SATIETY

The first effect of adding fluid is that you will feel less hungry.

You acquire a feeling of satiety, which is another way of saying that you are not hungry or have no appetite for food.

This is the more important of the two effects and is the principal reason why the band works so well. For many of our patients, it will be the first time in their life when they can remember not feeling hungry. They are not thinking about food. They are not looking to eat and they can go for many hours without eating because they simply don’t have any interest in food.

This feeling of satiety will enable you to stick to the rule of not having more than three meals per day. We don’t mind if you have less than three meals per day but we do not want you to eat more than three times. Not even a biscuit or a piece of fruit. If, after an adjustment, you find that you are still looking for a snack between meals or even feeling hungry, tell us and we can add more fluid. This is one of the important markers to us that you need more fluid.

SATAITION

The second effect of adjustment is to give you a feeling that you have eaten enough, after taking only a small amount of food.

This is called satiation, a sense of being satisfied by the amount of food you have eaten.

If the amount of fluid added is optimal, you will eat only a small amount and be comfortable. We want you to stop eating at that point. Do not go on and eat until you feel full. By then you will have eaten too much. Eat just enough to take away any feeling of hunger and then stop.

To achieve satiation, you must eat slowly. The signals from the stomach to the brain tell you have eaten enough pass only slowly. How often do you recall feeling like an extra serve of some nice food, eating it, and then, 20 minutes later, regretting that you ate the bit as you now feel too full. It takes 10 to 15 minutes for the feeling of satiation to become clear. We really don’t want you to ever get that full feeling. For a start, it means you are eating too much and if you keep doing it you will stretch the new “mini” stomach, which will get larger as a consequence and then we may have a problem. And you will not be losing the weight you want to lose. Two bad outcomes from eating too much, from eating to fullness rather than to the point of not being hungry.