2 weeks ago I had a barium xray/fill , all ok , no slip/leak or pouch . no pouch as no restriction , half ml fill put in upper pouch formed , all ok restriction good . kept to liquids for a few days before gradually trying out foods , 2 weeks on having problems eating again even struggled to drink half cup of coffee and small amount of juiced fruit ! NOT FEELING HUNGRY BUT THIS CANT BE RIGHT ? can it ?

watch everything I attempt to eat , the softer the better really unless like this morning no chance . doing gym 3/4 times a week , but weight just seems static , feeling totally fedup , any suggestions ? my surgery was done privately didn't fit criteria for nhs , not heavy enough ?

I'm confused? You said above: "no pouch as no restriction , half ml fill put in upper pouch formed" So, you do or do not have a pouch?

I see many posts similar to yours. It's hard to advise without knowing what a typical day's food intake would be? Don't sugarcoat it. Can you briefly state what foods you eat for all 3 meals on a typical day?

Many doctors and patients believe the tighter the band, the better. IMO, that's just not going to work for many patients. Look forward to your reply?

tmf

Hi there, UK terminology is a little different for me, but it sounds like maybe you're trying to settle in from a fill and wondering of was a tiny bit too much? If you are too tight, you're too tight. You need to be able to swallow well, eat real food chewed very well and not be relying on sliders like shakes, etc. As for the weight, it will budge if you are paying attention like you are, exercising, etc. You will be dropping soon but that's not the point if you're too tight -- don't risk it, have good dialogue with your medical professionals. They are there for you! And so are we, for support. Glad you're here.

hi too much fun , thanks for the reply .

I understood that when you had a band, because of where it is placed, a small pouch was formed above the band [ small section of stomach ] and when you eat this fills up making you fill fuller quicker , this then goes through band into bulk of your stomach slowly . Despite several band adjustments since my surgery , when I had my barium xray the radiographer showed me that I did not have a small pouch above band ; he said this only forms once there is sufficient restriction , which at the time he said I had none until he put in a further 1/2 a ml .

If I am able to drink a coffee in the morning I then have porridge or slimfast shake for Breakfast , usually 3/4 small crackers with very low fat cream cheese for lunch , evening meal sometimes low fat fish pie / homemade shepherds pie / Soup or bolognase [ minus the Pasta or rice as I cant tolerate these , my portions are very small .

If I struggle to have a drink first thing in the morning I usually struggle all day sometimes with drinks and even yoghurt !

My barium xray showed my new fill is now at the right level as I could see the screen whilst the radiographer talked me through it , so I do not know what to think . I exercise also . Its been suggested that stress could be the problem and that it affects a lot of people whether your aware of it or not and can make your band at times feel over tight ; I don't feel hungry between meals and weight is not shifting either , confused .

hi bandista ,

I am hoping to see my dr this week to discuss whats going on , its been suggested today it could be stress related , the trouble is if I have trouble trying to eat I then dread the next meal incase I have problems again . Its so good to be able to get advice from others that have actually had the same operation

Many of we bandster's calculate how many calories we need each day to maintain our current weight. For me, that's around 2000. For most women, it's around 1500-1600? If you exercise, add the amount of calories burned for the type of exercise you perform. Let's say you burn 500 calories by walking or jogging or bike riding. So, you need about 2000 calories a day to stay at your current weight.

If you track calories and many of us do, you should be around 1000-1200/day. So, let's say you burn 2000 calories a day, and eat 1250 calories. You have a deficit of 750 calories/day. That would be 5250/week. It's estimated that you need to burn 3500 calories to lose 1lb. So, in one week, using this formula, you should be losing 1.5 lbs. I'm not sure how to extrapolate this to stones?

I don't see a lot of Protein in your diet? Most of us eat about 60% protein.

How the band works is different from what you understand. Watch this video and it will explain a lot. There really is no "pouch" that we fill. It's more of a staging area for food to push through into your lower stomach. Food should only stay in this "pouch" for about 1 minute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4jYJipQ7vc part 2

Here's the remainder of the videos from this Dr. and they're all very good to remind you how to lose weight with the band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa3Lwt6ElIs&list=UL Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbdhf44ZweI&feature=relmfu Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF3TCKUn3YI Part 4

thanks 2muchfun , I will watch them . I don't have much protein because I have a hard time eating it , not that I don't like it or try , I will se if the films help , thanks again