Hello. I had the Orbera balloon inserted in 3/22. I spent the first month fairly nauseous, bloated and had little appetite. I had to force myself to eat enough to have adequate energy to make it through the day. Like clock-work, I hit the one month mark and my nausea and bloating ended and my appetite returned. I was hungry for the first time in a month! I'm now noticing more frequent hunger pangs and the ability/desire to eat more, meaning I need to exercise some self discipline (and exercise, since I now have the energy).

I'm curious if others have had a similar experience.

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@@ophelia150 I do not have the balloon (had sleeve) but just wanted to say best of luck, you can do this!

@@ophelia150 I had my balloon fitted on 1st feb. I've just hit 29.5lb loss. I eat little and often. One Weetabix for Breakfast with a banana. Pot of fruit for snack around 10am. Jacket potato with tuna mayo for lunch but I don't eat the skin as it doesn't digest well. Yoghurt for break around 2 and a snack pot of fruit around 4. Then for dinner I have various foods, fish cake with mushy peas, chicken Kiev, I don't have chips or bread any more and sometimes have a few crackers buttered for a supper snack. Between all that I try to drink about 4 pints of Water at least a day. I couldn't walk far before surgery, got breathless walking to my car. I can now walk half a mile without struggling too much. So happy. Try and drink plenty of water as it could be you are thirsty rather than hungry. Good luck ????

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After two months I basically stopped losing weight with the balloon. I have maintained my weight loss though. (Through the holidays, and 4 vacations including a cruise)

I feel almost no restriction now. I often feel what I used to think are hunger pains, but I know I'm full. I know I can eat more than what I am eating but that's basically because I'm only eating about 1300 to 1500 calories a day and that's pretty easy to do even with a balloon.

I started worth a lower BMI (28) and it's even lower now. I'm hoping I can maintain for a few years.

I'm not sorry I got the balloon. It was a good step for me in this journey. It allowed me a break from having to feel like I'm always on a diet and constantly starving. I feel like it got my head back in the game. I was ready to give up trying. I'm going to struggle with my weight the rest of my life and even though my BMI is 24 now, I have to try to keep it here or get it lower so that I don't go back up.

If I'm not able to maintain my weightloss, I will get the sleeve in a year or so.