At 5 weeks out from surgery, I'm allowed 300 to 400 calories per day. At 3 months post op I can bump up to 500 calories "depending on workouts". This seems crazy low compared to others I've read about.

I feel hungry all the time, I'm barely losing 2 pounds per week, and it's really hard to advance my diet and meet my minimum 60mg protein with only 400 calories. Workout days are rough, too, when I'm burning 550 calories per day and only taking in 400. There have been days I've cheated and eaten up to 550 calories on workout days because I'm starving.

What are everyone else's caloric goals for this stage?

When I was losing the best was between 450-650 cals per day. I could get a buttload of food in with that.

Here's one of my logs from that time:

21 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

When I was losing the best was between 450-650 cals per day. I could get a buttload of food in with that.

Here's one of my logs from that time:

I should add that I am not allowed fruits, nuts/seeds, or carbs that don't come from vegetables or dairy. It really limits my options. It's basically a ketogenic diet (from what I know of the keto diet).

I do like fish, which I can eat more of than I am currently.

But even the examples you show are outside my allowance, with the 400 calorie max right now. I could cut a few things out, of course, but then I'm back to struggling to get that 60g protein minimum!

4 minutes ago, KT1981 said:

I should add that I am not allowed fruits, nuts/seeds, or carbs that don't come from vegetables or dairy. It really limits my options. It's basically a ketogenic diet (from what I know of the keto diet).

I do like fish, which I can eat more of than I am currently.

But even the examples you show are outside my allowance, with the 400 calorie max right now. I could cut a few things out, of course, but then I'm back to struggling to get that 60g Protein minimum!

It seems that the more vegetables you include the less hungry you will be. Stay away from nuts and seeds if you can for a while (high caloric impact) with such a low cal plan

At your stage I was at about 600-700 cals. These days 1200 and under to continue losing.

Of course, only do what he says you can. I was illustrating what I could "get" for 500-550 cals. It's a LOT of food. And I had no issues making 60g protein in 400 cals.

Here was one from about 6days out from surgery:

The point I was trying to make, is if you concentrate on protein and keep everything else minimal, you CAN stay at 400cals per day (or 500cals). And at 500cals, you get a LOT of food.

I'm curious about this too. I am on full liquids with some pureed foods and most days I am between close to 500 and it is very hard to get my protein at lower calories since I can't use foods like fish or chicken. Dairy is where most of my calories come from and that has natural sugars and fat, so it isn't as high in protein as something like tuna. I worry I am having too many calories, but all of the foods I've had are on my plan and I was just told to make sure I get at least 60 grams of protein. I am staying away from a lot of foods I am allowed to have, such as hummus and soup because even though I love them (and they taste so good right now after all the sweet stuff), I don't want to waste the calories or stomach real estate on low protein foods.

5 hours ago, GreenTealael said:

It seems that the more vegetables you include the less hungry you will be. Stay away from nuts and seeds if you can for a while (high caloric impact) with such a low cal plan

At your stage I was at about 600-700 cals. These days 1200 and under to continue losing.

I am definitely going to start including more veggies! I had steamed green beans last night and they were glorious.

4 hours ago, FluffyChix said:

Of course, only do what he says you can. I was illustrating what I could "get" for 500-550 cals. It's a LOT of food. And I had no issues making 60g Protein in 400 cals.

Here was one from about 6days out from surgery:

The point I was trying to make, is if you concentrate on protein and keep everything else minimal, you CAN stay at 400cals per day (or 500cals). And at 500cals, you get a LOT of food.

That food log looks like where I am now, which is my problem. Basically all your protein is coming from shakes. I'm cool with that, but I'm supposed to be advancing my diet, which puts me back in the position of trying to stay below 400 calories but get in 60g of protein - and work up to 80g!

I made an appt with a dietitian tomorrow so I can get some more insight on this concern! Thank you for taking the time to give me some samples!

My endoscopic surgeon wants me at 90 grams protein daily, short of 1-2 Shakes for the supplementation- I Do Not Think I will Make it There!