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not american, so no thanksgiving pics to share, but here are some thingsn i've prepared/eaten the last week or so (NOTE: i'm currently in an effort to gain weight - the horrors! lol - so my food choices may be a little off-the-bariatirc-norm...) 1) bbq pork and seasoned rice one-pot-rice-cooker-meal. my portion: 266 cals...ate almost all of it 2) homemade chilli topped with cilantro and feta cheese, home focaccia and sliced avocado sprinkled with sumac: 599 calories for whats shown. ate everything except the foccacia (too chewy for me!!...mr ate it instead) 3) more of my homemade chili, some cheddar cheese, more cilantro, and some Tostido's Hint of Lime Tortilla chips (my fave!!!) 276 cals...ate it all! 4) homemade guacamole with the above mentioned focaccia that i slow toasted to make crisps with cheddar & cilantro & sour cream: 370 cals...ate all except 2 the focaccia crisps. 5) homemade crispy pork belly...omg THE. BEST. CRISPY. PORK. BELLY. EV-AH!!! this pic is of the entire slab. i had roughly 1/2 cup volume of it. ate it all!! 250 calories! 6) junky snacks: - 2 walkers mini shortbread cookies + 1 chocolate : 123 calories - 2 walkers mini shortbread cookies + 3 sour keys candies 103 calories yep, ate all it ta-da!

Well I’m early out yet so I’m sure the hunger will be back soon enough. If only it could stay gone forever!!. Yea the chomps does make minis too but they don’t come in the pepperoni flavor and that’s my favorite so I just do half and save the other half for later (I literally have a box of ziplocks in my car for that purpose). It’s 12g protein and 80 calories though so I do half of that with either a baby bell light or a Sargento mozzarella stick which is another 5g protein for 45 or 50 calories. 85 or 90 calories for 11g of tasty protein on the go is pretty good in my book. I will have to try the mini archer beef ones for something different.

I'm 4 years out and have maintained a stable weight for over 2 years. I've taken a lot of cues from the WLS veterans on this forum because I'm acutely aware that a lot of WLS patients experience significant regain, and I live in fear of that because I've gone through a lot to lose 200 pounds and I don't ever want to go back to obesity. I learned early on that one of the keys to long-term maintenance is closely monitoring and tracking weight, and taking action promptly if it starts to creep up. I weigh myself on a daily basis (usually more than once a day). My weight can fluctuate quite a bit, sometimes by 5 pounds within a single day, so I consider my normal weight range to be 135-140 pounds. As long as I'm within that range, I don't give it a second thought. I may be outside of that once in a while, but I don't worry about it too much unless I stay outside that range for more than a couple of days. I've continued to track everything I eat and stay within a calorie limit. Five years ago, I would have been horrified to imagine tracking my food long-term, but I actually think it makes weight maintenance more sustainable. I could probably get away without tracking at this point because I habitually eat healthy, low-calorie meals, but much like having a financial budget, having a calorie budget allows me to prioritize and make conscious decisions about what I want to consume. If I'm tracking my food, I know whether I have room in my budget for a treat today, or if I want a specific treat, I can make sure to leave room in my calorie budget. I think this is really important because I don't have to go off track or have an out-of-control "cheat day" to eat what I want. I eat healthy foods most of the time (with the occasional treat within my calorie budget), and I've completely overhauled my diet. I've gotten the sense that one of the pitfalls that can lead to regain for WLS patients is that we can rely on our restriction for the first year or so to limit our calorie consumption, but if we continue to eat high-calorie foods like fast food and highly processed snack foods, once the restriction is weaker, we can eat enough calories to regain the weight, and/or eat around the restriction by having multiple smaller portions of high-calorie foods. I eat a lot of vegetables and salads, lean protein (chicken, pork loin, seafood), and legumes, and avoid sugar, refined carbs (rice, pasta, bread, crackers), fried foods, and other calorie-dense foods like cheese. I've discovered a lot of healthy foods that I love eating, so I don't feel deprived with delicious low-calorie meals. Initially, I was very strict about weighing and tracking every bite of food, but I've gotten much more relaxed about it and I just eyeball things that are negligible. I still weigh and measure things with higher calorie density like meat or oil, but I don't measure lettuce because even if I underestimate, it will be a 10-15 calorie difference at the most, and I log half a tomato instead of weighing the exact number of grams. This is another reason that weighing myself is key -- I know that if I'm maintaining a stable weight, my guesstimates must be close enough. Exercise wasn't a huge part of my weight loss strategy; I didn't do any exercise at all for the first 75+ pounds, and then I just did YouTube videos at home. Exercise has become a huge part of my lifestyle in maintenance, though. Not only do I do cardio at home on a daily basis and a minimum of 15,000 steps per day, but I also take fitness classes including strength training a few days per week.

Absolutely not. Not enough calories, carbs, nutrients. That's basically a starvation diet, and we don't support that here. You need food. For various reasons. The protein shakes are supplements, not complete meal replacements.

I'm sorry you're going through all this, especially since like most of us you went through surgery to become healthier. As far as the "under 900 calories" at 1 1/2 years out, I'm at at 800 at 15 months out myself. I've even asked about increasing my calories at my 12 month checkup having seen most ppl on these forums discuss that they've been put on 1200 calories a day at this point in the journey and I was told I could maybe add 100 calories but they were very hesitant about it. Now you have me worried. What symptoms are you experiencing? Currently, I have no energy, I feel like I'm dragging my legs and feet... I'm grumpy most of the time and I've started getting nerve or some kind of pain in my right armpit area... My joints ache was just thinking arthritis, I've been very hard on my body with 14 years of gymnastics and being in a physical confrontation job with ppl twice my size..headaches.. . could you if you don't mind share what you've been experiencing? Luckily my co-morbidities have all gone away so far.. Thank you for your post, hopefully I can address this with my GP next month! I hope you start to feel better soon I know this isn't what you signed up for. I take it your bariatric clinic kept you low calorie too?

late night coffee and dessert with some gal pals last night: i ordered this monstrosity: banana and nutella funnel cake with chocolate and peanut butter sauce and peanu-chocolate chip crumble with a side of vanilla soft serve ice cream (not shown) the menu listed the calorie count at 1,380 calories plus another 191 calories for the ice cream for a total of 1,571 calories! i ate maybe 1/4 of the funnel cake itself (but none the ice cream), so maybe 350 cals? pre-wls i probably would have eaten all of it including the ice cream, plus have forkful tastes of my friends' desserts as well. my, how things have changed! i did get a little bit of a loose poop when i got home, but it was worth it, ha! next time, i could do without the chocolate sauce and the crumble topping....

Are you logging your food? If you end up working with a dietitian, I can almost guarantee they are going to ask you to do so. You might as well start ASAP so they have something to work with. Specific amounts matter, so be sure to weight and measure everything. The reality is we just aren't good at determining how many calories we actually eat. Most people underestimate calories, but overestimating isn't unheard of either. You mention a couple of times that you're eating a lot. What you need to understand is that the amount of calories you are currently eating just IS NOT ENOUGH for you. You need to be consuming eating even more calories and logging your current intake will often be the first step. Once a baseline is established, a dietitian can help you find ways to increase your caloric intake to where it needs to be, even if you feel like you can't physically fit any more food in.

How many calories are you eating wondering if I am eating too little.I am eating on average 400 a day. I am 3 months out from gastric bypass.

Late night snack- whole wheat toast with Vegemite, a white cheddar babybel cheese, and a microwaved apple with cinnamon and a packet of equal. 245 calories, 6g fiber, and 8.5g protein.

I wish it were that simple, but it's not. We have to keep in mind that our weight is made up of a lot more than just fat. There are multiple body composition models used, but the one I recommend most people use when trying to lose fat is a 3 compartment model that consists of the following: Fat Muscle Bone I recommend this one since it's easy for most people to visualise those 3 components. Keep in mind however that roughly 70-75% of muscle mass is water. Why is that important? Because sometimes we can be fooled by the scale into thinking we're not losing fat, or that we're gaining fat when we're not. Most likely, what you're seeing is simply changes in water weight. A really common scenario is for people on low calorie diets (like most people here), to see a plateau and think that means they need exercise more and/or eat less, but when they do that, they actually gain a bit according to the scale. The reality is they didn't gain fat, they retained more water. I think it's important to keep in mind that we all have something called a Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is the minimum number of calories your body needs simply to stay alive. It can be thought of as the number of calories you expend per day even if you were completely sedentary. BMR is a complicated subject, but on average, the bigger you are, the higher your BMR. Yes, it goes down as you lose fat, since fat is not completely metabolically inert, but fat loss does not have nearly the effect on BMR that losing muscle does. This is one of the main reasons bariatric patients are told to focus on protein intake because protein is needed to help prevent excessive muscle loss when dieting. More muscle = higher BMR = faster weight loss, or being able to eat more at goal weight The average BMR for women is ~1400 k/cal per day. Higher if you are taller or more muscular, lower if you are shorter and/or have lower muscle mass. Men, for obvious reasons tend to have a higher BMR that's more in the 1700 range. My point in telling you all of the above is that it's highly unlikely that someone eating 900 calories a day needs to eat even less if weight loss has stalled. Frankly, if that is the OP, then I'd actually recommend exactly the opposite: try upping your caloric intake a couple hundred k/cal per day and see what happens. I know it seems counter intuitive, but your body is not a simple machine where the calories in vs. calories out paradigm actually works. Happy to discuss more and provide additional info, but this post is already overly long. Best of luck.

I would suggest you do some more research into which surgery to get. There are pros and cons to each. Many people choose the sleeve over gastric bypass because it has a lower risk of dumping syndrome, vitamin deficiencies, and ulcers. Most doctors want to do what’s best for the patient, so they should be able to explain why they recommend the sleeve for you. Do you know how many calories you are eating? Have you tried measuring and tracking your food? At your height and weight, you are eating approximately 2500 calories per day, and you will need to eat less to lose weight. Either surgery works as a tool to help you eat less, which is how you lose the weight.

That sounds like an excellent plan you know not every dietitians ideas will work for everyone anyways. That’s why they all have a different version of what they think you should do because that’s what works for most of the people that they’ve helped but there is no one size fits all approach. I probably could increase my calories a little bit, but I’m just scared to. I know I need to at some point so I don’t ruin my Matabolism Because I’m burning more with just my active calories than I am consuming right now. I actually think that may be bad. The good news is I see the nurse practitioner tomorrow so I will get to ask. Honestly, though. I feel like I eat all day. Some things are just off plan. But really if I increased my calories too much more I would be over on the carbs or fat maximums that she gave me I think.

I'm fairly certain its the other way around. The only thing you actually lose in hot weather is water weight causing dehydration. So make sure you drink more water with perhaps a bit of sodium added to your food! "You won't burn more calories in the heat, but that may be a different story in cold weather. According to the National Institutes of Health, the body works very hard to maintain its internal body temperature in both hot and cold environments. Yet, when it's cold, heat loss occurs and the internal body temperature drops, the hypothalamus (a small region in the brain) increases the body’s metabolism to generate heat. In addition, the muscles involuntarily contract to cause shivering and generate heat. Shivering also burns calories. However, a drop in body temperature or shivering only occurs in extreme and potentially life-threatening circumstances. Living in a cold climate does not necessarily translate to calorie burn." https://www.today.com/health/diet-fitness/burn-calories-heat-rcna157769

This weekend has been pretty hard getting back on track and not wanting to eat everything. I have had a couple days that I had 1500 calories, which feels like a lot but I also think I only ate when I was hungry; I have been snacking on nuts recently to stay away from carbs, but they do have a lot of calories and fat. Last night, we had an early birthday dinner for my husband's birthday and he always wants to do a nice steak dinner. I actually tried Wagyu for the first time because you could get it by the ounce and I figured that would be perfect since I can only eat a little bit anyway. It was delicious!!! It was also my first time having a cocktail while eating dinner.

No worries.i haven't had a period since 2018, so I can't use that as a guide. I've been to nutrition and my bariatric team. Nutrition gave me calorie and macro goals and I'll repeat a body composition the end of October. What's funny is I haven't changed how I eat, just tracking, and I've meet or exceeded the goals given. They also did blood work and everything checks out fine. At this point, the only thing I can think of are the times my activity level has been higher. However, I compensate for that by eating more calories. I'm very in tune with my body and adjust my eating as needed. I guess the key factor is calorie input/output. Also, my bariatric team seems to think the body composition was inaccurate. We'll see what the end of October brings.

May I ask how many calories you intake. Day ?

so a quick google states that a weight loss "stall" or "plateau" is 4 CONSECUTIVE WEEKS of no weight gain NOR loss while on a CONSISTENT calorie intake. basically, this means netting the SAME average amount of calories (intake less expenditure) for 4 weeks and staying at the same weight for said 4 weeks. this generally means that you have reached an equilibrium with your intake (calories) and your expenditure (activity). which means you either have to reduce your intake or increase your expenditure to restart a downward trend. the inverse of this is also true: increase your intake or decrease your expenditure, and you will GAIN weight. sooooo...if you are below 4 weeks of the scale not moving (in conjunction of your measurements not reducing), then stay the course...you are in a stall. if you are ABOVE 4 weeks of the scale (and measurements) not moving, then this would indicate the time to start re-evaluating your lifestyle IF you want to lose more...you are in a plateau. if you are happy with your current lifestyle, and just don't want nor need to make changes, then is a matter of accepting yourself as you are now. ain't nothing wrong with that! not everyone gets to their arbitrary goal weight. and those that do, the majority don't even stay there. find the weight that you are cool with expending the effort to maintain. it's different for everybody. good luck! ❤️

All food restrictions will be lifted once you're a few months out. There's nothing you won't be allowed to eat, but you'll need to be mindful of calories, portion size, and nutrition from here on out, otherwise you'll be at risk of gaining the weight back. I eat all of those things you mentioned..just in moderation (and some of them, I don't eat very often).. Do I ever splurge? Yes - but not often, and I'm right back at it the next day. honestly, many of my never-been-obese women friends eat the same way - they watch their portion sizes and don't splurge or eat really high-calorie or unhealthy things very often - just occasionally.

speaking of chicken, ha! this was lunch today, that i picked up after yoga classes (pro tip: don't buy take out on your way home from exercise class because it will likely be deep fried stuff like this omg). 1/3 KFC classic chicken sandwich, 1 KFC chicken tender, and 2 and a little bit of KFC onion rings (the cute little one was my favourite, lol) with a little bit of ketchup & bbq sauce: 462 calories for all of it. ate the tender and the onion rings, but got tired after one bite of the partial sandwich and gave up...so probably 275 calories for what i actually ate (mr. already ate the leftovers).

HI bypassers, Can any of you or most of you share the numbers of what you should be eating 2.5 - 3 months post op? Like how many grams/oz per meal? Or how many calories total. Thanks I'd appreciate it.

I wish I could say from experience but I never made it to the maintenance phase with my sleeve and I’m early out from my revision. From being on the boards though it seems what most people do is to add like 100 healthy calories at a time and wait and see if that makes them gain and keep upping it until they find what their body is happy with. Of course if you level of activity or type of calories changes you may have to adjust so I think if you don’t choose to log your food daily you may want to at least spot check it like once a week just so you can see if your habits change gradually and keep on track for what works for your body. Congratulations on nearing maintenance!!

How long was your stall. Sorry I know this post is old. But I’m in that slump now. Eating 1000-1200 calories. Drinking enough water. And getting my protein. Exercising. Still stay the same right now. Almost for 2 weeks now.

Lol sorry...I should have checked my text, stupid auto correct. It should be Tajin! No calories..carbs!

Breakfast (2.5 hours post a weight lifting and jogging session) 1 slice protein toast, 4 slices turkey breast, lite cheese, spicy mayo, lettuce and jalapeños. How I did: Had the rest an hour later. Approximately 314 calories for the whole thing. Also had a protein shake 1.5 hours prior.

as others have touched on above, it depends on what you call a "normal sized meal". can i eat my "normal sized" pre-wls meal from my obesity heyday? hecks no. but, let's be real, those meals were bigger (and not as often-consumed) as the meal sizes of not-obese people. now...can i eat enough food to maintain my current weight, feel satisfied AND not feel like i'm depriving myself? yecks, YEAH. from the outside and to those not in the know, it probably looks like i don't eat enough, but its enough for ME. my restriction is still very much in effect, so i don't eat alot in VOLUME at one sitting. but i did* manage to get my 2300+ calories in by eating often, and choosing higher calorie foods. (NOTE: i exercise ALOT, so my caloric needs are probably higher for your average 5'2" person, but still) *clarification (and to go off on tangent): i WAS able to do this, but lately am not eating as often - for other reasons** - so my average calorie count has been dropping, but i'm working on it.... ** i got braces and my pure HATRED and annoyance of having to clean my teeth after eating ANYTHING has effectively stopped me from eating. it's in my head, i know. i'm working on it....