OK guys I have a couple of questions. First off let me say that I got banded on April 16, so it has been about 4 1/2 months and I have had 3 fills so far. I go in this wed for my next apt with my doc and to get another fill (and find out if I have a leak like he mentioned at my last apt) and I do plan to ask him questions too. So here goes...

First off I "hear" some people on here talking about being tight in the morning and then loosen up as the day goes on. They say they can only drink a little Water or a Protein shake for Breakfast. Well for those that have experienced this I hope you can help. When you are this tight in the morning are you not hungry in the morning or are you hungry and just too tight to eat? Im not really sure why but the thought of being hungry and not able to eat kinda bothers me and I am afraid to get that tight if that is the case. This is probably a mind thing and part of the reason why I was fat to begin with....(the afraid to get hungry thing) Like it surely is not going to kill me if I actually get hungry...LOL

Ok and my other question is.... I do not really feel like I have restriction with food. Well except maybe french fries. And no I have not made it a habit to eat them after being banded...LOL.. I have had them I think like 3 times since surgery and every time I eat them I get that pressure feeling in my chest so I really dont choose to eat them. But the times I do feel what I think may be restriction is with drinking. When I drink I either have to wait a few seconds for it to go down or it will make that gurgly noise as it goes thru the band. This seems very strange to me that I would feel more restricion with liquids than food. Does this make any sense to anyone? I mean I do notice that I eat less and get fuller faster but I dont feel that "restriction" feeling. Is this what it is supposed to be like? I can eat way more than the one cup of food that I am supposed to eat, but if I get tightened more is it going to make drinking liquid even harder??? See where my confusion come in? So if anyone can give me some advice or it they have a similar situation please share. And dont worry I will be talking to my doc about it on Wed too.

Thanks

Jen~ Don't know if I can be much help, but I will try. I am sometimes tight in the morning and I cannot eat food. I have to have some warm liquids to help get things started. Then I will either have a Protein shake or I can eat. Other mornings I can eat. Often times I am not really hungry in the morning, but I eat because I know that I have to get my protein in for the day!

Sounds like you are having some mind issues with the food right now. I think that is the hardest part to get over! It is ok to be hungry and to feel hungry it is something that most of us never have experienced when we were fat. The nut that I see suggested that I let myself get hungry so I know what it feels like. Then I can distinguish between true hunger and head hunger.

Addressing your other question, are you drinking too fast? It seems odd that you can eat but have restriction with liquids. I would ask your doctor about that when you see him for your fill. I wouldn't worry too much about how much you are able to eat at this point. It takes a lot of people many fills before they really get consistent restriction. Until you get to that point, make good choices and use portion control and you should keep moving down the scale.

Hope that was helpful. Good luck with your weight loss!

Jen - you and I were banded less than a week from each other. It took 4 fills to get my proper restriction. Some days my band feels tight, and I do drink a Protein shake every morning for breakfast - my choice. On the rare occasion that I do eat solid foods for breakfast I have no problem. I may "feel" tight, but as long as I take my time, swallow well-chewed, little portions at a time and wait about a minute or two between bites, I'm okay.

About twice a week I feel tight much of the day - but like I said, I've never had a problem getting food down. As far as liquids though, cold liquids go down much, much slower and I need more time between sips to allow it to go down. I mostly drink room temperature Water. Not that I prefer it that way taste-wise, it just goes down alot better.

It took 4 fills to get to proper restriction, but once I got there, I knew it very soon after. I also gurgle alot, especially with any drink that may have a little foam or air in it (like a protein shake). But I'll live with that if it means getting to a healthier weight. No reflux problems or Pb'ing - oh except once when I drank too much milk in a hurry.

I think you will be fine. Pay attention to what your esophagus and stomach are telling you. If you do get hungry, a small low-calorie snack should be just enough to get you thru until your next meal if you're worried about the hunger issue. I view the band sort of like my "other" husband - I have to work, compromise, be patient, listen, and be adaptable with the band if this is going to be a lifetime achievement!

Thanks guys. It does seem to be the really cold water that goes down the slowest. the problem is I really only like to drink my water really cold...LOL. I dont seem to have a problem drinking my crystal light drinks, they are cold from the fridge but have no ice in them so I guess they are not as cold as my water. I would just drink more of them but they seem to make me very gassy so I just tend to drink them on my way home from work (at 9pm) and then after I am home too. I guess I will just play around with it some more and see what happens.....

Hi Jen, I am one of the people who can not eat in the morning. This is because I am just not hungry until about 11:00am to noon. So in the morning I will have my non-fat sugar free coffee and call it good. I am also one of the people that can not tolerate ANY cold drinks. I now have to drink warm water, soda, juice and nothing with ice, if I do I will PB all day long. I think the cold shocks the band closed. I asked my doctor about this and they said that it was common in lap band people for that to happen. So I had to learn to drink warm drinks. Good luck.

Wow, I hope I dont have to go that far and drink only warm drinks...yuck...LOL so far it seems to be the really icy cold ones so maybe I will be ok if they are just cold with no ice. And I just cant imagine not eating breakfast. Maybe that is because I love cereal and toast and eggs... Breakfast is usually one of my biggest meals and I just cant seem to grip the fact that I may get too tight to eat it. I guess instead of worrying about it I will just have to wait and see if it happens.

I am also tight in the morning. If I go slow and chew really thoroughly, I can get food down, but I have more recently started doing protein shakes in the morning because of the tightness. I also have a problem with milk... I hadn't heard the cold thing before. I don't have a problem with ice water or anything like that, but I do with milk, it's 1% so it's not like it's whole milk, but it must be the thickness or something...