first off...my scale hates me. there i said it.

but i was reading a couple posts, and i'm thinking i'm getting tooo few calories...didn't notice till i started writing what i ate down...

its been almost 2 weeks with no change in my weight, oh wait...i'm lieing it went up 4 lbs, and now i've lost 2 of the 4 that i gained, i've been to the gym from 30min-1hr for 7 out of 9 days...

but then i started tracking my cals that i'm eating...um like 700-900/day. i'm currently going thru posts to see what a good number is, i just don't think 700 is a good number, with or without the band.

and now that i have those numbers in perspective, i was burning that much at gym on eliptical (assuming the little calorie thing on the machine was semi-accurate) in an hour

ok i may be over dramatic but i feel like i'm giving myself an ED, like i feel like if i eat more my wieghts going to go up?

assuming i need an increase in calories, whats a good way to go about it without freaking myself out about eating too much

and fyi, would have never guess a few weeks ago i'd be posting about not eating enough!

If you don't mind telling me how tall you are I'll go to a website I found and calculate your BMR (basic metabolic rate) that is the number of calories you need to maintain your weight when AT REST....that'll be a good jumping off point for you!

And before I do that I can tell you that 700-900 cals a day isn't enough; you're right. You are starving yourself!

Your body thinks its being starved and is shutting down your metabolism.

I didn't start losing until I got up to 1200 - 1500 cals a day (I'm a male that started with a BMI of 51)

im haveing the same problem and was going to post the same question so it would be nice to see what pple write i was banded on the 27th of aug and iv lost a total of 20lbs since being banded and thats it no more in the past week in a half and iv only been getting in between 500 and 600 cal aday i measure everything because i want to be accountable for it so maybe im not eatting enough either this is really strange

i'm 5"8 my starting bmi was 43 something...yeah i just put a mental block on what that number was

i think one of my biggest problems is not knowing what to eat, like i don't want to eat things that will go down too easy, slider foods? but i try to get my fruit and veggies in, but pretty soon i think i'm going to turn into a tunafish that smells like orange and watermelon pretty soon.

i guess posting this has made me realize i need to really get serious and start looking up band friendly foods and recipies.

OK! My bmr calculator says, for light activity, you need about 2700 calories a day. No wonder you aren't losing on 700-900!

I am no professional (unless doing about 1000000 diets qualifies me as one LOL) but I think you need to get probably 1000 - 1200 cals a day. Eat Protein first and it doesn't have to be tuna (I hate tuna, the proverbial diet food i burned out on it in the 70's LOL) Fix hamburger, chicken, fish, shrimp, turkey, ground turkey, whatever! OR even refried Beans in a low carb high Fiber tortilla. Eat your protein first, a good 3 ounces...then veggies, then some fruit. That's what we're taught and that the protein and veggies are most important. (and that makes sense...again because if you don't get enough your body pulls it from muscle and that includes your heart) Your body can use fat/adipose to make glycogen but it doesn't provide protein and you need that to rebuild cells etc. So make sure you get enough ... 60 grams a day. Then fill in w/veggies and only occasional fruit.

I think if you try that a week or two you'll start losing again. Does it sound doable to you? You should lose 2 1/2 to 3 pounds a week that way. Of course bodies don't understand "math" and can trick us but it should work better than what you're doing now!

OH and make sure you get 64 ounces of Water. You need it for fat metabolism too!

I definitely think 700-900 is too low. I use to daily plate, to not only approximate how many I should eat but track my foods too.

Try this thread for food ideas...

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f9/share-ideas-what-did-you-eat-today-36828/index112.html

HUMMM if u think 700 claories is too low... what do u think about 200-400 calories? If i just eat chicken or salmon i can keep my intake to about that the whole day. I usually eat about 4oz of salmon or chicken between 2 meals and thats it. Then my morning meal will be something different but my calories never go too high unless i make poor choices...

~~Jessica

I don't know if you are asking me or another post or just "anyone" but I'll answer...if you are an adult female of average height, in my opinion that is an unhealthy diet to do any lenght of time. Undereating is as damaging and dangerous in it's way as overeating is. You seem to have traded one eating disorder for another! You need to up your calories. You need AT LEAST 60 grams of protein a day, plus some carbs and fat. As I said, your body will pull protein from your muscles including the heart (that's what killed the 60's song superstar Karen Carpenter) if you don't eat enough. You'll end up with the constitution of a prisoner of war camp survior. I can't imagine that's what you want. If you truly can't eat more, you need to drink a supplement or get an unfill. If you are just doing it to lose faster, you're losing the wrong way and can harm yourself. You need to discuss this with the nutritionist at your surgeon's office or have him refer you to one so you can get a better plan that will keep you losing but in a healthy way. You won't even look good as you lose; that austere a diet will cause your hair, nails and skin to suffer. It's a no win, IMHO. Please take care of yourself!

thank you guys, i'm currently in the middle of making a shopping list, with real food on it! lol

i looked around, i definately need to up the cals, i'm just going to not let the scale get me down over the next week or two while i make this change

i think increasing calories is easier to accept when you realize thats what will actually help you lose weight...heck you don't have to tell me twice :thumbup:

thanks

Hey, let us know how it works out, ok? That is a fear I think many of us have...that Darned scale NOT MOVING! and our knee jerk reaction is to not eat! But I think you are on the right track now. I'll cross my fingers eyes and toes for you! Go girl!

I was having a hard time getting in more than 700 calories when I first started eating foods. Now I am getting in about 1100-1300. I will have to see if that helps, but I didn't lose any weight at 700 calories either! My stomach just couldn't hold more.

try eating more!

I do not think it is necessarily healthy to eat only 700-900 calories, per day .

However I am fairly certain that this "not eating enough to lose weight" idea is a myth.

After all if it were true, how do anorexics get down to 80 pounds? With the "not eating enough to lose weight theory" all anorexics would be FAT.

My pre op diet (optifast) was 800 cal per day. I lost 11 pounds in 2 weeks. Many folks lost more than that.

Michee you do eventually lose (because the body can't make food) but it slows your metabolism WAY WAY down. And anorectics are NOT healthy...why? because their bodies start literally eating themselves. Like using one credit card to pay another when you are broke....the body pulls from peripheral muscles etc (and eventually the heart) to get Protein.

Or think of a fire. Not enough wood and it is kind of piddly (that's a low cal diet) TOO much wood and the fire won't burn well either...but you get the right mix of fire, fuel and oxygen and watch out! That's optimum metabolism with optimum fuel (food).... you want to keep that metabolism humming along and burning up all you eat plus fat. Undereating will eventually cause you to bog down, and will cause your body to pilfer protein from things you don't want losing protein.

Ask your nutritionist if you don't think I'm right; you need fuel to feed that little metabolism engine to lose adipose.

Hi Restless

I think we are in agreement. We just used different words.

Anorectics are not healthy, a really really low cal diet is not healthy.

My point was that if you eat too little, you will lose weight (although not in a healthy way).

As you stated, if you are not eating enough, your body will begin to feed on fat/muscle and other tissue.

Therefore you will lose weight (not gain weight) from eating too little, you will be very skinny, but also very unhealthy.