Hi<O:p</O:p

I'm 3 weeks post op and I'm not sure how many calories I should be eating<O:p</O:p

I have lost 18lbs and want to continue to be successful<O:p</O:p

<O:p

Any advice?<O:p

Agatha

Most banded women do just fine with 1200 calories, men 1500 calories. I have yet to have someone expain why men get more than women though... Something to do with muscle mass... but there are lots women with lots of muscle mass, so I don't know.

I didn't lose on 1200, and I'm going down to 1000 calories with my next fill.

It is also possible to slow weight loss down without eating enough calories too. 1200 sounds about right, though not sure I'll be up that high at 3 weeks. I'm one week out and yesterday only had about 500 caolories. (first day I had kept track) Today I shot for a little more and will probally end up with like 700 calories. I don't know if there is a calorie range, I just got a protien range to shoot for 45-90 a day. Yesterday I got in 59. Today will probally be about the same I think.

Melissa

Just remember that continually eating under 1200 calories per day can slow your metablolism down FOR LIFE. I would rather lose slower with my band than end up being 400 lbs if I ever have to remove my band!

Just remember that continually eating under 1200 calories per day can slow your metablolism down FOR LIFE. I would rather lose slower with my band than end up being 400 lbs if I ever have to remove my band!

As always, I am continually striving to learn more. Where did you hear that reducing your calories can do this? What research? I don't have a degree in nutrition, so all I can go by is what people I trust to be experts tell me. My clinic told me that I might have to go down to 800 calories to lose weight.

I did 1200 calories for month and months and months and lost an average of 3 ounces a week. 3 OUNCES not Pounds, GRAMS not KILOGRAMS. Any slower and I'd be either standing still or gaining.

Vines I've read similiar information but it was in fitness and weight lifthing books most likely. Though I have read nutriton books too. Basically the less you eat and the longer you stay in "starvation" mode the more effeicent your body gets. That is why the best way to loose weight is to reduce your calories somewhat..but not too much...and to exercise to increase the amount of calories you burn. You should get a metabolic study done, I've never had one done either but want to. In a metabolic study they can find out how many calories your body uses at rest. Then based on that they can tell you how many calories you should eat a day to loose weight safely without slowing your metabolism down. Good news is exercise can help your metabolism, especially getting more muscle mass.

One of the reason most of us have yo yo ourselves to such heavy weights is that we have done this. We diet hard....our body adjust to the new calories and become more efficient, so when we stop loosing weight and slip we gain back weight...usually faster than it came off. The next time we diet we do the same thing...over and over. One of the best ways to trick your metabolism is to not eat the same calories day in and day out. Say...one day eat 1000 calories, but then the next eat 1300. Make sure you alternate so you don't eat too many high calorie days or too many low calorie days in a row. Start researching metablolism, you will be surprised how we have tricked our bodies over the years and actually made it MORE effecient so that we can eat 2000 calories and gain 10lbs while someone who has never dieted, can eat 2000 and maintain. It sucks how effecient our bodies are made sometimes.

Melissa

Dragon, I've never thought about it that way. What I get the band, I think alternating would be a great idea.

Vines, I ditto the answer above! I think if you have to go down to 800 to lose you should try to lose, but also bringing the exersize level up can help (grimmace - exersize sucks!!! ot at least I think it does). Anyways, most likely you will have no problems with your band and have it forever so you won't have to worry about weight gain if you ever had the band out. I just worry b/c I am only 26 and I haven't had kids yet so I would rather eat the 1200 calories now, lose weight slowly, have healthy babies, and then at that point I can weigh weigh loss v. metabolic slow down. Also, about the exersize - the basic thing to remeber is that if you burn more calories than you eat you will lose. Simple as that (unless you have a medical metabolic problem). So if you eat 1200 but move around enough to burn 1300 you'll lose, or eat 800 and move around enought to burn 900 you'll lose. I wasn't trying to scare anyone w/ the 1200 comment - I am just being proactive b/c unlike some people who think thier band will last forever, I have 60-70 years left in this lifetime (hopefully) and I don't see my band lasting that long -- I wish it would but I don't think it's realistic to expect it to (I know alot of people would argue with me on this but it's just my opinion). Anyways, I'm totally rambling on here, but the metabolic study Melissa suggested is an interesting idea. I would like to have that done too b/c my metablolism seems awfully slow!

Anyways, good luck and even though you are a turtle I think you are doing great and I think your NSV list is really inspiring!!

Vines, also why men get to eat more calories is based on muscle mass mostly...they have more usually. I would argue I have more than my husband who doesn't work out and is the wirey type...though it does seem he can eat more crap than me. LOL

Also did anyone know that it takes more calories to digest an apple than an apple has? Some trivia that was given to me by a personal trainer that I thought was interesting. So if you are hungry and want to be good, eat an apple...no one ever got fat over eating apples...except of course when they were in a pie .

Medical conditions can contribute to slow metabolism too. I'm hypothyroid...so that can effect my metablism and weight loss. Doesn't make it impossible, but just that much harder. Other deficients to look for vitiamin B 12...especially if you tire easily or even Iron. When I did my testing for surgery all of these were going on with me. It was no wonder I was draggin like an old women in the evenings. I'm taking suppliments now and feel much better.

Melissa

Today I get my 4th fill and tomorrow I take a fitness assessment here at my university. Part of that will also be a consult with nutriton support, whatever that means.

I found a cool calorie calculator online at:

http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/calories-goal.php

You put in your age, sex, current weight, goal weight and height and it calculates how many calories per day to reach your goal weight, but it was averaging it on a loss of 0.5 (half) a pound a week., tells you how many weeks it will take to get to your goal weight at this amount. Of course, if I am serious in my attempts, I usually will lose more than 1/2 pound per week, but I guess that is something to go by anyway if you wanted to try it.

Thanks.

This is awesome:

It says for me:

You burn 2210 calories during a typical day.

You should consume about 1488 calories a day to reach your target weight of 150 lbs.

This is at a reasonable weight loss average of 0.69 lbs per week, which would take about 117 weeks to reach.

Ok, well since I don't really want to wait 2 years and 3 months to lose the weight I am going to stick with my 1200 calories per day!