Hi guys know I havent been around for awhile, I was busy graduating from COLLEGE!!!!! Then of course there was those wonderful holidays!! Anyway I have a question...I just got my second fill and while food is passing, albeit less (which is the point of course!) sometimes it feels like my stomach is irritated if that makes any sense....it's hard to explain..I haven't PB'd or anything I just have to eat super slow and chew super fine...is this finally my bandland experience or do you guys think something could be wrong? I guess I'm asking if I'm normal to go from feeling semi-restricted to pretty restricted? From what I read here I should go back to him if I can't get anything down but that's not the case.....Ok I could ramble for hours, I missed you all, and thank you in advance for any advice you could give me!!!

Thanks!!

Katie, great weight loss! Are you stopping eating when you feel full and not putting too much food in your little pouch?

I think so Marie....I am having to re-learn how to eat everytime i get a fill...Maybe I'm doing a little to much you think? I ate about 3/4 of a cup of runny chilli today....I dont know if that has any relevance but was wondering about your input on it? Sound about right? To much? Do you guys also find you need things to be really moist to help them....I had some dry tuna fish the other day and thought I was dying it was so dry and my little belly didnt like it at all...that happen to you guys too? thanks so much for your help I really appreciate it!

This sounds pretty normal, Katie. It is a learning curve, for sure. If you are eating hard proteins and you can feel it staying above the pouch. This is the idea. You want it to hold off eating anymore for a while. Softer foods will just slip through and allow you to eat MORE which you do not want. Try tracking your foods in www.fitday.com to see how much you are really getting in. If you are able to drink freely and you're not PBing your solids, then you may be at that place of restriction that everyone finds so elusive. If you're having problems with it, you may need a tad of an unfill. ??

Thank you Letha! I just wanted to check with you guys (my experts) to see what you thought...it's difficult to eat but I'm trying to adjust..i'm not pbing thought this morning i felt like i might..thanks for the fitday.com recommendation, I'll check that out! I'll let you know if I'm at the elusive spot next monday on weigh in day :D Thanks for all your comments and suggestions, and if you think of anything else, please feel free to pm me or post up...THANK YOU!!!

Katie, you are so right about dry foods! I had my only "sliming" episode on a dry chicken strip. Yuk! Do be sure your foods are moist. If needed, use a dipping sauce or gravy (and don't overdo, because those might be high calories). Can you make tuna salad w/your tuna? Tuna right out of the can is pretty dry.

Hey, Double Congratulations!!! Graduating from College and 18 pounds gone. You should be very, very proud of yourself!

Thank you very much! I am very proud of myself...i'll be even prouder once I get back on my weight loss track..the holidays were killer...yes I should have tried tuna salad but I was starving and thought i'd be ok...yikes was I wrong!! I feel like 18 lbs isnt much especially compared to some of you guys but I figure that's 18 gone forever, i've been going through a bit of a downer stage lately since this fill has cut me down sooo much, but i'm learning to get over it...it's just so weird...my SO was chowing down last night and I was sitting there thinking wow I used to be able to outeat him and now I get practically nothing...it was so weird....Anyway, thanks for your replies Marie and the congratulations, I appreciate it so much!

Katie, I got in bad habits over the holidays. But I'm trying to get back on track too. One of the things that I'm getting back to doing is keeping a container of tuna salad made up in the frig. So when I'm starving, I'll grab that instead of the junky-junk. Another is Cranberry Lite mixed 50/50 with water. It tastes great and helps me get my waterload in. (But not w/meals or 1 hour after.) So those 2 things and more consistent exercise are what I'm trying to get back to doing.