Stuck or full

 Hi all,

I am having a conceptual problem. I have been getting stuck a lot, mainly because i am eating too fast and not chewing enough. But tonight I ate a good amount because i was chewing well, but then the last bite felt like it got stuck.

I don't understand how the last bite could get stuck if there was still all the food in my pouch, but I really don't think it was fullness, because that feels different.

Is it possible that I am not tight enough and the food is just passing through the stoma when I chew it well? I am at 5cc right now I think. I was banded 9 months ago. 

I'm afraid to get another fill because I do feel very tight in the mornings. Often I can't even drink water in the morning. 

Thanks for your input.

Jennifer

That feeling means your pouch is FULL and you should not eat any more at that meal.  You say you have a conceptual problem, meaning you cannot visualize the proper amount of food????  You should try measuring your food...start with a half cup...3 oz protein and 1 oz low carb veggies and see if you get hungry before 4 hours and if you get that feeling.  If you get that feeling before you finish your meal, you might be a bit too tight.  It actually sounds like you have good restriction and just need to measure in order to be sure you are not overdoing it..
Try warm liquids in the morning....that helps to soften the band and loosen it up a bit.
Hope this helps!

 Thanks for the input. I will stop eating when I feel that.

My conceptual problem is that I don't understand how the food passes through the stoma. It seems to me that if you chew food really well then it will just pass through and you won't achieve fullness, but if you don't chew it enough then it will get stuck. I guess I'm just trying to figure out the right amount of chewing and the right size bites.

We are supposed to chew thouroughly (I was told 15-25 times per bite) and eat tiny bites (m&m, pea sized, etc) and eat our dense protein (meat) first.  What we don't want to happen is for the food to be too big to pass through the stoma AT ALL, then you are truly stuck.  The dense protein passes through slowly and getting the pouch just full enough activates the vagus nerve which sends a signal to our brain that we are full.  This is what keeps us from feeling hungry for up to 4 hours on a small meal.  A huge misconception about the band is that it stops you from eating too much...that is not it's intended purpose.  When we eat properly and we have our band adjusted properly our band will keep us from being hungry between meals.

Starting from the bottom to the top .. morning tightness is common, especially for women because of the morning bloat (whatever that is  ). You may also want to try drinking something warm to loosen your throat (remember to follow your Doctor's rule concerning drinking before eating)

When I eat, I (A) cut the food into a size you would be an infant (B) chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew (notice it's over 30 times) before swallowing (C) wait one full minute in between each time you put a piece of food in your mouth. I eat with a stopwatch, even to this day (D) make the meal last 30 minutes.