calories

ok peeps. For those of you approx 6 months to 1 year out...how many calories are you eating on an *average* day? I find that we are not very accurate when we estimate, so it would be helpful if you've actually calculated it.

We just had a support group meeting and people were horrified when I said I eat more than 1,000 calories a day. I'm eating anywhere between 900-1250 depending on how hungry I am that day, and on my food choices. I make very good food choices, and never over-eat. I'm stumped. I see the Nut again in a few weeks, but I'm curious what you all have to say.

 When I stopped tracking my food I was getting in about 1200 calories a day.  When I got pretty close to my goal I decided not to count calories anymore.  I figure as long as I am not overeating and I am not eating anything like refined carbs and I am not grazing that I could relax and see what happens.  It has probably been about 2 months and if I had to guess I would say I was getting in anywhere from 1200 to 1400 calories a day but I'm not really sure.  I was just finding myself getting too obsessed with it and starting to get too controlling if that makes sense.  I figured if it doesn't work and I start regaining I could always go back to tracking things but at some point I was going to have to learn to trust myself and my choices and stop worrying so much about eating a few too many calories.  The scale will tell if I do, I don't need to beat myself up over it.

thanks Lady.  My Nut has always said that she does not want us counting calories and that she wants the focus of our life to be less on food.  I agree with that philosophy.  But then I kinda started to freak out when people were talking tonight about how little they eat and compared to them I eat like a pig.  I've seen the Nut 2x since surgery and gave her examples of what I eat on an average day and she said I was doing great and wouldn't change a thing.  But after hearing how everyone else is eating, I'm wondering if I'm eating too much and that's why I'm not losing as much as other people.  I'm just shy of 6 months and I've lost 67 pounds.  I appreciate hearing from you.

 How much more do you want to lose?  I have found it is all about choices.  I choose to eat pretty low calorie until I got down to my first goal and then I increased a bit but not a whole lot.  I really wanted to reach my goal and I wanted to do in within a year during the peak weight loss period before the weight loss really slowed down.  I actually reached my first goal at 6 1/2 months because I knew that after 6 months things slowed down a great deal.  
Of course I didn't have a lot to lose, relatively.  I started out a light weight and I have lost about 98lbs since my revision.

These are the rules I follow: 

3-6 Months After Surgery: eat 600-700 calories a day

6-9 Months After Surgery: eat 800-900 calories a day

9-12 Months After Surgery: eat 1000 calories a day

12-18 Months After Surgery: eat 1200 calories a day

18 Months-On After Surgery: eat Maintenance calories (BMR & Activity Level)

P.S. Malabsorption of calories lasts 18-24 months approximately. 

Thanks for this post!!! I really appreciate the info.

My NUT told me not to count but if I had to know, 800-1000 calories...I need 90-100 grams of protein a day...IDK how you guys would get all the protein in on less than 800 so I guess I better step it up lol...or down I guess lol

I've seen my nut every three months since I had my surgery.  At 6 months she had my high at 1200.  At 9 months she had my high at 1400.  I tend to stay right around there.  I've been losing pretty consistantly.  I also work out a lot, if I eat less then my weight loss STOPS!!!

I saw my surgeon and my nutritionist just the other day for my 1 year post-op checkin and both of them agree on 1600-1800 calories for me to be consuming for "maitenence".  These days I eat anywhere from 1200 to 1600 and am still losing, slowly, but still losing.  I don't actually care to lose anymore though, and I do have days once in a while where I can and do eat upwards of 1700 calories.  My daily average is probably around 1300 to 1400.

Take Care!
Nathan