Hi you too, I wanted to get your opinions on something. I totally agree with the way you eat and exercise and you both are my role models!!!!! You are both such inspirations to me that to tell you the truth, I search out your posts because you always have awesome advice and healthy ways!!!!

Heres the scenerio:

I started April 5th with pre op diet at 305.5

Day of surgery, April 19th, was 295

When I went for my first fill at one month, May 21st, I was 273. I was not given a fill because I had lost too much weight. I dealt with that and was fine after about a week. I decided that it would be better to go for a longer time and loose weight on my own without being filled.

Ok, now on the 25th of June, I went for my monthly appt. and was 257. No fill for me. The dietician says to me she doesn't want me to snack at all. Three meals a day and 60 grams of protein a day. I am like, I am doing so good and I can't snack??? She says this will be a bad thing to continue to snack. My weight loss is an average of 4 pounds a week. I really trust what you both have to say about this. Is snacking going to do me harm in the long run? I am riding my bike 60-70 miles a week and strength training every other day. I feel like I need more food. She asked me how much food I eat, I told her I can eat about 2 cups at any one meal. Although, I do not eat breakfast, but that is because I am not hungry until about 11 a.m. I also had a doctors appt. on June 25th. The doctor is in a different building than where you go for your fills. He asked me how much I could eat and when I told him he said I needed a fill. I told him they just me no from the fill center that I had lost too much weight.

:help::help::help::help::help::help::help::help::help::help::help::help::help::help::help::help::help:

What do I do? Stop snacking? Insist on a fill because the doctor thinks I need one? Keep doing what I am doing and don't worry about what any of them say until I start NOT losing?????

I think I know the answer you both are going to give me but I am just pissed that they want me to not eat so much, no snacking, no fill..oh brother....confuse!!!

My ticker reads that I have lost three more pounds than the doctors have me losing because that is the scale that I can weigh on every week. So the doctors have me down 48 pounds since April 5th.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and hope you have time to respond and give this loser some advice. LOL...thanks... Deanna

Sorry for some of the mispelled words...like at the first when I say "too" instead of "two"....oh brother.... and "loose" when I meant "lose"....geesh

Oh, golly, the way the health system works there and the attitudes to banding are just so darn different from here, its hard to say.

I do think, if I was losing 4lb a week and not hungry I wouldnt fill but if you are genuinely hungry and not snacking out of head hunger and havent had a fill yet, I dont see why in the world it wouldnt be time for your first. Keep that loss going. We all lose weight fast at first almost regardless of what we're eating sometimes. I also think its better to creep up on restriction, safer on your band than agressive fills but that requires a gradual, steady process or else you'll suddently end up starving, not losing and take five fills to find restriction. If you creep up on it, that doesnt tend to happen, you may need more over time but you wont be left totally empty and have months to get through until you get restriction if that makes sense. Gradual fills keep your weight loss going steadily for as long as possible, before the inevitable plateaus and slowing down occurs.

Will they truly not fill you if you are insistent? I would be saying "look here, this is MY body, its MY money and I want it done". I could lose 10lb in the next 2 weeks by not eating, but that's not to say I wouldnt be starving to death doing it, its the same principle, just because you've lost that could be down to your hard work, not the fact that you arent hungry. This makes me mad a little becuase to me it indicates an assumption that fat people are hopeless and have no control and that if they've lost weight, well of course, it MUST be due to the band, not due to any effort they've made. And your doctor obviously supports you.

There's lots of evidence that little fills gradually are the safest way to do it.

But snacking wont actually harm you if you fit it in with your daily needs. Some people snack, some dont, for me, it doesnt work, I just keep on eating once I start, and I do way better on 3 meals a day. After a fill when I'm tight for a week or so I tend to pick all day rather than eat, I do much better with the capacity for larger meals and no snacking. But its different for different people.

Hey Lady,

I know you didn't ask me, but I'm going to give you my opinion. I feel like we talk a bunch anyway because we are on many of the same boards.

I don't have a fill and I snack, just a bit. I was told 3 meals and 2 Snacks by the nutritionist. She just wants me to stay away from simple carbs and liquid calories.

As for the fill, my doctor said he'd give me one if I really insisted but he said that I didn't need one. And there is a finite amount of room in the band so to save it for when I do. Also he said it works on negative reinforcement. Most people, 90% actually, need to be close to vomiting before they actually begin to eat healtily. As he put it, I'm making all the right choices now, why would he smack my hand?

It took some reframing in my head, because we banded folk get so psyched about the fill, the fill, the damn fill. I wanted my fill. But come to think about it, why would I mess with a good equation. I eat about 1200-1400 calories a day. I exercise 5 times a week. I lose on average 3 pounds a week. I'm not hungry and if I am I eat more.

The other thing he said, (And I love the man now) is that the potential down side to a fill is that I may not be able to eat enough to have the engery to execise like I do, and I back off of the exercise...which is a step backward.

He also called me a rock star.

I pouted and kicked his chair, but really, going fill less if you don't need one is a sound medical decsion.

As for no snacking, it can be a slippery slope. Just make sure you use common sense.

:eek: Juli

wow, thanks for the advice from both of you... Juli, I am GLAD you answered because I like you !!!!! LOL...you are my bike hero!!! Ok, so I guess I am getting the no snacking thing is probably the way to do it. I do sometimes start eating snacks and don't stop. So, maybe I should try the three meals a day and see what happens. Also, I am thinking along the same lines of you Juli with the exercise, how am I going to do all this biking if I can't eat very much. If I was just walking around the block every other day if might be different, but I really work out!!! SO, I really appreciate both of your advice. I am going to stop snacking and just go with the three meals, and keep up the same exercise til next appt. which is July 23rd. I will see what my weight loss is from there and then if I am slowing down to 1-2 pounds a week, I will insist on a small fill. If I am still doing 4-5 pounds a week I am not going to worry about the fill. I totally know what you mean about thinking about the fill. Everyone talks about it...CONSTANTLY...so it is what you expect to do 6 weeks out of surgery. I guess maybe I should feel like a lucky one who CAN lose without a fill. I know I read a lot of people who are not losing at all or are VERY slow at losing before filling. Thanks again Jachut and Juli...Deanna

I think that's a good decision - it doesnt sound like there's any need to have it right NOW, and i've always felt frustrated when people say "but I can eat more than a cup of food". So what? If you're losing, what does that matter? I've had a couple of appointments with my doc where I've elected not to have a fill - but I do feel strongly that its YOUR right and YOUR decision, not someone else's! I'd be very annoyed by that. But really, you just dont want to lose faster tha 4 to 5lb a week anyway.

Thanks Jacqui, Your a sweet heart!! Deanna