Ughhhh! I'm so confused! Do I have restriction or don't I? Am I hungry, or am I not hungry? Did I eat too much? Or did I eat too little?

My "restriction" seemed to have run away the past couple days....and wow I probably ate 1500 calories or more daily lately...popcorn, cheese n crackers....I must have eaten 6 times each day. And then, it happened again! Stepped on the freaking scale and down 2 pounds! I gain or maintain when I play by the rules, then I break them and I lose? This keeps happening and I'm so confused about how much I need to be eating and what restriction I really should have then! Yikes!

1500 calories isn't exactly pigging out. Lol. I shoot for 1400 a day,and the past week I have been able to eat more than the first 2 weeks after surgery, and this weeks loss is going to be much better than last week.

Have you had any fills? If so when was your last? My doctor's office says when you get a fill it can either take effect immediatly or take up to two weeks for you to notice. Until my last couple fills I would get some restriction immediatly after and then it faded away. My Nut does'nt worry so much about calories but says to measure food esp Protein. When pressed about calories she says to stay in the 1200 range.

For me processed carbs are a trigger food so I stay away. Are you eating 6 meals a day (ie including protein) or 3 meals and 3 Snacks? Are you eating cheese and crackers or those cracker and cheese "sandwiches"? Either one is probably not a great choice as they are both high in fat with little protein and high carbs. You may want to try a low fat cheese stick. Also non fat Greek yoghurt is low calories high protein.

Be careful of thinking that high calorie days have you losing. It's hard to imagine but it can take a few days for the effects of what you are doing to show on the scale. Sometimes you do need to shock the body a little and two or three days of increased calories are fine to break a plateau but then you need to get right back to the good you were doing before. Be careful of weighing everyday too, it's not a good thing. It can fool you into thinking that the bad stuff you ate the day before wasn't so bad...when actually the two pounds down you see was the week beforee of being good and following your plan. Losing a pound is a cumulative effect of eating less over several days....keep that in mind.

Weight loss and changes is hard and confusing especially with the enourmous train wreck of information out there, just stick to your plan, get back on track and you will continue to do great!

Excellent advice, HappyGirl.

The only thing that is a constant on this journey is that the band is fickle!

One day I can eat and eat and eat. The next day mashed potatoes don't want to go down. You need to take it one meal at a time and learn to go with the flow.

Before each meal I stop to remind myself to eat slowly. If I have an issue while eating, I stop. It is what it is.

Our bodies let go of weight when they are ready. As happygirl pointed out, it is not an immediate reaction on the scale. Keep doing the right things most of the time and the weight will come off and you will be healthier.

Thanks guys! I hear what you're saying.......even though I "pig out" and seem to lose, I can't seem to allow myself to do that regularly, so I hope that's the right way to go!

i agree, I cant count how many times I've had pig out days and got on the scales the next day and thought I'd gotten away with it. Only to find that 2lb appears 3 or 4 days later, lol.

But 1500 isnt exactly pigging out or high calorie and certainly isnt serious or permanent weight gain territory, I lost all my weight never dipping below 1500 a day.

What really helps me stay on the straight and narrow though is an absolutely no snacking rule. I cant handle snacking, I just eat too much over those six meals, it really is absolutely not proven to be any metabolic advantage, in fact there's lots of good research out there that suggests hunger hormones are way better controlled by long gaps between meals. I can follow the "no I absolutely cant eat that because I'm not allowed a snack" rule much better than "I can have small seerve of that for a snack" rule. I eat much more over the day when I snack and even unfilled now and needing to eat for maintenance not loss I find it hard to top 1500 a day on three meals.

Very very good point. If I took out the Snacks, or just had the 30 calorie sugar free Jello....I'd be allowed those extra calories during the meals that seem to make me get up there in calories. Thanks for stating the obvious!!! Sometimes I am so dumb !!

i agree, I cant count how many times I've had pig out days and got on the scales the next day and thought I'd gotten away with it. Only to find that 2lb appears 3 or 4 days later, lol.

But 1500 isnt exactly pigging out or high calorie and certainly isnt serious or permanent weight gain territory, I lost all my weight never dipping below 1500 a day.

What really helps me stay on the straight and narrow though is an absolutely no snacking rule. I cant handle snacking, I just eat too much over those six meals, it really is absolutely not proven to be any metabolic advantage, in fact there's lots of good research out there that suggests hunger hormones are way better controlled by long gaps between meals. I can follow the "no I absolutely cant eat that because I'm not allowed a snack" rule much better than "I can have small seerve of that for a snack" rule. I eat much more over the day when I snack and even unfilled now and needing to eat for maintenance not loss I find it hard to top 1500 a day on three meals.