Humor me. Question about starvation mode.

I know I'm over a year 1/2 post-op to technicly a veteran. But I was out of the game so to speak being pregnant and all, so I'm working on getting back on track and refreshing my memory on things. So 2 questions.
1- How many calories do we need to stay out of starvation mode? I'm once again playing the 'calorie' game trying to figure out how many I need to eat in order to keep losing. The booklet I have from my surgeon says like 1100(or is it 1200?)-1400 at this point (18months+), but we all know that is just a general guidline and everything varies from person to person and your activity level.

2-Also, to eat back burned calories, or not to eat back burned calories? As in, should we worry (not worry, but you know what I mean) about calories consumed or net calories?

 From what I have been told, if you eat too little your body will hold onto calories. I would think anything below 800 would do it for sure. I would ask your doctor, but I have always found if I eat more one week, (not too much) then be really careful the following week it will kick me out of a stall. I had to lose weight before they would agree to the surgery. I lost 35 pounds. Whenever I would stall after really being careful for a few weeks, I would find if I ate a bit more for a few days then cut back again it would help me drop a few pounds.

I don't know exactly how many calories would put you into starvation mode (it will, of course, vary from person to person) but it would be much less than 1000 calories a day.  Some people eat only 1200-1400 daily to maintain their weight loss and when I was trying to lose weight a number of years ago, I was put on a 1200 calorie diet by my physician.  Usually when people are not losing because they are not eating nearly enough, it is because they are eating something ridiculously low like 600 calories per day.

I don't really count calories at all (just when I do my occasional 2-day tracking to be sure I am not eating too much), but I honestly have never understood the whole concept of "back burned calories" unless you are someone who exercises a tremendous amount.  I know that my RMR is just over 1400, so keeping my calories near that maintians my weight and dropping it below that causes me to lose.  Much simpler and much more straightforward IMO.

Lora

Thank you! I feel like my RNY brain is foggy and I needed a little refresher. So my 900-1200 calories and 80+ grams of protein sporadic days are probably fine.