I've been getting tiny fills now and then over the last year. Four fills of 0.10, with my last one in August. I debated getting one in September but my NP and I decided together to try modifying my food plan and waiting to see those results.

Well, I'm a stubborn old broad, and I resisted making serious changes right away. But here's what I did change over the last four months:

I gave up alcohol completely in September.

I gave up fried food in November.

I gave up my weekly carby Thai overindulgence in December. Do I miss it? Hell yes.

I gave up movie crapcorn completely in December. (Not movies though. I actually smuggled two pears into the movies a few days ago and got a little thrill out of that.)

I began planning, committing, and tracking my food to my OA sponsor and using MyFitnessPal again two weeks ago.

What happened? My band is talking to me again. I feel the stop signals very clearly now. I get the "enough" sensation on much smaller quantities. My dog is loving it because he gets the p rotein I can't finish.

Bottom line is, I had to clean up my food for my band to be able to do its job right. I'm filled enough. I know that now.

The band surgery alone enabled me to drop 2/3 of my excess weight without much behavior modification. Sure, I was eating less, and not eating between meals. But I was emotionally hanging on to my greasy, fried favorites and drinking with friends every weekend, not to mention socking away tubs of buttered crapcorn on a twice-weekly basis. And scratching my head as to why I stopped losing weight.

Making the changes I made above was an incremental process. I wasn't ready to do it until I was ready to do it. I'm really glad that my band stayed consistent while I floundered around figuring this out.

For whatever reason, I'm now motivated to get the rest of this weight off, and to follow the disciplined plan I have worked out with my OA sponsor.

This may or may not help somebody else. But if you're chasing the elusive green zone, and wonder if you really need more fills or not, see if cleaning up your food for a few weeks first makes a difference. It did for me.

@@JustWatchMe these are huge changes! I'm incredibly happy for you! I'm currently experiencing what I call the Vacation and Holiday detour. This is the first time since being banded that I've been completely laxed about my food choices, but now the vacation and the holidays are over and it's time to take back the control and make the necessary modifications in my food plan as well! Thank goodness for the band, I know if I make the right choices the band will do the rest and that's why I'm not all doom and gloom about it. Going to the store tonight to stock up on lean Protein and veggies!!!! We're going to ring in 2016 with a healthy bang:-)

Happy New Year!!!!!

Good advise???????? I have been the same weight for the past month but I have to let go of some food in my diet makes sense.????

Thanks for this post. I have been the same weight for about 6 months and actually gained 5lbs the last month or so. I just got another fill yesterday but it's important for me to take responsibility for my poor choices such as too much wine and chips at night. I'm going to be checking in here more often as well.

I relate to this post soooo much , I've been banded two years and have become very lax about food choices , my weight is up and I know it's not a fill issue but a food choice issue . Good for you for getting things in check ,it's a good motivator !

I'm glad I read this today. I've been having the hardest time with everything concerning this band. I really want it to work for me. I was thinking that I made the wrong choice not getting a sleeve but I really need to look at my own choices. thanks

OP here. I received a post notification that someone replied to this old post. I just want to happily report that I've kept my food clean since I wrote this over six months ago, and slowly have dropped 20 pounds in that time. It's a marathon, not a sprint. My band is optimally filled. If I don't chew well, I get stuck. So I've decided to chew well. Lol. Good choices and daily accountability to my OA sponsor are getting me closer to goal. Only 30 pounds to a normal BMI. I should make an appointment to have my band checked since I haven't seen my NP in 10 months! It's all good.

JustWatchMe