Hi All,

Curious to know how many calories you’re eating per day if you’re 6 months or more post op? Thanks in advance.

On 01/26/2021 at 17:54, ASampson said:

Hi All,

Curious to know how many calories you’re eating per day if you’re 6 months or more post op? Thanks in advance.

I personally range from 800-1000 cal each day. But honestly I don’t know if I’m doing to many or not enough. I only lose an average of one pound each week now at six months out. I’m very slow looser and it’s very stressful and discouraging. Hopefully you are doing much better then I . ?

I was doing 800-900 and then at my 6 month post op appt, the dietitian wanted me at 1100-1200. I feel like this might prevent further weight loss and I haven’t quite reached my goal yet. ?‍♀️

1000 to 1200 and I'm within 5 pounds of goal.

2 minutes ago, km13118 said:

1000 to 1200 and I'm within 5 pounds of goal.

Great job, congratulations! How many net carbs do you typically have per day?

FWIW, my program ups women to 1,500 a day after 6 months and men to 1,800. Just a data point.

5 minutes ago, OAGBPal said:

FWIW, my program ups women to 1,500 a day after 6 months and men to 1,800. Just a data point.

Thank you for the information. I was doing 800-900 and then at my 6 month post op appt, the dietitian wanted me at 1100-1200. I feel like this might prevent further weight loss and I haven’t quite reached my goal yet. ?‍♀️

I'm 6 months out and I usually get 500-600 calories per day. The nutritionist wanted me to go to 800-1000 at 6 weeks, which I don't even think would have been possible then. I probably could get 800-1000 now, but I am trying to stick with my new eating habits. There are conflicting opinions about whether eating too little can hurt in the long run, so I'm not sure what I should do. My results have been great so far, so my surgeon just said to keep on doing what I'm doing. The patient manual doesn't give any guidelines for calories, just protein and carbs.

I looked up what I was eating at 6 months, and for the 4 weeks immediately after my 6th month anniversary, my average daily range was anywhere from 500-750 cals a day, with NET carbs maxing out at 25g per day.

HOWEVER. At the 6th month mark I was 130-ish lbs, (and I'm, 5'2") so 500-700 cals for me would be a little different than someone who is bigger/taller (or smaller/shorter). Further, I wasn't constantly hungry, so being able to sustain this at the time would have been easier for me than for someone who was.

Whatever caloric level you are comfortable at, and able to maintain during weight loss phase (be it 700 or 1200 or whatever), so long as you are at a deficit, you'll find that you WILL lose weight (barring any medical conditions).

Good Luck!

2 hours ago, ASampson said:

Great job, congratulations! How many net carbs do you typically have per day?

60 to 80 on most days. Told I should aim for at least 50 but no more than 100 grams of carbs daily.

At 6 months I was eating about 1000-1200 calories a day I want to say. I’ll be at a year out next month and I’m eating 1500-1600 per my nutritionist. I’d stalled eating 1200-1300 and upping my calories actually got me over plateau since I also exercise 5-6x a week. I do strongly feel that how I’m eating is very sustainable and something I can continue doing for life. I think back on biggest loser when you restrict your calories for too much for too long. I didn’t want to destroy my metabolism so I was happy to up my calories and it worked- still losing.

48yr man

VSG 5/18/20

6' 3"

HW 382, SW 309, CW 218

At 6 months, I was at 1200 calories, 120g carbs, 95g protein. At my 6 month appointment, the doctor wanted me to work up to 1800 cals by 1 year post-op. I've added 25 extra daily calories each week and am at 1550 now. Also gave up protein supplements at 6 months. Only eating real food for my protein and calorie goals.

I am 2 months out and the last three weeks had stall after stall and had to eat my way through them. As strange as it is, I am losing more weight at 800 to 1,000 calories than if I go below that. I make sure I get my 80 to 90 grams of protein and then push to hit at least 800 calories and then the stalls stopped. If I drop below 800 calories I stall out. The surgeon said my sweet spot will be 1000 to 1100 calories but I just cannot get that much in when I am working during the day.

I would say I am fairly active as far as working out 4 to 5 times a week and I really try to make sure on those days I get to 1,000 calories a day. I haven't figured out how I will go up to 1200 in the next few months but I figure I will worry about that when it comes.

I had a 10 day stall at one point when I was consistently at 650 a day, I guess everyones body is different so you have to find that sweet spot

I settled in at around 1100 within the first month, which was comfortable and worked well with my guy metabolism - I had been stable before surgery at 2500+ so I had confidence about having a decent caloric deficit for continued weight loss and maintained that level throughout my loss phase. YMMV.

I am somewhat suspicious of programs that ramp up calories on a schedule over time, as our natural inclination is for weight loss to decline over time as we get lighter - we naturally burn fewer calories as we have less weight we are moving around 24/7. I recognize that there are multiple hypotheses about metabolisms and weight loss, but there also seems to be little strong consensus on it, either. I have seen good overall good results from many on these forums over the years doing programs in the 6-800 calorie range, and there are many who seem to stall or go into maintenance early on 1200+ calorie programs. Yet we also see some success at higher levels, or reports of that breaking stalls. Take these under consideration while trying to understand how your body is working, but my inclination would be to keep things on the lower side.

At my six month follow up with our RN program director, she was wanting me to cut back my exercise as she felt I was losing too fast (which I wasn't going to do as I was basically working at my semi-normal activity levels,) but by the end of that month (it was November,) I was within ten pounds of my goal weight, and losing a consistent ten pounds per month, so I started ramping up my calories to slow things down (I basically let the holidays happen...) which stretched those last ten over two months instead.

I never controlled carbohydrates, net or otherwise, or fats, but sought to get the best overall nutrition from the non-protein side of my diet, but in those later months carbs typically ran in the 100-120 range; I had selectively increased my complex carb intake at around four months for energy management purposes (I was running out of gas in the pool after an hour) which did the trick without any effect on loss rate.

Thank you to everyone who has commented so far. Your replies are extremely helpful and informative.

14 hours ago, RickM said:

I am somewhat suspicious of programs that ramp up calories on a schedule over time, as our natural inclination is for weight loss to decline over time as we get lighter - we naturally burn fewer calories as we have less weight we are moving around 24/7.

Agreed.

Further to this, Arbitrarily assigning a set caloric level at a set date to all patients does not take into account each individual's weight, height, other physiological aspects into account. If one patient is 6 feet tall and 250 lbs at the 6 month mark, and another is 5 feet tall and 170 lbs...why would they both be prescribed the same caloric level goal?