Post your favorite Tips!!!

Barb · May 27, 2006

Do you mean if you don't have at least 1000 then you don't lose of if you go over.
I'm finding that if I have anywhere between 600 - 800 I lose but if I have a week of 1000 - 1200 I gain. I never realized that my body "wanted - needed" so little calories.

I used to think that if I went that low I'd go in to starvation mode and not lose but it seems I was wrong.

I was eating around 800 calories a day and I wasn't loosing much (about 1 pound a week), I was okay with that and went about 10 days w/o tracking my food on fitday but I was keeping a written journal. When I got home I had lost 5 pounds in 10 days. I went back and put my food into fitday because I want to always have the history so I can go back and look at the trends. When I did this I was a little surprised that my daily calories were averaging between 900 - 1100 which was more than I had been eating. It had a lot to do with eating out and eating sauces, that are higher in calories; not really eating more quantity.

So, for the months of February and March I decided to try something and see what my weight loss would be if I average 1,000 calories a day. In February I lost 11 lbs. and in March I lost 17 lbs. I don't get exactly 1,000 calories in any given day I just try and keep that as an average over the course of the week.

I have had a few days when I have gone as high as 1,400 calories. Because of my travel schedule I don't weigh weekly but I also don't weigh daily but since the day I was banded I haven't had a single weight gain; there has always been some loss.

So I guess to answer the actual question, I was still loosing with 800 calories a day and I don't gain if I have days that I go over 1,000. For me the 1,000 calories a day average seems to be what works best. I know this will be different for everyone. I did find thst by using fitday to track my intake I was able to determine what worked best for me.

In April my weight loss slowed down, I only lost 9lbs. but I am getting close to goal so I kinda expect it to continue to slow.

marys · May 27, 2006

The best tip I am happy to share is from a fellow bandster but I can't remember who! Someone said ' instead of trying to eat as much as you can (me)!, 'try to eat as little as you can' in order to be satisfied. It may sound simple but it has powerfully helped me over the last week. In fact, this week was my best week yet - almost 3lbs. I also am exercising 3/week and started taking chromium picolinate on the advice of my doc's nutritionist. in fact, i need to change my ticker to reflect 164.8 but I'm gonna wait a few days to see how things settle.

mary

cashley · May 28, 2006

My tips:
I have been working very hard on brainwashing myself to think differently about the aroma of foods that used to trigger "hunger". Much like when we smell beautiful spring flowers along side of the road.. we enjoy the aroma but we don't stop and get out to graze on the flowers. I think I am succeeding. When we drive by a steakhouse, donut shop, chinese restaurant, or burger joint and those smells come drifting into the car I just take in a big deep breath and focus on how pleasing they smell, tell myself that was the end of the experience and go on. I rarely carry cravings with me after such encounters now.

This is funny since i used to love the smell of Krispy Kreme donoughts and I was at place where I could smell them recently and they totally turned my stomach. I thougth I was going to puke from the sicken sweet smell.... I love that side effect...

I also love the fact that I can have treats and not over induldge. To me it's a lifestyle change that I can live with forever. If I totally eliminate all junk from my life I can do it for awhile but this way it's not really a temptation since i know I can have some once in awhile in limited quantites. It's what works for me. I didn't give up suger or bread or junk but I'm happy to say I'm not very interested in having any of them very much. In fact I used to be a sweet junkie and now Doritos are what temps me and I'm totally happy with a few chips!

I might be in the honeymoon phase also... but I love this band today! I love to have the choice of what I eat...