The more I eat, the more I lose?

[Carrie 4]

I am currently dealing with something I really don't understand. For the past couple weeks I've had problems with a lack of energy as I have posted before. I dramatically increased my Protein intake and began eating more and more food. Basically anytime I could possibly eat something I did so. I have absolutely zero hunger so this has honestly be unpleasant to do so. I've noticed on days that I eat more food I lose weight. Yes I am a daily weigher but seriously, I can lose a pound a day by simply eating more food. I don't understand this. I'm not a Breakfast person, so I drink Slimfast with Soy Milk and a Protein Drink as soon as I can handle it after drinking the 8ozs. lunch is pretty much the same thing. I snack on whatever in between drinks and eat a decent dinner. I may or may not throw in a third protein drink prior to bedtime but I will wake up the next day 1-2 pounds lost. It's the craziest thing ever. Anyone else have this issue?

[Tiffykins 672]

Yeppers, it happened to me even when I was trying to slow down my weight loss before I hit goal. It continued to happen even when I added in white carbs, and up to 1200 calories a day.

[BlackBerryJuice 349]

I eat a fair bit and my weightloss has been pretty quick. If you have a fast metabolism, going too low (think 500-600) might even be detrimental because you could end up in starvation mode. I've been eating 1000-1200 a day for a month and have lost somewhere between 12 and 15 lbs in the last month. I also haven't lost much muscle, it's mostly fat coming off, which is a bonus - I didn't just want to lose a bunch of scale weight and then look like a melted snowman, which can happen with starvation. Your body likes to burn muscle first when you are starving, not fat, so eating more can indeed yield better results. Plus as your muscle mass decreases, so does your basic metabolic rate, so it's a double whammy.

[mp8btpc 32]

I am with Blackberry juice...we are on track with each other we have around the same weight loss and I think our surgery dates were a week apart and we had similar BMI to start. I also eat around 1000 calories a day. I am exercising and I am toning and slimming at same time. I think you need to feed your body, people who are advised to get between 500-600 calories a day just seem baffling to me as to why they are told to do that. Not that I am the poster child for weight loss by any means lol. I just know mine has been steady and consistent and for someone who didn't start off with a bunch to lose I think I must be doing something correct. I try to limit the simple carbs, keep my Protein way above the amount of carbs I do get and eat lots of different veggies. I can say I don't crave the sweets like I used to. I don't crave Snacks. I just eat three good meals and sometimes a little something after dinner.

Everyones weight loss will vary and stalls happen though I am crossing my fingers that I can at least get a pound or two a week until my goal. I just don't see the logic in these really low low cal post op diets. I see more people struggling who are trying to stay really low too. I wonder if docs think that we are going to cheat so they give us the low number and hope that by doing so if we do eat a couple hundred more that it will still be within the correct range? Who knows.

Blackberry what is Goal weight: 145 and jacked ? hehe . btw that is my first goal weight also, I dont see myself wanting to go any lower then 135...but i think 145 would be perfect for my body shape.

[lguidry 5]

I am currently dealing with something I really don't understand. For the past couple weeks I've had problems with a lack of energy as I have posted before. I dramatically increased my Protein intake and began eating more and more food. Basically anytime I could possibly eat something I did so. I have absolutely zero hunger so this has honestly be unpleasant to do so. I've noticed on days that I eat more food I lose weight. Yes I am a daily weigher but seriously, I can lose a pound a day by simply eating more food. I don't understand this. I'm not a Breakfast person, so I drink Slimfast with Soy Milk and a Protein Drink as soon as I can handle it after drinking the 8ozs. lunch is pretty much the same thing. I snack on whatever in between drinks and eat a decent dinner. I may or may not throw in a third Protein drink prior to bedtime but I will wake up the next day 1-2 pounds lost. It's the craziest thing ever. Anyone else have this issue?

I am so glad to hear this. I was wondering how such drastic caloric restriction was going to keep my body from going into "starvation mode"! I'm definitely trying to find my way as I am only 6 days post op(Vertical Sleeve Plication) and I'm trying to figure out how to get all my protein in on a clear/full liquid diet. Good luck and keep posting. It really helps to communicate with people who are walking similar paths and sharing the experiences along the way. I just love this forum. I'm constantly learning from "someone" on this site!!

[lguidry 5]

Yeppers, it happened to me even when I was trying to slow down my weight loss before I hit goal. It continued to happen even when I added in white carbs, and up to 1200 calories a day.

You are definitely an inspiration and I welcome any "post-op" diet recommendations! I'm trying to find my way, I'm still on clear/full liquids (day 6 post-op) trying to figure out how, what and when to eat? How to get my Protein in 50 to 70 grams per day?? Thanks for you posts and congrats on exceeding your target weight loss!!!

[sharold7 2]

I am currently dealing with something I really don't understand. For the past couple weeks I've had problems with a lack of energy as I have posted before. I dramatically increased my Protein intake and began eating more and more food. Basically anytime I could possibly eat something I did so. I have absolutely zero hunger so this has honestly be unpleasant to do so. I've noticed on days that I eat more food I lose weight. Yes I am a daily weigher but seriously, I can lose a pound a day by simply eating more food. I don't understand this. I'm not a Breakfast person, so I drink Slimfast with Soy Milk and a Protein Drink as soon as I can handle it after drinking the 8ozs. lunch is pretty much the same thing. I snack on whatever in between drinks and eat a decent dinner. I may or may not throw in a third Protein drink prior to bedtime but I will wake up the next day 1-2 pounds lost. It's the craziest thing ever. Anyone else have this issue?

Yep, same thing happens to me. I was eating about 800 calories/day for quite a while and lost very slowly but since i've been up to 1200/day I've lost about every day. I was totally surprised. I've been following the diet plan without the sleeve and it's working for me. I'm on here because my daughter had the sleeve in July and I got inspired to try the diet myself since I'm not heavy enough to have WLS. I've been struggling with weight practically all my life tho' and it's nice to find out I don't have to starve myself to lose. That's how I found out that I lose better when eating more as long as I eat protein first. I'm actually going to try to maintain now and am gradually upping my calories to find out at what point I will stop losing. I've been as high as 212 and now I'm 144. It feels great!

Sharon

[lguidry 5]

Yep, same thing happens to me. I was eating about 800 calories/day for quite a while and lost very slowly but since i've been up to 1200/day I've lost about every day. I was totally surprised. I've been following the diet plan without the sleeve and it's working for me. I'm on here because my daughter had the sleeve in July and I got inspired to try the diet myself since I'm not heavy enough to have WLS. I've been struggling with weight practically all my life tho' and it's nice to find out I don't have to starve myself to lose. That's how I found out that I lose better when eating more as long as I eat Protein first. I'm actually going to try to maintain now and am gradually upping my calories to find out at what point I will stop losing. I've been as high as 212 and now I'm 144. It feels great!

Sharon

Congrats on reaching your goal!

[sharold7 2]

Congrats on reaching your goal!

Thank you! Looks like you're having a great start. I'm sure you'll do well!

Sharon

[Cknorte 7]

It has been weird for me...there are weeks where I eat around 800 calories and weeks where I eat around 1000 calories. I work out everyday for at least an hour if not 2 cardio and strength. The weeks I eat more and work out less 1 hour instead of 2 a day, I seem to lose more....I am trying to track and see if I can find a simple pattern....but unfortunately....just when I think I have it figured out, something changes and my weight loss rate changes....

I figure it is one day at a time and one week at a time....I eat to get satisfied, if I am a little extra hungry I have some handy 50-80 calorie snack type Protein stuff (egg bites, some Protein squares, laughing cow wedge) if I am off on protein I supplement with a Protein shake.....

I just make sure I log my food....I have totally become a food snob, I pick what I want to eat and choose carefully....a few weekends ago I really wanted doritos and bean dip...and I had some....maybe a handfull of doritos, got it out of my system and moved on.....

[ouroborous 519]

Honestly, there are a lot of misconceptions over just how much control and influence we have over weight loss (or weight gain). When 1200 calories is a BIG day, like Tiffykins says, you're still going to lose weight or maintain. Consider that pre-op, most of us probably had NO IDEA how much food we consumed... but thumbnail guesses on my part, looking at portion sizes, what I ate, and how frequently I ate, would be that an AVERAGE day pre-op was around 3000 calories.

So think about it again -- you've gone from 3000 calories (if you were like me -- and while I was obese, I wasn't even one of the true giants) a day to less than half of that on a "cheat" day. How could you NOT lose weight?

Also, the plateaus and stalls are more due to the body's own homeostatic mechanisms -- trying to maintain blood sugar levels and so on -- than our actions. That's why you can literally do everything right and still stall for a week or two, and then stop exercising, start eating more (and worse) -- and then suddenly the stall breaks. Being human, we want to assume it was "something we did" that changed things, but considering the calorie margins involved (going from "good" to "bad" means MAYBE a 300-400 calorie/day change... maybe), it's far more likely that our body just finally "gave up the ghost" on hanging on to that bit of flab, and changed our homeostasis (blood chemistry/hormone balances) so that we started losing again.

In short, the great thing about the sleeve is that as long as you "mostly" do the right things you know you're supposed to do -- avoid too many sweets/starchy white flour products, eat lots of good fruits, vegetables, meat, and whole grains, get in some kind of regular exercise, and drink lots of Water -- you're just about guaranteed to lose a lot of weight, if you're patient. It's not really under your control once you get on this roller coaster, so sit back and enjoy the (weight loss) ride!

[BlackBerryJuice 349]

Blackberry what is Goal weight: 145 and jacked ? hehe . btw that is my first goal weight also, I dont see myself wanting to go any lower then 135...but i think 145 would be perfect for my body shape.

Haha, yeah. I'm not very tall, so it's on the higher end of the healthy BMI range, but I have a lot of muscle from years of weightlifting and boxing competitively, so I think 145 would be good for me. Last year I got to 165 and could see an outline of my abs, so I don't need to be 100 lbs to look fit. I actually have wild fantasies of maybe doing a natural bodybuilding competition sometime in the next year, we'll see where the sleeve gets me. I've always wanted to do that, but cravings always prevented me from following the uber-strict diet. Now that I don't have cravings, I think this could actually be something to strive for. For now, I just want to see where normal eating (i.e. 90% healthy 90% of the time) will get me.

[Globetrotter 1,340]

Well I've been super bummed out this week and it's because of calories. I've mentioned it in a few places here on the forum but I was a super slow loser, about a pound a week, when I was on 600 cals. Then I rebelled and started taking in 750-800 cals, suddenly I was losing a pound a day and it was amazing. During this time I finally got ahold of my nut and told her what had happened and what I was doing and her response was to ignore the "proof" and tell me to go back to 600. Being a Good Girl, I did. Guess what? I "gained" almost 2 pounds and haven't lost an ounce since I went back to 600 5 days ago. PLEASE, if anybody has any suggestions/insight/words of wisdom, I am all ears.

[Tiffykins 672]

Well I've been super bummed out this week and it's because of calories. I've mentioned it in a few places here on the forum but I was a super slow loser, about a pound a week, when I was on 600 cals. Then I rebelled and started taking in 750-800 cals, suddenly I was losing a pound a day and it was amazing. During this time I finally got ahold of my nut and told her what had happened and what I was doing and her response was to ignore the "proof" and tell me to go back to 600. Being a Good Girl, I did. Guess what? I "gained" almost 2 pounds and haven't lost an ounce since I went back to 600 5 days ago. PLEASE, if anybody has any suggestions/insight/words of wisdom, I am all ears.

I honestly think you need more calories. You're in a different environment, you're lugging gear around, your food options are more limited than say someone that can stay home, or even pack their lunches for work, I just think you need to do what works for your body.

During my ovulation week for some reason I crave carbs, and I carb loaded like crazy 2 weeks ago. I bounced all the way up to 128lbs even though I was only eating 900-1000 calories, I gained 4lbs. I went back to eating my normal foods, portions, and I dropped down to 123lbs within 2 days with consuming 1500 calories and around 100 grams of carbs per day. When I say carb loading, I was consuming about 300 gr of carbs per day. Could some of it been Water weight, probably, but I also think it's directly related to my body holding onto weight and even gaining a couple of pounds because of my lack of Protein, calories and overloads of carbs.

[dizzylizzy 2]

I'm at the end of my three week liquids (post-op). Each day I was maybe getting 300-400 calories. I was losing weight really slowly and had NO energy. Well three days ago, I had a bunch of carbs - I had tomoato Soup (not allowed) and sherbet. I felt better, the neausea went away, and I lost 2 pouns that day. Since then, I have added more carbs and calories and am up to almost 800 per day and I am losing faster..