Ok let's be realistic...doesn't add up

[HamuChan 0]

Here's what I'm having issues with...

Golden rules say 3 meals a day, no Snacks, no calorie drinks. Each meal you may get down 1/2 cup of food bc of the size of your average pouch tummy.

The next rule conflicts with the others.....

You need approx 1200 calories per day. So on average you need to fit 400 calories into 1/2 cup. You would have to be eating some pretty high calories foods to fit in that many calories. 1/2 cup of pure sugar has only 385 calories, so even if you ate only pure sugar you wouldn't have enough calories. What can you fit into 1/2 cup that is healthy and will get you enough calories?

Maybe I'm missing something big time. I know that I am miscalculating somewhere or I don't know enough. When I follow the rules I may get down 700 calories. Waaaay to little. Help! What am I doing wrong?? Thank you!!

[Jachut 487]

I dont get this either, before I did any research into a band I assumed you would have to eat small amounts five or six times a day rather than three meals.

I also cant figure how if you're consistently eating as few as 800 calories a day your metabolism simply doesnt pack up and walk out on you. No wonder the band is not meant to be taken out again, because after eating that little for a year or so you'd probably NEVER be able to eat normal quanities again and would gain weight on thin air.

Surely someone 100lb + overweight would lose weight quite easily and quite fast on 1800-2000 calories a day. I'm 240 now and on 24 Weight Watchers points can easily lose 3lb a week for quite a while - I think that equates to around 1400 calories a day.

I guess if you're eating your Protein first, that's quite calorie dense compared to fruit and vegetables, and I guess you'd also need to include good fats to keep yourself healthy, so you could probably do it, but that's my main worry, how then do you fit in the Vitamin and mineral rich fruit and veg that you need to stay healthy?

But I also dont understand how your head works round this. If you're eating 800 calories a day long term, you're going to be undernourished in some respects, no questions about that. How does your brain not simply drive you to eat to make up the shortfall. It amazes me that simply bypassing the hunger mechanism of the stomach, tricking it into thinking it's full works when your blood chemistry, blood sugars and the like must be telling your brain that you've not had enough. Yet plenty of bandsters report that once its become a way of life they dont think about food constantly, dont suffer ongoing cravings and the like. Its simply amazing.

[Wendyz3 0]

I was told by my doctor that there are little "feelers" at the tops of our stomachs and that as an overweight person, it clearly took a lot more food to reach that point than a slim person would. Thus, with the band around a small pouch at the tops of our stomachs, any food there reaches our "feelers" sooner and then proceeds to send the messages to our brain that we are full.

Sounds good to me :cheeky

[Jachut 487]

So as Jack says there must be other hormonal and chemical mechanisms that come into play - because I was thinking that simply triggering your "feelers" wouldnt trick your body into thinking your blood sugar levels werent bottoming out from lack of food.< /p>

[bernadette 0]

I am so glad you guys brought this up. It is something I truely never thought of! I have a follow up visit with my Doctor this friday and boy I have a million questions to ask him now. If I learn anything that wasn't already mentioned here I will let you all know.

[vinesqueen 2]

Some people find they need a snack in the afternoon to make it from 11:30 to 6, which of course, is way past the 3-4 hours of feeling full.

I typically have about an ounce of nuts in the afternoon, about 200 calories. but I always make sure I eat them one at a time. not a handful...

If you have trouble getting in your calories, then have a snack. If you are hungry, have a snack. But make sure you get your Water in. That helps.

Because the band is so individual, i think of them more as "guidlines" as opposed to hard and fast rules. Except the ones like CHEW TO GOO and "don't drink while eating.

If you don't follow those two you are just borrowing trouble.

[I'llsucceed 1]

I was told smaller meals 6 times a day. Aprox every 3 hours. This included 3 meals & 4 healthy Snacks. Which would be like carrots- nuts-fruit & Protein Drinks.< /p>

[giveyouthemoon 4]

Okay, I have struggled with this problem. When I had post op restriction, I would eat a small meal, be full, then it would pass through to the big stomach which told me it was not amused by tiny portions. So I had to eat again.

Now that I have less restriction, I'm eating bigger meals. I'm doing 1200 to 1400 calories a day and seem to be losing okay.

I think the "deal" is that not only are there "feelers" at the top of the tummy to send waves to the brain to say "I'm full" (my doc said this too) but also with restriction the food stays in the pouch longer which keeps the "feelers" tingling and making the brain belive you are still full for a few hours. THAT's why having Proteins first is key, they take longer to go through the stoma.

Or at least that's the theory according to my doc.

[NJChick 3]

I was told in my surgeon's seminar just yesterday NOT to worry about calories in the beginning because your body is basically living off of the fat thats already stored. He said if your not hungry don't eat, just make sure your taking your Vitamins and drinking lots of Water because eventually a year from now (most likely sooner) your pouch will adapt to food/size and you will be eating the 1400 calories.

[vinesqueen 2]

Uhm, it shounds like your doc does lots of RNY. We don't "adapt" because we are adjustable. We don't have a time frame. RNY folks do.

[mercedes 0]

Hi all!

I am now 5 days post op. I cant get in more than 400 cals a day with Clear Liquids. It's usually right around 325-350. It's the weirdest thing to feel incredibly hungry yet full. At night, I am awakened so hungry that it is incredibly painful. I'm afraid to drink anything because I'm going to lay down again. So, so far I'm up at 3AM starved every night and then again at 6AM. I kept some gatoraid by my bed last night and took just 3 sips and it worked, and I was able to lay right back down since I didn't take in much.

Am I going to be okay for another few days at this low cal? I guess I will.

[vinesqueen 2]

Mercedes honey, you will be okay. You won't actually starve in the next week or so.

[Marimaru 7]

Most bandsters who've posted their meals on the forums that I've see eat closer to 1 to 1 1/2 cup per meal. Like you said, I don't even think it's possible to get 1200 on 1 1/2 cup per DAY.

I eat 2 to 3 meals a day and a couple of Snacks. I don't actually care how many times I eat as long as I'm below 1300. I eat enough that I never have to worry about not getting in enough calories, so I just need to watch that I don't bump too far over 1300. I was trying to do "between 1200 and 1500", but I always ended up closer to 1500 and that just wasn't letting me lose, so I lowered it to 1300, and I've started losing again.

I don't advocate going against a doctor, but I think you need to take the post op instructions with a grain of salt, as most of us got this surgey with the desire to eat like normal (thinner) people, you know?

[KarenB 0]

I always thought the guideline was to eat 1/3 to 1/2 the amount we used to eat before; Protein first, etc. I usually eat more than 1/2 cup per meal.

[giveyouthemoon 4]

Okay so I had an appointment with the nutritionist at my surgeon's office today and I told her I was eating around 1200 cals a day. I expected a pat on the head and a "good job" but instead I got a shocked look and an "OH NO you are eating WAY too much". I'm supposed to only be eating 800 cals. I reminded her that I'm a band patient, not a RNY, and that I have no fill. She was undeterred. I said "don't you think that for a 300 lb woman that 800 calories is a little tough?" She said "that's what the dr's want you to eat". I said "yeah, I saw that in the post op booklet. I was rather hoping that since you just started here that you'd help talk some sense into them." She cocked her head to the side like a confused puppy.

THEN she asked how much I'm losing. I said I lost 20 lbs the first month, plateaued for two weeks and in the past week I've lost 5lbs. She told me I'm not losing fast enough. I reminded her again that I'm a band patient and not a RNY. (again, I'd rather hoped that 25lbs in just under two months would earn me a "good job!")

So then I said "but doesn't eating so few calories do bad things to your metabolism?" And she said "oh no, the body adjusts". Bull hockey.

So after fuming all the way home (it's a long drive) I decided that as long as I'm losing weight a pace that makes ME happy, I will continue on down this road. If I plateau again, I'll seek to make tweaks and keep going.

I swear, she's the trained nutritionist but I think I probably know a lot more than she does about dieting, food and the like. I hate that.

But it will make my stupid petulant surgeon happy to hear I paid her a visit. Oh by the way I've decided I hate my doctor. I passed him in the very tiny hallway of his office and he didn't even acknowledge that a human life form existed in his vicinity. I didn't expect him to remember me but damn, at least nodding to a fellow human and stepping aside to let me pass would have been nice. Arrogant SOB. But that's for another thread.

(edited to add: OH! I forgot, the g'damn nutritionist said "yeah, I understand that at 800 calories it's REALLY hard to get in the 70 grams of protein" to which I damn near said..."SEE!!!" but didn't. By that time I'd given up)