Hi everyone! Banded in January 2012, at my lowest I'd lost 83 lbs, now gained a bit back from eating around the band (ice cream, my nemesis) and have lost about 70 lbs. I have never felt full, but was restricted enough to not be able to eat as much (11.5 cc's in a 12 cc band). So my doctor closed his practice and I went to see another lap band doc. He does all his fills, etc. under fluro- so he discovered I had a hiatal hernia. He has taken all my Fluid out, I'm on a "band holiday" and will have the hernia repaired July 2. Then after the recovery from that he said we'd refill the band.

But to the question- he said that at surgery he can make the band "look" like it should, but it's 50/50 if it acts the way it did- he said sometimes it doesn't snap back elasticity wise and so it doesn't work the same. Now, with 11.5 cc's in a 12 cc band, obviously it was stretched a lot.

So what has people's experiences been? After a complete unfill, and then being re-filled, has your band worked like it did the first time? Of course, now I have changed jobs and my new crappy insurance doesn't pay for anything bariatric (luckily it does pay for hernia repair!).

It's weird being unfilled, I ate a real sandwich with bread instead of just picking out the filling. I love my band, and won't go crazy while unfilled- don't want to undo all my hard work!

Nicki

Gosh, I hope that isn't always the case. I had a partial unfill a couple of months ago and have to wait until late June to get refilled. I'm currently at 3cc in a 10cc band and it is as if I have no band at all. I feel very unbanded..not in my eating habits (I've tried very hard to maintain my loss but I have regained 5 lbs since my unfill, which is a miracle considering how hungry I am) but in my Dieter's Mindset. I absolutely hate being back in the Dieter's Mindset...always thinking about food, planning my next meal, seeking the most filling foods for the least possible calories and STILL being hungry.

If I find upon refill that my normal 6 ccs doesn't put me back in the green zone, where I was, I'll be very sad. Anything above 6ccs gives me esophagal spasms so I can't go above that amount of saline.

Gosh...now I have a new thing to worry about.

Well, I'll let you know in a month how the refill goes and hopefully my band retains its elasticity...I've only had it for 14 months and maybe that makes a difference?

I'm sorry to hear you're both going through this!

I have a question, and I hope this doesn't get taken the wrong way but why would you go back to old habitis when you worked so hard to learn and practice new ones? Just because we can do something doesn't mean we should. Just because there isn't any fill or as much fill, shouldn't we still be practicing what we know we should be doing?

You've worked so hard and have done such an amazing job!! Keep doing what you need to do. I don't know what it's like but I'm sure you are hungrier but why not practice your good eating habits and if you're still hungry eat extra Protein at each meal or add in an extra protein filled snack?

I also would think that a non-band vacation:-) would make it harder to get back into the groove once the fill is back to where it needs to be.

You both have shown you have excellent willpower, try to rely on that until your bands are properly adjusted!!

Best wishes and much success!

I'm sorry to hear you're both going through this!

I have a question, and I hope this doesn't get taken the wrong way but why would you go back to old habitis when you worked so hard to learn and practice new ones? Just because we can do something doesn't mean we should. Just because there isn't any fill or as much fill, shouldn't we still be practicing what we know we should be doing?

You've worked so hard and have done such an amazing job!! Keep doing what you need to do. I don't know what it's like but I'm sure you are hungrier but why not practice your good eating habits and if you're still hungry eat extra Protein at each meal or add in an extra protein filled snack?

I also would think that a non-band vacation:-) would make it harder to get back into the groove once the fill is back to where it needs to be.

You both have shown you have excellent willpower, try to rely on that until your bands are properly adjusted!!

Best wishes and much success!

The answer is quite simple. An unfilled band, or a band which is not filled to optimal level? It's just like dieting.

And we are all here because we realized that dieting does not work in the longterm.

Willpower when dieting eventually runs out. Everybody on this board knows this truth. Read some blogs of people who haven't gone through WLS. Remember your own life before you had WLS. Willpower is not a renewable resource.

I have to say that the one advantage of being unfilled is the proof positive of the power of the band. I lost my weight not thru willpower...but through bandpower. It's much much easier to practice good habits when one's hunger is dimmed and one's stomach capacity is reduced. You forget that when your band is working properly, and may get a big head thinking that it is your personal strength getting you to goal.

I understand these things completely, I've dieted most of my life. I was successful at losing a lot of weight several times only for it to come back and then some. Of course I understand that, everyone on here does and no I haven't forgotten what that's like. I also understand that the band is just a plastic ring when its not properly adjusted but the band is JUST a tool!!! It is up to us to make the proper food choices that nurish our bodies, the band doesn't make those choices for us. If you got the band thinking its going to do it all the work for you, you're probably figuring out that's not true! You do have to have willpower, stamina, and the desire to stay the course!!! You have to continue to find things that motivate you to keep you going.

If I have a big head because I know and take credit for MY part in my success then so be it. Again the band is just a tool and if you don't do your part, filled or unfilled its useless!!!!

The point for me asking these questions was to hopefully help and have people take a step back and realize its not worth going back to old habits once coming so far.

Edited May 16, 201412 yr by enjoythetime

Enjoythetime- it's complicated, ya know? You are right, of course, just don't go back to old habits! Well, as we all know, that's easier said than done. I assume (and perhaps wrongly) that once banded and filled to proper level you haven't had to be unfilled?

I guess what I am trying to say it what Parisshel has said- if I had willpower, I wouldn't have needed the band. And I practiced good habits because I HAD to- the band made me. Like B52 says, the band is doing this, not me- because history had proven that I couldn't sustain weight loss for the long haul on my own. It was much easier to do my part with my band's help.

But- I will not backslide, I can still exercise and log my food and be on a diet- I've done it before and I can do it again until I start getting my fills. It's just harder- the band was around my stomach, not my head, and I still have work to do around emotional eating, which I am doing.

So- is there anyone with experience about getting re-filled after a complete unfill and how that worked for them?

Nicki