the only thing I'm losing is my mind!!! I've had a fill, am quite restricted and am tracking my food on Fitday- AND I'm being honest, I had my fill on about the 25th of October. I lost 8 pounds in as many days, since I could barely swallow anything until dinner time . In the past 2 weeks since the big loss, I've lost 1 measly pound..Some days I have had as little as 583 calories ( due to pb'ing and lack of hunger), and have maxed out at 1257 calories on a whooeee big day. I exercise ( curling 2 hour games) 3- 4 times a week and have felt weak at times. I am rarely hungry - what a concept, BUT I AM NOT LOSING WEIGHT!!!!:help::help:

admittedly I do have a glass of wine or two several evenings, but that can't be making me hold onto the weight-can it? I count the wine in my calorie count.

I went to see my family doc today and told her about the banding - about going to Mexico, which she was surprised about but quickly ok with when I told her about my research and rationale. SHe had no clue about nutrition stuff...but theorized that I wasn't getting enough calories. I think its too early for my body to go into shut down mode after only one week of calorie deprivation....

:guess any ideas?

Alcohol does it to me. If I have one glass of wine weight loss would come to a dead stop. When you figure calories and such it really shouldn't but I've seen others post the same comments.

What if you knock out all alcohol? Just try it for two weeks. Not a drop, see what happens. Might make the difference.

I've noticed that I go through spurts of losing and not losing. I went 2 weeks without losing a single pound and then boom.....3 or 4 pounds come off. Maybe you've just hit a small plateau (spelling?).

Do you use artificial sweetners? I dont' know what the science behind it is, but they're known weightloss stallers, especially when coupled with low-carb diets.

Also, sometimes your body just needs time. Periods to regulate itself, so to speak. I've gone months without losing fat/pounds, but lost a size. Consistent weightloss without interruption can only happen for so long.

THanks all. This morning I was down 1 1/2 pounds-Finally some movement. I suspect alcohol may be the culprit but I'd hate that to be true!

I can tell you from personal experience that certain foods even if withing your calorie range can stall weightloss and even make you gain. No it doesn't make sense, and no it isn't fair. But if I replace one 350 calorie meal with 350 calories of any high sodium processed food I will not lose and will sometimes gain. This phenomenon is why people gain weight from soft food syndrome when their bands are too tight. I would try changing one thing for a couple of weeks and see if you start to lose. And keep cycling through foods that might be the culprit until you've gone thru all of them that could be the problem.

It's simple biology. You could eat nothing but chocolate cake and wash it down with a glass of wine, and as long as the calories were below your Basal Metabolic Rate, you will lose weight in the long run. You'd die from malnutrition, but that's another issue. Short-term lack of weight loss can be body adjusting or water retention. Either one of these typically won't last more than a couple of weeks. I'm getting about 1200-1500 calories a day, I am losing slowly (now, after a tremendous start), and my nutritionist is asking me to try and get more calories into me, since I am exercising so much. I am averaging about -1200 calories than my BMR per day. I am losing between 2-4 pounds a week, which is right on schedule for my caloric intake but twice what is considered healthy and sustainable weight loss. We just have to keep on reminding ourselves that this is a marathon and not a sprint.

Do you use artificial sweetners? I dont' know what the science behind it is, but they're known weightloss stallers, especially when coupled with low-carb diets.

I totally agree and relate to this. When I was on Atkins, supposedly you can have aspartame and splenda-sweetened things. When I did that, I didn't lose ANY weight, even though I was still counting carbs. I think there's more to it than just calories in, calories out. I really believe there are certain foods out there that stall weight loss for whatever reason. For me it's artificial sweeteners definitely! When I eat basic food - like non-processed, not artificial stuff, but pure meat, cheese, veggies, fruits, nothing added - then I can lose weight.

I read somewhere.. this body processes this way

1st. Alcohol

2nd. Carbs

3rd. Fat

4th. Protein

So I think, if you consume alcohol and carbs, you're that much farther away from your fat.

And it makes sense to me, when I look at my uncle. He use to be a professional trainer, and fit and proud. He's now an alcoholic.

He's got a huge gut, and weighs about 280lb now. He works out EVERY SINGLE DAY twice a day. He is doing nutrisystem, to a T. But his major downfall.. he drinks like a fish. He has beer with him IN THE GYM. He always drinks alcohol with meals. So you'd think with as much as he works out and as little as he eats, he at least wouldn't be able to maintain such a huge belly.. and yet, he does. All because of Alcohol.

Also, don't forget to track your inches - here is an interesting article that talks about "why the scales doesn't move". Its talking about low carb diets and why we stop losing sometimes. I find it helpful to review when I'm feeling down about the darn scales.

Here we go again...

How the hell does your body hold onto weight and still manage to get smaller while you are on your chosen low carb diet?!? You know the scenario: You are on Induction for two weeks, and you haven't cheated even once. You notice that your clothes fit better, that you are stepping a little livelier, and as far as you're concerned, all's right with the world.

But then you step on that evil construction of the Devil himself, the bathroom scale, and you instantly feel betrayed. The stupid thing insists that you have done nothing! Sometimes, it even states you have done less than nothing; it accuses you of cheating because it tells that you haven't lost any weight! Well, there area couple of simple explanations to help you get through this trying time.

First of all, if it is at all possible for you to do so, throw that insipid Monster Scale in the trash. Or at least put it up somewhere that it is really, REALLY inconvenient to get to so that you won't be tempted to ask it's opinion every single day of your life. Face it. If you are feeling better and your clothes are looser, do you really need the scale to tell you that you're on the right track? No! You don't! Why do you think you do it, then? I'll tell you why. The low fat diet demons have a tenacious hold on your brain. That's right, you've been brainwashed. All your life they have told you through doctors, dietitians, newspaper and magazine articles, surgeon generals and the like, that you give up X calories per day and you will lose a pound of fat. They even go on to tell you how much fat you should lose each week. In the process, they've made you dependent on the Monster Scale to gauge your progress!

What a big lie!

Even on the diets that "they" advocate, the Monster Scale does not often cooperate. You go back to the Diet Demons and demand to know why the scale does not reflect the torture you have put yourself through for a month. They immediately start backpedaling on the "give up X calories and lose a pound of fat" story, and start talking to you about Water retention and muscle buildup. Sometimes, they even blame it on you with questions like, "Are you sure you counted the calories in everything you ate?" (This is delivered with a knowing little smile that makes you want to rip their knowing little face off.) Being the type that is given to blaming things on yourself, anyway, you cooperate with an answer like, "Well….." They pounce on this with "Ahhhh, well.." Then, they launch into one of their scoldings/lash/encouragement speeches.

So, get off their bandwagon, already!

Then, there's the competitive spirit. You hear about what other people have done on your chosen diet. Yes, Brian went on Atkins a year ago and lost over a hundred pounds. Yes, a hundred pounds in a year is over eight pounds a month, or 2 pounds a week, or .0119 pounds per hour….but, "Hello? You ain't Brian!" And, did Brian ever say that he lost .0119 pounds per hour? No! He said a hundred pounds in a year. This only proves he got on the scale twice; a year ago, and yesterday. Take a hint from Brian. Stay off the scale!

The second solution is to understand what is going on in your body in light of the current state of human affairs. Today, all a person has to have to eat every day is money and transportation to a grocery store or, better yet, a nice restaurant. However, your body's survival instincts have not matured in a million years. Your body still thinks you are a hunter-gatherer. Yes, in spite of a million years of evolution, your body still thinks you are going to have to go out and kill a mammoth to eat. The survival instincts with which you are going to have to come to terms are read-only memory. You can't overwrite them. Deal with it.

That said, let me tell you what happens when you lose a pound of fat. Your body has been saving this fat for that long hunting expedition you're going to have to go on to track, kill, dress and retrieve that huge animal. It keeps the fat in little pillows distributed throughout your body. When you start losing fat, it doesn't trust you to continue whatever insane path you have chosen that is causing the fat to dissipate. So, when the fat comes out of the pillow, it injects water as a "place holder." Sometimes that water actually replaces the weight of the fat it lost. Sometimes it replaces the volume.

Water weighs more than fat just like lead sinkers weigh more than feathers. If you stuff a pillow with a pound of feathers, you'll have a nice big pillow. If you stuff a pillow with a pound of lead sinkers, you'll have a nice (but rather hard and uncomfortable), small pillow. Now, let's say your body removes a pound of fat and replaces the weight with a pound of water. Your weight will stay the same, but you will be smaller. But, if your body decides to replace the lost fat by volume, that is a quite different story. Remember the great big feather pillow as compared to the tiny lead sinker pillow? Well, now think of a gallon of feathers and a gallon of lead sinkers. Try to pick up the gallon of feathers. Piece of (you'll pardon the expression) cake. Now, try to pick up the gallon of lead sinkers. Sucker's heavy, ain't it? So, you will be smaller, but you will have gained weight.

Eventually, your body makes the executive decision that you are not going to replace the fat you lost, and it lets go of the water. In the words of Danny Skaist: "When your body accepts the fact that they are no longer needed, the water will be expelled and the cells closed. This is known as the "whoosh."

What makes your body decide to replace by weight or replace by volume? I dunno. But I do know that it does not seem consistent to the casual observer. What makes your body decide that you are seriously not going to replace the fat you lost? I dunno. But now you know why it's so important to drink your water, huh? Loss of fat is inextricably related to water intake. It's more than a little foolish to go on a diet that facilitates the removal of fat and then refuse to give your body the tools it needs to do so.

Bottom Line: Stop getting on the scale and drink your water. If you stick to your plan and wait for the "whoosh," it will come.

My dr told me that 2 glasses of red wine are equivalent to one big mac... something to think about.

"My dr told me that 2 glasses of red wine are equivalent to one big mac"

You may have a wonderful doctor, but he is seriously misinformed about calories in certain foods, and I won't even go into the other values of the two foods mentioned. A 3.5 oz glass of red wine was 75 calories. A Big Mac has 576 calories. You'd have to drink 26.88 oz of red wine to equal a Big Mac. That's a big red plastic party cup full and a little over half another one. If someone is drinking wine like that on a normal basis, then they've got more problems than nutritional ones.

He may have meant equal in retaining weight rather than calories, either way if someone is drinking alcohol every night then the chances of losing weight is going to be reduced.

PS: Also no need to get high and mighty with your response... alcohol is fattening, no matter what the calories!!

I did not mean to be interpreted as high and mighty in my response. I apologize if it read that way. As far as alcohol being fattening, no matter the calories, I would contend that's bogus. Let's use the Wine/Big-Mac example again. Let's say I drank 576 calories of wine and my best friend ate the Big Mac. Who just creamed their saturated fat, sodium, and cholesterol for the day and who did not? Same calories; different nutritional results; same exact weight loss, if both of us stay the same below our BMR.

What someone eats affects their overall health. How much they eat (caloric intake) affects their weight.

I understand what you're saying but at the same time, if you are eating and drinking 2 glasses of wine each day, you are not going to lose your weight... at least, not as quickly as other people. I will double check my dr's big mac analagy... just in case I got what he said wrong... he never mentioned calories in the equation.