Hi All

I was banded 5 weeks ago and have had one fill so far with little impact to my appetite. As I understand the band is just a tool and I have to work with it so I was wondering what is the most effective diet to follow and whether there are any diet regimes I should definitely stay clear of? I was thinking of doing Weight Watchers?

Thank you x

I don't follow a specific diet... I just focus on Protein first.

I lost (and gained) tons on weight watchers. Only being 5 weeks out, I don't think that specific plan would be beneficial because there is no way you can eat enough to use up the points.

What does your doctor/NUT have you eating at 5 weeks out?

I've just been told to eat 50% protein, 35% veg and 15% starch. I've been told desserts are ok to eat as long as they are solid but I'm likely to be too full to eat them. I really want to get the best results from this and want to get it right early on. The problem is at the moment if I did something like weight watchers I could easily eat more than the points allowed as I'm not yet feeling the benefits. Without the band restriction it's hard to follow the dieticians guidelines anyway.

During this stage I really worked on listening to my body and noticing everything I could about my appetite. I was such a fast eater and I had to learn to slow way down so I practiced techniques for that. And chewing. I learned to chew, chew, chew and to listen to the signals for satiety. The links below in my signature are to sources I found very helpful as I was learning about banded life. Maybe they will help you, too. Protein first -- dense protein well chewed. Small bites. Stretching out the time it takes to eat and discovering being satisfied. I didn't know what hunger really was before because I ate at the first twinge of anything -- tamping down emotions, etc. For me I had to learn that hunger is okay, it's a good thing. The idea is to eat when I'm hungry and not eat when I'm not hungry. Some one here calls the latter "sport eating" -- that term resonated for me as I was some one who just ate for fun. I still love food but now only in small amounts at appropriate intervals. You will get this -- it just takes a little while and, for me, it took several fills. I was glad for the time in-between as I had so much behavior modification to address.

Thank you so much for your wise words, I have found this really helpful and will certainly check out the links