How many calories do you consume on an average day? We all have different caloric intake based on the day, I'm asking about average calories.

Well??? Is it working for you?

My doc suggests 800 calories daily. The more calories you cut the faster you will lose.

i dont necessarily agree with that, especially if you are even a bit active..

food really is fuel...

food really is fuel...

And fat is stored fuel.

Each person has to do it their own way.

I have never dropped below 1000 calories. I try to stay around 1300-1500, with an occasional day off, which is still letting me lose slowly. I had worked my way up to 1800 calories a day and was maintaining well on that for a few months (which is great to know!), but finally got a tiny much needed fill and the weight is coming off again. I find that the closer to goal I get the slower it is coming off, but I dont mind. I have total faith that I will reach goal!

I was banded 3/5, and I'm finding it very hard to get in over 900 calories. For the past 7 days I range from 560-980. Does this change?

Oh Yeah! Give it time.

Right now I'm probably averaging less than 600/day. My first fill was last October and had lost about 30 pounds from surgery date. Then I had to have rotator cuff surgery so had to have a complete unfill just before Xmas....bad idea. I was making up for lost eating time, so no telling the calorie count!!

Got another fill in ealy January did nothing! I could still eat anything I wanted and way too much of it.

Got another fill mid-February and finally hit the exact right spot. I eat tiny amounts 3x per day and am never hungry. Probably around 600 calories / day. I've started losing again...about 15 pounds since my last fill....hooray!!!

My average is 1800 to 2000. I'm only losing a pound or so a month on that now though, so if I want to lose the rest of this weight (I'm a healthy weight now, would just like to be nearer the bottom of my healthy weight range) I need to cut down a bit.

I'm very active and I'm five ft 10 too so I can get away with eating a lot. I've lost all my weight so far on about this calorie level. The good thing is I dont need very tight restriction to achieve this so it hasnt been too limiting in terms of lifestyle and eating out etc.

I dont agree with cutting calories too low either. I dont want to lose weight fast if I"m just going to pack it back on again, lose muscle and lean body tissue so that my metabolism is slowed down and if I ever return to reasonable calorie levels I"ll gain weight. I also think its near impossible to get adequate nutrition on that sort of level of calories. I'd rather make up the deficit by exercise, not eating less.

For some people that's what it comes down to though, for some reason they need very little energy to maintain their weight.

I don't know how long I'll keep my band so I want to make the most of it while I have it. I won't go over 800 calories daily for anything. If I had more time I might take it slower, but for me this is working.

I agree that if are properly filled, your calories go down. I don't rigidly stick to a certain amount of calories. I just am not generally that hungry anymore and when I eat I eat the right things and then when I have had a few ounces I am full and done. that all adds up to not having many calories daily.

Also, I am short and so if I weren't so overweight I'd be petite, so I think my body just needs fewer calories. I am losing pretty steadily right now though I fully expect that will slow down as I get closer to goal.

That's the one problem if you aren't having many calories, and you stop losing, you have to change SOMETHING so I will probably have to majorly step up my exercise efforts.

hi all

when im strict i eat 800calories & lose 1kg a wk

im not banded yet,but will be within 2months...yay...

Its such an individual thing, whatever level of calories you're eating, if you arent losing then you have to change something, I agree entirely.

Just because I can lose on 1800 a day doesnt make that the right level for everyone, and just because others need as little as 800 a day doesnt mean that that would be right for me.

Know yourself, that's the key I guess.

I just read an interesting article. It said that if we need 2000 calories to maintain then we need to cut our calories by 1000 (this is all generals) to lose weight (I believe it was 1-2lbs/wk) - so if we cut our calories intake by 1000 before too long our body is going to say hey wait a minute I'm starving and try to hold on to the fat -thus you have muscle loss - but if we cut our calories by 500 and burn the other 500 by increasing our activity (exercise!) then our body says hey I'm healthy and I'm gonna get rid of some of this fat, so it takes it from the fat store. I thought it was interesting, not that we haven't heard it before.

I just read an interesting article. It said that if we need 2000 calories to maintain then we need to cut our calories by 1000 (this is all generals) to lose weight (I believe it was 1-2lbs/wk) - so if we cut our calories intake by 1000 before too long our body is going to say hey wait a minute I'm starving and try to hold on to the fat -thus you have muscle loss - but if we cut our calories by 500 and burn the other 500 by increasing our activity (exercise!) then our body says hey I'm healthy and I'm gonna get rid of some of this fat, so it takes it from the fat store. I thought it was interesting, not that we haven't heard it before.

I'm not sure I can agree with that. The human body does not go into starvation mode at that point, it takes a GREAT deal more of a calorie loss to go into starvation mode and that would take months and months. People starving to death in 3rd world countries, THEY are in starvation mode.

I *do* agree that varying the amount of calories daily is a good idea but I'm talking 100-200 calories. One day I consume 400 calories, the next day it might be 800. I usually shoot for around 600 average daily.

I simply see no value in maintaining fat, I want to lose weight and thus far, it is working quite well. I realize others want to lose more slowly and that's cool, but I don't want to.

Starvation mode, eating when I'm sick, believing I'm too tired if I don't consume enough calories daily... those are all mind games I used to play on myself. I knew better but I justified eating anyway. I would tell myself that I'd be too tired if I didn't consume enough calories. Truth is, fat *is* stored energy. It took me some time to stop believing what I knew was not true, if that makes sense. Perhaps I should say that it took time for me to quit justifying my food intake.

One of the problems (I think) is that there is sooooooo much incorrect info out there. Do a Google search on starvation mode and you'll get a ton of different opinions. It's hard to know which is truth and which is fiction.

Question - how few calories before your body goes into 'starvation mode'? It seems like 800 calories would make your body start holding on and your metabolism slow down... anyone know?

I don't think the article I read was talking about starvation mode - and that was me who wrote ... hey I'm starving... my point and I think the point of the article was that to be healthy you must include exercise in your life. Getting rid of the fat is one thing but to build a strong lean body you have to incorporate exercise into your life style and when you do this you can eat those "extra" calories. I personally couldn't live on less then 800 calories a day for very long - its not a part of who I am - that to me is dieting at its worse. So if I can eat 1200 calories and then burn 200 off that brings me down to 1000 - totally losing weight at that. For me the band is a tool to help me change my lifestyle. First by eating less and secondly by exercising more. For me its not just about the weight loss - its completely totally 100% about changing my lifestyle. I don't care if it takes me 5 years to get to goal as long as I am developing new habits.