Eating TOO LITTLE can cause a weight loss stall!

[Lainey H 37]

Had an interesting talk with my dietitian today. She is hell bent that we work up to 1000-1200 calories per day as soon as possible. I'm on week two...she doesn't expect me to get there until week five or so, but encourages me to try.
I asked, Why not take advantage of the natural desire to eat fewer calories and....you know....lose a little more weight?
And what she said kinda floored me.
She said that prolonged low calorie diets will switch your metabolism to a starvation mode where body processes are slowed, energy is conserved and *gasp* YOU STOP LOSING WEIGHT. Worse, you can lower your metabolic set point to sluggish starvation levels.
She goes...I know, I know...seems counterproductive, doesn't it? After a lifetime of being heavy, someone's telling you that you have to eat more to lose weight...but it's true! 60-80g of Protien, and 1000-1200 calories. Both are equally important if you want to lose weight and set yourself up for a healthy metabolism later. Balance your diet. Protein absolutely, but fruits, veggies, healthy fats, and Healthy low glycemic complex carbs, too. Balance is important for good metabolism for life. You can lose weight fast on all Protein, but you can create a healthy metabolism that lasts a lifetime with balance.
She also said that diets under 1000 calories are correlated with nutritional deficiency, bone loss, more hair loss, and muscle loss. Ouch.
So yeah....eat Bubbalah...eat.... Seems absolutely unreal.
On the plus side, I found a comfort food I absolutely love that's legal:
Cocoa wheats thinned with chocolate Premier Protien. Slides down easy...and the energy lasts.

So interesting@creekimp13 Im a little past week 4 but and between 559-650 calories. Mainly focusing on getting to 70g of Protein and 64oz of fluids. At this stage I can’t eat more without Water intake suffering bc really can’t do much more than 3 to 5 oz depending on the food. I’m wondering how to get to 1000. Veggies would get me there. Does she recommend potatoes? Will start working out in a couple of weeks so hopefully can increase food. Not getting enough protein to sacrifice giving up some for other foods.

[Lainey H 37]

So interesting@creekimp13 I’m 4 ½ weeks out and I’m about 650 calories. My nut hasn’t talked about calorie goals just Protein 60 to 80 and 64 oz of Water. I’m at 70 and mostly get to 64oz. I eat about 2 oz of dense protein and 3-4 of fish. Other foods about 4-5 oz. not sure how I would increase calories without sacrificing protein or Fluid. Thinking I could add potatoes or more fats but I would either have to add another meal which would lower my fluid intake or add to current eating which would lower intake of protein. I have slowly been increasing amount so will work on that. Does she have any suggestions on how to get there. Thanks!

[Creekimp13 5,841]

We're doing three meals and three Snacks per day to get to 1000. I think as capacity to eat improves, we'll lose the snacks. Yes, we're eating some potato and sweet potato. I'm putting almonds in my smoothies, and having chia seed pudding, avacado, etc. I'm not having any problem reaching 60-80g of Protein, or 1000 calories. (or 64oz of fluid).

I drink a couple of cups of Decaf coffee per day, and douse it with caramel protein shake....it's actually not too bad:)

[Lainey H 37]

11 hours ago, Creekimp13 said:

We're doing three meals and three Snacks per day to get to 1000. I think as capacity to eat improves, we'll lose the Snacks. Yes, we're eating some potato and sweet potato. I'm putting almonds in my smoothies, and having chia seed pudding, avacado, etc. I'm not having any problem reaching 60-80g of Protein, or 1000 calories. (or 64oz of fluid).

I drink a couple of cups of Decaf coffee per day, and douse it with caramel Protein shake....it's actually not too bad:)

@Creekimp13 How quickly can you drink Water? I'm doing 8oz in about an hour. Sometimes a little less time but then I start belching or hiccups. And do you do one Protein Shake a day in addition to decaf coffee? I just ordered decaf so that's a great idea. I could not get that many snacks and meals because would be off on my 64 oz. I do the one shake with milk and the other 7 glasses in water or tea and three meals. The issue for me is waiting 30 min before and 30 min after for the 3 meals and not being able to drink liquids quickly. Just not enough hours in a day... God forbid I take a nap - lol.

Huge improvement over a few weeks ago when nut wanted me to do 4 oz / hour. They don't want me doing more than 1 shake so try hard to concentrate on foods with higher protein like yogurt and fish. Sashimi is prob my best meal so far. Can eat almost 4 oz.. Greek yogurt is an easy way to get 15g. Thanks for any tips. I guess I shouldn't worry too much right now b/c I haven't hit any stalls but would like to get closer to 800-1000 so any tips would help.

Edited January 1, 2018 by Lainey H

[Beardman 52]

13 hours ago, Creekimp13 said:

We're doing three meals and three Snacks per day to get to 1000. I think as capacity to eat improves, we'll lose the Snacks. Yes, we're eating some potato and sweet potato. I'm putting almonds in my smoothies, and having chia seed pudding, avacado, etc. I'm not having any problem reaching 60-80g of Protein, or 1000 calories. (or 64oz of fluid).

I drink a couple of cups of Decaf coffee per day, and douse it with caramel Protein shake....it's actually not too bad:)

Very interesting thread. My program and NUT still maintain less than 600 calories for the first few months. We haven't discussed specifics after that as I'm only 12 days out from my surgery (feeling amazing!). I'm supposed to get 80-100 g of protein and less than 50 g of carbs. So far, as I'm still on liquids I rarely get above 20g of carbs. I know that my wife (sleeved about a month before me) was told by the NUT that she needed to increase her calories as she was averaging 300! So there does seem to be recognition that too little calories is bad. Maybe we will be on a more slow ramp rate that 1000 cal/6 weeks.