Calories after the DS

It's not an easy weight gain. If I'm moderate eating and exercise there is no problem. More of an issue over the holidays like Christmas where there are more chances for food and less opportunity for exercise.

I don't have to be tracking to maintain although at 4 years I'm kind of always aware of my liquids and if my meals have a good amount of protein. I start to track closely when I find myself gaining because I find it is still easy for me to "fool myself" about the totals of what I'm actually eating through the day and evening.

I'm thankful that I'm not one of those people that post-DS can look at food and gain. :)

*** Just a note because I remember wondering if I would lose after my DS if I didn't exercise. I physically couldn't exercise for the first year and a half after my DS and still lost the majority of my weight. Over years 3 and 4 I've been able to up my exercise ( and have fun at the same time ) which allows me some leeway on my intake but I don't consider it a necessity towards maintaining just a plus.

Pete

Thank you for the extra note!!! I can't physically exercise right now either. I have POTS (heart rate gets really high when I stand up) so just walking can have me passing out. I was really worried about the weight loss without exercise. I'm hoping losing some weight will help with the symptoms and then I'll be able to go nuts exercising, but till then it's nice to know I still can lose weight.

That sounds bad. I hope your right and the weight loss lessens the impact. I had a series of ulcers on the bottom of my foot that kept me from doing much of anything. It took me quite a while to get that healed and then to figure out how to even get started exercising.

It was always frustrating that the advice to heal the ulcer was to keep off my foot. It didn't really heal until I spent a lot of time in a load bearing cast on my foot. It weighed a ton and went up to just below my knee. That kept me from walking around. :)

Weight loss SHOULD help since one of the "triggers" for an episode is deconditioning (no it doesn't cause it, but can make it worse). Whats really great about the ds diet is it goes right along with the suggested POTS diet. Low carb small meals.

OUCH! That sounds painfully! How long did it take to heal? Did you do weights?

Here's the thing. I could probably eat 2000 calories of all the wrong food and gain weight. AND not meet my protein goals either. OTOH.... I could eat 3000 calories and lose. Calories have no value for us! It's what you eat...not how many calories it has!

There is no 'range' of calories that's good and no 'range' that's bad.

This concept is very hard to wrap the head around. I totally believe you, but being fat all my life I'm taught weight loss/gain is all about calories in vs calories out.

With the sleeve I had to eat 800 calories or less a day in order to lose. It will be nice not to have to worry about calories. Counting protein is no prob, I LOVE meat.

I followed the 30g protein goal your first month, 60g goal 2nd month, 90g goal 3rd month and then finally 120g protein for life. I track on my fitness pal. I always (well before pregnancy) hit my protein goal. I used to eat between 80-120 total carbs with at least once I hit maintenance. For the first year or two I kept my carbs even lower, as low as I could, I think about 40-60 with about 20 fiber. Then we got worried I lost too much and I upped my carbs to maintenance. Some days I love bacon dipped in mayo, other I want a sweet potato but I'm pregnant now and need more carbs (I've been eating 125-150 and lost 5 lbs from just being pregnant). Now I eat about 2200-2400 calories a day but I used to eat anywhere from 1500-3300, depending on the day. Really just focus on your macros. And being newly post opt you need to focus more on liquids, don't get dehydrated it's no fun to have to go to the ER to get fluids because you literally can't drink without puking.

Best of luck! You got this

Thank you! That's a great guide. I would have ( and did with the sleeve) worked to get all the protein in at once. Knowing it's ok to work up to 120g+ makes things easier to

Yes I'll definitely focus on fluids. I have a med condition (POTS) that makes being dehydrated an extra bad idea. So above everything ill being focusing on my required water goal (which is 2-3 liters).

If u don't mind me asking, how long did it take for u to get to maintenance? (I know everyone is different, and I personally am a slow loser, just curious)

Sometimes we forget the 30, 60, 90 rule (LOL as if there are rules written down somewhere) but remember to consider where people are at when they offer advice and examples. People are at different stages and sometimes if you don't preface a question with something like I'm 2 weeks out, I'm 45 days out, etc then people can tell you what works for them at several years and not what they went through immediately post-op. Those things can be fairly different. :)

Good point, I forget sometimes that everyone doesn't know my journey. Thanks for the reminder!

FYI, I'm 2.5 years post sleeve (Failed), and scheduled May 2nd for conversion to DS (with resleeve).