My wife and I are taking a three-week European trip this winter and will likely run into situations where much food will be foisted on us and it will be considered very rude of me to eat only what the band will allow me to eat.

Has anyone had their band emptied so they can eat more when traveling and then refilled when they return? Are there any repercussions of a complete unfill followed by a refill several weeks later (besides the likely weight gain)?

It's disappointing that having a conversation is equated to "worrying" around here. I'm not worried. The issue came up in a normal conversation around my house since we were booking vacation stuff

Hello Kamala,

I just wanted to speak from personal experience since I am one of the few people who actually had a partial unfill before going to the Middle East on vacation for three weeks.

My reasons for having the partial unfill were precipitated by having an emergency unfill the prior month. I then got a refill and was still pb'ing regularly and had developed reflux issues, so I knew I was too tight. I had also found out I was pregnant 2 weeks before traveling and was worried about traveling in this part of the world with the potential for a medical emergency. I also intended to travel to the countryside during the trip and hospitals outside major cities there are nothing like hospitals here . . . although medical care is great in Europe and you should be able to find great hospitals nearby in most touristic locations.

Prior to this I had posted on similar threads to this regarding and unfill like most people here . . . don't do it, it is a mistake, it goes against the reason you got the band in the first place, etc. I did not advocate doing this at all.

However, now I have a different perspective since I did do it.

I got a partial unfill and did find that I had some problems on the plane (10-11 hours travel) and got sick both there and back, however pregnancy might have had more to do with that then my band.

Most meals were taken in peoples homes and not in restaurants. I can tell you that I was continuously offered every possible delicacy continuously and had to refuse food all the time. Even if I could have eaten several plates of food, I realized that it is the nature to keep offering and it would have made no difference. Another issue is that we would have Breakfast . . . and then maybe a mid-morning snack of fruit and tea, lunch, tea somewhere else with pastries (usually baklava of some sort or another), dinner, dessert, and late evening Snacks with hot milk or yogurt drinks which could be nuts or fruit.

Even with the band partially filled, I could not eat more than the average child at best. No one was offended because I would take a token bite of anything (except for fermented turnip juice which smelled too bizarre and the smell turned my stomach, fish that still had their heads where I could see their cloudy eyes peering at me, tripe Soup made of sheep intestine . . . I just couldn't bear the thought of looking at it, let alone trying it, lol).

I doubt I ever went over 2,000 calories in a day and I ended up coming back a couple of pounds less than when I left the US.

Now that I have been there and done that, my decision to do it again would be based on numerous factors . . . primarily how tight my band is to begin with. If I am very tight, I would advocate getting it loosened for safety sake since I do suffer from a fickle band that has changing levels of tightness. However, if I can eat semi-normally I would leave it as is. I would never empty it for the sake of just eating more but I would do it for the sake of having a safer level of looseness to accomodate potential problems.

One last comment and a word of warning . . . I have had to have all the fill removed from my band per my doctors policy on pregnancy. I have been completely unfilled for a couple of months now. My hunger was controlled almost completely by the band before and I ate food to fuel my body. With a complete unfill, I am HUNGRYYY almost all day long. After being banded for so long and losing all my excess weight, I thought I had beaten my personal demons of over-consumption. I found this was totally not true . . . they were just hiding, lol. Just keep in mind that every day without a fill may take you immediately back to pre-banding days. I have not gained much since the unfill . . . but this is only after struggling everyday with food choices and quantities. Without my band, I know I will gain some of my weight back even if it takes a while to do so.

I remember a point in my weight loss journey, where I watched others eat and thought, "if only". Now I'm actually grossed out by the amount of food other people eat. Your perspective changes over time, and yours will to, "I hope." Not to be ugly, but it sounds to me like you have a very healthy case of DENIAL right now. That's okay. It's early in your journey. You're basically a newbie. In 8 months you may feel differently. I also think it's rather insulting for you to think that Europeans are SO DIFFERENT that they won't understand eating healthy portions, won't understand you have health issues, and won't understand personal preferences. It makes them sound like insensitive beasts. I hate to break it to you, but they DO have bariatric procedures in Europe. LOTS of it. It's about as common as it is here. They don't attach the stigma to it like we do here either. I think you are grossly misjudging them. You also may be imagining and magnifying these "cultural differences" in your own mind. My experience with Europe is that they are not that different from us. In many ways they are more progressive than we are! My suggestion is to tell your hosts well in advance of your trip. You may be pleasantly surprised at how accomodating they may be when you arrive.

I agree with restlessmonkey....why do we equate a good time with overeating? I would love to get an unfill and plan a big trip around eating....in my dreams! But upon returning, you would be filled with a gain which would cause guilt and then you would have to build up to the sweet spot again....is it worth it?

You can taste and have a bite of most anything offered. People should be talking so much that they won't notice how little you are eating. You can always say your stomach is sensitive due to the travel...whatever.....just think it through.....good luck and have a good time!

I also think it's rather insulting for you to think that Europeans are SO DIFFERENT that they won't understand eating healthy portions, won't understand you have health issues, and won't understand personal preferences. It makes them sound like insensitive beasts. I hate to break it to you, but they DO have bariatric procedures in Europe. LOTS of it. It's about as common as it is here. They don't attach the stigma to it like we do here either. I think you are grossly misjudging them. You also may be imagining and magnifying these "cultural differences" in your own mind. My experience with Europe is that they are not that different from us. In many ways they are more progressive than we are!

I didn't take it that this person was thinking of Europeans as "insensitive beasts." I am well traveled internationally and I honestly believe that Europeans are more health conscious than the typical American. However in any country (even here) some people feel slighted if you won't eat what they have gone out of their way to prepare. A token bite or two and an "oh that's yummy" should be enough to get you by.

However, I can say that no matter where you are in the world, if you tell people you are trying to eat healthy or lose a couple of pounds, they are accepting and accomodating. You don't even have to mention WLS. WLS may be a bit more prevalent in Europe, but just like here, your average person may not know very much about it and might feel certain biases or may have heard misinformation about it.

Little bit of an update... As you can see from my ticker, things are going quite well for me. I'm down 80 lbs since surgery in March, completed a triathlon, a half-marathon, and four 100 mile bike rides since surgery (could only ride 8 miles before surgery and couldn't run more than a mile (and calling it running would have been generous)).

I'm not sure what my fill is, but I could probably be more restricted as I eat a bit more than a cup at lunch and dinner. My nurse practitioner and nutritionist are satisfied with my weight loss (consistent 2-2.4 lbs week) and figure that we shouldn't fix what ain't broken at this point.

Of course, the trip that caused all the grief in this post is going to end up not happening due to scheduling. But after 9 months with the band, I'd like to say most of you are right. Which is essentially to say, there are many elements of truth from all sides of this discussion. My tastes and desires have changed somewhat, so I'm generally able to pick smaller item wherever I go. I also have a tendency to eat out at nicer restaurants where portion size seems to be smaller/more reasonable. I'm not fully comfortable throwing out as much food as I do, but I live with it. And yes, that's after I say "hold the toast, hold the potatoes, etc." It gets thrown out because I can't stand leftovers anymore, which I used to love. I love food and I love to eat lots of different things, so my desire to eat the same thing, only cold/reheated/not-as-fresh is gone.

As for the big issue that caused such agita, my band was never filled enough to reach the question of whether it I should or should not unfill it. If we were going on the trip, I'd probably be able to make due with a couple of sips of Water to push things through and call it good. In most social situations, I don't think anyone has really noticed me eating much less than others.

Basically, I think its important to recognize the need to change with lapband to get the most out of the tool. But you also need to know how to get yourself to respond. We can't make hard and fast rules for each other. For example, if I ride my bike 50 miles in a day, I allow myself a human-sized portion of ice cream. Ice cream was my kryptonite before surgery. If I denied it to myself completely, I'd forever be falling off the wagon. But I have a brightline rule in place that allows it under special, limited circumstances. Does this rule make my nutritionist cranky? Absolutely. But she also understands that if I'm riding 50 miles or more in a day, I'm not going to upset my progress with a couple of ounces of ice cream.

Anyway, thanks again for all your input. Hope y'all are doing well and finding your path to fitness and happiness, and enjoying the journey on the way!