Calories and weight loss at 6 months Post OP

[wendywitch7 1]

I am a little over 6 months post op, how many calories are you eating now? I am getting about 900-1000 calories, 80g of Protein, 50g of carbs.

Anyone else have a starting weight at 360ish at 5'9", how much did you lose at 6 months?

My surgeon doesn't offer an aftercare support team and the nutritionist (had to get a referral from my primary) that I am seeing doesn't like giving numbers. I also don't feel I can ask him as he will just refer to the paperwork he gave me at the start, which just says under 1200 calories and 60-80g of protein.

I am very happy with the weight that I have lost so far, 100lbs since surgery, but it has been very slow the last 2 months or so. I still feel that I should be losing at a faster rate than I am which is only about 1-2lbs a week. Is this just an average weight loss when I weigh 263lbs at 5' 9", haven't been down to this weight in over 15 years.

[Arabesque 6,478]

I was barely eating 900 calories at 6 months (almost a cup of food for a meal depending on what it was & one snack) & at my goal weight. But my stats are different from yours. I’m likely older, definitely shorter & I wasn’t & still aren’t overly active. (I eat about 1600 now to maintain my weight.) You have every right to ask for greater guidance around calories, portion sizes, macros, etc. from your nutritionalist if it makes you feel more confident about your choices & comfortable about what you’re doing. If they refuse you may have to find another one who is willing to support you. Yes, I know calorie counting is considered out, but for us it is an important consideration especially until we feel more secure in what we’re doing & helps us to lose/maintain & maintain our health. We need that guidance now as most of us didn’t know what the hell we were doing in regard to appropriate foods to eat, nutrients our bodies needed, appropriate portion sizes, etc. We’re new borns about a lot of this in the beginning. If we knew it all & could do it we wouldn’t have needed the surgery.

Honestly, I wasn’t given calories goals or specific macro except Protein 60g for me. Just portion size, and low carb, low fat, low sugar. I was okay with that though I would still randomly check for my own interest. I did a lot of my own reading, and was very careful with what I chose to eat & checked with my dietician at every fortnightly appointment. As I said, you have to feel comfortable & confident about what you’re doing.

After those first heady weeks of large weekly weight drops &, regardless of our starting weight, our rate of loss slows. One to two pounds a weeks is okay especially as you are on the homeward path now. Remember that 1-2lbs a week is generally considered a healthy rate of lose for anyone losing weight. Wait until you’re almost there & you’re losing ounces not pounds a week. Believe me, the last few pounds to lose are a b*tch to lose.

Edited January 16 by Arabesque

[summerseeker 1,848]

I have a huge restriction, lucky me. At almost 2 years, I was only on about 800 cals a day. I had to eat so many Protein yogurts to get in my quota of protein. After 2 years I decided to call it a day and upped my cals to 1500. This gives me a good number of cals and as I am not a great exerciser, could do more if I wanted more food.

Counting my 3 week pre op diet, I lost about 90 lbs at 6 months out

[catwoman7 10,864]

Weight-wise we started out about the same, and I'd lost 75 lbs by the six-month mark, so you are doing fine. And it's very normal to drop down to a 1-2 lb a week loss when you're six months out. Just continue to stick to your clinic's plan, and the weight WILL come off. It took me almost two years, but I got it all off (I've had about a 20 lb rebound gain since I hit my lowest weight, which is very common during year 3 - it's your body settling in to a weight it's comfortable at).

as far as calories go, that varies so much for everyone that I can't really say if your input is too high or too low. I think I was eating around 800 calories a day at that point, and I used to fret about that because I'd see people on here eating 600-ish. But they could have been shorter, older, less muscular, and/or less active than me, too. As long as your weight is in a general downward trend, I wouldn't worry about it. Some surgeons want their patients eating more calories in general than other surgeons, so the amount you're taking in isn't anything unusual

keep in mind that the closer you get to goal, the slower those pounds are going to come off. During year two, there were months I was only losing a pound or two the entire month. But I was persistent and they DID come off.

[ShooterInTheSix 67]

I'm only four months post-op and have lost 65lbs as of this morning. I've been trying to maintain 900-1000 calories per day with a minimum 70g Protein and trying to limit carbs to 50g or less and fat to 35g or less.

At my three month post-op consult with my bariatric nutritionist, she was satisfied with those numbers and was happy with my weight loss progress to that point, which was 48lbs. I'm currently riding a plateau and have only lost 3lbs over the past couple of weeks, but it's my second one since surgery and while frustrating, I know it'll pass.

[Shanna NYC 128]

From what I gathered, most programs don't really give you a set calorie goal or exact amount of carbs and fat. Mine gave me a Protein goal 80-100g and to concentrate on hydration and Vitamins. Typically because of restriction, by the time you work around getting to the protein goal, carbs and fats work themselves out. That being said, I am 9 months out and typically have around 1000 cals a day, 80g protein avg, and 50g or less of carbs just because that's how it works out. I don't pay too much mind to fats.

Your loss is great and your rate of continuous loss of 1-2lbs a week is great. It definitely slows down as you lose and your body adjusts. Stalls are also common and don't last forever. It took me a month to lose 3lbs and then I lost 3lbs in a week after. It's just part of the process. Every body is different and even your own body will behave differently at different stages.

[MissP24 0]

I am 6 months post surgery. I struggle to hit all the targets for my post-op diet - I am getting around 900 calories at most - I prioritize Protein and Water - and taking my Vitamins. I still have problems with nausea.

Getting the recommended amount of protein and exercise is the best way to prevent muscle loss. Given that I am having a hard time hitting my nutritional targets - I am tracking key body measurements (waist, hips etc) on the Baritastic app in addition to monitoring weight loss.

I saw some BMI scales online for around $100. They can compute body composition - I will see how it goes and maybe invest in one of those if I continue to struggle with eating.

[Melissa89 9]

On 1/16/2024 at 2:52 PM, wendywitch7 said:

I am a little over 6 months post op, how many calories are you eating now? I am getting about 900-1000 calories, 80g of Protein, 50g of carbs.

Anyone else have a starting weight at 360ish at 5'9", how much did you lose at 6 months?

My surgeon doesn't offer an aftercare support team and the nutritionist (had to get a referral from my primary) that I am seeing doesn't like giving numbers. I also don't feel I can ask him as he will just refer to the paperwork he gave me at the start, which just says under 1200 calories and 60-80g of Protein.

I am very happy with the weight that I have lost so far, 100lbs since surgery, but it has been very slow the last 2 months or so. I still feel that I should be losing at a faster rate than I am which is only about 1-2lbs a week. Is this just an average weight loss when I weigh 263lbs at 5' 9", haven't been down to this weight in over 15 years.

10 months out I average around 1500 calories a day and am still losing slowly (I weigh in the low 60s) hope this helps!

[Spinoza 1,177]

I'm the same height as you but not the same starting weight. I lost less than half what you have in the first 6 months - around 60lbs - not including my looooonnnnng pre-op diet. I continued to lose consistently for around 2 years, although the second year was a total of 11lbs (I think) so when I got close to my new set weight I was losing a pound a month, that's major fun but still a loss, LOL.

From memory I would have been eating around 800 calories a day at 6 months so 900-1000 sounds completely spot on.

Sounds like you're doing absolutely amazingly.

[ms.sss 14,670]

@wendywitch7, at 6 months post op, i was at about 700-800 calories a day. BUT i am also 7 inches shorter than you, AND i weighed about 130 lbs at the 6 months post-op mark (started at 235 lbs, so that was a loss of just over 100lbs in 6 months).

i was losing about 2 to 2.5 lbs a week pretty much steadily starting month 3 postop until i about a month after reaching goal (i dropped the most weight the first 2 months after surgery)...then i dropped a couple more lbs after that and stabilized at my current weight since then.