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Calories In V. Calories Out Is B&#%!$@!t

morelgirl

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WARNING: This post is brought to you almost exclusively by Emotional Me. She isn't happy.

 

Whoever came up with the idea that weight loss is merely a matter of calories in v. calories out was a moron. But I might be a bigger moron for buying into it. Being overweight is a hugely complex issue, one that might be affected by, but has a lot more to it than, merely eating too much or moving too little. If it didn't have a lot more to it, there wouldn't be so many of us who dieted and failed to lose weight, exercised and failed to lose weight, cut portions and failed to lose weight. Who just plain failed to lose weight.

 

Do a little research and the internet will tell you that in order to lose 1 pound of fat, you simply need to eat 3500 fewer calories than you have expended. Allow me to demonstrate to you that this is b@#&$%!t, using myself as an example:

 

Using multiple factors including my height, my weight, my sex, my age, and my level of activity (which I underestimated, just to be safe), I calculated my Basal Metabolic Rate and the number of calories required by my body each week at present time in order to maintain my current rate. We'll call that number B (for Baseline).

 

Next, I used My Fitness Pal to track every single item that passed my lips during the past seven days. I'm not kidding about that. If I ate it or drank it, I tracked it, including my 1 calorie calcium supplements and my 5 calorie multivitamins. I missed nothing. My Fitness Pal is great in that it keeps track of each day's calories and also charts your average calories throughout the week. We'll call the number of calories I consumed C (for Consumed).

 

According to the experts, weight loss is a simple matter of B - C = X . If X is a negative number, then that means you're using more calories than you're eating and you should begin to lose weight. If X is -3500, then you should lose 1 pound. This equation is crap.

 

I know this because in my B - C = X equation for last week, my X = -7036. I ate 7036 calories fewer than my body required to maintain its weight last week. And what happened? I lost 0.3 lbs.

 

0.3

 

Frankly, I'm hocked off. But more than that, I'm scared to death. All the lap band can do for me is to help me to consume less food and fewer calories. If doing that won't actually translate into weight loss, what the hell have I done? What have I spent all those thousandds of dollars on? What have I put my body through? What have I been obsessing over for all this time? Has this all been a big, heinous mistake?

 

I'd like to allow Logical Me to talk me down from this clock tower I'm occupying at the moment, but frankly, I can't hear a word she's saying over the ranting, raving, and screaming of Emotional Me. Eventually, I hope Emotional Me gets tired and shuts up (or just screams so much, she loses her voice) and Logical Me can get me back on track, but today, so far, is NOT a good day.



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Oh my! lol.... sometimes its good to let the emotional u have her say. I know It can be utterly frustrating!!!! But do remember that we are made up of not only the fat u have lost but also muscle, bones and water and any one of those could be contributing to ur 'lack of loss'. Try getting one of those body composition scales. That might satisfy the emotional you. All the best

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well, I can relate. I went away for 5 days and gained 5 pounds. I didn't eat an additional 3500 a day, that's for sure! but I did load up on carbs and salt. I have had really good weeks of eating and exercising and not see the scale budge much. Then one week I would drop 3 or 4 pounds. It will come off, just keep up what you are doing. I know it's frustrating and I have been there plenty of times!

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I agree. It's frustrating but the simple answer is = we're not made up of math. Our metabolism is affected by lower calories, our BMR is not stagnant, you retain water more in certain environments than others.

So the short answer is, if you keep up what you're doing, you will lose weight. It's not going to necessarily happen in a week. It's not going to happen in a month, maybe. But when you look at your weight loss over the course of a few months, you will see that you've been losing if you stick to this plan.

The thing is, this irregularity is why people fall off the wagon. They do all the right things and yet they plateau. It doesn't seem fair. But your body is changing, even if you can't see it on the scales. So don't give in to emotional you and listen to rational me. :) The band works. Look at my pictures. It works.

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Did you take your measurements from before you were banded? I havent been banded yet but whenever i was dieting and the scale wasnt moving much, i did notice my body was toning up and i was losing inches

(i would measure myself once a month). So you might not be losing much weight but your clothes will fit better. Dont let this deter you im sure you are doing great!!!

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Emotional MorelGirl, I do understand how you feel. I have been banded for 16 months. I stayed the exact same weight for 5 months. I tracked my calories, I increased my activities, I too tracked and recorded every morsal I allowed to cross my lips, I increased my protein, I decreased my calories, I thought I was eating to many fats. Actually I almost drove emptional me off a cliff. I has my band adjusted 4 weeks ago and I drop 15 lbs in no time, first time the scales have moved in months. I can't explain it, neither can my physician. Moral of my story, hang in there, if your eating right and exercising the weight will come off maybe not as quickly as you want or would like but it will come off. Oh and I do agree, it is B*&^%T about the 3500 calorie to loss a pound. My BMR told me I needed around 1600 calories just to maintain my weight, I have faithfully ate 1000 to 1200 calories a day for over a year. Keep working it, at least exploding with words will burn some calorie and it's better than a piece of cake. ;-)

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If i ate what my BMR said i should i know i would put on weight.. i eat 1000 calories a day and burn 1000 calories a day .. with strength training and exercise bike .. it has for over a year worked for me, but i have to eat metabolic foods like broccoli and chili, salmon etc .. its not just about weight loss tho its about how much weight u would have put on if u hadnt been banded .. If the formula u follow isnt working then change something, increase protein, lower the carbs change the exercise, but if you dont change anything its likely nothing will change . :) good luck !

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Hang in there sweetie...it will all average out, I promise. Most of us have wrecked our metabolisms with diets and starvation. Water retention and TOM also changes your weight monthly. I also had plateaues along the way of over 5 weeks+. It will all average out if you're doing the right things.

If you're not hungry between meals, then the Band Is doing it's part and it should be just the competive edge you need to do the rest. I'm under goal (over 100 pounds lost) and just under the middle of a normal BMI. The Band works. Keep the faith!

-Lap Band Groupie, just Band Groupie here on LBT, and my blog at: http://bandgroupiethesweetspot.blogspot.com/

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