JamieLogical

Sounds about right to me for where I was at that time. Except I was aiming for 100 grams a day of protein. But for calories, I think that's about where I was late into the weight loss phase.

Welcome and congrats on joining the losers' bench! It sounds like everything has been going really well for you so far and that you are aware how fortunate you are for that. The fatigue will begin to improve as you are able to get in more calories and you are healed up. Healing takes a lot of energy and with the minuscule caloric intake, it's no wonder you are tired! I turned a corner with the fatigue once I was able to eat soft foods and even more so once I was able to eat solid foods.

it did break but right back into another, I'm so frustrated ugh I'm so sorry to hear that.

@@byebyefat I thought you had broken your stall? Have things slowed down again?

Restricting calories too much is going to cause stalls and potentially wreck your metabolism long term. While you need to create a calorie deficit in order to lose weight, creating too large a deficit will cause metabolism to slow as your body goes into self-preservation mode. I feel like the advice that some WLS patients get to keep their calories below 1000 a day is what contributes to situations where I people are upset that they can't eat more than 1100 or 1200 calories a day in maintenance. By pushing my calories up to more reasonable levels in my weight loss phase and eating enough to sustain the level of exercise I was doing, I feel like my metabolism is still going strong in maintenance. I've been able to maintain at goal for 7 months now and over the past 30 days (I got a FitBit, so I've been tracking my food) I've actually lost a couple more pounds eating an average 2000 calories a day. Granted, I am training for a half marathon, so I'm burning an average over 2350 calories a day (thus the weight loss instead of maintaining). But even on my laziest days, when I literally get under 2000 steps the whole day, I still burn at least 1600-1700 calories.

I had plastic surgery due to excess/saggy skin even before I had weight loss surgery. Back in 2010/2011, I lost 90 pounds "on my own" and had a tummy tuck and breast lift with augmentation. I had my weight loss surgery in Sept. 2014 after having gained back a lot of those 90 pounds and now I am looking at having a spiral thigh lift this coming September to remove the excess skin from my thighs and hips. Luckily my tummy tuck held up well through my weight regain and re-loss, so no additional work will be needed there. As for hair loss, I only lost hair from 3.5 months post-op until about 5 months post-op and it began regrowing right away. I didn't lose enough for anyone else to notice. I would say, in general, post-WLS I have a lot more confidence in my body. Yes, I want additional plastics, but I am dressing much more fashionably. I actually wear dresses now, which I hadn't done since I was a little girl! I was able to buy some calf-height boots over the winter to wear with tights and leggings. Not dressing nearly as "frumpy" as I used to, taking more pride in my appearance, and I don't try to blend into the background as much anymore. Oh, and I let people take my picture now!

My husband and I eat out often. I wasn't really able to do *too* much eating out before I was back on solid foods. My options were very limited. But once I was cleared for solid foods at 40 days post-op, I haven't had any issues finding things to eat out. If I am ordering my own entree, I will ask for a to-go box at the beginning of the meal and just transfer the food I know I won't be able to eat into it right away. I often try to just order a high protein option off the appetizer menu. Or sometimes, if we know an entree will include enough meat for us to split, I will eat half the meat from my husband's entree and between the other half of the meat and all the sides, he still has plenty of food to keep him happy.

My experience has been that I could lose significant amounts of weight "on my own", but I was never able to keep it off. I always say that I think if my surgery as "weight maintenance surgery" not "weight loss surgery". That being said, since you are looking a bypass, I am not sure I would go through with rerouting my intestines and dealing with malabsorption for the rest of my life just to maintain my weight. I had sleeve, which means I can eat pretty much anything, just smaller amounts and that I fully absorb all of the nutrients from my food and supplements. So, were I in your shoes, I might hesitate to undergo such a drastic option with so little weight left to lose.

If you mean when are you physically capable of eating noodles? Probably sometime in the soft food stage. If you mean when you should nutritionally eat noodles? Probably never. You should be putting protein first, which means not wasting room on filler carbs like pasta, rice, bread, etc.

Congrats on getting your date! That's always a big deal. Only a month and a half away! You must be very excited and anxious.

Don't be embarrassed to cry. The first time I ran a mile straight without stopping, not only did I cry, but I called my husband down to the basement where my treadmill is to tell him and THEN, once I was off the treadmill, I called my parents to tell them. This was when I was like 31 years old... And I am sure I have cried at the end of more than one 5k race. I will DEFINITELY cry at the end of my half marathon... though that might be more out of pain and pride...

You might have better luck finding people who have been in your situation over in the Gastric Bypass subforums? http://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/771-general-gastric-bypass-surgery-discussion/

Congratulations!

You are not alone. Many vets return here when they start to regain a little. The most common advice is a return to basics: Protein first! Get your Water in Take your Vitamins Track your food Eat on a schedule (no grazing) Don't eat and drink at the same time Don't drink your calories Move more! Some people even like to do a return to the liquid diet for a few days to kick their carb cravings.

You didn't say what type of surgery you had. You had it in 1998 and say "pouch" so is it safe to assume you had gastric bypass?

My nutritionist never gave me a calorie limit either. She just told me 100 grams of Protein a day and no liquid calories (no shakes or Soups once I was cleared for solid foods). I just tried to push up over 800 calories a day once I was cleared for exercise. Then more like 1100 calories a day once I was running and doing more intense exercise. And I think I was up around 1400-1500 by the end of my weight loss phase. Now that I am in maintenance and training for a half marathon, I need about 2200-2600 a day to not keep losing weight, but I'm 19 months post-op at this point. If you are very early post-op, your chances of getting too many calories are very slim. More likely you will be getting too few calories.

I love them. I don't have them a ton, because they are high sodium, but when I am spending a day out of the house like at an amusement park or a long car trip or something, I always bring some.

Well, that's terrible. Sorry, but you just had major surgery. Your stomach was brutalized. And now you are mistreating it even further by eating things you shouldn't be? Give it a chance to heal. You are risking major injury by eating solid foods only one week post-op. Little bits of food can get caught in your staple line before it heals, leading to ulcers and abscesses down the road.

I've been on omeprazole since my surgery as well.

You can buy turkey sticks... they are like beef sticks, but made with turkey: http://www.oldwisconsin.com/snacks/snack-sticks/turkey Nuts are another great option. They are calorie dense, so should help you replenish the extra calories you'd be burning on an all-day hike. And of course you could go with Protein bars. There are many low carb Protein Bar options if you go to GNC or Vitamin Shoppe. Or even if you do a higher carb option, that might not be such a bad thing on a long hike when you need more energy. I wouldn't risk cheese or lunch meat without refrigeration... that could go badly.

@@deanna2178 Some surgeons don't require a pre-op diet at all. You will find through this whole process that surgeons have different requirements and guidelines for just about everything. It's important that you follow YOUR surgeon's instructions and don't stress too much about what "everyone else" is doing. If, a few months down the road, you find that you are struggling to lose weight, then you might want to explore a little and ask around about what other people's programs are doing and what's working for them. But in the early stages, as you are healing and developing new habits, it's best to follow your own program's plan.

Definitely discuss with your surgeon. You can lose all of your excess weight with both. Your stats don't sound all that bad, so sleeve should easily be an option for you. Some surgeons push bypass for patients with very high BMIs, diabetes, or GERD. If you don't have those concerns, then sleeve will probably be what your surgeon recommends anyway.

I agree with @@VSGAnn2014 that the amount of calories needed for maintenance is dependent on too many factors for one magic number to work for everyone. 1100 sounds SUPER low to me for maintenance. Weight loss phase MAYBE, but maintenance? Unless your metabolism is completely wrecked, you have thyroid problems, or you are on some sort of medication that disrupts metabolism. On my LAZIEST days I have a basal metabolic rate of 1600. Right now, as I'm training for a half marathon, I have to eat 2200-2600 calories a day to maintain.....

Everything will be fine. Make sure you post again once you've joined us on the losers' bench and tell us how you're feeling!

Okay, yeah, that's a completely different guy than who Kindle and I used. We both went to Ariel Ortiz at Obesity Control Center.