I have been following fitness magazines, shows, books, you name it, if it had the word fitness somewhere in it, I devoured it to see if I could find what it was that I was missing. I was convinced that there was this secret that thin people knew about and I didn't. I was sure that if I could figure out their riddles, then I too would be able to finally be thin.

There's no big secret that there is a lot of conflicting and contradiction in many of the articles put out there or discussed. It seems you get different answers from different people. Okay, so I tried to sort through all of this confusion and make an intelligent choice as to who was right about the things they were telling us. After all I am a fairly intelligent person, decent education and logical and reasonable, yet flexable and open-minded.

So can anyone tell me why we keep saying that if someone is not losing weight, like during a plateu, or if they are not losing fast enough, we tell them to increase their calories. That by increasing your calories you rev up your metabolism, thereby burning more calories. Exercising is encouraged, but not a part of my confusion, the exercising part I get. My confusion comes in when I find out that people who have RNY surgery take in very few calories a day, and yet it's a well known fact that they drop weight at such a rapid pace their skin cannot keep up with them. Then you have the anorexics and bullimics. Anorexics consume as few calories as possible, with their ideal caloric intake average being between 200 to 300 calories a day. Bullimics may gorge themselves with very high calorie meals, but then purge it all back out. They know how to time it just right so that their bodies can only gain nutrients from as little as possible. There motto is, if you have waited an hour to purge, forget, you've lost the window of opportunity to eliminate all that you had taken in. Again, they have a general caloric intake of between 500 to 600 calories a day. Higher than the anorexic, which explains the difference in their appearances.

I am soooo convinced that all eating orders are somehow interconnected with each other, which is part of the reason I have researched the information on anorexics and bullimics, as well as binge and compulsive eaters.

My conclusion is that everything points to the lower the calories, the smaller the body, period. I am most certainly not advocating for anorexia or bullimia, please don't misunderstand, I recognize them as potentially fatal diseases. It's just that I question the validity of those telling us that our bodies go into starvation mode, lowering our metabolism, and stop us from losing weight if we do not consume 'enough' yet they don't usually tell us what enough should be. We often have to play around to figure that out and that is hit or miss at best.

Maybe I'm just a crazy lady who's been battling her weight most of her life and I am frustrated. Do any of you ever question these things? Or is it just me? Does anyone really have the answer. I know we are all different, so the answers must be different, but to be at polar opposites doesn't make sense to me.

Cindy

I have not had the surgery yet and i just wanted to know if every one thinks thy made the right choice

I have not had the surgery yet and i just wanted to know if every one thinks thy made the right choice

Yep, no regrets. Not a one. It isn't always easy to lose the weight, and it's been a bit slow, but I am losing and I have hope...something in short supply pre-band.

All I have to add is...These days I eat very little but protien is my main concern! Restriction has been perfect.

Just when I have that piece of chicken or that scoop of cottage cheese for breakfast...I want to eat more, but I can't and know the feeling.

I have been very lucky lately, I feel like i'm going to BP then I start waving my arms around and it go's down!

Some might say I'm too tight...

I haven't BPed in weeks and I sleep good!

I have 3 meals a day and 3 quarts of water!

No regrets here either. It can certainly be a struggle at times as I try to find alternatives to emotional eating, but I wouldn't change a thing.

I think I made the right choice. Something had to be done and after 30 plus years of dieting hell, the band comes in quite handy. No, it doesn't "do it for me". Yes, I still have to put forth the effort. But, I have help with the band. I have a little help now, not too much because I was just banded and have yet to get my fills. Even without the fill I have lost 14 pounds so far.

Gastric Bypass would be quicker but to me, it wasn't worth the risks. I am glad I did this.

I have to comment on the whole starvation mode bit. I don't know at what point our bodies enter this mode and I'm certain that it's different for everyone, but I do know that entering into starvation mode will damage our metabolisms, unless we work to build it back up again. Simply put, starvation mode means our body stores fat and burns muscle. Losing muscle makes our metabolisms slow down. Starvation mode doesn't happen overnight, it takes some time. My thoughts are that if we can't take in enough calories to feed the muscle we try to build through weight training we'll probably plateau longer. It's trying to find that delicate balance that seems to be the issue.

For me, I'm trying to not go below 1,200 calories per day and eat at least 70 grams of protien per day, so I can build the muscle I work so hard to get. It may take me longer to lose the weight but I think in the end I'll be able to eat more and have more energy.