1 yr post op question

I was told that 10x your weight is the number of calories that will sustain that weight. For instance, my goal weight is 140 lbs - 1400 calories with moderate exercise should sustain that weight. Anything more will cause me to gain, any less will cause me to lose. I still have 20 more pounds to lose, and I'm keeping my calories between 1200 - 1400 per day. I'm stuck now at 160 pounds though, so I need to ramp up the exercise, or drop the calories to get the rest off. It's getting HARD now! Blessings! Jill 253/160/140

Ya know...I was never told either. Right now I take in anywhere from 1000-1400 calories a day depending on how "good" I am with the carbs. Personally I would add more grams of protein. My surgeon recommends 1 gram of protein for every kilogram of weight once you get under a 30 BMI. To calculate this...take your weight and divide by 2.2046. So for me...I weigh 140... 140 x 2.2046 ------- 63.5 kg So...I would need 63.5 g of protein a day to maintain. I do try to get a bit more than that since we don't absorb everything. I think I average around 80 or so grams of protein a day. Good luck Sunny! You look great! Kristy

Hey Sunny, Hmmm, that almost sounds like the calories/protein levels of a normal person... I think for us WLS patients, the protein should be higher, but I'm not sure. I know I'm 5'6" and the dr recommended I get no fewer than 65 grams of protein/day. I did a caloric tracking thing for my OB and Dietician (I'm 14 weeks preggo) and I'm eating around 1100 calories/day (give or take depending on snacking levels... oops). Anyways, our bodies don't absorb all of the calories we eat BUT whenever you go from a starvation diet (like we've basically been on) to a regular diet, your metabolism usually reacts by savoring each and every calorie it intakes... and stores it as fat. So I wouldn't follow just any given calorie count if I were you. I'd figure out how many calories you're currently eating, and if you're happy at your current weight but still losing weight, try increasing by a little bit per week (100-200) the # of calories you're intaking. If you notice a gain, cut back on your caloric intake. If you're still losing, try increasing a bit more. Eventually you'll find the spot where YOUR body is most comfortable. I think the key is that each of our bodies is a little different. If I go from eating 1100 to 1700, I know for a fact I'll gain, even though that may be what's recommended to maintain my weight. I heard we have to stay at relatively the same weight for about 2 years to re-set our basal metabolism completely... I dunno if it's true, but it makes sense that if our body is used to 1000/day and we increase it suddenly, we'll gain. Anyways, best of luck. I use fitday.com to track my calories. Kind of a pain, but after a couple of weeks you get used to it. Keep up the good work, you look awesome! Lots of love, Dawn 260/150/140 *Healthy baby*