Well it has been 2 weeks since I got banded and am feeling good! I'm down 10 pounds since surgery and I had lost 13 before surgery so I'm down 23 pounds in all!!! But have not lost any more in the last few days. I am starting to wonder if I'm eating enough I am trying to count my calories and I 'm only getting around 700 -800 a day! At this point how many calories should I be getting??I think I am not getting enough and my body is hanging on to every bite! Also I eat and get full pretty quick but I feel like I can eat a little more than 4 oz and then only a couple hours later I'm hungry again. I 'm sure that once I get a fill I will stay full longer. I go to Dr. on April 25th for check up and possible fill.So far I've had no problems with any food I've tried but I did get that stuck feeling on a piece of shaved turkey yesterday and it really hurt for a few minutes. It just didn't go down all the way. I took a deep breath and it felt like it went down after that,but I stoped eating and waited a while to be sure that stuck feeling was gone.I am being more careful and making sure that everything is mushy and not taking any more chances on getting that awful feeling again!! Also I'm getting in alot of water and eating at least 40-50 grams of protein each day! I feel like I'm on the right track but was wanting some suggestions on how much intake of calories is idea for me in the mushy stage???

I'm sure you've heard it before - the first six weeks are for HEALING, not weight loss!

If you're in mushies make the best choices you can and eat as much and as often as you need to feel satisfied. Many people regain a little weight in this stage, many don't. In the end, IT DOESN'T matter. What happens weight-wise in the next six weeks is not going to impact your end result.

Go to www.fitday.com and enter your personal info. Then if you look on the activity level (I believe it is) it will tell you what your basal metabolism burns. Per Alexandra (and I believe this to be true), the basal calories listed are a little high, because our body fat percentage is higher than the charts figure, and they don't compensate for the fact that fat is not metabolically active like muscle. Regardless, if you take in the number of calories the chart says your basal metabolism requires you should loose weight just fine, particularly with exercise 3x a week.

There is no reason to drop your calories to 1200 if you can lose weight at 1800 - as you get closer to goal you will have to start lowering your caloric intake to continue to lose, or increase your exercise.

And don't forget - the true benefit of exercise does NOT occur while you're doing it - it occurs after you do it, by having an increased metabolic rate for an hour or two after cardio activity, and a faster metabolsim due to increased muscle mass.

Also, may I point out that you have lost 11 pounds in a little over two weeks, which is way ahead of the curve. Our bodies are not little mathematic machines - sometimes they rest a little bit before dropping more weight scale-wise. However, rest assured that your body is doing all the things it needs to do to become smaller and healthier, even if the scale is not showing it.

Relax, and learn to get in touch with your physical hunger so you can eat in response to that, and do other things in response to non-physical hunger.

Donali~ Thanks for the advice and I will try to not get impatient. I just want to make sure I'm doing all I can to lose weight and I guess you can get really stuck on counting calories instead of paying more attention to eating the right things.

This is the begining of my 4th week and so I should be proud that I've lost 11 pounds and I know it will keep coming off and at what pace doesn't really matter as long as it is still dropping!!!! Thanks Donali!!!