Hi everyone,

I was wondering if everyone could try and explain what there "perfect" level of restriction feels like? How much were you able to eat?

Also I'm curious to hear from the many people that say their fills kick in after a week or two?? I just had a fill on Sat. and seem to be doing fine today, my first day back on solids. I had a Protein bar for Breakfast, 1/2 of a grilled chicken salad w/ lowfat dressing for lunch, but then about 4 hours later I was starting to get hungry so I had a cup of shredded wheat and bananas (with alittle bit of 1% milk). Should I expect more restriction later on?????

Thanks for any feedback

Monica

I had perfect restriction ONE time, and it was glorious. I had a full plate of food (I use a salad plate.) About 3/4 through I felt a slight PB come on that stopped me from eating any more. The beauty was that the PB feeling went away after a few minutes, and it wasn't even a bad PB, just the slightest golfball feeling that made me stop. Hell, I'd swallow a golfball if it kept me from eating.

A perfect fill is so personal. I had a 2nd fill but when I asked the doctor if I was too tight he said I was trying to eat too much and needed to keep it under 600 calories. When I kept it small is was a lot better and I started to feel like the fill was good. Now a slice of bacon can come back on me. So I started eating soft food more and more. So now I think it is too tight because I am still Pb'ing when I never did before this fill. I even tried to drink fluids in case I was swollen so now I am calling to have it reduced. I think a perfect fill is when you can actually eat what is expected even though the weight loss has been nice I am eagar to have it fixed. I am tired and hungry and am interested in feeling better and less run down. I used vit's and protien drinks but it is not enough. SO everyone can handle things differently. At least that is what I think.

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I think the fill changes. It may be just right and then you lose 20 pounds and your stomach shrinks and you feel not enough restriction. I just just got my second fill and I think I may be to tight. But I didn't feel much restriction before.

Actually, tightness means you would either be a bit too tight or had eaten a bit too much. It's really the hard stop and we should be stopping prior to feeling any discomfort.

Nancy

Paula... you describe it like I would.. the tightness in the chest, thats alll I am looking for, I hope my next fill acheives that!

My observation has been that folks tend to be looking to "feel" more than they should be worried about feeling. The "sweet spot" is a little more subtle than a blatant feeling or any particular volume of food. It simply means:

1. you're losing 1-2 lbs/week on average; and

2. your meals are making you full (full = "not hungry anymore" NOT stuffed, uncomfortable, feeling tightness or golfball) and you don't get hungry again for at least 3-4 hours.

By definition, if someone is losing, they're not eating too much and we just want the band to help manage hunger/satiety and portions. We shouldn't be looking for the band to stop us from eating, but help us stop eating, if that makes sense...

Nancy

394/275/180

I don't feel anything up until the food is in my throat and won't move. Some times it is on the first bite. My band is just funny.

My band is very uninformative! I never ever know I'm full until it's too late, and like Angleeyes, either the back up or the slime happens and THEN I know I'm done.

Try seeing if you get other sorts of signals...they may be things that you normally wouldn't associate with eating...runny nose, sneeze, hiccup, burp, a little sigh, sitting back for a moment rather than going on to the next bite (the runny nose thing seems to be one of the more common ones...has to do with the vagus nerve)...these are all possible signals of the "soft stop" which is where we should be aiming to stop eating. If you stop at that point, you'll usually find that 10-15 min later you'll feel comfortably full. It's tricky at first, but when someone clued me in on this, it made ALL the difference in the world...

Nancy

My band is very uninformative! I never ever know I'm full until it's too late, and like Angleeyes, either the back up or the slime happens and THEN I know I'm done.

I find that my band is extremely unpredictable - what I ate yesterday and the amount I ate, I may not be able to do today.

So, I guess what this thing is teaching me is to concentrate on eating while I am eating, and listen very closely to what my body is doing it's darndest to try and tell me.

For me perfect restriction is represented by weight loss, having no desire to eat between meals, being able to consume enough Water, being able to consume at meal times all the Vitamins and minerals my body needs. There are days when that happens, and days when it just doesn't!

I just went through like a 40 hour PB... (got an emergency unfill)

But OMG, the whole time I was hiccupping and blowing my nose every few minutes as well as the gagging and sliming and spitting and vomiting my own saliva.

Nancy, I've been waiting for the hiccup, but never paid attention to runny nose or burp, I'll give it more thought. Thanks for the advice.

Hey guys..finding this thread a little late ... something happened today that I wasn't too familur with....I had a fill on Monday...and today, Thursday, after lunch I got this feeling of tightness through my diaphram area....I thought that this was an indicator of being full, like to the point of where if I ate one more bite I would be in trouble, so I stopped eatting. However, that feeling lasted a long while, at least a few hours. I tend to get the hiccup thing as my soft stop...but today I didn't hiccup. I just got this low, dull ache...nothing major...just very apparent that something was different. Could this have been restriction?

Thanks guys your the best!

TTYL

porclndoll,

From my experience this is restriction!!! I get the same dull ache, but mine usually only lasts between 2 and 10 minutes long. I have only slimed and vomited twice after these ache moments. I am trying to get better at finding the soft stopping point before the dull pain starts.....It's a big learning process though...My fill took a few weeks to really kick in, now I feel like I'm in a good spot (for now!!)

Good Luck,

Monica

Banded March 2, 2005

Dr. Ortiz/Martinez

185 at surgery, 166 today

(Average monthly loss=6lbs./mo)

Guess I Am One Of The Lucky Ones, I Have 2.5cc's In My Band And I Have Perfect Restriction....... The Biggest Way That I Can Tell Is That I Am Not HungrEy between Meals... And That's Eating Less Than Half Of What I Used To.. Start Out Slow And Get .5cc's From There, And Maybe You Will Get Your Sweet Spot Right Off The Bat.... Good Luck.. Oh Yeah I Forgot To Say I Am Loving The Restriction!!!!

For me adequate restriction is being able to eat adequate some meat with out too much difficulty and getting mostly full from eating that meat. I like that I can eat my lunch or supper and not have room for something sweet(even though I may want it.)