I was banded a couple of years ago and consistently went in for my fills and was losing weight. Then I stopped going in for my fills and haven't had one in a year. I'm starting to eat more and don't like feeling like this. Now what? Do I start over? What's it like to have a fill after so much time has passed?

You just pick up where you left off. You start eating like a Bandster and obey the soft stop signals.

A fill may make a difference and it may not? If it takes you closer to the green zone it will be more of a mental shock than physical. You will have to learn how to and commit to a different lifestyle if you want this to work. It all depends on how badly you want this?

I call that life. When you are ready, go back and get a fill so the band can do its job. It is all up to you and I somehow doubt that this hasn't happened to others and the surgeon will have seen it before so hold your head high and move on to continue something you know you want.

Good luck to you.

Colleen

some of us waited 4 years to go back. I did and have lost 22 in less then month.. when you get first week in you will member why it in first place..

Go back and tell the team exactly what you have said here. The band really works but you have to work toward the green zone. Preparing for the band and going through surgery to get it makes you very brave already. You will succeed but make the team here and at your doctors office come up with solutions. I am 7 weeks post op and my band is not where it needs to be. I have been told by my team it may take up to 6 fills and adjustments to find the green zone. I won't stop until I feel the green zone because I deserve it. You deserve it to so call your doctor now and take the step toward feeling better. I can cross my legs now after losing 11 pounds!! That is a non scale victory. I get down on myself thinking 'only 11 pounds' but hey it is 11 pounds I have lost with little help from my band yet. I will be patient. I will be persistent and so can you!!! Jenn

If you have had good restriction for so many years, it puzzles me why it would suddenly vanish...

My last fill was 4 months after surgery, and by the years end I knew I was were I was going to be in terms of the band doing it's job, no reason to ever need another fill....

I have got to know my band very intimately, and can sense the littlest of changes.....and at times I do find myself eating larger portions than usual.....but that usually tells me things other than a needed fill....time for a little maintenance....

If you need a fill, then you need a fill....nothing like the blissful new life in the Green Zone....

there is a trade off between how much will power and self determination one has versus how much the band does for them...I read it and can see it here everyday.......

perhaps for you, the scale was leaning more towards you and less of the band, and now your will power, after these years, is waning a little and in need of more band doing the work for you........

Hard to say...this is one of those areas I have always been interested in, reading so many people's stories and how different their experiences are....

Edited July 3, 201412 yr by B-52