I was banded in September, and since I have been off the liquids, I have continued to eat pretty much anything I want. A lot less of things, but none the less, anything. Is this because I still am drinking while I eat, or are some people just like this? Also, I just feel like I cant stop drinking while I eat. I have tried a couple of times, but it just is too much of a habit. How did you stop? Also, I don't really feel a lot of restriction when I eat. Is this also because of the drinking water when I'm eating? I went for my first fill 2 weeks ago and the dr put 3cc's in. I thought I would feel more restriction, I didn't. My weight loss has been plateaued now for about 3 weeks. Any advice would be appreciated... Thanks

Try to make yourself not drink during your meals because it really and truly makes all the difference in the world for length of satiety (at least it does for me, and I'm sure there are some who don't feel a difference, because one thing you'll find with a band, there's a lot of individual differences). Once you start to feel "full" longer, the positive reinforcement does a world of good to help you break the habit of drinking with your meals. Also, as you get more adjustments, you might find that liquids push food into your stoma, and you'll get stuck, and feel the negative reinforcement. That happened to me the one time I put milk on my Khashi Cereal. Another huge help for me is to stay very well hydrated between meals. By the time it's time to eat, I've drank enough, that I'm just not thirsty. If I'm out to eat, or if I'm eating something particularly spicey, I might take a few sips, but really no more than maybe 1/4 cup altogether. On some occasions, I have had wine with dinner, but I really do hate to drink calories, so it had better be very good wine.

My band is super filled, I have great restriction, and I can eat just about anything. I don't eat celery stalks because of the stringyness, and I don't eat the membranes on citrus fruit. I can definitely live with those restrictions. You may find that as you get more fills, that there are foods you just can't tolerate, but like I mentioned before, our bands don't treat us all the same.

You don't need advice you already know what you are doing wrong.

If you not going to follow the rules then there was no point to getting the band. You know that you are not supposed to drink whilst eating as it washes the food through the stoma quickly and will not give you restiction and you will get hungry again quickly.

As to how to stop drinking whilst eating its easy. As Nike says "Just do it"! You will never break the habit if you don't try.

I will have a drink whilst I am preparing the food. Then nothing to drink whilst eating and not for another hour afterwards. That hour actually goes really quickly.

You wouldn't buy an expensive new phone and complain that it didn't work when you tried to use it as a remote for your TV. The band is the same - it is a tool that has to be used the way it is designed to be used.

thanks for the help, it's appreciated greatly. I did not drink with my dinner tonight, and it did make a big difference, although it felt really strange. I didn't have a lot of preparation with the doctor before the surgery, so things weren't fully explained to me. I was never truly told what happened when you drank liquids while you ate, they just said it was better not to do it, so it wasn't really a big deal to me. But now that I know, I will definitely stop. I don't think that coming on here and saying 'you already know what you are doing wrong...'is productive, because obviously if i did, I wouldn't do it and I wouldn't be asking questions about it. I thought that's what this site was for, asking the experienced and supporting each other. Thanks though.

I have restriction and I cant drink when I eat as it causes great discomfort. But I can eat ANYTHING.

Some things are harder than others - apples and other fresh fruit are hard for me, but I still eat them, just carefully. I had a very strong craving for a Bic Mac a while ago - not a food I have a problem with overeating and not somethign I'd crave often, in fact its the only time in 4 years, so what the heck, I'm a healthy weight, I had one. I ate 3/4 of it, I took it slow but I had no particular trouble.

that's from someone who's 4 years out, well and truly at goal (and past it) and maintaining with no trouble. I do a lot of exercise, so I dont need to have my band very tight and this way, I find there's absolutely no restriction on normal eating.

I've had to learn of course to handle the "sometimes" foods, but that's a GOOD thing. I dont really desire to have those things off my menu simply because they're impossible to eat because then I dont think you're really learning to manage your own eating.

thanks for the help, it's appreciated greatly. I did not drink with my dinner tonight, and it did make a big difference, although it felt really strange. I didn't have a lot of preparation with the doctor before the surgery, so things weren't fully explained to me. I was never truly told what happened when you drank liquids while you ate, they just said it was better not to do it, so it wasn't really a big deal to me. But now that I know, I will definitely stop. I don't think that coming on here and saying 'you already know what you are doing wrong...'is productive, because obviously if i did, I wouldn't do it and I wouldn't be asking questions about it. I thought that's what this site was for, asking the experienced and supporting each other. Thanks though.

I'm glad you gave eating w/o drinking a shot and found that it made a big difference in your level of satiety. It's a shame that some offices don't prepare their patients better for living successfully with a lap band. I quietly cringe when a pre-band patient is happy that their doctor requires little or no pre-op education.

Don't hesitate to ask anything you're unsure of about the band. Also, lots of useful information can be found using the search function. If your surgeon's office offers a support group, try to go to the meetings too.

I can eat and drink at the same time my band is a ten cc and I have 8.1 cc in my band.

Not eating while drinking was very hard for me to get used to. My dr told me that i had to wait 1 to 1 & 1/2 hours after eating to be able to drink. When I first started, I would simply not pour myself a glass of anything. I would eat, and then set an alarm (or tell my husband if I was home with him) for 1 & 1/2 hours. I would do anything and everything to keep distracted during that time. Then when the alarm went off(or my husband told me it was time), I would drink all I wanted.

After a couple of weeks of that, my body became very used to it. I can now tell by the way my body feels that it is time to drink.

And for those of us who are overweight, we have spend a life time "washing down" more food than we needed, so this is a habit that we need to break. You will feel full longer, and for a while, until you are used to it, you might be a little uncomfortable.