How much weight can you expect to lose? by Dr. Paul O'Brien
Typically, Lap Band patients will lose half to two-thirds of their excess weight. For example, if you are 150 pounds over your ideal weight you will lose between 75 pounds and 100 pounds. If you start at 300 pounds above your ideal weight, you can hope to lose between 150 pounds and 200 pounds. It may take 18 months to 3 years to get to your target but we never lose track of that target. That target is on the database and we should check your progress against it at each visit.
There are a number of important reasons why this weight-loss will occur but by far the most important is that you eat less. It does matter what you eat; it does matter how much exercise you do. But the most powerful factor in reaching your target is the total amount of food you eat each day.
We want you to eat about 1,000 calories per day. This is less than half the calories that most dieticians would say the typical person in the community needs to eat each day to remain healthy. It is less than half of the Recommended Daily Allowance proposed by the Dept of Health.
You must be able to limit yourself to this amount to lose weight. Just reducing your calorie intake a little does not achieve weight-loss because your body will quickly adjust to the new level.
Your body is programmed to fight vigorously to defend your weight. This defense is built into the genes of every one of us. It was written into our genetic code a million years ago. It will not change. It is designed to protect us against the shortages of food that would have occurred regularly way back when we were hunter / gatherers. When our food intake dropped, because of a famine or a few bad days of hunting, the body reduced the energy we used up to adjust for the lower intake.
To lose weight steadily over months, you must get below that defense. You must reduce the calories in a major way. The Lap Band helps you do that. But you must not fight it. You must not sabotage it. You must look forward to it, enjoy it and work with it.
How much food are we talking about? Very little. About the amount of food you could get into half a glass. And I don’t mean a great big tumbler or a German Beer Stein. I mean a normal glass. About 3 oz. or 100 ml. in volume is half a glass. Put a small amount of food on the plate, about the amount you feel you could get into half a glass. Always use a small plate. This small amount of food will look a bit lonely on a normal dinner plate.
I am talking about solid food, not shredded lettuce. It is a concept more than an actual measure. Think if the food was compressed, what volume would it take up. If it would be half a glass, it is enough. Eat it slowly, pick at it. Push it around the plate and eat little bits at a time. Take 15 -20 minutes and try not to eat it all. Leave some for the angels. Always expect to throw some out. And never eat more than three times a day. If the Lap Band is correctly adjusted, you should be quite satisfied with this amount of food.
In other newsletters I will talk about the types of food you should prefer to eat and how you should eat. These are important but not as important as the fundamental need to eat less. Remember, no more than half a glass, no more than three times per day.
Best wishes, partner, for a successful journey!
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