I'm confused....too little calories?

[AbbieRoad 26]

I'm sure I'm not the only one that's done crash diets before. Restrict down to 1500 calories or less, exercise to burn off 500-600 calories, and repeat as long as I can stand it.

I'd loose weight in the beginning, but it would stop. When the weight would stop coming off, i'd stop dieting. I'm a very result oriented type of girl..and we all know diets don't last forever anyway.

I'd always heard that when you stop loosing weight that's because your body isn't getting enough calories and it's going into "starvation mode" or, "famine mode" (like my Irish ancestors would say) basically your body believes food is scarce, so it slows the metabolism and begins trying to save any of the fat you have stored.

How is this avoided with lap band? Is there some kind of loop hole since I won't *feel* hungry? Does your body eventually figure out that you're not starving?

[Jess55 97]

At 1500 calories your body will not go into starvation made. Most of the people here eat around 1200. Some like 800-1100. I consider starvation mode to be around 600 calories. Your body might stall after some weight naturally just giving itself time to adjust. The lap band will work how you choose to let it, it won't stop you from eating a cheeseburger and fries. In time, once it's adhered right it should tell you, I'm satisfied, I've eaten enough. It won't physically stop you from eating (not unless you have it to tight, which isn't good).

When I had good restriction in the beginning (it's seemed to wear off, now I need to get fills to get back to it) I wasn't hungry for about 4-5 hours and then my stomach would grumble and let me know I was hungry. So I've never had zero hunger, but that is what it is supposed to do.

Yes you'll have plateaus, also you may not lose much the first 6 weeks due to healing and, in my eyes, starvation mode, since I was only supposed to eat small amounts and it took til week 5 to get my calories back to over 1000.

So I hope this helped

[Jack 855]

There's a lot of conflicting opinions regarding "starvation mode". The subject is something of a hot topic at times for all of us.

IMHO, if such were true, there would be no 'death by starvation' cases and people in concentration camps would have a whole lot better experience.

Here is one interesting discussion: http://fattyfightsback.blogspot.com/2009/03/mtyhbusters-starvation-mode.html

The balance in our food-as-energy models are interpreted in many ways. I'd urge you to do a LOT of research on the subject and tell us what your conclusions are.

[AbbieRoad 26]

There's a lot of conflicting opinions regarding "starvation mode". The subject is something of a hot topic at times for all of us.

IMHO, if such were true, there would be no 'death by starvation' cases and people in concentration camps would have a whole lot better experience.

Here is one interesting discussion: http://fattyfightsba...ation-mode.html

The balance in our food-as-energy models are interpreted in many ways. I'd urge you to do a LOT of research on the subject and tell us what your conclusions are.

Didn't realize it was a big subject! I don't know, I'm not worried I'll wither away and die...just that I won't loose weight. Something about the numbers just isn't adding up for me. I love fruits and veggies so I'm not worried about getting Vitamins and such. I'm just thinking, if I eat even 1200 calories, exercise away 500-600 calories (which at 350lbs, isn't hard in an hour of bike riding) that's leaving me at 600-700 calories. Is that typical for banders? Is it alright to do that?

I'm a long way off from having that "problem" still in my 3 month supervised diet but still, just something I'm wondering about.

[Rachel412 116]

I don't think it's typical for a 350 pound bandster to eat 1,200 calories and exercise and hour a day, no Remember you're burning calories all the time, even when you're asleep, so you really don't need to try to figure out the math of how much you need to work out to burn off 1,200 a day. Maybe Reverie will chime in, she's really smart with all this exercise and calorie burning stuff, but I plugged your weight into a calorie calculator and added in some fake numbers (age and height). To maintain a weight of 350 you'd need to eat 2,578 calories a day with no exercise. If you go to 2,000 calories a day you will lose about one pound a week.

Here's the calculator: have fun! http://nutrition.about.com/library/bl_nutrition_guide.htm

My point here is not at all that you don't need to exercise, because of course you do. I'm just saying that if you're eating 1,200 calories at your current weight, you can exercise 30 minutes a day and lose well. You don't need to stress over it!

[AbbieRoad 26]

To maintain a weight of 350 you'd need to eat 2,578 calories a day with no exercise. If you go to 2,000 calories a day you will lose about one pound a week.

thanks- I plugged my info in (6' tall, 29 year old female) and got: 2247.1 to reach my goal weight without exercise. I guess by being banded and making my caloric intake 1200 calories I'd just loose weight faster. Which, I guess is the point lol. That and keeping to the 2247 calories When I add exercise, which, admittedly I don't do every day, it should go faster. Apparently, just existing each day I burn 3,357 calories. Any exercise I do is extra.

I'm sure i'm sounding pretty dense. I know the basics, reduce calories increase exercise.

I'm just trying to figure out, since the lap band tricks your mind into being full on less, does it also trick the body into needing less? Like a mental thing maybe?

[Rachel412 116]

I'm sure i'm sounding pretty dense. I know the basics, reduce calories increase exercise.

I'm just trying to figure out, since the lap band tricks your mind into being full on less, does it also trick the body into needing less? Like a mental thing maybe?

You're not sounding dense No, the problem right now is your body is tricked into thinking you need to eat MORE than you do. Our stomachs hold what, 6 cups of food at once? That is a MASSIVE amount of food and it's easy for us to get used to that quantity and think we NEED it. We don't. So while the band helps your brain to think you're "full", in reality you'll be eating much closer to the amount of food your body needs instead of just eating to fill up that stomach.

[CheckYes 46]

I have a hard time believing in starvation mode - especially when I see people thinking their body is in starvation mode after a few days of limited caloric intake.

I haven't had over 900 calories a day in six months and I'm still losing weight. Sure, I exercise too and eat very clean and healthy but most days I'm eating 600-800 calories. Its not intentional, mind you, I just seriously have to force myself to eat.

[Jachut 487]

Losing weight is simple math, eat less burn more than what your body requires and you lose weight.

Your metabolism slows with weight loss in that your smaller body requires fewer calories to be maintained. So you lose slower and slower. That's unavoidable but you can minimse it by eating and exercising in a way that leads to retaining as much muscle as possible, losing mainly fat, but you WILL lose muscle with weight loss, everyone does.

In truth, most obese people are used to enormous quantities of food and also used to making excuses for their eating behaviour "I dont eat that much", or "I eat less than her and she's not fat" etc. The amount of food you actually need to remain healthy is small, but if youi're used to eating like 3000 calories a day its going to seem alarming, but you WONT starve. Likewise, not many people hinder their weight loss or make themselves ill by actually exerting themselves a little - sweat and a high heart rate wont harm you either, but people "dont want to push too hard in case I burn out" or "need to start out slowly" and they way overestimate the quality of their workouts as well.

Eat less, move more and you'll lose over time, plateaus and all.

[Jachut 487]

thanks- I plugged my info in (6' tall, 29 year old female) and got: 2247.1 to reach my goal weight without exercise. I guess by being banded and making my caloric intake 1200 calories I'd just loose weight faster. Which, I guess is the point lol. That and keeping to the 2247 calories When I add exercise, which, admittedly I don't do every day, it should go faster. Apparently, just existing each day I burn 3,357 calories. Any exercise I do is extra.

I'm sure i'm sounding pretty dense. I know the basics, reduce calories increase exercise.

I'm just trying to figure out, since the lap band tricks your mind into being full on less, does it also trick the body into needing less? Like a mental thing maybe?

Also, dont be surprised if those figures just dont work. Like, eating 1000 calories less than you need *should* result in a loss of 2lb per week right? So if you ate 1247.1 a day you should lose 2lb more than you would on 2247.1 per week - well that would almost NEVER happen. YOu might lose a little faster but the math is never that exact. I think the only thing you can be sure of is that if you eat less than you need you will lose some weight. I dont know how the heck I lost down to a BMI of 19 - never planned it that way, never counted a calorie but also never lost a predictable amount each week - it was way more like 3lb one week, nothing for two weeks, 5lb the next week, nothiing for six weeks, 1lb the week after that, 4lb the next week, nothing for a month then suddenly 6lb gone - all over the shop basically. But its gone and who cares now years down the track?

Trying to be so precise about it and trying to plan what to expect is going to do your head in when it doesnt happen that way - best just to accept what comes along.