Please respond and the more the merrier.

I did not see a nutritionist ( or a shrink, or a PCP, or a priest, or anyone) before I had the sleeve and the recommendation I got from Dr A's office was to shoot for between 6-800 calories a day. I've been noticing I have never been able to eat more than that so I guess it's fine for now but I'm curious: Was that your recommendation also and are you sticking to it? Do you eat under or over 6-8? How's it going?

I try for 800 calories a day but rarely make it. Usually end up betwen 600 - 750. My doc prefers 3 meals a day with no Snacks but I can't seem to do that. I can't eat enough at any one time to get in enough calories so I am having 5 or 6 small mini-meals a day and that seems to work for me. It is hard to get in enough Water though as eating this frequently means I am often in the "hour" wait after eating solids when I can't drink water.

My main sources of Protein are, chicken/turkey deli slices, string cheese, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, Atkins Protein shakes, refried Beans, tuna, egg, sardines.

I'm shooting for 1000/day, but this is my own goal - there is not a calorie/carb/protein goal prescribed in my program. I usually get between 800-1000 per day, and 60-100 g of carbs, which are required on my program. I have some anorexia in my history and anything under 800 is a trigger for me. Also, I have a pretty good metabolism and I do not want to slow it down.

This is really good information. We should sticky this, since it's a good way to find out what surgeons are really recommending and where people really are. It's interesting that *most* people are eating 6-8. This is all I can manage most days but I've been wondering if I should try to get them up a little bit. It's almost 2pm and I haven't eaten yet.

Ok, hopefully I can explain without confusing you, it makes sense in my head!! lol

My body, at my weight, age and hight, burns 2230 calories a day. I am fairly active throughout the day, but not exceptionally so. So, just in case I rounded down to the average 2000 calories burned in a day. Which is why they say if you are normal and eat a normal 2000 calories a day you will maintain weight.

Use this website to calculate how many calories you burn in the day - http://caloriecount....ries-burned.php

So if I am naturally burning 2000 calories a day, but am only eating, let's say 700, which is normal for me, then I should be physically losing 1,300 calories worth of weight. Well, since we know it takes 3,500 calories burned to lose just one pound I know that if I add some exercise and burn an extra 450 calories each day that will bring my total of burned calories per day to 1,750, which equals 1/2 pound of weight lose per day. Does this make sense?

If you divide 3,500 in 16 ounces, which is 1 lb, it equals a round 219 calories per ounce. So think for every 219 calories you burn or prevent yourself from eating, you should be burning an ounce. It's hard to have an exact science because we all metabolize food differently, Protein digestions burns more calories then other foods, and we all burn calories at a different rate.

Oh, and your body will stop losing weight if you eat too little calories because it goes into self-preservation mood eventually. Which is why I found it works for me to fluctuate the amount of calories I consume. So I never go below 600, but some days I do push it up to 1000 to remind my body I am by no means starving! LOL You would think it would know by the years of stored fat!

How did you figure the math on how much you are burning without exercise? That is something I have been wondering about as well. Any help is much appreciated! Thanks!

PS -- my plan does require three meals and three Snacks per day, so I'm eating fairly often to get in that many calories. Though I have a hard time to hit all those snacks during the work week.

ETA: The bariatric clinic did a test on me that measured resting metabolic rate, and mine was 1880.

That's a lot of math for my social worker brain I used the link to see what my numbers were and based on age, ht & wt it says i burn 2340. Since you said yours was 2230, I'm just going to go by your numbers and try to burn an extra 450/day. Although if I used my brain, maybe I could burn some extra calories!! Thanks for your help!!

I think my numbers are a lot lower than that... When I used to count calories... at about 16-1800 a day, I would lose.....V-E-R-Y- slowly, that was exercising 4 days a week!

Maybe sad to say, but I do not count calories. I stick to the plan of eating protein with each meal, 2 veggies and 2 fruits, and some kind of dairy which if I do cheese counts for dairy and protein. I am 3 and 1/2 months out and have lost 63 pounds. But I do lift weights three times a week, and do cardio at least 6 times a week. Have a blessed day!