3 yr post-op trying to figure it all out

Hey there guys/gals, long time no see for lots of you!

Okay, I did great the first year, lost 127 pounds, going from 320 to 193, size 32 to 16.  Sadly, weight loss stopped smack dab on 1 yr surgiversary. 

Since then, I've regained 10-20 pounds, depending on the week.

I'm ready to FINALLY get to a "goal" weight, except that I'm not sure what it should be.  I'm 51 yrs old and 5' 4".  One reason for doing this is to start plastics ASAP, but I can't even start the process until I'm closer to that mysterious goal. 

Also, I'm unclear on how many calories and protein I should be consuming per day.  I'm getting conflicting numbers from my surgeon's staff and my NUT.

I THINK I want to get down to 170 pounds prior to PS, where I plan on losing 10 pounds of skin and lipo fat due to lower body lift, inner thigh lift, boob lift, neck lift.  (10 pounds sounds reasonable, doesn't it?)

My NUT recently said that I if I want to weigh 170, I should add a zero to 170 and consume 1700 calories per day and no more than 100 grams of protein.  That sounds like a LOT of calories and not enough protein.

I retired last Friday and plan on living at the gym, but I'm pretty lazy so I won't be going nuts with cardio.

Opinions on goal weight (prior to PS), calories per day, protein per day?

I've missed you guys and look forward to meeting whoever is going to the NYC (Long Island) Event next month. 

-Cyn

Hi Cynthia,
I'm 13 years post-op and have gained 35 lbs. back. I'm going to do what I've done in the past to get back on track, and that''s to follow the old rules again (no eating or drinking 30 minutes before/after a meal). Take a bite and set down youir for****il you've chewed 30 times and then after 30 minutes, you're done eating whether the food's all gone or not.

I've gotten lazy, too, but it's really not that difficult to get back into the routine. I was only 30 yrs old when I had my rouxny so I didn't have a lot of trouble with sagging/drooping skin, but now that I'm 43 and 2 children later, I know what you mean. I wish I HAD the money to put my boobs back where they belong haha. Best of luck to you. I'm sure you can do it if you set your mind to it.

Peggy S.

Peggy, thanks so much for responding.

I'm good with chewing, I'm bad with grazing.  I'm good with getting water and vites in, I'm bad about keeping "bad" carbs in the house.  That stopped today, however.

I know I need to actually create a menu, buy the food, cook it, as it doesn't magically appear on my plate.  (ok, I admit this was a hard concept)  I've been looking at the What Did You Eat posts and Eggface menus/recipes...

I loaded my gym class schedule on my computer and iPhone, I got my measuring cups/spoons/digital food scales out, I have The Daily Plate.com on speed dial, I'm armed for bear.

I just need to know how MUCH bear.  

My surgeon and NUT aren't much help, so I'm counting on you wise people, particularly the vets, to steer me in the right direction.

HELP!

-Cyn

I'm about 3 years out too and am 5 pounds below my goal weight right now. This past Christmas (actually from Thanksgiving until the New Year) I gained around 10 pounds. I counted my calories religiously and got them off pretty quickly. When I'm maintaining, I eat about 2000-2500 calories per day. To lose, I cut my calories to 1300 and watch my carbs. This works for me. I feel like i'm getting enough calories without feeling starved (now I give myself a 3 pound cushion- if I'm up more than that, I cut back). If I were you, I'd try around 1200-1300 calories a day to start with and see how you feel (and see what that does to the scale). I just had a lower body lift and breast lift and finally feel human again. Life is good!!

You can do this!! 

Laura

Laura, thanks and congrats for reaching your goal weight.  I never even got close, though I'd do it all over again tomorrow.  Being size 32 sucks.  16 is normal-ish, but 14 or less would be better.

It's funny to see 2k-2.5k cals are maintaining cals.  That just seems like so much, but then again, my mind is warped from decades of "dieting."

I guess I'll just have to play around with the cals and see what works for me. 

I've been talking about PS for a few years now, but never did what it took to make that a reality.  I know that it's time to pull up my big girl panties (yes, I kept a few pairs) and do what it takes, 'cause nobody can do it FOR me.

Who did your PS, if you don't mind saying?  Anything you would have done differently?  I've recently starting creepin' the PS forum here.

-Cyn

Thanks!! I'm in Houston. I had my arms done almost 2 years ago with Dr. Wainwright. He did a fabulous job and I'd use him again in a heartbeat. My body was more of a mess, so I used Dr.LoMonaco for my lbl/bl 2 months ago. I think he is one of the best in the country and love him. I would not do anything differently. Now I just gotta save up for my implants!! 

Laura

I've seen Dr. L's work, impressive indeed!

-Cyn

 Ok, not a vet but hopefully I can give you some helpful info. 

I would think that 170 would be a reasonable goal, as it'd put your BMI at 29.2 (google search "BMI calculator"). The protein goals are fairly individual-dependent. 100g protein should be a reasonable approximation, and no less than 60g, but your body might need more, especially if you are working out alot. Some people on the forum are runners and would need at least 100g just to meet their body's needs. Are you getting your labs at least annually? If your serum protein is low, then you'd know you need more.
I don't believe 1700 cal is too much for maintenence phase but if you need to play around with what works for your body, just don't go too low - - between your exercise and what the body needs to NOT go into starvation mode, you don't want to be shooting yourself in the foot by consuming too little.

BTW, love your Ab Fab avitar!!

Thanks for your reponse.  Yeah, my avatar sums me up pretty well. 

If 100g of protein is all I need, then I've been getting in too much.  I have NO problem getting protein in.  Unfortunately, no problem getting fat and carbs in too. /ducks

Yep, I get my labs done every 6 months, alternating with Surgeon and Primary doc.  Just got them done with Primary, all is good other than iron, but I was bad about taking it over the summer (due to being plugged up) but the last month or so back to being a good girl, taking stool softeners, Benefiber and taking my Proferrin ES. 

I TOTALLY don't want to eat less than I should, being that I love food and want to adjust my requirements to hit that sweet spot.  I currently have my cals at 1370 on TheDailyPlate (per their calculations), so perhaps I should up that a bit.  Woot!

-Cyn

Well, for my goal weight, I just wanted my BMI to be in the "normal" range.

How many calories you need depends on lots of different things, including how active you are and your metabolism.  That makes it hard to put an exact number on it which is probably why you get different numbers from your surgeon and your nut.  They don't know exactly how many calories you burn a day so they can't calculate exactly how many you'd need in order to lose the amount of weight you still want to lose. 

You can use their suggestions as a starting place and if you find that doesn't help you lose, then you can adjust your calories a little bit and see what happens.  Kind of like they recommend we start out taking a certain amount of iron but then when we get labs done, we might find out we need more or less than that starting amount.

As far as protein goes, I use the ASMBS suggestion of 1.1 grams protein per kilogram of ideal body weight.  For those not inclined to do that math to convert kilograms to pounds, it comes out to about half a gram of protein for every pound of what you "should" weigh.  However, when we get labs done, some people find they need more than that in order to keep their protein level good.  And then, as with other things, we should adjust the amount a little and see if our level improves.