I have been asking my dr (& others) about this, but no one seems to know what I am talking about.

Is anybody else out there able to take a deep breathe, slightly move your chest & make the food fall through to the stomach? I had my surgery almost 2 years ago & have only lost about 45 lbs because I am able to cheat! (Well, that & my love for margaritas!) I kept thinking that if I just had more fill that I wouldn't be able to do it anymore. Well, that didn't work either. My band ended up too tight & that caused MAJOR problems. After 3 weeks to heal with no fill, dr filled me back to about 4 ccs today. I suspect after reading a lot of stuff that my over fill problem may have caused to have esophageal spasms.

Anyway, my question was about being able to make food fall through. Can anybody else do that?:thumbdown:

I do that but the food isn't falling "THROUGH" the stoma...it just moves along a little. It happens to me when I take too large a bite. I don't think that's why you aren't losing....more likely Margaritas and so on! :thumbdown:

Since it doesn't really have too much to do with how filled you are, I don't think getting tighter will make it go away. Try chewing really really well, small bites, etc.

That other thing is uncomfortable but you aren't cheating the band when it moves, you just think you are. You are getting cheated though...because you think you have restriction and it is just too big bites.

I was thinking the same as Restless Monkey, my guess is that you are misinterpreting what is happening. Sometimes when I have not eaten properly or ate too much the food doesn't quite make it into my stoma...taking a deep breath and stretching helps to get it to pass into the stoma. I can't imagine how any amount of movement or breathing could affect the opening at the band, it just doesn't have that kind of "give".

Thanks for the replies! That helps to make more sense. I figured the food was falling through because doing that always enables me to eat more. Sometimes I can eat ALOT. I am glad to have my fill back in because without it for the last 3 weeks I have definately been able to tell a difference in how much I could eat. I gained 5 lbs! I really think that over fill created a lot of problems with acid reflux, etc. Sometimes now I have really bad chest pains & I know it is not my heart because I went a year ago & there were NO problems.

The only way I used to be able to 'cheat' was by drinking. I could FEEL the food wash through the band. But I am tight enough now that drinking and eating simultaneously is like voluntarily placing myself in Hell. so, I choose to not cheat. :thumbup:

hahahah...that made me laugh. I might use that.

I have heard the term stoma used with gastric bypass but are you referring to the opening in the band as the stoma?

I have heard the term stoma used with gastric bypass but are you referring to the opening in the band as the stoma?

No, the stoma is the small stomach/pouch that your surgeon created above your band.

Hey there - I have definitely felt this happen as I have put myself into voluntary hell on earth by trying to "sip my way through it" too... THAT is an awesome analogy! GAWD how that hurts sometimes! Anyhow, I had to look up STOMA with a Google search because I always thought it was the opening created by the band that goes between the pouch and the stomach... I always believed that the stoma is what changes with each fill... the more fill the tighter the stoma. Anyhow, here's what I found in a Glossary on one Lapband™ website:

Stoma: The stomach outlet created by the LAP-BAND between the two parts of the stomach. The size of the stoma regulates the flow of food from the upper pouch to the lower part of the stomach

Edited February 11, 200917 yr by Sask Patient

Yes, the stoma is the opening, not the pouch.

I don't think feeling it go through the stoma is causing an issue with weight loss. You have been both loose and tight and you will always be able to feel food move through . . . but if the weight loss has stalled, it could be what you are eating as well. Some kinds of food go through the stoma a lot easier than others, margaritas are certainly this way :0).

Do you still do Proteins first, followed by veggies and maybe a bite or two of carbs after if there is space? Are you staying away from slider foods?