THAT SHOULD BE I LOVE MY SISTER!!!!

As most of you know (sorry, Leigha LOL!), I have been quite frustrated after my third fill last week in that a) I am eating 8 ounces and needing to force myself to stop because I'm still starving and :thumbup: I am starving again 2 hours later. I have been venting to my poor little sister, who I work out with during each week, and she sent me a couple of interesting articles. Stuff I already knew and stuff that worked for me as I was in the 3-month waiting period pre-op (lost 17 lbs), but I was just hoping that my band would give me satiety for a little longer than 2 to 3 hours. I think I need to just put that thinking aside and go back to what worked and rely on the band from keeping those more frequent portions smaller. And I also know that some of us are vigilant about not snacking in between (and thank GOD my doc isn't one of them), but I just can't suffer like this every day until my next fill.

Anyway, here is the article she sent me that reinforces the way the nutritionist suggested I eat pre-band.

Why You Need to Eat More to Lose More / Queerty

Also, she sent me a link to a "zig zag" calculator, which may be helpful, since I have been doing a lot more working out, so perhaps my body just needs more calories, but who knows?

Calorie Calculator - Daily Caloric Needs

I just wonder when I will ever figure this out....

That Leigha is a girl after my own heart. Been a believer in non-starvation since I started this process. Throwing a body into the starvations mode only hinders weight loss and causes those nasty plateaus.

Good healthy food choices at 2-3 hour intervals makes for a healthy bod!

I dunno. I'm in the "don't believe in starvation mode" camp. There is not peer-reviewed research to back it up.

But beyond that, for me, eating more is NOT the solution--I gain. I gain at calorie levels well below the results from that calculator.

Eek! I would explode!

Maintenance: 2392 Calories/day

Fat Loss: 1913 Calories/day

Extreme Fat Loss: 1544 Calories/day

Seriously, to lose at a slow to moderate rate (when overweight) or maintain (at normal weight), I need 800-1000 calories (WITH daily exercise). The last 65 pounds of my excess weight came from following a 1200-1500 calorie diet!

I'm not posting this to be argumentative or to discourage you from trying a different approach; rather, I'm just pointing out that everyone's body is different, and we all have to determine what works for us and what does not.

I did this by tracking my intake over a very, very long time (a couple of years). I also tracked my weight changes (up, down, whatever...) With help, I concluded that my caloric needs are far below anything a calorie calculator would ever determine for me. Once I internalized that unfair bit of information, the band became the logical solution.

Looking at what and how much you eat is a very good idea. Eating more to lose weight may or may not be. It's totally worth a try---but be ready to give it up if necessary.

I wish I had! Instead, I really clung to the belief...and wound up much heavier and much more frustrated.

(I do think that eating small, nutritious meals at regular intervals is important, though.)

Edited April 28, 201016 yr by BetsyB

See, just goes to show how different everyone is. I am so confused, I am just going to start playing with it to see. I am so stalled right now that I am willing to try anything to see what will happen. All I know is 800-1000 was not working for me personally, so I upped to 1000-1200 and started losing again. Now that I am exercising more (i.e. total body burn, circuit training-type stuff in addition to walking--burning about 600-700 calories per day), I am thinking that is not only why I'm hungry all the time, but it could be why my weight loss has stalled. I don't want to make myself stop exercising the 5 days a week either. So conflicted. Poo!

I dunno. I'm in the "don't believe in starvation mode" camp. There is not peer-reviewed research to back it up.

But beyond that, for me, eating more is NOT the solution--I gain. I gain at calorie levels well below the results from that calculator.

Eek! I would explode!

Maintenance: 2392 Calories/day

Fat Loss: 1913 Calories/day

Extreme Fat Loss: 1544 Calories/day

Seriously, to lose at a slow to moderate rate (when overweight) or maintain (at normal weight), I need 800-1000 calories (WITH daily exercise). The last 65 pounds of my excess weight came from following a 1200-1500 calorie diet!

I'm not posting this to be argumentative or to discourage you from trying a different approach; rather, I'm just pointing out that everyone's body is different, and we all have to determine what works for us and what does not.

I did this by tracking my intake over a very, very long time (a couple of years). I also tracked my weight changes (up, down, whatever...) With help, I concluded that my caloric needs are far below anything a calorie calculator would ever determine for me. Once I internalized that unfair bit of information, the band became the logical solution.

Looking at what and how much you eat is a very good idea. Eating more to lose weight may or may not be. It's totally worth a try---but be ready to give it up if necessary.

I wish I had! Instead, I really clung to the belief...and wound up much heavier and much more frustrated.

(I do think that eating small, nutritious meals at regular intervals is important, though.)

I have to agree with you, but also say that a HUGE part of this has to do with your metabolism. Based on the calculator, the caloric intake I needed for extreme weight loss was 1960!!!!! LOL if only!!

I've been doing 1400-1600 per day and have been maintaining my weight for about 10 months (with moderate exercise). I believe my body needs half of that for weight loss!

Betsy, have you taken one of those metabolism breathing tests? I was just curious if you did and if it matched up with what you found.

I took one and it gave me very high numbers (i.e. I should be able to eat 2200 and not gain weight while in a coma.) However, in reality, it doesn't seem to work that way. Some of it was me unintentionally fudging my numbers or "forgetting" to write down something I ate. I'm getting better at that, but that doesn't seem to be the complete answer.

I guess I would like to know how other folks tests matched up with reality.