Maintaining????

JJenkin · July 10, 2006

I am happyt to say I will be officially banded on Tuesday so a little more than 24 hours togo. Sitting and talking with my wonderful boyfriend as we often do he asked how does one maintain their weight once they hit goal? I thought this to be a good question, and I feel kind of dumb asking this seeing as I thought I knew pretty much anything there was to the Lap Band. Can anyone answer this for me? Any and all help surrounding this would be greatful. Thanks so much! Oh I forgot, I'm new to this board so.....HELLO EVERYONE!:biggrin1:

the best me · July 10, 2006

Hello! Welcome to LBT and soon, bandland!

Here's my take on maintaining, and I think I got this downpat, seeing as I am the queen of plateaus, right? LOL

A normal person eats 1800 or so calories a day...you know, a person who just eats, exercises, is a healthy weight, doesn't gain, isn't underweight, has good days and bad days, etc. Someone I am NOT! Till now. I'm pretty loose, in other words, not a ton of restriction, so it's possible for me to eat 1800 calories a day of reasonable foods. Yep, sometimes it's the ice cream that gets me up there in calories, but I don't have an unreasonable diet. I eat. I live. It's all good! I'd say I'm maintaining. And my band makes it possible. I can't shovel food like I used to, and so now I'm able to live a happy banded life and maintain my weight loss.

True, I have more to lose. In order to do that I need to cut my calories by several hundred a day, at the least! So, I can either do it "on my own" or get a small fill to help. The choice is mine.

Maintaining is the easy part if you aren't too restricted. You can do this! A year form now, you'll just be banded and doing your thang. Here's to meeting your weight loss goals! Good luck!

Kat817 · July 10, 2006

I discussed this with my aftercare Dr, just last month, even though I am a looong way from worrying about it!! He said that there are a couple of places referred to as "sweet spots". The first being an amount of fill that allows you to eat to satisfaction while still losing 1-2 pounds a week, and that is usually attained about the 3rd fill. The other "sweet spot" is a maintenance level, it is usually the bodies response to stopping weight loss. He said at goal weight, some people simply keep the balance, by being aware of their eating habits, others may prefer a slight fill or unfill to attain the steady weight. But most people he said will not be the exact weight they choose...they will naturally stop at an optimal weight for their body and their activity level. He said why this happens is under study. He did go on to say, that he has never had anyone who could not stop losing, such as many have referred to with RNY. Hopefully someday soon we will be seeing how our bodies do when we get to goal weight!!! Good Luck to you!