Ok. I am 4 weeks post op, lost 18lbs with the pre-op diet up to now. But for the last week and a half I have not dropped a pound. Not gained anything either, which is good. I know I am in what everyone calls Bandster hell but I still have 8 more weeks till my first fill. Up to now, I have not been eating much, so didn't think I needed to count my calories; however, after this standstill decided I would give it a try. I had no idea where to begin. I found this really neat site www.thedailyplate.com and it counts everything for you. It is the easies thing I have found to help me. It tracks your water consuption, exercise and for me, most importantly calories and protien. Thought I would share. By the way, I swear my nutritionist said I should only have 1000 calories a day. Doesn't this sound really low. I mean, I have no restriction so am going at it alone on this and I'm thinking if that is all i had, then I could have done this on my own without surgery. course I wouldn't have the hope of fills coming up to help me stick to it.

That does seem low and may put your body in starvation mode. I find 1200 is better for me. If I get into a platueau will do this trick my body a bit. Eat maybe 1500 for a few days then back down to 100-1200 for a few days. It sometimes works.

Right now in a real plateau and not going down much. I had a fill in December and need another one the end of Jan or early Feb.

It takes time......and patience to get through all of this but it's worth it.

different people need different amounts of calories a day. so glad you found the daily plate! i have been using it for about 8 months now almost daily (i only don't when i am out of town and find it harder to get to a computer and/or guesstimate calories in unique foods) and i swear by it. as the site shows you, you will need to consume lower and lower amounts of calories as you reach a lower weight to maintain your weight loss, unless you are exercising more as you lose weight (which you should). i find the daily plate helps keep me accountable for everything i put in my mouth.... i tend to forget the bad things i eat otherwise.

i actually just recently rewarded myself with --instead of food-- a gold membership on that site. i probably sound like i work for them or something but i just cannot say enough how much i LOVE that site! since my surgery 7 weeks ago, i have lost an average of 2 pounds a week, which is right on track to what my calorie goals are set at. it works so far! it breaks everything down to a science.

good luck!

I eat at least 1,200 calories with daily exercise and I track my food intake at Sparkpeople.com

I try and aim for around a average of 1200 too. Up the Protein, you have to fuel that weight loss. Maybe your body is just catching up to the 18 lbs you lost really fast.

I joined sparks people and you can track food on there and your other goals. Its also free. Many places to track calories. Sparks people has everything in one place.