bambam31

There are a lot of good materials to learn about energy balance... I really prefer an ebook from Tom Venuto called "Burn the Fat... Feed the Muscle"... It's an easy read and very educational...

IMHO stay away from fruit juices. They have too many concentrated sugars and are counter productive to fat loss potential. Fruit is good but if you are trying to lose fat eat it in its' whole form.

No two people are identical in energy needs. We all must learn and navigate our individual energy balance. Sure we all have micro issues, however, the band does not alter the physics of the macro issue which is calories in Vs calories out... Eat too much and you won't lose or worse gain - eat too little and you'll crash your metabolism and get the same result...

Everyone's journey to sufficient restriction is different - mine was 5 fills. Until you reach that spot its' pure will power and determination that drives the bus. Even after restriction it takes an extraordinary amount of determination to stay on track. Do not allow yourself to eat a big plate of food! Eat a small amount and walk away. I gave up eating "meals." Instead, I literally eat all day long - just small amounts. Effectively, I've become a "grazer" which has its pros and cons dependent on your lifestyle and schedule. Evenly spreading your calories out rather than clumping them together is superior for your metabolism, bodily chemical balances, etc. Be patient, determined, energetic, and you'll be in the driver's seat soon. Brad

IMO rest is a macro requirement, however, unless you're extremely physically exhausted and having significant muscle discomfort from the activity then I wouldn't take a rest day from walking alone. When you build enough endurance and engage in more strenuous activities that are pushing muscles to the point of failure then absolutely you want to incorporate rest days to allow for sufficient recovery. Brad

One important thing I think people need to remember regarding Protein powders. They are not a miracle of any sort - they are only liquid food - nothing more - nothing less. Food is best eaten in its' whole form. But sometimes - especially in the morning (unfortunately when our bodies are quite catabolic) - we have a hard time getting all of the nutrition we need through solid food - and that's where protein powders can make up the difference. Brad

I would discuss the best diet and exercise routine with your surgeon and follow that plan. However, to achieve your maximum potential you will have to get sufficient exercise. I just wouldn't want to push much while healing. Let your body focus on that first and foremost. Nonetheless, I'm wholeheartedly in the camp that low calorie diets are an awful way to treat your body and down right self destructive. Brad

There are a lot of TDEE calculators online such as this one.... http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html .... You can do an internet engine search and find quite a few.... Brad

This is calorie cycling. It is a VERY effective method for fat loss when combined with exercise. The same cycling can be done with carbohydrate. I have used calorie cycling for quite some time... It is a tried and true method used by body builders in a cutting phase... You just have to be careful not to push the deficit too hard or you'll be at risk for also losing a higher percentage of lean muscle tissue along with the fat - and that is counterproductive long term. Losing lean muscle tissue will also make the scale go down - so a decreasing scale number alone is not a good measure. Brad

Good Job Teresa! An hour of Zumba is definitely in the "a lot" category! Zumba is tough and burns lots of calories! You would have to run the calculators with your specifics to know for sure, but I bet you are still pushing a significant deficit on those days even at 1600 calories. Keep up the hard work and thanks for the kind words. As for the doctors, I think if nothing else there is just a big disconnect. It's one thing to read literature and preach... It's another to live the experience. Shedding body fat is very hard work. Last numbers I saw was that patients lose on average 60% of excess body fat with the Lap Band... Maybe that is acceptable to some - but not me... I didn't get cut on to lose 60%... I made up my mind nothing less than 100% was acceptable... And even 4 years out I'm still slowly stripping body fat... The last portion of it is very difficult to get rid of and a very slow process... Brad

A drop in calories that low will yield some results initially. But there is no way to avoid long term nutritional deficiencies on that few calories. Health isn't 100% about fat loss. Everyone is always fast to blame too many calories for the reason they stall out or aren't losing. It makes us afraid to eat. The real answer is to success is normally the opposite approach... Increase activity level while very slowly increasing calorie intake. Once your metabolism is more energized the fat will start coming off again. Brad

It drives me batty seeing all of the posts on LBT using body variations as a crutch... Yes, everyone's body is different - A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT... not elephant Vs. mouse different though... We all still have human bodies - and no human body is best operated at 800 calories while getting sufficient exercise... And no human body operates efficiently without any exercise. The only people that get a pass on that are those bedridden or have such a debilitating disease that there are NO muscle groups unaffected. If that's not you - then you must exercise or you will not reach your full potential. Why would anyone accept less than their full potential? We are all muscle bearing - and muscles need exercised. It's just the ugly truth that many obese or unmotivated people don't want to hear... And that at one time was a fair description of me - I was obese - I was unmotivated - I didn't understand how the human body was properly fueled or used fuel. But with a lot of hard work, research, and real life trial and error I learned. And I hope that with a reality slap I drag a lot of people with me, because every day life is so much better. It takes a lot of food and a variety of food to get optimal nutrition (Macro and Micro nutrients) I am convinced that doctors are telling people to eat so few calories because they know that even though they tell the patient to exercise - they aren't going to. So hopefully with that little intake it's their only hope that the patient will lose some weight and get motivated before they completely crash and stall out. The bottom line is the truth aint always pretty peeps... Brad

These numbers are likely about where you want to be if you are exercising "a lot"... Of course everyone's definition of exercising "a lot" is going to vary but you should eat more on days of most intense exercise. I would run some calculations before seeking a fill. Eating too few calories will snuff out or at a minimum inhibit your metabolic potential. Kudos to you for getting good exercise! It will carry you a long ways on your journey! Brad

If you eat 687 calories a day you will most certainly develop long term problems... Unless a person is bedridden or has a debilitating disease I can't for the life of me justify eating less than 1200 calories a day and at least exercising lightly and building onward and upward from that point. Brad

If you are increasing calories do it SLOWLY... I wouldn't increase more than 100-200 every 5 days or so... Successful long term fat loss needs to be managed from both sides of the fence (calorie intake and activity export) ... If you are exercising sufficiently and maintaining a calorie deficit you aren't going to gain fat. Your lean body tissue may hang on to more fluids and scale readings typically variate so it is possible to show a gain. Odds are, however, that if you are truly in a decent calorie deficit those gains are not fat gains nor muscle gains but Fluid gains. It's always important to drink copious amounts of fluids, especially Water. In time your body will release those excess fluids and you'll see a quick drop on the scale. It's not at all uncommon to, from time to time, see a 5-10 pound drop from one week to the next. These quick drops are also fluid related. Every pound you gain or lose is going to be a percentage of fat, lean tissue, and fluids. We just want to keep that percentage as focused on fat loss as possible. It takes about a 3500 calorie deficit to burn a true pound of fat. Brad

You have made it to Bandster Hell!!!! Welcome! Most all of us were there and for me it was also exactly 5 days post op. Until you get fills it aint going away... This is the period where any fat loss is gonna come from will power only. Its tough - but I assure you it gets much much much better! Hang in there and do some searches on LBT for bandster hell. Unfortunately, major parts of the band journey aren't explained at the outset so people don't truly know what to expect.... Brad

I prefer 4-6 days of cardio ... about 40 minutes a session, while continually challenging yourself. As things get easier - up the intensity - but no need to increase the duration. If you're exercising hard enough then 40 minutes is plenty and your muscles need time for recovery. Add in 1-2 full body strength training sessions a week and you should be good... I highly recommend a heart rate monitor to be certain your exercise is of sufficient intensity and allows you to more accurately track calories burned. Brad

My fitness pal... FitDay... Etc... I would pack your own meals rather than eating overprocessed stuff... Brad

That is a new one! Bizarre calculation indeed...

At this point I would probably turn to a calorie tracking program for awhile until you are able to roughly calculate macro nutrients in different food choices. Exercise sufficiently and create an alternating 500-750 calorie deficit. I think that would be a good starting point.

The term starvation mode is misleading and people use the term to describe totally different things. When relating to eating very low calorie diets I think a better description is that it creates a dysfunctional or depressed metabolism. As auntielle indicated, someone with a depressed metabolism can't rely on calculations by programs such as MFP or FitDay because they just aren't accurate. Their bodies have slowed down and their metabolism is depressed to the point they don't burn anywhere near the calories those programs calculate. (Another arbitrary calculation are the ones from fitness equipment - they are in some cases not even close to a ballpark figure) ... The way to fight against a depressed metabolism is to increase activities - especially dedicated exercise, while at the same time slowly increasing caloric intake. It's like taking a turbine from a slow lethargic revolution and adding the jet fuel to it. There seems to be the lack of LBT posters who indicate "I lost 100% of my excess body fat while eating 1000 calories a day with no exercise and wow is my skin tight and firm." Kinda sounds like a lot of infomercials that are too good to be true - and that's because it is. As far as Anorexic's, lets not confuse people who are having difficulty losing fat to people who are typically already underweight and force their body to remain in a catabolic state. People with Anorexia Nervosa are on the extreme side of calorie restriction, but in addition have a high incidence of comorbidities which complicate their situation. Anerexia also has a mental illness component so it's comparing apples to oranges. Brad

I agree with much of what Jacqui said. No doubt your body doesn't recognize intake/export based on our schedule. There is no midnight reset button. And in the grand scheme of things it does boil down to calories in versus calories out. Thats the macro issue but there certainly are many micro issues that stem from that. Not every calorie is equal in the sense of hormonal response. 100 calories of chicken breast is not going to generate the same insulin response as 100 calories of white sugar. Hence the term we are what we eat... No two people have the same genetic makeup, metabolism, or activity level. Those are what determine how many calories you should be eating in order to lose fat. Ideally, we want to be able to consume a cornicopia of nutrients to nourish our bodies - so ideally we want to consume as many calories and food choices as we can - while still achieving adequate fat loss. That requires an in-tune optimized metabolism - and that won't be achieved eating less than 1000 calories and not exercising. Brad

You should see the look on some peoples faces when they look at it and you say "hey - wanna feel my port?" :lol: :lol: Brad

No doubt you can "lose weight" without exercise... But will you have the same body composition? No way! Will you be as healthy? No way! Are you gonna look as good in front of the mirror? Assuredly not! If we're going to great lengths like surgery to accomplish our goal, then lets tip that scale as far in our favor as we can. Brad

@says_simon... Any exercise is better than none. Start out doing what you can and increase intensity - not necessarily duration - if/when it becomes easier... The most important thing is that you are continually increasing the challenge. If your lower body limits you, try to do as much upper body work as you can to fill the gap. Brad