I've heard of people who are weight loss resistant and often wondered in the past if I was... Well, I'm REALLY starting to believe it!

I'm 6 months post-opI have been exercising my butt off for several months now. I eat 2/3 less than before.My weight loss has totally stopped, besides the slight fluctuations, it always goes back. I can't get my weight under the 220 mark and it's driving me crazy. I walk a couple miles 3x a week instead of going to the gym now that it's warm out and I have an ab machine that I do daily. Would gaining muscle really cause you to lose weight for months?

Also, a couple weeks was the first time that I got food stuck. They checked my band and found that 2cc disappeared from my band...crazy huh? So they refilled my 9cc band up to 8cc again. I still feel restriction but maybe I need to go back and have more...to the point where I can barely get anything down? I normally lose about 3-4lbs the first week after a fill and lost nothing after my last fill. I'm wondering if this sweet spot even exists...at least for me.

Anyone else experiencing no weight loss for extended periods?

You say you're eating 2/3 less than before. What does this mean? Do you weigh and measure foods? Journal? Are you focusing on lean Protein, nonstarchy veggies, fruits, legumes, and heart-healthy fats? Are you avoiding refined carbohydrates and sugars?

When you exercise your butt off, what does that mean? What are you doing? For how long? How often?

I'm not asking these things to be snarky--with the information, you can get good advice :w00t:

FTR, my body is loss-resistant---the fact that I need to stick to 800-1000 calories/day WITH daily, vigorous exercise is a huge part of the reason I was banded; a band makes 800 calories liveable.

Some of our bodies really do resist loss. That doesn't mean we can't achieve great losses; it does mean we have to be very, very careful about what we eat, and how much. I would love to be able to say, "The band lets me eat what I want, just in smaller amounts"? But I can't. My choices are either to eat the way that allows me to lose, or to stay the same (or gain).

You have the same choice to make. If your body isn't losing doing what you're doing, it's time to make changes.

Edited May 19, 201016 yr by BetsyB

Welcome to the club, I am the same way. I eat 800-1000 calories a day and burn 2000-2200 for a negative burn of 1200-1400 calories a day just to lose 1 pound a week. According to regular thinking I should lose 2 pounds a week at that rate. Apparently my body is super efficient, which would be great if there were a famine! For instance yesterday I ran / walked on the treadmill for 40 min. (12 min running) and I burned 2039 calories for the day and ate 874 for a deficit of 1165.

So the moral of my story is if I want to lose weight I have to journal my food religiously and workout every.single.day.

To answer your questions... I've always eaten fairly well/healthy, with the exeption of my sweet tooth that has gotten much better since the band.I eat as much fruit and veggies as I can....as I said, I'm eating about 2/3 less. I'm not much of a beef eater...1/2 a burger with no bun occasionally, so we eat a lot of chicken and fish, occasionally lean pork. I'm big into Soups so I love to cook with legumes. Butter is a rare ingredient for me...I always cook with olive, sunflower, coconut and occasionally canola. I'm big on whole grains...I very rarely eat bread but it's whole grain, Pasta, brown rice, oatmeal, flour, etc. I do like to occasionally indulge in a sweet...a cookie, homemade organic granola bars with lots of fruit, small scoop of ice cream and YES, wine. I'm bigtime into healthy and organic eating but I'll go crazy if I can't occasionally partake in a lil wine or dessert. I don't measure...I have no clue what to measure out and journaling....who's gonna see it?

As far as excercise...Before the weather got nice, I went to the gym about 3x/week and did a min. of 35 mins. on the elliptical and 20 mins. of walking, as well as some light weights....or 1hr+ of vinyasa (HOT) yoga and that was equivalent to the elliptical. : ) Now, I do a lot of core excercises on my ab machine daily and walk a couple miles of brisk walking about 3 times a week. (weather permitting)

It's so frustrating because my friend got the surgery and I got knocked up. I had a beautiful girl, who is now 2 and I have NO regrets but she went from a 20-22 to an 8 in about a yr...no excercise and ate ice cream or reeses pieces for dinner almost daily. My clock is ticking and my husbands is ticking louder....maybe I should got get knocked up, lose some weight during pregnancy (I did both pregnancies), breastfeed and lose some more weight and that will jumpstart my weightloss again. I know, sounds crazy but I'm venting!:laugh:

You say you're eating 2/3 less than before. What does this mean? Do you weigh and measure foods? Journal? Are you focusing on lean Protein, nonstarchy veggies, fruits, legumes, and heart-healthy fats? Are you avoiding refined carbohydrates and sugars?

When you exercise your butt off, what does that mean? What are you doing? For how long? How often?

I'm not asking these things to be snarky--with the information, you can get good advice :thumbup:

FTR, my body is loss-resistant---the fact that I need to stick to 800-1000 calories/day WITH daily, vigorous exercise is a huge part of the reason I was banded; a band makes 800 calories liveable.

Some of our bodies really do resist loss. That doesn't mean we can't achieve great losses; it does mean we have to be very, very careful about what we eat, and how much. I would love to be able to say, "The band lets me eat what I want, just in smaller amounts"? But I can't. My choices are either to eat the way that allows me to lose, or to stay the same (or gain).

You have the same choice to make. If your body isn't losing doing what you're doing, it's time to make changes.

I have the same problem. Six months after surgery I have lost only 12 pounds. I do not eat a lot. My band was filled to 4cc, therefore I need more retsriction so I can drop the weight. I am beginning to think this a joke and the surgery do not work. What can I do to speed up my weight lost?

My start weight was 191 and now my weight is only 178. This so slow

I'm just impressed that you lost weight pregnant and nursing. Those things were my downfall! Looking at your story, the one thing that jumps off the page for me is that the exercise doesn't sound vigorous enough. I'd step that up and see what happens. Good luck!

I hate to be nit-picky, but what does a typical day's diet look like? With amounts. The foods you describe, by and large, sound great---but they could be right on plan, or WAY over the top, calorie-wise, all depending on how much you eat.

Do you journal your intake anywhere like fitday?

NONOMA,

I've been doing weight watchers it has really helped me. I don't go to the meetings though. I do it at home and post on the lapband site for weight watchers. My calories can be anywhere from 900-1250 a day when you do the point system it switches your calories up and tricks you metabolism. WW seems to be the only way I can lose weight. I can have 28 points and I spread my ood out during the day so I don't eat so much at one meal. I like ww because you can have something good if you choose. Its good to eat healthy but we all want a treat from time to time and you may have that, I feel ww just helps me have smaller portions of the foods I like. I go to the gym 1 hour a 6 days a week And at night 7 days a week I walk 4 1/2 miles. I log anything that goes into my mouth even if its just a taste.My goal is for once I met my goal to just maintain my weight with exersice and the band but I need weight watchers to help me get to goal. Good luck hope your weight takes off.:laugh:

Edited May 20, 201016 yr by skinnygirl

ok - so i'm new to banding (2.5 wks - yay) and just went to the doctor/nutritionist yesterday. i was told that most people hit a wall around the 4-5 month mark. She once you've hit a plateau for a few weeks, add 100 calories to your daily intake and maintain that for a week. if that doesn't jumpstart things, add another 100 calories to your daily intake for the following week. she said to continue this process until you start losing again (usually less than 4 weeks). She also said that most people need 1200 calories from the 6 month mark and out.

You should call your nutritionist and ask them for suggestions. A lot of times, certain food combinations will create a different calorie-burning process and get you back on track.

(sidebar - did you know pineapple helps break down Protein?? my nutritionist is all about food science and she gave that tip if you're struggling after a fill.)

hope some of this was helpful! :laugh:

It's normal for weight loss to stall for about 6 weeks when you start working out, but it should start moving after that. The more lean muscle you have, the more calories you burn!

I agree with the other poster(s) who suggested that you journal your food and exercise and run the journal by a nutritionist. You are probably eating and drinking more calories than you realize.

You also sound like you might need a fill. And no, you don't want it to be to the point where you can barely eat! That is no way to live, and plus -- being overfilled tends to cause people to pick "slider" foods over things like Protein, which should be the focus of our post-band diets.

I hope that helps!

Catherine

I had my surgery on 3/4/09 and every time my weight lose stopped it was because I was eating more and the wrong things. Sometimes its the little things that you might not think about. With me it is more snacking and eating sweets. I did not lose any weight in over a month, but I also ate cheesecake, not sugarfree candy and bread. I was still working out so I thought it was ok to eat more. I was wrong because I gained 3 lbs back. Last week I started back on track and this morning I was down 4lbs. This is a new way of life for me and I have to stick to it. I know there will be ups and downs but I do not want to end up at 289 every again.

Im 8 months post op and stalked really bad. My trainer told me since I work out soooo much, to up my calories. As soon I upped them, I started losing. Because of the amount I work out, I eat close to 1500-1700 cals. This allows me to lose about 2-3 lbs a week. I tried eating more cals for a week to test it out and IT WORKED! My body was needing fuel. I also now eat little amounts more often, that has seemed to speed my my metabolism. Every body is different and requires different things. Some people lose consistantly on less cals but I was not!

I did the same thing. I was stalled for about 3 weeks, and then upped my calories and bam. Start losing again which was nice. I now watch very carefully to make sure I get my calories in....I too eat little meals instead of 3 square meals which the NUT said was fine if it works for me...Good luck

I was stalled for 4.5 weeks -- I was banded 6 months ago -- hit the wall hard - I added some more calories to by diet,, not alot it was about 100 and i lost 2 more lbs finally... sometimes you need to just switch things up.. change to foods, change the type of exercise you are doing - or gasp dont go to the gym for a week - then go back.. i did that as well as add the 100cals..

I feel on track, i do need a slight fill and go june 2nd.

ok - so i'm new to banding (2.5 wks - yay) and just went to the doctor/nutritionist yesterday. i was told that most people hit a wall around the 4-5 month mark. She once you've hit a plateau for a few weeks, add 100 calories to your daily intake and maintain that for a week. if that doesn't jumpstart things, add another 100 calories to your daily intake for the following week. she said to continue this process until you start losing again (usually less than 4 weeks). She also said that most people need 1200 calories from the 6 month mark and out.

You should call your nutritionist and ask them for suggestions. A lot of times, certain food combinations will create a different calorie-burning process and get you back on track.

(sidebar - did you know pineapple helps break down Protein?? my nutritionist is all about food science and she gave that tip if you're struggling after a fill.)

hope some of this was helpful!

I am so with you on this one. I was banded on 9-28-09, gained weight for the first 6 months and then finally I think the fills started to work and I lost 10 lbs and another 5 last month. I was supposed to be at 9cc's in a 10cc band. The doctor pulled out 7cc's. He decided to put 8cc's back in and while doing the fill the needle broke and saline went all over my arm. So I don't know how much I really have but I have to wait another month before getting another fill. I don't know if the "sweet spot" exists. I don't have the gurgling, the noise, or the feeling of food and/or liquids passing through the stoma like I read people on here having. I exercise as much as my knee's will let me and walk everyday. I just can't get to 220 lbs, boy if I could that would be an "it" moment for me. I have made a goal of getting to 200 lbs by Aug 29th. That is when we leave for vacation and I have bought clothes for it and want them to fit. So I don't think my goal is unrealistic because that is 26 lbs in 3 months but to reach it is another story. It seems like no matter what I do the weight just doesn't come off. So I feel for you. I, too, am frustrated about all this and the waiting for the scale to move is unforgiving at times. Just hang in there and you will get past this.

I agree with the other posters that you might need to up your calories for a bit. If you're working out more than you used to, your body could go into starvation mode and hold on to everything you eat. Does your doctor's office have a nutritionist you can talk to? They can sort of help guide you through that part because I've had trainers say to up the calories so that your body realizes that you will feed it.