Eating enough to sustain life??

[AmberLam]

Hello All,

I am in need of some help and/or suggestions.... I was banded 8-20-07 and have been very happy with everything up until about a month ago. I have either 2.5cc's or 2.75cc's (cant remember exactly) in my 4cc band. My last fill was done here in Washington and I got .25cc's on 2-21-08. Before this last fill I could eat about anything (bread, pasta, potatoes... yummmm) even though my band was over half full. Bad, I know.. but I still lost 10 pounds the month prior to the last fill!!!!!

I am becoming increasingly concerned because now I restrict on everything... Even room temperature tap water in the morning. I have NEVER pb'd but I do occasionally slim. I am taking vitamins but still don't feel that I am eating enough food to get all the nutrients that my body needs..... Today I was able to eat (or drink) for breakfast half of a 12oz lite liquid yogurt (watered down a bit to help it go through). For lunch (was in job training, box lunch provided.. only sandwich selections available..grrrr!!) it was 1 strawberry, 2 grapes, 4 cut pieces of honeydew melon and 2 small deli style slices of roast beef. For dinner (if you can call it that) I've had 1/4 of a cucumber and a slice of turkey bacon.

I am loosing weight as I always have since surgery, but would you consider this a normal day's worth of eating? I know that I am mourning food.. I'll admit that! So maybe I'm just trying to think of ways to rationalize a slight un-fill???? At what point does the body go into starvation mode? (I know we are all different =) Is this how the sweet spot feels??? Can someone be overfilled but not PB?? :-?

I should end this by saying that I have a appointment with my fill doc on the 27th...and plan to talk to him about it but maybe you have some insight for me??

THANKS!!!!

Amber

[DonnaK2231]

I don't know but it doesn't sound like enough food to me, You really need to call your Dr.

[snowbird]

I don't know but it doesn't sound like enough food to me, You really need to call your Dr.

Well, the whole point of losing weight is that you don't WANT to eat enough to sustain your body. As long as you can get down meats and fruits, I would not say you are filled too tightly. Signs of overfill are not being able to get down any solid foods. You will also probably find that as you lose a few more pounds, your fill will loosen.

If you were losing 10 lb per month, why did you get another fill?

The body doesn't really need nearly as much food as we have fooled ourselves into thinking it does. Unless you are feeling ill and weak, and as long as you are taking in nutritious foods, you are probably getting all you need. You might want to take some good vitamins if you are concerned, and are not doing so already.

I don't think you have to worry. By the way, what you are eating is very good, even though the portions are small.

[AmberLam]

Thanks for the replies!!!

Snowbird... What you said really made me stop and look differently at the way I was thinking. Since reading your post, I've been trying different foods and have found that chili concarne (no beans for me though...) works great when I feel that I haven't had enough.

Ironically the reason I had the last fill was because I was eating as much food as I did pre-op... I am loosening up a bit and not freaking out like before!!

Again, Thanks for your advice!!!!

[snowbird]

Thanks for the replies!!!

Snowbird... What you said really made me stop and look differently at the way I was thinking. Since reading your post, I've been trying different foods and have found that chili concarne (no beans for me though...) works great when I feel that I haven't had enough.

Ironically the reason I had the last fill was because I was eating as much food as I did pre-op... I am loosening up a bit and not freaking out like before!!

Again, Thanks for your advice!!!!

Chili is one of my favorite band-friendly foods. I make a big pot of it and freeze it in small containers. For a filling snack I have a 100 calorie bag of popcorn. Lots of times when I am filled a bit tightly I can't finish the bag, but it makes me feel like I have eaten a lot without downing a lot of calories.

If you had a mom like mine, she was always telling you to finish everything on your plate and asking if you needed a sandwich when you were going out for a few hours. Even now, at 95, she keeps asking me if I feel all right and aren't I hungry all the time? This is from a little lady who weighs about 110 and eats practically nothing. So I've had to overcome this idea that I need to eat even when I don't. As someone said once, unfortunately there isn't a band to put around our brains, just our stomachs! To be successful at this, we need to retrain how we think as well as what we eat.

[Ms.Teacher]

Hi Amber!

I've been banded over 3 years, and basically I've been through it all. I think it awesome you've been so successful, but it sounds like you need an unfill. You should be able to get all food down with your band if you are following the band guidelines. If your calorie are highly restricted, under 1200 a day, then you go back to eating normally (healthy of course) it will be harder to lose. The only time extreme calorie restriction works is if it is done for an extremely long period of time, I'm talking a year or so. Your body adjusts to the low calories, but just remember you can't restrict your calories for the rest of your life. The band is to teach us to slow down , make better choices, and limit what we can eat at each sitting. I think if you are consistently weight good for you, you were doing something right before your last fill, but remember a band that is over filled can stretch, you don't want that. I think you should be very proud of yourself and consider getting an unfill so you eat normally (like a bandster) I really hope this helps, good luck always!!!! =D> Helena

[snowbird]

Hi Amber!

I've been banded over 3 years, and basically I've been through it all. I think it awesome you've been so successful, but it sounds like you need an unfill. You should be able to get all food down with your band if you are following the band guidelines. If your calorie are highly restricted, under 1200 a day, then you go back to eating normally (healthy of course) it will be harder to lose. The only time extreme calorie restriction works is if it is done for an extremely long period of time, I'm talking a year or so. Your body adjusts to the low calories, but just remember you can't restrict your calories for the rest of your life. The band is to teach us to slow down , make better choices, and limit what we can eat at each sitting. I think if you are consistently weight good for you, you were doing something right before your last fill, but remember a band that is over filled can stretch, you don't want that. I think you should be very proud of yourself and consider getting an unfill so you eat normally (like a bandster) I really hope this helps, good luck always!!!! =D> Helena

I think we may have to agree to disagree on this one. Amber says she never PB's so I doubt she is in danger of a band slippage. The band doesn't stretch, but it can slip down on the stomach which causes the upper pouch to become larger, or more commonly slip up and prevent eating at all. Excessive pbing can cause this, among other things, like eating more than the upper stomach's capacity. She also says she is able to eat fruits and sliced meats, just not very much. Again, it doesn't sound to me like she is too restricted, plus she says she has become less tight in the few weeks since the fill.

I have thin, athletic friends, and I hate to say it, but they are VERY concerned with the amount of food they eat. Unfortunately, I think those of us who are chronic overeaters really are going to have to restrict our calories for the rest of our lives, because our natural inclination is always going to be to overeat. Dr. Ortiz tells his patients that we are not ever going to be able to eat "normally" because we never lose the extra fat cells in our bodies, and they are always going to be there and ready to fill up again. Maybe I will change how I look at things when I get to your level of success, but right now I know I can't lose weight on 1200 calories a day: maintain, yes, but lose, no.

I thought I would check what Dr Ortiz's book says about fills. In one place he says the amount of food consumed differs from surgeon to surgeon to as little as 1/6 the previous amounts, to 1/2. He recommends 1/3. Later he says that indications of a fill that is too tight is inability to eat any solid foods, though he also says if you are not able to eat 1/3 of your preband amounts you are too tight. He also says it's a fine line to find the exact fill level, so I guess it's no wonder that each of us may have difficulty in determining that place.

As I'm writing this I realize that I'm not really sure what you mean by eating "normally" and that may be the root of our misunderstanding.

[Ms.Teacher]

I think there was a huge misunderstanding here. Your band can "stretch" these were the words of my doctor. He said one of the things that can do this is carbonation. Anyway, what I meant by normally, is it sounds like she was losing great before her last fill, maybe to do what she was doing, it's what worked for her. I've been banded over 3 years and researched this for 1 year before, as well as I've talked to hundreds of bandsters much more experienced then myself. I would never throw info out there that I wasn't sure was true. On a nutritional point I truly understand being an overeater, but most people who have been banded didn't get to their highest weight by eating 1200 calories a day. I'm just telling you my experience, I am not casting any stones, and mostly trying to support everyone. Nothing more, I hope this clears that up. Helena

[snowbird]

I think there was a huge misunderstanding here. Your band can "stretch" these were the words of my doctor. He said one of the things that can do this is carbonation. Anyway, what I meant by normally, is it sounds like she was losing great before her last fill, maybe to do what she was doing, it's what worked for her. I've been banded over 3 years and researched this for 1 year before, as well as I've talked to hundreds of bandsters much more experienced then myself. I would never throw info out there that I wasn't sure was true. On a nutritional point I truly understand being an overeater, but most people who have been banded didn't get to their highest weight by eating 1200 calories a day. I'm just telling you my experience, I am not casting any stones, and mostly trying to support everyone. Nothing more, I hope this clears that up. Helena

Like I said, we may just be using terms a little differently or my misunderstanding what you were saying. What I may have been thinking of was a doctor's comment that the pouch can't stretch with a band like it does with gastric bypass, even though people keep referring to "stretching their pouch."

I wish I could look forward to eating "normally", but I just think for me I am always going to have to count calories because I lie to myself too easily. No stones cast nor accusations hurled to my knowledge.

[AmberLam]

Thanks for the replies ladies!!!

I go to see my doctor tomorrow, we'll see what he says! I know that I WONT be getting a fill heheheee

Snowbird, Yes... my mom is the same as yours. If we cleaned our plate.. Then we could have a snack b4 bed

Amber