Hey everyone,

Ok so i've been banded for almost a year now and i am at a stand still. The day I went to my first seminar I weighed 352lbs. Today I weigh 295lbs. So i have lost a total of 57lbs. I am happy with that but i am getting upset and discouraged because i have been at a standstill for the past month. I talked to my nutritionist after i had surgery and she said no matter what i do to keep my calories at 1000 a day. So that is what i have been doing and it worked for a while but now its doing nothing. On top of all of this, i didn't exercise almost at all my first year. I would walk and do the treadmil a little bit but i was lazy and i only did it maybe 2-3 times a week and only for about 20-30 minutes. It wasn't enough effort on my part at all. Well this past month I have gotten extreamly motivated and started exercising for 2 hours a day 5 times a week and 1 hour of cardio on the other 2 days. So i'm pretty much exercising 7 days a week and i'm still eating my 1000 calories a day and i'm not losing anything! i'm yoyoing between 290 and 295 and i always end up back at 295. I have a clean diet so i really don't think that is it. I don't eat bread or Pasta or rice because it gets stuck. I keep my carb intake lower then 40 grams a day, my Protein is over 70 grams a day and my sugar is less then 25-30 grams a day. I drink Water, although i should drink a little bit more, i haven't quite gotten to 64 oz a day of it i'd say i drink about 40 oz or so. I don't drink sugary drinks either and i eat a lot of veggies and make sure they aren't the starchy kind like corn. I'm not sure what to do. i was thinking of adding to my calories but when i asked my nutritionist she said no to stay at 1000 and just keep doing what i'm doing and possibly drop to 950 or 900 and see if that helps. She wont listen to me when i tell her that i don't want to drop my calories anymore. I always thought that when you drop your calories too low then you are only going to burn off muscle and i dont want to lost muscle, i want to stay strong. I already feel so tired and run down. Can someone please give me some advice to help me out here.

Thank you!

I'm on the same boat as you... Although I only had the surgery 3.5 months ago. My weight loss has tapered off and some days I get on the scale and it goes up even though I've been exercising vigorously 5-6 days a week and eating between 1000-1200 cals a day. I drink all my Water, though and then some. Water helps dissolve the fat so I would recommend that you try to get to 8 or more glasses a day. But, it's true that sometimes no matter what we do the scale doesn't seem to reflect it. It's very frustrating, I know... I'm about to see a nutritionist again in a couple of weeks and I'm going to see what she thinks. But in the mean time, try to hang in there and stay motivated (I know it's hard). I would also recommend going on MyFitnessPal.com (free website and also an app for smartphones). Enter your info and see what they recommend for daily calorie intake. I also use it to log my food and track my workouts and weight loss. It helps to keep you aware, because sometimes we just don't realize how much we take in or how many calories we burn, so this is a great tool for that. If you join, add me as a friend (jrom22) if you want

Good luck to you and all of us!

Jo

PS - I forgot to mention another tool that might help you that someone else on here recommended to me -- the Body Media Fit band. You wear it most of the day and night (up on your arm) and it measures your daily caloric burn, your sleep efficiency (which is important for weight loss) and if you enter your calorie intake it helps you monitor your weight loss and why it might or might not be working. I just ordered one today and they have a special on the one with the bluetooth (which you can use to get up-to-date info on your phone). If you go to their website and call them before you order they can give you a promo code for 50% off which is a great deal!

Thanks everyone for your advice! I think i am going to wait another week and if it doesn't come off still then i'm going to try increasing my calories slowly. Ive been sticking with my 1000 calories now and exercising for almost 2 full months now and i'm still getting nowere so like i said, i'll try it for one more week and then i'm going to increase my calories. I did stop working out 7 times a week. i still do strength and cardio 5 times a week but and i do only cardio once a week and have a rest day. Usually my rest day is on Wednesday so that it is kind of in the middle. That has helped with my energy levels slightly. I'll keep everyone posted. Thanks again for the advice!!

Ashly