I had my band unfilled last week. For about 2 days I still had a bit of either restriction or worry (cant tell) when I was eating.. Now I have absolutely NO restriction and feel like I can eat anything in the house including the house!!! I feel like I have reverted back to old habits in a matter of 7 days and am so miserable!!!! My doctor said don't worry about it I wlll loose it pre op and post op definitely but Is it normal to be so hungry after getting the band unfilled?? Not only am I feeling hunger worse than before I am still eating smaller portions so I feel like I am eating more often.. Should I eat bigger portions less often??

Unless the delfated band is enough to give you some restriction (mine is... was... but that's fairly uncommon), then when you're unfilled it's essentially like you don't have a band. Hunger typically resumes quickly, and without restriction it takes a lot more to get satiety. I've been unfilled for the last several months, but still had no hunger - presumably because of my slip. Band came out yesterday, still no hunger, presumably because I'm so recently post-op. I'm crossing my fingers it won't come back, but I don't know.

When my father had his band removed (due to band-induced gastroparesis) his hunger came back almost immediately, and increased daily for about 9 days. He put on about 75 lbs in the 6 months it took to get approval for re-banding.

What you're experiencing sounds perfectly normal. Just try to keep things in check. The more you gain now, the more you'll have to lose later. But it doesn't sound abnormal at all.

I had my band emptied in April with surgery in July.. Girl, my BMI went up 3 points..I figured oh,it will come off easy once i was sleeved...wrong..If I knew then what I know now...would have been stricter on my diet.. I thought the sleeve would be just like the band.. only able to eat small bits... for me that has not been the case.. I can eat anything and really have to track my daily intake.. and watch what I put in my mouth. Now I can't eat like before the band.. but I feel no restriction and dont feel anything unless I try to eat a full dinner plate of food. My surgeon says its because she stapled around the scar tissue left from the band, her office had had too many complications if they stapled over the scar tissue. So, I have more upper stomach left. GRRR!!! along with Ghrelin prodution.(Prilosec is a godsend for hunger pains). If I had it to do over again, would do the atkins diet for the time lapse between empty band and surgery with only few slips of those favorite meals. I would also talk to my surgeon on making my stomach as small as possible on the bottom to help with the extra left up top. Dr Islam has been great in working with me to figure out why I am not losing at 2 months out (am only down 15), seems that my body has gotten used to rstricted calories and my normal daily exercise and has slowed my metabolism down. I also have lost lean muscle mass in the last 9months. Am now on a strength training program to boot that back and hopefully start losing again. Work on building muscle now to help you afterwards burn more fat...

Thank you so much- I appreciate it!

So you're able to eat more nw than you could with your band?

Your doctor's theory doesn't seem quite right. Maybe maybe if you had gone straight from band to sleeve, but if you ate unrestricted for 4 months, that should have changed things. Your body's metabolism does adjust, but you will always have a BMR. BMR is basically the number of calories you need to lay in bed all day. It doesn't factor in any activity. Mine is about 2000. So it takes me 2000 calories to do nothing other than lay in bed all day., ANY activity, eating, etc. adds on to that. So in theory, at a caloric intake under 2000, I will lose weight. Your metabolism can slow down, but won't slow down below BMR. How many calories a day are you eating?

Sorry, I'm not trying to scrutinize what your doctor has told you, but it sounds like a cover up.

What size stomach do you have/boughie size?

I had my band emptied in April with surgery in July.. Girl, my BMI went up 3 points..I figured oh,it will come off easy once i was sleeved...wrong..If I knew then what I know now...would have been stricter on my diet.. I thought the sleeve would be just like the band.. only able to eat small bits... for me that has not been the case.. I can eat anything and really have to track my daily intake.. and watch what I put in my mouth. Now I can't eat like before the band.. but I feel no restriction and dont feel anything unless I try to eat a full dinner plate of food. My surgeon says its because she stapled around the scar tissue left from the band, her office had had too many complications if they stapled over the scar tissue. So, I have more upper stomach left. GRRR!!! along with Ghrelin prodution.(Prilosec is a godsend for hunger pains). If I had it to do over again, would do the atkins diet for the time lapse between empty band and surgery with only few slips of those favorite meals. I would also talk to my surgeon on making my stomach as small as possible on the bottom to help with the extra left up top. Dr Islam has been great in working with me to figure out why I am not losing at 2 months out (am only down 15), seems that my body has gotten used to rstricted calories and my normal daily exercise and has slowed my metabolism down. I also have lost lean muscle mass in the last 9months. Am now on a strength training program to boot that back and hopefully start losing again. Work on building muscle now to help you afterwards burn more fat...

My band had a leak and I was always hungry. Most of the time I could eat whatever I wanted. I know it is hard right now to wait, but the sleeve is so amazing. I never was all that successful with the band, but with the sleeve I am almost at my goal. Just don't worry so much. The sleeve will change your life!!!

For me, when the band was empty, My eating was almost completely back to pre-band capacity. The only difference was that I still couldn't eat chicken - it would get stuck. I was not required to remove my fill before my surgery so I didn't see a huge spike in my weight, but I was slowly gaining with 2.6 cc for a year. I had at least 12 adjustments with no weight loss over a few years.

With the sleeve I have had amazing restriction. Very consistent, and VERY restricted. I had my band out and sleeve in during one procedure.

Good luck!

Once my band was unfilled, the only food I couldn't really eat was rice. Otherwise, I feel like I have no restriction.

Hang in there! You are going to be so happy with your sleeve! It has changed my life! I went straight from filled band to sleeve. No longer do I have the insatiable hunger that I had with the band. I consider myself a slow loser but I am down 46 lbs in 4.5 months. I can live with that!! Good luck and you'll do fine!!