I always heard to never eat less than 1200 calories a day or your metabolism will slow way down making it even harder to lose weight. I had my surgery on Oct. 31st. This week I was put on soft foods with a calorie limit of 900. Am I going to mess up my metabolism eating such a low amount of calories? In the past when I counted calories I could eat about 2000 a day and lose 1 or 2 pounds a week. I was happy with that because I always heard that the slower the weight came off the less loose skin I would have. Of course right now I couldn't possibly eat 2000 calories a day but I think I could comfortably eat about 1200. I'm worried that not only am I going to mess up my metabolism but if the weight comes off really quickly I'll end up with lots of flabby skin. Any advice?

This exactly how I felt. Its hard to do early on but since 1.5 months out I have been 1000+ calories. I shoot for 1200-1500 now honestly. I work out a lot. My weight loss has been great. I am lifting weights and jogging 3-5 days per week. I eat no sugar free or fat free anything. I eat 80 grams of protien daily. Trying to keep the engine reved! I did not want to mess my metabolism up either! I have not lost any hair, my skin is not saggy, and I feel amazing. I drink a lot of fluids. I am 40ish pounds from goal and I am 3.5 months out from surgery! I have gone from size 22-24 to a most recent size 15 in juniors. I think you have the right idea!

There is SOME truth to this, but that's not the whole picture.

When faced with a calorie deficit the body DOES start to shut down some systems, e.g. slow the metabolism. hair and nail growth are two obvious things that slow down or halt during the diet phase. Other metabolic processes slow and the person suffers from fatigue, general malaise and often times goes into a condition called ketosis.

The REST of the truth is the fact that the body cannot maintain this lowered metabolic rate and after the initial "panic" wears off it resumes a somewhat more normal metabolic rate.resumes. This is where yo-yo dieters (like most if not all of us used to be pre-sleeve) get in trouble, a few pounds are shed, some weight lost and the hunger and energy comes back and we fall into the same old eating habits and the weight (plus some) comes back.

TLDR: YES it does slow the metabolism down, but it can't stay that way, pretty soon the body accepts the lowered caloric rate and assumes business as usual again.

I'm so confused

I also think age plays a big role in metabolism and loose skin. I think our bodies respond differently in our twenties vs. our fifties (hormone changes don't help!). In my 20's & 30's I could eat whatever I wanted and wasn't overweight at all. But once I hit my forties I started to balloon out and even as I cut my calories and moved more I was unable to keep up. I could never maintain the much lower consumption of food my body now needed because I would feel so hungry and after a while I would start eating more again. Now, I'm at around 800 calories per day, sometimes 900 to 1000 if I am working out hard (i.e., cycling) and I am loosing an average of 1 to 2 lbs. per week. (I actually stall and drop, stall and drop, but that's my average). I could never achieve that before even on 1200 calories and hard excercise. So for me (will be 49 this month) the lower calories is the magic!!!! and my energy is super duper! My exercise seems to pay off more too! I have serious hairloss but that seems to really have slowed down. I figured at least 2 to 3 pounds of my weight loss came from my hair LOL

Well, yes ... my great metabolism was doing such a great job for me before VSG ... I would hate to sabbotage that!