I keep seeing these post that say "when you get restriction" "before you get restriction" "3 fills before restriction"

Does that mean when you get the restriction you get "full" or does that just mean your restricted so you can't eat as much but your still hungry????

I'm a little worried that I won't get the "full" feeling - I can stop eating when I'm "full" so I'm hoping that is what I'm going to feel.

Guess I will find out for myself soon - but I would like to hear from everyone now on what all this means to you. :thumbdown:

When most people get their band, their is no fill placed in it so food passes through like it always did. When people start going to to the doctor to get some saline placed in their band, they are getting a fill. The fill causes restriction because it's making the band tighten around the stomach and when they eat they get full quicker which mean they eat less because of the size of the pouch created by the band restriction. It takes longer for food to pass through the band so you don't get as hungry.

Just on a side note, a few people say they get enough restriction just getting the band placed with no fill but that seems to be pretty rare. Some surgeons also place a fill in the band during surgery already causing some restriction too.

I hope this answers the question you asked.

Since having my band, I rarely feel hungry anymore. When I do, it is usually a sign that it is time for me to get another fill. The band restricts my food intake, makes me feel full sooner, and keeps me feeling full longer.

These two replies,(this and the one above) are really helpful. I was banded on 3/17/08, have been filled once and have never felt full or restricted. I have lost 40 lbs. by keeping a very tight leash on myself. I am waiting for the fill that takes more of the control away from me and puts more control on the band. I have just returned from a vacation in Italy and gained 3 lbs. To me that is a moral victory. I was supposed to be filled for the 2nd time, but because of physician schedule and my departure date, I had to wait until next week. Thanks for the explanations about restriction. I have something to look forward to.

I think you are doing the right thing - we have to be able to use the band as a tool. Too many wait for the band to "work" for us. There are too many ways to work around the band - and too many ways to risk complications. I think we have to think about how we can make choices to work with the band.

You're probably not going to like this answer, but to be honest, it will depend on the person. For me personally, I rarely get that, "I'm full" or "I'm stuffed" feeling. What I get is either pressure or slight pain that signals to me that I better stop eating. I think the days of feeling a nice full feeling after eating a slightly large meal are probably over.

That being said, I'm not sad that I don't feel full. What I do feel is an absence of hunger after eating. I don't think I'm at my sweet spot yet, but I'm getting there and I do have some restriction. So using today as an example, I was slightly hungry when I woke up. Knowing that I tend to be too tight to eat anything first thing in the morning, I had my decaf coffee and brought my oatmeal to work. At 10:30, I realized that I still hadn't eaten Breakfast, and I was getting slightly hungry, so I ate about a cup of oatmeal. About 2 1/2 hours later, my stomach is growling, so I ate about a cup of food (pulled pork and Beans, yum) and now I'm fine. I don't feel stuffed, but I don't feel hungry.

What gets me in trouble is when I eat too much, not realizing that this is too much because I don't feel physically full yet. So, I have to be really careful to make sure that I don't eat past that feeling of pressure that I'll get that signals to me that I should stop. Otherwise, I get pain and for me, if I feel pain then it's usually too late -- at least some of it is going to come back up.

I think the trick is to not wait for the band to tell us we're full. And this has been a disappointment for me because I thought that was how the band worked -- we're supposed to eat until we feel full, right? But then what happens if you don't get that full feeling? That's why it's important to use portion control. To me, the sweet spot is when you eat around a cup of food and you don't feel hungry for three to four hours.

Hey Jpet. Jack from these boards has posted some very wise words on fullness. You'll have to do a search (try searching "satiety") to get his exact words.

Basically, he says that trying to get that "full" feeling is what made us all fat in the first place (most of us have a defective "full signal" in the brain). Jack says with the band, we should instead focus on trying to feel "not hungry", or "satisfied" instead of "full". If you really think about it, it makes a lot of sense (er, it did to me anyway).