Calorie intake

Stick around a while.  I have seen countless failures and regain believing that. 

Calories DO matter. 

I have to say my plan was a joke. It had carbs galore in it. Which is not good. Meaning things like a grilled cheese sandwich. It did not focus on protein. 

I am glad I found this website. I am not sure where I would be if I didn't. 

Protein is important. Journal your food. 

1000 seems like a lot for 3 weeks out. Not that you won't eventually increase your calories, but early on is usually less. I have always had a protein drink or added protein powder to my day, everyday since I was on the pre-op diet. It helps to keep the protein numbers up, which will help with healing as well as being satisfied. My surgeon says the protein shakes shouldn't be more than about 200 calories and 5g of sugar and at least 20g protein.

It's about double for 3 weeks out.

What Cynthia said. What are these protein shakes you are drinking? There are a lot of shakes out there that call themselves protein shakes but really are not. Premier protein is 160 calories and 30 grams of protein. Even if you drink two in one day, that is only 320 calories.

My center also said not to worry about calories and to focus on protein and fluids, but after losing 80 lbs pre-op by tracking what I ate, I wasn't willing to give that up at the point when it seemed even more crucial.

At 3 weeks out, I was getting about 600-800 calories a day. There were a couple days in the first 2 weeks when I got over 1200 calories of Unjury shakes and Greek yogurt because I was so dang hungry and liquids gave me no restriction. I knew that was too much, and fortunately my caloric intake dropped like a rock when I was finally able to start eating real food again because it finally quelled the beast.

Now I average about 1200 at 7 mos and am still losing (albeit more slowly), but that varies a lot...some days barely 900, others 1500. Keep in mind though that metabolism can vary a lot too. Some people will stop losing at 1000 calories; others lose consistently on 1500.

Thank you for that. That really helps me a lot. 

Thank you all for your responses! This is helping me a ton! The protein powder I was using was whey protein but it was too gritty so I switched to EAS complete protein powder. Its 150 cals, 25 protein and 7 sugars. My downfall tho is that I hate mixing it with water so I mix it with milk which adds more calories and a tablespoon of peanut butter. It tastes so much better that way, kind of like a pb shake. So 150 cals of protein powder, 80 cals for milk, 85 cals for pb. So my shakes are 315 cals and 36 protein. I'm allergic to raw fruits and veggies so I'm limited on what I can mix in with my protein. So if I have 2 of those a day that's 639 cals right there. And then if I eat at all, which I do selectively but still it doesn't take much to add another 200-400 cals. I'm trying to make the best choices but felt like my cals were too high. But that's only been a couple days they have reached 1000. I usually stay right around 700. After writing all that out I think I am overdoing it on the protein shakes. I need to cut back on the ingredients. Thank you all for your input!

Skip the added peanut butter and fruit. It's extra calories that you don't need right now. There's plenty of nutrition in yhe shake without the extras.

It's always the extras that bit us on the ass and got us to obesity. Extra pb in the shake, extra dressing on the salad, extra butter on the popcorn. Learning to do without those things makes a difference.

One extra tablespoon of peanut butter a day, every day, will be 50 pounds in 5 years.

Wow that really puts it into perspective. Thank you for that. Its not like I'm even hungry for it I just want it to taste good, but that being said I can do without. I tried a protein the other day that was fantastic so I will probably go buy that. Maybe it would be good with water. I have to find my groove of what I like etc. It seems like it has all changed since surgery.