male only Guy's Room - Calorie target 9 months out?

[BigViffer 3,544]

Ladies – I posted this here in the Guy’s Room because your caloric intake is not relevant to the question, but please feel free to read the thread.

Gentlemen - I’m currently coming out of a stall that lasted about 3 weeks, but for the life of me I do not know what I did to break the stall. I tried increasing calories, decreasing them, drinking more and of course just waiting it out. I finally had 3 really good BM’s, so I think I am getting back to regular too.

During this latest stall, of course I went online a read tons of articles, used the online calculators, yada yada yada… they all say I should be at 1700-2500 calories to lose weight safely. Obviously they are not for those of us who have had surgery. My nutritionist is worthless and is only there to sell products. I have always come better prepared than she does to our appointments. And our appointments always end with her saying, “What do you think you should be doing?” Ugh.

Here is my relevant info. Surgery weight was 330 and I am down to 225. My calorie target is 1300 calories and 64 oz Fluid a day. Most days I come in under that caloric intake, but there are a few days that I go over. Out of the last 169 days, I have gone over that target 27 times according to my records. I work out on average 4 days a week. 30 minutes cardio and at least that much in the weight room working only one muscle group in a session.

If you have similar stats and habits, would you mind sharing your daily caloric goal?

[Rizzle01 54]

I am currently stalled and I am trying to stay under 1400 calories a day myself. I am interested to hear what others have to say.

Edited November 18, 2015 by Rizzle01

[dlappjr 467]

Sorry, I too am here to see what happens. Although I have similar stats to what you have mentioned, I am only 3 months out. I too get around 1200-1300 Calories a day, give or take. About 100-120g of Protein. About 90-100g Carbs and less than 35g of Sugar, daily. I drink enough fluids and work out at least 5hrs per week. 30 min of cardio, followed by 30 minutes of weights. Its hard to say I am in a stall, but I have only lost about 5 lbs. in the past 2-3 weeks and it seems like nothing I do helps that. Of course, my expectations are probably off a little, as the past 2.5 months I dropped 80 lbs. like it was my job, but I have been putting so much more effort into it and I expected more. I start to worry that my honeymoon phase is ending and that it will be a struggle to lose weight as quickly as I had at first.My newest thing to try is to stay off my scale except every Monday morning. For a long time I was weighing every other day or so. I am still shrinking in size somewhat rapidly so I also attribute some of this to losing more fat than muscle, which may explain why I slowed but not stopped. I don't know. It gets maddening to try to figure some of this stuff out.

[BigViffer 3,544]

@@dlappjr Damn man, 80lbs in 3 months?! Yeah, I'd say you are due for a stall. Your body is going to be doing some major adjusting and redistributing resources. I think you'll find your measures shrinking at this time.

At that time frame, my stalls were broken with increased fluids and Fiber. Staying regular was and continues to be a struggle for me. Once I got back to regular, I was back to 2-3 lbs a week loss. If you don't already, learn to love prunes, figs, and dried apricots. I can lose 2 lbs in a day once things are moving again.

[dlappjr 467]

Yeah, it just seemed to go so fast. I have not been regular since about 4 weeks post op. The first 3 weeks or so being on liquids was easy to be regular, or leaning slightly, um, looser? But now I am lucky if I go every 3-4 days. I have been trying to add flax seed into my yogurt. I also have some metamucil, the sugar free stuff. I tried it once, it tastes horrible. I do need to get regular but as of right now, am not.

[dmedic72 130]

Benefiber is tasteless. I mix it in my Clear Isopure, coffee, Water, Powerade, yogurt, just about anything. I also take docusate every day as a stool softener to avoid straining and the side effects that come with that.

[fly-high 84]

Sorry, I too am here to see what happens. Although I have similar stats to what you have mentioned, I am only 3 months out. I too get around 1200-1300 Calories a day, give or take. About 100-120g of Protein. About 90-100g Carbs and less than 35g of Sugar, daily. I drink enough fluids and work out at least 5hrs per week. 30 min of cardio, followed by 30 minutes of weights. Its hard to say I am in a stall, but I have only lost about 5 lbs. in the past 2-3 weeks and it seems like nothing I do helps that. Of course, my expectations are probably off a little, as the past 2.5 months I dropped 80 lbs. like it was my job, but I have been putting so much more effort into it and I expected more. I start to worry that my honeymoon phase is ending and that it will be a struggle to lose weight as quickly as I had at first.My newest thing to try is to stay off my scale except every Monday morning. For a long time I was weighing every other day or so. I am still shrinking in size somewhat rapidly so I also attribute some of this to losing more fat than muscle, which may explain why I slowed but not stopped. I don't know. It gets maddening to try to figure some of this stuff out.

I have been here for months viewing the ladies info mosly because of a lack of male posts.

I am 3 months out and I have mirror stats of you all, this is something. I am at a plateau and have been for 2-3 weeks. I have lost 36 lbs. post op but I am stuck.

I am losing major inches and people say I look like a diiferent person. And I attribute that to lifting weights 30 min and doing aerobics 30 minutes, 4 days a week. We are all doing the same thing. This is humorous as I felt like I was out on an island all along.

It is concerning not to see that scale move and very discouraging. I too take in about 1200 to 1350 calories a day and with the workout probably burn 250-300 calories a day so it makes me say how can the needle not be moving.

I am also not regular, when I am regular the weight drops quick but when I am not, I feel like a do now. I think I will be trying to find some cheap apricots or prunes and snack on them for Snacks.

If my mind wanders enough I too feel like "is this it, is the honeymoon over" and I am just 3 1/2 months out...

PLEASE, keep the posts coming, this is the closest comparisons I have got to myself since the surgury in August!

[James Marusek 5,244]

Congratulations on your weight loss thus far. I had RNY and transitioned from the "Weight Loss" phase to the "Maintenance" phase around 6 or 7 months post-op. Gastric Sleeve patients tend to lose weight slower but over a longer period of time than RNY patients.

Generally I don't track calories but rather food volume. This article describes my experience with RNY. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf I am older and less active, so my caloric intake is substantially lower than yours. Immediately after RNY surgery, my caloric intake was around 400 calories per day for several months. So long as I met the Protein, Fluid and Vitamin requirements, I was fine. So when I hear that "1700-2500 calories to lose weight safely", that is not my experience.

[SleeveSoon 191]

I use MyFitnessPal (MFP) to track food and my daily caloric goal is 1,300 calories with 120 grams of Protein. Lately I have been averaging around 1,200 calories per day with at least 120 grams of Protein. I have had a few stalls and honestly I have no idea what caused the stalls, or what brought me back to losing weight. I usually just focus what I have control over - protein first, drink Water, and exercise.

I have increased exercise since October (my surgery was 9/1). My current schedule includes a daily 1/2 hour dog walk and daily trips to the gym alternating cardio (rower/elliptical/bike) for an hour one day and weights (mostly free weights) for an hour the next day. I am going to reduce the frequency of lifting weights to every third day and add a day of swimming to mix things up a bit.

[fernandfj 469]

I'm a bit over 70 lbs down from the surgery (July 29) and about 87 lbs overall since the pre-op liquid diet. I haven't had a real stall in that time, although I sometimes go a three or four days with no loss. I am averaging about 900-1000 calories per day and 100-110 gms of Protein and 60-80 gms of carbs daily. That amount of food fills me up all day and I feel no hunger - I don;t thin I can do more ta this time even if I tried! I do 30 min cardio 5x per week and strength training every other day. So far it all seems to be working. but I am waiting for that first stall to really hit.

[BigTink2LilTink 723]

Wow 12-1300 a day seems low. I have MFP setup at 2100 per day and for the last few months I've averaged around 1700 -2100 per day. I am currently in a slight stall if you will but its only been about 10 days or so. During this time I have started to take better account of Fluid intake. I think one of the reasons I might have started to stall was that I wasn't drinking nearly enough fluids as I should be during the day. So this week I have been make sure to take down 17oz of Fluid per 2 hours while at work, which should be around 68/69oz of fluids during the day. I still walk daily at around 3.5/4.5 miles by the end of the day, and I've been doing some weight lifting for about a good 2 months now. Roughly 3 times a week.

[BigViffer 3,544]

@@BigTink2LilTink - see? That is exactly the type of information I am looking for. Were you told to your calories up at that level by your nutritionist or surgeon? I have an appontment today with my surgeon and this is something I will be asking him.

[BigTink2LilTink 723]

The nutritionist at my surgeon's office. They still want me on a Protein first sort of diet where I am still consuming more Protein than anything else. I see my surgeon in about 3/4 weeks from now. I would like to be at or as close to 263lbs as humanly and safely as possible. Doubt I'll get there being at where I am, but it doesn't hurt to try.

[Mel77 67]

Protein first has worked for me so far and I don't count calories just protein and carb grams. I try to only eat three meals a day and get my Fluid. I do feel I am slowly starting to eat more so I don't snack. Stalls happen and vary in length. Keep being consistent and err on the side of less. Just my two cents. Down 105 since March

[OKCPirate 5,323]

I am stuck at 222. It bugs me at one level because I have been doing so good for a year. But I met with a buddy of mind who is a plastic surgeon. He explained that he expected me to lose 22-30 pounds after getting rid of the excess skin. Might be a reality to face. (BTW, please feel free to see what I eat and exercise at myfitnesspal.com - thekirkshelley. Usually over 100g of protien and mostly 1200 calories)

Edited November 20, 2015 by OKCPirate