What the Heck???

[MissyJake 0]

Has anyone else had this problem?

I am 4 weeks out from surgery. I lost 13 pounds Pre-op diet. and 12 in the 2 weeks following.

I have a Body Bug and really watch what I eat. 500-600 calories a day . Walking 3 miles a day. And the last 2 weeks I have been gaining. .5 lbs one day 1.5 the next. I am working my ass off and still show a gain.

So frustrated. I am 50 years old and yes, I know my body will take longer to lose the weight. But gaining?

Come on!

[JakerT5 8]

Your weight might be slower , but are you losing inches , you are working out so there will be some muscle gain and more Water intake , so check your inches

[reverie 49]

1. First 6 weeks are about healing; not weight-loss. Of course we all want to continuously see a drop on the scale but you need to let yourself heal. Doing too much too soon can cause damage and will slow down the healing process. Also, the 13lbs you lost pre-op were mostly Water weight, not a true fast loss, so you can't expect to continue to lose that much. Very rarely is weight-loss stable or linear. You'll learn that weight goes up and down and sometimes it stays for a few weeks.

2. Why are you weighing yourself everyday, especially this early out? Your weight can fluctuate 10lbs in a day. Stick to weighing once a week, twice max.

3. My advice: breathe, relax, focus on healing and not so much on the scale. Put it away for a few days. Keep doing what you're doing and the scale will follow in time.

Good luck!

[Knaroz 31]

You are only eatting 500-600 cals a day? AND exercising on top of that? That is your biggest problem. You are throwing your body into starvation mode. Believe me I did the same thing, come out of the gate eatting low exercising high and I ran into the EXACT same problem. Up your calories to 1000-1200 and you will see the weight start flying back off.

[newbandlady 3]

You are only eatting 500-600 cals a day? AND exercising on top of that? That is your biggest problem. You are throwing your body into starvation mode. Believe me I did the same thing, come out of the gate eatting low exercising high and I ran into the EXACT same problem. Up your calories to 1000-1200 and you will see the weight start flying back off.

I cracked up when I saw your profile pic and username. Very cute! Thanks for making me laugh!

[MissyJake 0]

When I saw my Doctor, I told him what I was eating and the amount of exercise and he said that was fine.

Starvation or No, Calories expended are the same.

I'm getting my Protein and and Doc said the amount of Calories WAS NOT to low. As long as I was eating healthy.

I too thought I wasn't getting enough calories. I feel good and not tired.

You are only eatting 500-600 cals a day? AND exercising on top of that? That is your biggest problem. You are throwing your body into starvation mode. Believe me I did the same thing, come out of the gate eatting low exercising high and I ran into the EXACT same problem. Up your calories to 1000-1200 and you will see the weight start flying back off.

[HeatherinCA 10]

Healthy diet is 900-1200 calories a day.. I know you are fairly early on and may not be able to eat so much, but I'd up it a little bit and see if that helps. Remember this is your new life, it's not as much a "diet" don't starve yourself, eat a good regular, healthy diet.

[amberakamom 13]

For sure, i'd suggest more calories. At least 1200.

[Lizzy Fu 0]

I experienced the exact same thing. But it's true what everyone is saying, watch what happens when you add more calories, you'll start to shed weight quickly. Seems like the opposite of what you should do, but as you start eating more food, you'll drop more weight. Also, wheny you're exercising, you're using up your calories. So if you're eating 500 calories a day, and you're buring 300, you're asking your body to survive on 200 calories a day. It's not going to like you very much and will store everything you eat. Whether or not your surgeon agrees that you should add more calories is a different story. I'm not a doctor, but I've learned through trial and error. Have a goal of 1200 calories, it will help.

[Melissannde 41]

Unfortunately, most doctors don't have all that much training/education on nutrition. I too have experienced a stall and came out of it by upping my calories just a hair.

I wasn't doing only 500 or 600, but around 1000 and when I went up to 1200, things started moving again. Coincidence? I don't know, but it worked for me.

Does your doctor have a nutritionist or dietician that works with the practice? If they do, I'd consider making an appointment with one of them to discuss your needs.

Hope you get some answers.

[Jess55 97]

Unfortunately for everyone it is not all about calories in vs. calories out at times. Last week I went to 7 kickboxing classes, I had tried increasing my calories to 1400 per day (what livestrong says that alone should make me lose 2 lb/week.) My kickboxing classes, I burn about 500 calories per class, so 7 classes should have led to a 1 lb weght loss. So added together theoretically I chould have lost 3 lbs. Do you know how much I lost? 0.6 lb!! Still trying to figure out what works for me. I'm going to go back to 1200 this week, except for monday and wednesday where I go to 2 kickboxing class.

I do think 500-600 calories is to low, especially with exercise thrown in. When I was still on mushies and liquids and stuff, I only lost weight the first week post ofp, then nothing until week 5 when I was on real food and got my calories back up to at least 1000. I need calories to lose weight, while some people cn lose on less, I can't and maybe you can't either.

[dlynn1635 1]

I went through the same thing early on and asked for advice on here. I was eating about 500-600 cals per day and exercising 5 days a week cardio and weights for an hour and a half and not losing according to the scale but I was losing inches according to my clothes . The advice that I was given was to up my calories to about 1200 and I would start to see that scale move again and low and behold they were right!! I dropped 10lbs in a week!! What worked for my then is not working for me now that I am closer to my goal weight so I will have to make the necessary adjustments to get moving again. The lapband journey is never dull, boring or predictable. It is different for us all and you just have to keep trying things until you find what works for you. I find high Protein and 1200 cals a day have worked well so far and maybe I need to go up to 1400 a day to get the scale moving again.

Good luck and the advice about talking to the nutritionist is a good one!

[vickyd 24]

I wish it was all about calories in/calories out but it isn't that simple...if you go back and read old posts you will find that there isn't one magic formula that will make the weight come off faster. Some people can do it on 600 calories a day but most can't. Personally, if I take in less than 1,000 calories per day I don't lose regardless of how much exercise I do...some people have to keep their intake around 1,200, it really depends on the person. For me, the first couple of months after being banded was all about trying to figure out how to make my band work for me. I slowly tweaked my calories/protein/carbs to try to determine what combination worked best and now that I have found that level I can honestly say that it works well 90% of the time but there are still weeks where I will do everything I am supposed to do and not lose. Yes, it is frustrating but that is life with the band...

[reverie 49]

Unfortunately for everyone it is not all about calories in vs. calories out at times. Last week I went to 7 kickboxing classes, I had tried increasing my calories to 1400 per day (what livestrong says that alone should make me lose 2 lb/week.) My kickboxing classes, I burn about 500 calories per class, so 7 classes should have led to a 1 lb weght loss. So added together theoretically I chould have lost 3 lbs. Do you know how much I lost? 0.6 lb!! Still trying to figure out what works for me. I'm going to go back to 1200 this week, except for monday and wednesday where I go to 2 kickboxing class.

I do think 500-600 calories is to low, especially with exercise thrown in. When I was still on mushies and liquids and stuff, I only lost weight the first week post ofp, then nothing until week 5 when I was on real food and got my calories back up to at least 1000. I need calories to lose weight, while some people cn lose on less, I can't and maybe you can't either.

Not true. It IS all about calories in vs. calories out. When you eat below the number of calories you need to maintain your weight along with exercise, you WILL lose. Just because you calculated what you "should" have lost doesn't mean that is what you "will" lose. Our bodies are not textbooks and there is no saying how much you will lose. The fact is the scale went down; maybe not as much as you wanted/thought, but it did go down. Also, all of the calorie tracking websites are generally wrong; I wouldn't advise following them.

It's all about playing with your calories. I started with 800 calories at the beginning of my journey and today I am eating 1700+ calories a day. I slowly upped from 1200 calories, adding 100 a week, to see where I needed to be to lose weight. Low and behold last week the scale was down .8lbs. Great loss? Nope. But a loss? Surely; and it puts me one step closer to 120.

[reverie 49]

I wish it was all about calories in/calories out but it isn't that simple...if you go back and read old posts you will find that there isn't one magic formula that will make the weight come off faster. Some people can do it on 600 calories a day but most can't. Personally, if I take in less than 1,000 calories per day I don't lose regardless of how much exercise I do...some people have to keep their intake around 1,200, it really depends on the person. For me, the first couple of months after being banded was all about trying to figure out how to make my band work for me. I slowly tweaked my calories/protein/carbs to try to determine what combination worked best and now that I have found that level I can honestly say that it works well 90% of the time but there are still weeks where I will do everything I am supposed to do and not lose. Yes, it is frustrating but that is life with the band...

Those eating 600-800 can lose weight by eating so little because they have a lot of weight to lose. How do I know? Experience. I started off eating 600-800 calories and lost plenty. However, you do stall/plateau, and when I did I upped my calories. The more weight you have to lose, the higher your calorie deficit can/will be. With 11lbs or so left to lose, I am now eating 1700 calories, and losing once again. Calories are up because I do not have as much excess fat anymore. It's all a game of testing the waters, really.