Your Gastric Band is a tool that will help you lose weight and maintain a happier, healthier lifestyle. The key to any success is understanding how it works and the things you can do to make it more effective for yourself. When you attend for adjustments it is likely you will be shown a zone chart by the adjustor. This is a useful tool and helps you gauge where you are in the adjustment process.
The Yellow Zone
You are in the yellow zone if the band has not had enough fluid in it. Everyone is in this zone after the placement of the band. Directly after surgery, the band is already primed with a small amount of fluid, but the first clinical fill will be after the six weeks healing and recovery phase. There is too much space within the band for food to pass through and you will still get hungry and look for food between meals. There is also the temptation for continuing to eat larger portions from a larger plate.
You may have no weight loss or it may not be as rapid as you would like. This is common in the first few weeks after the placement of the band. The aim of the first adjustments is to get you out of the yellow zone and into the green zone which I will talk about in the next blog.
