Ok this is so strange....I had been at a plateau for a while and was talking to a dear girlfriend of mine who had the band the same time i did (we started at nearly the same weight 4 lbs difference and we are the same height) anyway I was telling her I am eating about 1000-1200 cal a day but I am burning about that many calories a day doing exercise. She told me she eats a lot more than I do and she's losing weight quicker than me and she's not exercising much.

So I tried eating more and I lost 4 lbs WEIRD Huh...could it be that they tell us to restrict our calories too low now our bodies think we are starving ourselves? But when we actually give our bodies food it likes us again?

Has this happened to anyone else?

I've heard this happens to a lot of people.

I'm only eating around 600 cal a day. I can't seem to eat more yet. But I'm only 4 weeks post op.

How about inches? Have you been measuring your inches lost? Sometimes we might not be losing weight but losing inches. And is your friend heavier than you? She might lose faster because of that.

Your doing great!

My friend and I had the surgery the same week....we are the same height...and I weighed 4 lbs more than her when we started. She has lost 20 more pounds than I have...and I exercise 3x as much as she does. I am not dropping inches really I started at a size 22 now i am in a very loose 16. I just think there might be something to this eating more thing.

i know for a FACT that if you are working out you need quite a few more calories.

i burn 5-900 cals per day i work out and i have to consume an additional 3-500 cals at least. what is working for me is the muscle milk mixed w/ skim milk. it tastes pretty good and gives me about 400 extra calories. i drink it about an hour or so before i work out . then as i am driving home and i really dont want to work out, that pushes me to go because i just drank 400 calories!!

i started muscle milk last week and i was down 4 3/4 pounds. i worked out 6 of the 7 days last week anywhere from 500 - 800 cals.

i also keep track of everything i consume on myfooddiary.com. it costs about 10 dollars a month but is SO worth it!

You're building muscle and your friend is losing muscle. In the long run, you will be able to eat more and still maintain your ideal weight. That said, I have lost best at higher calories (maybe 1500) than at lower calories. And, as suggested, do your measurements. It's a much better indicator of what's going on.