fill' date=' I'm going to suggest that you keep a food journal and track all your calories for a few days. The reason I suggest that is because I have a friend who is also banded, who exercises far more than me, who isn't losing weight despite 'eating very little'. One day I spent the day with her and I immediately figured out why.

Basically she ate very little hard Protein and instead grazed all day on cookie dough or drank coffees with 2 sugars or would have 1/2 bottle of wine every night. While she felt like she wasn't eating much, in terms of calories, she was ingesting the most highly processed kind she could have been getting. It meant that no matter how tight she was, she not only couldn't lose, but gained sometimes too. She has lost less than 10kg in 3 years and unless she changes the way she eats, I can't see her losing any more.

Part of your success will come from your band, but the rest will come from learning to eat well. And of course exercising helps. So start with learning about the quality of the food you're eating.[/quote']

Lellow are you using the My Fitness Pal app? I use it religiously and it has helped me tremendously. I used to keep a food journal years ago before computers and apps and it does keep you accountable. The My Fitness Pal app is so easy and convenient. It is so much better than a handwritten journal and extremely accurate. I love MFP!

I made a personalized food diary spreadsheet & also use my fitness pal.

On my spreadsheet I have the usual's:

time/food/amount/calories/protein/carbs ...etc

but I also have extras like:

rate hunger

sensation after meal

stuck episode

tolerated meal

...as suggested by a friend who has been very successful 6yrs; i may not need those extras now (1 month post-op), but as my band is tighter and I stop & start new foods or hit plateaus, it will be very helpful to go back and take a look at what worked vs not (I plan to use highlighters to indicate different things like "stuck episodes" so it will be easy to flip thru and look for a particular color=experience).

I also have:

exercise

LB cc's (so as time goes by I have the exact amount on the page)

current wt/wt loss/amt to goal (i make weekly entries)

In the past I was horrible about drinking all my Water, so I made a section that has little circles (each circle = 1cup/8oz/240cc) so as I finish a bottle of water I just simply fill in the applicable circles; at the end of the day I now have at least 8 circles filled in... very easy way to note water/fluid intake at a glance.

Now I mainly use my fitness pal to scan barcodes and transfer info to my spreadsheet later in the day but it also acts as a backup.

This seems to be working great for me. I actually like writing it all down b/c it makes it so much more personal. In the future I may only use an app, but until I reach my goal I want a hardcopy of my weight loss journey.

Clarification...

sensation after a meal = I hope will help identify my "satiety" trigger (when to stop eating vs finishing the entire 4 oz serving or feeling full.

I am trying to note the subtle signs: slight left shoulder/clavicle pain, slight little pain in my chest & slight pain in my left jaw or behind my left ear.... hoping to eventually narrow it down to my "true" stopping point!

rate hunger = helps me identify foods that keep me satisfied longer so far I have notices that (chicken keeps me fuller much longer than fish) so at the beginning of each entry I can see how my hunger has changed.

---hope this helps

Thank you so much for your replies! Extremely helpful! I am learning more about how my body is adapting to the band, it does take time well for me anyway and with each day I'm getting closer to reaching my goal....as slow as it is I will get there! I also notice those different signals which I'm now noting down too eg: shoulder pain, chest pain & the feeling of being satisfied! It's such a New & weird sensation and I guess it comes down to learning to eat in a way that I have never been able to prior to the band and re-educate myself! Thanks for all the support, I would struggle without it!!!! :-D

dawalsh,

when I used to track calories while my band was leaking, yes I used MFP. I found it the easiest to use of all the apps around, but to be honest calorie countring was not fun for me. When my band is working, I don't count calories. I have a pretty good grip on what's 'good' food and I try to keep my diet to whole foods (minimise processed foods) so generally I just let my band tell me how much to eat, I try to eat well, and I lose/maintain that way.

The reason I suggested that the OP count calories for a while is that I find that many things that are marketed as 'healthy' are in fact calorie-laden, full of sugar or increases hunger (like sugar substitues) so for someone who can't figure out why they're not losing, it can actually be a great way to learn about which foods they should avoid and to not listen to the marketing.

You need to count calories and exersice to do well:) it's a long journey and this is very normal. I only lost 8 kgs for 5 months then suddenly something started to happend. I went to the surgery 21st January 2013 and I've lost 16kgs. Just remember this will take at least 2 years