What's On Your Tuesday Menu, RNYers?

Around the 6 month mark, I pretty much demanded a number from my PA at the surgeon's practice.  I finally beat it out of her and she said during the losing phase that I should stay under 900.  So that's what I (try to) do.

My own macro goals that I try to hit are at least 80 protein and under 50 carbs.

Ignore your NUT.  I mean, I am not a NUT but I did lose half of myself, so I am going to advise that you do NOT increase your calories.  My NUT wouldn't give me a calorie amount but for the first 6 months I was likely at around 600 calories, and then maybe months 6-9 up to 900 some days...I was also focused on eating high protein, low carb.  I mean, I was under 30g of carbs a day for almost a year.  And I can contribute that to my success.

I would recommend you eat high protein, like 60-80 g per day and your calories will fall into line.  If you are eating 2 oz of things like turkey, chicken, fish, cheese, etc, with a little bit of veggies when you can fit it in, your calories will be nowhere near 1000.

Trust me, as someone who is really struggling with maintenance, I say keep it low while you can!  This is truly the honeymoon period and once you are over 2 years out, you have a lot more room in your stomach, the weight is gone, the compliments have ended, and it's just normal, regular life, filled with day after day of struggles to make good choices.  I still get full on 4 oz of dense protein, but somehow I can eat unlimited amounts of cheez-its (for example).  So keep calories low now, make the lifestyle changes, and ignore the NUT lol.

I am not a doctor and this is totally just my opinion :)

Em I so agree with you. 

My dietitian kept wanting me to eat more calories but I didn't and got far below goal with what I did. My goal was 145 and I weigh 122 is today. They were totally content with my weight at 6 months out too when I was still overweight by bmi standards. I didn't have surgery to still be heavy! I wanted to be as healthy as I could,so that was and is my goal to this day!

Wise, wise words.

NO NO NO! 

I try to stay at 850 calories or less. As long as you are getting protein and liquids,  and keeping up on you vitamins,  you should be fine.  

So this was my surgeon actually, but I told him there was no way I can do that. I'm happy to bump up the fat though (like with some nuts, guacamole or peanut butter), which will add some extra calories, but it's otherwise not happening. My goals are under 800 Cals, 70g protein (I'm still working there) and under 40 carbs. I'm around 65g protein average and that can be a stretch as I'm not hungry or have reached my, "I've had enough" point. I'm sticking with that!!

At this stage, 1,000 is insane. 1,200 is lunacy. Smile and nod, then stick to what you've been doing.

Our bodies MUST HAVE certain things. It can't make it's own vitamins and minerals, so we need to get them from food or supplements. It needs a little bit of fat every day, which you have to eat. It needs protein, but if you don't eat enough, it will take what it needs from your stored protein, which we call muscles. You'll literally eat your own muscle if you don't eat enough protein in your diet. And remember, your heart is a muscle.

That's all your body MUST HAVE, except energy. Energy is measured in calories. If you don't eat enough calories, your body will use stored energy, in the form of body fat. This is what you want. Every extra calorie you eat is a calorie of fat you aren't burning. If you eat 400 extra calories a day, that's 40 pounds in a year. Ask those struggling to lose the last 40 pounds if they think it's a fair trade.

Don't increase calories. You're doing great. Aim a little higher on protein, 80 grams if you can, but only if you can do it by cutting a little off the carb end.

Beware of nuts. They are calorie bombs, and go down easily. I would bet that if you grazed on nuts all day you could eat a couple thousand calories worth. The only way I can have them is if they are in individual 100 calorie packages.

I think that is really high...

I'm almost 3 months and I don't eat over 750- and try to stay around 650

My doctor never gave me a calorie goal.  Focus on protein and fluids. His advice was to eat when you are hungry and eat until satisfied. I have lost 120 pounds in 9 months, so it has worked well for me.  He also advised me to keep fats and sugar at 5 grams or less per service as much as possible.  That helps make a lifelong lifestyle change. It was shocking to see how much sugar was in some of the greek yogurts out there.