I was banded 8/16/07...I have had considerable weight loss with the band and pretty much no complications. At first I followed the rules to a tee, knowing that I needed to build up to the eating-solid-foods bit to really know how this band would work. I was 322.5 one month before surgery...then 302 on the day of surgery....and am now 260 after just over 2 months of getting banded. That's 42 lbs. people! And I have never had a fill. My dr. says that if I feel restricted enough then I don't need one, also my weight loss seems very good. Everyone is congratulating me, but here is the bad part...I don't feel like I am doing right anymore. These past few weeks, I have had ice cream, bbq, fried foods, not much excercise at all (less than 30 minutes 2 times a week), and birthday cake! Sometimes I feel like I severly struggle with wanting to eat because my head says so, not my stomach, and frankly I have a hard time knowing if I should eat or not. I keep up on my Water, and for the most part keep up on my Protein, but I just hoped that someone out there could tell me if they have experienced a similiar situation or if I should be worried about a slippage or (GOD FORBID) erosion. It's like I'm on auto-pilot. How come the scales go down each morning when I am not doing everything they say to do? I feel guilty about it, but since I am losing, everyone else thinks I'm just being silly.

I warned you, it was a dumb question, but what does restriction feel like? And do you think I'm just feeling guilty about eating bad foods and not excercising?

No such thing as a dumb question. Your weight loss has been AMAZING, congratulations!

Just my two cents, but I think the problem might be that you were not living "real life" before now. In real life, you have BBQ and ice cream and you miss a day of exercise. It is very difficult to keep up the pace you were doing. On a birthday, you are SUPPOSED to eat birthday cake. Not the whole cake, not a slab, but a PIECE. That IS part of the rules. You've been dieting for 2 months but you have to find a place in between dieting and living, otherwise I feel you are setting yourself up to fail. If you beat yourself up every time you have a bite of bbq chicken, you're not going to get far. Moderation is what you have to learn now. Because when motivation goes out the window, and it usually does eventually, moderation is what keeps you on track.

Restriction is one of those things that when you have it, you know it, but it's hard to explain. You just get full really fast.

Don't worry about slippage or erosion ,if you are following up with your surgeon he'll catch it.

Listen, it's just my two cents and I'm sure many will disagree but my opinion is that you are doing the right thing to ask whether it is head or stomach hunger, you are eating your Protein and you are drinking your Water. If you are truly hungry, you should have a fill. If not, you should work on head hunger - maybe with a group or a therapist. But you have to stop obsessing because you can't maintain that attitude for long and I fear you are setting yourself up for failure.

Good luck and keep me posted.

Cyn

Thanks for your 2 cents, Cyn! I am trying to take your advice!

Even though I'm not even banded so who am I to give an opinion but I'll put in my '5 cents' anyway. I totally agree with Cindi. This is my opinion only but it sounds to me like you are eating like a 'normal' person which is what the band should do. You are losing because you are eating less then you used to. Bravo. And the guilt feeling you are getting is because of your life before banding. We have programed ourselves to be guilty if we eat something that is not 'healthy'. I think what you are eating now is how people eat that don't have food issues. I wish you all the best!

Melissa

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

I'm sure I'm not the only one is jealous of you! It sounds like you have some guilt issues. Maybe seeing a therapist will help with food guilt and head hunger. It's worth giving it a try. Also, my MD warned me about the time after banding before a fill that I would be able to eat close to not being banded (not much restriction) he said it was normal. He did say though not to overeat even though I might be able to-- to avoid stretching my new mini-me stomach pouch. So, my advice is just, keep eating like a normal person, just use caution with quantities-- I hope you had a nice birthday!:biggrin1:

Hi.

Well sounds like you have a few things. One-like Cyn said, eating real food is going to happen, relax and learn to negotiate around it in a healthy way. If you look at your before banding eating behaviors and you current not perfect behaviors I expect you are still pretty darn good!

Two-you have restriction by nature of the band being on your stomach; there's some restriction. Is it enough or do you need a fill? That should be measured by your weight loss. My doc and I had a 10#/month rule. When I got to less than 10# loss in a month I would get my first fill. It took 5 months from surgery to slow down that much. The band has a finite amount of space. I thought I'd use it when I needed it.

Three-Concern about overfilling by eating a lot and damaging your pouch? I too talked with my surgeon about this, because I could eat lots. He told me that if I wasn't HURTING, I was fine.

You'll be fine.

Wow,

The responses here are great. I had the same fears...am i overfilling my new tummy? why am i eating something i shouldnt?

Thanks for bringing me back to reality. Yes, this is life, and i will have a snack size Hershey bar (64 calories). I was wondering to myself why was i ruining this, but I am not. I am living life.

Also, I was worried about erosion, slippage, all that. So it will hurt if that happens?

Thanks for all the replys, and thanks for the post!

I appreciate everyone's comments. You are all so encouraging. I really paid close attention to my body at lunch today, and started keeping up with my food/excercise on FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal (it was so easy!) Anyway, I can see now that I think previous comments about before banding portions and after banding portions will just never be comparable, even if I feel like I should be eating brocolli instead of ice cream, I'm talking about a once in a month (if even) event. Who am I really hurting? Not my tummy, evidentally! I guess I was just having a day. Thanks for bearing with me! When you spend 27 of your 28 years as the fat person, you just develop a bad sense of self-judgment .

Thanks again for snapping me out of it. I see the dr. in a few weeks and will just tell him how I really feel.

I appreciate everyone's comments. You are all so encouraging. I really paid close attention to my body at lunch today, and started keeping up with my food/excercise on FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal (it was so easy!) Anyway, I can see now that I think previous comments about before banding portions and after banding portions will just never be comparable, even if I feel like I should be eating brocolli instead of ice cream, I'm talking about a once in a month (if even) event. Who am I really hurting? Not my tummy, evidentally! I guess I was just having a day. Thanks for bearing with me! When you spend 27 of your 28 years as the fat person, you just develop a bad sense of self-judgment .

Thanks again for snapping me out of it. I see the dr. in a few weeks and will just tell him how I really feel.

I agree with Cindylou. You must live while being banded. Just start over today eating your protein first, then your vegies. It may be time for a fill if you feel a lot of hunger or you are eating more than 1 cup. With good restriction you can eat as little as 1/4 cup if you get your protein in. I always start my day with a protein shake which has 30 grams of protein. Good luck and keep up the good work.

I agree with all of you. I have only had one fill and that is just because my doc does it under fluoro and I wanted to be sure that everything was looking alright. I really didn't need the fill at all. Fortunately I am not very restricted. I needed something that was going to prevent me from eating three supersized meals from McDonalds. I am very glad that I can still eat all of the foods that I want in moderation. For the most part I follow the bandster rules of protein first, veggies and then carbs. I was a profound Atkins dieter so that way of eating is more natural that carb loading, so it wasn't a big deal. On the other hand, if I want a piece of bread or a biscuit I can have ONE not a dozen, but one. As for the head hunger I have mentioned on another thread that when it comes to real hunger I can ignore it for hours, but when it comes to head hunger I feel like if I don't eat RIGHT NOW, I am going to starve to death any minute. In order to get over that, I only allow myself to eat at specific times: breakfast, lunch, after school snack, and dinner. If those are the only times that I can eat and I rarely feel actual hunger than I can determine the difference. If I do feel a lot of hunger i reach for my crystal light because then i KNOW I can't eat for at least the next half hour! Gotta love these rules. That is my trick. 42 pounds is fantastic. That is what I have learned and it has all been after the banding. I didn't have to do a pre-op diet and believe me I DIDN'T. I pretty much ate everything in sight. We won't even talk about my "last" meal. There is probably a reason I can't eat ice cream any more. Good luck, and imho you are doing great.

HI Melissa, I juscame across this post and could relate to it. I have been banded for 7 weeks and have been able to eat everything and anything. Even though I was still losing weight, it had slowed way down. I figures it was because I was not excercising and was eating a lot of junk food. I did get my first fill since I was really not feeling any ristriction and I can still eat quite a bit though. You might just be one of those people who can eat more than average and eat more things than others might be able to. I have the same thing, but I think it works against me since I know that I can eat everthing so I do. I have had to get past the guilt trip though and realized this isn't a marathon and I really need to eat realistically even if my loss might be more slower than I would like. I feel like I am not dieting at all and do very little effort as far as excercise but I am still losing weight and enjoying life!

Good luck!