Lesson learned - tighter not always better

Have any of you ever been so tight that you can simultaneously feel very physically hungry and physically unable to eat another bite? What did you do? Did you resort to foods you knew would go down easier? 

I have to give a shout out to Jean for encouraging me to get a small unfill, which I finally did last Friday.  I had been on the fence about it for months, to be honest.  I have maintained my weight between 180-183 (a 90-93lb loss) since January of 2011 but the struggle has been one with myself to keep eating nutritiously even when the stuff I should be eating is the most difficult.

I've managed through sheer determination not to gain any weight but when I am honest with myself I have to admit I've been avoiding healthier foods in favor of ones easier to get down.

It really hit me when I regurgitated nearly every time I tried salad or fresh fruit but could eat an unlimited quantity of cupcakes...I really need to get this thing loosened.

It hasn't even been a week yet but I'm so happy I did! For the past few days I've been eating a wide variety of foods including fruits, and haven't had any PB/regurgitating/puking or even close.  (This had become about a once a wee****urance for me in the recent past.)  All the slow and careful eating skills I've learned over the past 18 months are actually working and I'm not eating more than I should but I'm eating ENOUGH so I don't feel like I'm on the verge of passing out and go running for the first easy to eat food I can. It's an amazing feeling.

After living off 1200 calories a day, mostly because I couldn't eat much of anything till 3pm anyway, I am working on having a well rounded diet of 1600 a day with protein at every meal and snack. I hope not to gain weight (I really shouldn't since I burn about 2400 a day to the best I can calculate) but it'll be nice to just maintain in a healthy manner if that's all this allows.

One of the best things so far is being able to have eggs for breakfast and not be hungry 2 hours later!

Anyway, I wanted to share all of this because who knows if there are others out there going through the same thing.  I thought for the last few months that the frustrations I was having were all my fault for not chewing well enough or eating slowly enough and I was afraid of going back to being pre-band hungry. But I still have 4.75ccs in my band (down from 5.25) and I'm remembering how easy it was to eat right and lose weight back when I was at this level previously.

Lesson learned! Don't be afraid to go to your doctor and get an unfill. If it doesn't make things better you can always go back. But being that tight is not what this is supposed to be like.

Thanks for sharing this important lesson!

Jean