I would like to ask some pro bandsters about feeling full. I am 3 weeks out, I'm on softer food, but eating alot of mushies still. My question is...when you feel full, do you feel it up top where your pouch is or down lower where the lower part of your stomach is? I am assuming because I'm eating lots of liquids and mushies still, that most of it is going right threw, but I'm eating alot more than people who have had a fill, and I'm feeling full in my lower stomach, like when I was pre-band. What do you think?

I feel it in the pouch itself and if I eat too much I feel it creeping up my esophogus and into my throat. Since surgery I have never felt full below the band.

I think you are absolutely right. You won't feel any restriction until you've had at least one fill, and soft/liquid foods do go right thru the band.

Feeling "full" is pretty subjective. I have had a hard one with that too, and I'm almost 19 months post-op. I eat one or two bites too many at least once a week. It's as if my sensation meter for being full is out of step with what my pouch will hold. And my pouch is very touchy about over-filling it. A couple of bites too many and I will be revisiting them.

Once you have a fill and start getting restricted you will begin to feel it in your pouch on top. I feel it in my chest and throat more than anything. When I have had too much I will begin hiccuping or burping and that is my last chance to stop before I PB or slime. I try to stop before these hard stops though it is hard. Especially when something is really yummy and my pouch has had enough but my head hasn't!! :hungry: I am getting better at recognizing when I have had enough though. I never could stop pre-band very well.

~Liz~

banded 03/10/06

Dr.Ortiz

241/198/150

5'7''

hi...this is my 2nd fill....done 5/24/2006....I did not feel any restriction until this last fill....My husband and I had surgery done the same day...He felt restriction from the very beginning...I never understood what he meant until May 24....You'll know when you're full...When you start eating a regular diet, be sure to hydrate between meals and not drink during a meal...Dr spiegel doesnt want us to drink anything for an hour and half after meals...

thanks for your advice, guys. I guess I am one of those who don't feel much restriction until filled. I hope my doctor dosent wait too long to give me my 1st fill. I only lost 1 lb this week. But I'm hungry!

My experience is exactly like Saul, full up top, never been full in the lower stomach since banding. My experience with hunger has been - no hunger when overtightened, when unfill to a comfortable can swallow level, lots of hunger. This is the toughest thing I have ever done. But I have to believe by the weight loss taking so long we are all learning new behavior in eating less and being okay with it.