I've been on a liquid diet for five weeks now (2 weeks pre-op and now 3 weeks post-op). During that time, I've been routinely consuming no more than 1000 calories per day-often a lot less than 1000 calories. For four weeks, I was losing weight like mad, and now in the past week my weight loss has pretty much stopped. I've been reading various places that after a little bit of time on very low calories, you're body lowers metabolism to preserve energy which stalls weight loss. The problem is, I'm finding it hard to increase my calories much on a liquid diet without blowing all of the rules and having high calorie liquids. So, these are my questions:

1. When you were on the liquid phase, how many calories did you typically get per day in liquids?
   
2. How do I increase my calorie intake without blowing all of the rules that they taught me during my pre-op work with the dietician?
   

Thanks,

Bryan

You NEED calories or your body will definitely slow down. On liquids, 1200 calories would be a minimum - yu are not trying to deprive yuor body of calories at this point - rather the liquid stage allows your body to heal. Focus on high protein shakes - I know, maybe not the best tasting, but it is a blip in time. Your weight loss will "normalize" - expect only a couple pounds per week (and even none some weeks). Keep exercising and try to see a nutritionist who has experience with lap band patients for at least one or two visits - definitely worth the cost !