Why is it OK to consume such a small number of calories when you have lap band?

What do u consider small?

I've read through here as little as 500 to start, and I can't see how you could consume much more if you eat such small meals and only three times per day. Thank you for responding I'm just curious and just beginning to consider lap band.

Honestly, I never had only 500 calories. Even my first 2 weeks after surgery I was prob around 800, I have never had a problem getting my calories in. My dr recommended 800-1000 calories a day to optimize weightloss.

I guess that is a little more realistic.....do you feel hungry with lap band as opposed to restricting calories on a diet? Do you feel dizzy, or hypoglycemic?

It varies for all of us. All of our bodies react to the band in a different way. For me, I was hungry and could eat anything right after surgery. If you don't know, the band requires the balloon to be inflated with saline via injections through the port right under your skin. For me it took 4 fills(4 months) before the band started to give me the feeling of not being hungry after 300-400 calories.

These are called adjustments and some people need none and some need 6 or more. After you get the adjustment that enables you to be satiated with 1/2-1 cup of food, you shouldn't be hungry. There is so much more to it than anyone could post on a forum. There are books that explain it in detail that you should invest in if you're serious about WLS.

No, no dizziness, no hypoglycemia for me.

tmf

I honestly have never heard of 500 calories per day. I think 800-1200 is what most docs recommend in the losing phase.

It may seem crazy to you because you do not have the band yet, but trust me, once you have it it's not gonna be so tough

I have to agree with lap band master. I've never heard of 500 cal per day either, although I'm sure some are extreme like that. I try to keep around 1400 cal per day with 3-4x a week work outs (a little more if I work out more). Anything less than that, my weight loss slows down but that's just me. It depends how active one is too but I believe your doctor will advise you what is best for you. I know some here eat like 1800 cal/day but they are runners and are extremely active.

Just had band 2day so I'm still learning about food intake.

Erin I was banded on feb 8 and I have not experienced any dizzeness but I will tell you I did feel my blood sugar was low a time or two but that was my fault completly! Trust me when I say all this is a learning experience! Each person is different and so is how the band works for each one of us! I am still in the healing process but dropping the pounds stopped when my calories were down to 500! I have been working really hard to get my calories up to 800! Each one of my protien shakes has 120 calories and I drink one for breakfast and one for lunch (still on the prueed stage) and I eat my protien like tuna salad for dinner! I drink water all day long but I am still finding getting all the water they want me to get in pretty hard! Go to u tube they have a lot of info this site is amazing and just google the lapband diet!

During my full liquid phase post op I averaged about 300-500 calories per day. I was doing about 2oz of liquid about 5 times a day. But that's all I could fit in and that's just me. It definitely built up and now I also average 800-1000 calories per day. No health or dizziness issues. :-)