so, i've been banded about 5 weeks now, and most of my weight loss has been slow. for the most part, i track my food and try to stay at about 1500 cals a day. i weigh myself daily (it helps me be accountable) and i keep getting on week long plateaus where i will stay the same weight or go up or down a pound or 2. then it always seem my plateaus are broken on the day that i lay around watching tv all day, eating pizza and sugar cookie dough. this has happened on more than one occasion. why can i focus on my calories and Protein, etc, on most days and lose nothing, but the day that i say screw it and don't care, i drop 3 lbs? i've toyed with the idea that maybe i am one of the people that needs to consume more calories to lose weight, but i would hate to be wrong and gain 5 lbs back.

i would like to discuss this stuff with the nut, but seeing as i am eating solids (and have been), when i'm still supposed to be on liquids, i don't think her advice would be constructive. i'll probably ask her anyway when i go in on thurs, hopefully to get my first fill, but i fear she will just yell at me again. (i got a big yelling at last time because i dared to put a banana in my Protein shake because fruit is full of sugar and thus unacceptable.)

anyway, has anyone else had similar problems? it really is discouraging to lose weight eating the bad stuff and not the good.

Well, I'm kinda new at this whole banding thing, but when i was working out a lot back in the day I followed this book called BODY FOR LIFE. You'd eat all these small healthy meals throughout the week and once a week you had this one day where you could eat whatever you wanted. It was pretty insane, and my friend he would do that and on that day he would eat crazy stuff like one time he ate a dozen Krispy kreme donuts and he dropped weight on that day!!!!!

He said it was awesome to be able to trick his body, but i don't remember the specifics of why your body would do that. I'm gonna have to find my book, and get back to you, but i totally believe you on that.

But i think you are doing a good job, keep watching your intake, and slowly but surely you'll get to where you want to be. Good luck, and I'm going to see if i can find that book and post it up for you.

J

i'm new to the band as well...here's a suggestion.

maybe you should ask yourself why you're eating things you shouldn't be? not in a mean way, but soul search for a little bit and be honest with yourself.

i know it's hard...i'm going through it too...and when i'm down or when my head wants to eat...i go back to why i got the band in the first place.

i personally think it will catch up to you in the long run and no one wants that to happen. do you feel "cheated" by the restricted foods? i'm on mushies until friday and i eat boston market's mashed potatoes a lot- which can get boring, but they are good.

for your Protein shakes why don't you by davinci's SF syrups (they come in crazy good flavors).

I don't mean to point out "what you're doing wrong" but i think you owe it to yourself and the band to do this the right way. you know?

as far as the lbs. coming off...i try my best (doesn't always work) to NOT stress about it...i figure if i do everything i'm supposed to it will come off. no pressure.

I haven't been banded yet, but I'm on Body for Life right now, and I also swear by the cheat meal/day. I'm only doing a cheat meal because I have a lot to lose and I don't work out as hard as the plan likes. I don't know if it has a physiological effect or not; but the psychological effect of being able to let down your guard once a week is fairly valuable. If the pizza and cookie dough really are only once a week, then I say that's OK. Plus, maybe it does help the metabolism: the cheat meal says "I'm not starving to death" and that's always a good message.

In any case, there are always plateaus on diets. You haven't even been filled yet and don't have restriction. So as long as you're not gaining, and you're still losing a bit, I'd wait for some more restriction later on to help you keep below that 1500 calories. If you look on the board, people usually eat much less than that when restricted (hard to believe!), and maybe 1500 calories is only good for a slower loss than, say 1200 calories would be.

I think it's a good bet that switching entirely to a pizza and cookie dough diet will result in weight gain, or at least, poor nutrition. Stick with what you're doing, I think.

I haven't been banded yet, but I'm on Body for Life right now, and I also swear by the cheat meal/day. I'm only doing a cheat meal because I have a lot to lose and I don't work out as hard as the plan likes. I don't know if it has a physiological effect or not; but the psychological effect of being able to let down your guard once a week is fairly valuable. If the pizza and cookie dough really are only once a week, then I say that's OK. Plus, maybe it does help the metabolism: the cheat meal says "I'm not starving to death" and that's always a good message.

In any case, there are always plateaus on diets. You haven't even been filled yet and don't have restriction. So as long as you're not gaining, and you're still losing a bit, I'd wait for some more restriction later on to help you keep below that 1500 calories. If you look on the board, people usually eat much less than that when restricted (hard to believe!), and maybe 1500 calories is only good for a slower loss than, say 1200 calories would be.

I think it's a good bet that switching entirely to a pizza and cookie dough diet will result in weight gain, or at least, poor nutrition. Stick with what you're doing, I think.

while i agree that we need to cheat sometimes...i'm more concerned that you're going to hurt your band. if your doc has you on mushies (not sure) then solids (pizza) could hurt you..or could stretch your pouch.

maybe i'm more afraid because i'm self-pay, but honestly i think it's more with the fact that i could not imagine going through with all of this and have my band slip. my suggestion (although i'm sure a doc would kill me)..if you're going to cheat..have something soft (like ice cream). i mean it's probably better than you eating textures you shouldn't... just my opinion.

You just might be one of the ones that needs more calories. I am like that. When I eat less than 1200 calories I don't lose. My weight loss was slow the first few weeks but when my calories increased the weight started coming off. Then it stopped and I realized I was eating the right amount of calories but the fat content was too high so I had to adjust it. Now I have eat 1200 - 1300 calories a day and try to stay under 26 grams of fat and I lose. The problem is when I am really watching the fat it is hard to reach 1200 calories.

I agree that following the Dr. guidelines for mushies is important. Once you're off mushies, you can revisit how you intend to eat for the rest of your life, and whether a once a week cheat is OK, which I think it is.

As for a banana in your smoothie, I think it's odd that it's forbidden. I've given up artificial sweeteners at the same time as I started this diet, and fruit is the best way to get a sweet fix. Maybe you need a new nutritionist.

I think its WHACK that your doctor still has you on liquids 5 weeks out?? WTF??!! My doc did a week of liquids and a week of mushies... and some might even do 2 weeks of mushies.. but 5 weeks??? Give me a break.

The reason why eating something bad triggers yourself back into weightloss mode is because your body goes into starvation mode when it doesn't get all the calories its use to. If you watch Biggest Loser even the trainers mentioned this and said that once a week the contestants eat something bad and it actually helps them lose weight. Wether its nachos, or enchiladas, or chips or just something to shock your system into saying "oh hey, I'm not being starved, it's okay to lose weight". Anytime I reach a plateau I do this and it helps.. bam, I'll drop 2-4 pounds from it.

Later on when you get more fills and you have real good restriction you won't be able to eat that pizza most likely (except the toppings).. right now you are just wide open and everything goes down quite nicely for you.

Good luck! :thumbup:

This really ticks me off. I had this exact thing happen to me. I was religiously sticking to my plan. My husband took me to a meditterranean restaurant for dinner and I blew it all to hell. I stuffed myself. I was so upset. I get on the scale next morning and I'm down 2 1/2 pounds!!! I was like WTF? Then it happened again a few weeks later. I couldn't beleive it. I email my support group counselor and he gives me a really hard time about it, asking what the hell was i thinking, and basically says it was just a coincidence and that I need to come see him for counseling.....?????? I didni't go but it pissed me off. Now you all are sayiing that there is some truth to this. I wasn't imaginining it. I guess I need to really analyze my caloric intake and how much fat I'm eating. this is really wierd.

CoolCrystal, I was thinking the same thing about liquids 5 weeks out. Is that normal??? We're going on a vacation when I'm 7 weeks out and I plan on eating regular meals, just smaller. Will I still be on liquids or mushies????? Help!!!

You don't have to eat food that's bad for you though. You can just eat more calories one day.

Also, our weight fluctuates daily for all sorts of reasons that have nothing to do with our real weight. So you have to be careful about seeing a correlation between something you ate and what you weigh less than 24 hours later. It could be real or it could be a coincidence.

Here's a funny -- and extreme -- example. A friend of mine has a crazy mother. She believes all sorts of weird stuff no matter how much you explain reality to her. So one day she decided that since drinking Water helps you lose weight, she would drink a gallon of water. (Yikes!) She drank her gallon and then ran to scale to see how much she had lost. Of course, she had gained a pound because she had all that water sloshing around inside her. So now she tells anyone who will listen that drinking water makes you GAIN weight and she refuses to drink water because she doesn't want to be fat.

5 weeks is a really long time to be on some form of the post op diet, mine was 3 weeks of liquids, if Icould drink it I could have it. It is a little distressing to me reading peoples posts about "good and bad" foods or cheating, it's not about cheating or good and bad, it's about choices, somedays I have frozen yogurt as a treat but factor it into my cals for the day, or if 1 day I have 1400 or 1500 cals, the next I have somewhere in the 1100-1200 range that I find I now naturally am compensating for the higher cal days without too much thought. By focusing on what we do wrong, it increases our risk or failure, look at what your doing right and realize that no one is perfect every second of every day.

Hi there hope2behealthy....

Your post made me feel sad, and concerned for you. Only 5 weeks in and you are already having multiple days of pizza and sugar cookie dough? Please don't take my response as mean - but as an act of concern and hope for you to succeed - and reach the goals that your Profile name suggests - that you hope to be healthy !!

You really should go and talk to nutritionist. You may not like what she might tell you, but it will be constructive in that it might help you.

Losing weight is a science - the body works in mysterious ways - consuming Protein helps to store Water weight in your muscle cells, eating carbs helps to store glycogen in your liver - the bottom line is that you need to expend 3500 calories more than you consume to lose 1 pound of body fat. Anything else up or down is really just "water weight"

Best wishes to you.

Luscious.

Edited May 6, 200818 yr by Luscious

CoolCrystal, I was thinking the same thing about liquids 5 weeks out. Is that normal??? We're going on a vacation when I'm 7 weeks out and I plan on eating regular meals, just smaller. Will I still be on liquids or mushies????? Help!!!

NO. In my opinion its not normal. Of course there are going to be people on here saying "listen to your doctor.. bla bla bla". but come on, nobody is still doing liquids or mushies 7 weeks out. Shoot, most people have already had 1-2 fills 7 weeks out. I had 2 fills by 7 weeks out and was already eating regular foods 3 weeks out. One of the first solid foods I tried was tuna mixed with a little bit of miracle whip light, and on multigrain crackers.. it has to be multigrain, not regular white crackers. That mushed up really good in my mouth and I took small bites. I was eating that by day 7 or 8 and my doc said it was fine. I could only eat less than half the can and three little crackers, but it was very filling and didn't hurt me at all. I'm not saying this is perfect for everybody 7 days out, but my doc constituted it as a mushie.

And somebody mentioned that eating something bad or whatever might not work, but I doubt the trainers on Biggest Loser would lie to millions of people when they said that eating something a little bad does help once a week. Our bodies DO go into starvation mode.. when you have two weeks of not losing anything and you eat something naughty and then lose three pounds, thats your body allowing itself to move on and continue to lose weight. Granted, that doesn't mean eat a bunch of pizza, Cookies, icecream and whatnot. I usually will have 4 chips and salsa with an enchilada for a lunch one day... thats enough to bonk my system back into shape.

Thanks everyone for replying with helpful suggestions and commiserations. one thing i think i should address is that quite a few of the people that replied seemed to be worried about me. Worried that I am sabotaging myself. On the one hand, maybe I gave the impression that I am sitting around gorging myself, but I am not. It took a couple of days for me and my roommate to finish off one pizza. And it was thin crust and vegetarian. So it was not the worst food in the world. And the sugar cookie dough was delicious, so I won't appologize for it.

Everyone has to make their own decisions on how they will lose weight. Some people make the choice to stick to a diet completely and consider SF pudding a splurge. That is awesome for them, and they will probably lose weight quicker than me. Some people work out like crazy, and that is awesome too, and they will probably lose weight quicker than me, too. I have a different approach. I am not trying to go on a diet. I am trying to eat healthy, but like a normal person healthy. If I want to eat chocolate or pizza or ice cream, I will. Just like a normal person. The difference is that with the band, I can eat 1 or maybe 2 slices of pizza instead of 4. I can be perfectly satisfied with a 1/2 cup of ice cream instead of a whole bowl. I don't just eat bad foods, but I'm not going to banish them. This does not make me a bad bandster, and you don't have to worry about me. Notice that I HAVE lost 24 lbs in 6 weeks, so it seems to be working.

I think it's the whole feast or famine thing...your body starts to hold weight if it thinks food isn't readily available..then you show it that food IS plentiful and it says ok, it's alright to drop the lbs then.

My surgeon is a huge fan of that theory also.