reverie

My only advice is to test the waters and play around with calories and your exercise to find what works for you. Some people will say do low carb, some will say just track your calories; both work but it's up to you to find which method works better for you. For the first 6-7 months I did low carb, low calorie, and exercised. I lost flawlessly. I followed my post-op directions to a T and rarely cheated. I started off exercising since day 1 and today I exercise 2 hours a day, by choice, because I love the results. I also kept myself on schedule to ensure that I was eating enough and exercising each day. Be sure to buy a digital scale and measure your food; track everything you eat. Focus on high Protein as well. Find what works for you; I truly believe that is what has made me and others successful. Don't try to mimic someone else's diet here as we all have different caloric and macronutrient needs. Good luck!!

You're fine

I believe so; my surgeon never mentioned a primer fill or anything.

Correct! No fill and will never have one Feel like I've done perfect without it and I am not a fan of all the problems fills and unfills seem to cause in the present and future. Thanks!

Never had an unfill but I've never had a fill either; I'll chime in and say I have pretty good restriction with it. Usually with the band there is some restriction, though it seems to differ for some.

1. Starvation mode doesn't exist, especially after a few days, so no, your body won't go into starvation mode. 2. I don't see a fill being the answer here. My advice is to be patient and realize you are only 4 weeks post-op. Do some searching/reading on the forums and you'll find that most people at the 4-7 week post-op phase are not losing. Why? Your body is healing; it's going to soak up whatever calories you give it. Weight loss isn't a main focus, and shouldn't be, until about week 6. Give yourself time to heal as opposed to changing even more factors when your body is recooping from an invasive surgery. Continue doing what you're doing and you will see results on the scale in time, especially if you are doing everything you say. Also, if you are not measuring your food, start. Use a digital scale, not measuring cups. Good luck.

Stalls are when you stop losing weight for a few weeks. It's usually due to your body readjusting and recomping. A lot of people stall when they move to normal foods, which is usually due to your body getting used to normal food intake again. Stalls can last a week or a few weeks. Your best bet is to wait it out, play around with your calories/exercise, and focus on the NSVs, such as losing inches. Nothing you can do to avoid it. It's all part of the weight loss journey. Weight loss is not and will never be linear nor constant. Some weeks you'll lose nothing, some you'll lose 1/2lb, some weeks you'll lose 3lbs; it is never the same.

Woohoo! Just saw you're in onederland; congrats! And still no fill; awesome !

If you feel you're doing fine without a fill, I say it's a good thing. A lot of people here somehow start to think that getting a fill and being super tight = weight loss. While it works for some, it's not healthy nor the purpose of the band. If you can eat a meal and be full for 3-4 hours, I say your restriction is pretty good and a fill isn't needed.

Lift weights and look into chair exercises.

Congrats!

Eat more. Less calories =/= weightloss, especially when you're exercising a lot.

Eat more. Body needs 600-700 calories to function.

Sounds like you're still too tight. I eat a cup of food, if not more, at a time; 1/2 cup isn't a magical amount or anything.

I sort of agree with Jachut in the fact that these diets are in fact fad diets; but they do work and some people can live by them for as long as needed. I put myself on something similar to Atkins/South Beach ish when I started my weightloss journey. I completely cut out most carbs and yeah I will admit that I lost flawlessly, but being in ketosis gets old, living without carbs got really old quickly. The lack of energy sucked. The random spikes and falls, sucked. So at month 7 I said that's enough, time to move away from these DIETS. I wanted to eat like a normal person. I do nowadays; and I'm still losing. No more low carb low blah blah crap. I too have taken a lot of time to read about nutrition and how it all works. This Dukan diet thing, is truly another fad diet, and low fat diets are detrimental to your health. Do some reading on the importance of fat within the body. Fat doesn't make you fat, honestly. You need fat for a properly working brain, heart, and plenty of other organs. If you want to deprive yourself of it, go ahead, though I'd simply suggest doing some reading and understanding the calories in vs. calories out idea. Per everything I've read, at a NORMAL body weight, we should be taking in 0.4g-.7g of fat per our body weight; 1g-1.5g of Protein per our body weight, the rest can be filled in with carbs, more fats, or more protein. I will say it does take some reading, and understanding, but right now, as I've been off of the silly fad diets, I have still been able to lose weight. I do keep an eye on everything I eat and I wholeheartedly enjoy carbs, fats, and plenty of protein. The word "diet" has taken a new turn for the worst I believe. A diet is simply what we eat; it shouldn't be what we don't eat, what we think we need to restrict, what we think makes us fat, and so on. I guess go with the diet if it works for you; it's another short-term solution, IMO. Why not do some reading and figure out what works for you and what proper nutrition is as opposed to relying upon another fad?

Could have been all of the above. Maybe you swallowed too much at once; no one can really say. Just be more careful next time.

Calories in vs. calories out; you may be writing down everything you eat but are you weighing it? Measuring it? If not I guarantee you 100% that you're either overeating or undereating; both will cause a halt to your weightloss. I think going on Duromine is stupid/waste of money; Phentermine has nothing to do with your metabolism; it messes with the neurotransmitters within your brain that send out the "I'm hungry" signals. Start tracking and calorie counting; I bet you'll see a change.

Some may have been in the tubing still.

Agreed. I looove exercising now!! It hurts but the results are so awesome.

Gas pain it sounds like.

Unfill, unless you want to live on soups/liquids.

Usually a few minutes. Never gotten stuck that badly.