The surprisingly harmful aspect of the body positivity movement

No, and I never said that at all. I said that he told me to give it a few weeks to let my body adjust to the major calorie drop. That's all.

I never thought I could live on 1,200 calories and felt like I was dying for the first 3-4 days. Now I have, and it's amazing. Dropping a couple of hundred more after surgery, if I do go that route (it's a strong probably at this point, but we'll see), seems much more feasible than I ever would have thought before I started this diet.

Okay - what you did say was "one of the reasons that I'm undecided as yet about WLS is that I want to be able to be properly athletic, which would be difficult on such a limited caloric intake," so I was wondering if you had gotten that impression from your doctor or what. Because it would be really crummy if your doctor had lead you to believe that this was true!

I'm glad that you've adapted to the new caloric intake and that it makes the post-op way of eating seem more plausible. For me, when I was pre-op, it was really useful to read the daily meal threads in the VSG forums to see how people ate and what they did activity-wise. (Although, honestly, pre-op I never figured I'd turn into someone who exercised, much less someone who ended up with a degree in exercise... lolz.)

The thing is, I'm not taking protein powder at all yet and looking to phase that in slowly so that I can get used to it, so my macros are definitely not what they'll need to be post-op, and I HAVE noticed a decided decline in my energy in the past month. I was told that this would be normal, but that it would balance out again when my body adjusted, so I just wondered about how much less energy I might have with even fewer calories later on. I'm very glad to hear that this isn't the case. My friend who had a VSG last year took up jogging after it and I've only ever spent time with her in person (she lives in CA) pre-surgery and can't even imagine her jogging - she used to have to sit down and rest every block or so, and that was with a stroller to lean on. Very cool, what's actually possible once you're not lugging around the weight of another human being with you!

I started exercising around 260-270lb, so I was definitely still lugging around the weight of another human being at that point. :)

Most of us are only allowed to walk for the first 6 weeks post-op and I think, for me, that really helped me to build up to the exercise I do "now." ("Now" is really defined as May 2017, because I've been off my game since then due to surgery recovery and I'm just now getting back into things.) But only being allowed to walk was good for me because I was pretty sedentary before 2014. This helped me to gradually build up stamina so that once I was cleared for exercise beyond walking, I could do so rationally. The number one way people injure themselves with exercise is by trying to do EVERYTHING ALL AT ONCE! I think this is even more useful for us to remember with a post-WLS way of eating, because, as you've found, it does take the body time to adapt. So many people get into exercise and almost immediately think "OMG, I'm exhausted, I need to add more food!" Then they do, and get upset that the stop losing weight. Really, it just takes time to adapt to the new thing you've started demanding your body to do. It becomes even more important to make sure you're getting in all of your fluids and protein and to then just sort of suck it up for a few weeks while your body realizes that you really are going to force it to do what you're asking :P

Once I was cleared to exercise, I added in the fitness classes by basically trying everything my gym offered and finding out what stuck. Then my walking morphed into running. Then I took an ACE personal trainer certification class and added in weight lifting.

The only times I add in extra food to compensate for exercise is if I'm doing a run that's longer than an hour and then I'll eat a single Clif Blok every 40-60 minutes. And, of course, on race days I get a BANANA. (It's the only time I eat bananas, so it's a huge treat for me. I did one race a few years ago that didn't have bananas and I almost cried.)

I know we've talked about this before, but do remember that exercise is only 10-20% of the weight loss equation. It's great for your HEALTH, but when it comes to weight loss, it's mostly all about your way of eating.

You're going to do MUCH better than average because youre an athlete.

As far as calories I wouldn't worry about it - I've never been able to decide whether people here are LYING unconsciously and are actually eating far more calories than they say ..but why would it matter ?

Obviously a 250 lb person who supposedly lives on 800 calories a day is well... fibbing unless they have SEVERE metabolic disorder .

Please read the thread about everyone scarfing butter with their meat to clarify the explanation . Also read their justifications for eating bacon and full fat cheese lol.

OBVIOUSLY if these are your dietary choices ... your huge "reserve" as in Butt... is gonna be following you around lol .

Quutgrl, I can't resist to ask.... are these type posts real? Or are you trying to **** a lot of people off and like the conflict? While I find some things humorous that you write or unbelievable (not that I agree but I have a sick sense of humor sometimes!) they are definitely off the wall at times and not nice to everyone ... cmon is that who you really want to be???????

(edited to add Quutgrl to post since OP thought directed at he which I apologize for)

Apologies for my ignorance, but I'm new here and don't entirely understand how these threads work in terms of who's replying to whom, but are you responding to my comment? If so, I don't quite get why you seem so angry? I'm literally just taking my doctor's advice. I'm years out in terms of surgery and only just started dieting, so I think it's only logical if it takes some time to get used to a much more restrictive caloric intake than what I was used to. I also don't know why you would heavily imply that everyone here is lying. I'm certainly not. I'm also not out to "prove" anything or tell anyone else that what they're doing is wrong. I came here to look for support in my weight loss journey and to hear about other people's experiences, not to attack or be attacked. I don't have access to any support groups where I am, and I won't until July at the earliest, so I was hoping to rely on this community. I don't know where your whole bacon/fat thing came in, but it doesn't apply to me. I'm not justifying a damned thing; I've been living on mainly vegetables, eggs, and meat for the past month, and it's going just fine. Everyone's journey is their own, you know?

Then again, because I have no idea who you're responding to because I find this forum a bit hard to read that way, and because I also find the tone of your comment difficult to gauge, I don't even know whether you're talking to me. I'm here with the intention to respect everyone else's journey and to learn what I can, while following the advice of my own doctor. I'm not going to defend myself beyond that. *shrug*

Not replying to you .... quutgirl who I felt was very insulting to some .... normally I don't get involved but felt for the new people who maybe are not losing and doing all right and saying lying just not right or encouraging.

good luck to you! I looked at my phone quick this morning while making lunches for kids and thought you were responding to me and had not read your post completely! Realize you were responding to Quutgrl. Her post angered me as well... not what we are all here for. Insulting each other has no place here. Do why you are doing. Rome was not built in a day and you are taking positive action! Have a great day!

Thank you! You too! :)