I'm sorry your surgeon is acting like the band should be helping you much (if at all) prior to getting to proper restriction. Any educated surgeon for banding should know (and tell patients) tha*****pically takes 3-5 fills to get it right. Some folks are lucky and it takes fewer, some it even takes more. It's extremely common for regain to happen when new banding patients start transitioning back onto real foods from the liquid phases. If your surgeon isn't aware of this, I'm really sorry...but YOU need to be aware that this is one of the totally normal scenarios. It's also very difficult to stick to a rigid diet before the band is adjusted properly to help with the portion control and hunger issues. I don't personally understand surgeons who place that expectation. Surgeons who are well-informed about the band should understand it's a process of gradually reducing intake, not "stick to a strict diet and adjust the band over time to make it less torturous" and make their patients suffer severe hunger in the meantime. That all being said, as much of an advocate I am for the band, there is no one universally right WLS procedure for everyone. And my observation starting from 5 years ago when I first started researching is that restrictive-only procedures (so that would include, lap-band, VBG and VG might not be optimal for people with actual serious metabolic issues and malabsorption might be the only possible tool, although I've seen serious metabolic problems where even the extreme low-cal (due to very low cal diet + malabsorption making them absorb only a portion of the calories they eat) hasn't helped. But for someone like that, it would make sense that procedures designed to keep people in a standard healthy reduced calorie range will probably not have the best results. It's so important going in to any of these procedures for pre-ops to have their expectations properly set so they know what to expect in each phase. It's crucial in banding that patients understand that weight loss might take a while to get going and they have to ignore those who have a big/fast initial drop (most of which is fluid as the body can only process out so much fat in any given time...the rest will be fluid and lean tissue). It's hard not to compare, but we are all different, coming from different places in our lives, different bodies, ages, metabolisms, etc. I'm sorry if anyone flamed you for perceiving you not to be the "perfect bandster"...guess they're not human because I've never met a human capable of perfection...doesn't exist in this time/space continuum. I do think you're your own worst judge though (many of us battle that...society still hasn't come to terms with the fact that obesity isn't a character flaw so we carry a lot of that baggage with us). Put that stuff out of your head so you're not using it as an excuse to gorge...that's old diet mentality rearing its ugly head...and see if in the next month before your next appointment (why so long between fill appointments??) and see if you can continue working on single behaviors as you mention you've been doing...they say it takes 28 days to make something a habit...and be prepared to stand up for yourself if your surgeon ignorantly judges you for not being able to lose weight before the band is actually doing anything. Something really clear like "I'm sorry you're disappointed but we've been on a very sluggish fill schedule here and I still feel like I've not had surgery...my tool isn't working yet and I'd appreciate your help to rectify that problem in a more timely manner. It's hard enough struggling in this early period without you making me feel like a failure because YOU haven't filled me enough." Nancy