Placebo effect with band?

HA!  Nancy, I love this!!!!  Awesome analogies!

I think that without the fills (but with the band) that I think your head can make you eat less.  I was afraid to eat too much that first 6 weeks so I never ate even a cup of food at a time, I 'd stay less than that.  So I did well with my loss that way.   But without the band(even if you thought you had one) it wouldn't work.  You'd get to a point that you eat more...maybe 1 cup...then you know you can eat more and eat 1.5 cups...then you eat more and end up eating a plateful like you used to.  You'd have nothing to stop you from taking another serving of food. You physically feel the restriction when you eat and that's why the band(with fills) helps us to eat less.  Because you KNOW that the next bite will hurt.  Without a band or fills, it doesn't hurt.  It's incompareable the way it feels when you've eaten too much with a filled band. Just like if you try to eat like a bandster...but aren't banded yet.  Chances are most cannot do it for too many days because you know that you can eat more.

I agree with both sides.  I think the placebo effect CAN happen; and people can actually feel true restriction maybe without any fills.  We're all so different its impossible to know which is which.  Its definitely possible to eat a lot less b/c you've been told to and you're scared to hurt the band.... which I think happens to a lot of people before they start getting their fills.  I think the "placebo effect" might wear off as you experience real restriction w/ more and more fills and get more experimental w/ eating a bit more.  I say just go with what's working for you, despite whats causing it!