Average calories

[DaisyAndSunshine 303]

So I'll soon be moving to soft/regular diet phase and I was wondering how did your average calories look like 1 month, 2 months, 3 months etc post-Op?

I believe Sleeve vs Bypass folks may have different # of average calories given the different anatomy.

I do have a dietician's appt next week so just wanted to get some numbers. Wanna be prepared with any concerns or questions I have may.

Edited December 18, 2021 by DaisyAndSunshine

[catwoman7 11,215]

I'm a few years out so I don't remember how many calories I was eating early on, BUT....my clinic had the bypass people and the sleeve people on the exact same plan, so calories would have been the same.

I know a lot of people on here eat around 600-800 calories from about month 2 to about a year out, but some plans are allowing more than that nowadays. And then there are some clinics that don't want patients focusing on calories (mine was one of those - but I always knew how many I was getting since the tracking apps display calories)

[Guest]

8 hours ago, DaisyAndSunshine said:

So I'll soon be moving to soft/regular diet phase and I was wondering how did your average calories look like 1 month, 2 months, 3 months etc post-Op?

I believe Sleeve vs Bypass folks may have different # of average calories given the different anatomy.

I do have a dietician's appt next week so just wanted to get some numbers. Wanna be prepared with any concerns or questions I have may.

1400 for the first 6 months, from day 1. Then 1800 for 3 months. Now 2100-2300 a day, trying to find my maintenance intake (it's higher than this, clearly). Subtract 200 from each of these for their women's plans.

My program strongly believes in keeping calories 'high' (lol) from the get-go for all as they say your body will otherwise get too used to living on very, very low amounts, and your new set point isn't dependent on calorie intake. AKA if you go 800 cals a day for a year, your body will get to its new set point, but then you'll be stuck maintaining at perhaps 1200, which for most is wildly unsustainable.

The science isn't clear about this yet, though.

What the science *is* clear about is the shocking regain rates for sleeve patients, and they're usually kept on extreme low calorie diets.

[DaisyAndSunshine 303]

7 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

. And then there are some clinics that don't want patients focusing on calories (mine was one of those - but I always knew how many I was getting since the tracking apps display calories)

My bariatric program also doesn't mention any numbers for calories. Numbers for for fluids and Protein. So I am guessing they aren't too concerned about calories either. But I'll definitely bring it up during my dietician's appointment so I know what I'll be dealing with.

[LouLouM 70]

5 hours ago, DaisyAndSunshine said:

My bariatric program also doesn't mention any numbers for calories. Numbers for for fluids and Protein. So I am guessing they aren't too concerned about calories either. But I'll definitely bring it up during my dietician's appointment so I know what I'll be dealing with.

Hi Daisy & Sunshine. I asked, via email, my nutritionist about calories and she didn't answer. She answered other questions, but not the one about calories, so I am kind of assuming my program also doesn't count calories, nor really measurements for food, but I've figured out on my own that I can only eat about 1/4 cup of something at each meal.

[Arabesque 7,332]

I wasn’t given a caloric goal at any stage either only portion size: 1/4 cup to 1/3 to 1/2 etc. as I was able & Protein & fluid goals. I did random calorie checks for my own information. I was eating less than 300 calories in that first month & about 900 by my 6 months & goal & eating about a cup of food but it did depend on what I was eating (like about a cup of protein & vegetables but only one egg). Honestly I couldn’t eat anymore than I did & I was fortunate I wasn’t ever really hungry for more than a than a year. I eat about 1300 to maintain at my weight now but I’m not very active, not very tall, have a smaller frame & am in my mid 50s so my caloric needs were & are different. You’re not tall either so that may influence your caloric recommendations. Worth asking your dietician about factors like these that may influence your caloric needs. They may not even suggest a caloric goal until you’re much further out.

[vikingbeast 987]

My program doesn't do calories. It's stupid crap like "half a cup of food five times a day" which could be 20 calories if I eat it as cucumbers or 2000 if I eat it as Mayonnaise.

My nutritionist, who is not affiliated with my program (I fired the program's nutritionist, which I chronicled elsewhere on this site), has me on about 1600 cal a day at three months out. 135 g Protein, 130 g carbs, 60 g fat.

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, vikingbeast said:

My program doesn't do calories. It's stupid crap like "half a cup of food five times a day" which could be 20 calories if I eat it as cucumbers or 2000 if I eat it as Mayonnaise.

My nutritionist, who is not affiliated with my program (I fired the program's nutritionist, which I chronicled elsewhere on this site), has me on about 1600 cal a day at three months out. 135 g Protein, 130 g carbs, 60 g fat.

Sounds absolutely perfect. We're the same height and you can check here in my images if we're the same build, just to gauge impact of your plan:

Also, when you start feeling hungrier, don't hesitate to get your calories adjusted up. I should've done it a month before I did, and that month was my slowest loss for months because I stayed too low, I think. Once my cals upped, it flew off again.

[vikingbeast 987]

21 hours ago, MiniGastricBypassDude said:

Sounds absolutely perfect. We're the same height and you can check here in my images if we're the same build, just to gauge impact of your plan:

Also, when you start feeling hungrier, don't hesitate to get your calories adjusted up. I should've done it a month before I did, and that month was my slowest loss for months because I stayed too low, I think. Once my cals upped, it flew off again.

I'm slightly broader built than you, I think (it's always hard to tell with pictures, see below), and my weight loss target is higher than yours (225 would be about 15% body fat on me, aiming for 240ish, currently 290). But that was a REALLY great thread. I did not have the MGB, just the regular sleeve.

My nutritionist is way on top of things and is an active woman who fought and won her own battle with weight, so I am confident she has got me on the right track.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, vikingbeast said:

I'm slightly broader built than you, I think

You definitely are, though I'm a farmer's boy too You look rad, dude. Not long until people starting telling you to stop losing weight. Are you 290 in that last picture? That's insane. 250 will look perfectly fine on you.

Btw pro-tip for when you get there: I'm BMI27 now and unfortunately lost a little more with the 'rona, I can see my ribs now, my delts have individual muscle strains visible ... yet my scale still says my bodyfat% is 22. There's like ... no way that's true. My dietitian says it's the extra skin that messes with the current in the bodyfat measurement and not to worry about it. So just keep that in mind.

[vikingbeast 987]

3 minutes ago, MiniGastricBypassDude said:

You definitely are, though I'm a farmer's boy too You look rad, dude. Not long until people starting telling you to stop losing weight. Are you 290 in that last picture? That's insane. 250 will look perfectly fine on you.

Btw pro-tip for when you get there: I'm BMI27 now and unfortunately lost a little more with the 'rona, I can see my ribs now, my delts have individual muscle strains visible ... yet my scale still says my bodyfat% is 22. There's like ... no way that's true. My dietitian says it's the extra skin that messes with the current in the bodyfat measurement and not to worry about it. So just keep that in mind.

Yes, that's me at 290 (actually 292 in that photo). People are already warning me not to lose too much weight, but there's still a ways to go... and in any case I literally can't eat enough to overcome my TDEE even if I wanted to. It's slowed down. My primary care doctor says 275 would be fine and really he just wants me under BMI 40 (which I am), but I'd like to see where I can go. I went from size 54/34 pants to size 35/34... if I end up back where I was in college, I'll be in 32/34s.

I have a DXA body fat scan every three months (it's cheap here, about $40/35€/£30) which reads my body fat. The problem is that the body fat measuring weight scales have two settings. If I leave it on normal mode I get a reading of 42% which is CLEARLY untrue. But if I put it on athlete mode, I get 25%, which is also clearly untrue, though closer. They need to have "kinda fit kinda fat" mode!

The last DXA reading last week had me at 31.7% which I was a bit disappointed as I wanted to be under 30%, but it'll get there. Slowly but surely. I just want under 20%. 15% might be a stretch at 45 years old, but it'd be nice to have the beginnings of abs under the loose skin. 😁

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, vikingbeast said:

People are already warning me not to lose too much weight, but there's still a ways to go.

They said that to me 30 lbs ago, too. I fortunately know it's all about perspective. I think I look pretty rad now, though And I don't want to lose more mass.

BMI can go f' itself, though. What a useless measure. I'm not overweight, my face looks the best it ever has more or less.

Edited December 20, 2021 by Guest

[vikingbeast 987]

Looking good!

I figure I'll just roll my eyes when I have to deal with buttinskies talking about my weight.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, vikingbeast said:

buttinskies

Not only are we trading weight loss tips, I'm learning American slang lol.

Thanks man, took it off again for privacy reasons, just figured I'd show what 200 lbs looks like on 6 feet on me.

But yeah, factor in the rebound 5 lbs or so people seem to gain (or 10 as it were), but kind reminder (to myself, too) that getting down to an indefensible weight is probably a really bad idea as it starts the cycle of overeating again.

I'll honestly probably lose 5 lbs more due to my anatomy - it seems MGB'ers lose a lot and keep losing for a while - but it's not my goal. I'm already below goal.

Congrats on your success. You'll be rolling in it soon I assume you're Scandi, too, based on name?

[vikingbeast 987]

The synonym for buttinsky is Nosey Parker.

I am, in fact, majority Scandihoovian blood, and the part of me that ain't is Scottish and Lithuanian, so all "let's store fat for the cruel Arctic winters and working in the rutabaga fields of the north". Too bad I live in a desert along the Mexican border now 🤣