Which of these have you heard? -- Eat between 800-1200 calories per day.  Get 60-80 grams of protein per day.  Use a small plate.  Eat protein first, then veggies, then if you have room eat your carbs.  Fifty percent of your calories should be protein.  Seventy percent of your calories should be protein.  You need grains.  You don’t need grains.  Avoid anything white like bread, rice and potatoes.  Eat until you’re satisfied.  Eat 3 meals per day.  Eat 5 meals per day.  Eat 1 cup of food.  Eat ½ cup of food.  Eat 1 ½ cups of food.  Eat firm protein.  Greek yogurt is good for you.  Count your calories.  Don’t count your calories.  Count your protein.  Weigh and measure all of your food.  Eat small portions.  Don’t go back for seconds.  Eat every 3-5 hours.  Only eat when you’re hungry.

Are you confused?  It’s not surprising if you said yes.  Some of the rules that we are given after weight loss surgery seem to contradict each other, others don’t seem to make sense, and yet we are expected to make sense out of it and then achieve and maintain our goal weights with all of this information floating around in our heads. 

This is how I have sorted it out for myself and this is what works for me, and has worked for the past 12 years:

• I avoid anything white- yes - rice, white potatoes, white flour, and sugar are not anything I choose to eat.  Do I “stray” occasionally?  Yes, and when I do, I pay for it with pounds on the scale and hunger for more.
• To lose weight I eat between 1000 and 1200 calories a day and at least 80 grams of protein.  To maintain my weight I eat between 1000 and 1400 calories and at least 80 grams of protein.  My preferred calorie to protein ratio is 1 gram of protein for every 10 calories.  When I follow this rule both my fats and carbs are low naturally.
• I eat “close to the ground”.  What I mean is that I try to avoid processed foods - things that come in a box or things that have ingredients that I cannot pronounce.  Fresh veggies, fruits, fish, shellfish, eggs, poultry, meat, and cheese are the bulk of my meals.  I do have a shake in the morning because I am up by 5, at the gym by 7 and I can’t eat “real food” that early so I have a shake with protein powder, nut milk, flax seed meal, blueberries and greens to power my workout.
• Do I count calories?  You bet!  I am not obsessed with it, I use the labels on packages and my food scale, or I use Fat Secret or Calorie King.  And yes, I do weigh and measure my food as well when I am home.
• I eat 4-6 meals daily (counting the shake as one) depending on the day.  Do I eat when I am not physically hungry?  Only if I am “feeding emotional or head hunger” which I have been known to do.  I typically eat by hunger, not by a clock.  This was a significant change for the first few years after surgery.
• I track my calories and protein in a notebook on my counter at home.  When I meal plan on Sundays and make lunches or things that are multiple breakfasts or dinners I typically put them into single serving containers and clearly mark them.  It makes things easier for me, especially on evenings when I teach classes or facilitate support groups.
• Do I have an extra protein drink or ?  if I don’t meet my protein on any one day.  NO.  The protein recommendations are ranges and averages and if I only hit 50 grams protein 1 day, I might hit 124 grams of protein on the next, so it all “comes out in the wash”.  Same thing with calories.  If I have a 600 calorie day I don’t worry that I have to eat more to keep my body from going into starvation mode because the next day I will more than likely eat more.  That protein number would concern me if it repeated for a number of days and if the calories that went along with it were high because then I would be eating carbs or fats to make up those calories and could begin a cycle of continuous cravings for them.

What’s the bottom line here?  All of our “rules” on calories and protein and portion size are recommendations.  Each of our bodies are different.  Be aware and measure and weigh your food so you know what you are consuming, and don’t forget about those liquid calories either.  Set goals for yourself in each of the areas based on your doctor’s recommendations and then journal what you eat and see how you fared after a week.  Did you lose weight?  Did you gain weight?  What can you do differently this next week if it’s not “working” for you.

This week while journaling my intake I found one day that I thought I had been eating all day long.  I was not happy, until I totaled my numbers for the day and found that my choices made a difference.  I had consumed 1100 calories and 124 grams of protein.  Another day I thought I was doing fine until I totaled and saw that I had 1498 calories and 86 grams of protein.  Not the best day, but in maintenance not so horrible either.  I don’t beat myself up if I have made a choice that “doesn’t fit” my program.  I simply look at it and move forward, deciding what I can do the next day and the day after that.

The ebb and flow of life dictates some of our behaviors.  We can control what we consume and when we consume it at least 90% of the time.  Take that information and add our weight loss surgery tools and I see SUCCESS written next to YOUR name.  Do YOU?