I am new to these boards but am extremely frustrated. I was banded in Feb 2005 and my lap band journey can be described as frustrating. I have always struggled to lose any weight with the band and finally lost 60lbs and then had reflux and heartburn. I had a slip in September of 2009 and so I have started over after gaining 30lbs back. I am just getting tight again and have no problems! Yay!

I have trained for 3 marathons with the band and never lost a pound! I consider myself active. I started exercising Jan 1st 6 days a week for 45 min and then 30 min of circuit training 3 x week. I am definitely doing my part in the exercise realm. I have lost 6lbs since Jan and now I have stopped. I eat between 1400-1600 calories a day which I feel is a lot for a bandster. My trainer that works with me for the circuit training wants me to try and eat 2300 cal a day which I don’t know if that is possible for me.

I don't buy into the theory you have to eat enough to lose it or starving yourself wouldn't work, which I am not doing. Has anyone else had this problem? Could I be exercising too much and eating too little? I would love to know your opinions!

I haven't been banded yet (5-17!!) , but on my pre-diet I was only eating about 1200 cals a day and working out 5x a week and with a trainer also, but wasn't losing anything! It was very frustrating. He made me eat every 3 hours, stop 3 hours before bed and thats what I did and the pounds came off a lot quicker! Try 2-3 weeks of what your trainer says and see if anything changes! Good Luck!

I tend to not buy that either, but really, why not give it a really good, honest try?

I kid myself that I dont need to eat that much, and that I cant eat that much, but I can certainly pack in the calories with chips, Cookies and chocolate without even thinking about it!

Wow! I am kid of in the same boat. Was banded May 2009. lost 25 quickly, started working out last June. got serious about it in Sept. was down 40/lbs in Oct, and down 50/lbs by Dec. But have stayed the same. Working out with trainer 3 times a week. Do more weights on my own 1 -2 times a week. My Nutrionist has me increasing cal. When I stared with her back in Oct was eating about 1200. Now eating 1800 she wants me to go up to 2000! But my weight has been stable. Up and down a few lbs. But total 50/lbs. I would like to see the scale move. I know I am getting thinner clothes feel better but I too am hung up on the scale. Will try to keep doing what she says but it is hard. From what I see on line it is hard to loose lbs and build muscle. But Muscle looks a lot better than fat. Keep up the good work and keep up the fight.

I'm glad I found this thread because I've been thinking about this a lot myself. I'm down to my last 20 pounds and I'm stuck. I run 20-25 miles/week. I started running again in Jan/Febish outside and slowly built up to where I am now. In the beginning, I didn't have an issue. I felt good during my runs and seemed to have plenty of energy. I lost the weight I had put back on during the holidays fairly quickly to get back down to where I am now. I can not break past 155 and it's driving me crazy. I'm toning and am looking good in my clothes which is great, but I want to break this plateau. Now I've noticed that I'm having a really hard time getting thru my runs and that I'm exhausted. I try hard to drink enough water, so I don't think that is the issue. I don't know if I should up my caloric intake or try to get more protein in. There is only so much I can eat in a day. Not sure what to do either. I'm going to try this week to eat a little more and see how that works for me. If you try something different, let us know. Good luck!

I think too much of a good thing is bad... I work out 5 days a week.. 45mins lifting, 30 mins cardio and have never had a problem.

I have to say I was in the same boat for the past year. I work out 6 days a week and eat right but I gained and lost the same 10 lbs all year and never could get below that plateau that I was on. I hired a trainer 5 weeks ago and see him once a week but he goes over nutrition with me more than exercise and has me keeping a food log. I eat probably twice as much as before I started with him and have dropped 15 lbs in 6 weeks. Besides eating more I also have a few rules to follow. Have a Protein shake immediate when you get up, No carbs except veggies after 3, eat some sort of protein every 3 hours, eat brown rice three times a week. I still don't eat a lot and I have a hard time keeping up with it but it seems to have kick started my metabolism and I couldn't be happier.

Cali

Thanks Cali, that's very interesting and worth a try. I really need to be better about eating every few hours. My schedule is so crazy, I forget or get busy.

thanks could you shair your actual food plan. My Trainer also has us eating every 3 hours or so. Also the importance of eating after work out etc.

Yeah my problem a lot of the time is that I don't eat enough then I was eating to much at the end of the day. I have to be very diligent to eat when I'm suppose too.

My trainer hasn't said much about eating after a workout. But I do have to eat before them or else I would eat everything i could find on the way home!

Basically my trainer had me write down what I like to eat in categories so that he could see it. Fruit, Veggies, Protein, Dairy and other. Then he told me I have night food and day food. Night being anything after 3 in the afternoon. So basically I can have veggies and protein anytime and fruits an dairy only before three. Anything in the other category has to be just occasionally and have it before three.

It really makes alot sense. He says that everything is carbs and you dont want to eat those at night except veggies. You dont need the fuel at night. So if you eat this way you get your fuel and use it up before you settle down for the day. Then it doesnt turn to fat. He believes in brown rice and oatmeal as very good carbs for you and says stay away from any white flour or bread products really. He hasnt told me that I couldnt eat anything at all except for the white flour stuff. I cant eat that stuff anyways since I got my lap band so it was not a problem. Use low fat, low cal dressings is always better. In the dairy catigory cut out sour cream and cream cheese. Pay attention to serving sizes and salt content too!

This is what I ate today.

9 am whey Protein shake

1130 am lite yogurt with a sprinkle of granola

3 pm chicken Parmesan with home made marinara sauce and brown rice.

630 pm whey protein shake

9pm tuna with non fat mayo and pickles

11pm soy nuts

I hope this helps and I didn't ramble too much lol

Cali

Thanks for the info. I used to do this and I have gotten away from it. Trying to eat the bulk of your calories early in the day is smart. Then having something small at dinner because like you said you don't need the fuel at night. Thanks for sharing.

hey guys i am just starting out and i need help with an eating plan and exercising plan. right now i am at 247 and i want to be down to 235 or less by mothers day. but i am confused on what and whn i should eat and how often to exercise. i have all these people telling me different things and i am getting extremely frustrated. i know i need to eat healthy and exercise to lose the weight faster and healthier. but i just got my first fill of 3.5cc and i am anxious to lose weight. sorry about the ranting but i really need some guidance here.

The "starvation mode" is controversial at very best.

Your body has fat stores to use for energy. It may be reluctant to let them go, but upping your calorie intake may not be the best route to take. Your body probably does not require more energy in order to meet its needs---after all, it has reserve.

That said, if you're banging your head against the wall, there's not really any harm in upping your calories to see what happens. It may trigger loss, at least for a while. Or you might maintain or gain. Either way, you get important information about what your body needs. Information that, really, no trainer knows.

Bodies are weird. Bodies with fat reserves can be especially weird---they don't like giving the fat up sometimes.

I spent years listening to those who told me I needed to eat more to lose---including trainers---and just wound up heavier. LOTS heavier. I've since discovered I need 800-1000 calories/day, with exercise, to lose at a moderate pace. When I am normal weight, I need 800-1000 calories/day, with exercise, to maintain (with room for occasional indulgences).

Boy, did I want those doctors and trainers to be right! 800 calories a day, sans band, sucks!

But for this body, they were wrong. Thank God for the band---it allows me to stick to that low level of intake.

Thanks for your imput. The scale is still staying the same, last time I was at the Dr. his only suggestions was to cut down on the carbs to 50 or so a day. So I have been trying that for the last few days and will give it a week or so to see if it helps. He did not have a problem with increased calories but while my Gym Nutrionists wants me at 1900 I think I will shoot for 1500 and low carb to see what happends.

On a positive note, people are saying I have lost so much more weight and they are shocked when I tell them I am the same weight as I was in December! So I guess working out is at least changing some of thoes lbs of fat to lbs of muscle. But really would like to see the scale move. May 1st is my banaversary. So 50/lbs is great and I feel so much better and can do things I havent done in years due to increase in strenght etc.

Well actually time to get to the Gym

Thanks

I'm having the same problem. I recently got a fill to which I'm up to 6cc's. I have been really really restricted. I might be too restricted, but I think I'm gonna give it some time to get my stomach used to the fill.

However - since being restricted and eating very little --maybe under 1000 calories I have not lost a pound. It sucks. Maybe my body is going into starvation mode?? I don't know.

Ross -- I see you got your surgery from Dr. Enochs of Cary,NC?? Me to!!!

When it comes right down to it, its all the same information manipulated a zillion ways.

I mean white flour - bad carbs right? But really, mostly bad because generally white flour products also contain a lot of sugar and often a lot of saturated fat which equals mega calories - Cookies, cakes, crappy cereals, processed breads, nutritionless Pasta and rice. Its not the *carb* element that's really so evil its the fact that you fill up on nutritionally worhtless foods and THEN your body still demands nutrition so you eat more.

Your body doesnt need a lot of fuel after 3pm true, if you're not active then (myself, I tend to exercise at about 6pm). But that's FUEL not carbs. Anythign you eat at 9pm is going to get stored, not burned. Protein, fat OR carbs. There's no magic about the carb element. But by the same token, if you're a night eater and not a morning eater, you burn your stored energy in the morning. I think most night eaters will find they eat a lot of calories at night, more so than if they ate healthy breakfasts and lunches - they get starving and go for high calorie foods, whereas if they ate some Allbran and fruit in the morning and a salad at lunch, they'd eat less calories. THAT's why night eaters gain, not simply because of the time they ate.

If you undereat and you're not losing, you will eventually lose. How would people ever starve to death? Starvation mode isnt really what people imagine it to be.

I think we need to take all information with a grain of salt. I mean, the high protein low carb message sounded really credible in 1970 and people followed it. But its hard to stick to. Then the low fat high carb message spread. That sounded credible too. All that stuff about high carb foods taking more energy to digest, and the lack of fat and we'd all be magically thin. That hasnt worked (probably becuase people say they're doing high carb low fat but they're really doing high carb, high sugar, high fat!). Now we've come full circle to high protein low carb again. Do we REALLY think its going to be somehow different to 40 years ago?

Same with exercise. Cardio was the buzzword of the 70's. Everyone jogged. Now you'd think it was the worst thing you can possibly do to your body and what's the justification? Just look at the fat people crossing the line in the marathons say the strenght training proponents. It doesnt work? Well, no, nothign works if you follow your 21km half marathon with a McDonalds binge. Or this one "look at that stringy marathoner, and now at this Miss Universe, who would you rather look like?" Um, the marathoner, lol. A bit less extreme, I mean I dont want to run every ounce of muscle and fat off my body the way marathoners do, but I have little desire to look like a female eastern European masseuse either!

I reckon try what appeals and sounds logical, if it works great, if not try something else, do the exercise YOU want to do and not what the latest scientific theory supports. And take everything those personal trainers say with a grain of salt, they're indoctrinated into current fashion for the most part.