Well...... I am back...

Thanks for the info MF---I am gonig to print it out so i can read it better and process it ---still on a stall....but i did lose 8inches! so that is better than not. I am interested in gettig my RMR done....the procedure is $50 BUT they told me i have to buy a mask that is another $50.....they should just say the procedure is $100. Geez...... Talk to you soon --Love the picture of you and Aaron by the way--- LOVE LOVE LOVE It ...

You are Welcome Dawn. At least it proves my theory that I have been trying to explain to others and yourself about upping the cals some. Glad to hear you are losing inches.. hang in there! I am sure that scale will move sooon! I think the procedure is worth every penny even if it is 100 bucks for the initial one.. usually to retest once u have the mask its not much. Thanks for the compliment on our picture and thanks for your sweet sweet card, you are so sweet Dawn! Love it!!! *hugs*

Melissa & all: You all are amazing! My head is still spinning. I am going to have to re-read this one....I get confused about calories, as others have said, I was told 800 cals per day to get to goal and 1000 per day to maintain. I am reading something entirely different here.... Anyone else a little confused? If this due to all the exercise you are doing? I'd love a more simplistic explanation, if one exists....I am all ears! Either way, congrats, you are a rockstar, doesn't surprise me at all! Best, Megan

Hi Megan! There is a resting and active metabolic test you can take to see how well your metabolism is.. how well you burn calories and how well you metabolize fats and carbohydrates. The resting test is 15 minutes they put a mask on your face and hook you up to a computer that you breath into basically. It measures your resting metabolism.. you have to be very relaxed and still the entire 15 minutes for it to be accurate. Then it spits out what your RMR or BMR (Resting Metabolic Rate or Basal Metabolic Rate) is. This is the number of calories your body burns doing NOTHING else but just existing and sitting, breathing. No movement what so ever. So if you were to do nothing you burn at LEAST this amount of calories a day. Mine is 1681. Then they ask you what your activity level is NOT including exercise.. there is sedentary, lightly active, active and very active I believe. I said "lightly active" b/c I know I am not sedentary but I only work 2 days a week even though I am off my butt a lot during the week I am on OH some and do sit down some.. so I just lightly active to be WORST case scenerio. Saying I am "lightly active" the computer then is able to find out how many calories I can safely consume to MAINTAIN my weight using my BMR figured in. It figured that for lightly active with my weight, my age, my height and my BMR that I can eat 2353 calories a day to MAINTAIN. If I go below this at all, supposedly I would LOSE weight. We all know that is a lot of calories but they say its accurate. Sooo all in all you want your RMR/BMR to be high.. means your metabolism is fast if it is. You can increase this with exercise and staying active in your life. I have a friend that after surgery 1 year (no exercise) she was 1300 then with exercise brought hers up to 1700. But she also gained some weight back and that figures in .. the bigger you are the higher your BMR also b/c it takes more calories to maintain your weight when you are larger. That is why we had such huge weight loss drops initially b/c we were at a SEVERE calorie deficit early on with our surgeries.. like if you are 3000 lbs your BMR might have been 2200 (3k something to maintain) and only eating 500 calories.. does it make sense why were losing like mad now? Make sense why it slows down.. all of this I knew and understand with my nursing knowledge but wondered how much of it applied to us b/c we are WLS patients. As for the eating 800 to lose and 1000 to maintain.. I honestly think they tell you this b/c they know that most surgery patients will not count calories that much and will overestimate. Meaning they tell you 800 and you will probably eat 1000-1200 inadvertently by fault. I know exactly what I am consuming and well there 1200 cals to maintain I was still losing so that is why I went and had this test done to find out for sure. The trainer says I should more than likely be eating 1600 MINIMALLY or I will bring that RMR/BMR down lower b/c it will get used to that lower calorie amount.. we do NOT want this to happen b/c we will face further regain for sure.. I mean honestly Megan, can you see yourself eating 1000 cals for LIFE? I cannot.. sorry. I eat VERY healthy so I can get the most amount of food possible and its still hard so it is not feasible for me at all.. I mean I know it comes down to choices but most people.. normal people without weight issues eats 500-1000 calories at meal minimally when they go out to eat.. so I think that is a hard thing to ask of us for the REST of our lives.. I mean I can see maybe 1200 but think 1200-1500 for most patients is about right and if you exercise and have a good metabolism you may get to eat even more and should to prevent the metabolism from getting too low and struggling with it later.. now is the time to address before it starts to get too complacent, I think anyways. That is why I had the test now 1 year postop. I hope this helps.. It is complicated.

Hi, Mel! Saw the explanations on the Nut Board, which were helpful. Increasing the food amount seems the way to go; taking it slowly. Glad your labs were Ro