I'll be totally honest with you...I had horrible eating habits when I got the band. After the band I tried really, really hard to follow doctors orders and failed miserably. The 21 day liquid diet lasted 2 days for me. I did everything possible to sabotage myself. I read books (Dr. Ortiz' book is great), prayed, cried, etc. I really thought that I wasted my money and failed again at losing weight. What I didn't realize was that the band will not have any affect until it is filled. The first fill comes around the 6 week mark. I asked for an aggressive fill and got 3.5cc. That fill did nothing for me. I really questioned myself at that point. I actually thought that I would be one of the failures with the band. I immediately made another appointment for a fill. 3 weeks later I got another 3.5cc's for a total of 7cc's. That was the magic number for me. Now I see what the fuss is all about. I have restriction and am finally losing weight. I just needed a fill and a kick in the pants. The kick comes from the restriction. If you over-eat, you'll pay and then you'll learn how to eat right. I'm on track now, but it was not instantaneous and not immediate.
To sum it up...you'll have to be proactive and aggressive on your fills because the band alone will not help you. Drinking your calories will definitely screw up your efforts to lose the weight. Eating ice-cream and other junk foods will also inhibit your weight loss. Stay away from those things and eat only solid foods. With a good fill the solids will be enough to satiate you.
Good luck