We often talk about the sweet spot, and one of our blog readers recently asked about it. In baseball the sweet spot refers to that spot on the bat upon which you hit the ball there is virtually no resistance or vibration of the bat.
In the Lap Band what we consider the ‘sweet spot’ is the ideal fill. If I had to think about a perfect sweet spot I’d have to tell you about a patient. One of our patients was 66 years old when he had his Lap Band surgery. Over the course of the first 9 months he lost over 90 pounds! But he was confused and every time we saw him he would say “Doc my Lap Band must be broken. I don’t feel restriction, I can eat what I want, and I never have food come back up.”
That is the perfect sweet spot. The Lap Band was adjusted to the point that he felt control of his hunger and was able to control his eating portion size, but he had no significant restriction preventing him from eating any particular food nor did he ever have any regurgitation of food.
Many people who had lap band surgery find the sweet spot elusive and some people end up with a fill greater than they need because they rely on the Lap Band for restriction rather than hunger control.
If you are having a tough time keeping many foods down or having more than a small number of PBs (productive burps) you might be too tight and need some fluid taken it.
To summarize, the Lap Band is meant to help you with hunger control. By limiting the amount of food you eat with smaller portions, you can reduce your caloric intake, and lose weight.
14. February 2008 at 6:15 pm
This is an excellent post! I hope you don’t mind that I cross posted it to my own personal blog and to my lap band Yahoo! group, Smarter Bandsters. This has been my exact experience with my adjustments since my surgery last March, but hearing so many people talk about “not having restriction” and about how frequently they vomit or “PB” sometimes made me wonder if I was not “tight” enough. Not so! And I continue to lose weight (about 1 lb/week) so this helped reassure me that things are going as they should.
I’d like to encourage you to keep blogging as you are able. There is limited information on the web from actual bariatric surgeons, although there is a lot of misinformation to be found on message boards (which I do think have their place, and do help me a lot—but people definitely pass along their misconceptions to unsuspecting readers). It sounds like your practice is busy and successful and you care about your patients and their success. Best of luck to you and I hope to continue reading posts on your blog!
24. March 2008 at 6:11 pm
I get it now. I have read this but it didnt sink in. I was too restricted !!!
14. May 2008 at 7:45 am
I have a question? I am new from Jan. Can you stretch your “new stomach”? And will it go back to samll again? I was tight for a while and felt full after eating a small portion. But now it seems I can eat more as I am really famished. I have had cortisone injections in my back for pain, will this cause an increase of my hunger? My will power seems to have left me the past 4 weeks. Thank You!
6. June 2008 at 8:54 am
M.P. surgery date April 30th,2008
22. October 2008 at 7:19 pm
I need help? Since my surgery (5 days ago) my main problem has been very painful gas in my chest that WILL NOT go away. I’ve been drinking water, walking alot, taking gasx strips, and glycerin suppositories. Nothing is helping. In fact, it’s getting worse. It moved up to my shoulders and into my back today. I am in soooo much pain! Any suggestions?????
1. July 2010 at 1:06 pm
I AM SO DISCOURAGED!!!! I have gained 8 pds, I had surgery 3yrs, lost 80 pds, which I thought I would have lost much more then that, and to top it off I have gain 8 pounds. I know a lack of exercise is part of my problem, but I have a bad knee so exercise very challenging for me, plus I live in Ohio and in the winter sometimes you can’t get out to walk or go to a gym, I would love tobe able to buy a tredmile or the new arm shaker, but I am on a fixed income and can’t afford to go to a gym or buy equipment to excercise. I have gained 8 pds and right now I want to cry, because I still need to lose like 70 pds and I feel I am never going to make it. I need all the help I can get the walk dvd I would truly appreciate. Sincerely Discourages
1. July 2010 at 9:36 pm
I recommend 2 things.
First, check out the amount of calories you are bringing in. Keep a COMPLETE food journal. Write down, everything you eat or drink. At the end of the day, figure out how many calories you brought in. For many people, a range of 1200 – 1600 calories of daily intake is appropriate for weight loss, but consult with your individual doctor.
Secondly, you can always exercise at home. Get some dumbbells or exercise bands. THose are not very expensive at all. Any kind of resistance training is worthwhile and helpful.
By the way, that arm shaker is a ^@^#%@ scam. Please don’t get it.
Don’t give up. But take responsibility. If you don’t watch what you eat and you don’t exercise, don’t expect success.
27. July 2010 at 7:02 pm
I had a fill and I felt the restriction then all of a sudden no restriction at all. I just had a fill 2 weeks ago.
28. July 2010 at 8:49 pm
For some people it takes many fills until they hit their sweet spot. You might simply need one or more fills.
Thanks for your comment!
28. July 2010 at 9:16 pm
What I meant was my fill was too tight because I could not keep nothing down including liquids. Then one day I felt good hardly any restriction at all. The advice I got is go back to my Dr. and have liquid taken out so the band will go where it is suppose to. My restriction is fine now . Do you think I should get more liquid out ?
28. July 2010 at 9:27 pm
Many Lap Band doctors believe that a good test to ensure you don’t have excessive restriction is the following: You should be able to eat 4 ounces of protein such as meat fish or chicken, with a small serving of vegetables.
Keep a food log of what you are eating and bring that with you when you go talk to your doctor. Together you can work out whether or not your restriction is excessive.