The band can take as long as 6 months to work – depending on your provider and how often band adjustments are carried out, it can take as many as 4-6 adjustments over the first 6 months to get the band optimally adjusted – that means to get the right amount of fluid in there to help with your portion sizes and hunger.
Everyone is different and the amount of fluid in the band is actually irrelevant – some people could have a few mls and its working fine, others may find that they need a lot more fluid to make the difference. It is based on how hungry you are, your weight loss and what size your portions are.
Once you get back onto a normal diet, the key to the band's success is to eat textured foods and follow a special way of eating – the 20+ rule. In short you need hard, dry, solid or crunchy foods and they need to be chewed thoroughly and eaten slowly.
The more you work with your band, the better your results will be – the healthier you eat and the more you exercise, then the better the results! Learning to not snack too often, having lots of water and taking your vitamins every day will help too.
Transform can help you with all of this – you can read all of our articles and advice to keep you on track, follow our activity guidelines, log your weight each week and talk to like minded friends - ask advice and opinions. Expert advice from Sue and Nic is also on hand.
