Hello!

First I'd like to hear your advice on fighting head hunger. This seems to be a big problem. I am not in the green zone yet and sometimes I am actually hungry and sometimes I am not. Either way I feel like I need to be eating. I get another fill tomorrow, so hopefully that will help with the actual hunger.

Second, what are you tips and advice for breaking out of a plateau? I joined the fitness center a month ago and work out 5 or 6 days a week. I have not lost one pound since joining. So very frustrating. I am eating around 1500-1700 calories per day and getting in all my Protein and Water. This plateau is getting long and starting to be very discouraging! My clothes are fitting better and I do notice changes, but the scale does not reflect any of the hard work!

Thanks!!!

Before restriction I focused on filling up with healthy foods like chicken, fish, salads etc. I refused to have that diet feeling of being deprived and hungry all the time. I choose to snack on beef jerky(small packets from Costco), fruit, pickles(crunchy), tuna or chicken salad, hard boiled eggs.

Eating 1700 calories a day probably won't help you lose weight but I understand why you eat this much. I never liked that hungry feeling either so that's why I ate more and I maintained a 12 lb weight loss until I finally got some restriction after 4 months post surgery and my 4th fill. Then I lost another 38 lbs.

Watch this video? It may assuage your disappointment over not losing lbs during this phase:

I have finally come to what may be my "green zone" with this last fill, and finally the head hunger seems to be taming. Not entirely, I still have to have self-talks about whether a craving is actually hunger or not, but that is getting less and less frequent. I struggle late at night still, but during the day I find I don't think about food unless I really am hungry.

As to the plateau..I have been stuck on one since January. I was going to the gym 3 days a week and working my butt off (literally), and I lost 6 inches, but only 1-2 pounds in a 3-month period. My surgeon has been happy with my progress because I am converting fat to muscle and toning and losing "area". I have been unhappy with my lack of progress, because I want to lose WEIGHT!

Anyway, I am changing up my exercise and with this last fill I am finally losing the ability to eat too fast and the head hunger, so fingers crossed, I may actually drop a few pounds this month.

All this to say, you are on the right path if your clothes are fitting different. There is a trick to the head hunger thing, if you aren't sure if you are really hungry, set a 10-minute timer with no bell (the buzzer or bell just activates my "it's okay to eat!" response) and go do something engrossing. If you are really hungry, your belly will tell you. Otherwise, you will continue what you are doing and move along.

Good luck!

Breaking out of a plateau sometimes requires changing something. I know that more than 1200 calories a day would stop me losing weight and those calories had to be good calories, its not just about counting them its about how they are made up, try reducing them by around 200 a day and see if that makes a difference, also change up the exercise, if u are only doing cardio then do some strength training and vice versa, change things till u get results then stick to it. Good luck

I am struggling with the same things! I haven't quite hit the green zone (hopefully after next fill in May) but late afternoon/ early evening I just want to eat! I started trying to drink more fluids when I feel hungry and sometimes it helps. I have also been on a plateau for 2 1/2 months now. I keeping gaining and losing the same 3 lbs over and over. I started really tracking what I'm eating on an app on my phone and I think I may have been taking in more calories than I thought before. I am still feeling discouraged, but also have a glimmer of hope again that my tracking will help me push past this plateau. Good luck to you! Keep up the good work with your fitness!

1500-1700 cals seems like a lot for someone on this journey. i agree that you should reduce those and see where it gets you.

also, try and switch one meal for a liquid meal (Protein shake, diluted fruit juice, broth soup) or something. that may help.

try not to eat after 8pm maybe? if you go to bed early, try not to eat after 7pm?

Breaking out of a plateau sometimes requires changing something. I know that more than 1200 calories a day would stop me losing weight and those calories had to be good calories, its not just about counting them its about how they are made up, try reducing them by around 200 a day and see if that makes a difference, also change up the exercise, if u are only doing cardio then do some strength training and vice versa, change things till u get results then stick to it. Good luck

I am suppose to be around 1200 calories, but I have been so hungry that I increased it to 1500 to try and keep the hunger away. And I am working out so much that I thought I might need a few more calories. I see my nut. tomorrow so I can talk to her about this more. Hopefully with a fill tomorrow I won't be so hungry and can go back to 1000-1200 per day. I was losing more then.

1500-1700 cals seems like a lot for someone on this journey. i agree that you should reduce those and see where it gets you.

also, try and switch one meal for a liquid meal (Protein shake, diluted fruit juice, broth soup) or something. that may help.

try not to eat after 8pm maybe? if you go to bed early, try not to eat after 7pm?

I am suppose to be around 1200 calories, but I have been so hungry that I increased it to 1500 to try and keep the hunger away. And I am working out so much that I thought I might need a few more calories. I see my nut. tomorrow so I can talk to her about this more. Hopefully with a fill tomorrow I won't be so hungry and can go back to 1000-1200 per day. I was losing more then. Its just so discouraging to be this hungry, working out more than I ever have and see no progress the last month!

Muscle weights more than fat!!

Muscle weights more than fat!!

Well, that's technically not totally accurate? 1 lb of fat weights the same as 1 lb of muscle. Muscle is far more dense so 1 lb of muscle will occupy less space than 1 lb of fat.

5 lbs. of fat is much bulkier than the 5 lbs. of muscle, but five pounds is still five pounds.

Muscle does not weigh more than fat.

Fat is bulky and lumpy so if you carry an extra five pounds of fat, you'll be lumpier than with five pounds more muscle. A five pound pile of fat will take up more space (volume) than a five pound pile of muscle; but five pounds is still five pounds.

http://www.onemorebi...cle-to-fat.html

I would try to lower you calories intake. Eat less more often to combat the head hunger. Try having a drink of tea or something when you feel hungry. This is a head game, and you have to want it!

Got my 2nd fill today, so hopefully I am getting closer to the green zone. My doctor told me that everything I am experiencing is normal and that eventually the numbers on the scale will go down. I just have to keep at it. I do hope that this fill will leave me feeling less hungry. Time will tell!

Did know I needed to explain the " muscle weights more than fat" theory