#shakes, and I want real food. I am starving! I wish I could have my first adjustment sooner than 2 months. This just seems rediculous to me, I am ready for my 1st adjustment now.Please share your comments, and advice, I am really struggling. Thanks.

p.s How are other people gauging frequency of liquids/shakes if you don't feel full or restriction. ex.- I am supposed to drink 1oz. every 15 min., and this is extremelly hard when I have a lot of pill sto take at once, and when I'm very hungry or thursty.:hungry:

Well I have to tell everyone that I was disappointed when I went for my 4 week check up. I have lost 23 lbs and I asked my doctor when I was going to get my first fill. He said "when you quit losing weight." I told him that I am hungry and can eat a ton of food. He said "well as long as you are losing weight you don't need a fill. I am doing this on sheer will power alone. If I was going to do that I why did I get the band. I was so looking forward to getting that fill. I have another appointment in 4 weeks. So do I go ahead and eat what I want and not lose or go ahead and lose and take the chance I still won't get a fill. I am sitting her right now hungry. I had a Weight Watcher "Smart One" for lunch and a bowl of oatmeal for Breakfast. Any one care to make a comment?

I'm so sorry for you! I don't understand your Dr. at all !!! It seems to me he/she missed the point. My dr has never refussed me a fill and especially for being hungry. was the 23 lbs just since surgery? ( that is GREAT , by the way:whoo:) or the total?? have you told him how crazy starved you are? maybe don't go so crazy with the food that you gain, but maybe slow down a bit just for now if that is the game he is playing. I just can't imagine why he is doing that to you.

I go for another on 10/3. I'm afraid I have no will power, that is why I got this thing! haven't found the sweet spot yet, but I do feel fuller longer. I was making the mistake of having what my nut. said was "thin protein" yogurt for breakfast. it goes through the band too quick and leaves me hungry 2 hrs. later. I had a more solid breakfast and it lasted well past lunch before I was hungry. Before the fills,and now if I'm hungry, I have an approved snack between meals, the dr and nut approved having a Protein , string cheese, cottage cheese, something like that untill we find the right amount of fill. they want me to stay away from shakes and Soups as they go right through the band. they are good when you are healing but after that you want to slow down the process. good luck.

I think you need to really have a heart to heart with the DR. and insist. But , this is only my opinion.....

I went to the doctor today. I'll be 5 weeks post-op tomorrow. This past weekend it felt like someone turned on a hunger knob in my stomach as I started to become so hungry. I still stayed around intake of 1000 calories with the exception of Sunday. With that said since being in the Pureed stage the last 2 weeks I've only lost 2 lbs. I lost 21 lbs in 3 weeks on the liquid stage. My doctor said my returning hunger was expected and that means I am ready for a fill. So they will be calling me to tell me when. Again, from reading posts all doctors are different.

If U dont have restriction until u start getting fills, and have to starve after surgery on clear liquids, then mushy etc , and relie on will power, then I think this will be horrible. If i could make myself go on a liquid diet, etc on my own, i wouldnt need the band. And once u got use to not eating, u wouldnt be that hungry. THis really concerns me. Any advise apprceciated. Is the band really worth it ? Does it help or is it a mind game ? THanks<:help:

If U dont have restriction until u start getting fills, and have to starve after surgery on clear liquids, then mushy etc , and relie on will power, then I think this will be horrible. If i could make myself go on a liquid diet, etc on my own, i wouldnt need the band. And once u got use to not eating, u wouldnt be that hungry. THis really concerns me. Any advise apprceciated. Is the band really worth it ? Does it help or is it a mind game ? THanks<:help:

Some people experience restriction with no fills at all. Some people do not get hungry for months after banding. (I was one of those)

The way that I see it is that the band re-trains the brain through negative re-inforcement.

Over-eating becomes a negative experience for me, because it is painful, and PBing and SLIMING are very unpleasant to me.

So I had to learn how to eat with a Lap-Band.

Fortunately, I learned rather quickly what NOT to do.

Regarding the post-op period, I wrote this long ago:

"How Important Is The Post-Op Diet?" It is critical. Most doctors prescribe a post-op diet of weeks of clear fluids, followed by weeks of full fluids followed by weeks of mushy food. My doctor said 2 weeks clear Fluid, 2 weeks full fluids and 2 weeks of mushy food. The time following the operation is for your stomach to heal. The Lap-Band needs to form a groove on your stomach. That groove makes the Lap-Band resistant to slipping. Eating food during the post-op period before you are supposed to be eating food could cause the Lap-Band to slip, or increase the risk of a future slippage. Food causes the stomach muscle to "Work" to digest the food. The "Work" could cause the band to not seat properly on the stomach. Weight loss is NOT to be expected during the recovery time after the operation. If you lose weight, wonderful, but don't expect it. The time between the operation and getting an EFFECTIVE fill that causes restriction is called "Bandster Hell" for a good reason. Without an EFFECTIVE fill, our hunger is just as strong, but the band does not work to help us. Getting an EFFECTIVE fill sometimes takes multiple fills, it is not unusual for it to take 3-5 or even MORE fills to obtain restriction. Because the band has to seat into the groove to hold its position, and every time the band is filled the fill adds extra pressure on the band, most doctors choose to let time pass between fills. Most doctors will not fill a band before 4 weeks after the operation, 6 weeks is common and 8-12 weeks of healing time is not unheard of.

Linda,

this is definately not a mind game. the band does help but you have to work it. it is a tool, not an instant cure. I found for me that I wasn't hungry at all the first week on the clear liquids. I think your stomach has been through so much that it's not hungry. that changed about 6 days out though and I was definately ready for full liquids then. (I looked back on my previous posts and I was wrong on my list of what when ) all the Drs. are different and that may have to do with you also. I'm thinking, but don't really know, that maybe it has to do with how large you are to begin with. I was in with a group of others (we had to go to class) and the ones with a larger amt. to loose were on a different protocol. On my post op plan it was 1 week clear, 2ed week full liquids, which was GREAT I might add, never though I would love tomato soup that much!!! week 3&4 the same plus the addition of a few very specific things , cottage cheese or ricotta, 'thin'mash potatos, cream of wheat or blenderized oatmeal, and pureed fruit such as applesauce. :omg: OMG I though I was in heaven, and I wasn't all that hungry. week 5 started slowly adding small amt. of protein and other 'mushys' wk. 6 NORMAL food with lapband life! It really did seem to go pretty fast. Just about when I though I'd die if it continued I was on to a new week.

I have found my portions difinately decreased from my past preband life. I fill up fast and the lasting power is getting better. I have no will power! but..... I do try to make better choices and if I crave pizza I have 1 slice and I'm FULL and satisfied, in the past I could eat at least a half pie myself and have been know to eat the whole! I know I am losing much slower than some, but I also know that with out this band, I would NEVER , NEVER have lost the 37 lbs. that I have. My top wt. in life was 80 lbs. more and the wt. I lost in the past was never easy nor was it lasting. I think the best thing about this is that I really feel in my heart that this will be lasting. I know I can get rid of my big cloths and never need them again! and that is very cool!!!:rose::whoo:

You need to look at the longer bigger picture, we didn't get to this point over night. The few months of adjustment is just such a small thing when you think of the rest of your life! and I don't think you could do liquids the rest of your life! even Opra couldn't!!!

a slight continuation! It occured to me over night that maybe the Drs. have an another motive in some of the seemingly excessive (to me:glasses ) weeks of clear liquid diets that some are given pre and post band. Could it be that the individual is more of a health risk due to their higher BMI'S and /or other medical issues and the Dr wants them to lose at a higher rate as long as possible:confused:. Except for my wt. and a few minor aches and inconviences of being large, I really had no other health issues. (just spelling issues, lol )Thus time is on my side. any thoughts out there???