Calorie question

I had surgery last Tuesday and am chugging along. All my fluids, protien, and started soft foods yesterday. I have a question about maintaining calories later. I'm 6' 5" and should finish at about 230. Is 1000 cal a day to little for my size or adequate. I want to seriously train myself over the next two years and starting early is better than late. Just looking for some guidance from my brothers. Thanks all in advance

Lammy

 I suspect that you will probably end up around 2,000 cal.  I'm currently 350 at 6 yrs post op and even I lose weight if I limit myself to 1,600 to 1,800 cal.  As someone who didn't follow all of the rules (even though I'm maintaining a 220 lb weight loss), I can point out things you should be watching.  

In your early stages, make sure you are getting in your fluids and protein.  My surgeon(s) advocated the use of protein shakes.  I always use the cheapest one that I like in vanilla and I can flavor it with DaVinciGourmet sugar free syrups  which you can get online and in some stores.  Others use Torani syrups.  I tried protein bars for a while, but they have too many grams of sugar and I begin treating them like candy.  Also there's quite an expense involved there.  If I seem cheap, it's probaboy because I had to retire from the Fed govt on disability in July 1992.

I haven't been able to get much exercise due to difficulty walking.  I do think getting in the exercise is an important part of recovery.  Look at the Fitness and Exercise Forum sometime for examples of how many people are advancing with exercise.

You may think that the low caloric intake you are eating now cannot be sustained.  After about 6 months, You will be able eat more.  The important thing is to get the foundations down now.

Lammy,

Don't worry about maintenance right now, the beauty of WLS is how easy it is.  Get in your protein and water and watch your sugars.  That is all that they want you worried about right now. 

I think "training yourself for the future" is just blowing wind up someone's a$$ to make you sound like you are really applying yourself this time.  There is no way for you to prepare yourself for the unknown.  We all end up with different diets in maintenance.  We keep trying new things until we find what works for us individually.

Best of luck, and your brothers are here to help, we just don't let you get away with much.

Thanks man. Appreciate the no BS approach. Taking in 128oz of liquids a day and 100 grams protien. No sugars at all. I'll just keep chugging and SE where this road takes me

And Don't overdo the protein!  Seriously, unless you are doing massive lifting, work by your guidlines.  At 10 months I was doing 100g of supplemental protein plus a normal diet and I was bulking up quickly with no scale movement.

 Seriously, don't worry about the future.  Right now, get your protein in and start slowly building up your exercise.  I'm a year out and getting in 2500 cal+ daily.  With my body, if I sarve myself my metabolism crashes.  a 500 cal deficit will be a good starting point a year or two from now.

I tend to agree that it's a little too soon to begin worrying about your future caloric intake.  I'm a little over one year out from my WLS, and unless I stop to think about it real hard, I couldn't tell you how many calories I ingest in a day within a margin of error of 100%.
I shoot for 100 grams of protein, and more or less try to get the balance of my food from about half carbs and half fats.  I try very hard to avoid refined sugars.
I have a protein shake every morning, made with soy milk and flavored protein powder and always with some fruit blended in. 
I drink water (usually in the form of hot tea) all morning long, then have a protein bar for lunch. 
Then, more water or tea, or sometimes a can of V8.  No other solid foods until dinner.
Dinner is my chance to "eat around".  Usually some dense protein (salmon, steak, chicken, shrimp) with some taste agent;  sometimes a bit of pasta or rice, and a veggie.  Almost always, a glass of wine, too.  (Yeah, that's a rule being broken.  But results is results.)
I tend to nibble an hour or so after dinner, but I limit it to a grapefruit or s small bag of microwave popcorn.
I don't really know how many calories that is, but I can say that I am rarely hungry.  Nor do I feel deprived of food.  Nor do I crave for anything.
I dropped below my goal weight about six weeks ago, but now my weight loss has slowed to around a pound a week.  The only worry I have now is what I might have to do if I get down to 175 or so.  I don't want to have to buy yet another wardrobe, so if my intake doesn't begin to balance with my output, I suppose I'll have to find a way to marginally increase my calories until things stabilize.
Good luck to you.

Don, thank you for the reply. I am worried that if I dont get the right habits down early I will fail at this. I was an MP in the Army at one point and just want to get back to that weight so bad, I don't want to screw this up. I need to calm down and let this happen. I really appreciate everyone's comments. I seriously thought I was going to have be on 700 to 1000 calories a day forever and started stressing over steps so far down the line I was loosing focus of now. I am stoked with how well I'm doing. Im down 56 in 7 weeks between pre op diet and surgery. I'm 6 pounds from the 300's which I haven't seen in years and on my way tho the 200's which will be cooler than words can explain. I plan things for a living so just going with it is a change of lifestyle for me, but this is a change of lifestyle.

Thanks all for all the advice. You have helped me greatly and I will be joining the weekly weigh in on Sunday's.

Thank you all my brothers from another mother

Lammy

Lammy -

I noticed your post from a few days ago.  This has been on my mind too.  I had surgery about 8 months ago.  In that time, I have been on ~1000 cals per day.  I have also become very active, hiking and climbming mountains, etc.

I now weigh 214 lbs.  I started at 404, so I have lost 190 lbs.  I feel great and I am only 19 lbs away from the top range of my normal weight (175+/-20).  I am still losing and will continue to do so because 1000 calories is way too low to maintain my weight, even at 214.

My guess is I will need something like 2000 calories per day average to maintain that goal BEFORE taking into account any activity at all.

Check out this link:

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

Find your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) and use the Harris Benedict Equation to estimate your daily calorie needs.

For me it goes this way:

6' 2" male, 45 years old, 175 lbs weight.  BMR: 1790 calories.

If I am going to be sedentary (which I am not), I would multiply my BMR by 1.2 for my estimate: 2148 calories.

If I am going to be "lightly active" -- sports 1-3 days a week -- the multiplier is 1.375 for an estimate of 2461.

As you can see, 1000 calories per day is not going to cut it for me.  You are 6' 5" inches tall and going for a higher weight, so you will have an even higher BMR to start with.

To get an idea of how few 1000 calories per day really is, consider this: A 5' 2" woman who weighs 120 lbs and is 45 years old has a BMR of 1257 calories.  1000 calories per day would not even come close to sustaining her weight.  A 6' 5" male is pretty far from that profile -- so you can see that you will be eating more than 1000 calories per day when you get to maintenance mode!

Good luck,

Joe

Thank you so much for this response... Math is cut and dry. That is my comfort zone... That is an amazing loss in 8 months. Congratulations on that. Hope I can come close to that too

Lammy