Wow this site has so much information.

I have a question about when you eat food..the amounts your supposed to vs not eating..how does that affect losing weight?

Example...if I think I am going to lose weight by not eating as opposed to eating the required..how does it work...

In my mind..if I don't eat the body goes into starvation mode making it not burn anything to keep it in reserves...is this correct?

I am 4 wks post op...and happy to be here.

The three most important elements after RNY gastric bypass surgery are to meet your daily protein, fluid and vitamin requirements. Food is secondary because your body is converting your stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight.

Weight loss is achieved after surgery through meal volume control. You begin at 2 ounces (1/4 cup) per meal and gradually over the next year and a half increase the volume to 1 cup per meal. With this minuscule amount of food, it is next to impossible to meet your protein daily requirements by food alone, so therefore you need to rely on supplements such as protein shakes.

After gastric bypass surgery, the weight loss phase is fairly short. I entered the maintenance phase after around 7 months. So it is very important to follow the program guidelines during this phase in order to maximize your weight loss.

3 hours ago, James Marusek said:

You begin at 2 ounces (1/4 cup) per meal and gradually over the next year and a half increase the volume to 1 cup per meal. With this minuscule amount of food, it is next to impossible to meet your protein daily requirements by food alone, so therefore you need to rely on supplements such as Protein Shakes.

I was told right of the bat that portions should be no more than 5 oz. I never got a lower number than that. I couldn't in the beginning, but fairly quickly got up to 5 oz. I have stayed there since, but from week 4-5 on, I have gotten all my protein from food. (my program has you eating solids by day 4, I know it's not the norm).

In my opinion, the quicker you are able to get your protein from food, the better. You have to be structures, meals will consist mostly from protein, but it's possible. I meal prep, portion and freeze, and my freezer is always stocked with 5 oz portion of food with a minimum of 20g of protein a portion at all times. I just grab 2-3 different ones with me to work every day.

I eat every 3 hours, 4-5 meals a day. I'm just over 6 months out and down 92+ lbs, starting at 255 lbs.

I appreciate the detail, thank you .bug I am trying to understand why I seem to have come to a stall at 4 wks already. I became very constipated last weekend in fact ending up in emerge.. I went 30 hrs no food and barley any for maybe 4 days..

thinking I didn't want to add to my bowel issue..and expected to have lost weight as well..but did not..

so I am wondering why or how am I to expect to lose weight by eating again..?

Stalls happen. And they happen a lot. It's part of the process. Weight loss is also not linear.

And if you don't get any food/nourishment, your body is going to put an even bigger break on weight weight loss. You need to give your body something, even if it's just protein shakes.

What several have discovered is that the less we eat, the less we loose. At least further down the line.

see that what mean..im trying to figure why the body slows the weight loss with the less we eat...

I can't understand it

You need to look into research papers to get a good answer for that. I just accept it. I eat, I lose weight.

Ok thx..

I have a good idea but was looking for the answer specifically for a bariatric patient pov..but I think I got it now..

Thank you

Your body slows/stops your weight loss when you don't eat anything because it has to have fuel to run your body, just like an automobile has to have gasoline and oil to run. Your body is very adept at conserving what it has already if it is not getting enough through other means. If you don't eat enough protein, it will take the protein it needs from your muscles. Water/fluid is also very important.

The body's ability to conserve comes from the time when we were hunter/gatherers and endured long times between meals.

12 hours ago, Mr Edwards said:

In my mind..if I don't eat the body goes into starvation mode making it not burn anything to keep it in reserves...is this correct?

In general, I think the answer is yes. It is important to eat some food. I did not experience starvation mode, I just followed the recommended meal size from my surgeon's office.

There are different types of gastric bypass surgery. I am in the States and generally the procedure that is done is RNY gastric bypass surgery. Mini gastric bypass surgery tends to be done in Europe, Australia, Mexico. These surgeries are not the same and the guidance on meal volume will vary.

Constipation can be a major problem after surgery. Sometimes this is due to a lack of fluids. At around the 3rd month, I became so bound up that the only way I found that worked was inserting a glycerine suppository up my rectum. This worked but it is not something you want to do every 3 days. For me the cure was to eat an apple a day just before bedtime. Then the next morning I would generally have a bowel movement. But it is important to not only eat the pulp of the apple but the skin of the apple. (for example, eating apple sauce will not produce the same effect). Other on this site recommended dealing with constipation by taking:

Smooth Move Herbal Tea

Prune Juice (warmed)

Prunes (4 in the morning and 4 at night)

Magnesium citrate

Insoluble fibers (Garden of Life Raw Fiber or Renew Life Triple Fiber).

Haribo Sugar Free Gummy Bears (be careful with this one because it can lead to severe diarrhea)

Aerobic Magnesium 07

Ground Flax Seeds (but don’t try to grind it yourself). Use 2 tablespoons per glass of water every night before going to bed.

Bowel Clear (herbal blend)

@James Marusek the mini is not that common yet. I was offered it as an option, but in the end the surgeon thought the regular one was the best option for me.

I've also read a couple of articles that say that bariatric surgery resets your body weight set point. As you're healing from the surgery you can't eat much food and your body doesn't go into starvation mode cause it's healing. Insulin levels are completely dropped with RNY and the body releases excess weight even though sustaining on lower calories for a few months. If you keep building muscle and don't stretch out your new stomach and eat reasonably the body keeps the weight off - it's not fighting to keep you fat like it does pre-surgery with the higher body weight set point.

http://www.obesityaction.org/educational-resources/resource-articles-2/weight-loss-surgery/body-weight-set-point-what-we-know-and-what-we-dont-know

that's an interesting read...thank you.

18 hours ago, Mr Edwards said:

see that what mean..im trying to figure why the body slows the weight loss with the less we eat...

I can't understand it

short answer - every cell in your body is DNA-coded for survival, not looking good in skinny jeans. if you don’t give it fuel, it will assume you are going thru a period of famine, and it down regulates every process in your body to survive on little to no food. primarily slowing your metabolism and plummeting your energy so you don’t get up and burn what precious fuel you have left. this is the best way to permanently f*ck up your set point - yo yo and crash dieting,

so... EAT REAL FOOD. listen to your hunger signals. the surgery does the job of resetting your set point way lower.. your job is to provide it the healthy nourishment it calls for.

In general, I think the answer is yes. It is important to eat some food. I did not experience starvation mode, I just followed the recommended meal size from my surgeon's office.
There are different types of gastric bypass surgery. I am in the States and generally the procedure that is done is RNY gastric bypass surgery. Mini gastric bypass surgery tends to be done in Europe, Australia, Mexico. These surgeries are not the same and the guidance on meal volume will vary.
Constipation can be a major problem after surgery. Sometimes this is due to a lack of fluids. At around the 3rd month, I became so bound up that the only way I found that worked was inserting a glycerine suppository up my rectum. This worked but it is not something you want to do every 3 days. For me the cure was to eat an apple a day just before bedtime. Then the next morning I would generally have a bowel movement. But it is important to not only eat the pulp of the apple but the skin of the apple. (for example, eating apple sauce will not produce the same effect). Other on this site recommended dealing with constipation by taking:
Smooth Move Herbal Tea
Prune Juice (warmed)
Prunes (4 in the morning and 4 at night)
Magnesium citrate
Insoluble fibers (Garden of Life Raw Fiber or Renew Life Triple Fiber).
Haribo Sugar Free Gummy Bears (be careful with this one because it can lead to severe diarrhea)
Aerobic Magnesium 07
Ground Flax Seeds (but don’t try to grind it yourself). Use 2 tablespoons per glass of water every night before going to bed.
Bowel Clear (herbal blend)

My surgeon just instructed me to take Milk of Magnesia if i want to "make" my body go poo. And then for maintenance, take Miralax. He said Miralax wont "make" u go because its designed to bring extra fluid into ur stool, so its easier to pass; whereas Milk of Mag is meant to clean ya out!

When you don't eat, your body DOES lose fat and muscles, but holds onto fluid so that's why the scale doesn't change.

Think of it this way. If we were a car, we could go quite a ways on a tank of gas. With no additional fuel, a car will just stop. Since we are alive, we don't have that luxury. Our heart has to keep beating. So we start "eating" ourselves. Sounds good if we only needed the stuff that comes from our fat reserves.

BUT, we need other things too, so the body will start breaking down our muscles, organs, and bones to get what it needs. The processes do slow down, but they never stop. This is why people can starve to death. Eventually one or more important chemicals will completely run out, and you die. Death happens relatively quickly if you eat nothing. If you eat just a little bit, then it takes longer, and what kills you is the fact that your body "eats" itself. It will take part of your organs, even your heart. So the organs get weaker and weaker, and finally quit.

http://pbrc.edu/research-and-faculty/calculators/fat-free-mass/