Dear Fellow Bandsters,
I am looking for a Lucky Leprechaun who will be able to help me sort out what is happening at this stage with my band. You see, I have had 3 fills and am at 7.5 cc in a 14 cc band at almost 4 months out. I have lost 29 lbs but most of it has been from early post surgery. It has been an admittedly slow start. After my third fill, it seemed I was at a pretty good restriction but after a week or so I started noticing I could eat more than a cup of food. I don't think this is the right level of restriction yet. I am not sure if I am working this band correctly. I am able to eat a half of a whole grain bagel, stop, but shortly thereafter I am still hungry and can eat the rest of it. I am still working at chewing my food thoroughly. I find when I don't, it gets stuck and then I have to wait for it to pass. If I had the correct restriction, it shouldn't pass that easily without PBing, should it? One night, I was even able to eat an entire steak. That shouldn't be possible I believe. So after a promising start to this third fill, I think I am not yet at my proper level of restriction. I think I need another fill. So if you happen to see a Lucky Leprechaun today, could you send him my way. I think I need to rub his belly or something.
2 comments:
Based on what I have gone through the last few months you don't have good restriction yet. I found that with each fill after 6cc (out of 11cc) I felt a little more restriction each time. At my last fill my NP thought I was grazing even though I thought I was just trying to figure out my full limit. She said I shouldn't go back to the half of my meal I didn't finish. Instead she recommended changing what I eat. For example, instead of a bagel have a protein with a complex carb. Maybe an egg, a peice of whole grain toast and a slice of tomato (or strawberries). Then if you get hungry wait. Drink your water. Then after an hour or so if you are still hungry eat again - focusing on the protien. She also recommended writing down what I ate so that next time I could change it up and not eat what didn't keep me full.
Amazingly it did help. I find that that behavior has changed. Now I still don't have perfect restriction and I still get hungry, but by stopping that semi-grazing behavior it has forced me to re-evaluate each meal to make sure it gives me what I need.
As for the whole steak - I ate 10 oucnes of fish the other night! I was amazed, but I just didn't get full. I think (hope) that will come with more restriction. But when I looked back on the day I noticed a couple things. First I skipped a meal. I wasn't hungry so I didn't eat, but I know that in the end that makes me more hungry later in the day. Also, my calories were very low even in the meals/snacks I did eat. So the way I look at it is I could over eat, and more restriction will help that. But if I would have followed my rules I would have been better off.
Like normal my comment is huge, but I hope it helps give you the perpective of someone else who has and in some cases is going through the same stuff.
I can totally relate with you on this because it took me so long to get restriction. One thing I found was that if I ate solid protein versus carbs(even though I could eat bread)it stayed with me a lot longer. So ate a lot of tuna, chicken & turkey. Also my Dr. did not want anyone going hungry, so she encouraged having a high protein snack if I needed one. String cheese was my bff(still is).
I did eat probably over a cup while I ramping up to full restriction, but that was OK.
It will get better - hopefully you'll get out of this stage soon. If you have questions or ever want to chat let me know.
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