How many calories, how much exercise to maintain post op?

I'm meeting the surgeon tomorrow and hoping to get my surgery date very soon.  I've been reading the blogs and seen various posts about stalling and gaining weight 9-12 months out.  I'm just curious for those that have been successful keeping the weight off, how many calories do you think you eat and how much do you excercise?  Does it still feel like you're dieting, or has it become a new lifestyle (and how long did it take before it felt that way)?

It's really going to vary from person to person.  I am coming up on five years post op and am maintaining right at goal (my goal was 140, I was 141.6 fully dressed with shoes on at the doctor's office a few days ago).  I eat about 1500, maybe 1600 calories in a typical day.  The only exercise I get is walking my dog.  I have severe back problems and most other exercises cause severe pain and risk making my back injury worse.  On a typical day, I take Isaac for several walks, probably a total of 60 to 90 minutes of walking a day, but at a pretty leisurely pace.  We might cover two to three miles.

Absolutely varies one person to another. I heard that, but after some experience I believe it.

Hello! I'm only 11 days post op, so, don't take this is doctor's advice, but for me, the calories are virtually not important at this point.Just as long as I'm getting my protein in. I'm still probably consuming 500 or less calories right now a day. My doctor gave me the OK to go back to exercise. I'm a very active person. I have my 6th 5K on Saturday and I work out 5-6 days a week for 45 minutes. I also do 2 classes of body pump a week. I'm trying to up my calories so I don't get sick working out. I'd say have a plan before your surgery and stick to it. Write out a meal plan (Day #1 break,lunch,dinner). My NUT did it for me, and it took a lot of guessing out of how much to eat and what I was putting in my body. Hope this helps.

Calories get a lot more important a couple years down the road.  When you weigh less, you burn fewer calories just doing activities of daily living.  You no longer malabsorb calories a couple  years post op and you can eat much larger amounts than you can right after surgery (though not as much as you could pre op, of course).

Multiply your goal weight by 10 and that is your calories to maintain.  If you want to maintain 130, then eat 1300 calories, etc.  Exercise helps, but not as much as I would like it to.  If I eat too many calories, I start to gain.

As Kelly said, it is going to vary widely.  I don't actively track calories (never have), but I do track my food intake for a couple of days once or twice a year just to make sure my protein/carb/fat ratio is where I want it, and it usually shows that I eat between 1200 and 1400 calories. I get very little exercise, though, because of bad knees (I had one replaced in March and am going to have the second one replaced in November), so I have to keep the calories lower than someone who gets a lot of exercise.  I will be 6 years out in 2 weeks, though, and am maintaining my weight loss.

For me, it definitely is a lifestyle change, not a diet.  From the very beginning, I did, and currently do, a number of things to make sure that I broke out of the diet mentality.  I don't have any forbidden foods, and I have a small treat almost every day.  It is generally less than 100 calories, but is usually a snack size candy bar or 1/4 C of full-sugar, full-fat ice cream.  

Lora

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