bambam31

Sorry... I am way behind on LBT... Life sure gets busy... Interesting information if you research fat loss and leptin levels. That "cheat" meal or day (depending on where you are in the journey) will replenish leptin and help keep your body burning fat. Continuous low calorie approaches crash leptin levels. Once again... how many people do we encounter here who eat 800 - 1200 calories a day but the fat loss stalls... It's not a secret why, but breaking out of that cycle is very hard pschologically because what it takes seems self defeating (eating carb rich food). Anyway... For me anything above 3000 calories is a high calorie day. For awhile now I've been eating 3 days low calorie (for me about 1500-2000) followed by a recovery day (3000+) BUT... I workout religiously... If you try this without sufficient exercise - you'll induce disaster. But quite honestly if you try to do this journey without sufficient exercise, you'll never get even remotely close to your maximum potential. Good Luck! Brad

The key to losing fat - (I say fat because even muscle loss = weight loss and who wants to lose muscle?) is understanding and applying the energy balance PLUS understanding how your body uses food as fuel and how those fuels differ (carbs, fats, proteins, alcohol). Your body has a strong will to survive. It will not voluntarily give up its' fat stores. You have to coax and burn them off. You do this by creating a calorie deficit created by BOTH exercise and reduced food intake. Creating this deficit by intake alone will not take an obese person down to a healthy body fat percentage - at best, it will create a skinny fat person. Calories In Vs. Calories Out is a bit too simplistic. 1000 calories of cotton candy and 1000 calories of skinless chicken breast are profoundly different. The difference in insulin response alone (not to mention other body chemistry) is huge! All calories are not equal. Ponder this... "Joe" eats 1000 calories a day, day after day. He needs to lose 100 pounds. This low calorie diet gives him a deficit of 2000 calories a day. By this calculation he should be able to completely lose his excess body weight in 175-200 days....(Bet he doesn't)... But what if he continues this trend for several years? Does he completely disappear? Of course not. Because it's not just about calories in/calories out - it's about managing your metabolism via your energy balance. I eat 1000 calories some days - I eat over 3000 other days. I still have challenging food demons, but I manage them. If I'm going to eat cheat foods, I do so on planned high calorie days. By cycling calories this way - combined with a challenging exercise schedule consisting of both strength and cardiovascular training - I keep my metabolism white hot. My body fat percentage continues to fall, while the scale stays relatively stable (small lean muscle tissue gains). This lifestyle allows fat loss on calorie deficit days and muscle gains on calorie surplus days. There are several scenarios of posts on LBT that leave me grumbling... One of them is very low calorie diets. People who eat very low calories (600-1000) love the weight loss they initially see. But how much of that weight is lost muscle? Your body is a machine. If it's being starved is it going to give up metabolically active lean muscle tissue which is high maintenance to keep - or fat stores which costs next to nothing to maintain? Some of both, but the ratio is going to tip toward the lean muscle tissue. As muscle tissues decline, your body adjusts it's metabolism in a fight to avoid starvation, the weight loss slows and then comes the unavoidable - yet easily predicted plateau. They havn't lost weight in months, but hey, plateau's are normal right? No... they aren't normal - they mean your body has adjusted your metabolism accordingly to try to stave off starvation. It won't give up without a fight. But their doctor prescribed the 800 calorie low carb diet, so that must not be it... :rolleyes2: Here's another one... I've read a lot of posts where people are eating 1000 calories and gaining weight and they try to suggest it's muscle gains... Not a chance... It is physiologically impossible to maintain that large of a calorie deficit and gain muscle tissue, which actually requires a calorie surplus. One person is starving themselves eating 800 low carb calories a day, while at the same time I sit here on a high calorie day snacking on Peanut M&M's dipped in peanut butter. "So Brad, if your so damned smart and think this is so easy, then why did you get so fat you needed WLS?" Because I didn't understand the energy balance and how my body used fuel and how those fuel types differ - BUT now I do... And I want everyone else to know too... It may be simple - but it isn't easy... The band is a great tool to help you achieve your goals. Your body is a wonderful efficient machine when properly understood. Fuel it appropriately and it will reward you! Good Luck! Brad

Congrats on your progress! It's very rewarding when a plan yields great results! Calorie counting does work and having a long term strategy for managing those calories works even better! Brad

Many, if not most, banded people go through a period where they keep getting fills and end up with a band far tighter than is necessary or optimal. It's the thought process that if reduced food intake is good - then even less food must be better. We label food as the enemy and at times are scared to even eat. Some even end up on the extreme end of the scale and cinch their band to the point that they can't even get liquids or their own saliva to pass through the band. What people don't realize is they are setting themselves up. A person who eats very low calorie day after day after day will eventually stop losing because your body will adjust your metabolism for survival. You literally end up at the point where someone eating three times as much as you is actually losing three times as much as you... Most newly banded people poorly understand their body - which is what got most of us here in the first place. This thing is a journey and it sounds like your gf is struggling through one of the tough spots. It's very important to get a solid understanding of what's necessary to lose fat, retain lean muscle tissue, and how the band fits into that equation. Brad

I've used BSN No Explode and Labrada Super Charge Extreme. Personally, I think these (and similar products) are overhyped and WAY overpriced - just as most supplements are. I spend most of my supplement money on nutrition rather than alleged performance enhancers. Brad

So long as you aren't entering a calorie surplus I find it's better to spread your calories throughout the day rather than all at two or three sittings. Brad

What I mean by learning your energy balance is effectively determining how many calories you are burning in a given period of time (Basal rate, exercise, lifestyle choices, etc combined) vs. your calorie intake over the same period of time. For example, look at a week at a time, rather than every individual day. Over the course of 7 days try to have some low calorie days and a high calorie day. You want a long term calorie deficit but not a set number day after day. Try cycling calories as well as carbs and see what you get for results. Tweak the numbers to achieve optimal results. Brad

Wal Mart sells Body Fortress brand Protein shots. They taste awful but are a quick way to get more than 20 grams of fast absorbing protein (Whey). A box of six is around 10 bucks... Brad

My approach is to eat as much as you possibly can while still achieving your fat loss goals. After all, why would anyone choose to unnecessarily deprive themself? Any bandster with decent restriction - who has religiously journaled all of their micro and macronutrients - knows how difficult it is to meet your daily nutrition needs. Trying to do so on a couple of itty bitty meals day after day will without question leave you essential nutrient deficient. Vitamin deficiency can cause a whole host of long term problems - even though the person has the ability to lose the weight they want. Most doctors will also suggest you steer clear of processed foods - and you should. But they don't hesitate to recommend mulit Vitamins. Multi vitamins are just processed micronutrients. There is so much conflicting information regarding multi vitamins along with their absorbtion and bioavailability. Personally, I try to keep liquid nutrition to a minimum, but it has it's place - even in a well planned nutrition program. What you're missing out on with liquid food choices is the thermodynamics of the solid food. Your body has to work and expend calories to break down and convert the solid food to fuel. Likewise with juices. When you consume juice instead of the whole product you miss out on valuable Fiber and phytonutrients - yet usually end up consuming most of the sugars. Finally, I completely agree that most people make it a harder process than it needs to be. Learn your energy balance (which must include sufficient exercise) while ensuring you are providing your body with adequate nutrition is really all there is to it. Problem is, most of us had no idea what any of that was going into the process - or the ranks of the banded would be drastically reduced to begin with.... Brad

In late November I completed a 17 week period of food journaling in Fitday. I like to do that from time to time to keep an eye on how I'm doing. My fat intake averaged 108g a day for 34% overall intake from fat, but only 10% of that was saturated. Avg. calorie intake was 2,886 with 320g of carbs and 165g of Protein. Brad

I am a grazer... I eat small amounts all day long - it helps keep metabolism burning instead of smoldering and also helps avoid big spikes/valleys in body chemistry. I only eat an organized full sit down meal once or twice a day. If we could only find a way to reverse the process so the band was it's loosest in the morning and tightest in the evening...

Good advice from Bob. No two people are the same. Everyone's activity level (calorie export) is different. No two people doing the exact same activity for the exact same amount of time are going to burn the exact same number of calories. They are ballpark figures... Add to that the fact that everyone's body chemistry is different. Let's say two people eat 50 grams of white potato. The body chemistry response will not be exactly the same. However, that being said, the basic principles are the same. And it's those principles that we need to learn. Once we determine how our individual body reacts to input, we make adjustments to manipulate the results. It can take a fair amount of trial and error and almost always garners an equal or larger amount of frustration. But once you learn your body and it's energy balance - the light bulb will come on - and the fat will come off... Stay focused! Brad

Unfortunately there's only so much you can do to get your skin to tighten up. You certainly have age on your side! You'll maximize your chances by significant exercise, hydration (inside and out), and plenty of sleep. Brad

There's mean people everywhere and of every size. Don't let those people stand in your way to success - use it as motivation! Brad

Good replies! This sensation is DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness)... It's a normal and good thing - as you progress this sensation will become harder and harder to achieve. Brad

There will forever be good days and bad days - must never lose focus on the energy balance. Brad

Loud!!!! Brad

This is about a lifestyle change - not how little we can eat. Don't you wish you had a nickel every time you read or heard, "the band is just a tool." The solid fact, however, is that the band is just a tool. It is not - no was ever - meant to completely replace all will power, exercise, or making good food choices. The key to success relies on making a lifestyle change which includes sufficient exercise and learning your energy balance. Low calorie diets just don't work long term. They'll give you short term results (even excellent at the outset) but long term plateau's and a sluggish metabolism. Periodically, just to keep myself honest, I measure all food intake and exercise export. Over the past 6 weeks, I'm averaging over 2,900 calories a day intake (yes, with a band) while at the same time burning on avg. 2200 calories a week in dedicated exercise. Good luck! Brad

I drink Muscle Milk from time to time, but regularly use other supplements because it is so $$$. It was high on the metals list but so long as you're not drinking three a day most days of the week I wouldn't freak out about it. Brad

Sounds like you are achieving great results Bob! Keep up the hard work! And yes, the scale is only one measure of progress - and likely not the best one! A lower measure of body fat is always better than a lower scale number. I agree with your PA that you should fill the gap on your meal plan. Your body has gone all night without amino acids so refueling in the morning is very important to protect your lean muscle tissue. This becomes more of a concern the deeper you go into the journey. When starting off it is less likely to lose lean tissues, however, the closer you are to goal the more of a concern it becomes - as very well explained by Tom Venuto in his recent book "Holy Grail of Body Transformation." Most banded people experience heaviest restriction in the morning, and this eases as the day wears on. Unfortunately, that early day significant restriction greatly reduces the variety of tolerated foods. That is why I tend to supplement with Protein powders during the first part of the day. Good luck and keep up the hard work! Brad