Calorie Goals
Jen312
Posts: 5 Member
I am 8 months post op. 113 lbs gone, 25 to go (maybe more). I slacked off on exercise back in June and I am getting back on track. I really need to build muscle and tone to minimize the negative effects of the rapid weight loss and help me reach my scale goal. I still find it hard to consume my water, protein and calorie targets. I eat a whole foods diet and stick to bariatric guidelines so no wasted calories. My question: How many calories are you/were you consuming at 9-18 months post op with weight training and cardio, something almost every day of the week? I am worried about fueling my body as I found 6 years ago losing weight without surgery, when I worked out hard, I had to up my calories to lose weight.
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I'm eating 800-1200 cals at 11.5mo out. I eat as I'm hungry, so my cals can vary quite a bit day to day. As long as I hit my protein goal, I don't worry about it. I eat keto with 17:7 IF. I do yoga most days for about 20 minutes. Time depends on how much time I have that day and how much motivation. I have a Fitbit and get a minimum of 10k steps per day but average 13k. I do 30 minutes of HIIT once per week. I don't lift because I don't have clearance to do so from a couple of my doctors and I doubt I'll start, since I loathe lifting.
I just saw my surgeon today for my one year checkup and he's happy with everything I'm doing. I'm still losing with no problem and he attributes that to the fact that I continue to eat precisely as I'm supposed to. I told him I've added exercise and he says that's important for fitness, but it's really all about what I put into my mouth.
I've lost 147.3lbs since January 19th. I have about 30 to go, depending on how I feel when I get to 120lbs. I expect this last 30 to take a full year.0 -
Jen312 - Great question and I'm wondering the same thing. I'm 11 months post opt and I eat between 800 - 900 calories per day, protein between 70-80 grams. I'm down 94 lbs and 1.7 pounds from my goal weight. I am walk every day using my Fitbit everyday to get my 10,000 steps in. I currently do not go to the gym and probably won't start. My track record in the past has been to pay then never show up. I have a treadmill that I use along with walking the dog to get my steps. I have my one year check up in a few weeks where I'm going to talk with the dietitian to see what changes I need to make to add muscle, lose a little more fat but maintain my goal weight.
I'm interested in seeing what other posters are doing calorie wise to gain muscle while losing fat.0 -
loveshoe-please let me know what you learn at your appointment. I am getting in 10-16k steps a day (as of the last 4 days lol, but I will keep it up) and I am adding weights and HIIT so I hope to learn more about fueling that kind of activity in bariatric terms.0
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Keto is a wonderful way of eating for muscle sparing, and losing fat! I have experience with losing weight after sleeve, and now after keto. I never saw the muscles, that I am now seeing, after my sleeve.
I also believe that once you get your macros adjusted to where you're healthy, the calories aren't as important anymore!0 -
Thank you. I have some medical issues that restrict some things. Keto Diets are hard on the kidneys, and I only have one left. I am as close to that as I can safely get. I stay around 32-35 carbs a day, low 20s for net carbs on average and allow myself greater fat than a lot of dieters do. I can not put myself into ketosis, but I am very conscious of insulin spikes etc. My carbs are always from veggies and dairy. No bread, rice, pasta, potatoes of any kind. Squash is the worst carb I get.0
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I am weight training to swap fat for muscle and getting about 1200-1500/day. I work on boosting it with fats like avocado and sunflower seeds that are high cal but good fat (and protein in the case of the seeds), but I also eat carbs on purpose - mostly fortified cereal. I drink a lot of skim milk. I eat Smart Start these days because it gets me B1 vitamins my body seems to not want to retain but I used to eat a high protein cereal. Also some rice and quinoa. I have to put the scale goal on hold to bulk up muscle. I weigh in to make sure I don't have rapid gain but I have gained a few pounds while weight training and I'm ok with that. When I switch back into cardio mode this should help me eventually drop a few pounds if I want to but I'm very conscious of not losing muscle. I'd rather be strong and in the 'overweight' BMI than in 'normal' range. Your mileage may vary on that. Also when I do taper some of the strength training in favor of cardio I will drop some cals.
The truth is if you really want to build a decent amount of muscle, eating some carbs is going to help you do that. It's going to give you energy, endurance and fuel. If you don't eat enough carbs, you'll burn too much of what precious protein you are taking in and see some negative effects from that similar to ketosis. Mind that this relates to someone who is truly burning a significant amount while weight training, but if you are working out every day, eating less than what the average person of your weight would be to maintain energy and hoping to build muscle - which sounds plausable in your case, I'd think about adding a few good carbs while weight training. Not a ton, but... some. I will say that at the beginning of my strength training I was having endurance issues, which seems normal, but also getting very dizzy. Adding good carbs helped me with that. I don't really know exactly why but I assume it's related to keeping energy in quick supply (carbs) and slow supply (protein/fat) in a good balance.0
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