How many calories a day should I be eating?

[Yo-yo girl 118]

I know how important Water and Protein is so please spare me with that and yes I have a nutritionist who gives me a list of allowed foods. My question is.. what’s the ideal number of calories I should eat and what number should we always aim to be under? How many calories are you guys eating a day? I’m one month 2 days post op (gastric bypass) and I’ve lost 26lbs

My main prob is going from slider foods to being able to eat regular food. Now I have to actually be careful of what I eat and the carbs in it as opposed to before when all I could ingest was an ounce or two and all that mattered was if it was soft, mushy or runny consistency so that I could have something to eat at all. Now that I can eat “normal” low carb high protein is the goal and that has been a little bit of a challenge. Ideally I’d love to have 5 small meals low in carb high in protein and max 800 calories. Is this realistic?

Yo-Yo Girl from New York City

[kordie 41]

Following. I'm almost a month out and am wondering the same thing.....

[jess9395 5,450]

Did your surgeon give you an eating plan? They are really so different. One posters surgeon wants them at 1000 or 1200 as soon as possible, others say 600. Some say three meals no Snacks, some say 6 small meals. Some count carbs some don’t. The plans are literally all over the map!

[KimTriesRNY 1,853]

I’m six months out. I average 800 calories a day and am trying to work up to 1000 but that has been challenging.

I eat three meals. Sometimes two meals and a snack. I stick to less than 50 carbs most days, my surgeon wants me under 100 carbs daily.

Five small meals would be hard to do I think and get fluids in. Sometimes after I eat it is hours before I feel like drinking Water even though I can drink after one hour. Your meals will naturally be very small in the beginning anyways. 4 oz of dense Protein and I’m done.

Good luck and let us know how you do!

[Creekimp13 5,841]

I ate 1000 calories at three weeks, I eat 1200 per day now. Never feel hungry, tons of energy, and almost to goal. Have lost pretty steadily:)

Jess is right....ideas about diet among surgeons are all over the map. I'm part of a study with a major research hospital assessing the effect of higher calories sooner impacting sustained loss at five years post surgery. The theory is that eating closer to normal calories sooner gives you a better metabolic reset long-term. Previous small studies support this, and I'm part of a broader study hoping to confirm and support these findings with a bigger population of patients.

That said...I know plenty of people who have been VERY successful long term eating low calories through their loss phase.

Ultimately, it's so individual. People who are hell bent to make it work....make it work.

I really did not consider myself an "ideal" bariatric patient. I'm not overly type A. I refuse to be hungry. I hoped to improve my health conditions, but vanity wasn't a huge motivator. My biggest hope going into this was to get the average result....50-60% excess weight loss. I've done so much better than that, I'm just stunned. I'm not far from goal, and I've got a year of trickle loss left. It's pretty exciting:)

I really like my forever diet. It's healthy and balance with lots of good carbs. (lots of fruit, whole grains, beans...very little sugar or refined) I don't feel like I'm "dieting" and that's huge for me long term. I do get 75 naughty calories a day....I can use them or bank them, so nothing is forbidden. I don't crave anything I can't have....I plan for it...eat a legal amount...and am usually puzzled about why it sounded so good. My tastes have changed a lot.

My whole life I was either starving and obsessing like a maniac.... or throwing all concerns to the wind and overindulging. I don't want to live this way anymore....both extremes just suck for me. This is the first time in my life I've felt like I have a truly healthy relationship with food. It's been a crazy ride, but I feel like I've finally found a sane way to deal with food.

[TxAlpha06 114]

I try and eat as much Protein as I can daily...but when that doesn't work I add a shake....I don't even count calories. Just grams of protein and grams of carbs.....

[GreenTealael 25,599]

Best bet ask your NUT, I was on these boards trying to figure out the same thing a few months ago and and gathered advice from here but my NUT wanted something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT and at the end of the day im under their care

[MdmMargott 20]

I eat 500 - 700 kcals a day.

Carbs are under 30g, more like 10-15g. To optimize my weight loss I must eat low carb, I really don't have any illusions about that.

I struggle with Protein and drink shakes to keep protein around 50-60 grams.

I am setting some vegetables goals right now cause they are nutritious and healthy, keep Constipation issues at bay and not so hard on my sleeve as protein is, so I will just try to eat them as much as I can.

But yeah, two month out, still not hungry and eating real foods is constant struggle.

[jess9395 5,450]

On 6/23/2018 at 11:42 AM, Tealael said:

Best bet ask your NUT, I was on these boards trying to figure out the same thing a few months ago and and gathered advice from here but my NUT wanted something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT and at the end of the day im under their care

This, I always say you trusted your surgeon to cut you open, best to trust their diet advice!

[Brassapple 56]

On 06/23/2018 at 12:43, Creekimp13 said:

I ate 1000 calories at three weeks, I eat 1200 per day now. Never feel hungry, tons of energy, and almost to goal. Have lost pretty steadily:)

Jess is right....ideas about diet among surgeons are all over the map. I'm part of a study with a major research hospital assessing the effect of higher calories sooner impacting sustained loss at five years post surgery. The theory is that eating closer to normal calories sooner gives you a better metabolic reset long-term. Previous small studies support this, and I'm part of a broader study hoping to confirm and support these findings with a bigger population of patients.

That said...I know plenty of people who have been VERY successful long term eating low calories through their loss phase.

Ultimately, it's so individual. People who are hell bent to make it work....make it work.

I really did not consider myself an "ideal" bariatric patient. I'm not overly type A. I refuse to be hungry. I hoped to improve my health conditions, but vanity wasn't a huge motivator. My biggest hope going into this was to get the average result....50-60% excess weight loss. I've done so much better than that, I'm just stunned. I'm not far from goal, and I've got a year of trickle loss left. It's pretty exciting:)

I really like my forever diet. It's healthy and balance with lots of good carbs. (lots of fruit, whole grains, beans...very little sugar or refined) I don't feel like I'm "dieting" and that's huge for me long term. I do get 75 naughty calories a day....I can use them or bank them, so nothing is forbidden. I don't crave anything I can't have....I plan for it...eat a legal amount...and am usually puzzled about why it sounded so good. My tastes have changed a lot.

My whole life I was either starving and obsessing like a maniac.... or throwing all concerns to the wind and overindulging. I don't want to live this way anymore....both extremes just suck for me. This is the first time in my life I've felt like I have a truly healthy relationship with food. It's been a crazy ride, but I feel like I've finally found a sane way to deal with food.< br />

Creekimp would you mind sharing your forever diet with us?

[Creekimp13 5,841]

Oh man...I have many times.

Essentially, I follow the mayo Clinic Diet at 1200 calories. I lean vegetarian, but do eat meat on occasion.

You can read a ton about it online.

Here's the general feel for it, though:

[Creekimp13 5,841]

I get 60+ grams of Protein a day, but try to get at least half from plant based healthy carbs (beans, nuts, whole grain breads, peas, lentils, seeds, protein Pasta, potatoes, oatmeal) Am definately NOT a Keto person and I don't count carbs. I DO, however avoid high glycemic carbs that cause rebound hunger. I eat every little sugar or processed carbs. (if I eat them...they're part of my 75 calories of "sweets"...and I don't always eat them. Nice to know they're there, though!)

I keep my meats incredibly low fat. Use olive oil or avocado for almost all fat. I eat mostly fish, chicken breast and extremely lean steak if I eat meat. I LOVE a veggie burger, mycoprotein meat substitutes, etc.

I'm a fruit bat. Love fruit and eat a LOT of fruit. Am particularly fond of dried figs for sweeteners in stuff lately. Natural sugar+high quality Fiber is a win for me. I eat watermelon and strawberries a lot.

I do fermented foods and foods with fiber like split peas...cause my microbiologist kid keeps telling me I need to build good gut microbiota.

I love culinary zing. Ginger, garlic, five spice, red and green curry paste, garlic, balsamic, seseame seed oil, fresh herbs, miso, flavor!

I do drink coffee, I use Splenda a lot, and sometimes I bank my 75 naughty calories for a few days and splurge on something really naughty like my mom's poppy seed bread, or something decadent when I'm out to eat with hubby. I eat my junk food out of the house, with a witness...which I know is weird, but helps me stay accountable.

An almost daily staple in my diet is homemade veggie soup:

[Creekimp13 5,841]

I should mention that a big part of the mayo Clinic Diet, is a commitment to being active. See how the center of the food triangle is physical activity? My group and my diet...both stress daily physical activity. I get 12,000 steps a day and "work out" for an hour three times a week. My work out might be mowing lawns, sweating to the oldies dance videos, Water aerobics in a heated therapy pool, or trampoline exercise class at Sky Zone, and lately I've been riding horses again:) I like to mix it up and keep it enjoyable. But yeah, I walk about six miles a day and get at least three hours of cardio a week. Being active...is so freaking important for building that hot burning furnace metabolism:)

Sorry to ramble. I know my diet is extremely different than most of what you read here. But if you check out the vegetarian board here, you'll see I'm not as unique as all that:)

Lotta ways to get there. Mine isn't the fastest, but it works for me, and I've been really pleased:)

[Brassapple 56]

Creek I’m with you. Well before surgery I ate mostly Whole Foods. I didn’t use artificial sweeteners. I used honey as a sweetner. Post surgery anything with artificial sweeteners made me throw up. I couldn’t drink any of the sugar free drinks I had stocked up on, or eat the ice pops and Jello. I struggled. In stage 2 I started cooking my own whole food again and started to recover fast. At stage 3 I decided to throw out the nutritionists diet and created my own. I followed the guidelines of soft and mushy but ate Whole Foods, fresh fruit and cooked veggies. I could not bring myself to consume canned anything especially not canned chicken no matter how soft it is. I firmly believe that I healed faster physically and emotionally because of my diet and exercise and getting enough sunshine. Your diet is similar to Dr. Matthew Weiners diet which I now follow at stage 4. Mostly plant based with some lean animal Protein thrown in. Once I’m done with stage 4. I will incorporate nuts, seeds etc. None of the processed junk.

[BostonWLKC 807]

I’m at 6 months our and hover around 800 calories. Losing about 1-2 lbs a week at this point

Typically no / low carb and no sugar , high Protein at 80-100 g

Volume or weight is my constant question. I typically weigh Proteins at 4 oz but for some proteins that is about a cup. It is about a smidge more than I think I’m full at this amount.

Seems to be working so far