Acadia

A 150 lbs moderately active woman in her 30s needs around 1,800 calories to maintain her weight. I, at 237 lbs and consider myself lightly active (I prefer to underestimate), need 1,780 calories to maintain my weight. So at 1,695 / week to lose 2 lbs would mean you're around: 345 lbs if you're sedentary 300 lbs at lightly active 250 lbs if you're moderately active These are all based on a 5'4" height and mid 30s. So let's assume you're 250 lbs and you said you are moderately active, your BMR would be 2,652 (the number of calories to maintain your weight). So yes, Livestrong's calculations are correct. You would take off 1,000 calories a day to lose 2 lbs/week. A side note, I've used their system for two years and have followed their recommendation of 1,300 calories / day to lose between 3-4 lbs a week and it is accurate. Most people overestimate their activity level. To maintain your weight here are the calculations based on your BMR: If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2 If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375 If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55 If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725 If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

The first 4-6 weeks are for healing. Your Dr. would have been rather irresponsible giving you a fill 3 weeks post op. My surgeon won't do a fill until 5-6 weeks post op. Mine is scheduled for February 17th and I had surgery on January 14. As for eating, the band is just a tool. It minimizes the amount of food you can eat - not what you eat. You can continue to eat like crap - or - you can make the conscious decision to eat better and start a new life. Ultimately it's up to you.

TylerAshton: You probably haven't ruined your band. Just retrain yourself - go to liquids for two days, soft for two days, mushies for two days, then regular food - chopped very tiny and chewed well. If you're in pain see your Dr. Every Dr. is different and has a different post-op plan based on their experiences with their patients. I personally was eating Pasta (soft cooked) by day five. As for the comment, "Forget about sleeping on your stomach anymore." that's not true at all. This comes up often on the boards and generally it's about a week after surgery and you can sleep on your side and around day 10-12 you can sleep on your stomach. If you can't after four weeks then you should see your surgeon to find out why. I'm 3.5 weeks post op and have been sleeping on my stomach for a while now, am able to do crunches, push-ups, the plank, yoga, etc. with no issues - have been eating almost normally since the 20th (6 days post op) - including pieces of tofu, pizza, bread, pasta, rice (all lower calorie and whole grain of course). Something to keep in mind - your pouch is about the size of an egg - the stoma (hole) from it into your lower stomach is about the size of a dime. Eat with that in mind and you'll learn to stop eating much sooner before you're too full.

You should be taking extra calcium anyway because you won't be able to digest it as well when you drink it or eat it. As for Iron, go give blood and they'll test your iron level (that's the test when they time a drop of blood falling to the bottom of a tube). That way you're doing something good and finding out if you have low iron or not. If you do, they won't let you donate. If you need to take iron supplements limit them to 1 extended release tablet every 3-4 days. If you take more than that you can get iron poisoning as it will bunch up in your stomach and can poison you.

The band is just a tool that prevents you from gorging. Unless you make the conscious decision to eat better and move more, it won't do anything for you. Start monitoring all of your calories - use something like The Daily Plate. Get a fitness monitor, Fit Bit is $99 and offers online diet tracking and will monitor your activity. Once you see how many calories you're truly consuming and how many you're truly burning you'll see where your issues are.

Some Doctors fill at surgery, some don't. If they do, there are two types of surgical fill: Active Fill - they actually intentionally plunge a certain number of cc/ml in the band, which could be any amount they see fit. This sometimes results in too much restriction initially (when combined with the swelling) and can cause the patient a lot of pain and discomfort and ultimately an un-fill. Passive Fill - the Dr fills a syringe and just inserts it into the port but does not plunge, they let the vacuum of the band pull in the Fluid it wants to become 'stable'. Which is generally around 2cc. This rarely results in too much restriction as the band only pulls in what it needs to lose the strong vacuum. Most Drs will wait until six weeks post op to do your first 'real fill', which gives the stomach enough time to heal, and usually the patient enough time to get used to eating differently - though many people end up eating around their band once they're able to eat solid food. It's like a test of the band. All that said, your nurses should have made sure that you were able to drink at least 1 oz of Water at the hospital before letting you go to make sure there wasn't too much restriction. When in doubt, go to your Dr just as you did

I think you're on the right track with the boxing and weight training facility. You're looking to lose fat, tighten your skin, and gain muscle. That facility is perfect for that. As for being embarrassed, trust me, when you go into a gym no one is looking at you - and if they are they're thinking how great it is that you've made the choice most won't - but generally they're just thinking about themselves and what they're there for. Just think about how psyched everyone there will be as you get more and more into shape! They'll become like a second family except no judgment, just encouragement.

IsAViolinist is correct. It's not just calories in that count. The scale I have (Onrom Body Sensor) tells me, based on my weight, body fat percentage, and skeletal muscle percentage the number of calories I need to sustain my weight, which is currently around 1,789. So, theoretically, if I keep my activity exactly the same, but limit my caloric intake to 1,200 - I'll lose 1 lbs a week. If I increase my activity I can lose a little more, but most exercise burns so few calories that they aren't worth doing if you want major results. Stick with things like boxing, kettlebell swings, or heavy weight lifting for a really dramatic weight change. Doing kettlebell swings, 20 minutes, two times a week (total 40 minutes per week of exercise) I'm able to lose 2.2-3.0 lbs per week. So in those mere 40 minutes I'm pumping my body to the point where it burns an extra 7,000 calories a week. ** Something very important to note, as your body fat percentage goes down and your muscle percentage goes up your BMR (calories required to keep your weight the same) will go up. Muscle needs more calories than fat to survive - not many, but a few extra. That's why people who are really active need thousands of calories per day to fuel themselves (think Michael Phelps and his 12,000 calorie days during heavy training). As for those of you who aren't seeing results and are hitting the gym 5-7x a week. Stop going so much. Seriously. Give yourself at least 24-48 hours between workouts. You can't build muscle unless you give the torn muscle fibers time to heal. If you work out every day you're not giving your body any time to heal. And when you're at the gym, do your heavy weight workout first (if you can do more than 5-8 reps with the weights they're too light), then do your cardio. Also - eat a high Protein meal an hour BEFORE you go to the gym. Your body needs the fuel before, not after. Trust me, you'll see amazing results.

Most gyms will have trainers on site. Talk with each of them. Find one that looks like you want to look (male or female - the body composition is your concern) and ask them for their story. My trainer used to be very overweight, then he started working out and is now the Naturals Body Building Master for the US. That is the type of goal I have so he was ideal for me. I paid for three sessions per week with him and paid for 3-6 months at a time which got a discount from his normal $85/hour to $55/hour. That was through Gold's Gym. He knew what he was doing, worked with me being a vegetarian, and pushed me beyond what I would have done otherwise. If I hadn't been in two car accidents and he hadn't gone Pro and left the gym I would have stayed with him. A trainer will push you where you can't push yourself. My suggestion is get someone who competes in body building or fitness competitions (they will know what a good high Protein diet should be and how to work heavier weights, which are necessary) or a boxer. Boxing gyms will whip you into shape fast and it's a crazy effective work out.

I've been losing between 2.2-3.0 lbs a week. Now that I'm approved to do the heavy weights again I imagine that will increase slightly.

Get to a Doctor. Chest pain is not something to mess with.

I agree with Juliana1. It's about will power. Though some people experience the vagas nerve deadening this is not something you want. It can cause fainting, blood pressure drops, and many more issues. I posted elsewhere on the board why they deliberately try to avoid the vagas nerve. That one nerve branches out and controls the output from every one of your internal organs and so much more. You must make the willful decision to eat better. To eat less. To move more. You'll have bad days where you eat too much. It's up to you to make the realization that you are 100% in charge. The band is just a tool to reduce the amount of food you can contain at any given time. That's it. So if you eat too much and realise it - and you will learn to realise it. Then make a point to cut back on the next couple of meals to a very conscious amount of food or a Protein shake. Something small. And if you need to, weigh yourself daily, doctors don't suggest it but if you see that scale going up you'll learn to make better decisions to avoid seeing a higher number next time. Do what Juliana said and eat high protein Snacks - oatmeal is awesome for this as it's a complete protein and complex carbs and will keep you full for around 4-5 hours. Take it one day at a time. Track everything you can. When you see it written down you won't make some of the decisions you would have made otherwise. You'll get there, but you need to take responsibility. The band will do absolutely nothing for you unless you change your behaviors.

The first four to six weeks are not for losing weight. Some people do, some don't. Now is the time to heal. Start monitoring all of your calories - use something like The Daily Plate. Get a fitness monitor, Fit Bit is $99 and offers online diet tracking and will monitor your activity. Move more and make sure you're not drinking calories. Eating what you're eating at 19 days out is totally normal and acceptable. Though doctors suggest liquids, mushies, soft, then adding foods gradually - you may drive yourself mad sticking to that. Just east sensibly. Two other things to note: Women will gain between 5-10 lbs every month just by biological nature. It comes off a week or so later. After starting back to new foods you may gain 1-10 lbs in Water weight (from the salt content) but you'll lose it within a week. You'll learn that when you eat very clean six days a week then indulge on that seventh day that you can gain anywhere from 5-10 lbs as a woman (men can gain 15-25 lbs) all in water weight. Within a week it's gone and you're likely down an extra pound or two. I hope that helps a bit.

Don't stick to the 1/4 c every 3 hours. That's way too little food. You're almost two weeks out, you should be able to eat almost normally at this point. I'm two weeks out and I can eat 1-1.5 c of food per sitting (depending on the food) and my Dr. approves of this. It's normal nutrition. Ultimately you'll be looking for that amount per meal, 1-1.5 c. Eat when you are hungry, not by the clock. If you are truly hungry - eat. It will prevent you from feeling sick and prevent your sugar from tanking. Eat complex carbs and Protein to keep you fuller longer. Avoid Soups, yogurt, ice cream, Jello, anything that is liquid or liquid like because they'll slip right through. I find that soft cooked Pasta keeps me full for 4-5 hours, potatoes do the same thing (all approved Phase II foods). Soup makes me hungry an hour later. Protein shakes stave me off for about 2 hours. Start tracking your food - the time you eat it too - The Daily Plate is really good for this (there's even an iPhone app) - and that will help you figure out what keeps you fuller for longer so you can eat foods that will help you lose by keeping you full.

Your body fat percentage and muscle percentage will change based on your water intake. If you suddenly notice a 0.5% or greater body fat percentage increase over a single day you aren't drinking enough (when you're dehydrated your BF% will be higher than it really is). If you hydrated well the previous day your readings will be very accurate for a scale. Which is different than caliper readings. But this scale is known to be more accurate than most (e.g. Tanita scales overestimate BF% by as much as 55%) You'll get the most accurate readings first thing in the morning after urinating and totally nude. When used in combination (Weight Lost / BF% / SM% / VBF%) you'll get a very accurate reading of how you're doing. If you do get this scale send me a PM and I'll send you a custom Excel Spreadsheet I've made that tracks all of the variables and graphs them month by month.

I'm two weeks out and my stomach gurgles and growls to the point where anyone around me can hear it. I've woken up starving to the point where I felt sick and had to eat something to help my stomach stop (I keep Muscle Milk around for this reason). For me I've learned that small Pasta shells (whole grain) chewed well stay in both stomach parts better and keep me full longer. Potato works as well. If I eat soup though I don't get as full - unless it's something like potato soup with chunks of potato or smashed tomato soup with whole grain crackers. Something that takes time to digest. pudding, yogurt, anything like that will slip right through the stoma into your large stomach. You may want to start writing down how you feel after you eat each food and start to increase the foods that keep you fuller longer. Drinking before (up to 15 minutes prior), during, or after (up to 30 minutes after) or eating soft foods (sliders) will help you empty your pouch much faster so try to avoid any liquids (anything you could eat during your liquid or mushy phases) for 15 minutes prior and 30 minutes after.

You may get some very extreme gas pains. Laying down will help. Using a hot pack or heating pad/bottle will help. It's normal. But if you have trouble breathing go to the ER or call your Dr. Don't risk it.

Get your fills under fluoroscopy - your insurance should cover that. It will show your band's exact position. And insist that you drink a full cup of Water after your fill to make sure you can get it -- and keep it -- down. Inconvenience the Dr. if you have to - it's about your health! If possible, find another Doctor. You are 100% entitled to a copy of ALL of your medical records per HIPAA, get a copy of everything and go to someone else. Explain your situation and the new Dr. should be sympathetic.

That is very wrong. You cannot consume 1,200 calories in 1.5 cups of food per day. You should be trying for 1-1.5 cups per meal and a minimum of 1,200 calories. If you start working out using heavy weights (5-8 reps per set) you'll want to increase your calories accordingly. Your Dr is nuts if he thinks that 0.5 c of food three times a day is sufficient. You'll lose weight but you'll also consume muscle mass so your body can actually function.

Use a cold compress (dry or wet). It will short circuit the nerves and stop the itch.

I weigh myself daily with the Omron Full Body Sensor Body Fat and Body Composition Monitor scale. A big name for a scale that tells you your: weight, BMI, body fat percentage, skeletal muscle percentage, basal metabolic rate (calories you need to maintain your current weight), body age, and visceral fat percentage. I weight myself daily and monitor all of those things because it helps me to know if (a) I'm drinking enough Water ( I'm overindulging © if I'm experiencing my normal monthly fluctuation (d) if I'm building more muscle. It may not be a good idea for some people but for me it helps keep me on track and reminds me to eat properly and move more so I can see the scale reflect my efforts (more with the body fat percentage and skeletal muscle percentage).

Something to note - your normal temp may actually be 99 so you might not be running a fever. I know someone who has a normal daily temp of nearly 100. Until she tracked it for several days she didn't know that was her normal temp and people always thought she was sick. Monitor your temp several times a day for several days and see if that's your norm. You may also want to call your doctor's office and ask them what your temps have been when you've been there.

At four weeks post you may not be able to consume enough solid Protein (meat protein contributes to kidney stones - vegetable and soy Proteins don't) so either supplement with whey shakes or eat things like oatmeal (awesome source of protein). You truly do not need 60+ grams of protein per day unless you're still healing (you're at the end of that) or working out heavily (heavy weights - 5-8 reps before failure). You're safe to drop down to 20-30 grams a day for most of the weeks, which you should be able to get easily through the food you eat. Keep track of what you're eating in something like The Daily Plate as it will calculate protein even in fruits and vegetables. Stick with complex carbs with protein (like oatmeal, fruits, vegetables, Beans, legumes) and avoid meat proteins as they will exacerbate the issue. Also - if you're taking Vitamin C or Calcium, back off for a bit. They too cause kidney stones.

I had surgery on the 14th, was still sore and only able to sleep on my back until the 24th, then I was able to sleep on my side, and around the 27th (yesterday) my stomach. No pain now, two weeks out.

Bella Luna has the right idea. Spike your calories to around 1600 for one day and see if that jump starts things. It sounds counter intuitive but it will jump start your metabolism into burning again. Unless you're weight lifting as well, chances are you're burning muscle and your body is in starvation mode and is holding onto the calories you eat. You may need to get your body fat percentage and muscle percentage checked to verify.