I had my 3 month appointment today and the Dietitian was happy with me except I am not eating enough. I have been getting 500 to 800 calories a day and she wants me at 1200 to 1400 a day. And this is why I have been losing so slowly. When the body doesn't get enough energy from food your body will go into starvation mode and you won't lose! I know we all know this but it is so hard to think about getting all those calories in for fear it will cause gain weight.

i ran between 800 to a 1000 a day for the first year i know eat about 1200 to 1400 a day at the most

1 was around 500 at 3 months, 700-800 cals at 6-7 months. Reached goal at 7 months (110 lbs lost since start of 2-week pre op diet)

I usually get 500 to 800 calories a day as well. My 3 month post op visit is Monday. I'm down 50 pounds since surgery. Some dietitians focus more on the calorie intake. Mine focuses more on Protein and Water intake. I'm sure I'll eventually be able to eat 1200 calories a day. But right now, I'm just not ready to try and eat more food or eat more than 3 meals. I guess they all have different training and differences of opinions.

except for the first few weeks, I ate around 800 calories a day for most of my first year. After a year out I was pretty consistently in the 1000-1200 range. I didn't hit 1200-1400 until I was zeroing in on my goal. A lot of women eat that much in maintenance (luckily, I can eat more than that and maintain...). So eating that much at three months out seems like a lot. Of course, I don't know what her rationale is - maybe there's a reason for it.

I almost never went above 800 calories for the first six months and lost weight very quickly. In maintenance, I am still struggling to get up to 1,200 to 1,400 per day.

Your dietitian is not specialised in bariatric it seems... I'm 2 months out and still around 4-500 cal a day...

Im 9 months out, and my nutritionist was the same way! I was never eating enough for her. Average 1200 now.

I swear some dietitians are useless... I don't need them to tell me.

I can read books and research online plenty... Last time I saw a local dietitian she was kinda rude..

I think I will try to up my calories for awhile and see where that gets me. I will either prove or disprove her theory. I will take it slow, up it a 100 calories every few days. If not I will go back to 800 cal a day.

At 3 months, I was at 500-600 cal/day. Did not work up to 1000/day until at least 6 months. You have to listen to your body. You cannot stuff more in that you can take comfortably. This same theme comes up over and over - the dietitian or surgeon telling people they need to eat twice as much as they can handle. Every body is different and you will be able to tolerate more volume at your own pace - not their's. Maybe you can drink any extra shake each day. Be sure you are exercising. It really will work out fine in the end, but please listen to what your body is telling you. Also, 3 -4 months is a typically time to stall a bit. That is normal and it will pass.

Edited December 20, 20196 yr by AZhiker

I started at a BMI of 36. I always got in my 60g of protein but barely and averaged 500 calories for the first 3 months, up to 600 maybe occ 700 months 3-6 and at month 7 I was already below my goal weight so I purposely increased calories and carbs to slow/stop the weight loss.

I lost 60 pounds in the first 6 months. I do feel like looking back I maybe should have been closer to 700-800 at months 5-6 thinking maybe that would have helped me slowly increase my tolerance and made going into maintenance easier as it was really hard to increase calories suddenly to stop weight loss but I managed to lose what I wanted and basically maintain at 22/23 BMI now.

So just my 2 cents. I felt fine re energy level and got in enough protein those first 6 months. If I was still far from my goal at 6 or even 8 months out I would NOT have purposely increased my calories over 1000. Since I was purposely trying to slow the weight loss/maintain I have had to start "bad" habits like eating foods that slide down easily, eating when I don't feel like it, and increasing carbs I had no desire to eat. I know that's not a good plan but what I needed to do for me (with my MD and nutritionist aware). Now I will have to concentrate on stopping snacking etc now that I can eat more calories during meals. I would not advise anyone to purposely push up calories if it feels like an effort and creates bad habits especially if you are still far from goal. That's what got a lot of us here to begin with. So just be aware of your habits now and how that can effect the long term.

My Dietitian also had me bump up my calories at 3 months. I was doing 30 minutes of cardio daily and she said I needed the extra calories, otherwise starvation mode kicks on.

14 hours ago, ms.sss said:

1 was around 500 at 3 months, 700-800 cals at 6-7 months. Reached goal at 7 months (110 lbs lost since start of 2-week pre op diet)

Me 2. Exactly. I reached goal in 9 months I think?

Dr. Jason Fung believes there is NO such thing as starvation mode when you are morbidly obese or even in the overweight category. That it happens ONLY when you've depleted all your fat stores. Most of us have weeks and months of extra calories vis a vis fat hanging around on our body.

Satisfy your protein goals. Drink your fluids. Take your vitamins. Eat a few veggies (or a lot), and get a bit of healthy fat in you each day...But follow your program.

256lbs the day I started my program at the bariatric center. I'd alreay lost down from 287 in the previous 3 months leading up to it by mimicking the diet you follow post WLS.

I'm 130.4lbs this morning. I average 1100cals/day over a week. Some days I still eat 700-900 of nutritionally DENSE foods, but other days I have 1400-2000!

Edited December 20, 20196 yr by FluffyChix

I'm 2 months out and I was closer to 800 but at my 6 week appt I was told I'd be at 800 when I get to 3 months so I'm trying to stick to 700 or so for now.

8 hours ago, Superman84 said:

I swear some dietitians are useless... I don't need them to tell me.

I can read books and research online plenty... Last time I saw a local dietitian she was kinda rude..

Mine is somewhat abrasive too. I just want a nutritionist who USED to be overweight and is empathetic.