November Bandsters!

[Oberhasli 1]

Tom,

Congrats on your NSV!!!!:clap2: :clap2: :clap2: Are you sure your fill is not too tight? How long does it take to get where you can eat mushies and solids without PB'ng? I am a bit nervous about getting my first fill in february

Angela, I don't think it's too tight. When I got my first fill, I felt MUCH tighter. After a couple of days, it was more comfortable. Unfortunately after a couple of weeks, I was able to easily eat more than I should. I stayed on track because of healthy food choices and will power. A girl at work (that had gastric bypass several years ago) has a candy basket on her desk. I've been indulging myself with a couple hershey kisses a day. Figure I'm better off having a taste or eventually I'll break down and eat the whole bag.

I made a Protein Shake this morning (8 oz of fat free milk, 1/2 scoop of Protein Powder, half of a banana, 1 tablespoon Peanut Butter and a handful of frozen strawberries) and it took almost 2 hours to get it down. I just need to get use to the new level of restriction and I'll be fine. Definitely want to keep chewing, chewing and chewing small bites.

If it is too tight, I'll go in and have them take some out but I think it will be fine in a day or two. In the meantime, it's back to soft and squishy foods!

Tom

[AngelaT 2]

Angela, I don't think it's too tight. When I got my first fill, I felt MUCH tighter. After a couple of days, it was more comfortable. Unfortunately after a couple of weeks, I was able to easily eat more than I should. I stayed on track because of healthy food choices and will power. A girl at work (that had gastric bypass several years ago) has a candy basket on her desk. I've been indulging myself with a couple hershey kisses a day. Figure I'm better off having a taste or eventually I'll break down and eat the whole bag.

Tom

I feel better...thanks! And I agree with allowing a couple of Hershey kisses a day or so...it does help keep you on track. The other thing I do is eat a Protein bar..low carb and the lower calorie ones Balance 100 cals in between meals...it gives me the nergy and the Protein and nutrition all while helping me with my chocolate cravings and sweet tooth And I find that eating every 2-3 hours keeps my metabolism up and my energy up and I still get only 800 to 1100 cals a day! I was talking to a friend yesterday and saying that I can't believe how much I was eating before without realizing it! I would eat I am sure about 2,800 cals on a good day and more than 3,000 on not so good days! Huge portions and never satisfied! I love my band and all of you who support the efforst we make!

[Oberhasli 1]

I feel better...thanks! And I agree with allowing a couple of Hershey kisses a day or so...it does help keep you on track. The other thing I do is eat a Protein bar..low carb and the lower calorie ones Balance 100 cals in between meals...it gives me the nergy and the Protein and nutrition all while helping me with my chocolate cravings and sweet tooth And I find that eating every 2-3 hours keeps my metabolism up and my energy up and I still get only 800 to 1100 cals a day! I was talking to a friend yesterday and saying that I can't believe how much I was eating before without realizing it! I would eat I am sure about 2,800 cals on a good day and more than 3,000 on not so good days! Huge portions and never satisfied! I love my band and all of you who support the efforst we make!

I use the Kraft "South Beach" bars. Kind of like a flavored Rice Crispie bar. Sam's has a big one (210 calories) in chocolate Peanut Butter that's pretty good. They also have a smaller one (140 calories) that comes 18 to a box, 12 Peanut Butter, 6 chocolate. I think the bigger bar has 19 grams of protein. Can't do them right now because of restriction but it's one of my Snacks.

Another snack I rediscovered that is high in protein and relatively low in calories is Pork rinds. Salty Snacks have always been my weakness so it's a nice "cheat" for me. They come in various flavors (salt & vinegar and hot & spicy are my favorites) and give the salt and the crunch my body craves. Of course, 1/2 cup is a serving (*NOT* the whole bag!) and is 80 calories and 9 grams of protein. The flavored rice cakes are a nice treat too that are fairly low in calories although not overly high in protein.

Speaking of Sam's Club, they carry a 12-pack of Dannon Light 'N Fit yogurt smoothie. Only 60 calories for 7 ounces with 5 grams of protein. (Wal-Mart, Meijer and Kroger all carry a 4-pack but it's almost 1/2 the cost of the 12-pack at Sam's unless it's on sale.) They're easier to eat than regular yogurt as you don't need the spoon and it has a screw on lid so you can sip at it and put the lid back on.

Tom

[Oberhasli 1]

One of the pre-surgery things I had to do was met with a dietician and have a Med-Gem reading. It's a machine that you breath into for 2-5 minutes and it determines the amount of calories you burn a day by just breathing. (The company web site is:

http://www.microlifeusa.com/products_weightmanage.asp)

Basically, they wanted to establish the base calories used to make sure that metabolism was sufficient to make the surgery a success. Granted, metabolism changes, especially with weight loss, but it gives you a real good idea on caloric needs. The *ONLY* way to lose weight is to consume less calories than your body needs. If you're body is only burning 1000 calories a day, you'll gain weight on 1100.

Anyway, having an idea of your resting metabolism rate gives you a starting point for calorie counting. Add in calories for the various activities you do throughout the day and make sure you consume less calories than that and you'll lose weight. Roughly eating 3500 calories less than you need equals one pound of weight loss. (That's a reduction of 500 calories a day.) By exercising, you increase the number of calories your body needs. By eating less, you reduce the number of calories you take in. It's a win-win situation. It does, though, put into better perspective healthy weight loss. To lose 3 pounds a week, you need 1500 calories a day less than your body needs. If you're body only needs 2000 calories, that's consuming only 500 calories a day. That's NOT healthy.

My insurance did not cover the MedGem reading. (I think it cost me $50. It was done at Ohio State University through the dietary department.) Last April, my reading was approximately 3000 calories a day with just breathing. Evidentially, I have a fairly high metabolism. I'm sure it's slowed down since losing some weight, surgery, winter weather, etc., but that makes it a bit easier to lose. In theory, if I eat 2000 calories a day and do nothing, I should lose 2 pounds a week. (Since I'm eating FAR less than 2000 calories a day and I do some activity, I don't think this is exact, but does give an idea.)

Tom

[prbrooksie 1]

Hello...everyone!

I've been reading and I too had my 2nd fill last Tuesday. I have been Pbing...until yesterday. I was able to eat a small piece of chicken with out having a PB. Then today I ate a couple things. I even ate two Poppers...yummy. I know...I know...not healthy. For some reason the band was very tight and now it has loosen up some. Unless I have more problems I'm keeping it. I want to lose weight and if it is too loose I will eat and eat. Isn't that what we got these for? I weighed in at 232 at the doctors last Tuesday and this morning I weighed 225 (7 pounds).

I'm LOVING IT!

[AngelaT 2]

One of the pre-surgery things I had to do was met with a dietician and have a Med-Gem reading. It's a machine that you breath into for 2-5 minutes and it determines the amount of calories you burn a day by just breathing. (The company web site is:

http://www.microlifeusa.com/products_weightmanage.asp)

Basically, they wanted to establish the base calories used to make sure that metabolism was sufficient to make the surgery a success. Granted, metabolism changes, especially with weight loss, but it gives you a real good idea on caloric needs. The *ONLY* way to lose weight is to consume less calories than your body needs. If you're body is only burning 1000 calories a day, you'll gain weight on 1100.

Anyway, having an idea of your resting metabolism rate gives you a starting point for calorie counting. Add in calories for the various activities you do throughout the day and make sure you consume less calories than that and you'll lose weight. Roughly eating 3500 calories less than you need equals one pound of weight loss. (That's a reduction of 500 calories a day.) By exercising, you increase the number of calories your body needs. By eating less, you reduce the number of calories you take in. It's a win-win situation. It does, though, put into better perspective healthy weight loss. To lose 3 pounds a week, you need 1500 calories a day less than your body needs. If you're body only needs 2000 calories, that's consuming only 500 calories a day. That's NOT healthy.

My insurance did not cover the MedGem reading. (I think it cost me $50. It was done at Ohio State University through the dietary department.) Last April, my reading was approximately 3000 calories a day with just breathing. Evidentially, I have a fairly high metabolism. I'm sure it's slowed down since losing some weight, surgery, winter weather, etc., but that makes it a bit easier to lose. In theory, if I eat 2000 calories a day and do nothing, I should lose 2 pounds a week. (Since I'm eating FAR less than 2000 calories a day and I do some activity, I don't think this is exact, but does give an idea.)

Tom

You can also get it onlune,,,do a search and input the info and it tells you your BMR Badal metabolic rate. I need to do it again since I have lsot weight.

[Oberhasli 1]

You can also get it onlune,,,do a search and input the info and it tells you your BMR Badal metabolic rate. I need to do it again since I have lsot weight.

The test I had had me clip my nose and breath through my mouth into this machine that was hooked up to a computer. It actually measured the caloires I burned through "normal" breathing. Just as everyone's blood pressure, blood sugar, resting heart rate, etc. varies widely, I would think that would be much more accurate.

I did a Google search and found Basal Metabolic Rate and found a BMR calculator at the following site:

http://health.discovery.com/tools/calculators/basal/basal.html

It says my current BMR is 2341. (I tried a couple different BMR calculators and came up with slightly different numbers.) I put in based on my information at the time I had the actual MedGem reading. It says a little under 2700. I don't remember my actual number at the time but it was over 3000. Error on the side of a lower caloric need would be better. Remember 500 calories a day less than required equals about one pound of weight loss. In theory, I should be able to do absolutely nothing other than breath and consume 1300 calories a day and lose 2 pounds a week.

For more information on how the BMR is calcuated, go to:

http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/Courses/ns421/BMR.html

Some of the things that affect BMR is age (older people have lower BMR), height (tall people burn more calories), body composition (the more body fat, the less calories burned) and fasting/starvation/malnutrtion (lowers BMR). So, if you're old, short, fat and not eating, you're actually lowering the number of calories you need. So, if you'd just get younger and taller, everything would be fixed. :omg:

The site lists two ways to calculate BMR. The easy way is the weight in pounds x 10 kcals/pound. A 150 pound person (which is NONE of us!) needs 1500 calories. A 300 pound person needs 3000 calories. The more complex method (Harris-Benedict equation) for females (different for men but since I think I'm about the only male here, I'll just do the female formula) is:

655 + (9.6 x W) + (1.7 x H) - (4.7 x A)

W = weigh in kilograms (divide pounds by 2.2 to get kg)

H = height in centimeters (multiply height in inches by 2.54 to get cm)

A = age in years

I don't know how tall Angela is but using 5'5" as her height, her age of 49 and her current weight of 195 she would be calculated as:

655 + (9.6 x 195/2.2) + (1.7 x 65 x 2.54) - (4.7 x 49)

which is

655 + (9.6 x 88.64) + (1.7 x 165.1) - (4.7 x 49)

which is

655 + 850.94 + 280.67 - 230.3

Angela needs 1556 calores to breath if she's 5'5". (Just using the "simple" formula, it says she needs 1950 calories.) 400 calories is a pretty big range (almost a pound a week difference!), but based on the lower figure, if Angela eats around 1000 calories a day, she should lose one pound a week if she does nothing but breath.

Just for fun, I checked the number of calories burned during sex. Varies greatly on the activity! Here's a web site that lists your "options". It's kind of like an ala-carte "menu" but looks like if you had inventive sex daily, you could lose another 1/2-1 pound per week. Just remember that this is based on a 150 pound person (which I don't think is any of us!) so we'll actually burn a few more calories getting our bodies in motion. :omg:

http://calorielab.com/burned/sex-calories-burned.html

Have fun!

Tom

[AngelaT 2]

The test I had had me clip my nose and breath through my mouth into this machine that was hooked up to a computer. It actually measured the caloires I burned through "normal" breathing. Just as everyone's blood pressure, blood sugar, resting heart rate, etc. varies widely, I would think that would be much more accurate.

I did a Google search and found Basal Metabolic Rate and found a BMR calculator at the following site:

http://health.discovery.com/tools/calculators/basal/basal.html

It says my current BMR is 2341. (I tried a couple different BMR calculators and came up with slightly different numbers.) I put in based on my information at the time I had the actual MedGem reading. It says a little under 2700. I don't remember my actual number at the time but it was over 3000. Error on the side of a lower caloric need would be better. Remember 500 calories a day less than required equals about one pound of weight loss. In theory, I should be able to do absolutely nothing other than breath and consume 1300 calories a day and lose 2 pounds a week.

For more information on how the BMR is calcuated, go to:

http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/Courses/ns421/BMR.html

Some of the things that affect BMR is age (older people have lower BMR), height (tall people burn more calories), body composition (the more body fat, the less calories burned) and fasting/starvation/malnutrtion (lowers BMR). So, if you're old, short, fat and not eating, you're actually lowering the number of calories you need. So, if you'd just get younger and taller, everything would be fixed. :omg:

The site lists two ways to calculate BMR. The easy way is the weight in pounds x 10 kcals/pound. A 150 pound person (which is NONE of us!) needs 1500 calories. A 300 pound person needs 3000 calories. The more complex method (Harris-Benedict equation) for females (different for men but since I think I'm about the only male here, I'll just do the female formula) is:

655 + (9.6 x W) + (1.7 x H) - (4.7 x A)

W = weigh in kilograms (divide pounds by 2.2 to get kg)

H = height in centimeters (multiply height in inches by 2.54 to get cm)

A = age in years

I don't know how tall Angela is but using 5'5" as her height, her age of 49 and her current weight of 195 she would be calculated as:

655 + (9.6 x 195/2.2) + (1.7 x 65 x 2.54) - (4.7 x 49)

which is

655 + (9.6 x 88.64) + (1.7 x 165.1) - (4.7 x 49)

which is

655 + 850.94 + 280.67 - 230.3

Angela needs 1556 calores to breath if she's 5'5". (Just using the "simple" formula, it says she needs 1950 calories.) 400 calories is a pretty big range (almost a pound a week difference!), but based on the lower figure, if Angela eats around 1000 calories a day, she should lose one pound a week if she does nothing but breath.

Just for fun, I checked the number of calories burned during sex. Varies greatly on the activity! Here's a web site that lists your "options". It's kind of like an ala-carte "menu" but looks like if you had inventive sex daily, you could lose another 1/2-1 pound per week. Just remember that this is based on a 150 pound person (which I don't think is any of us!) so we'll actually burn a few more calories getting our bodies in motion. :omg:

http://calorielab.com/burned/sex-calories-burned.html

Have fun!

Tom

WOW Tom!! Great research...just for your info ...I am 5'3"

Wheere did you get the 2.54 at the top line next to my height? I didn't see that nimber on the sample before? Imagine if I did alot more exercise...I could lose more! You know yesterday I did move more...all day... and tis morning I weighed 194!!!!!:clap2:

*** We'll have to have a Nov. bandster reuinion in a few months...what do you all think???

[Oberhasli 1]

WOW Tom!! Great research...just for your info ...I am 5'3"

Wheere did you get the 2.54 at the top line next to my height? I didn't see that nimber on the sample before? Imagine if I did alot more exercise...I could lose more! You know yesterday I did move more...all day... and tis morning I weighed 194!!!!!:clap2:

*** We'll have to have a Nov. bandster reuinion in a few months...what do you all think???

Congrats on the weight loss. The 2.54 is the conversion for inches to centimeters. The formula uses metric numbers.

By the way, the 2" extra I gave you means you can eat 8.64 calories less a day.

Tom

[AngelaT 2]

Ok so here it is.... I got two different results using two calculators online vs. the formula. The formula syas my BMI is 1,379. The calculators say about 1,557, I'll take the higher

I also calculated how many cals to maintain my weight of 194lbs..I need 2, 134 cals. I have been eating 1,000 cals or a bit less. so my deficit if I just round down to 1,000 cals(instead of 1,134) PER week is 7,000 calories!! 3,500 calorie deficit = 1 lb of fat (some muscle)

7,000/ 3,500 = 2lbs lost per week!!! And yes...I have been losing roughly 2lbs per week!!

Isn't this fun!! Go use that link to the BMR calculator Tom posted earlier.

[Betsyjane 2]

Calories burned during Sex is hilarious! I forwarded it to my husband. Better than the gym.....

[Betsyjane 2]

Well, fellow November bandsters....It has happened. I have restriction. I feel just great! It took 3 fills, but I am comfortable, not hassled by food, and feeling like it is not impossible anymore, just good hard work. Couldn't be happier. Getting my Protein in, getting the right calories, and going to the gym. I know I'll have struggles, but today I feel like I've been let out of a cage.

[Oberhasli 1]

Ok so here it is.... I got two different results using two calculators online vs. the formula. The formula syas my BMI is 1,379. The calculators say about 1,557, I'll take the higher

I also calculated how many cals to maintain my weight of 194lbs..I need 2, 134 cals. I have been eating 1,000 cals or a bit less. so my deficit if I just round down to 1,000 cals(instead of 1,134) PER week is 7,000 calories!! 3,500 calorie deficit = 1 lb of fat (some muscle)

7,000/ 3,500 = 2lbs lost per week!!! And yes...I have been losing roughly 2lbs per week!!

Isn't this fun!! Go use that link to the BMR calculator Tom posted earlier.

I think you mean BSR and not BMI. If your BMI is over 1300, you've got FAR more serious problems than the band will help with. <G> (40 is morbidly obese.)

Tom

[Oberhasli 1]

Calories burned during Sex is hilarious! I forwarded it to my husband. Better than the gym.....

Might have a slight impact on the moment if you have your sheet out and counting calories during. Of course, when you ask for the higher calorie burning activities, it could add an exciting element!:heh:

Tom

[AngelaT 2]

I think you mean BSR and not BMI. If your BMI is over 1300, you've got FAR more serious problems than the band will help with. <G> (40 is morbidly obese.)

Tom

HE he...yes BMR-basal metabolic rate

imagine if it was my BMI :faint: :faint:

As you may have noticed,,,when I am on the board i am writing fast and my fingers become sort of dyslexic...and I don't have time to correct the sp. errors...but you all have understood. But BMI and BMR are different!!!