Hey everyone,

I am happy I got my band, and I am happy about the weight I have lost, etc etc etc,,,,, but I have been at a 9 week stall since 2 weeks after surgery. I am so frustrated b/c I have been filled up twice and with each fill I had hopes of losing and I'm not losing anymore. I don't understand why - I'm counting calories, I'm eating pretty decently, I am eating 1/3 of the food I ate pre-band. I know some people are just turtles and I will probably be a turtle, but it makes me want to cry sometimes b/c I just don't understand how someone can cut thier calorie intake by 2/3 and not lose weight. Fitday.com said I needed to eat 1200 calories per day to lose and I am doing that. I am going to get filled again after the holidays but I kind of feel like "what is the point" when cutting out calories isn't doing anything for me! It's just so hard when other people who got banded when I did have lost 40 lbs already. I'm depressed.

I'm sorry about your frustration. I had surgery 2 weeks before you did and I've had 3 fills in my 4cc band, totaling 2.2cc. However, I found that unless I cut my calories to an average of 900 per day, I wasn't losing weight. Might I suggest trying that for a few days and seeing what the outcome is?

I agree with Tricia, I hang right around that 900 to 1000 calorie average. I also do Southbeach. Once I got off the sweets and stayed within my calorie range for a week with a ratio made up of 30% fat, between 20 to 30% carbs and the rest I made up in protein, I lost 3 pounds.

I think 1200 is a rough guide, I guess for some people it's still too much to keep weight coming off.

What kind of exercise are you doing? To keep it coming off week after a week, you need 4-5 good long cardio sessions a week. Some people get away with less but exercise is every bit as important as what you eat. And probably valuable because it will allow you not to have to drop too low calorie wise and run the risk of not getting in all the nutrients you need.

Laura, I was banded in May and haven't hit 40 pounds yet. I have been hovering between 34 and 38 pound loss for 2 months. And I lost 9 of those pounds in my pre-surgery diet. So, I'm down 25 pounds since banded almost 7 months ago. But I still use my high weight since if I hadn't been getting banded, I wouldn't have gone on the pre-surgery diet and lost that weight. And if I hadn't gotten banded, I'd probably have gained 25 pounds.

I am eating way less and exercising 60 minutes most days. Since I can only walk at a slow pace (3mph) , I have added incline to my treadmill workouts and am wearing weighted shoes in my other walks. I know I'm not the perfect bandster but I think I should be losing something.

Thanks for giving me this opportunity to vent. I try not to since I believe that I have a great life and the band has given me a wonderful opportunity to make it better. That said, I won't complain again for awhile. Celeste

I try not too whine too much to but sometimes I just have to! ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

I think its entirely possible too that many people are overweight because metabolically their bodies just dont function normally. Surely some of us here have super duper efficient bodies that hang onto everything we eat - and lots of us I'm sure have gotten overweight on what others would consider a fairly normal intake of food.