Here is my question. Most of us have failed over & over on other diets. I haven't had a fill yet but I read how you are all eating so healthy. How has the band changed this for you when you were not able to do it before?

Maybe I'm worried because I lost my willpower the other day and had a brownie and today a cookie. Maybe because I've been so limited on what I could eat these past couple of weeks that I'm craving everything. How do you manage it? What is giving you the willpower?

Also, I feel like I am constantly eating because I can only eat a small amount at one time so I'm hungry an hour later. I have been avoiding the scale out of fear the past few days.

I'm sticking to Protein, veggies, FF pudding & FF Jello (except for my slips).

I look forward to hearing what it is that is making this successful for you.

I consider myself a 'success' and can tell you that as you get fills and get to a 'sweeter' spot, you will not have such an issue with munching. I no longer munch because I am not hungry all of the time. I eat every 4-6 hours, in VERY small portions. And when I am satisfied I stop, and I don't think about food 'in between' meals. My brain got 'rewired' and now I deal with food like a rational person, and have no obsessions about it. I eat when I am hungry, I eat what I want, and go about my day regularly.

Personally I have a healthy respect for my band and that gives me the will power. I no longer eat foods that I ate almost everyday ... Pasta, rice, potatoes and bread. I also limit my sugar/sugar-free intake. I find that I no longer desire these foods like I did before, as well as not desiring food as sweet as I once did. I have also never eaten so much fish and chicken as I do now, so I am making better food choices. Protein has become my guiding force in what I eat at every meal.

My first 3 weeks were very tough. My doctor's post op care is 3 weeks of liquids (nothing thicker than water). Believe me what I would have given for some cream Soup. I was so sick of chicken broth, beef broth and Protein drinks. I dreamed of what I would eat first when I finally could eat. I desired everything but in the end I had some cream of tomato soup and some greek yogurt. It was the best meal in the world that day! There are days now that I would love a fastfood burger, etc but then I think about how good I have done and what does it really add to me nutritionally and the feeling passes.

Also I feel that I have spent quite a bit of money out of pocket never mind the pain and discomfort of my surgery and post-op that I don't want it to go to waste.

Believe me I am not saying that I don't lose my willpower. I have a constant battle with mental hunger almost everyday but the reality of the pain of food stuck is enough to help me realize that I really don't want it. Also seeing my clothes getting looser and looser and the scale go down each week are other positive reinforcements.

Hang in there the mind is a powerful tool too!

So far my journey with my band is going pretty well, i was banded 7/23/08 and i love my band. Willpower was easier for me at the start of my journey because i was too scared to test my band, i knew what i was surpose to eat and not eat and I stayed to my Dr. directions. I started walking a lot and it seemed to burn off the lbs. Now that I've been banded for 5 mos. now i have had somethings i shouldnt of had, but when i do have those this i make sure i work my butt off the next 1 to 2 days. I have never over done it with something I wasnt surpose to have. I'm lucky that I have great restiction and i couldnt eat a lot of anything if i wanted to. I get my water, protien and veggies in, I hardly ever eat any kind of white flour products and i pretty much use only splenda as my sweetner. I'm not sure if this helps you or not but just remember sometimes your willpower will let you down, the question is what will you do when it happens? Dont let it become a habit and try to figure out how many extra cals. you took in and work them suckers off. Good luck.

Thanks! It sounds like I just need to be patient and wait to see what it's like when I get those fills. I can tell when it's time to stop eating and I do make sure I stop. Right now I'm using the FF Pudding to satisfy those chocolate cravings.

The fills do make a difference but to be honest, I still have a lot of head hunger, that effect wore off a bit for me, and I do nibble and I eat cookies! But in nowhere NEAR the quantity I ate before, overall, I make more healthy choices and I eat less than I did. My tastes have changed, I've lost the liking for high fat salty foods, it all just takes time.

The hugest factor in my success was exercise and all the band really had to do with that was that this time I was really serious about it. I say "oh, yeah I exercise" but in reality, I guess I really am VERY fit and have worked VERY hard at it.

I *could* have done that before. I dont know why I didnt. But it would never have worked as well as it has without a decrease in calorie intake sustained over a long period of time.

but I'm not perfect. I have food "issues" like we all do and I will always have them. The band has not cured that, I have got better at handling it, that is all. Overall my diet is healthy and reasonable but its FAR from as perfect as some people manage and I dont really care becuase I have what I consider a "normal" relationship with food - I eat anything and everything and I dont really overthink or stress about it. So I have a bad day, tomorrow is always better. Good days outnumber bad, so I didnt worry one jot about going to the Pankcake Parlour with my son this morning!

Willpower doenst really come into it for me, unless its just those occasions when I want to eat 10 Cookies and know I really dont need to.

Well, I finally faced the scale and saw that I lost another 1 1/2 pounds. I haven't been exercising like I should because it's SOOO cold out that I can't bring myself to get to the gym at night. I'm thinking about ordering one of those cheap gazelle's from Wal Mart just to use for the winter.

I'd have to say, being a home exerciser has been my secret. I have a really good gym quality treadmill at home and basic weights/stability ball/yoga mat so I can do a really hard circuit indoors consisting of weights and interval cardio.

If I'm going to just run, I prefer outside but I always have the treadmill for bad weather - particularly really HOT weather, I dont handle running in the heat very well.

It really is key, I'm never stuck for something to do.

But I'd really recommend gym quality equipment, you simply wont use anything that is rickety, crappy or noisy.