Mini Panic...Need the voice of reason to be from outside of my head...

Here we go again....I whined and moaned and complained about not losing for weeks, and then I dropped a  chunk, quickly. Well, I have not lost a thing in 7 days.  And I am panicing because I am starting to feel my first hunger.  My nut told me at my 3 month that it means I need to start increasing my 4 mini meals a little bit.  I am still getting between 600 - 700 calories a day. But I am afraid to eat more than that...I am so worried that I will "stretch my pouch" and  blow it! Or stop losing. I know it defies logic.  And that even if I go to 800 or 900 calories a day with how much I am exercising I will still be losing, but I just don't want to mess this up!   And logic tells me that if I could have eaten 1000 calories a day a few years ago I wouldn't be here.  OK...where' s the voice of reason???

I guess I can offer the voice of reason from "the other side".     How much would you have lost with out the surgery?   I have noticed that quite a few people mention they arent losing fast enough.  We can never lose fast enough.  If we could drop all of the fat tomorrow we would.  But the reality is that this is really a life long process.   Check out my last really successful "diet".--   I was extremely determined that i was going to lose all the 75 lbs I gained in pregnancy.  The minute I was given the doc ok to hit the gym, I did.  I actually lasted 18 months on this diet.  If I had a bad day, it was never 2 in a row. I stuck to my guns. I joined a gym and had a personal trainer.  I kept journals of my food. I was on @ 3 different eating plans...  Fat flush, weigh****chers,  Adkins. When I wasa tired of one I would ditch it and do the next. During this 18 months I lost a whopping 18 lbs.    No, I wasnt losing inches either and I dont have any med problems.   I learned alot about how I feel on what foods..  high protein REALLY does help with hunger and appetite. ( It also helps to clear up my allergy symptoms).    From where I stand, you sound pretty successful with your surgery.   800-900 cal/day is still low and it may be what you need to kick start the loss again.  I have been hearing you have to eat to lose weight.  It makes no sense to me but it has worked for other people, esp when your exercising.   I saw a weight loss show on tv where the people could choose their diet. Their progress was then followed by the show.  One lady got into running and eating @800cal/day.  She lost some weight but hit a lengthy plateau.   She was into distance running so she was really getting alot of exercise.  She didnt begin to lose agan until she up'd her cal to 1200/day.  Then she dropped more weight.   Right now I'm on the outside looking in and i think all you guys are doing an excellent job and are having alot of success.   K

BTW   I live near Union Bridge.  Nice to meet ya!

Thanks so much for your input.  I know it will all even out and the scale will drop, but like you said, if we could drop all of the fat tomorrow we would! Guess that's still not an option! Good luck with your journey!  Since you are in the area, we will be posting more about a Carroll County Support group - we are meeting June 27, Wed night from 6 pm - at the Westminster Public Library. We would love to meet you!

Hi Smilesy, I was reading your post and thought I would throw my 2 cents in.  You may not be losing as much as you could because you are not eating enough calories.  If you're eating too few calories, your body will go into "starvation" mode.  I know it sounds crazy, but if you feed your body a little bit more, it'll go into overdrive metabolizing the calories.  I found when I kind of plateaued (which was usually about every 3 weeks), I would up the protein by eating another snack of just protein each day and it would kick-start the weightloss again.     At this point, I would not be too worried about stretching your pouch out.  Just go with the rules - protein first, then some veggies and fruit/other carbs last.  I am 23 months out and at times I can eat more (depending on the density of the food) than others, but I still can eat, at most maybe slightly more than a cup or so of food (of less dense food).  Some days I find I can eat more than others.  All along this journey I've tried to stick to the pouch rules (as I noted above).  The other thing I will not do is do not drink while I am eating, other than those rare times when I take a small sip because I am thirsty. Try not to stress too much, our bodies all follow a different path to get the same end result. HTH

Everyone knows if you want to lose weight all you need to do is donate some of your smaller clothes to goodwill!  You are doing great.   You have already been through one of these stalls and you know you will come out on the otherside just fine.   Stick with the basics!  I'm not one to be giving you advice (since you are actually a week ahead of me), but when has that ever stopped me???    I have found that I get the best results when I just continue with what I am supposed to be doing.   If Nancy wants you to increase your calories a bit.   Don't be afraid of it.   Has she steered you wrong to this point?    Now...don't go out and buy a 1 pound bag of Cheetos and sit in front the television for 5 hours!   Add a little bit to your meals.   Add it slowly (like a bite every couple of minutes) and see what happens.   If you get full (or feel that pain in your chest), stop.    Hang in there...you are doing and looking great.    As the cover to the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy states so well  "Don't Panic!"  

Thanks gang!  Nancy had mentioned the starvation mode, and even at 900 calories a day I would still be in it. So again, I don't know what I am so worried about - I guess I just wanted to hear someone else say it! And Dave, please don't hold back your advice - you always have quality words of wisdom, no matter who's surgery was first....and you are right, no one at Sinai, Nancy included has put me in the wrong direction yet.   I am just going to keep doing what I have been doing, adding a couple bitesof protein to each meal, and see where it goes!  I have also upped my walking to about 25 min a day (from 20), and am doing my toning stuff every night. I also signed up to see the trainer at the Y this week so I can start using the lifting equipment a few times a week to up the toning. 

 

Once again, OH has realed me back in to reality! Thanks!

I can understand how you feel though. I haven't been losing much the past 2 or 3 weeks and I am really fighting not letting it get me down. And I have been feeling the hunger too. :(