Calories for Maintenance

Hello Sep04 pals! I rarely post to this board, but I pop in every now and then to see how everyone is fairing. I was hoping I could get a little input on how many cals you all eat to maintain your weight. I seem to be struggling to maintain with 1600 cals a day. I am a moderate exerciser just now. Dec-Feb were very slow in that regard. Apr-Nov are my hardest training months. Do you count the cals of your protein shakes? I heard somewhere not to - but that seems crazy, so I count them. Any input would be soooo appreciated! Take care, Nancy RNY 09/16/04 276/138/138

Nancy, I'm not at goal yet. I walk about 5 miles a day and the dietician told me to get in 1200-1400 cal/day to continue losing. I have a problem of not getting enough in most days so the weight loss is very slow right now. I would guess that 1400-1600 would be a good amount to get in to maintain. Yes, I do count the calories from my protein shakes. If I didn't, I wouldn't break 1000 most days. I count everything except sf popcycles and the sf creamer in my coffee. I'm curious...what are you eating to get in 1600? I'm hypogleicemic so..no potatoes, sweet potatoes, pasta, rice..anything high starch. It will cause my sugar to plummet (lowest so far was 38). Other foods with more calories (like beef) also contains high fat and with trying to follow the dietician's advise and keeping the fat under 30 g/day, it leaves me wondering what to have to up the calories without upping the fat, and yet, maintain my hypogleicemic dietary needs. Any suggestions? Sherri 344/180/140

Shoot, I know what you mean - a high protein, low carb diet is not easy to pull off w/o the fat! I went back and looked at my daily fat grams and I don't even want to tell you! 30 would seem impossible! I consume over twice that! Arg! I see that most of those fat grams come from cheese... I think I'll cut back on that. But what to put in its delicious place? I haven't really looked into low fat cheeses. Perhaps I should. Hypoglycemia would complicate things, I imagine. It is a good deterrent to not indulge in those carbs, I bet. I don't eat those things anyway. I feel like I eat all day long. I think that's messing with my mind and reminding me of my old relationship with food. I'm also just now starting to kick off training... I want to do an Olympic distance triathlon this year, a few sprint distances too, and a 1/2 marathon in Nov. My relationship with food changes as I train... I start to think of food as fuel and am less enamored with it. When I am less active... I'm only swimming 30min 2x a week, and biking 3-4, but not running at all b/c I am recovering from surgery on my leg... anyway, I think about food a lot more when I am more sedentary, I eat for reasons other than hunger (and I DO get hungry) and b/c I'm less busy I eat b/c I am bored, I guess. I fully expect that this is the year I am going to have to plug away and WORK at fixing my relationship with food. People think when they see me w/ no extra weight that I am done and that the problem is fixed. I disagree. This is where the rubber hits the road. This is where I eat less and for good reasons and the ONLY reward I see is that the scale doesn't change. It's not quite the same as when I was rewarded with a few lb dropped every day or week, you know? Anyway I eat 6x a day. I am still maintaining - but there are a few lbs (3!!) that I battle with. I feel that I'm prolly eating a few too many cals a day at my current activity level. Perhaps I should be closer to 1400? My food intake looks like this... Breakfast - 300 cals creamer in my coffee (100 cals!) Protien shake (160 cals) 1/3 C 2% milk (40 cals) Morning snack - 210 cals Turkey lunchmeat (75 cals) Salsa (25) cup of Lucky Charms (110) EEK! Lunch - 290 cals 1 C of shredded cabbage (30 cals) ½ T walnuts (120 cals) 1oz of blue cheese (100 cals) Raspberry vinigarette (40 cals) Afternoon snack - 140 cals 1oz chex mix (130 cals) SF Jello (10 cals) Dinner - 510 cals!!! Protein shake (160 cals) ¾ C 2% milk (90 cals) 2/3 C omelet casserole (260 cals!) Night - 150 cals 2 glasses of wine (150) Here's the total... Cals - 1600 on the nose... that's unusual! Protein - 120 grams Fat - 68g!! Carbs - 114g OMG that was brutal and embarrassing to write out! Good for me tho. This would have shocked the heck outta me as a new postop! I'm headed out but while I was writing this I thought of a few things. I can actually only consume ¾ C of food at a time. I think one prob is that I will not put away food that I can't consume right away. I'll graze and fini**** I think I should stop this. Thanks for listening... I will give the fat dilemma some more thought! I think you hit on something for me! :D Nancy

Nancy, I'm at work and all my info is on my Fitday at home (loved it so much, bought the program). I'll try to remember to get on here tonight and send you my totals for a typical day. What I was told to target is: 1200-1400 calories (1000-1200 if I am less active) less than 30g fat at least 100 g carbs 65-75 g protein Usually for breakfast I have: 1/2 fat-free cottage cheese with 2-3 oz carb delight peaches (Del Monte) 1 fruit (usually a pear) For post breakfast & post lunch snacks, I have a protein drink...90 to 120 calories depending on which one I have. lunch 3 oz meat 2-4 oz vegetables 1 fruit (usually an orange) Dinner 3-4 oz meat 4 oz vegetables salad Post-dinner snack ricecake or BariatricEating.com Pork Rinds (low cals/fat, 23 g protein...there is NO WAY I can eat 1 serving at 1 setting!) In my coffee, I use sugar free french vanilla creamer. It's only 15 cal/tablespoon. Occationally, I may have a latte at work...so 14 oz skim milk (w/decaf coffee and sf vanilla flavoring). I tend to shy away from cereals and nuts and stick to veggies and fruits. I try to be sure that I don't have beef more than once a day because even lean, it is high in fat. I have been trying to get in more fish (tired of poultry!) and have been experimenting with different varieties of squash to liven up the veggie food group. Oh...most importantly...TONS of water. I know the RDA is 64 oz...I am at least doubled that if not tripled or more. And we are talking water, not crystal light or any other substitute. For me, only water works as well. On March 20th, I decided to target getting in 10,000 steps a day. That for me is about 4.75 miles. Whatever I don't get in from work, I finish up on the treadmill when I get home...only I round it to the nearest mile that will get me over the 10K so usually I finish up with 5.25-5.5 miles. I've missed my target twice so far..big snow & fighting traffic for one day and sick the other day. Today, I'm up to 7500 steps so far. I'll send my stats tonight... Sherri

I just got back from a mid morning bike ride... is it bad that we rode up to Starbucks and got a drip w/ 1/2 & 1/2? ? I bought the FitDay program too, Sherri! I love it!! It helps keep me accountable and gives me sooo many ways to really look at what I am eating. Honestly I hadn't really given fat grams too much thought until you brought it up. It was sooo easy to look at the month and see my weekly averages in fat grams! Awesome! Well the function is awesome, but not how many Ifat gs have eaten! The one thing that irritates me about the program is that it says that my basal is like 2000 cals. ARG! If that is true then I SHOULD be losing. But I know it's not true. That visual of always seeing my cals-in less than my cals-out give me a fasle sense of security. Do you know of a way to manually change the BMR? Good on you for the 10thou steps a day! That is fabulous! I went thru a pedometer phase and loved it! I liked seeing my daily totals. I should put mine on and see what i do these days. Sooo diff than when I started. Thanks for following up - thanks for also posting your diet... It gave me ideas and reminded me of things i used to eat more reg. cottage cheese! Yum & good for us. I'll have to read up on the pork rinds. Have a great rest of the day!! Nancy

Nancy, I don't know how to change the BMR, but you can customize how many calories it believes you are burning through 'My Metabolism'. It bases it on the normal activities people do and the normal amout of time you do them. You can have different settings for the weekend from the weekdays. Here's my stuff for yesterday: Calories: 1191 Fat: 30 Carbs: 124 Protein: 107 Breakfast .5 c no fat cottage cheese .5 c Carb clever peaches pear Snack: Protein Drink Lunch 1 c vegetables 2 shrimp, 1 egg orange Snack: Protein Drink Dinner 2 oz chicken 2 oz BBQ rib 2 oz veg, 6 oz chili salad w/ ff french Snack: Rice Cake I am doing better today. I made it over 1200 anyway. I'm at 1279. Oh..yesterday I also drank 190 oz water and 24 oz decaf coffee and walked 5 miles (11,012 steps). Have a great evening! I think I'm gonna go fix me some of those pork rinds to have with LOST! LOL! Sherri

Thanks for the point to My Metabolism, Sherri! Perfect -- this will make a diff for me. I am soo glad to read your intake. I'm inspired by it. I'm going to try and keep my meals under 200 cals each for now. I get hungry frequently so six meals at 200 cals (plus incidentals) should help me maintain until my training picks up again. BTW, I dropped a few lbs and am back inside my 5lbs range. 137 now. I want to stay b/t 135 and 140lbs. My cycle impacts my weight considerably. I stay on or over the high end of my desired "range" for 3 weeks. The week before my period I drop all of it just in time to put it back on! Arg! If I can get my low weight of the month to hit 135, then I'll always be in my "range." Do you keep track of your water in Fit Day too? How do you do that? You keep adding on those steps! You are doing awesome! Both in diet and exercise! KUDOS!! Thanks again. I hope others offer some advice too. It'd be great to get a feel for this new stage. Hugs, Nancy

Hi Nancy and Sherri - I'll chime in on this discussion if you don't mind! I must have the slowest metabolism in the world. Seems like I can barely have 1200 calories to maintain. My surgery date was 9/20/04 and I had reach my goal range (betw. 124 and 128) by 1-yr. anniversary date. Had repair of mega-hernia, TT, breast reduction and lift in 11/05. During my weight loss mode my doctor advised 70 g of protein, 30 g of carbs and no bread rice past potatoes beans or fruit. I pretty much stuck to it and as a result really and truly changed my eating habits for the first time in my life. i was so thankful to add back in fruit, that was what I missed the most. Even now, I eat simple carbs very seldom. sample day: breakfast is almost always an IDS protein shake in the blender with a whole banana and a whole bunch of ice cubes. belgian chocolate is my fave--so good and so filling, about 230 calories with the banana. occasionally i'll have a zoneperfect bar instead (210 calories) or a south beach meal replacement bar (210 calories). lunch is usually chunks of turkey (3 oz.) and 2% cheese (3/4 oz.) and a piece of fruit usually a juicy orange. sometimes i'll also have a small salad with some lowfat dressing, i love a brand called olde cape cod in balsamic vinegraitte. so lunch is under 300 cal. today for lunch i brought one of those pouches of starkist tuna creations--herb and garlic. 1 pouch is 200 cal, 0 carbs, 32 g protein and tasty and filling! also love those south beach wrap kits. afternoon snack is usually another IDS protein shake with strawberries or blueberries in the blender. usually use the frozen strawberries or blueberries from costco and they replace ice cubes. it comes out SO thick. sometimes i throw in a few packets of splenda if i'm in a sweet mood. if i need to crunch i'll pop 5-6 non-roasted almonds (from trader joe). dinner is some kind of fish, meat or chicken, usually grilled, probab ly 3-4 oz. and some veggies, salad. try to have fruit for dessert. last night i went to the gym at 6:30 and when i came home i had a huge wedge of watermelon. i know it's high carb but after all i wasn't obese because i ate too much watermelon, haha! i work out hard 3-5 times a week, gotta keep moving. i work with a personal trainer 1-2x a week, also do intense conditioning classes at fitness first, bike riding/running on weekend, etc. my biggest problem is i eat way more than i should on friday, saturday, sunday after being totally disciplined monday through thursday! does anyone else have that problem. it's not like i go crazy like in the old days or anything but i definitely don'****ch or count numbers or anyting and at this point i feel like i can eat ALOT. so how do i stay disciplined on the weekends? any advice? sandy dinner

Good morning, Sandy! I find that when ever I am away from my weekday routine, my intake is different. If I am real busy my intake is down, but lazing means grazing. I love IDS too! Have you tried the Cappucino? YUM. It sounds like you do really well with your diet! Awesome. What kinds of things cause you to feel undisciplined on the weekends? I am experiementing with breakfast options these days. My morning carbs were causing me to feel like crap a few hours after eating. I frequently felt utterly driven to eat just 2 hours after bfast. I am still learning what it takes to maintain. 1200 cals for you?? That's so little!! Have you thought about doing that BodyGem thing... it measures your basal. I want to. I think I'm about 1600. More if I am really training. I am still battling 3 lbs I put on in the last two months! ARG!!! I want them GONE!! I have a week in my cycle where if I am going to see a drop in my weight, that's when it'll happen. I'm approaching that week now... here's hoping! Have a super day!! Nancy

Nancy, I just read this whole discussion. I don't worry about fat too much in my diet. I just worry about carbs and calories. I have no milk in my diet. I think it has too many carbs. I don't exercise enough so I have to keep my calories at about 1200. I drink 2 or 3 protein shakes a day and I do count the calories in them. I also eat no fruit. I think keeping my carbs low helps me not to feel hungry. I don't feel like I am at goal but everyone tells me not to lose anymore. I am 5' 3.5" tall and I weigh 147. I wear a size 8. I always wanted to weigh 135 but my husband and my boss tell me that I am too thin right now. How tall are you? I really need to up my exercise. I have bad arthritis so I can only walk for my exercise. Lynn J., lap RNY 9/29/04 -159 lbs.