Calories and Working Out Advice

Okay, before you say go to your nutritionist, my nutritionist won't talk calories and I haven't found a new one to see as of yet.  I am just under 6 months out from surgery.  My calories have been around 800-900 with 80-90 grams of protein.  I am now working out 5 days a week doing 30 minutes of cardio and 60-90 minutes of strength training 5 days a week.  According to MFP, I am burning anywhere between 850 to just over 1000 calories a day.  I am noticing the scale is not moving quite as fast as it was before I started working out.  What would your advice be on calorie intake?

I'm not an expert, and this is just a guess! But could it be that the strength training is adding some muscle, which may cause the scale to sit where it is a bit? With MFP, are you able to add in how much weight you want to lose per week? I suppose it's probably harder to do after having WLS. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. Good luck!

The weight loss does slow down over time.  I would expect it to be slower at six months post op than it was a couple months ago.

You probably could benefit from a few more calories, especially if you're working out that much.

Sounds like you are doing just fine. Keep it up. I slowed down about 6 months out too, but it was study. Now I am just trying to not lose anymore now that I am below goal.

There is a lot of debate on this topic, but, my understanding of it and what I do is, basically eat your workout calories. Especially for us, because we consume so little calories, we need to eat more to make up for what we burn when we exercise.

At my 6 week appt. with the NP she advised me to consume more calories on days that I exercise. I agree. If we don't, we won't have enough gas in the engine to get through the day! She had advised up to 900 calories a day was good for a non-exercise day and that I should consume up to 1200 calories on a day I exercise (I had told her my plan was to swim each day).

This is only my opinion. I know some people say, well, what is the point in exercising if you are just going to eat the calories that your burn? But, I truly believe we need to eat more to keep our bodies going.

I think we all over estimate how many calories exercise consumes and do NOT trust the machines at the gym or MFP!!!

Unless you are competing in half/marathons,  triathlons, weight lifting competitions or some other such competitive sport,  I'd be surprised if you are burning 1000 calories per workout!

An additional snack of 100-200 calories will be ample if you want to add something to your day.   I personally don't add anything for exercise because I am more a jogger than an athlete at this point of my life (definitely non-competitive)

I agree with others that MFP really overestimates calories burned. I've used my Garmin with a heart rate monitor since starting running and it's way less than what MFP states.  My advice for bumping the weight loss while doing that much activity is to increase your calories. Your body thinks you're in starvation mode if you burn a lot more than you consume over the long haul and will decrease your metabolism. This is not advice to go crazy on ice cream, but to learn moderation for the rest of your life. In maintenance, it may be advisable to go for negative net daily calories but while you're in the first year, eat your exercise - your metabolism will thank you!

I've debated on getting one of those, but wasn't sure if it would do any good with the strength training?

It'd probably be educational about how much effort you're exerting and how you can track increasing cardiovascular fitness, but probably not for calorie burn. 

Oh okay.  Probably not worth it for me then as the gym has heart rate monitors in the equipment that I monitor.