Either the band or me is not working! :(

[wishful57 0]

I'm getting so discouraged because it's been 4 months since my surgery and I've only lost about 6 pounds. At first the fills didn't seem to matter past the first 3-4 days and I was able (and did) eat whatever I wanted. My fill is at 7.5 now so I'm rapidly reaching the max, but I'm still not losing!

I know I eat wrong; lots of sweets, which I've NEVER eaten, but I have a tremendous craving for sweets now. I eat too much because I don't feel that full when I eat until AFTER it's all been swallowed. At that time, my LOWER stomach or abdomen area is what feels bloated and too full, not the area where the lapbad is. On top of that, after this last fill I started vomiting after eating the first 4-5 bites, and while that's eased off some, I still do it at times.

Maybe I'm just not doing what I should but I can still eat a full plate of food and no matter if I take 5 minutes to chew something or chew a bit then swallow (like always) I still am not adjusted to this thing. It's depressing and I don't know what else to do. My will power to not eat is out the window, hence the reason to get the surgery in the first place (along with several medical conditions) so I'm struggling here to get the best mind-set about this thing. Can anyone make any reasonable suggestions as to why I have bloated feelings after I eat (no heartburn or reflux) and why can I still eat pretty much anything I want? I would really appreciate ANY helpful feedback.

[Taraann418 1]

I feel your pain! I am in the same situation as you, just not as far out. I was banded 1 1/2 months ago and I am having the same issues. I lost 8lbs before the surgery and 6lbs the week after, but have only lost a total of 2lbs since then. I have never felt full or satisfied. I had my first fill on last wednesday and have no restriction at all. I still eat exactally how I could before which obviously is not a good thing. Would love to hear too about what people have to suggest because I can see myself getting very depressed about this too.

*and to make matters worse my husband was banded 4 days after me and he has lost 30lbs already! UGH!!!

[leknigh 0]

Hi Wishful,

Sorry you are having such a difficult time with your band. Maybe I'm reading into this wrong - since I'm not there and not you, but it almost sounds like your issue may be coming more from the "hunger in your head", than the hunger in your stomach. As everyone always says, the band is only a tool to help you eat better - but you still have to do all the work, and you still have to conquer those demons in your head that tell you to "eat, eat, eat".

By the vomiting coment, it almost sounds like your band could even be too tight? Otherwise, you should be able to keep down 4-5 bites if you're chewing sufficiently.

I haven't had a fill yet, but I can tell you from my experience so far that I get the bloating feeling after eating (it's also in my lower stomach, like yours). Sometimes I use that to signal to my head that I am full. I also notice now that some of the swelling from surgery has gone down, that I do get hungry more frequently. I know I can eat more than I do right now - but I'm trying so hard to win the game over my mind, and not do something just because I can. I think if you really try to focus on paying attention to your mind and body, and trying to understand those signals that tell you, you are actually full - you may do better. It's hard though I know, as someone who probably overate most of my life - it's a challenge to understand when I'm full, versus when I want to stop eating. Probably something that will take quite a while to master (if I ever do master it), and I imagine most of us on here will face the same challenges.

I wish you the best of luck, and if you don't find information on here that helps you, by all means speak to the doctor and/or dietician in your surgeon's office. They should be able to try to work with you to figure out what's going on.

[Vicky Sab 0]

dear discouraged, i don't want to discourage you more with my story. what i would like is to hear from someone who has had this experience and surmounted it. is there anyone out there who has actually gone through this tunnel?

[GreatlyBlessed 0]

I know the adjustment to our new anatomy takes some time to get used to. We know in our minds how much we were eating pre-band and our mind tells us to eat until we feel stuffed. We have to have some control. It has been said before that the band will not do all of the work for us. We need to use this tool to help us realize when our stomach is satisfied not stuffed. This will help us eat less and lose weight. I lost 44 lbs. from the time I started my pre-op diet June 16th. until now. I began writing everything I ate no matter how small in a notebook. I stopped doing that a couple of weeks ago and now I notice my weight loss has completely stopped. I began writing in that notebook again on Monday and I have begun exercising also. Now I have started losing again. When I write in my notebook I can distinguish head hunger from real hunger by seeing what I ate at what time. If it has only been an hour or two I know its not real hunger and I either get something to drink or find something to do to keep my hands busy. You have to try to get away from the sweets. I was the biggest sweets eater before my band. I would eat a whole pack of place and bake Cookies in 2-3 days. I would eat chocolate all day long. I still have cravings for sweets. I usually mix 1 box of instant sugar free/fat free vanilla pudding with 3 cups of cold 1% - 1/2% milk and maybe a few reduced fat nilla wafer cookies, you could also put some bananas in it to make it a banana pudding. Also, make sure your not consuming a lot of calories and sugar in your drinks. Anything I eat or drink is sugar free or fat free. Before I started recording my food I noticed I was snacking a lot. I still have Snacks but I make sure the calories are low and it gives me a significant amount of Protein. I have had 1 fill of 1cc last month and I go for another one on the 19th of this month. I'm hoping this fill gives me enough restriction to stop snacking so much. I would suggest slowing down when you eat. My dietitian told me to take a dime sized bit then place my utensils down and don't pick them back up until I have chewed my food well and swallowed. Slowing down may give your brain time to get the message from your stomach that you are full. Try not to stress yourself out over it. We all know that old habits are hard to break and it is even harder to incorporate good healthy habits. Let your doctor and nutritionist know everything thats been going on so they can help you.

[nurse7263 0]

Hello all!

Not too long ago I was in the same boat you all are floating in. I was banded on April 16th, 2008, and during my pre-op phase had only lost about 4 lbs. My doctor was disappointed, but after surgery, he said my liver looked excellent and that I must just be a slow loser.

Well, after surgery I found out just HOW slow I am!

Between the surgery (April 16) and my last fill (July 10th), I lost a grand total of.....

3 lbs.

Are you KIDDING me?! I was so discouraged - I was self pay, and will be paying it off for five years, and that was all I had lost?!?!?! Come on now. So, despite the fact that I had a band, and I was eating healthy and walking a lot, I was down less than I could do on my own in four months.

Since my band on July 10th, I've lost another 11 lbs. I'm down 14 now, and hoping for 18 by the end of the week. I can't say that it was definatly my fill, but I also just measured out small amounts of food and told myself that was all I can have. (Because you can stretch and shrink that pouch, remember!) I would do everything I could to stretch out my dinner time - getting up and getting something from another room, watching a little television and then coming back to my meal, etc. I just resigned myself to eating over a period of 30-40 minutes (Not easy when you're a busy nurse!), and that I could only eat a little. Now I find that I'm not that hungry, and if I eat too quickly, my stomach feels bloated. I am now eating the Jenny Craig meals, which are great because the sodium is low and they're healthy, as well as I go in once a week for an "official" weigh in, rather than my own scale.

It will pass. I promise. This coming from someone who thought, "My gosh, I'm a diet loser, and now I'm a lapband loser?!"

*hugs* and good luck!

My mantra? Progress, not perfection.

[odizzydori 0]

The band is just a tool. You have to work hard at losing the weight. Eat alot of Protein, meat, fish, chicken, seaford, pork, eggs and cheese. eat that first then eat some veggies if you are hungry. Stay away from bread, Pasta, rice, potatoes and junk food. no soda, after the meat and veggies if you have to eat something like fruit count the carbs. stay at 30 or below on your carbs. I have been following this food plan since january and I am now down by 76lbs. i lost 40 before my surgery and lost 36 since. I was banded April 21st. I go next week for my 3rd fill, which will give me more restrictions. You should only eat about 1/2 to 3/4 cups of food at one sitting. Do not drink liquids while eating. Wait at least 30 min after each meal to drink. then only sip the liquids. The more carbs you eat, the more you crave them and you will not lose. You need about 60-90 grams of protein a day. no Snacks between meals. If you do make it high in protein. 1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds has 19 grams of protein. anything you drink make it sugar free. same with popsicles and pudding make it sugar free. What happens is your gets to many carbs then all it does is store it. Start excercising or walking. Well good luck on your journey.

[losingjusme 12]

odizzydori gave excellent advice.

my thoughts are get rid of the sweets. if you want sweet, go for grapes, plums, etc...

i also think doing some mild exercising to start will help kick start things.

good luck.

[Michele777 0]

I am a life long dieter, as I am sure you all are, so I have learned a lot, but not applied enough. Processed carbs will make you feel hungrier and make you just want to eat more often. Chances are that some of the sweets that you are eating are causing this. Also it will make your sugar levels go up and down, so of course you have to eat something else sweet to get your energy/sugar level back up. Since you did not eat a lot of sugar before, your body is probably just freaking out. I would cut the sugar out or to an extreme minimum. Maybe one little Weight Watcher snack cake or something low cal 1 time a day. I also like my little sweet rewards each day. : ) Also make sure that you are not drinking while you eat or too close to meal time, since it will flush the food out of your little pouch and cause you to get hungry again. I would also advise to visit your dietician and get some professional input. You may also want to check with your doctor's office and let them know how you can eat larger portions than what you should be able to, perhaps the band has slipped or is not placed correctly. With help and support from the people and professionals around you, I am sure that you will be able to work thru this kink in your band journey.

[Twilight 2]

I know it doesn't help a lot to tell you that it will get better. I know your frustration. I know the feeling of helplessness that you are sure you are failing yet again. I am sorry that you are feeling this way. I am going to give you some ideas to try. This is a copy of a reply I sent in another thread. I wrote it when I was at 4 months and the difference those things made in my journey were phenominal. You can do this, here are some suggestions........

I'm so glad you stopped by and sent out a plea. It is a huge step to even stand up and say you are struggling. How many times in our lives have we not wanted to stand up and say "Help" and instead fed that problem?

We all knew that we had a problem with willpower coming in to this. If we could just "say no" we would. If we would just "get moving more" we would. But if we want this band to work we need to do some things to help it along. It is going to take dedication and some tough love for yourself. Just remember that you are worth it!

I have been very strict about following the band rules. I don't eat soft foods at meal time. I chew chew chew and I listen to my body when I think I'm full I stop. I make sure I eat my solid Protein first and then veggies. If I'm still hungry I eat my carb. I put my food on a small plate instead of a big one. I make sure that I get in all my Water. These are tough things to make sure I do. But those are the rules and I knew that going in.

Notice that exercise was not one of the rules. I have been really bad about that. But as the weight has come off I've been more active in my house. I clean more than I used to. I park further away in parking lots. I take the stairs more. Now that I'm down to a weight where I don't hurt all the time I've amped up the exercise. I told myself that there were going to be no excuses. Honestly once I get out there I enjoy it, but it's the getting out there that is the struggle. I have set myself a goal of getting some sort of exercise every day. Friday night it was not possible, but it has been every other day. On Sunday I even went out when it was sleeting and walked. I cut my time in half because it was cold....but, no excuses, I went.

When I made the exercise goal I also decided to start tracking my food intake. I do mine at the daily plate and like it. There are others out there but that was the first one I went to. I've heard of fitday and sparkspeople also. Here I set my goal, I track my food and my exercise and I see where I am spending my food bucks (those are my calories). I think of what I can have as my budget and then I start shopping around more. I'm a little thrifty IRL so it works for me. I make sure my Protein goal is met each day and then look at how my calories breakdown by fat/protein/carb. I'm not a lowfat sugarfree freak...I just stay under the blue line everyday. If I'm not under the blue line every day the next day I fix it. by doing it everyday I keep better track of my diet.

Honestly, as a fat chick, I had no idea of portions or what the true calorie content in some of these foods are. Heck, some of the baked potatoes I used to eat are higher in cals than I should consume in two meals!! And when you see 1/2 your calories a day coming from fat it's quite an eye opener.

My advice, pick one thing and concentrate on it for a week....maybe two. When it becomes second nature and not WORK anymore, add another of these suggestions into your routine. Again, when these are working successfully, you can add another.....until you find what works for you.

Oh...the other thing I do is weigh every morning. I may fluctuate up and down a bit, but if I see any more than a 2 pound change I'm looking at my diet and my movement to see what the heck I did.

You can do this. You can be successful. You have the tools, and with us you have support. Keep posting and telling us of your triumphs and trials. We are here to support, encourage, and applaud you. Good luck...I look forward to hearing great stuff from you.

..........................................................................

I hope this helps somehow. I really do want you to succeed. If we can help that happen, I sure hope we do so. Good luck.

[GayleTX 1]

So sorry you are having a hard time.

I would never have believed I could have made this work for me - I am a carb addict. But I started out eating by the same food plan that a gastic bypass patient has to eat by and it has worked for me. Since you've identified your trigger food as 'sweets' you need to completely eliminated them....you are probably going to be a person who can't eat 'just a little' of something you love....I can't.

If you will eliminate the bad carbs (sweets, white foods like white bread, Pasta, rice, potatoes, corn, etc) and get your body de-toxed from them, you will find that it is much easier to control your eating. The sweets and bad carbs cause your blood sugar to spike quickly - and then it falls just as quickly - and then you have false 'hunger pangs'. You think you're hungry when you are really just having a 'craving.'

Get yourself detoxed - and your cravings will go away or at least subside and you will find yourself feeling much more in control. I would never have believed I could have no interest in carbs - I lived on them in my 'former life.' It is such a wonderful freedom to get them out of my 'head' and to think about something other than how long is it til the next stuffed baked potato.

I hope you can get the band to working for you, sweetie....it's a wonderful tool. Some people can maybe get by with 'eat like always, just eat less', but most of us have really got to change our way of eating and living. Most of the successful veterans I know have used the band as a tool and use the gastric bypass food plan as their lifestyle.

(The gastric bypass food plan - 60-100 proteins/day; less than 30-40 grams carbs/day while in the losing phase (later you need to bump it up); no white carbs or sweets; at least 64 oz water; no drinking with meals or for one hr. afterward; eat Protein first, then good carbs; some exercise)

It's very helpful to record your food. After 2 years, I still record everything - if it goes in my mouth it goes on www.fitday.com (some people prefer www.thedailyplate.com). It has taught me a lot about food values and has kept me honest with myself. When I quit losing, I can go back and study what I've eaten in the past couple of weeks and see if I need change something (sometimes I have a tendency to eat too much fat so I cut back for a while).

I lost 160 lbs in 18 months. I haven't had any Fluid in my band for nearly a year now (had to have a couple of non-related surgeries) but I've managed to stay on the same food plan without suffering - I haven't lost any more but haven't gained either (a major miracle considering my weight and eating history).

Best wishes to you. You can do this!!

[wishful57 0]

Wow! I can't believe so many people have responded so quickly. I'm glad, however, that there are people who understand where I'm coming from because it seemed like I was the only one in my "group" who was having problems and not losing! I quit going to the support groups locally because I never had any progress to report, but reading your comments and genuine concern today has brought tears to my eyes. Thank you is no sufficient but I thank you from my heart.

It's so odd because I NEVER in my life snacked between meals and now much stomach growls all the time! I'm diabetic also, so sweets were never a part of my diet other than an M&M here and there or some small bite of chocolate. I just never wanted the sweets and knew I didn't need them even more.

You've given me some really great suggestions though and hopefully I can find something to help me pull this off. The hard work I don't mind and I've been a life-dieter myself so doing without is nothing new, but this time I really had high hopes that the weight would come off and stay off for life, but so far that hasn't happened.

This past year has been horrendous for me. My Christmas present was my husband telling me he wanted a divorce, then having the surgery in March with no one to be there with me (my family lives 8 hours away), then going through the nasty process of the divorce and two weeks before the surgery I was told my job would end before my recovery time was over! Not good. Stress was pouring out my pores and with that my beautiful thick hair all fell out and I had to cut it short or go bald! It was almost to my waist.

Well, my contract at work was extended until the end of September, the divorce is almost over now, but I keep eating like there's no tomorrow and can't seem to get that "hunger in my head" quieted down. I work my tail off around the house with a huge yard to take care of and work from 6:30 am to 4:00 pm, so there's little time for me go to the gym, although I know I need to. It's like my life is falling apart and I weighed this morning and had gained 3 pounds :biggrin:

Not that anyone wanted to know all that.... but I do thank you for the wonderful advice and hopefully I can get back on track soon. A big hug to everyone... thank you!

[HeatherO 7]

Everyone had great suggestions. It sounds like you are under a huge amount of stress and that is an easy trigger for eating for most of us.

Carbs/sugars are addicting. I had to cut them out of my diet completely so that my hunger would be in check. It was sooooo hard at first but after about 2 weeks, it became really easy.

Exercising is sooo valuable and I would say it is even more important when you are stressed. I would highly recommend it for stress relief first, and for helping weight loss second. Once you get in a routine, you will find that you start wanting or even needing the release of exercise.

You can do this!!!! :0)

[Becksie2 0]

HI, I am so sorry that you have had such a difficult time. It must have been so challenging for you, just to hold everything together. Well done, for achieving that.

It may be that you need to work with the problem, rather than using a lot of negative energy trying to control it. If you are eating a lot (and this may be due to understandable stress), why not try using a diet like "slimming world", which allows you to eat what you want, as long as you do not mix certain foods. As carbohydrates are not necessarily a good thing, you may need to stick to the "red" eating plan, which focuses more on Protein meals. If you are not familiar with "slimming world" (I am pretty sure you must be) you will easily find it on the net.

Remember, that God loves you so much, and he will always be there for you. He is concerned about your weight, simply because you are concerned about your weight, and he will work with you and support you. However, overweight or not, he loves you just as you are, and in his eyes you are perfect. I guess your family and friends also see YOU as perfect, and love you because you're you.

When i say "slimming world", I am referring to the "body optimising programme"

Edited August 15, 2008 by Becksie2

[Hollie519 1]

Don't be discouraged. I'm not sure who you had the surgery through, but at UCSD medical center, they tell you not to drink any liquids 30 minutes before and after each meal. If you don't do this already, you should try it and see how your body reacts. The whole thing with the band is that its supposed to help the bottom of your stomach as well. If you are drinking liquids while you eat, than there is really no point in you even having the band at all. I know its so hard to give up these food that we love so much. Trust me, I was overweight my whole life and am a big fan of anything chocolate and Peanut Butter or bread. You have to learn to give these things up. If you are not committed to the dieting part, than the lap band just won't work for you. Try to hang in there and just keep working hard. Just think every time you put something like chocolate in your mouth, remember how many miles you'd have to run/walk to burn it off. please keep me updated on how the liquids work for you. i am very curious. I had surgery 10 months ago and have lost 89 pounds. So keep me filled in. :]

Hollie