Okay, I am going to risk opening up some advice from oldies but I like straightforward talk...I think.

I got banded Sept. 25. A friend had it done first and told me about it. She is having great sucess. I am diabetic and was uncontrolled at the time. I was sick. I was sleeping all the time and had given up on life pretty much. (My blood sugar was 150 morning of surgery and went up to 416 during surgery so food was not my only reason for high readings.) I went to a seminar, talked to my friend and it sounded like it was for me. I lost 13 week one, 18 lbs. by week 2 and then slowed down to a total of 24 by week 8. I am able to eat more than I should be able to eat and I think about food and get hungry quicker than I should. I got this surgery knowing it was not a miracle but to help cut down my eating. Now I am at week 8 and have not lost anything in 3 and a half weeks. I have been in for 2 fills and neither has helped tighten me up yet. Yeah, I am a litle discouraged at this point. My doctor does blind fills. I have not been good at juding if I am tight or not when he does it. In fact, last time I felt nausious during the fill and light headed. I had to get up to gag, thought I was going to throw up but nothing came up. I keep telling myself the next fill will help. Is this something some of you have experienced?

Sue, how much food can you consume at once? For me good restriction is only 1/2 cup at a time. If you can eat 1 cup and still lose 1-2 lbs a week that is your sweet spot. In my case, I need to eat less to lose. You will find the point that you can lose 1-2 lbs okay but it may require a fill or 2. Keep in mind that if you are one of those that requires less food to lose protein is still important. I use protein shakes to suplement. I typically have 1 for breakfast each day to give me 30 grams. It is easy to make up 30 additional grams throughout the day. It really sounds like you need another fill. It took me 5 fills to get good restriction. Good luck.

I think its just a case of more fill, really. And do your darndest till then to stay on a reasonable diet. And exercise, LOTS!

Yup. Have a fill, watch your diet, and exercise.

It took me 9 months and 4 aggressive fills to get restriction. It is also natural for the body to plateau after losing a goodly amount of weight in a short period of time. Patience and determination are key.

It is normal to hit a plateau from time to time. Sometimes you will find that you may not be losing any lbs but that you are losing inches. It can be, I think, a period of time when your metabolism is in the process of recalibrating itself.

And the others are right, it does take awhile and a few fills before you get to your sweet spot. This is normal. It is important to understand that we all experience weight loss differently; comparing yourself to your friend might be counter-productive for you at this point. And it does sound like you have done quite well with your initial loss.

It does strike me that you do have an additional factor to take into account now that you are losing weight. This is the business of managing your diabetes. From my understanding of the disease, a diabetic can run into difficulties, especially a needle-dependent one, whenever there are changes in diet and exercise patterns. Eating less and exercising more will mean that you will have to be very, very vigilant about monitoring your blood sugar levels until you are at goal. But this is likely all information which you know already.

Fills fills fills... SOO important! If we could do this without restriction, we would have. But we are a population that needs the restriction to lose weight.

You have to do your part, you MUST get appropriate restriction. When that is good then you need to do the band basics such as eating the right foods and eating them in the right order if that is what you need to keep you satisfied. That means Protein first, then veggies, then carbs.

You need to do all the right things to make your tool work better. That includes attitude. You just have to have the right attitude, the attitude that YOU can do this and the band will help you reach your own goals. It isn't going to do it for you.

I think another important aspect for you is identifying when you are actually hungry vs. when you want to eat. Those two concepts are not the same. Head hunger vs. stomach hunger. You write that you think about food and then get hungry. Is that really true? Do you think about food and then you FEEL hungry or do you think about food and then want to eat it? I can talk myself into an entire bag of Fritos without much effort, doesn't mean I am hungry. It means I want to eat a bag of Fritos. See the difference? I didn't, not for a long time. I'd see those Fritos calling my name and I still have to stop and think, am I hungry or do I just want to cram food in my face? It's prevented the need for many useless trips to the grocery store to feed a craving vs. actual hunger.

Bottom line, get down to basics. Start with the fill, go from there. You can do this. This is hard but it really is the kind of hard WE can do.