How many calories to lose weight?

[ashes304 16]

** sorry for any misspelled words, autocorrect

My question is... How many calories are you taking in a day and how much exercise and weight loss do you get throughout the week?

I am currently 5 months out on the 20th and I eat around 900 calories a day or less and I have been at a weight loss stall for about 1 month. I did lose 1 pound today which makes my total 67.8 pounds lost since 2/20/13

[Beach Lover 1,084]

I try to stay at 700 but my surgeon told me 800. Good luck!

[mwrarr 244]

If I go above 550 consistently for more than a week, I stall out or slow wayyyyy down. I get about 450-550/day & about avg 65g Protein & 100 oz Water. I walk/jog 3x/wk. when I don't, I stop losing.

[ashes304 16]

How far out are you guys?

[NtvTxn 1,262]

I had surgery in June 2010 and reached goal in Dec of that same year. I didn't do any "formal" exercise at the gym, but I have a weighted ball at home, go up and down stairs and park as far as I can when I go shopping. I walk the mall.....as one doctor said, JUST MOVE, and I do.

That said, my calories were LOW during that six month losing period, starting out with less than 300 there for a couple of weeks, but from about week 3 on, I got a little more in. I slowly started getting more calories as time went on, between 350 and 800, NEVER more than 800 when I was losing and only that many off and on that last month. I have been maintaining for a little over 2.5 year and only get 1300 per day.

You'll have people tell you to UP your calories, bologna. Upping calories = weight gain, it isn't rocket science. I was at a WLS support group two nights ago and the PhD doctor said the same thing, but was a little more elegant about it. He said the 'starvation mode' and our bodies 'holding onto calories' is a myth. No proven statistics, ever. He said unless we are in a prisoner of war camp, low calories are not going to disrupt our metabolism. Now THAT makes sense.

[futureloser 190]

I am 4 mos out and usually get about 650 calories. I am losing consistently- 3 lbs a week or so.

[ashes304 16]

What do you guys eat to not be hungry? I ate half an egg around 2pm today and I'm starting to feel hungry again.

[nj8988 18]

I was at a WLS support group two nights ago and the PhD doctor said the same thing, but was a little more elegant about it. He said the 'starvation mode' and our bodies 'holding onto calories' is a myth. No proven statistics, ever. He said unless we are in a prisoner of war camp, low calories are not going to disrupt our metabolism. Now THAT makes sense.

If this could be proven, it would change EVERYTHING. I do very well with very restrictive diets (less than 600 calories), but have trouble with 1000-1800 calorie diets, for some reason the less I eat the less hungry I am. I wish research could be done on the true effect on calorie intake metabolism.

[nj8988 18]

This spurred me to do research and I came across this, very interesting;

Lyle McDonald explains it this way:

In general, it's true that metabolic rate tends to drop more with more excessive caloric deficits… But here's the thing: in no study I've ever seen has the drop in metabolic rate been sufficient to completely offset the caloric deficit. That is, say that cutting your calories by 50% per day leads to a reduction in the metabolic rate of 10%. Starvation mode you say. Well, yes. But you still have a 40% daily deficit.

More reading; http://www.myfitness...mode-myth-again

Now, let’s look at another aspect. The folks at Cambridge University in England did a study to determine the different effects starvation had on lean people versus obese people. The study can be found here:

http://www.unu.edu/u...od2/UID07E/uid0

7e11.htm. Let’s just cut to the chase with this study.

Does starvation mode slow down the metabolism? No and Yes.

In the first 2 days of starvation, there is a small absolute increase in basic metabolic rate relative to values obtained from overnight fasting. Overnight fasting is what every one of us does during our sleeping hours. So it is not true that going below recommended calories for one day is going to slow down your metabolism -- quite the contrary, it may speed it up just a little. Of course, this is just limited to the first few days. After that, studies in fact support that “starvation mode” slows down metabolism.

Does Starvation mode cause our bodies to catabilize (devour our muscles and other lean mass)? Yes and No.

Lean individuals lost great amounts of fat-free, lean tissue during starvation,

but obese individuals lost much more fat tissue. The loss of lean mass is not as critical to the obese person simply because an obese person has more lean mass than a person of the same age and height but normal weight.

Here we get to a basic idea that makes sense – fat storage – the same way animals build up bulk to rely on during the winter, obese people have fat stores they can use (to a limited extent) in times of need.

This means that the effects of a semi-starvation diet upon a normal weight individual are of course much more devastating than the effects on someone who is obese.

[mwrarr 244]

How far out are you guys?

I'm almost 4 months out.

What do you guys eat to not be hungry? I ate half an egg around 2pm today and I'm starting to feel hungry again.

I start every day with a pint of Water & a Protein shake (about 45 min between them), & eat about every 2-1/2 hrs after that, until 7 pm or so. I eat very high Protein foods & minimal carbs (though I don't "count" them, I just avoid yeasty breads, crackers, white veggies, sugars, etc). I found that when I allow little bits of processed carbs in, I'm STARVING 90 min later. My meals tend to consist of things like:

1/3-1/2 veggie burger with dijionnaise

1/2 hard boiled egg, sliced

Abt 1/2 container Greek yogurt

1/8-1/4 c Small curd cottage cheese

1/8-1/4 c Veg chili

1/3 hamburger patty w/sliced pickles & mustard

4-5 grapes

Slice of watermelon

1/2 grapefruit

1/4-1/2c bean Soup

2-3 slices roast beef

1/4c tuna salad

[ashes304 16]

So far today I have had

Half a fried egg w/ half slice wheat bread

2 pieces of turkey rolled up

1/2 slice American cheese

1 Protein Peanut Butter bar

1 piece of cinnamon candy

[BBWOMAN 9]

So far today I have had

Half a fried egg w/ half slice wheat bread

2 pieces of turkey rolled up

1/2 slice American cheese

1 Protein Peanut Butter bar

1 piece of cinnamon candy

Thank you for asking this because I am 2 years out and haven't hit goal yet. But I have lost 144lbs. Need to lose 60 more for goal and still can only eat 5 bits and I am full. I have appointment with my nut at the end of the month.

[NtvTxn 1,262]

I eat three meals and I have to have a few Snacks to get in enough calories to maintain. If I drop below 1300 for several days, I lose. If I increase the calories for several days, I'll gain. It's a fine line! That said, I don't go too long without having a little something. candy is NOT a good choice, at least not sugared candy. When I was losing, a couple of bites of cottage cheese is good, but lunch meat is a good choice, good Protein and will fill you up. I have 98% FF ham that I love to eat.

[ashes304 16]

I understand that sugar candy isn't good but since I've had surgery and my calorie goal is 650 at 5 months out my sugar has been dropping and I get dizzy so I need to have something