For those of you that track, how many calories per day have you been told to target? I have been doing 800-1000 and 60-80 grams of Protein and I thought that would be really good, but have maintained my weight for the last 10 days. When I went in today, they told me that my calories needed to be closer to 600 and I can't imagine doing that.

I was banded over a year ago and have struggled since the beginning. In Dec and Jan, I gained 17 lbs. I went in and they tightened me really tight and I still can't do anything really dense (breads, heavy meats, etc.).

I've about given up on being successful.

Get a small unfill then? Why would they make you super tight, and if you know you're too tight why haven't you gone in for an unfill? Either way caloric levels will vary per person. I started off eating 600-800 with minimal exercise along with a low carb diet. Now that I am exercising an hour minimum a day, I've been eating 1300 calories a day.

If you want a rough range of what you should be eating calorie wise each day, this website may be helpful http://www.healthyweightforum.org/eng/calculators/calories-required/.

If you want to do it on your own, figure out your BMR, multiply it by your activity level, and then subtract 500 from that total.

For example, my BMR is 1440 or so; that's how many calories I'd burn laying in bed. For my activity level I say I do "moderate" activity, which is usually calculated at 1.3 or so. 1440 x 1.3 = 1872. TO maintain I'd want to eat around 1800 calories. To lose, I create a deficit, so 1872-500 = 1372 calories a day. Of course this isn't perfect though it may help give you a range to play around in.

I did lose plenty eating 600 calories but it is not attainable nor healthy.

I was too tight and had an unfill. Now I am tight, but not too tight. I did full liquids for about a week and then have been on mushies for a few weeks now. I am basically trying to take myself back to the learning curve in the beginning. I just can't figure out how I'm not losing weight when I am eating such a low level of calories.

My Nut suggests 1200 cal a day. I think being at 800 or so is too low. I did this silly 500 cal liquid diet for 5 days and lost NOTHING (doctor ordered). I do an hour of cardio a day. A 300 pounds person should loose weight with that kind of exercise and eating 500 calories. So my opinion is doing cal. that low is counter productive.

I eat between 1000 and 1200 cal a day. I have lost 31 lbs so far in a month. If I eat less thantjat I feel lightheaded and weak. Especially now that am exercising.

Below ~ 1000-1200 you put your body into starvation mode. It bottoms out your metabolism and your weigh loss stops, and even in some cases you might gain a bit. 600 cals a day from a doctor is scary. I was losing great after surgery and then it just stopped. I started tracking and I was only taking in about 400 calories a day and was exercising on top of that. I bumped my cals up and the weigh started to drop again. If you dont give it what it needs, it will take what it wants and that will come from lean muscle mass, not fat. Use a site like Myfitnesspal.com that calculates your BMR for you and gives you a deficit to work towards.

Heck I have even noticed at 1200-1500 that if my weigh starts to plateau, to have a "good" day eat 2k calories and the weigh starts dropping again. The body is a fickle thing, you gotta listen to it.

Good luck to you!

Knaroz makes a very good point about increasing your calories every now and then. If you plateau, have a day where you add 300-500 calories to your day (it's easy) and it can kick your metabolism up.

600 is way too low, at 1,200 you should be losing nicely 1-3 lbs per week depending on your activity level. You will go into starvation mode if you don't eat more, and you don't want that.

Any Dr. who says you should be eating 600 calories is nuts -- unless they're doing a very specific VLC (Very Low Calorie) diet to get you into a level of ketosis (very high Protein and very high fat diet low carb) which can help you lose quickly. But you're generally only on the diet for 1-2 weeks max because it's horribly unhealthy and can cause damage in the long term.

You shouldnt be eating less than 1000 calories that is too little no matter what anyone says when you go under 800 you body is in starvation mode and the weight will not budge.

Thanks everyone for the thoughts and input. I have had 4 days of increased calories and have lost 4 lbs. I don't really know what to think about what the office was telling me. I plan to talk to the actual doctor and make sure that he knows it and make sure they know that increasing my intake is what jump started me again.

Oh, the weight will budge alright, otherwise nobody would ever starve to death. But it doesnt come off like you think it will when you starve yourself and when it does, its all lean body tissue as well as fat and you just basically become malnourished and sick, and you also put your heart and kidneys at risk. I'd be really worried that my nutrionist was, to put it bluntly, an idiot and not competent to be supervising my weight loss if he told me to eat 600 calories a day.

You have to be really careful with nutritionists and such - they are NOT qualified medical professionals. They're like personal trainers, its not a degree qualification, and whilst you have really good ones, you have really silly ones too. They're very prone to just running with whatever is currently fashionable in the nutrition and fitness fields and will preach it like its the answer.

To some degree you need your head screwed on and to be able to set your own guidelines becuase lapband surgeons are just that - surgeons. They're not necessarily nutritional experts, they have their beliefs and have seen what works overall of course, but in reality, you do know your own body and what it responds to and you are perfectly able to experiement with calorie levels to find your own personal balance.

Exercise is a key factor in determining calories. How much and what kind of exercise are you doing?

Has your Dr. done a REE (resting energy expenditure) test on you, using a calorimeter?

Everyone's metabolism is different, and following formulas works for some, but not all of us. 600 seems VERY low for long-term progress.

My REE basically said that I need to eat less than 1400/day to lose. I've found that to be very true over the last year or so since I had it done. Between 1000-1400/day and I lose an average of 1.5 pounds/week. Some weeks more, some less. If I go over 1400 on a regular basis, my loss progress comes to a halt. If I go under 1000, I hit starvation mode and things slow again.

Like Knaroz, I toss a 2000+ day in there every once in a while to jump start my body. I also tend to eat closer to 1400 on heavy cardio days and closer to 1000 on days where I'm doing non-cardio exercise.

I just recently got unfilled back to what I was just post-surgery (took out ALL my fills) and the difference is amazing for me. The band doesn't restrict what I eat at this lower level, so portion control is all back on my willpower, but what I do eat satisfies me for so much longer than without the band. I was sick of getting stuck and not being able to eat the things I needed to eat. Every one of us uses this tool in a different way, it seems. You will find what works for you -- hang in there!!

This has been a very helpful to me. I usually eat around 1000 calories a day and I have been exercising 3 times a week. I will lose a little bit but have been staying at about the same weight for the last few months. I am so nervous about gaining that it is hard for me to eat more but I think that I may have gone into a starvation mode. I am going to try to start eating more calories and see if I can jump start my metabolism. I'm just not sure what to do.