Calculating Intake vs. Exercise - 11 months postop

Guys, looking for a little direction from the pros.  My exercise levels have been kicked up a whole bunch and I feel awesome.  I walk 5-6 miles a day.  Gym workout averages 1.5 to 2 hrs each for 4-5 times a week.  Mix of cardio and weight training.  Heres my problem.  Weight loss is flat.  No movement in about 2 months.  I know, I know, its a stall or plateau.  Nutritionist says I should eat more, lots of folks seem to agree.  Question is how much more.  My BMR tested out at 2600 cals a day.  I burn 1000-1200 cals in exercise.  I take in anywhere from 1000+ to 1800 per day.  Most days are around 1500-1600 cals.  Question, should I scale the exercise back and work on upping to cals some to get to around 1200 net cals per day.  I've been reading alot about metabolic set points and the starvation mode thing stopping the weight loss.  Supposedly the body needs 1200 cals a day in order to function and at some point, will reset your metabolism in order to compensate for the new intake levels.  I have another 70 or so lbs to lose (some of it excess skin), and am not ready for this to be over just yet.  Overall I am happy to have lost 192 lbs in 11 months.  My health is awesome and I can do things I never thought possible now.  But I want more.  P/S consult was interesting.  He says I have around 25-30 lbs of skin.  So theres still a fair amount of fat left to burn.  Just looking for some advice to keep this going.  Thanks gents...

Another gym rat.  I am 3.5 mos out and Doc says I lost 38lbs and put on 3.5lbs of muscle.  So much for a quick loss.
Is the nut monitoring the muscle gain.?
Sometimes that metabl. will adjust in a suprising way so I've been told.  Doc told me if I work weights and llittle motion I may never reach my goal.  To much motion and the metobl. sees starvation.
This is making my head hurt.  You will get 10 different answers to this one I'am sure
Good luck

I replied to your similar post on the Main Forum.  You can tell from that reply that I have more questions than answers.  I'm glad you posted here because your post will stay fairly current for quite a while and many men will eventually read it--just the nature of the pace of responses on this forum.  That seems fine if you don't need an overwhelming immediate response.  I've found that I get an immediate response to most of my posts and then I get other responses that trickle in over the next week.  I suspect that getting more responses coming to you over the next week will give you more time to evaluate the responses.

You will continue to lose weight at a fairly rapid rate for the first 18 mos post-op.  The rate slows following your first 6 mos post-op.  You can still be losing 2-3 lbs a week just based on the WLS and the changes in your eating.  You can lose even more and keep it up with exercise.  Once the full effects of the WLS bubble pass at about 18 mos post-op, you can continue to lose weight like a non WLS person.  However, you will still have the advantage of not being able to eat large meals.  The WLS frees you from gorging yourself at your meals.  Hopefully, you will have learned enough about nutrition and exercise to serve your needs as you continue to lose weight down to your goal weight.  Then you will make an adjustment to maintain your goal weight.

It's great that you can come here to discuss every step of your journey with other men who are either going through the post-op journey with you or who have already passed that point in their journey and are here to help you along.  Our mutual support makes us all stronger.

I had a problem that took years to figure out.  I kept adding more and more protien to replace the muscle that I was breaking down during exercise.  Protien wasn't the problem, I needed more simple carbs for my body to burn during working out.  Instead I was damaging my muscles and they were not able to repair.  I was tired all the time.  Be sure to get in enough fruits and milk so you have the energy to burn and you dont overly damage your muscle tissue.  This may end a stall - getting more good carbs.

I actually take in 70 to 100 gms of protein a day however I am losing muscle mass as well as fat. I am 3 months post op and do a spin class3 times a week and elliptic rider 1-2 times on the off days. I also lift weights. When you mention more simple carbs which I am sure I dont get what can be recommended for someone at 3 months. I still have to puree food or at least make sure it disinegrates well in my mouth before swallowing. I get 800-1000 calories a day.

Looking for any suggestions

3 months post op you shouldn't have to be pureeing food anymore, I was off the puree after 2 weeks.  I suggest you eat an apple a day, it will give you some of the carbs and fibre we all need. 

props on such a strong workout routine...
the last 10-20% of excess weight is usually the hardest to get off....
calories are just one piece of the pie....
do you track your eating on thedailyplate or something similar?
if so, cut/paste an average day into this thread so we can check out what you're eating...or at least your totals (protein, carbs, cal, fat, etc)

also, what is your current height / weight/ waist size?

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all of the advice.  Willl try to start incorporating some of the suggestions into my daily routine.  My high weight was 462 in February 2008.  Today I am 267 (11 months postop).  My current waist size is 42-44.  High waist was 64.  Am 5'9" tall.  Here's an excerpt from my tracking on daily plate.  Today was a good day...

Breakfast:  Egg Beaters with f/f cheese, smoked turkey breast cold cuts, coffee w/ f/f half half (199 cals)
Morning:  Click espresso protein (120 cals)
Lunch:  ISO Pure Zero Carb shake with Milk and blended peaches (395 cals)
Afternoon: Decaf coffee w/ milk, lettuce rollups with ham/cheese (227 cals)
Dinner: Pork loin, omelette with f/f cheese, mushroom, and onion, steamed veggies (424 cals)
Evening: Vita muffin tops, sugar free orangeade (215 cals)

Total Cals:  1579
Exercise Burn:  1063
Net Cals:  516

Ratios:  50% protein, 32% carbs, 18% fat

Hmmm...well you've certainly done great...and it looks to me like you're eating right (low glycemic) and should be losing weight with that much exercise for sure....only thing I can think of is maybe you need to switch it up....one of the guys suggested adding more healthy carbs, maybe give that a shot...i'd suggest things like oatmeal w/ protein powder and/or peanutbutter mixed in....personally, for me, once i reached goal my nutritionist told me to up the portion size, and add carbs and my weightloss stopped dead just like she thought it would, so i guess its different for everyone...give it a shot, just keep an eye on the scale.  If you start gaining you know its not a good idea...then maybe go really strict no carb, that's gotta work.  Otherwise I cant think of anything, seems like you're doing everything perfect.

Just a side note, a couple weeks back I decided to go back to a very low carb diet like i did for the first 9 months, just for a week to see if I could still lose easy being 13 months out....I wanted to be a little below my goal to have a cushion in case I put on a few on vacation....I lost almost 10 lbs that week...so for me the key has been low glycemic diet....thats also the only thing that worked for me pre-op...it's just alot easier to stick to it now for some reason....i dont crave sweets or carbs anymore...

Just keep up the good work, I guarantee that stall will break soon....