To track or not to track?

[Fiddleman 4,376]

I think super low calorie (e.g. 600-900) works well for first 6 months. The stomach is still healing. If you start out eating low cal at month 1 then eating low cal just becomes something your body gets used to. However, your BMR goes underwater, so to speak, with too few calories and you do want to work on a plan to increase calories gradually when the stomach is done healing (eg 6 months).

I can see how 5:2 would be harder to eat low calorie without being very hungry because the body does not know if to be used to a normal day ( for discussion, let us just say it is 1200-2000 calories depending on person) and fast day (under 500 calories). This fast oscillation between calorie days is going to force the body to rev up metabolism (yay!) because it never gets used to one way of eating. However, it leaves you seriously hungry on fasting days (darn it all!) The same principle sort of applies to carb loading on a low carb diet where you could eat whatever you want 1 day a week. It will essentially reset what your body is used to, but you have to be disciplined to only do it for 1 day or the extra calories will get you in the end.

I think BTB said it quite nicely a while back in that both type of calorie oscillations (5:2 and low carb, low calorie) are still just keeping the total calories down over the long run. It might also explain why an individual would need to look at long term trends while following 5:2 instead of analyzing results daily.

As for me, I got quite used to eating low carb, low calorie until month 6 ( no planned cheat days during this time). After month 6, I gradually increased my daily calories until around TDEE - 300 after reading the success of Susan ( our moderator). Her post on eating TDEE and the increased state of well being (mood, hunger, etc) inspired me way back when. From then on, I spent a few months ramping up the calories until where I am at today, post op 1 year. It is very very very important that you graduate your calorie increase over a relative long time period up towards TDEE. If you do it too fast, your low BMR will store the extra calories and you will gain. This clearly is not desirable.

My calorie trends look a little like this:

Month 1-3: 300-600 calories

Month 4-6: 600-900 calories

Month 7: 1100-1200 calories

Month 8-10: 1400-1600 calories

Month 11-12: 1600-1900 calories.

My body is perfectly happy eating in the last bracket and rewards me with a high metabolism and leaning out process. I need this amount of calories to fuel my fitness plan day after day, week after week. In reality, I should be eating about 1000 more calories a day, but the sleeve can only handle so much eating on my high Protein, low carb, Paleo variation diet. I eat every 2 hours or so a mix of healthy Paleo meals and shakes. It may seem like a lot of work, but it really isn't after you get used to the natural flow of it.

[Georgia 2,908]

I just have followed MFP suggested cal range to lose 1 1/2 pounds a week' date=' and of course I didn't lose anywhere near that much... maybe a couple in months, but adding the two fast days to that has done the trick. I also eat most of my exercise cals back which takes my intake from 1200 a day up to 1300 or even more some days (1550) which is enough to not be hungry. I followed the TDEE plan for a while, gained 5 pounds and chickened out... I know that is normal for that plan, but I just didn't have the guts to go there. I did however LOVE eating more! I was never hungry on that plan.[/quote']

Same for me. I track food on MFP and it automatically dropped me from 1300 to 1200 after I lost some pounds. As to how do we eat low cal. My high calorie days were JUNK I found out after I started this plan. I get super full on LESS than 1000 most days or 1100 and that's with snacks!!! Thank you, Sleeve! Now I KNOW I was overeating carbs and sliders!

[swizzly 901]

I think I've unconsciously been doing the TDEE eating, even though I never calculated it or did it deliberately. Having read a bit more about it by now, it totally makes intuitive sense to me. Either way, quite low cal eating is never going to be my path to success, so I'll take whatever works, and I kind of trust myself (when I'm not blinded by hunger lol) over most formulas or plans.

[Chelle68 27]

What is TDEE?

[Georgia 2,908]

What is TDEE?

Total daily enery expenditure. Like how many calories you really need

[clk 3,519]

My high calorie days were JUNK I found out after I started this plan. I get super full on LESS than 1000 most days or 1100 and that's with snacks!!! Thank you, Sleeve! Now I KNOW I was overeating carbs and sliders!

YES! Not that I eat/keep a lot of junk around. But just being distracted by life and doing what everyone around me does I was eating upwards of 1,800 calories a day. Not gaining on it, no, but definitely not losing.

Now that I'm tracking in loss I'm focusing on Protein again and feel quite full many days well before 1,200 calories. Many nights I need a snack to pad my calories! I definitely get carried away with mindless eating and can easily consume an extra eight hundred calories in a day that way.

~Cheri

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Everyone has a different TDEE and it depends on a number of different factors from weight to height to activity level. Laura has a link to a good calculator she likes to post. Please repost Laura. For example, my TDEE is 2054. I end up eating between 1600-1900 calories daily.

[Oregondaisy 2,019]

I am going to my band doctor's office to be hooked up to a machine to find out my true TDEE.

I never used to track. The sleeve was such a big help, I didn't need to. Now, I can eat way more than I should. I have a book Connie Netzger's complete food guide. I count calories out of there. I find MFP to be tedious. If I entered all my food in there, it would get easier, but I've never done that.

I suggest tracking at least for a few days or you will gain weight, after you're sleeved a few years.