Ok, I know this is a topic that is probably been done to death!!!!! But please help me with this prior to my next appointment with my surgeon.

I'm 2/10 full presently and have had probs as I've stated in way too many threads but I know everyone talks about the sweet spot and everyone's is different because of certain factors I'm assuming.

Basically now I'm on meds to treat my diabetes II and my high cholesterol and I'd like to get to a point where I'm not eating around the band but not too loose where I can eat too much.

Where do you prefer to be? Does that sound like a dumb question, I don't intend it to be. I mean some of you seem to want it really tight where you can eat a couple spoonfuls and that's it but don't eat around the band so you're successful. Just trying to get some ideas before conversing with Dr. Fillgood, thanks brandyII.:tongue2:

Well Brandy, I honestly don't think I have gotten to my sweet spot yet. I currently have 6.75cc in my 10cc band. I do have some restriction, but I could definitely have more. I chose to take it slow with the fills and I don't regret it. Personally, I think if I had decided to be aggressive with my fills, I probably would have slipped into the slider foods. I am trying to get my head hunger under control and doing it gradually is right for me.

Right now, I can eat 1/2c to 1 cup, depending on the food and the time of day. For me, I don't think I could just eat just a couple of spoonfuls at a time and lose weight because if I was that tight, I would probably resort to crap food that goes down easily. It really is something that's different from person to person.

Who knows....one day I could be satisfied just eating a few spoonfuls, but for now, I prefer to take baby steps.

Well Brandy, I honestly don't think I have gotten to my sweet spot yet. I currently have 6.75cc in my 10cc band. I do have some restriction, but I could definitely have more. I chose to take it slow with the fills and I don't regret it. Personally, I think if I had decided to be aggressive with my fills, I probably would have slipped into the slider foods. I am trying to get my head hunger under control and doing it gradually is right for me.

Right now, I can eat 1/2c to 1 cup, depending on the food and the time of day. For me, I don't think I could just eat just a couple of spoonfuls at a time and lose weight because if I was that tight, I would probably resort to crap food that goes down easily. It really is something that's different from person to person.

Who knows....one day I could be satisfied just eating a few spoonfuls, but for now, I prefer to take baby steps.

That sounds good and it sounds like the fill amount is so different for everyone. I've never had that much in my band, at 5 ccs I was at my overfill. It's hard to comprehend how different it is for everyone. I want to get to the point where I can give up the junk food especially around my PMS time when it's the hardest to do! But thanks. Some people also have said if they drink when they eat they vomit but I thought it was more of a flushing of the food down quicker and you could eat more. Any ideas on that? Thanks brandyII.

That sounds good and it sounds like the fill amount is so different for everyone. I've never had that much in my band, at 5 ccs I was at my overfill. It's hard to comprehend how different it is for everyone. I want to get to the point where I can give up the junk food especially around my PMS time when it's the hardest to do! But thanks. Some people also have said if they drink when they eat they vomit but I thought it was more of a flushing of the food down quicker and you could eat more. Any ideas on that? Thanks brandyII.

We sound like we are the same around TOM! I crave like crazy...it's ridiculous!

For me, it's really hard to give up the sweets. I've always been a sweet eater. That's why I'm pretty sure if I was too tight, I would give into milkshakes, ice cream, etc. I have been slowly changing my eating habits and making better choices. It's just not something I can turn off like a light switch. It takes time.

As far as drinking with meals, I have only broken that rule once or twice and it was only a tiny sip. I was eating Mexican both times and just needed a little sip of Water. It didn't make me sick at all. My doc said that drinking with meals would make your food go through quicker and you wouldn't stay full. I dunno, because I have read that many people do get sick when they do it. I guess that's just another example of how banding is so different with each person.

re: "I'd like to get to a point where I'm not eating around the band but not too loose where I can eat too much"

Aren't these about the same thing? Or do you mean milkshakes/etc as "around the band" regardless of how filled?

re: "I thought it was more of a flushing of the food down quicker and you could eat more. Any ideas on that? Thanks brandyII."

In some cases that probably does happen. In other food situations, what we masticate and swallow is an imperfect semi-mushy mass that is deformable, especially if it's a bunch of gluten or glue-like dough products.

Much of what we eat has to transform into a sort of slurry to pass thru the 'bottom of the funnel'. If too much too fast too big a bite, that mass can retain a golf-ball shape and sit as a plug on top of the opening....and pouring Water into the already packed pouch now makes it even more uncomfortable. And then there can be a lot of sliming and PB activity, not to mention irritation of the Os, shame/guilt/embarrassment/loss of another opportunity to establish good Bandster eating habits.

This retraining takes time and study to make it work right. We're all a bit jiggy regarding our eating behavior, and for most of us it doesn't take much to fulminate another episode of self-doubt and confusion.

After a while, our preoccupation with food and eating evolves away from what we were, to what we must become.

Good luck to all of us.

You're a poet and don't even know it:ohmy:

How much time and study should it take the average person to get it right? If I didn't have insurance coverage I don't know what I'd do maybe I would have worked harder who knows?

That's the way it is with me also, the food goes through quicker but I can see if you're about to PB the Water would just help that. Aren't you in the PCOS room too, or am I wrong. Just adds to the banquet at the table! I'm just back on Metformin because of my diabetes getting out of hand so I'm hoping that may help, I don't know, crossing my fingers and my toes!

I can see by your ticker that you've done really well so you should be proud of yourself. I think I was your age when I put it on and I'm 20 years older than you! My daughter gets her gastric bypass on the 27th and I'm nervous for her but happy she'll have a new start in life and so far hasn't even cheated once on her 4 week liquid diet and she still has 2 more to go. I wish I could be as strong as she is! My daughter is my role model! take care Nancy.

Yeah, one thing that bothers me on this entire forum is people who are excited when they can only eat one spoonful or two and are satisfied... another thing that upsets me is people who congratulate them. This isn't what the band is about... they aren't put in so people can starve themselves... they are put in to teach us to eat a proper amount of food and feel satisfied. Getting the band was suppose to make us be healthier, eat healthier and make healthier choices. I hope in the end you will choose not to be too tight to where you can't use this tool the way it was intended to be used. Good luck. :tongue2:

Yeah, one thing that bothers me on this entire forum is people who are excited when they can only eat one spoonful or two and are satisfied... another thing that upsets me is people who congratulate them. This isn't what the band is about... they aren't put in so people can starve themselves... they are put in to teach us to eat a proper amount of food and feel satisfied. Getting the band was suppose to make us be healthier, eat healthier and make healthier choices. I hope in the end you will choose not to be too tight to where you can't use this tool the way it was intended to be used. Good luck. :tongue2:

Thanks you're right, but I think they get caught up in it because they're losing weight rapidly that way. I on the other hand between my brain and my stomach and my stomach's brain say "you're starving better eat some ice cream or chocolate because it will go down easily when I'm too tight. I don't want to be that tight but I need to know where the right place to be is, so maybe I should get a little tighter and just see for myself. Sometimes I feel like a guinea pig in this arena thanks brandyII.

I prefer to be looser and eat more filling foods like bread etc as well as protein and veges. As long as I stick with that I always lost well. When I've been tighter - as I have post fill before I lost more weight, I just tend to eat around the band, eating all day in little nibbles. I find this a very hard thing to avoid, I do it without thinking. Three bigger meals a day works much better for me and keeping ALL food groups in the picture kills cravings, so for me, looser is better.

Im going to follow suit and say i agree looser is better! Why risk all the complications that come with a band thats to tight? Ive held true to my less is more feelings when it comes to fills, I had my 11 th fill yesterday. Up to 10.4 in an 11 cc band. Ive never not been able to eat. Can i eat alot........nope......can i eat less and still be statisfied.......YEP. Goal accomplished.

I lost all of my weight being what most people would consider "very loose" After my first fill I never really tolerated them again. I would get fillled, and then would have to be unfilled because I couldn't eat. For me the only way this was going to work for me is if I changed my lifestyle. I don't eat any of the crap food that I did before. I am a rule follower by nature so when my doc gave me the rules...I just followed them. We are highly discouraged from drinking anything with calories...so if it has more calories than crystal light...I don't drink it. I don't drink with my meals, and I EAT very healthy foods. At some point (and this is going to be hard to hear) you just have to stop making excuses for why you are doing something. I was sitting on the couch one day (and I had already lost a fair amount of weight) and I said...that's it...no more excuses. For me it was the exercise. That was what I had made the excuses on. So you have to have that day. You have to make the committment to yourself that you will not make anymore excuseses. Once you do that, it actually becomes a lot easier. Then no matter how loose your band is you have taken control. I have been unfilled for over 1 month now and have managed to lose 5+ pounds. It is the mind that we have to tighten (and that comes from within!)

I just got a new fill after being unfilled for a month.

Last night I was able to eat a little bit of chicken, some potatoes and some peas. At first I thought it was way too much food - shouldn't I be tighter?

Then, I smacked myself in the head and reminded myself that I ate what "normal" portions are supposed to be and I'm fine.

Better too loose than too tight. Been there, done that - not going back.

Thanks all for your replies on better to be too loose than too tight, I may get another cc or one half just to see if it's better next week. Thanks again brandyII.:thumbdown:

It's always important to remember that when we "cheat" we are only cheating one person - ourselves.

That's the way it is with me also, the food goes through quicker but I can see if you're about to PB the Water would just help that. Aren't you in the PCOS room too, or am I wrong. Just adds to the banquet at the table! I'm just back on Metformin because of my diabetes getting out of hand so I'm hoping that may help, I don't know, crossing my fingers and my toes!

I can see by your ticker that you've done really well so you should be proud of yourself. I think I was your age when I put it on and I'm 20 years older than you! My daughter gets her gastric bypass on the 27th and I'm nervous for her but happy she'll have a new start in life and so far hasn't even cheated once on her 4 week liquid diet and she still has 2 more to go. I wish I could be as strong as she is! My daughter is my role model! take care Nancy.

Thanks Brandy. Yep, that's me, your fellow PCOS'er! Oh, the joys of PCOS :party:. I am on Actos Metformin (both in one pill). So far, it hasn't given me any problems. I hope the Metformin helps you.

I started putting it on at the age of 18, by age 20 I was a whopping 270 lbs and it just went downhill from there. I'm so thankful I have my band to help me, God only knows where I would be without it!

Georgiagirl,

How is your med different than just plain metformin? Oh and I bought Breyers sugar free ice cream today because of the pms and the MIL coming tomorrow and it was pretty good! I hope it's not bad for me but it's better than other choices I have made in the past!