Can anyone tell me why after 9 months of being banded I am stuck and not losing any more weight? In the 9 months of banding I lost 51 lbs. and have been up and down with my weight ever since. I eat a normal diet, oatmeal Breakfast, salads lunch, and usually fish (broiled or baked, chicken, etc. for dinners. I just went on vacation to Disney World, walked the entire park 2 days, and came home to see I've gained 2 lbs. I'm pissed! My friends say its muscle gain, but I've discussed this with the RN at my Bariatric center and she has no explanation why I'm gaining. They say stay around 1000 -1200 cal. per day to lose weight, but I'm hungry and that is not enough cal. to keep me full. I've had regular fills, and having another tomorrow. My doctor filled me as much as possible since I was flying and the band gets tighter when you fly, so he was concerned that I get to tight and not eat at all. That didn't happen. I guess what I'm thinking is maybe I should have had the gastric bypass. Can anyone help with my problem? I'm sure this has been discussed several times, but I could use help from all of you that have experienced the same thing.

Thanks alot!

How much are you exercising. I am walking 45-55 minutes twice a day and i stay under 1000 calories per day to lose 10 pounds per month. I even feel like i may need to do more to continue losing at this pace.

I sometimes feel the same way you do! But I think we both made the right choice. I know people who have had the bypass and also loose slower or loose all the weight quick and then start to gain it back. I know I have days when I don't want to eat the way I should and I know this has slowed my loss. But I am not perfect if I was I never whould have had weight loss surgery. I hope I acheive your loss at 9 months I think you have done great! Keep up the good work and mabie with this next fill the lbs will start to fall off.

Are you keeping a journal of what you eating and how much and the times? I know it sounds silly but a journal is a great tool alone with the band.

If you are I would talk with your dietician and let him/her review your journal and they might make suggestions as what to change in your diet.

I know the dietician in my support group will do that - and it is a great help.

I must agree with you, I do not exercise as much as I should. I have a long commute to work and usually only find time during the weekend for exercise. That part is true. As for the food journal, yes, my doctor keep suggesting that I write it all down. My husband who is a diabetic actually keeps track of everything he puts in his mouth so I go with that since typically we both have the same meals. But I guess I never thought it would be so hard. It seems like bypass patients have it easier. Maybe I wrong, but at this point it will take another year to lose it. I will see how my fill goes tomorrow. I find that if I am real tight, I cannot eat breakfast and lunch isn't great either. But by dinner time I can eat. Do you feel that throwing up is a problem cuz when I'm tight that seems to be the thing I do after taking a few bites of food, then after that passes, I can eat. Weird huh?

You said that 1000ish cals isn't enough to keep you full. What I'm wondering is if it's the TYPE of cals you are eating. I didn't see where you are eating a lot of Protein throughout the day. Oatmeal is great for Fiber and salads are great for veggies but the banding rules specifically state 1. solid protein, 2. veggies, 3. carbs if there is room. The solid protein will not only give you the fuel you need to maintain your metabolism but it will also keep you fuller for longer and you may not feel like 1000 cals is too little.

I have found that the ideas that I get on DailyPlate.com as to lower cal ideas when I log something give me good ideas on how I can improve my eating. Have you tried logging on one of those programs. And the final bit of advice I have, if you have not been doing so, you have to count every bite that goes in your mouth. Not just the meals, but the licks of the spoon when you stir dinner, the nibble of the nuts when you walk by your co-workers desks, and the liquid cals you get when you have a glass of milk after dinner. Those are the places where I found that I may have been maintaining 1000ish cals during meals but was getting almost 500 from licking the knife or sipping the kool-aid to taste it for the kids or tasting a bite of dinner for the kids to make sure it wasn't too hot or my kids giving me a bite of their afternoon snack....the list was endless during the day.

Hope some of that helps.

you have to remember you did take the slow route. And five years from now when you haven't gained your weight back you will be happy you did this surgery instead. Thats what i keep telling myself when i stop losing. Do your best to keep moving and just keep working on it.

I thank you for your suggestions, they are great. Could you also tell me your typical foods for a day? I did sort of cover most of mine, but I did forget I do put some cheese in my salads (low-fat), and eat low fat cottage cheese sometime, as well as an apple with low carb/low cal. peanut butter. I think it is very challenging to keep up with a variety of foods on this diet. I cannot face to see another protein shake. If I have to I will die!

well you are on the right track then - and yes for most banded people it does take about a year - if you read all the articles about it - I have to many friends that have done the gastric way - and they all wish they had done the band. One fact being that it would be slower. I still say speak to your dietician and let them know what you eat and the order you eat. At the last support meeting she told one girl to eat a couple of things first before she ate another thing - and that kicked her into losing again.

My typical day starts with a bowl of Kashi golean. It is higher in fiber and Protein than any other Cereal I can stand. I can get about a half cup of that and 1% milk with a little splenda to sweeten it. I like the golean crunch better than the plain but some days I save the crunch for snack time. I will usually add 1/2 a banana or some berry to it. There is a golean oatmeal if you really like the oatmeal for breakfast. I find that it keeps me fuller than just plain oatmeal. I sweeten with SF syrup.

For lunch I try some sort of meat...lunch meat like roast beef or salami, and a cheese stick and then if I'm still hungry I will have a small salad. I eat regular dressing because it isn't usually that much and I really dislike the vinegar taste of a lot of the low cal ones. dinner depends on what I'm making for the family. Usually it's just whatever meat I feed them and then some veggies. I don't usually have many carbs...they seem to stick me so that helps when I'm craving them.

Snack time is usually in the late evenings....I get that hand-mouth need. Sometimes I eat dry kashi crunch, sometimes yogurt with kashi mixed in....lately my favorite has been a 100 cal popcorn pack dipped in melted cheese and salsa. Another good snack when I'm needing that crunch of chips and the sweet of something are the quaker mini rice cakes. I'm in love with the mint chocolate ones...and they come in 100 cal packs. When it's a chocolate fix I need, I keep toosie roll midgies on hand...they are chewy and chocolatly and 5 of them can take me 20 minutes if I chew them really good and let them get stuck in my teeth.

I also work really hard on getting 70+ oz of liquid in. Usually there are 16 oz of that that is v8 fusion light because my diet is so low in veggies. I honestly feel better when I get more liquids in. I'm not as hungry and I have a ton more energy.

If you need more ideas let us know....whatever we can do to help.

I don't know how long you have been at this plateau, but a woman in my local support group recently said that she was at the same weight for 6 months before starting to lose again. Everyone is different, but if you continue to do things correctly you'll see the right results.

I just want to say thank you to everyone that replied. You guys are the best for knowledge and information, much better than the clinical people that have not gone though it. I will take all you suggestions and put them to good use.

Thanks again.

Debbie

So you think the fluid or lots of water really helps? I do not drink enough water.

So you think the Fluid or lots of Water really helps? I do not drink enough water.

I don't know why, but it's key for me. The days that I get my water I have more energy, I think clearer, I can stave off my hunger better.

I've found that a lot of the time that I thought I was hungry was actually me being thirsty and I just didn't know it.

I have gone from drinking a bottle of water every couple of weeks, maybe, to drinking more than enough. Now it isn't all water. Like I said before, some of the liquid is v8. I love the fusion light juice. It is 1/2 the cals of the normal and counts as a serving of fruits and veggies. I NEVER have been a big veggie eater and so I worry that I don't get enough. I also drink a lot of tea, both hot and iced. 16 oz of my liquid is coffee every morning. So really it's only 1 or 2 16oz of water a day if that. My NUT told me that if it has caffeine it only counts as 1/2 as many oz. so 16 oz of coffee counts for 8oz only.

I do feel like I lose better when I'm drinking my water faithfully. Any time I've had a slow down, I up my liquid and things get back on track.

Hope that helps...it's my experience.

Stephanie. I am newly banded. Still eating creamy soups I am confused about the solid stage - the forever stage. Your daily menu really helps me. When you say you have meat for lunch (lunch meat) and dinner - do you weigh it or do you just know what a portion is? I can't wait until I have it all figured out. I'm sure it will be easier than I think it is going to be... but it all seems confusing to me. Did you count calories at first until you became familiar with what worked best for you?? I know everyone is different.... I just keep reading and hoping that it will all become clear to me. Becky

Stephanie. I am newly banded. Still eating creamy soups I am confused about the solid stage - the forever stage. Your daily menu really helps me. When you say you have meat for lunch (lunch meat) and dinner - do you weigh it or do you just know what a portion is? I can't wait until I have it all figured out. I'm sure it will be easier than I think it is going to be... but it all seems confusing to me. Did you count calories at first until you became familiar with what worked best for you?? I know everyone is different.... I just keep reading and hoping that it will all become clear to me. Becky

Becky,

As far as weighing, I've not done that. I did track my food on thedailyplate.com and that really helped. Once I found restriction it helped. I had no idea what I was waiting to happen, but it finally did and I understood. That will help a TON.

I was never really good about measuring, but I did finally buy some small bowls and figure out what a half cup of Cereal looked like. Other than that I eat "a slice" or "a piece" or something like that. The daily plate helps with that. The other idea I follow is that a cup is about the size of your fist, half will fit in the palm of your hand. Daily Plate has been really accurate as far as what they say I can eat and how much I will lose if I do. It's amazing how much the little things can change. It seems that I remind myself quite often that "if you work the plan, the plan will work!"

Keep in touch and let us know how you are doing. Ask any other questions you come up with. This place can be such a wealth of information.