ok so this happens to me a lot...Ill take a bite of anything usualy band friendly and ill feel so tight. then i sit and wonder hmm ok ill take an even smaller bite.. and still ill feel super tight and get very frustrated especially if im sitting with people. after about 15 or 20 min of "struggeling" i can eat no problem! i can pick on ppls leftovers because everyone is doen by the time i can actualy eat.. im not too tight because I can eat.. but only after i play this very difficult test of my patience game!

whats this about? does anyone know why this happens? shouldn't i feel tight or "full" only after I eat?

let me know if anyone can help..

ive had my band for just 3 months and im trying to learn.

Thanks

very frustrating and very normal. Its called 'first bite syndrome".

For me, I suffered a fair bit with it in my first year and then never again. DH suffered for about 9 months and hasnt had a problem in a year. Everyone in real life that I know with bands had a bit of this in the first year or so.

It does seem to pass once the band's been in there for a while.

In the meantime, it can really help to have a hot drink before you eat and also, make your first bites teeny tiny and wait to let them go down (even teenier and wait even longer than your band sized interpretation of this) before you start to eat more normally

I agree with Jachut. I too experience this first bite syndrome often.

Thanks Jachut! i really appreciate it. its funny its called "first bite syndrome" it happens to me for many many bites...

I get worried and anxious eating with people cuz it takes me a while to get my groovewithout making faces of frustration i cant take my first bite. or 2nd. I havnt told anyone so this makes eating out sooo hard!!

I also noticed if i snack or eat when im not hungry at night the next day is a disaster to eat. even now i iate some crackers last night.. and today.. at 3:30 i couldnt eat yogurt. but later on ill be able to..

hhmm but im happy to hear this "first bite thing" will dissapate.. I really hope so.. i really doo...

wow! I logged onto this page to ask the exact same question! I'm glad I'm not the only one and that this seems to be very common. It's the strangest thing that the first bite seems so difficult, and then the rest are fine... Does anyone know why this happens? (just curious)

Thanks for all of youre replies though. I'm not so worried anymore. I only started eating solid foods three days ago, so I was worried something was wrong. *whew*

Ditto, thought it was just me

Ohh I love it! i was dying over here!

good luck everyone.. if anyone has any additional suggestions as to how to avoid this please share..

This happens to me too. I am a year and a half out. By the time I can start eating most people are done eating! I can take small bites and chew and chew and chew and they just don't go down well. Then after 20 minutes or longer one bite will go down fine and then I can eat. I think having my food be cold also helps sometime. I wonder why this happens!?

Oh god - I'm so glad that I came on this today!! I've been having the same problem... sometimes it's so hard to have the first bite that I end up PB-ing and then after that, I can eat anything I want. I've had my band for about 10 months and hearing that it might go away eventually is making me very hopeful! Thanks so much for posting this question.

Jess3620 - you describe it SO well - that's me to a T! I'm out about 9 mo (1/20/09).

I just got my forth fill on Thursday and this is totally happening to me!! I take one or two bites they don't go down, I PB, I get frusterated and give up, try again and it works!! Glad to know I'm not the only one!

I love it when I come to this site and find out I'm not the only one!!! It is a relief to hear that this "first bite" business may go away eventually. I am so happy with the band and what it has done for me! When I am out to eat with people, though, it can be a little awkward sometimes. Just like I read above, by the time I can start eating, everyone else is done!

Thank you guys............had a fill on Friday been eating soft food till yesterday. Same thing 1st bite right back up. ( I am very stubborn so I try about 3 bites) Today same thing. But I usually pbing about 3 times before I am ok. Sometime it takes a hour.

Anyone else take this long? I guess this is called restriction.

woohoo!!!

hi everyone,

i still have this after almost 3 years but have gotten used to it.

i actually can feel the food finally go through. it's a weird sensation when it pushes through. and after that..... i can eat a horse.

in the morning and afternoon i am still a bit tight. so i eat foods compatible to my situation (ie. oatmeal or cheerios for Breakfast, etc)

good luck everyone

josie

Bumping this in case anyone else has more suggestions on how to help this. I never had it until after I had my baby 2 months ago and started getting fills again!

I had this too. The advice I was given was what Jachut said - drinking hot fluids to relax things (or alcohol but don't advise this on regular basis - empty calories). Also I was told to take a bite or 2 to prep yourself then come back in 20 mins for the real meal - its the esophagus spasms.

Anyway this went away.... but when I got overfilled I was sooo soooo careful w/ teeny bites and waiting that it never came back - and I've posted this before to keep myself honest until i get a grip i eat w/ a timer on. google online stopwatch. I often feel the food passing through I wait 30 seconds at least but sometimes as long as a minute or two.

In hindsight I think I was still just eating too fast between bites. Or maybe things just changed over time. But I did not notice a difference until I introduced the stopwatch. I'm new at this so its a learning process. The tighter your band is the more you need to be super careful about eating slowly and chewing well as it will be less forgiving.