Very discouraged! 9 months post op and 50lbs lost.

[Tooty 0]

There is a lot of science to make that claim, if you have ever taken a Physical Education course or even biology you would know this.

Here is one site that explains it...scroll down to the section about reducing calories too much....

Daily Calorie Intake for Weight Loss

Do a search and you will find thousands of sites stating the same thing....

Good Luck and give it a shot, what to do you have to loose right - just pounds!!

[Makulafamy 55]

Get a slight unfill.

I have to say it... I will say it.

You can't pay for weight loss, that isn't how it works. Just a very small amount of research shows quite clearly that the band (or any WLS) is merely a tool for you to do it yourself. It is not a magical cure, you pay money, have surgery, and somehow pounds just fly off. That's not realistic. You have to watch what you are eating and get out there and exercise. Don't like exercise? I do not care, do it anyway. We don't like a lot of things in life but we do them anyway as responsible adults. Don't like to watch what you are putting in your mouth? Tough, do it anyway. You are an adult and you need to act like a responsible adult to lose weight. I think 99.9% of us hate diet and exercise but if you want weight loss, you do it. Period.

It is not a matter of being a bad person, it is a matter of being responsible for your own actions and if you want the weight loss badly enough you do what you have to do. If you don't want weight loss just have the band removed and do what you wish.

It doesn't happen overnight. You didn't put it on overnight and you aren't going to take it off overnight. It takes a LOT of hard work.

Any science to prove that claim? ;o) I see that written a gazillion times on this board and I would love for someone to show some solid, peer reviewed studies proving this claim.

If you eat more you have more calories to burn.

Here is a longer one...kinda makes my head hurt.

IS STARVATION MODE A MYTH? NO! STARVATION MODE IS VERY REAL AND HERE’S THE SCIENTIFIC PROOF

QUESTION:

Tom, I was wondering if you had seen the 6 part e-mail series sent out by [name deleted] from [website deleted]. if you look at the last part, he basically states that “starvation mode” is a bunch of crap made up in order to sell diet programs. He didn’t mention you, but it almost sounds like he’s talking about you specifically. How do you feel about this?

ANSWER:

Yes, I saw that article/email and the author is mistaken about starvation mode. In his article, he accused those of us who use the term “starvation mode” as being unscientific and he even says “dont buy diet books if they mention the starvation mode.” I’ll make it clear in a moment, that in this case, he is the one who doesn’t appear very well read in the scientific literature on the effects of starvation and low calorie diets.

I do have to point out first that the effects of starvation mode are indeed sometimes overblown. There are also myths about the starvation mode, like it will completely “shut down” your metabolism (doesn’t happen), or that if you miss one meal your metabolism will crash (doesn’t happen that fast, although your blood sugar and energy levels may dip and hunger may rise).

Another myth about starvation mode is that adaptive reduction in metabolic rate (where metabolism slows down in response to decrease calorie intake) is enough to cause a plateau. That is also not true. it will cause a SLOW DOWN in progress but not a total cessation of fat loss.

As a result of these myths, I have even clarified and refined my own messages about starvation mode in the past few years because I don’t want to see people panic merely because they miss a meal or they’re using an aggressive caloric deficit at times. I find that people tend to worry about this far too much.

However, starvation response is real, it is extremely well documented and is not just a metabolic adaptation - it is also a series of changes in the brain, mediated by the hypothalamus as well as hormonal changes which induce food seeking behaviors.

Here is just a handful of the research and the explanations that I have handy:

Ancel Key’s Minnesota starvation study is the classic work in this area, which dates back to 1950 and is still referenced to this day. In this study, there was a 40% decrease in metabolism due to 6 months of “semi-starvation” at 50% deficit.

Much or most of the decrease was due to loss of body mass, (which was much more pronounced because the subjects were not weight training), but not all of the metabolic decline could be explained simply by the loss of body weight, thus “metabolic adaptation” to starvation was proposed as the explanation for the difference.

Abdul Dulloo of the University of Geneva did a series of studies that revisited the 1300 pages of data that keys collected from this landmark study, which will not ever be repeated due to ethical considerations. (it’s not easy to do longitudinal studies that starve people, as you can imagine)

Here’s one of those follow up studies:

“Adaptive reduction in basal metabolic rate in response to food deprivation in humans: a role for feedback signals from fat stores. Dulloo, Jaquet 1998. American journal of clinical nutrition.

Quote:

“It is well established from longitudinal studies of human starvation and semistarvation that weight loss is accompanied by a decrease in basal metabolicrate (BMR) greater than can be accounted for by the change in body weight or body composition”

“the survival value of such an energy-regulatory process that limits tissue depletion during food scarcity is obvious.”

Also, starvation mode is a series of intense food seeking behaviors and other psychological symptoms and if you do any research on the minnesota study and other more recent studies, you will find out that starvation mode as a spontaneous increase in food seeking behavior is very, very real.

Do you think sex is the most primal urge? Think again! Hunger is the most primal of all human urges and when starved, interest in everything else including reproduction, falls by the wayside until you have been re-fed.

There are even changes in the reproductive system linked to starvation mode: It makes total sense too because if you cannot feed yourself, how can you have offspring and feed them - when you starve and or when body fat drops to extremely low levels, testosterone decreases in men, and menstrual cycle stops in women.

Starvation mode is not just adaptive reduction metabolic rate - it is much more.

There IS a controversy over how much of the decrease in metabolism with weight loss is caused by starvation mode, but the case is extremely strong:

For example, this study DIRECTLY addresses the controversy over HOW MUCH of a decrease in metabolism really occurs with starvation due to adaptive thermogenesis and how much is very simply due to a loss in total body mass.

Doucet, et al 2001. British journal of nutrition. “Evidence for the existence of adaptive thermogenesis during weight loss.”

quote:

“It should be expected that the decrease in resting energy expenditure that occurs during weightloss would be proportional to the decrease in body substance. However, in the case of underfeeding studies, acute energy restriction can also lead to reductions in resting energy expenditure which are not entirely explained by changes in body composition.”

Starvation response is even a scientific term that is used in obesity science textbooks - word for word - CONTRARY to the claim made by the expert mentioned earlier who thinks the phrase, starvation mode is “unscientific.”

Handbook of Obesity Treatment, by wadden and stunkard

(two of the top obesity scientists and researchers in the world )

quote:

“The starvation response - which is an increase in food seeking behavior - is most likely mediated by the decrease in leptin associated with caloric deprivation.”

Textbooks on nutritional biochemistry also acknowledge the decrease in metabolism and distinguish it as an adaptive mechanism, distinct from the decrease in energy expenditure that would be expected with weight loss. In this case, the author also mentions another downside of very low calorie diets: spontaneous reduction in physical activity.

Biochemical And Physiological Aspects of Human Nutrition by SM. Stipanauk, professor of nutritional sciences, Cornell University (WB Saunders company, 2000)

Quote:

“During food restriction, thermic effect of food and energy expenditure decrease, as would be expected from reduced food intake and a reduction in total body mass. Resting metabolic rate, however declines more rapidly than would be expected from the loss of body mass and from the decline in spontaneous physical activity due to general fatigue.

This adaptive reduction in resting metabolic rate may be a defense against further loss of body energy stores.”

Granted, it is more often referred to as “metabolic adaptation” or “adaptive reduction in metabolic rate.” However, starvation mode and starvation response are both terms found in the scientific literature, and they are more easily understood by the layperson, which is why I choose to use them.

Another effect of starvation mode is what happens after the diet: A sustained increase in appetite and a sustained reduction of metabolic rate that persists after the diet is over. Although controversial, this too is documented in the literature:

American Journal clinical nutrition 1997. Dulloo “post starvation hyperphagia and body fat overshooting in humans.”

American Journal Clin Nutrition 1989, Elliot et al. “Sustained depression of the resting metabolic rate after massive weight loss”

quote:

“Resting metabolic rate of our obese subjects remained depressed after massive weight loss despite increased caloric consumption to a level that allowed body weight stabilization.”

and Dulloo 1998:

“The reduction in thermogenesis during semistarvation persists after 12 weeks of restricted refeeding, with its size being inversely proportional to the degree of fat recovery but unrelated to the degree of fat free mass recovery.”

By the way, this explains what some people refer to as “metabolic damage” and although this is not a scientific phrase, you can see that it too is a reality. It is the lag time between when a diet ends and when your metabolism and appetite regulating mechanisms get back to normal.

Last, but certainly not least, and perhaps the best indicator of starvation mode is the hormone LEPTIN. you could spend weeks studying leptin and still not cover all the data that has been amassed on this subject.

Leptin IS the anti starvation hormone. Some people say leptin IS the starvation mode itself because it regulates many of the negative effects that occur during starvation.

leptin is secreted mostly from fat cells and it signals your brain about your fat stores. If your fat stores diminish (danger of starvation), your leptin decreases. If your calorie intake decreases, your leptin level decreases.

When leptin decreases, it essentially sounds the starvation alarm. In response, your brain (hypothalamus) sends out signals for other hormones to be released which decrease metabolic rate and increase appetite.

In summary and conclusion: There is no debate whatsoever about the existence of starvation mode - IT EXISTS and is well documented.

There is also no debate whatsoever that metabolic rate decreases with weight loss. It happens and is well documented, and it is a reason for plateuas.

There’s really only ONE debate about starvation mode that is — HOW MUCH of the starvation mode is comprised of adaptive reduction in metabolic rate and how much is due to loss of total body mass and increased feeding behaviors?

Researchers are still debating these questions, in fact just earlier this year another study was releasd by Major and Doucet in the international journal of obesity called, “clinical significance of adaptive thermogenesis.”

Here’s a quote from this latest (2007) study: “Adaptive thermogenesis is described as the decrease in energy expenditure beyond what could be predicted from the changes in fat mass or fat free mass under conditions of standardized physical activity in response to a decreased energy intake, and could represent in some individuals another factor that impedes weight loss and compromises the maintenance of a reduced body weight.”

I respect the work that other fitness professionals are trying to do to debunk diet and fitness myths, but this fellow didn’t seem to do his homework and totally missed the boat on this article about starvation mode.

What’s really odd is that he didn’t quote a single study in his article, despite his repeated reference to “scientific research.”

If he wanted to argue against adaptive reduction in metabolic rate and chalk starvation mode up purely to increase in food seeking behaviors… and if he wanted to attribute the decreased metabolism with weight loss purely to lost body mass, he easily could have done that. But he didn’t cite ANY studies. He just expects us to take his word for it that “starvation mode is a myth,” and people like me who use the phrase starvation mode are “unscientific”

Either way you argue it - and whatever you choose to call it - “starvation response” is a scientific fact and that’s why prolonged low calorie diets are risky business and mostly just quick fixes.

The rapid weight loss in the beginning is an illusion: Starvation diets catch up with you eventually… just like other habits such as smoking appear to do no harm at first, but sooner or later the damage is done.

For years I’ve considered it so important to understand the consequences of starvation diets that my entire burn the fat program is built around helping you recover from metabolic damage from past diet mistakes, to avoid the starvation mode, or to at least keep the effects of the starvation mode to a minimum so you can lose the fat and keep the muscle.

Sincerely,

Your friend and “Burn The fat coach”

Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT

www.BurnTheFat.com

PS. For more information on getting lean without starving yourself or harming your metabolism, visit my website at www.BurnTheFat.com.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

There is a lot of science to make that claim, if you have ever taken a Physical Education course or even biology you would know this.

Here is one site that explains it...scroll down to the section about reducing calories too much....

Daily Calorie Intake for Weight Loss

Do a search and you will find thousands of sites stating the same thing....

Good Luck and give it a shot, what to do you have to loose right - just pounds!!

Sorry, that isn't a peer reviewed scientific study. It's an article written by ... who?

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Here is a longer one...kinda makes my head hurt.

IS STARVATION MODE A MYTH? NO! STARVATION MODE IS VERY REAL AND HERE’S THE SCIENTIFIC PROOF

QUESTION:

Tom, I was wondering if you had seen the 6 part e-mail series sent out by [name deleted] from [website deleted]. if you look at the last part, he basically states that “starvation mode” is a bunch of crap made up in order to sell diet programs. He didn’t mention you, but it almost sounds like he’s talking about you specifically. How do you feel about this?

ANSWER:

Yes, I saw that article/email and the author is mistaken about starvation mode. In his article, he accused those of us who use the term “starvation mode” as being unscientific and he even says “dont buy diet books if they mention the starvation mode.” I’ll make it clear in a moment, that in this case, he is the one who doesn’t appear very well read in the scientific literature on the effects of starvation and low calorie diets.

I do have to point out first that the effects of starvation mode are indeed sometimes overblown. There are also myths about the starvation mode, like it will completely “shut down” your metabolism (doesn’t happen), or that if you miss one meal your metabolism will crash (doesn’t happen that fast, although your blood sugar and energy levels may dip and hunger may rise).

Another myth about starvation mode is that adaptive reduction in metabolic rate (where metabolism slows down in response to decrease calorie intake) is enough to cause a plateau. That is also not true. it will cause a SLOW DOWN in progress but not a total cessation of fat loss.

As a result of these myths, I have even clarified and refined my own messages about starvation mode in the past few years because I don’t want to see people panic merely because they miss a meal or they’re using an aggressive caloric deficit at times. I find that people tend to worry about this far too much.

However, starvation response is real, it is extremely well documented and is not just a metabolic adaptation - it is also a series of changes in the brain, mediated by the hypothalamus as well as hormonal changes which induce food seeking behaviors.

Here is just a handful of the research and the explanations that I have handy:

Ancel Key’s Minnesota starvation study is the classic work in this area, which dates back to 1950 and is still referenced to this day. In this study, there was a 40% decrease in metabolism due to 6 months of “semi-starvation” at 50% deficit.

Much or most of the decrease was due to loss of body mass, (which was much more pronounced because the subjects were not weight training), but not all of the metabolic decline could be explained simply by the loss of body weight, thus “metabolic adaptation” to starvation was proposed as the explanation for the difference.

Abdul Dulloo of the University of Geneva did a series of studies that revisited the 1300 pages of data that keys collected from this landmark study, which will not ever be repeated due to ethical considerations. (it’s not easy to do longitudinal studies that starve people, as you can imagine)

Here’s one of those follow up studies:

“Adaptive reduction in basal metabolic rate in response to food deprivation in humans: a role for feedback signals from fat stores. Dulloo, Jaquet 1998. American journal of clinical nutrition.

Quote:

“It is well established from longitudinal studies of human starvation and semistarvation that weight loss is accompanied by a decrease in basal metabolicrate (BMR) greater than can be accounted for by the change in body weight or body composition”

“the survival value of such an energy-regulatory process that limits tissue depletion during food scarcity is obvious.”

Also, starvation mode is a series of intense food seeking behaviors and other psychological symptoms and if you do any research on the minnesota study and other more recent studies, you will find out that starvation mode as a spontaneous increase in food seeking behavior is very, very real.

Do you think sex is the most primal urge? Think again! Hunger is the most primal of all human urges and when starved, interest in everything else including reproduction, falls by the wayside until you have been re-fed.

There are even changes in the reproductive system linked to starvation mode: It makes total sense too because if you cannot feed yourself, how can you have offspring and feed them - when you starve and or when body fat drops to extremely low levels, testosterone decreases in men, and menstrual cycle stops in women.

Starvation mode is not just adaptive reduction metabolic rate - it is much more.

There IS a controversy over how much of the decrease in metabolism with weight loss is caused by starvation mode, but the case is extremely strong:

For example, this study DIRECTLY addresses the controversy over HOW MUCH of a decrease in metabolism really occurs with starvation due to adaptive thermogenesis and how much is very simply due to a loss in total body mass.

Doucet, et al 2001. British journal of nutrition. “Evidence for the existence of adaptive thermogenesis during weight loss.”

quote:

“It should be expected that the decrease in resting energy expenditure that occurs during weightloss would be proportional to the decrease in body substance. However, in the case of underfeeding studies, acute energy restriction can also lead to reductions in resting energy expenditure which are not entirely explained by changes in body composition.”

Starvation response is even a scientific term that is used in obesity science textbooks - word for word - CONTRARY to the claim made by the expert mentioned earlier who thinks the phrase, starvation mode is “unscientific.”

Handbook of Obesity Treatment, by wadden and stunkard

(two of the top obesity scientists and researchers in the world )

quote:

“The starvation response - which is an increase in food seeking behavior - is most likely mediated by the decrease in leptin associated with caloric deprivation.”

Textbooks on nutritional biochemistry also acknowledge the decrease in metabolism and distinguish it as an adaptive mechanism, distinct from the decrease in energy expenditure that would be expected with weight loss. In this case, the author also mentions another downside of very low calorie diets: spontaneous reduction in physical activity.

Biochemical And Physiological Aspects of Human Nutrition by SM. Stipanauk, professor of nutritional sciences, Cornell University (WB Saunders company, 2000)

Quote:

“During food restriction, thermic effect of food and energy expenditure decrease, as would be expected from reduced food intake and a reduction in total body mass. Resting metabolic rate, however declines more rapidly than would be expected from the loss of body mass and from the decline in spontaneous physical activity due to general fatigue.

This adaptive reduction in resting metabolic rate may be a defense against further loss of body energy stores.”

Granted, it is more often referred to as “metabolic adaptation” or “adaptive reduction in metabolic rate.” However, starvation mode and starvation response are both terms found in the scientific literature, and they are more easily understood by the layperson, which is why I choose to use them.

Another effect of starvation mode is what happens after the diet: A sustained increase in appetite and a sustained reduction of metabolic rate that persists after the diet is over. Although controversial, this too is documented in the literature:

American Journal clinical nutrition 1997. Dulloo “post starvation hyperphagia and body fat overshooting in humans.”

American Journal Clin Nutrition 1989, Elliot et al. “Sustained depression of the resting metabolic rate after massive weight loss”

quote:

“Resting metabolic rate of our obese subjects remained depressed after massive weight loss despite increased caloric consumption to a level that allowed body weight stabilization.”

and Dulloo 1998:

“The reduction in thermogenesis during semistarvation persists after 12 weeks of restricted refeeding, with its size being inversely proportional to the degree of fat recovery but unrelated to the degree of fat free mass recovery.”

By the way, this explains what some people refer to as “metabolic damage” and although this is not a scientific phrase, you can see that it too is a reality. It is the lag time between when a diet ends and when your metabolism and appetite regulating mechanisms get back to normal.

Last, but certainly not least, and perhaps the best indicator of starvation mode is the hormone LEPTIN. you could spend weeks studying leptin and still not cover all the data that has been amassed on this subject.

Leptin IS the anti starvation hormone. Some people say leptin IS the starvation mode itself because it regulates many of the negative effects that occur during starvation.

leptin is secreted mostly from fat cells and it signals your brain about your fat stores. If your fat stores diminish (danger of starvation), your leptin decreases. If your calorie intake decreases, your leptin level decreases.

When leptin decreases, it essentially sounds the starvation alarm. In response, your brain (hypothalamus) sends out signals for other hormones to be released which decrease metabolic rate and increase appetite.

In summary and conclusion: There is no debate whatsoever about the existence of starvation mode - IT EXISTS and is well documented.

There is also no debate whatsoever that metabolic rate decreases with weight loss. It happens and is well documented, and it is a reason for plateuas.

There’s really only ONE debate about starvation mode that is — HOW MUCH of the starvation mode is comprised of adaptive reduction in metabolic rate and how much is due to loss of total body mass and increased feeding behaviors?

Researchers are still debating these questions, in fact just earlier this year another study was releasd by Major and Doucet in the international journal of obesity called, “clinical significance of adaptive thermogenesis.”

Here’s a quote from this latest (2007) study: “Adaptive thermogenesis is described as the decrease in energy expenditure beyond what could be predicted from the changes in fat mass or fat free mass under conditions of standardized physical activity in response to a decreased energy intake, and could represent in some individuals another factor that impedes weight loss and compromises the maintenance of a reduced body weight.”

I respect the work that other fitness professionals are trying to do to debunk diet and fitness myths, but this fellow didn’t seem to do his homework and totally missed the boat on this article about starvation mode.

What’s really odd is that he didn’t quote a single study in his article, despite his repeated reference to “scientific research.”

If he wanted to argue against adaptive reduction in metabolic rate and chalk starvation mode up purely to increase in food seeking behaviors… and if he wanted to attribute the decreased metabolism with weight loss purely to lost body mass, he easily could have done that. But he didn’t cite ANY studies. He just expects us to take his word for it that “starvation mode is a myth,” and people like me who use the phrase starvation mode are “unscientific”

Either way you argue it - and whatever you choose to call it - “starvation response” is a scientific fact and that’s why prolonged low calorie diets are risky business and mostly just quick fixes.

The rapid weight loss in the beginning is an illusion: Starvation diets catch up with you eventually… just like other habits such as smoking appear to do no harm at first, but sooner or later the damage is done.

For years I’ve considered it so important to understand the consequences of starvation diets that my entire burn the fat program is built around helping you recover from metabolic damage from past diet mistakes, to avoid the starvation mode, or to at least keep the effects of the starvation mode to a minimum so you can lose the fat and keep the muscle.

Sincerely,

Your friend and “Burn The fat coach”

Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT

www.BurnTheFat.com

PS. For more information on getting lean without starving yourself or harming your metabolism, visit my website at www.BurnTheFat.com.

Sorry, I'm not buying it. Half the article admits it is all very controversial and the other half makes claims such as this:

In summary and conclusion: There is no debate whatsoever about the existence of starvation mode - IT EXISTS and is well documented.

It is controversial or proven, one or the other.

Before surgery I'd say I probably ate 3000 calories a day. After surgery I consumed 600 calories a day until I was at goal, about 10 months. I did not experience fatigue and a lack of weight loss - quite the opposite.

Your article suggests that a decrease in leptin is key, Leptin is going to decrease regardless of "starvation" mode or not, so how can this be blamed?

About the only thing that makes sense in what you have presented is that it is all very controversial. Nobody can find absolute solid proof of stavation mode.

Your metabolism IS going to slow down with weight loss and with a lot of weight loss (and especially with no muscle training) it's going to decrease even more. It's a simple concept, the bigger the body the more calories it takes to carry that body around. When you lose weight you will lose muscle mass. The key is to lose as little muscle mass as possible. You do this through Protein and weight training. Either way, we do lose some muscle during massive weight loss and that is going to slow down the metabolism and we will have to work harder for weight loss.

Every single time a person comes here to post that they aren't losing well someone chimes in and suggests they eat more. Half the time we don't even know what the person's diet is but the suggestion is always the same, increase calories.

It gets silly after awhile.

[Jachut 487]

Hi Kjhack,

I can totally symphathise!!

I am 9 months in and have lost a grand total of 40lbs.

Have 13mls in a 14ml band which is now pretty tight, (probably too tight if i'm totally honest).

I've lost 8 lbs since this last fill but that was in the liquid stage and I've lost nothing since. Can't have another fill as I wouldn't be able to swallow my own spit I'm currently pbing after almost every meal. Just ate a poached egg and a desert spoon of baked Beans. Down two minutes back up before three

I'll be honest with you guys I don't exercise, I hate it and don't want to do it. I also don't want to diet, if I could diet or wanted to exercise why would I have paid thousands of pounds (oh I'm English by the way), for what was sold to me as the ultimate portion controller. Oh I like to drink as well!

Oh god I'm obviously a bad person, take me out and flog me.

Well my mind says if my food intake is restricted enough physics alone says I will lose weight? How restricted can it get, yesterday's total intake was half a beefburger and 2 tablespoons of cottage pie.

SO WHY ISN'T IT HAPPENING :thumbup: :drool:

Kim

x

Kim, if you're looking at the band as Portion Control and portion control only, then its done a GREAT job - 40lb in 9 months without 'diet' or 'exercise' is fabulous!

however, you absolutely cannot keep getting tighter and tighter waiting for the band to kick in and automatically make you lose weight. It wont happen, you're already experiencing problems and if you go on like this you risk losing your band through problems you've caused yourself.

Isnt it easier to put in a little effort on the diet front and do some exercise? You'd get to eat MORE than you can now, and not be tight and pbing after every meal.

I simply cannot understand what people choose to go through rather than go out their front door and move a little. Honestly, exercise is not that bad, and its certainly a better option than strangling your stomach and becoming malnourished!

[gone 4 ever 6]

Well my mind says if my food intake is restricted enough physics alone says I will lose weight? How restricted can it get, yesterday's total intake was half a beefburger and 2 tablespoons of cottage pie.

SO WHY ISN'T IT HAPPENING :thumbup: :drool: :cursing:Kimx

I think you need a slight unfill before you cause damage to your band. You should NOT be pbing after every meal. Get a little taken out and up your calories! Eat at least 1100 but that is still starvation mode. Your not eating enough to burn any calories. Your in starvation mode. I absolutely hated excersize. But it's not so bad now. At least try walkin, or make it fun and dance while you cleaning the house. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Angelsma 1]

Unless your dr. told you different than what is expected w/ the band, you're right on target. You may possibly be confusing your new way of life with a "diet" (what we are accustom to doing). NOoooooooooooo this is a way of life and your body is losing/releasing the fat as it should and slowly....1.4 lbs per week is nothing to wink @.

[rafa2 5]

I have to say it... I will say it.

You can't pay for weight loss, that isn't how it works. Just a very small amount of research shows quite clearly that the band (or any WLS) is merely a tool for you to do it yourself. It is not a magical cure, you pay money, have surgery, and somehow pounds just fly off. That's not realistic. You have to watch what you are eating and get out there and exercise. Don't like exercise? I do not care, do it anyway. We don't like a lot of things in life but we do them anyway as responsible adults. Don't like to watch what you are putting in your mouth? Tough, do it anyway. You are an adult and you need to act like a responsible adult to lose weight. I think 99.9% of us hate diet and exercise but if you want weight loss, you do it. Period.

It is not a matter of being a bad person, it is a matter of being responsible for your own actions and if you want the weight loss badly enough you do what you have to do. If you don't want weight loss just have the band removed and do what you wish.

It doesn't happen overnight. You didn't put it on overnight and you aren't going to take it off overnight. It takes a LOT of hard work.

Any science to prove that claim? ;o) I see that written a gazillion times on this board and I would love for someone to show some solid, peer reviewed studies proving this claim.

If you eat more you have more calories to burn.

OUCH!!! Harsh words...

[jms462001 9]

I am so discouraged. I had hoped to be down 100lbs by my one year mark. I haven't lost anything for a month. I had a fill a month ago. And I had another fill yesterday. I am so hopeful this will be the one that helps. I do feel restriction now. I am at 6.5. I feel like I am eating well, but the weight is stuck. I feel like a failure....

Example menu

6am Protein Shake

9am yogurt nonfat

1130 salad with tuna

2pm cheese

630pm grilled chicken and salad.

So why am I not losing!!!! HELP!!!!

Are you eating any oil like olive oil on your salad? try adding some nuts or Peanut Butter. You may not be getting enough cals.

[WaistBand 0]

Not all of the data cited as evidence supporting "starvation mode" actually does what is intended. One quick example is the statement that resting metabolic rate of previously-obese individuals remains lower after massive weight loss. This statement is true--but it does not in any way support the existence of starvation mode. It simply acknowledges that smaller bodies require less fuel.

Really, starvation mode has been speculated, but not proven. This is bolstered by the eons-old observation--by scientists and non-scientists alike--that people do, in fact starve when their intake is severely curtailed. They do, in fact, waste away. Their bodies are not able to cling to body weight, even by slowing metabolism. If the reduced intake continues, weight is lost.

[jeannierk 0]

Don't worry everyone lose differently. I my self think I'm doing really slow. But I think how I eat and really not to much exercise, and still losing. I even ate an hershey almond every night for the last two months. I eat so much less than before. So I cheat on Hershey's. Well I finally stop doing that. Now back on tract and started to lose again. I always lost but I was losing 7 lbs. a month. Than 10 lbs. in two months. 2 lbs in a month. I got a fill and don't crave my candy anymore, and lost 3 lbs in three days. Oh yeah I'm walking and swimming again. Good luck what you can eat today might not go down tomorrow. It's okay. I love the weight lost and the new clothes I had to buy. I fast moved from 2X tops and 18w pants. to xl - 16 tops, and size 10-12 regular bottoms. Everyone says how great I look. I'm looking forward to dropping more and to get more healthy. My surgery date was 8/27/2008.

Edited July 14, 2009 by jeannierk

[kjhack 3]

Thanks everyone for their input. I started my journey at 267, October 22,2008. I am 5'7". I now weigh 217. I am very proud of that. I had just hoped to be down 100lbs by october. I know I am moving along slowly. I had a stall for the last 2 months. I lost ounces and not lbs. I saw my dietician last week and she and think I am eating too many carbs. I am trying hard to get all my Fiber in, because of Constipation and that is often times too much carbs. I also have been drinking too much milk. I had only been walking up to this point. I am going to try jogging. I may be able to do that at this point. I think my fill last week helped alot. I now have 6.5 in a 10cc band. It is so hard to find the right balance to make the band work for me. I have been working hard for the band up until now. So hopefully things will go more smoothly now. Again thanks to everyone who gave their input. I greatly appreciate it.

[Chrisann 0]

I am 5'8" and had sugery January 2008, I am down 95 pounds. I am plateauing now. You know what? So what!

I am still 95 pounds lighter than when I started this journey. It took me 35 years to get fat, I knew it wasn't going to come off overnight, even with the surgery.

Whenever I plateau, and this is the third time since surgery, I do a food journal and then meet with the nutritionist at the doctors office and I ask for their help.

If you are not happy with that progress, find out if your doctors office will give you access to the nutritionist and journal your food and meet with them. Sometimes what they tell you is eye opening.