Is this accurate for weight loss?

[Ready21 34]

Just had a 6 week follow up with my surgeon. He advised to eat about 1,000 calories a day at this point as to not slow down weight loss. I’ve been averaging between 600-700. Since July 15 I’ve lost 30 pounds. Pre-2 week surgery diet I was 250. Surgery day weight was 241, now I’m 220 even. Seems slow. He told me that weight loss isn’t like a straight drop. And two weeks ago, I stalled for about 3 weeks. He advised to only weigh once a week. How is everyone else doing on calories and weight loss at about 6/7 weeks out? Just want to see how I’m doing. One thing I haven’t been doing is rigorous exercise…he said that would help too. Any advice is appreciated.

[Stalled 32]

If you're eating too few calories, your body thinks it is starving and will actually store the calories you do consume as fat to protect your organs and conserve during your starvation. That might be what is happening with you. If you consume the exact correct amount of calories (burn what you eat) then your body forgoes the storage part and jumps right to the "using it" part. So yes, if your surgeon says eat 1000 calories a day, try to do that.

Regarding exercise, that is really helpful with the "burn what you eat" process. I don't recommend rigorous exercise so soon after surgery. But more activity and movement, in general, is always a good thing. If you're walking 5000 steps a day, increase it to 8000.

[FutureSkyDiver 76]

I workout regularly and my surgeon suggested 1000 calories a day.

[Ready21 34]

On 09/01/2021 at 18:04, Stalled said:

If you're eating too few calories, your body thinks it is starving and will actually store the calories you do consume as fat to protect your organs and conserve during your starvation. That might be what is happening with you. If you consume the exact correct amount of calories (burn what you eat) then your body forgoes the storage part and jumps right to the "using it" part. So yes, if your surgeon says eat 1000 calories a day, try to do that.

Regarding exercise, that is really helpful with the "burn what you eat" process. I don't recommend rigorous exercise so soon after surgery. But more activity and movement, in general, is always a good thing. If you're walking 5000 steps a day, increase it to 8000.

Thank you for the reply. This is all so scary yet exciting at the same time. From what I have read in these forums, a lot of people aren’t even up to 1000 calories this early out so I was afraid to increase. I think the key is like you said, upping calories and burning more. That’s been a missing element for me.

[Ready21 34]

On 09/01/2021 at 18:10, FutureSkyDiver said:

I workout regularly and my surgeon suggested 1000 calories a day.

Where are you in the process? Is the calorie amount and you’re working out too helping with your losses? Thanks!

[Maribelle76 82]

2 hours ago, Ready21 said:

Just had a 6 week follow up with my surgeon. He advised to eat about 1,000 calories a day at this point as to not slow down weight loss. I’ve been averaging between 600-700. Since July 15 I’ve lost 30 pounds. Pre-2 week surgery diet I was 250. Surgery day weight was 241, now I’m 220 even. Seems slow. He told me that weight loss isn’t like a straight drop. And two weeks ago, I stalled for about 3 weeks. He advised to only weigh once a week. How is everyone else doing on calories and weight loss at about 6/7 weeks out? Just want to see how I’m doing. One thing I haven’t been doing is rigorous exercise…he said that would help too. Any advice is appreciated.

We're almost the exact same numbers-wise. I started at 260, was 244 at surgery on July 13, and I'm 223 now. I've been eating 1000 calories a day for about the past week, and I'm fairly active.

[FutureSkyDiver 76]

40 minutes ago, Ready21 said:

Where are you in the process? Is the calorie amount and you’re working out too helping with your losses? Thanks!

I’m seven weeks out and lose about two pounds a week.

[catwoman7 10,845]

that rate of weight loss is very normal, unless you're the size of someone on "My 600 lb Life". Most of us "normal" WLS patients lose somewhere in the 15-25 lb range the first month, and then about 8-12 lbs a month for the next six or so months after that (and then it drops down even more). So you're fine.

as for 1000 kcal/day at this point, a lot of us are eating somewhere in the 600-800 range for the first several months post-op, but I've heard of more clinics lately that are recommending more like 1000 kcal/day...so yours isn't the only one. They'd know more than I would, and as long as the patients are continuing to lose weight.....

[ms.sss 14,636]

You will find a whole slew of caloric recommendations across the board, from you team, from the people in this forum, to the person on some Instagram account doling advice.

There IS NOT a one size fits all program that will work for EVERYONE.

Find out what works for you. If you cant reach the calories as prescribed, just do the best you can. If you are going over, do the best you can. Try to get your Protein and Water in. Unless you labs come back indicating so (which i assume you would be getting regularly), you don't need to worry about undernourishment in the few months between labs. I mean, most of us have got ALOT of fat storage to rely on in the first couple months.

Exercise is good, but not necessary for weight loss. But of course I would highly recommend exercise for physical and mental health and well-being benefits.

P.S. I know there is a few different camps of opinions on this, but I am NOT on team "up your calories to lose more weight". But I know there are many BP members on here that swear by this method, so there you go. I did not purposefully up my calories save for the natural progression of upping calories as time goes on. I did not stall once and I lost more than all my excess weight in 6 months..

P.P.S. I also know that there are different views on this: I also think that losing 30 lbs off of 241lbs in 6 weeks in NOT in any way "slow". But that's just my opinion, which doesn't matter. All that matters is YOURS.

Good Luck!❤️

[RickM 1,747]

I would be careful about moving your intake up too quickly, simply because it is very difficult to cut back once you get used to a higher intake. I have seen many who have done well in the 6-800 calorie range during their loss phase, so this doesn't seem to be too low metabolically.

That said, I settled fairly quickly in the 1100 range, but I am a guy, with a guy's metabolism that remained fairly intact. (as ms.sss noted, this isn't a one size fits all game.) Prior to WLS, my weight was stable in the 26-2700 calorie range, so I had a fair margin to work with. Do you know what your metabolic stability point was before surgery (real world for you, here, not some online calculator that's appropriate for someone else)?

Your weight loss rate will trend lower over time, simply because there is less of you to move around 24/7 so, on average, you burn fewer calories per day, so you won't, on average, lose as much per week or month after six months as you did after two, and fewer still after nine or twelve months. It is not unusual for some to go into "early maintenance" because they increased their intake at the same time as their caloric burn decreased.
When I finished at goal, I was stable at around 21-2200 calories per day, or about a 1000 calorie deficit that I had to make up from my 1100 per day that I was consuming during the loss phase; most don't have much margin, particularly most smaller (shorter) women. Another reason to be careful about increasing intake too quickly (or at all)

On doctors advice on these programs. Some doctors advise their patients that they will typically lose around 60% of their excess weight (an overall average for the industry,) while others will push their patients to lose 100% of their excess. Guess which programs advise increasing calorie levels over time and which advise overall low(ish) stable levels while losing?

[Ready21 34]

On 09/02/2021 at 12:35, ms.sss said:

You will find a whole slew of caloric recommendations across the board, from you team, from the people in this forum, to the person on some Instagram account doling advice.

There IS NOT a one size fits all program that will work for EVERYONE.

Find out what works for you. If you cant reach the calories as prescribed, just do the best you can. If you are going over, do the best you can. Try to get your Protein and Water in. Unless you labs come back indicating so (which i assume you would be getting regularly), you don't need to worry about undernourishment in the few months between labs. I mean, most of us have got ALOT of fat storage to rely on in the first couple months.

Exercise is good, but not necessary for weight loss. But of course I would highly recommend exercise for physical and mental health and well-being benefits.

P.S. I know there is a few different camps of opinions on this, but I am NOT on team "up your calories to lose more weight". But I know there are many BP members on here that swear by this method, so there you go. I did not purposefully up my calories save for the natural progression of upping calories as time goes on. I did not stall once and I lost more than all my excess weight in 6 months..

P.P.S. I also know that there are different views on this: I also think that losing 30 lbs off of 241lbs in 6 weeks in NOT in any way "slow". But that's just my opinion, which doesn't matter. All that matters is YOURS.

Good Luck!❤️

Thank you for your detailed response! So…I lost about 9 pounds during the 2 week pre-op diet. So at my surgery date, that put me at 241…then now, 6/7 weeks later I’m at 220, so it wasn’t 30 pounds after surgery, but 20. I will say that now being 6/7 weeks out (surgery was on 7/15) that I’m hungrier. My doctor totally said that 5-600 calories was too low and that “could be” why I was stalled or not losing. I know this will work when I find what my body wants. I am hungry enough to eat the 800-1,000 calories a day, I just question if I should. I need to lose 70+ more pounds. I appreciate your feedback!

[Ready21 34]

On 09/02/2021 at 18:27, RickM said:

I would be careful about moving your intake up too quickly, simply because it is very difficult to cut back once you get used to a higher intake. I have seen many who have done well in the 6-800 calorie range during their loss phase, so this doesn't seem to be too low metabolically.

That said, I settled fairly quickly in the 1100 range, but I am a guy, with a guy's metabolism that remained fairly intact. (as ms.sss noted, this isn't a one size fits all game.) Prior to WLS, my weight was stable in the 26-2700 calorie range, so I had a fair margin to work with. Do you know what your metabolic stability point was before surgery (real world for you, here, not some online calculator that's appropriate for someone else)?

Your weight loss rate will trend lower over time, simply because there is less of you to move around 24/7 so, on average, you burn fewer calories per day, so you won't, on average, lose as much per week or month after six months as you did after two, and fewer still after nine or twelve months. It is not unusual for some to go into "early maintenance" because they increased their intake at the same time as their caloric burn decreased.

When I finished at goal, I was stable at around 21-2200 calories per day, or about a 1000 calorie deficit that I had to make up from my 1100 per day that I was consuming during the loss phase; most don't have much margin, particularly most smaller (shorter) women. Another reason to be careful about increasing intake too quickly (or at all)

On doctors advice on these programs. Some doctors advise their patients that they will typically lose around 60% of their excess weight (an overall average for the industry,) while others will push their patients to lose 100% of their excess. Guess which programs advise increasing calorie levels over time and which advise overall low(ish) stable levels while losing?

Thank you for this. There’s so much information on calories! It’s like I’m going to have to experiment to find out what makes me lose more sigh. What you said makes perfect sense especially the end about either losing 60% or 100%

[Ready21 34]

On 09/02/2021 at 05:15, catwoman7 said:

that rate of weight loss is very normal, unless you're the size of someone on "My 600 lb Life". Most of us "normal" WLS patients lose somewhere in the 15-25 lb range the first month, and then about 8-12 lbs a month for the next six or so months after that (and then it drops down even more). So you're fine.

as for 1000 kcal/day at this point, a lot of us are eating somewhere in the 600-800 range for the first several months post-op, but I've heard of more clinics lately that are recommending more like 1000 kcal/day...so yours isn't the only one. They'd know more than I would, and as long as the patients are continuing to lose weight.....

Thank you for your input! When you eat between 600 and 800 calories are you satisfied or do you have hunger?

[vikingbeast 985]

Stop and think about this for a second.

Before you had surgery, before you started losing weight pre-op... how much were you eating? 2500 calories a day? 3000? 3500?

Now you're eating 500-600 and wondering if you can do 800-1000.

If you were at 2500 calories before and you're doing 800 now, that's still a cut of 1700 calories, or an AVERAGE (notice the capital letters!) of half a pound a day. Now, it doesn't work that way, because our bodies are not machines with standard inputs and outputs. A lot of things can change that calculus, like sodium content and bloating (hello hormones!) and your brain and even the weather.

Vigorous exercise at 6-7 weeks out seems a bit much... but are you getting out and moving? Walking? Running if your body permits it at this point? Climbing hills?

One other sense of perspective. Back when you were your pre-op self, if someone had said, "Ready21, I have a diet that will make you drop 30 pounds in 8 weeks," would you not have absolutely jumped on it?

As long as you're losing, you're good... and even if you stall, as long as you're not gaining overmuch!

[Ready21 34]

On 09/03/2021 at 14:53, vikingbeast said:

Stop and think about this for a second.

Before you had surgery, before you started losing weight pre-op... how much were you eating? 2500 calories a day? 3000? 3500?

Now you're eating 500-600 and wondering if you can do 800-1000.

If you were at 2500 calories before and you're doing 800 now, that's still a cut of 1700 calories, or an AVERAGE (notice the capital letters!) of half a pound a day. Now, it doesn't work that way, because our bodies are not machines with standard inputs and outputs. A lot of things can change that calculus, like sodium content and bloating (hello hormones!) and your brain and even the weather.

Vigorous exercise at 6-7 weeks out seems a bit much... but are you getting out and moving? Walking? Running if your body permits it at this point? Climbing hills?

One other sense of perspective. Back when you were your pre-op self, if someone had said, "Ready21, I have a diet that will make you drop 30 pounds in 8 weeks," would you not have absolutely jumped on it?

As long as you're losing, you're good... and even if you stall, as long as you're not gaining overmuch!

Before surgery/preop etc, I was averaging about 1500-2000 a day…my metabolism was shot though. I’m hoping this surgery has corrected that metabolically. I totally get your point. I’m working on becoming more active! Thank you for your input!