When Do I Think Fill

Lapband Gal has a good topic on her blog today. I love it when someone unhinges my inspiration and her post has definitely done that. What follows is not a rebuttal but more a deeper explanation from the stand point of my brain anyway.

I don't things are as black and white as can't eat foods/can eat foods. Although we tend to want simple rules weight loss just doesn't. I use a bunch of variables to decide whether I need a fill. What can I eat? how much can I eat? how long do I stay full? Am I gaining or losing weight?

1. What can I eat? In the beginning I tried it on all the time and tried to eat things I really shouldn't have. I am a control freak and not in a good way :) I didn't chew well or stop soon enough on some foods. Hence I would PB (or throw up) when I ate them. It wasn't the food or the band it was my chewing and pushing the plate away when my stomach said so that was the problem. Those things were bread, scrambled eggs, potato and hamburgers. I can eat any of these things now because I am used to slowing down and pushing my plate away when I need to.

2. How much can I eat? In the beginning my fills informed the quantity I could eat. I was supposed to eat between one and two cups of food but eventually my pouch could only hold 1/2 c of food. If the food went through the pouch quickly I could eat and pause and eat some more but with good restriction the 1/2 cup goes in and sits for about 30 min. In the past I have used the grilled cheese test. I make a grilled cheese sandwich and my pouch holds 1/2 a sandwich minus two bites.

3. How long to I stay full? My fill level is really variable during the month. Water and hormones have a big impact. I go from pretty open to really tight depending on the week and day. During my period I am pretty tight. Just after I am really pretty open. I have really had to play with my fill level to decide how tight I could stand. about a month ago I had a little unfill (.25 cc's) and It has evolved into almost being too empty during my open week and just right during my tight week. Before the unfill I was perfect during my open week and too tight for two or more weeks.

4. How much do I weigh? I carry my weight in my tummy. When I gain just 4 pounds it is all in a tire around my waist. I believe that this greatly impacts the fat around my lapband. I can be tight to loose with just a couple of pounds weight loss. Because of this I have tended to get a little fill and tough it out for a few weeks in order to drop some weight and then I grown into my tightness (it basically gets looser). On any given fill I have rolled around 5 pounds. At this fill I am hanging from 169-164. When I was tighter it was 162-166.

When a pile of these variables is not satisfying to me I think about a fill. So my thinking goes something like this:

1. Oh my freaking heck I am gaining or not losing weight. I then ask myself a couple of questions. Is my eating where it hsould be? Is my exercise where it should be? Am I eating the right things? Am I eating too much? Too often? Once the initial thought occurs I wait on things for about a month testing one thing or another until I either revise my thinking or admit defeat and go in for that fill.

xxxooo

I am actually thinking about a tiny one right now (well after my trip to Vegas :))...I have recently dropped one of the pills I take and I think my tightness has decreased a little bit. I have been able to eat more and my scale popped over my top threshold (before I freak out in fear) of 169.