Am I Eating Enough?

[WhoozisAnyway 176]

Do you think that the stalls are because our bodies think they are starving?

I think so. I don't understand how others on this forum lose weight so easily on 500-600 calories a day. My loss came to a screeching halt when my calories went down that low.

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[marybcpc 0]

I'm so confused about all of this. During my preop diet' date=' the weight fell off me when I kept to a 1200-1500 calorie, high Protein, low carb diet. Now I'm six weeks out and have been in stalls for four out of those six weeks. The weight is coming off verrrrrrrrry slow post op. I've been trying to up my calories to 1000-1200 to get out of starvation mode, but it's a real struggle

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I'm 2 weeks out, lost some weight put back in 3lbs! I am following my diet, etc...my surgeon said I should do.myself a favor and wait 3 mos before I weigh myself again. There's a lot of up and down Water weight...I'm.finding this very frustrating.

[Momsie5 0]

So sorry to hear of your frustrations! I am really going to do some serious research. We need to find answers. Good luck all!

[Miriam 50]

I don't quite understand that - my surgeon wanted me to start Protein right away with Isopure clear liquid and Beneprotein clear powder during my clear stage right after surgery to help with healing. However, no matter what she said in the past, I would ask again or maybe even go ahead and use Protein shakes to get in more calories. From everything I've read and people I've talked to, it's not healthy to be around 500 calories for so long, but I'm definitely not an expert. Are you working out? Are you still losing weight well? Usually if you're working out, you really need more calories because of burning calories working out which increases your deficit overall.

Sorry for the delay in responding - have been traveling and had no time to even get online. Yeah, she was very clear that she was totally against Protein Shakes - apparently this is what all the bariatric NUTs in the country (I'm currently living outside the U.S.) decided on together, for a bunch of reasons which I absolutely don't agree with and which honestly don't apply to me. (For example, they're afraid that people will get used to drinking shakes rather than eating - let me assure you that that would NEVER be the case with me - I like eating too much!) So I have ignored her advice to an extent, but since I have a really hard time getting down the protein shakes, I don't force myself to drink too much, either. That's probably a mistake. I'll have to discuss this again with her next time I see her, which is in about a month.

I am working out - probably not as intensively as some, but I try to do a half hour of combined walking / jogging 4-5 times a week as well as 30-45 minutes of toning 4-5 times a week. I'm losing really well as far as I'm concerned, so I can't complain about that. My energy levels are usually fine, but I do make sure to get in my Multivitamins. Honestly, I have no idea how I'm managing on the number of calories that I'm eating, but I really don't know how I could up it (OK, other than forcing myself to drink more protein shakes, but those fill me up too) - my sleeve just won't let me eat more.

[Miriam 50]

Geesh, I am definitely a grazer and that concerns me. I was told 3 meals a day, but I get really hungry every 2 hours! I just take a few bites and feel content. Am I making bad habits? Will grazing stretch my stomach?

I know that different NUTS have different methods. My NUT told me 5 meals a day. I find that I can't do more than 4, and at least at the beginning, I felt really hungry if more than 4 hours elapsed between meals. So I do think you need to listen to what your sleeve tells you, and so long as you're just eating a few bites per meal, I don't think there's anything terrible about that. My only question is how you get all your drinks in if you're eating every couple of hours?

[Miriam 50]

I think so. I don't understand how others on this forum lose weight so easily on 500-600 calories a day. My loss came to a screeching halt when my calories went down that low.

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The bottom line is that every person's body is different. I was also worried about starvation mode and stalls, but so far that hasn't been the case for me. There's actually a great thread (an old one, but it's still accessible) on the Obesity Help sleeve forum about how many calories to eat to successful reach your weight loss goal, and while most of the posters seemed to be in agreement that the best spot to be in was 600-800 calories a day, there were a few that said they lost the weight on 1,000+ calories a day. So I don't think there's any one right answer.

[MyGastricSleeveLife 180]

I ran across a post the other day where someone shared this old post about starvation mode and how it doesn't actually apply to us in the weight loss stage because we have so many fat stores in our body. It's a really interesting article - http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/33349-1200-1500-caloriesreally/page__p__291866#entry291866

I also read another post the other day where someone said they were told to do only 3 meals & only use Protein drinks and Water between meals during the weight loss phase & then during the maintenance he moved to doing 3 meals & 2-3 Snacks. That made a lot of sense to me, especially since during maintenance I'd think we shouldn't rely on Protein Drinks as much as during the weight loss phase.

As far as being against Protein Drinks, that's not completely something that ALL bariatric dietitians agree on because my dietitian is a bariatric dietitian and she encourages using Protein drinks.

As far as calories before surgery vs calories after surgery, whoozisanyway, our metabolism changes with surgery, especially because of the smaller stomach. We're not going to ever be eating like we did before even if it was healthy before. We need different amounts of calories and nutrients now. As far as only getting in 500 calories, that is why my surgeon and dietitian suggest using Protein shakes between meals to increase calories and protein. According to them, when I'm on regular food again, I should be getting 800 calories MINIMUM per day. 500 was okay for the first 2 weeks after surgery when I was on Clear liquids, but not for long term - at least according to my surgeon and dietitian. Everyone is different & I think it's important to understand that just because one person loses at 600 calories doesn't mean everyone will. There is someone on my surgeon's support group that said he told her to eat about 800 calories one day & then go up to about 900 for one day and switch back and forth to keep her body losing & that's working great for her now with her exercise routine too. However, that's not necessarily his advice for all his patients. It takes time and trial and error, but you need to find what is the magic solution for you - not based on what someone else does.

[Miriam 50]

I ran across a post the other day where someone shared this old post about starvation mode and how it doesn't actually apply to us in the weight loss stage because we have so many fat stores in our body. It's a really interesting article - http://www.verticals...866#entry291866

I also read another post the other day where someone said they were told to do only 3 meals & only use Protein drinks and Water between meals during the weight loss phase & then during the maintenance he moved to doing 3 meals & 2-3 Snacks. That made a lot of sense to me, especially since during maintenance I'd think we shouldn't rely on Protein drinks as much as during the weight loss phase.

As far as being against protein drinks, that's not completely something that ALL bariatric dietitians agree on because my dietitian is a bariatric dietitian and she encourages using protein drinks.

As far as calories before surgery vs calories after surgery, whoozisanyway, our metabolism changes with surgery, especially because of the smaller stomach. We're not going to ever be eating like we did before even if it was healthy before. We need different amounts of calories and nutrients now. As far as only getting in 500 calories, that is why my surgeon and dietitian suggest using protein shakes between meals to increase calories and protein. According to them, when I'm on regular food again, I should be getting 800 calories MINIMUM per day. 500 was okay for the first 2 weeks after surgery when I was on Clear Liquids, but not for long term - at least according to my surgeon and dietitian. Everyone is different & I think it's important to understand that just because one person loses at 600 calories doesn't mean everyone will. There is someone on my surgeon's support group that said he told her to eat about 800 calories one day & then go up to about 900 for one day and switch back and forth to keep her body losing & that's working great for her now with her exercise routine too. However, that's not necessarily his advice for all his patients. It takes time and trial and error, but you need to find what is the magic solution for you - not based on what someone else does.

I didn't say that all bariatric dieticians were against protein drinks - on the contrary, probably all those in the U.S. do recommend protein drinks. I said that according to my NUT, all the bariatric dieticians in MY country (not the U.S.) decided against it in some sort of joint meeting or convention, which I can probably believe since it's not that big a country and there are probably not more than 50 bariatric surgeons in the whole country. But as I said, I'm sort of ignoring her advice because if all the dieticians in the U.S. are in favor of protein drinks, it shouldn't be that big a deal (and in addition, the reasons she gave for banning protein drinks were quite silly).

[MyGastricSleeveLife 180]

Sorry - I missed the fact that you said it was another country. Sometimes I read pretty fast & miss some details. I wasn't saying it was necessarily wrong anyway - I was saying I didn't think all of them agree. Definitely all of them in the US don't agree on lots of details with our diet progression after surgery!

[Miriam 50]

Sorry - I missed the fact that you said it was another country. Sometimes I read pretty fast & miss some details. I wasn't saying it was necessarily wrong anyway - I was saying I didn't think all of them agree. Definitely all of them in the US don't agree on lots of details with our diet progression after surgery!

Oh, absolutely about not being in agreement on lots of details - that's why I think it's important to take everything that doctors / nutritionists say with a grain of salt (even though in general I do think that it's important to listen to your doctor / dietician) - because whatever they say, someone else will tell you differently. And from being on this forum for a few months, it's clear to me that what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for the other.

[Momsie5 0]

That's the big problem...I'm not. I can easily get the Protein in, but the Water and clear liquids is another story! I think that may be causing the situation I am having with bad water retention actually.

[WhoozisAnyway 176]

My trouble is that I was losing great on 1200-1500 calories, but the weight loss slowed dramatically and stopped once I went below 1,000 calories post-surgery. I still have almost 100 lbs to lose, so it's not like I'm near goal. I average 700-800 daily right now and have tried to get up to 1,000, but it's practically impossible while still eating healthy. Now that I'm adding exercise into the mix, my net calories are down to almost nothing. This morning I decided that I have to stop stressing about it and just let it go. I took the scale out of the bathroom, I'm going to weigh only once a week.

[kcage 33]

Remember fatigue is a sure sign that you are not getting what your body needs. Listen to your sleeve and at this far out you should be able to tell when you are hungry now! I think your doing great.....slow and steady wins the race. Most of the time it is our brain telling us we need more not our stomachs!

[Miriam 50]

That's the big problem...I'm not. I can easily get the Protein in, but the Water and clear liquids is another story! I think that may be causing the situation I am having with bad Water retention actually.

Have you tried liquids other than plain water? I know that my sleeve doesn't like water at all (and that's all I used to drink before my surgery!), so now I drink mostly flavored water, but also chicken broth and even hot cocoa. Anything to get the liquids down...

[Momsie5 0]

Miriam, thanks for the advice! Water does nauseate me a lot!