Calories

Take it or leave it, but here's my thoughts:

As you progress and as your sleeve matures your capacity will increase. As that happens it's natural for calories to increase, too. While I think protein trumps calories because you need adequate protein in your diet to reproduce on the cellular level, I think for optimum weight loss it doesn't hurt to count calories, carbs and proteins.

I'm not sure what is being recommended these days by most programs, but mine recommended getting at least 600 calories a day by week two. (Before week two, it was just about hydration and learning to eat and counting protein- minimum 60 grams those first two weeks.) Then calories were upped to 800 as solid food was introduced. It was recommended that we stay at 800 calories as long as possible, but not to "freak out" if we went over every so often.

As far as protein and carbs and calories the final formula per day was this: protein 80+ grams, carbs

I started a food log on SparkPeople.com when I began eating solid food again. SparkPeople records calories and breaks them down into macro- and micro-nutrients. It also will summarize in a chart for whatever time period you enter. I plan to keep tracking what I eat because I've read in so many books that people who keep daily food logs are usually more successful at weight loss than those who don't keep track.

psychoticparrot

I would wait until you are off your restricted diet and able to eat "real food".  It's a great way to keep accountable and you will have more success if you track what you eat.  There are many apps for smart phones that can help you do this if you have one.

It boggles my mind why some programs don't have patients counting calories....

Real world maintenance is all about calories....

3oz of chicken can be 150cals to over 500 depending on preparation.

Counting calories and general nutrition during WL prepares you for the long term and establishes a baseline.

frisco