how do people survive

My program is a 3 meals/day no snacks program. I struggle with that at times and have a protein snack, but I'm trying to be good and not do that because I want to follow my doctor's plan. I had my 3 month appt with him yesterday and asked him about it and they want this because they find it helps people to not graze - they found over the years that too many people would end up eating all over the day instead of the 5 small meals, for example. I have to agree with him on that- on the days where I do allow myself something else, it's much, much easier for me to graze.

Here's a sample of what I eat:

B: 1 oz salami, 1 babybel (12-13 gr protein)
L: shredded chicken/black beans/cheddar/salsa mix (12-15 gr protein)
D: 2-3 oz fish with a few pieces of roasted veggies (13-18 gr protein)

No protein shakes for me. I am supposed to be working my way up to 50-60 grams of protein per day and I am making progress towards that. If you're at 800 cal/day, my guess is that eventually you'll be able to increase up to 1200.

One of the best things about this forum is that you can see the wide variety of what people do / how they make their program work for them. It's a double-edged sword though, because so many doctors' plans vary and it's easy to compare yourself to someone else and their program or weight loss. For me, I try to do a combination of following my doctor's plan and listening to my body - if I have a really tough workout, for example, I might add a protein snack.

2 lbs/week weight loss is great!

 Ive often wondered because I see what other people say they eat and I know I get more calories than 600 a day.  I asked my NUT and she said not to worry about calories as long as Im eating healthier and getting protein that I wouldnt be able to eat enough anyways.  Maybe some of the things I eat are higher in calories...idk.  im only 6 weeks out and I am losing and I see my NUT tomorrow to rediscuss everything.

Here is what I had today

B: protein shake with 1% milk
S: almonds
L: tukey cheese rollup
S: cheese stick
D: chicken breast

That is over 600 calories and Im also trying to get in 85g of protein a day

This was a pretty typical day at 3 mos out:

CALORIES

CARBS

FAT

PROTEIN

MORE NUTRIENTS

Breakfast:

Miralax, 1 serving 0 0 0 0 Brown Sugar Baked Ham (2 oz) Hillshire Farm , 0.06 serving 4 0 0 1 Kraft 2% Shredded Cheddar Cheese, 0.06 cup 19 0 1 2 Olive Oil, 0.13 tbsp 16 0 2 0 Egg, fresh, 0.63 extra large 51 0 4 5 Onion (fresh), 0.13 cup 5 0 0 0

Breakfast TOTALS: 94 1 7 7

Lunch:

Dannon Light & Fit Nonfat White Chocolate Yogurt, 6 oz, 1 serving 80 16 0 5 Crockpot Chicken with black beans, 1 serving 190 12 5 23

Lunch TOTALS: 270 28 5 28

Dinner:

Sauteed Mushrooms & Onions with Wine, 1 serving 86 5 5 1 Chicken Breast, no skin, 2.75 ounces 86 0 1 18

Dinner TOTALS: 172 5 6 19

Snack:

unjury powder unflavored, 2 serving 160 0 0 40 Bariatric Advantage Calcium Citrate Chocolate Lozenges, 2 serving 0 2 0 0

Snack TOTALS: 160 2 0 40

Click To Add/Edit Extra Meals

			CALORIES	CARBS	FAT	PROTEIN
			696	35	18	93
			1,500 - 1,900	10 - 40	34 - 74	60 - 166
			804 - 1,204	0 - 5	16 - 56	0 - 73

Here is what I ate the first year:

http://fattyfightsback.blogspot.com/2010/07/calories-protein-carbs-exercise-weight.html

As you can see, I was exercising pretty heavily as time went on so my calories ended up a lot higher than most people's.

When you say you can't manage on less than 1200 do you mean you get hungry if you eat less? Or that it ends up that many calories once you get everything in you need to get in?

If it's the later, then I suspect you could make different food choices and get down to 800 easily. I know when I was losing, I could eat 800 or I could eat 1600 without ever changing the volume of my food just by changing what types of food I could eat. I also couldn't eat 1200 calories a day in the early days. It wasn't until I was about 3 months out that I could eat more than 1-2 oz at a time.

thanks everybody!  i'm still in awe of you.  i do get hungry if i eat much less than 1000 cals, which probably what i'm getting.  i get the idea of substituting food to fill up on less and will try to figure out how to do this.  i've just started grazing and asked my partner to hide the stuff i'm grazing on so that i have NO idea where it is (cereal, bad, bad!).  i was proud of myself that i had a snack of thinly sliced deli turkey (25 cals worth) and 3 slices of pepper jack cheese (100 cals) as a snack instead of a protein drink (they make me sick and i'm supposed to get my protein thru food) when i got home from work and was starving.  i guess every little bit helps!

thanks for all the advice.  i'll try to join you!

 I mentioned this in response to someone else's post, but I assume you chose your surgeon because you trusted him/her.  In my opinion, you should follow their plan best you can.  They must have a reason for sugesting higher calories.  

Thanks for your post. It's very interesting and informative to read everyone's different eating plans. I'm 3+ years out and can't imagine getting thru the day on less than 1200 calories, but I know a lot of that is head hunger. Even after just a few months out I seemed to eat a lot more than others here, which is probably why I only had moderate results. I battle head hunger every minute of every day.

Anninva - it sounds like you're making good progress so keep up the good work. If you think head hunger might be your problem, be very mindful of that and focus on curbing it. You are at a point where you have the potential to lose a lot of weight - a point where you can really work your sleeve! I think the 3-meal-a-day strategy is probably a good idea. If you do need a snack, only allow yourself 1-2 a day and keep your snacks under 100 calories. Take it from a veteran - you WANT to use this time to its full potential and you WANT to develop good habbits. Stay strong sister!!!!

When I finally beat a calorie range out of my dietitian, it was 800-1000 after you're 3 months out.  I range anywhere between 700-1000 - sometimes a little lower, sometimes a little higher.  Carbs are usually in the 30s because I can't stay away from milk!

My dietitian also stressed focusing on proteins and letting the rest fall into place.