Daily Calories?

I am 5 weeks out from surgery, and after the first week, I wasn't losing an ounce.  My family doctor told me to up my calories, and at my 1 month checkup, the dietician and nurse agreed.  The nurse & dietician want me to get up to 1200/day.

Once I started getting 700-800 cals per day, I started losing again.

I am getting in enough protein, but I am noticing that I seem to be getting too much sodium too.  Yesterday I managed to get up to 951 calories in with 78 g of protein, but the sodium was high because most of my protein came from Smoked Salmon, cottage cheese or prepared (Gardennay) soup.

My question is "How many calories do most women take in a day?" I am short-ish 5'4" and have a lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-ng way to go on my journey. I'm also trying to incorporate more exercise into my day (I am needing both knees replaced), but don't seem to manage it every day.
I feel like 1200 is too many per day, and am thinking that 1000 would be safer.

What are your thoughts? I would love to hear from some of you who had 150lbs or more to lose, and also from some who are wiley vetrans.

Thanks in advance!!!

I don't think 1200 is likely to be too many, but if you try that and stop losing, then you'd know to decrease it a little.

I am 5'4", too, and I did lose nearly 150 pounds.  148, I think, to be exact.  I've been maintaining my weight for a year now on about 1500 calories a day and I don't exercise very much.

Oh, THANK YOU Poet Kelly!
I am SO happy to hear of your success!!!!

I've really been stressing out about this, simply because I feel like I should be losing more.

It's great to know that you've done well...148 is AMAZING!!!  I can't even imagine how I'll feel when/if I accomplish that.

Cheers,

 

• 3-6 Months After Surgery: I ate 600-700 calories a day

• 6-9 Months After Surgery: I ate 800-900 calories a day
• 9-12 Months After Surgery: I ate 1000 calories a day
• 12-18 Months After Surgery: I ate 1200 calories a day until 15 months (I reached goal weight at 15 months)
• 18 Months after surgery (or when goal weight is reached before 18 months): Maintenance calories (BMR & Activity Level): I now eat 1550 calories a day and my activity level is Sedentary
• (Malabsorption of calories lasts approximately 18 months)

Wow! That's so helpful gbsinsatx!  It gives me a good gauge on my intake, and I can stop trying to cram so much in when I don't really feel like eating!  Your stats speak for themselves
Thank you!

I am at 5 months out, and I am eating 900-1100 calories a day on average, with some 800 calorie days and even a 1400 calorie day now and then.

I think you have to factor in exercise and what you are doing in that respect, too. I work out an hour in the morning before work and then I have three days a week I do a two hour karate class. Some days I'll burn up to 900 calories (according to heart rate monitor) and of course I'll eat more then.

My rny was 6/6 and I'm 5'4".  I wasn't loosing until I got my calories up to around 700-800 a day.  I spoke to my nut at the one month post-op and he said around 1000 cal for daily for life is the goal.  He said some people go up to 1200 but depending on your activity levels.  But at this stage 700 cal is very normal he said.  Lately I'm loosing 1/2 pound a day....I've been very active too.  Who knows how long that wave will last so I'm gonna ride that one!!!!

This has been discussed A LOT on the boards lately.  You might want to take a minute and check out this post from Hala:

http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/rny/4423164/XP-how-many-ca lories-do-we-need-to-eat-to-lose-weight-not/#36564254


The bottom line is that it is not all about calories. That is a diet mentality and not a postop RnY mentality.  That is the mentality that got most of us to the point of needing surgery.

Also, if you have the time, it would probably help you to go back and look at other old threads regarding this subject.  There are some excellent ones written at about the same time as Hala's, but I don't have time to go back and copy and paste all of the links here.  (I had bookmarked Hala's because I knew this question was just going to keep cycling back through the board, so I wanted to have something at my fingertips to pass on to newer-bies regarding the subject.)

Best of luck to you in your journey=)

Thanks everyone!! And thank you for the past -posts; I loooked through about 10 pages, but didn't see anything, it's great that you bookmarked it for us newbies
I will go check it out right now.
Cheers!