Metabolism levels a year or two after surgery?

[s2dm 3]

Scheduled to have VSG in one month, and currently going through the "am I doing the right thing" phase. Just lots of reading right now.

I'm 44, 6'6" tall, BMI of 34.5, so low side, but with lots of orthopedic problems these days, went from playing college Bball to barely being able to walk.

One question Ive been wondering about, is after two years of this very low calorie diet with sleeve, do people feel like their metabolism is slower yet than it was when they started the journey? All that research from the biggest loser contests, and my own experience with losing so much over and over only to put it on again, is a big part of why I went ahead with scheduling the surgery, the numbers don't look good for me ever being able to do this with just diet and exercise (though I know I'll need those in addition). But wondering if it will be slower yet once I reach a steady state?

[travelergirl 142]

I asked my DR that question and she said that your body and metabolism is reset through this process. It sounded like we don't end up with a really slow metabolism but I didn't get the clearest answer so I am also curious what people are experiencing in real life.

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[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

13 hours ago, s2dm said:

Scheduled to have VSG in one month, and currently going through the "am I doing the right thing" phase. Just lots of reading right now.

I'm 44, 6'6" tall, BMI of 34.5, so low side, but with lots of orthopedic problems these days, went from playing college Bball to barely being able to walk.

One question Ive been wondering about, is after two years of this very low calorie diet with sleeve, do people feel like their metabolism is slower yet than it was when they started the journey? All that research from the biggest loser contests, and my own experience with losing so much over and over only to put it on again, is a big part of why I went ahead with scheduling the surgery, the numbers don't look good for me ever being able to do this with just diet and exercise (though I know I'll need those in addition). But wondering if it will be slower yet once I reach a steady state?

There are some threads here you can search for where we had some long convos about this. Specifically about that biggest loser study.

I am almost 2 years out and my metabolism is normal to high.

You aren't supposed to stay on ultra low calories forever. The sooner you get your calories up, the better. Over 1000 a day ASAP..

I don't know how many calories @BigViffer eats but he is a guy that works out a lot and I think he eats around 2000 calories a day if I recall correctly. A lot of us eat normal levels of calories and are able to lose or maintain. The people that hang out at 800 calories forever even though they are stalled are the ones that ruin their metabolism.

[BigViffer 3,544]

You are correct. 2000-2500 is my average. My surgeon said I could go as high as 3500, but I just can't eat that much.

Sent from my phone. Please forgive brevity and spelling.

[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

I eat 1400 to 1500 most days, and 1900-2000 when I am really active

[Newme17 3,444]

5 hours ago, OutsideMatchInside said:

I eat 1400 to 1500 most days, and 1900-2000 when I am really active

This is what I will be doing when I hit goal. Not to screw up my metabolism by eating less than what I should be at 5'6" and 145ish.

[Mekkie_C 8]

There was a study done at the University of Cincinnati on how the sleeve affects your metabolism. It seems as if what they have found out is that with the lack of ghrelin in our systems, it actually disallows for certain things to link up and results in a speeding up of our gut metabolisms after having surgery.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140326142209.htm

[RickM 1,753]

Mine is pretty much the same as it was before, corrected for the lower weight that I'm dragging around all day. Before surgery, I was stable in the 26-2800 calorie range and now, 100 lb lower, I'm stable in the 2000-2200 range. I ran in the 1100 calorie range while losing and started ramping up the calories to slow things down toward maintenance after six months. One can probably conclude that my resting metabolism is similar to what went before, while the active burn has decreased some due to the lost weight. I suspect that you will also be a fairly quick loser without having to go to extremely low calorie levels given your numbers and your discussion in the other thread that I have lost track of. Do you know what your approx metabolism is currently, where are you stable or losing/gaining? The ones who really struggle are coming into this, usually from fairly high (relatively speaking) weight and already have significant metabolic problems, as in 1200 calories or so, and have little choice but to go significantly lower (or go with a DS, that really kicks the metabolism up.) If the weight loss significantly helps your ortho problems as you hope, your overall burn should pick up some if you can return to some of your former activities.

BTW, did you go with Dr. Billy as you were considering, or someone else (semi-neighbor here, in the Valley, though our doc shares a support group in Ventura with another surgeon)?

[bellabloom 2,467]

My metabolism is quite fast even after a whole year of almost all liquids and only about 400 calories a day.

That said- if I were you I would really consider carefully if you want and need to do this. Your bmi is not high for your height and frame. Weight loss did not fix my joint and back issues. I still have them. Not everything is weight related. In fact most things are not IMO weight related.

Have you sought physical therapy? Are you sedentary? If so have you tried slowly increasing your activity and weight training? Those could help way more then weight loss.

After surgery you can put weight on again and most do. It's a major thing to do to your body and I feel only should be done in drastic cases. There are other ways than dieting to lose weight.

[travelergirl 142]

Mekkie- thank you for the link to that study. Very interesting.

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[s2dm 3]

Really appreciate everyones comments and they are re-assuring. I'm still nervous about it, but think I am going to proceed.

[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

On 4/2/2017 at 9:28 PM, Newme17 said:

This is what I will be doing when I hit goal. Not to screw up my metabolism by eating less than what I should be at 5'6" and 145ish.

Well my RMR is 1900 ish. So eating 1400 is still a large daily deficit. I can maintain at 1900 to 2000. They days I was eating that last summer I was burning like 1000 calories a day walking so I had to up my calories but I was still running a huge deficit.

I just don't even have the time to eat 2000 calories a day. It is a huge time sink

Edited April 5, 2017 by OutsideMatchInside

[Newme17 3,444]

6 hours ago, OutsideMatchInside said:

Well my RMR is 1900 ish. So eating 1400 is still a large daily deficit. I can maintain at 1900 to 2000. They days I was eating that last summer I was burning like 1000 calories a day walking so I had to up my calories but I was still running a huge deficit.

I just don't even have the time to eat 2000 calories a day. It is a huge time sink

I can imagine it might feel like a chore to do to try and eat the deficit just to maintain. If it becomes that way for me, I'll end up lightening my workout load a bit. Although I love weights, I just need a good walk daily for fitness anyhow. I plan to be here 2 years out and on...I'd love for people to be inspired with what I do or don't do. Thanks for being here hon. I always enjoy your posts!!!

[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

@Newme17

Well it seems like a lot of people that never boost their calories fast enough have to maintain on 800-1000, because they keep their calories low for a whole year or whatever. So their RMR, maintence level is 800-1000 and they don't have anywhere to go to run at a deficit. By keeping a normal metabolism, you have some place to go. I'm eating 1400 and losing slowly on purpose (easier on my body at this point), but I could do to 1200 for a couple weeks if I wanted. I ate at 1900 for weeks and didn't gain anything and lost 2lb I think. So keeping your metabolism up, gives you wiggle room. If you ruin it you have no where to go later on, and will regain no matter what.

[Blue Door 54]

How do you all know your RMR? Have you had testing done? I am interested in doing the testing, but want to be sure it is worthwhile.

Thanks.