Have I Been Brainwashed?

[change 22]

Ok... so I don't know if this is a dumb question but I am just wondering something about calories. I'm having a hard time trying to find the words to explain this so sorry for the lengthy post

I have tried various diets throughout the years, but the one I had the most success with was Weight Watchers (which I think is a great program -- but somehow I always managed to fall off track and gain it all right back) For some that may not know you get a designated amount of points that you are allowed to have per day. Well, as you lose weight your number is decreased. So with that said I can get to my question!

I guess through the years I have always associated losing weight with calories because of my Weight Watchers experience. In my head it seemed that if you want to keep losing weight you have to keep decreasing your calories because in weight watchers you would keep decreasing your points. In my head it always made sense. Keep decreasing the amount and keep losing weight.

However, through reading many posts on here I have noticed that with the sleeve its almost the opposite. It seems that you increase calories (up to a certain point of course) It seems to me that right after surgery calories are very limited due to swelling and all of that good stuff and as the swelling goes down and time goes by more and more calories are consumed. Even when someone is in a stall they are sometimes advised to increase calories. I was just wondering if someone could explain this to me a little to see if I can snap out of how my brain is thinking about calories. I know losing weight is affected by so much more than just calories, but I just can't seem to get it.

I have such a hard time wrapping my head around that just because I feel like I've been brainwashed through all these years of dieting!!!

I have seen so many success stories on here and cannot wait for my chance to hopefully become a success story myself! I promise to follow my NUTs plan even if it doesn't make sense to me right now.

[BKMama 179]

Well, think of it like this, you get your points based on a formula that includes your current weight. There is a number of calories needed to maintain your current weight and the points puts you right under that so you can lose at a slow pace. As your weight goes down, your points go down because it takes less effort by your body to simply exist the lighter you are. For example, I exert x amount of calories just walking up a few stairs because I'm heavy and it makes my body do hard work. Someone half my size isn't doing as much work and therefore burning less calories.

With the sleeve, you start off eating like 500-800 calories which is a HUGE deficit. This is what causes the weight loss. As you get closer to goal (and therefore want to maintain, not necessarily lose) you begin to eat a normal healthy caloric amount 1,000 - 1,200 calories per day. That's what a normal healthy person eats. Except for the one super fit member blackberryjuice (or something like that)....she eats more calories than that because her fab muscular body burns it off! So yeah, you calories go up, but it's because your body is now in maintenance mode. Your body won't survive on 500-800 calories forever.

This isn't scientific at all...just thoughts off the top of my head. I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on television.

[BlackBerryJuice 349]

As you get closer to goal (and therefore want to maintain, not necessarily lose) you begin to eat a normal healthy caloric amount 1,000 - 1,200 calories per day. That's what a normal healthy person eats. Except for the one super fit member blackberryjuice (or something like that)....

LOL!

BKMama is right.....although the healthy amount of calories for a person of normal weight is actually more like 2000-2500, even more so if you are quite active. 1000-1200 is still a caloric deficit.

[PdxMan 4,292]

So lets talk the basics first. A general guidline is 1 pound is equivalent to 3,500 calories. Eat 3,500 more calories than you expend, you gain a pound. Eat 3,500 calories less than you expend, you lose a pound. Of course everyone is different.

Each of us has a certain number of calories we burn doing absolutely nothing but breathing. Walk around, you burn more calories. Run around, you burn even more, thereby the old rule of weight loss ... eat less, move more.

So, when you are in WW using points, you are trying to eat fewer calories than you burn and tracking them with points is just another perspective on the whole deal.

Post-surgery, I was able to only get about 400 calories in per day, thus I had a dramatic drop early on. A lot of people do not lose as rapidly early out but there are a lot of other factors going on: Water retention, TOM ...

About 3 weeks post, your body discovers what's going on and freaks out a bit. This is the start of the first stall. Your body is discovering it is no longer getting the 4,000 calorie nacho binge or the 5 Mountain Dew per day supplements and takes a step back. Your body, as is called by some, has gone into starvation mode. It is hoarding.

Now, we can't have a heart to heart with our body and explain it, so, instead, let's trick it. Throw it a proverbial bone, if you will. Up the calories, so it goes, "Ah, here is something" and knock itself out of hoarding and releasing the fat deposits.

We have to do that occassionally to kick the body out of complacency. Exercise is another way to force your body to give up the ship, too. It will get to the point where your body is demanding energy that can only be met by tapping the fat stores. You have to be getting your Protein in, though, because you want your body to be tapping fat stores, not muscle, which it will do.

[NisaletOAM 48]

Great BkMama I was wondering that also

[change 22]

BKMama thanks for your response! That does make a lot of sense!! Thank you!!

[change 22]

@pdxman thank you so much for taking the time to explain it for me!!

Thanks everybody!! I'm definitely understanding it better now

[BKMama 179]

LOL!

BKMama is right.....although the healthy amount of calories for a person of normal weight is actually more like 2000-2500, even more so if you are quite active. 1000-1200 is still a caloric deficit.

OH wow, really? I didn't know that! I always had 1,200 in my head as "normal". I clearly made it up.

[BKMama 179]

So lets talk the basics first. A general guidline is 1 pound is equivalent to 3,500 calories. Eat 3,500 more calories than you expend, you gain a pound. Eat 3,500 calories less than you expend, you lose a pound. Of course everyone is different.

Each of us has a certain number of calories we burn doing absolutely nothing but breathing. Walk around, you burn more calories. Run around, you burn even more, thereby the old rule of weight loss ... eat less, move more.

So, when you are in WW using points, you are trying to eat fewer calories than you burn and tracking them with points is just another perspective on the whole deal.

Post-surgery, I was able to only get about 400 calories in per day, thus I had a dramatic drop early on. A lot of people do not lose as rapidly early out but there are a lot of other factors going on: Water retention, TOM ...

About 3 weeks post, your body discovers what's going on and freaks out a bit. This is the start of the first stall. Your body is discovering it is no longer getting the 4,000 calorie nacho binge or the 5 Mountain Dew per day supplements and takes a step back. Your body, as is called by some, has gone into starvation mode. It is hoarding.

Now, we can't have a heart to heart with our body and explain it, so, instead, let's trick it. Throw it a proverbial bone, if you will. Up the calories, so it goes, "Ah, here is something" and knock itself out of hoarding and releasing the fat deposits.

We have to do that occassionally to kick the body out of complacency. Exercise is another way to force your body to give up the ship, too. It will get to the point where your body is demanding energy that can only be met by tapping the fat stores. You have to be getting your Protein in, though, because you want your body to be tapping fat stores, not muscle, which it will do.

I'm totally copying and pasting this response and saving it somewhere. This is a great simple explanation of stalls. thanks!!

[PdxMan 4,292]

The funny thing is, stalls are a normal part of the course. In a way, you actually want a stall. It means your body is progressing. If my body were to continually lose without ever going into a stall, I would be worried.

Why doesn't my body know to go into starvation mode? This is a survival technique that my body isn't able to do? What if I REALLY NEED to go into survival mode for some reason? Can my body not effectively protect itself?

Before anyone gets even close to goal, your body is going to have to go through X number of stalls. Rejoice when you reach one because that means you are progressing normally and you have (X-1) stalls left! (Sorry for the Algebra)

Can you help your body get out of a stall? Sure. Change up your calories ... maybe up your carbs ... increase exercise ... do weight lifting ...

Do this on day 1? No ... come on, let your body do what it is needing to do. There is no such thing as a 1 day stall, IMO. I would say after 4 days with NO movement, you may be in a stall. Lord only knows why the scale didn't move this morning.

• To much sodium yesterday / Water retention
  
• TOM
  
• Getting sick?
  
• Eating 4,000 calories (no, wait ... we can't do that anymore)
  

Seriously, though, if it doesn't move or go up, do you really think you gained fat? Did you really eat 3,500 more calories than you expended? We have to use our brains in this and ignore the heart.

The only way we can fail is to believe this isn't going to work for us and prove it by grabbing a tub of ice cream, a bag of chips, cheeseburgers ... you know the drill.

[Forensikchic 528]

Very well put PDXMAN. I am just coming out of a stall myself and though I am happy to be losing even if its just a half pound, I understand that my body is going to take little breaks and revamp. I usually stall every two to three weeks for a couple of weeks at a time now that I am 8 months out.

[change 22]

Thank you everyone for explaining for me! I definitely understand the change up in calories a lot better now! Thanks!

[Vsglass 17]

So lets talk the basics first. A general guidline is 1 pound is equivalent to 3,500 calories. Eat 3,500 more calories than you expend, you gain a pound. Eat 3,500 calories less than you expend, you lose a pound. Of course everyone is different.

Each of us has a certain number of calories we burn doing absolutely nothing but breathing. Walk around, you burn more calories. Run around, you burn even more, thereby the old rule of weight loss ... eat less, move more.

So, when you are in WW using points, you are trying to eat fewer calories than you burn and tracking them with points is just another perspective on the whole deal.

Post-surgery, I was able to only get about 400 calories in per day, thus I had a dramatic drop early on. A lot of people do not lose as rapidly early out but there are a lot of other factors going on: Water retention, TOM ...

About 3 weeks post, your body discovers what's going on and freaks out a bit. This is the start of the first stall. Your body is discovering it is no longer getting the 4,000 calorie nacho binge or the 5 Mountain Dew per day supplements and takes a step back. Your body, as is called by some, has gone into starvation mode. It is hoarding.

Now, we can't have a heart to heart with our body and explain it, so, instead, let's trick it. Throw it a proverbial bone, if you will. Up the calories, so it goes, "Ah, here is something" and knock itself out of hoarding and releasing the fat deposits.

We have to do that occassionally to kick the body out of complacency. Exercise is another way to force your body to give up the ship, too. It will get to the point where your body is demanding energy that can only be met by tapping the fat stores. You have to be getting your Protein in, though, because you want your body to be tapping fat stores, not muscle, which it will do.

Well put!