I'm not going to bitch or whine, but I do think for the first time in my lengthy dieting history, I freaked out my metabloism and I can't lose weight by starving myself anymore. I am 1 month post op, I have been walking about an hour a day, eating tons of lean Protein, no carbs, drinking loads of Water only and I haven't lost a pound in over 3 weeks. I have done Atkins, WW, etc and I have always lost weight consistantly, but on this LAP-BAND® prescribed eating plan, I am eating so many less calories that I think my body believes its starving. I have had many medically trained people tell me never to go under 1200 calories because your body goes into starvation mode. I think I am there.

How many of you have had to increase you calories to lose weight? I really don't want to have to eat more because it scares me, but then again, I'm not getting anywhere with what I am doing now. I have my first fill appt tomorrow and I'm going to let the doctor have it. He told me 2 weeks ago that I'd lose 5 pound in the two weeks between apointments. Not! My family has a history of thyroid issues so I get tested all the time. I have been freezing at night which is so not normal for me at all. I know that this is realated.

I'd like to hear from those who have had similar issues. I'm being patient and I am not expecting to lose 5 pounds a week, but when the scale is starting to move up instead of down sometimes, I think it's time to reevaluate the whole process and make some changes that work for my body.

Off for my hour long walk!

Melissa

Wren , if you are looking for an aussie site to log stuff on the best one is calorieking. The American sites might be better but there are a lot of our foods that they don't have.

Wren , if you are looking for an aussie site to log stuff on the best one is calorieking. The American sites might be better but there are a lot of our foods that they don't have.

:huh2: Thankyou Elcee! xx

I refuse point blank to eat under 1200 a day or so (so I guess it was lucky I lost weight well on 1500 a day or so). I maintain nicely on about 2000 a day - that's pretty much a normal, healthy metabolism, only a little less than what the charts say I should be eating.

I have to unfill my band soon for a surgery and I'm VERY glad I dont have to try to stick to 1200 a day unbanded simply to maintain my weight. I figure if after 5 years of healthy banded eating if I cant stick to 2000 a day I've really done something wrong.

I dont really believe in starvation mode - calories in less than calories out and eventually you will lose weight. But live on next to nothing for a few years and it would seem its highly likely you'll always have to. Your body definitely becomes very efficient.

Cleo'smom...great post. I'm one of those that does not do well on a low calorie diet. Years ago...when youth was on my side...I did the Optifast diet (800 calories) for a month and lost nothing. I managed to stay on it for another few weeks and did drop 3 lbs but that was it. My doc sent me to see a nutritionist who told me that it was because my body was becoming more efficient at conserving my calories and that I would do better eating more. We bumped it up to 1100 calories and I started losing 2-3 pounds per week almost immediately.

Fast forward a decade and I decided to drink nothing but Protein shakes all day. Again, little to no weight loss at 900 calories but when I starting drinking extra shakes and took it to 1200, the weight started dropping off at a nice rate.

The latest 'fad' seems to be telling people that 'starvation mode' was a fad. Yet it's hard to argue with the fact that there are an awful lot of people eating 800 or 1000 calorie diets...sometimes 2000 calories less per day than they used to eat...and who are not losing. Supposedly, cut your calories by 500 per day and you'll lose 2 lb per week...so how come they aren't losing anything...or only losing 4 pounds in a month?

Even Optifast increases calories over time and brings people back up to around 1200 calories. Oh and the part about 'stunting' your metabolism. I have a vague recollection of an article a few years back that talked about how crash dieting (under 1000 calories) will impair the metabolism over time.

My suggestion...if you aren't losing weight, try increasing your calories. That's what worked for me.

.

Cleo'smom...great post. I'm one of those that does not do well on a low calorie diet. Years ago...when youth was on my side...I did the Optifast diet (800 calories) for a month and lost nothing. I managed to stay on it for another few weeks and did drop 3 lbs but that was it. My doc sent me to see a nutritionist who told me that it was because my body was becoming more efficient at conserving my calories and that I would do better eating more. We bumped it up to 1100 calories and I started losing 2-3 pounds per week almost immediately.

Fast forward a decade and I decided to drink nothing but Protein shakes all day. Again, little to no weight loss at 900 calories but when I starting drinking extra shakes and took it to 1200, the weight started dropping off at a nice rate.

The latest 'fad' seems to be telling people that 'starvation mode' was a fad. Yet it's hard to argue with the fact that there are an awful lot of people eating 800 or 1000 calorie diets...sometimes 2000 calories less per day than they used to eat...and who are not losing. Supposedly, cut your calories by 500 per day and you'll lose 2 lb per week...so how come they aren't losing anything...or only losing 4 pounds in a month?

Even Optifast increases calories over time and brings people back up to around 1200 calories. Oh and the part about 'stunting' your metabolism. I have a vague recollection of an article a few years back that talked about how crash dieting (under 1000 calories) will impair the metabolism over time.

My suggestion...if you aren't losing weight, try increasing your calories. That's what worked for me.

.

I agree. Cleo's post is really helpful. I am totally with you on the no go with the very low calorie diet. I did the HMR shake thing twice before. You get somewhere between 500-800 calories a day. I did great the first week and lost 8 pounds, but never lost anything after that, but my freaking mind. It was awful. My body just shut down. I was so tired, cranky, starving and this was all through an Endocrinologists office!! He should have known better than to shut down someone's metabolism like that. My sister had the same thing happen on Optifast. She had a total meltdown after two weeks and never lost any weight.

About a year and a half ago I was working with a Registered Dietitian who I swear was anorexic, but that's another story. She had me on a 1500 calorie plan which was working slowly, but I got very frustrated with a few things and dropped it to 500. Well, guess what? I never lost a pound on such a low calorie intake. When I decided to 'blow it' and eat more, I lost about 3 pounds in a week.

I think it's all about finding the right number for each person, but going super low like so many of us are doing isn't the key for long term success. It is true that you slow your metabolism down. The way the dietitian explained it to me was using a wood burning analogy- She said your body is like slow burning embers. When you throw fuel to the fire is flares up and wakes up. That is when your body burns more eneggy and calories. If you keep your body in the ember stage then you aren't efficiently burning calories.

I can appreciate what someone said in an earlier post that if you eat less than you burn then you will simply lose weight. It's sounds good in theory, but it just isn't that simple or true. If that were the case then none of us would be fat! My metabloic rate to maintain my weight is 2267 calories a day. That is just to maintain! I am eating 1000 calories or less a day and exercising. In theory, that should mean I would be losing 1 pound every 3 days. I wish!!!! I haven't lost anything in over 3 weeks and that isn't because my body is 'adjusting' as so many people on the board like to say.

I have my first fill in about an hour. Time to jump in the shower and get my fat ass over there. I cried for hours last night about this. I really, really don't want to get on his scale. If I have gained a pound I will cry in his office. I am praying to the scale Gods to show mercy on me.

Melissa