Isn't our food supposed to sit in our pouch (making us feel full) and slowly move through the band into the larger stomach? So, why do we get "stuck" during eating....and not later after the meal? If we chew more the food will pass through the band more easily. If the food is chewed well enough to go through the band how does it ever sit in the pouch long enough to make us full?

Good question.

The way I understand it is a bite or two should fill the pouch. But most do not stop at just 1-2 bites....thus causing a backup.

Or, in my case with the Crunchwrap from Taco Bell.... the piece that I swallowed was too large to pass thru the pouch. Digestion is reduced since it's such a tiny place and that's why we begin the digestion process with chewing, chewing, chewing...to break it down. But some foods aren't so easily broken down... like the Cruchwrap.

There are 3 things I won't even attempt to eat because they get stuck. Besides the wrap, hamburgers or roast beef sandwiches.

But remember, 2 spoonfulls will fill the pouch in many cases and many simply eat too much.

It moves really slow. think of micro-particles breaking off and falling into the lower stomach..that's why the quick feeling of full and "stuck" if we eat too much too quickly.

The band essentially turns our stomach into an hour glass. We control, through chewing (and even slicing and dicing beforehand) the size of the "sand" we're putting in our hour glass.

Throw a pebble in there with the sand and it jams the opening and you're "stuck" until it dissolves or comes back up. Neither of which is very pleasant.

It doesn't take much for the pouch to hold enough food so that the nerves signal the brain you're full. Even though the food continues to empty out, the brain takes a while to go through the whole 'hunger-satiated-hungry again' scenario if we don't over ride it by eating out of habit, boredom, etc. Which most of us did, which is what enabled us to get to the point of needing a band.

My fill nurse, who has herself been banded for seven years, has said that the 'new' feeling of fullness we should expect is nothing like the old full stomach feeling. It is rather a feeling in the back of your throat that if you take one more bite you will get stuck and have to PB. We must learn to stop eating at that point.

That said, I too often get stuck on the first or second bite even when I chew tiny bites to death. I seem to be unable to eat anything until evening, and sometimes in the morning even drinks get stuck! If I get the timing right I can eat a full salad, although it takes me about an hour.

I am losing again since my last fill so if this is my ideal restriction pattern then I will accept it and learn to adjust my eating accordingly.

I am just pleased to have found some restriction at last.