why does the band work?

July 2, 2005

I've seen many questions lately from people wondering "why even get the band"? They figure if they could just stick to 1200-1500 calories a day like bandsters should, they can lose weight without having surgery and avoid the pain and cost associated with it.

They're right. If they can stick to the 1200-1500 calories a day, they will lose weight. It's not like the band is magical and forces your body not to accept any more than 1500 calories a day. It's not like a faucet where once you've reached your daily limit (no matter what time of day), you can't possibly eat anymore. Because you can. It's true that you can chug high calorie liquids all day long with the band and you won't lose weight -- will probably even gain.

So why does the band work? I've thought alot about this and don't have all the answers, but I have some ideas. Note: this aren't true of everyone; just MY experience.

1) Dedication. I think once I decided to get banded, it was a real turning point for me. I decided that come what may, 12/20/04 was the start of a new period in my life. I decided that no matter how unfun or hard the next few days, weeks or months were going to be, I could endure it. No matter how hungry I was, I wasn't going to cheat and not take this seriously. I will still be paying off the surgery for a while and I am constantly confronted with how much work it takes to be healthy.

2) liquid diet. I am one of the few people that I know that have had to go on liquids for so long -- 6 weeks! It seems like 1-2 weeks is the norm. It was hard. So hard. Mentally exhausting and frustrating. But by and large, I did it. I reminded myself that 1) the sacrifice was going to be worth it, 2) I can do this and 3) it just had to be endured. I lose 30-some pounds those first 6 weeks of liquids, which is great. But way better than those 30-something pounds, I learned that I can control what gets put into my mouth. I am in charge of my health and I can do it! I consider it a mini-rehab where I started to break my addiction to food.

3) Consistency. Once you are at a good restriction level where the band is doing it's job, it's so hard to cheat. You can't sit for hours at a time stuffing yourself with large amounts of food. Yes, you can eat more "soft" foods at a time than you can solid foods, but there's still a limit. With a typical diet, you can take a day "off". A day turns into a weekend into a week into a month and so on. When you are properly restricted with the band, if you wanted to take a day off, you'd either 1) need to see the doctor and get unfilled or 2) cheat with softer/liquidy foods, which aren't all that satisfying.

4) Eating habits. Not sure why I listed this fourth cause it's probably the most important. EVERY day I strive to get in the 60 grams of Protein from solid food. No Protein drinks for me unless I am on liquids (after a fill). EVERY day I get in at least 100 ounces of Water. EVERY day I stay within my calorie ranges because in order to go above them, I'd have to start drinking my food or eating constantly.

5) Aftercare. When you get the band, you have regular follow-up appointments with your doctor or dietician. Either way, someone is asking you: are you exercising? Are you eating the right foods in the right portions? Are you getting in your Water? Even your family and friends will help you in this if they know about your surgery.

6) Results. Once you see results, it's easier to continue. Before this, the most I'd ever lost was 10 lbs. Being down 80-some pounds makes me want to continue. I love the changes I am seeing in myself - physically and mentally. I want the changes to continue. I can't wait to see myself when I am at goal weight. That's another 50-60 lbs away, but I have no doubts that I will get there.

7) Fullness. This is a feeling that I can't remember feeling before surgery. I can eat a normal amount of food like any other normal-weighted person and feel full. Before surgery, I'd eat lots and still not feel satisfied. When you feel full (not hungry!) it's easy to stop eating -- you don't really want or need any more food. You aren't chasing some feeling of fullness any more - you have it!

Another thing that I think has contributed to my success is the amount of exercising I do (1 hour a day, 5-6 days a week MOST weeks). But it isn't the band that makes me do this. I think I'd still lose some weight without the exercising-not as much for sure. But it's the things I've said above that also make me exercise and want that weight to come off. It all goes together!

the best me · July 2, 2005

Great Post Jayme! Glad to see you back...I have missed your posts there for a while...that was very well-written and you SHAME me! You are more dedicated, more regimented, and more practical than I have ever been yet. I feel like I'm just getting by! But everything you said is so true!

I am 12 weeks banded and you see my stats below. The first 15 pounds was from the first 12 days and I have been pretty much stuck since. I have not had my first fill yet, it's next week and I'm anxious to get started downward again. I have to admit, though, I saw a new low on the scale this morning, 204.2! Maybe tomorrow I'll see 203.something? That would be great!

For me, fairly newly banded with no fill, it makes it so much easier to eat less at a time. I don't really count calories, I don't count protien grams, I do eyeball my Water ounces and shoot for 64 at the least, but I just live. Some days are better than others, some weeks the exercise falls into place and I get it all in. But day after day, week after week, I am satisfied with the amount of food I am able to eat. And it is boundlessle less than pre-band. I can eat more soft foods than hard protiens, so I try to fill up on veggies with hard protiens first. If I drink with meals the food goes on down and I can eat more so I try to NOT drink for an hour after meals. All the old bandster rules you read about. It all works and none of it's a mystery.

If a person can do all that you ae doing they will get amazing results such as yours. You see what my willy-nilly has done for me...my results are fine (an average of 1.6 pounds per week) and I'm happy with them because it really has been fairly easy. I like that.

What I like even better is how hard it is to gain and gain and gain. I can be lame and maintain my weight loss, and I take great comfort in that. You and I have very different bandster styles, I guess is my point. But it's working for each of us.

I'm anxious to hear other's replies!!

Alexandra · July 2, 2005

That's a very awe-inspiring list, Jayme, and no doubt what you say is indeed true for a lot of people. But I can point to a much simpler set of reasons why the band works for me:

It slows me down.

All of the dedication in the world wasn't enough to get in the way when I was mindlessly stuffing dinner for three into my mouth. Even a total conscious commitment to new eating habits couldn't prevent my reflexive habit of tasting everything that passed my way creep back after a while. I exercised plenty, and have been on several medically supervised regimens over the years. Even great results from them couldn't stop that "oh well" feeling from taking over when the program ended and the pounds would come back on.

The band does this for me: It MAKES me think about every bite, giving my brain time to interject the sensible self-talk I need to hear. It is now literally impossible to take huge bites and swallow without thinking, so it's possible--for the very first time--for my brain to take control so I can actually have control. And it does this today, tomorrow, the next day and so on.

That's why the band works for me.

July 3, 2005

Great Post Jayme! Glad to see you back...I have missed your posts there for a while...that was very well-written and you SHAME me! You are more dedicated, more regimented, and more practical than I have ever been yet. I feel like I'm just getting by! But everything you said is so true!

Yeah, I've been super busy lately! I worked about 120 hours each in the last 2 weeks, but we made our software delivery.

Don't let me shame you. These weren't really my tips on how to lose weight...this is just how I've noticed how the band actually works. The band is a little more mysterious to pre-ops than RNY. We know RNY works as well as it does because your stomach is physically made smaller and you malasorb calories. With the band, your stomach is only "logically" made smaller (and that's once you're properly restricted) and there is no malabsorption.

Your results are great! Don't knock it at all. If you aren't properly restricted yet, the band isn't really working for you YET. My "reasons" above are for when the band is properly working for you and that takes time. It can take 3-5 fills to get initial good restriction. I was just lucky and had good restriction from the get go.

I've found that now that I am at a good restriction level, the few times that I have tried to drink with meals, it results in an immediate PB. ESPECIALLY if I had any type of bread, no matter how much, at a meal.

203 is awesome! I am not even there yet. My initial goal was to be at 199 by my birthday - August 11. I bet I'll make it, but I am sure as heck not there yet.

I don't count calories either. I might occasionally if I notice my weight loss starting to slow down, but on a daily basis, I don't count. I do keep an eye on them though -- I try to make lunch my big meal (I can get away with this since I am single and I don't have to cook for anyone in the evenings!), and try not to have that meal more than 400 calories. Then dinner is usually 300-350 and Breakfast usually 100-150. That still leaves room for snacks!

The Water is easy for me to monitor. I have 16.9 ounce bottles of Water in my personal frig at work and know that I need to drink 4 of them a day. I try for 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. Then anything I drink in the evenings at home is bonus. I usually get in 2-3 more bottles in the evening, depending on what I am doing.

Didn't want my post to come off as a brag -- just wanted to educate people on how the band really helps you lose weight.

July 3, 2005

I agree that it isn't dedication. Believe me, if it was, I doubt I'd be good at this. I certainly wasn't dedicated to good habits before surgery and only now, it's been forced upon me because of the way the band works.

It really does slow you down. I've learned that if I wanted to eat all I did pre-op, it would take forever! I just don't have that kind of time. By the time I chew, chew, and chew again, it's not something I want to do for hours on end!

vinesqueen · July 3, 2005

Yeah, I've been super busy lately! I worked about 120 hours each in the last 2 weeks, but we made our software delivery.

Shipmode! Yikes! Ah the good old days.... Great post, btw!

HamuChan · July 3, 2005

1. I now pay close attention to every single bite. If not, I don't chew enough or I eat too fast. It helps me keep tabs on what goes down.

2. I want to eat good food because my stomach can hold so little. If I eat junk all day then it'll hurt my body more than I ever did in the past.

2bthin · July 4, 2005

Having been banded for less than a month, I am finding that I am more conscious about what I actually eat. I know that I can only consume so much, so the band is forcing me to realize that I must make good decisions about what it is that I do eat. I eat my Proteins first, because I know that this is what I need to lose weight and feel good. By the time I do that, I really don't have much room for anything but my well thought out veggies. Absolutely no room for starches, that's for sure. Maybe I'm not "doing this right", whatever that means, but what I'm doing is working for me, and I'm happy about it.

I return to my doctor on the 21st of this month for my first post-op checkup and fill. I'm excited about it. I'm so glad that I did this, because I don't have to count calories and worry about sneaking anything, because I know what could happen if I did. I've never had slime, or PB or any of the other things (thank goodness) that I've read about, and to be honest, the thought of experiencing any of that scares me to death, and that is what is keeping me honest. Also, for the first time in years, I do not have heartburn, acid reflux or gerd. I can sleep in any position I want (and sleeping on my stomach feels wonderful) after having to sleep sitting up with 5 pillows because the gerd was so bad! I'm free of my Nexium and life is good!

2bthin

*JASMINE* · July 5, 2005

I have also been banded for about a month, and for some reason, I feel the need to keep track of my calories. I have lost a total of 17 lbs. I know that the band is supposed to make it easier to limit your calories, but I'm not sure if it's working for me. I've been eating about 800 calories per day. Then on one day, I ate about 1600 calories, and I gained 2 pounds! I am feeling the "fullness" that the band is supposed to give you, but then I get extremely hungry about 1 1/2 to 2 hours afterwards. Is this normal? The doctor said he had to give me a fill when he banded me because my stomach was too small for the band. So technically, I've already had a fill. Will another fill cure my hunger?

Right now, I'm still trying to decide whether getting banded was worth it. Am I expecting too much from the band in such a short time?

July 5, 2005

I have also been banded for about a month, and for some reason, I feel the need to keep track of my calories. I have lost a total of 17 lbs. I know that the band is supposed to make it easier to limit your calories, but I'm not sure if it's working for me. I've been eating about 800 calories per day. Then on one day, I ate about 1600 calories, and I gained 2 pounds! I am feeling the "fullness" that the band is supposed to give you, but then I get extremely hungry about 1 1/2 to 2 hours afterwards. Is this normal? The doctor said he had to give me a fill when he banded me because my stomach was too small for the band. So technically, I've already had a fill. Will another fill cure my hunger?
Right now, I'm still trying to decide whether getting banded was worth it. Am I expecting too much from the band in such a short time?

It can take 3-5 fills to get people to the level of restriction that works for them. If you've had one fill, it still might take you another 2-4 to get to the right spot. Do you have restriction or can you eat pretty much as much as you want?

The band works once you're restricted -- the in-between time of being banded, but not restricted isn't for weight loss. It's for healing and re-learning how to eat properly.

17 lbs in 1 month is great! Fantastic!

You can't gain 2 lbs in 1 day. Some other factors were at work. To gain 2 real pounds, you would've had to eat 7,000 additional calories in 1 day as 3500 calories = 1 pound.

*JASMINE* · July 5, 2005

Thanks for the advice, J. Lynn. I haven't had any discomfort eating bread, rice, or meat, as they say most people would have. I guess I'm a little paranoid because I'm thinking that maybe something went wrong and the band slipped or my pouch was stretched. When I eat, I do get full, but only for a while, and then the hunger is back. I guess I will just have to wait and see how it goes with my next fill. Thanks again!

Angeleyes · July 5, 2005

The great thing about the band is that I am now never overeating. I used to sit down with a bag of chips or candy and eat the whole thing without thinking. Now that never happens I have a few bites and I am satisfied, I almost never feel hunger,it is a great tool. The pounds will start dropping off soon and I will feel better about the process.