I feel your pain. :( If your band is very tight (mine is) you literally feel the food squeezing through the band opening and it can be QUITE painful. I've done the same thing with the drinking, I'll have a few small sips of water to help "ease" it through. Don't do that much though as it really sabotages the function of the band. Being too tight can be painful. I'm still battling this issue. If you eat anything at all that is tough, it feels like sandpaper going through and will irritate the hole and can cause swelling & inflammation and making it worse. Then your back on liquids for a few days, slowly easing back into solids, and as soon as you eat a rough food again, the cycle happens again. The key is to either chew everything to absolute mush, or to get the very slight unfill. Right now I'm keeping things very soft, chewing a LOT, and hoping the band will losen as I loose a little more weight. Also, if you are overfilled, people can actually GAIN weight because they are eating real soft, greasy, or liquid foods that go down more easily, but don't remain in the band for a long period of time to create a full feeling. (foods like ice cream, cream of what, shakes, fattening creamy soups)