Ok I am having some problems. I was banded 11/9/09 and have only lost 15 lbs. I am doing everything by the book, only eating about 1000 calories, working out for about an hour 3-4 times a week and taking plenty of time to eat ( about 2 hours to eat a meal). What is going on with me and why am I not dropping the lbs. like everyone else!!!!:w00t:

Are you keeping a food journal? You may think you're taking in a 1000 cal but might be taking in more or even less. Are you drinking your Water & taking your Vitamins daily?

Also, remember, we are all different. Some lose fast and some lose slow.

2 hours to eat? youre going to fit in a lot more food if you take 2 hours. give yourself 30 minutes, anything you can't eat by then is off limits.

are you measuring 2 oz every meal? do you drink your Protein shakes? maybe they are too high calorie and you should switch to another brand.

My .02 is about your workouts. Are you working up a sweat? If not your probably not working hard enough, try to kick it up a notch or 2. Please try not to be discouraged! Good luck!.

I am having a problem this last week too. My weight has been fluctuating from 193 all the way to 201 in a week. I am not eating any more or less than I have been, nor drinking anything that I shouldn't. I don't understand why my weight is doing this. I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem before I call the dr. I have upped my exercise regime for the month of February as I couldn't exercise (Curves) too much for the months of Dec. and Jan. as I had foot surgery, but I maintained my weight at 193 during that time. Also, I couldn't lose any. I don't feel that I am in the green zone yet on my adjustments. :thumbup:

2 hours to eat? I can not imagine. Food journaling is a great tool. Also, are you drinking water consistently all day?

I don't work up at sweat when I exercise to lose weight. My stepson (the coach with a masters degree in athletics) said to burn fat work out at 65% of your resting heart rate. This is best done on the treadmill or sitting bike. You need to do an hour straight at the 65% heart rate ( 117 beats per minute for me). If you do more, you start sweating and go into cardio. Cardio uses glucose out of your blood stream for energy and is used for preventing weight gain. The 65% heart rate method is using your slow twitch muscle fibers and breaks down fat already stored and uses that for fuel. Be careful to keep an eye on your heart rate, if it goes about 70% even for 1 minute, it means you transfered into the cardio range and you aren't going to get the fat burn effect.

Taking 2 hours to eat a meal is grazing. The first bites are digested before you finish the last.

As mentioned above, stop eating after 30 minutes.

I can't imagine taking that long to eat only 100 calories a day. Are you journaling everything you eat online or with pen and paper? That is also mentioned above a couple of times.

You may see that you are eating more than you thought and/or it is great to have this when you visit your nutrionist or surgeon.

My .02 is about your workouts. Are you working up a sweat? If not your probably not working hard enough, try to kick it up a notch or 2. Please try not to be discouraged! Good luck!.

to be honest, I don't exercise at ALL. I'm not really even active. Some can still lose weight with just a caloric restriction. It makes mathematic sense, right?:thumbup:

I was banded on the exact same day as you and have lost 55 lbs total. But, to be fair, so much depends on where you start too -- I have a lot of weight to lose.

My experience is that it was very slow at first but now that I have good restriction (after 2 fills), the weight is falling off (21 lbs in the last 4.5 weeks) and, I don't really exercise (I do live in a city where I walk and take public transportation daily rather than driving).

I agree with everyone above who said 2 hours is too long to eat. The PA at my doc's office specifically said 20-30 minutes per meal; any longer and you've already started digesting the food and you're defeating the purpose of filling the pouch. Also are you drinking with meals? If you are, you're washing through the food and definitely eating more than you think you are. I struggle to get more than 1/2 cup of food down per sitting. I can't imagine taking 2 hours to eat so little.

Everyone who has responded has had good advice. You should pay attention to it.