I have officially entered bandster hell and it sucks. I am hungry and trying to stick to the portions prescribed by the doctor, but it's very very very hard. Advice about how you got through it would be great. Thanks!

The best way I found out is to eat 4-5 small meals a day. My doctor's office recommended that to me if the 3 meals a day didn't suffice until proper restriction. They really wanted you to only eat 3 meals a day, but if you are migrating towards the wrong food choices and are getting hungry only after a couple of hours, then spreading your meals out would help.

Also, make sure that you do not drink anything for at least an hour after eating so you are not pushing the food thru your stomach and don't drink with your meal. Not that you don't know that, but worth mentioning. Otherwise, try and keep yourself busy so that your mind isn't always on being hungry and drink plenty of Water. It does help!

Good luck! I'm still not at my proper restriction, but getting close! It does get easier! :sad:

I'm going through the same thing, I don't have my first fill until June 29th, but I'm hungry alot! Not mentally hungry, but physically, my stomach is always growling like one to 2 hours after eating. I'm trying to eat as much protein as I can to stave the hunger off, but that doesn't really seem to be helping. I'm doing it all on will power right now, but it's getting hard!

Just follow the rules the best you can and try not to gain any weight (don't worry about losing right now). I put on 5 pounds during Bandster Hell (was during Thanksgiving for me. . oops!) and I lost it all and much more once I got to restriction!

The most important thing is to follow your doctor's instructions and not get too upset if you aren't losing (or even gain). You're on your path to getting thinner and this is just a little stop-over in that process.

Hang in there!

Catherine

I feel your pain sister. I was just banded May 7th, and had my first fill two days ago (3cc). As soon as my stomach healed from surgery, I was soooo hungry. I also felt so run down from losing so much weight on the post-op diet that I ate some slider foods for the sake of an energy boost. I have some restriction now, but nowhere near as much as I hope to have. My two biggest problems are eating at work (12-hour nursing shifts) and cooking normal food for my kids. I read posts about people losing weight eating human-sized portions of normal foods and then other posts about people being satisfied on a mouthful of fish and I'm wondering where I'll ultimately end up. For now, I'm plateaued and hoping. Best of luck to you!

I'm going through the same thing, I don't have my first fill until June 29th, but I'm hungry alot! Not mentally hungry, but physically, my stomach is always growling like one to 2 hours after eating. I'm trying to eat as much Protein as I can to stave the hunger off, but that doesn't really seem to be helping. I'm doing it all on will power right now, but it's getting hard!

This sounds exactly like what I am going through right now! How did you get through it?!?

Ash