Hi Marge! My surgeon is opposed to giving me ANY calorie restrictions. In the early days post-op my calories were kind of all over the place. What I find now is that it's best to keep calories to 600-800 (I'm usually closer to 700-800). Now that I'm 4 months post-op I get 80-90 grams of protein a day and work hard to keep my carbs to below 40 grams per day. I think if you eventually work up to 80+ grams of protein and keep the carbs low you'll find that calories naturally come in at 800 or less.

Now, I've occasionally spiked over 800 calories when I've had days where I've added in healthy fats like almonds or avocadoes. But 90% of the time my calories are at 800 or less. With this plan I've managed to hit a comfortable 2 lb. a week rate of loss over the last 6-8 weeks.

Best of luck on your journey!

Tracy

I really didn't get any kind of calorie amount until I hit a stall at 9 months. When I went in for my 1 year checkup, they determined that I was eating too few and boosted me to 1,000 per day with 70-80 grams of protein. The weight loss started again, just very slowly. Now at 2 years out, I eat between 1,000 and the 1,200 MFP gives me. My weight loss is still really slow, but my doctor and nutritionist says that's normal for how far out I am.