I upped myself to 900 calories once I could have bread and grains again. I am almost at 4 months out. My nutritionist said she was fine with it because I am exercising. I was told as long as I did not go over 1200 calories in a day I was fine. I have never even come close nor do I plan on it. She told me that at 6 months out my caloric intake would be at 1200/day. Not too sure about that...

I wonder about that a lot. Even post surg- I have days where staying under 800 is a challange. I work out 4x a week, and on those days I sometimes go up to 1100, but my average is 900. I've increased my muscle mass working out by about 15%, and still maintain a deficit between activity and calories on a weekly basis. The NUT has advised that with the increas in muscle mass, and the excercise- 900 is where I should be and an increase with excercise is OK, and the most likely way to maintain long term. I've lost over 80lbs since being sleeved in March, so it's working- but I still worry that I eat too much. I realize that's a bit nuts- but I think it's a side effect of years of obesity and failure. I've also had a few days - maybe 4 total since surg- where I've been at a BBQ or event- and have been unable to make good choices. It's a reminder to me that it's more about fixing my head than having my stomach stapled- and I need to always be vigilant.

I stayed under 800 calories per day for the first year. At my 1 year check up, the dietician & bariatric NP told me they wanted me to eat between 1000-1300 calories per day depending on how much I exercised and my hunger level, and predicted that I would actually start losing more weight once I did that. I was afraid to do it and thought they were wrong, but part of the deal I made with myself going into this was to always follow the orders of my bariatric team to the best of my ability, no matter how wrong I thought they were. Well, surprise surprise, bariatric health care experts know more than I do. I upped my calories and my weight loss really picked up. I do tend to stick more to the 1000 end of that range. YMMV!

I am 2 1/2 years out and can maintain at about 1600 calories (more if I am very active). When I am actively watching it and trying to get back to my lowest weight, I aim for 1200 calories and 3+ hours of intense exercise per week (kickboxing, push mowing the lawn, etc.)
My nutritionist told me at about six months out I should be in the 1000-1200 range and could easily do that. I noticed a change in appetite at about the 6 month mark as well (could eat more in one setting).

By 6 months out I was doing between 1000-1200\day along with 1 hour\day 5 days per week hard cardio, not eating back exercise calories. I just hit my maintenance zone a couple of weeks ago so I guess it worked! The other thing I worked to achieve is as much variance in calories day to day without going over 1200 as I could get. So some days I'd get like 950, others, 1200, with more days at 1200 than the low end. If I was going to have any kind of a "reset" I wanted it higher rather than lower. Today my BMR is 1310 per MFP so I set calories there and attempt to eat back the exercise difference now that I'm in maintenance. We'll see how that works. This "maintenance" thing is all new to me!

My limit was always 800, but I stayed under 600 for the first six months or so. I found myself slowly eating more and more till it was up to the 800 a day.

Then my calories started creeping up and recently have hovered around 1,000. So I increased my MFP limit to 1000/day (this morning) because I was tired of it always reading over limit in big red numbers. Sheesh, it's still a deficit.

Of course, the more I eat, the less I lose. I work out a lot, like five times a week or more, weights, walking, yoga class, and calisthenics.

Besides I'm in my normal BMI already and very near maintenance, maybe 20 pounds or less to go. So for me, this is the beginning of my entry into maintenance. I'm too thin on top and need to lose more in my legs. So I'm okay with losing slowly while using exercise to bulk up the parts of me that need more muscle.

Welcome to the group she_zuki, I see this is your first post. :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:
I should be having surgery around October I hope.
There is so much support on this forum. I can't imagine not having it and being a part of it. It helps to keep me accountable.
Please feel free to friend me. We should be having surgery within a few weeks of each other if all goes according to plan.

Thank you for sharing. I just joined the discussion group as I am planning to sleeve in November. Question: Are you hungry often? Is 1000 cal "suffering"?

The hunger question is a tad complex. You won't have physical hunger for 6 months to a year. Your remaining stomach will not produce enough grehlin to tell your brain you are hungry. However, WLS does nothing to stop head hunger or food addiction. Obesity is not what you eat it is why you eat. As obese people we medicate with food. If we are happy,sad,bored,depressed,angry,grieving,broke,tired,hired,fired,celebrating......we eat. It is our default activity. We use food to medicate the stressors of our day. You need to work aggressively on your relationship with food. You actually won't get to 1000 cals for several months. Your intake is typically 600 for the first month. Then 750. Then 850-950. You will then choose to stick to 1000-1100 until maintenance. I say choose because at 6 months you can go right back to eating most foods. And, sadly many pts do and gain all their wt back. So, physically, no you don't suffer but mentally if you are not prepared to let go of food as an emotional crutch and you go thru with the surgery I can pretty much guarantee some anguish. I quit medicating with food about a year before surgery but I still had trigger Kryptonite foods that I had to let go. Eating Wheat,rice, potato and processed corn send me right back in to food obsession so I quit eating them. They are not part of the sleeve lifestyle anyway, too many calories for their nutrition level. Go to your local post op support group to talk to people in the process. That way you can see first hand what it is like. For my approval process support group attendance was mandatory. At nine months out I still go and plan to forever. Support group attendees have the highest long term success rates. We like to say that surgery is only 10% of the process. 90% is you changing your relationship with food. Many people don't want to hear this. The sleeve isn't magic. My surgeon always said you can choose to eat your way around every style of WLS, it is only a tool. Good luck!!