A question about calories and calories burned :O)

You know, while I was using the Dailyplate earlier, I came across a question and I know I should know the answer, but just wondered.. My daily calorie intake should be 1200 calories. Well, I have been 45 minutes to an hour on my treadmill each night, walking 2.5 to 3 miles, which puts a calorie deficit of over 250 to 300 calories. So, if I am doing 1200 calories a day and burn over 300 that would put my "net" calories at 900. Would that cause a person to stall? Because I was losing weight faster when I was doing my 3-month supervised diet. My calorie intake was set at 1600 then, and I am just so surprised that I am hardly losing anything. I was at 248.8 the day of surgery, then I FINALLY got down to 233 and now I am back up to 235 again. It took me FOREVER to get out of the 240s after surgery, and I am almost 12 weeks out. I log everything, I drink my water, and exercise at least 5 days if not 6 days a week some weeks.
So, I just wondered.

That, I don't know. I do know that I did not exercise for the majority of my weight-loss journey (about the first 135 pounds or so). I ate about 500 calories a day for the first year. I lost 30 lbs. the first month, then 10-12 lbs. a month thereafter. Who sets your caloric intake? The speed of weight loss for many depends on the severity of calorie restriction, while at the same time getting in enough vitamin supplements and protein to spare your muscles from deterioration. It is quite literally controlled and medically-supervised starvation.

When I was around a size 10, I gradually dialed up the calories and my activity level. My diet today is mostly composed of lean protein, veggies, salad, and smaller portions of the same dinner I make for my family.

I guess the definition of a "stall" is individual as well. Daily fluctuations in weight are very normal, and might represent no more than a little water retention or the weight of yesterday's food still in your gut.

How you go about your weight loss is your choice and depends on what you are comfortable with. My advice is to stop taking credit for the calories burned in your exercise (just don't think about it in terms of "I'm only living on 900 calories a day!") and try reducing your intake for a couple of weeks and see if that improves matters.

I think you need to eat more personally. Yeah, you workout and burn 300 cals and take in 1200 daily, but there is this thing called BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) that is basically the number of calories your body needs / uses just to sustain life and keep your vitals working properly. My BMR is 2700 calories per day! Yours might be between 1500 - 2000 cals a day. You are having a HUGE caloric deficit and your body might be going into "Starvation Mode" or in other words, your metabolism might be slowing down to hold on to it's stored energy (Fat) because it thinks it's starving. My 2 cents...

Just a couple things to remember...

First of all, it's not a race or a competition.  Each person will lose differently.  Yes, we all want to lose the weight and do it quickly, but each person/surgery works a little differently.

Secondly, most banders lose slower than any of the other surgeries.

Now here's the thing about exercise.  All the recent studies are showing that exercise isn't the way to lose weight, it's all about the food (quality AND quantity) .  That being said, you still need to eat enough to keep your brain and body working.  And as Dan said, if you don't eat enough, the body tries to hold on to everything it can.  I think this point is even more important with the band since there aren't malabsorption issues.

As far as exercise goes, it's vital to health.  Every system is benefitted by exercising, and that's the main reason I exercise.  The other thing the recent studies have shown is that it's extremely important in weight maintenance.  Kudos to you for getting out there and moving your body! 

I know it's really difficult at first to be patient, but that's what you need to do.  Develop those good habits eating good foods and exercising regularly and you will be much more likely to have long-term success.  After all, isn't that what we did this for in the first place?

Linn

Starvation mode is a myth. If you maintain a calorie deficit, you lose weight. Otherwise, no one would ever starve to death and people (unfortunately) do.

I wrote about this on my blog, if you are interested:

http://fattyfightsback.blogspot.com/2009/03/mtyhbusters-starvation-mode.html