Sigh...MONTHS of the back and forth...

[OneYearLater 14]

Has this happened to any of you? I'm hoping I'm not alone on this...although sometimes it feels like I am! I've been going MONTHS now and gaining and losing the same 2-3 pounds over and over. I was banded back in September last year. I have had periods of time with small losses once in a while when changing things up. The last thing I changed was going to the 3 meals a day with no Snacks. I was losing small amounts for a while and it stopped again. It was SO hard considering that my work day starts at 3am sometimes. Stretching 3 meals out for that long was WAY too hard and I still try to do it, but sometimes add in a small snack if I can't stand the hunger pains anymore. I work out every single day for about 1 hour to 2 hours with things like the elliptical, the bike, turbo kickboxing and body pump trying to keep it changing so that my body doesn't get too used to things. My caloric intake is anywhere from 900-1500 depending on how hard I've worked out. I DO feel some differences in the way my clothes fit and even though I'm in a smaller size than I normally would be at this weight ( 5'3" size 14/16 at 215). Depending, sometimes I can go about 4 hours or so without being hungry...and other times I feel famished after 2. I eat Proteins first, don't drink sodas, drink tons of Water, sometimes I can eat only about a cup of food..other times, I know I'm eating more, but I'm still tracking the calories. The last time I went to the Dr., he opted against a fill saying that you just lose slow with the band and he didn't think a fill would help since I can go as long as I can. I've really only lost about 30 or so pounds since surgery weight since last September (more if you count the weight I lost pre-surgery on my own). I'm just kind of at a loss with what I'm doing wrong. I don't even like meeting with some of the people in my support group anymore I'm one of the only ones that did the band...everyone else did the sleeve or the bypass and are losing a ton of weight. I started out as one of the smallest people needing to lose the least amount...and now, I'm probably the one that has lost the least amount and am probably the one that has more to lose than everyone now! So frustrating....

Has this happened with anyone else???

[carolann0117 5]

I was at the same weight for about a month... I had my surgery on Dec. 27th and didn't get my first fill til April 16th. Had my second one yesterday. I only lost 5 pounds between fills. I think this 2nd fill is going be much better. I also have been trying to stay away from carbs... I know when I have ANY carbs... I won't lose. If I were you, I check back with the Dr. ask again about another fill. This shouldn't be THIS difficult to lose.. isn't that why we opted for this surgery???

[vlp1968 83]

You are doing great! Focus on the fact your in a smaller size, that means your shrinking! Seems like you are doing all the right things, the scale will reward you at some point, I hope it's sooner rather than later. I know lots of doctors advice against it, but I have always included Snacks in my daily intake. I snack on low fat cheese, nuts (1/4 c) and berries. On those days your hungrier, I would go ahead and have a snack. I think you are probably buiding muscle due to all your excersise, muscle takes up less room on the body. Loosing fat but gaining muscle will cause you to shrink, but not for the scale to go down. Measuring yourself might be helpfull. That way you will have concrete numbers to compare, it will just be inches on your body rather than pounds on the scale.

[54Shirley 105]

Just remember It is a S L O W go. 1 to 2lbs a week is the norm. But you can get stuck at the scale, and you might be losing inches. Sometimes we just sit in Limbo for a while until the body jump starts again.

Hang in there, Your doing Fine as long as your not gaining...

:party:

[reverie 49]

I bounced between 130-131lbs for the longest time, probably a month or so. My cure has been to drop my calories by 50-100 per day and by adding cardio back in. So instead of 1750 calories plus, I now aim for 1600-1700 max, with more cardio throughout the week. Doing this last week I finally broke the 130.2-130.6 stage I was stuck in; hit 130 today.

If you're dropping inches I wouldn't be worried. If you're doing 2 hours of working out, I'd definitely say 900 is too low. Maybe stick to a higher range and see what happens.

[ksmsusselman 0]

New to this forum and I just wanted to pop in and say this particular thread was very encouraging to me. I had my lap band surgery Dec. 16, 2010, so 5 mos. ago and I've only lost a net of about 18# so far, which I lost by Feb., so nothing really since Feb. despite two fills, the second being just last month.

I'm still eating more than a cup of food but if I don't, I get hungry quickly between meals. Also, I have Hashimoto's hypothyroid with a gluten intolerance so there are some things I don't eat anymore at all and with my autoimmune condition, it's advised that I don't "graze," but instead simply eat three meals a day and one snack. I've been doing really good with that so I think it's just my particular condition that's going to make it slower for me.

But I'm only 5'1" and I'd LOVE to be in a 14/16 right now and out of my snug 18s. I was in 20s that were getting tight pre-surgery! But I'm remaining hopeful that this will finally work. If anything else, it's forced me to really be careful about what I eat and that I have to take an extra Aleve or two to get through my workouts because of my really, really bad knees.

Oh, and just a few days after I started exercising again I was diagnosed with asthma so now that I'm on two inhalers, my workouts are going more smoothly because I can breathe.

But anyway, don't lose faith! You're doing great!! And remember, stress can cause weight gain so if you stress over it, you may impede your progress. I know that from experience. That's what I told my husband too, so I haven't measured myself and I've stopped literally counting calories. I'm eating healthier than I ever have and I'm not over-eating, and now I'm exercising regularly - 1 hr. a day so I think my body just needs to catch up to what I'm doing.

Glad to have found you all here!

[54Shirley 105]

New to this forum and I just wanted to pop in and say this particular thread was very encouraging to me. I had my lap band surgery Dec. 16, 2010, so 5 mos. ago and I've only lost a net of about 18# so far, which I lost by Feb., so nothing really since Feb. despite two fills, the second being just last month.

I'm still eating more than a cup of food but if I don't, I get hungry quickly between meals. Also, I have Hashimoto's hypothyroid with a gluten intolerance so there are some things I don't eat anymore at all and with my autoimmune condition, it's advised that I don't "graze," but instead simply eat three meals a day and one snack. I've been doing really good with that so I think it's just my particular condition that's going to make it slower for me.

But I'm only 5'1" and I'd LOVE to be in a 14/16 right now and out of my snug 18s. I was in 20s that were getting tight pre-surgery! But I'm remaining hopeful that this will finally work. If anything else, it's forced me to really be careful about what I eat and that I have to take an extra Aleve or two to get through my workouts because of my really, really bad knees.

Oh, and just a few days after I started exercising again I was diagnosed with asthma so now that I'm on two inhalers, my workouts are going more smoothly because I can breathe.

But anyway, don't lose faith! You're doing great!! And remember, stress can cause weight gain so if you stress over it, you may impede your progress. I know that from experience. That's what I told my husband too, so I haven't measured myself and I've stopped literally counting calories. I'm eating healthier than I ever have and I'm not over-eating, and now I'm exercising regularly - 1 hr. a day so I think my body just needs to catch up to what I'm doing.

Glad to have found you all here!

Try my fitnesspal.com (IF YOU WANT) Also it's free.

You will log in all your info that it asks you, and then will tell you your calorie intake. (I KNOW YOU SAID YOU STOPPED COUNTING CALORIES) You would type in your food, and it will tell you your calories and Protein for the day. Then include your exercise, and t will tell you what your burning off.. All the foods are stored in memory, so it's easy to locate them, check a box, and hit enter. Otherwise you do a search and click on it, then it's stored.

You will see what your eating a day. It's a good thing.

Shirley.