I have a question about the consequences of long-term low caloric intake. Obviously surgery works because of the drastic reduction in calories, so your body is able to burn its own fat stores for energy. But if you ever done research about low calorie living I'm sure you've heard that if you eat too few calories your body into sort of a "starvation mode" which slows your metabolism--sort of like your body going into self protection...which is precisely why all good diet programs suggest that you actually eat frequent but small meals during the day--obviously closely monitoring calories, carbs, etc. so I guess my question is how do post bypass patients continue living on such reduced calories? As adults we are not designed to live on less than 1000 cal a day over the long term, right? I don't know why but I've been just thinking about this a lot...

Great question. In reality, your maintenance or caloric intake even with gastric bypass is between 1000 and 1200 calories a day. The only time you are to go below a 1000 calories is during the pre op liquid diet and that is in an effort to bring you into ketosis so your body shrink the fatty build up on your liver. After the procedure, the ultimate goal is to allow the stomach to heal and then increase calories back up to 1000-1200 calories, you will also be required to take multivitamins and other supplements for life.

There are a couple phases to WLS. I was in the Weight Loss Phase for around 7 months after my RNY surgery. Then my weight loss bottomed out and I went into my Maintenance Phase. I am 2 years post op at this point. During my weight loss phase, I consumed significantly less than 1000 calories per day. But in my maintenance phase I consume more than 1000 calories per day. There is a calorie band below which I will lose weight and above which I will gain weight. I weigh myself each day and so long as I am not gaining or losing, I am happy. That is what counts in the maintenance phase is to be happy. My weight band appears to be 1000 - 1600 calories per day.

I don't really count my calories each day. I generally know about how many calories I am consuming. I control my food volume. One cup per meal.