How many calories?

So, I am just wondering how many calories I should be taking in each day?  Right now I am keeping it between 700 and 800 a day is this too much, too little or just right?  I know that Barb had said at one of our support groups that the goal was to get to 1000 calories/day but I just want to make sure that I am not taking in too much too early.  I burn about 800-900 calories a day with my workouts, plus whatever I burn throughout the day.  All of the calorie calculators I have found are for non-bypass people so they say I should be taking around 1200-1300 calories a day and I know that is way too much.  Thanks in advance for any help you can give me regarding this matter. ~Nicole

Hi Nicole, I know you will get a lot of great answers - but I just wanted to share how I did it.  In 5 years, I haven't counted one calorie.  I focused on the quantity that Park Nicollet said I was to eat at whatever stage I was at first.  Then I made sure I ate protein first, then vegetables and fruit and then whatever else I had room for up to my quantity limit. After 5 years - it's seemed to have worked for me.  I won't tell you that I haven't gone overboard and ate junk at times and gained weight because of it...I just wanted to point out that I never focused on calories...just quantity and what the food was.  You can eat the right amount of calories (whatever that amount is) of the wrong food and be malnourished - or focus on the quality of food (nutrition)and the quantity that your pouch should hold to lose or maintain your weight. To me, calorie counting is dieting.  WLS is a lifetime lifestyle.

Nicole, it's funny you should ask this today, because I've been wondering the same thing, being a year out.  My loss has slowed down significantly, as I know it should - but I actually went into thedailyplate.com to start tracking my calories.  (I don't know why, but fitday seemed cumbersome for me.  So far, this dailyplate site seems to be more user-friendly?   Or at least, friendlier to THIS user!)   Anyway, I guess I've been UNDERESTIMATING the calories I take in!  Yes, I focus on protein, but haven'****ched closely enough how many calories are attached to that protein!  So I need to back it down.  I don't snack a lot, and when I do it's pretty darn healthy, but logging my intake just this am was quite a  moment!   Gotta get out and buy Bailey her new bike, so we can go riding together & burn more calories.  (Although I'm thinking my walks with the Hazelnut burn more calories than the average doggie-walk!!!)

I really like thedailyplate.com as well, which is what I had been using up until last week when I switched over to Prevention.com and now use their HealthTracker.  I too found that some of the foods that were rich in protien had more calories and fat than I had expected and so I have really been focusing on eating only lean meat and low-fat/fat free products.  I also posted this question on the "Ask a Dietician" post in the Diet/Nutrition Forum here on OH and am hoping to get a response from someone who should know what they are talking about.  I will share the answer once I find out.  Have fun going bike shopping!

Okay, so the response from the Registered Dietician on the Diet & Nutrition forum was that it is a complicated formula and that in order to have it acurately figured out one should go to a Registered Dietician, preferrably one associated with your surgeo's office.  She said they have to look at hieght, weight, age, activity level, type of surgery, previous dieting habits, fat, carbs & protien intake to calculate it all.  I have decided to wait until next weekend when I attend the nutrition program and see if they address this and if not then I am going to make an appointment with Amy @ PNC to see if she can help me figure all of this out.  Hope this can help you out as well!

Hi Nicole...I pretty much just count my protein and eat healthy. I occasionaal check my calories but not every day. I am going to try the site you use. I use fitday and don't care for it. You are doing awesome.....you look really good!! Hugs, connie d

Thank you!  I think the Healthtracker on Prevention.com is actually run by fitday so I am not sure how much better it will be, but I like it because it helps me figure out how many calories I burn through out the whole day, not just when I workout.  It also has graphs and such to track your weight and mood and measurements so it's all encompassing.  I think I have decided that I want to work to keep my caloric intake under 800 calories a day.  I am also paying more attention to the percentage of my caloric intake is protien and what is carbs because I noticed at the beginning of the week that the carbs were even with the protien and that's not right!  So, I am working on more and more protien.  I am taking baby steps, like this morning/afternoon when I got hungry (4 1/2 hours after breakfast but an hour before lunch) I only ate 1/2 of the snack I had in my desk (South Beach Diet Dark Chocolate wafer) and that is holding me till I get to go an eat lunch.  I am just really wanting to be as healthy as I can with starting to train for this marathon and with hoping to be able to run a 5K by July.  Maybe it is me being paranoid that I am going to screw this up, who knows.  I am also hoping that this nutrition program next weekend will really help me get a solid foundation for what I should and shouldn't be eating. 

I'm with you on Fitday. I tried it for a while and I didn't like the layout and setup.  I prefer Sparkpeople.  It's much more user friendly and I can get a report for everything (protein, calories, fat, carbs, cardio, weigh ins, measurements, etc.).   (((Hugs))) Michelle

Michelle...thanks for letting me know about Sparkpeople. I am going to go give it a try!! Hugs sweetie...so good to hear from you......connie d