Daily calorie intake?

My surgeon and nutritionist both urged me to lose as much as possible during the honeymoon period. His advise was to go 10, 20, or even 30 pounds under the goal weight that they set for me.

That is to have a cushion for the regain period that normally occurs around year three. I ended up 10 under goal and wish I had gone lower when it was so easy. I never added in any extra calories.

This makes me happy to know that you didn't add extra calories and you still got under goal. She told me that I probably won't lose much more weight and I was not happy with that answer. I still have about 40 pounds to be where I really want to be and I don't intend to stop losing until I get there. Will I really screw up my metabolism permanently by keeping calories low? I am so concerned about this.

I really do not agree with the whole theory of your body going into survival mode when you eat too few calories. Now I do know that this happens, but it happens when a body gets down to the lowest weight that it needs to stay alive. For a six foot tall man, that is probably about when he weighs 80 pounds.

People who still have 40 pounds to lose are just going to lose fat until they are at the point where they cannot lose anymore. If you eat less food than you burn, your body burns fat to give you energy.

One of the "tricks" that I also learned years ago from Dr Atkin's books was to go from high protein to high carb for a while. For the last losing month, I stopped eating proteins and ate fruit and vegetables instead. Fresh apples, cherries, strawberries, blueberries, pears, oranges, peaches, melons, pineapple, lettuce, tomatoes, beets, spinach, greens, cabbage, asparagus, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, mangos, onions, and anything in the produce section that looked good.

I still did not eat anything with sugar or flour. And I did not eat any rice, cereal, pasta, noodles, breads, or pastries. For that month, I just did not eat beef, cheese, pork, fish, or chicken. I also did not eat huge amounts of vegetables and did not add butter or sauces.

A month of that took me from 142 down to 127 and I stayed there for about a year after I went back to high protein, low carb. Dr. Atkins believed that you should either be eating high protein or high carbs, but not both at the same time.

I exercised every day after surgery, with no down days. That included the treadmill, walking outside, water aerobics, and the machines at the gym. I built a lot of muscle which did wonders with filling in loose skin.

White Dove, again you have helped me more than you know. This is such great information and truly makes me feel better about things. I also agree with you that if you still have fat to lose and you have lower calories than you take in that you will continue to lose. I don't eat anything with sugar or flour except on a rare occasion when I might have a piece of toast with my egg.

I am definitely going to try the higher carb idea when I get very close to goal to mix things up. I also need to incorporate some exercise in instead of just walking so I can now start to build muscle. Thank you so much for all the insight you have provided. You are amazing.