I was probably eating 1,800-2,000 at 3 months out. I eat around 2,200-3,000 now. I know most of the replies to your post will be much lower calories counts. But I truly believe it's not so much about calories as it is eating whole foods. I stay away from sweets and refined carbs as much as possible. In 28 months I'm down around 200lbs and am fitter than ever. You have to experiment with what works for you.

Guys are certainly different than women. I hit goal around six months post surgery and was up to around 1800-2000. As you approach your goal weight, you will need to understand the BMR and TDEE concepts to understand the calories that will let you maintain or lose as your needs dictate. There are plenty of stickied posts on the main forums that will explain the concepts. Here are a few that make the most sense to me:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

http://fit101.org/the-step-by-step-guide-to-losing-weight-with-myfitnesspal/

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1235566/so-youre-new-here

After about 9 months, the hormonal effects of the surgery started to wear off and I tried to adjust to a normal, healthy way of eating that met my caloric needs without eating to excess. The physical restriction of the surgery helps, but in the end it is up to me and my choices. I stay away from any extremes (all natural, whole foods only, paleo, super low carb) and try to meet my macros with foods that keep my satisfied. Noting fancy, but when I make poor food choices, it is a double whammy; the generally high sugar, high carb choices hurt me on the scale and make it more likely to eat even more. I can see the value of a low carb diet, but I do better when I make balanced choices better.

For me, I know what My daily eating pattern looks like when i am successful. When I eat to this pattern, I maintain or lose to my 'good weight'. When I stray, I try not to beat myself up, but just face the facts that actions have consequences. I am trying to get back to good patterns right now, and am failing at consistently making good choices.

There is a good path for each of us, you need to find yours!

Rob

jcavanna2 wrote: »

All very true and insightful! I am just over a year out and am at around 1200/day though there are days where I am over that.

To the rest of you guys, curious to hear your thoughts on a bar that is all natural but due to dates, unsweetened coconut etc, sugars and carbs would be naturally higher but the bar is very satisfying?

For example a sunflower seed butter and jelly one is 225 cals, total fat 8g, 75 MG sodium, total carbs 30g, sugars 11g, dietary fiber 6g, and protein 15g. They are paleo, gluten free, dairy free, non gmo certified, vegan, raw and kosher.

I have tried similar bars and honestly, if I am eating good quality food with good ingredients and the carbs are higher, I don't worry about it, especially if it's satisfying. If it was high in sugar because it was just plain sugar I'd probably be a little more concerned.

@garber6th that's exactly what I thought - no added sugar here, all natural sources. Saw my nutritionist the other day and she is all about very low carb, and even took my nectarine out of my MFP diary because it had 24g carbs!!!

I ate probably 10 servings of fruit today in an all day work training. Hundreds of grams of sugar. I think I'll be ok. I don't know anyone who has become obese on mainly fruit. To think that a processed bar with synthetic artificial ingrediants is better than a nectarine is nuts to me.

@jcavanna2 I still have "junk" food occasionally just a lot less if it. I met with my HMOs dietician regularly for over 2 years after surgery. Just like with all the info I acquire I took her advice into consideration and made choices based on what I thought was best. Didnt agree with her 100% of the time. My theory on fruit is that's it's almost ALWAYS BETTER than the next best option in the moment. Like yesterday, I could either snack on fruit, bagels or Jolly Ranchers. Pretty easy choice for me! I think if people eat more fruit it will push out all the other crappy options we're sometimes stuck with. There's a lot if good people in this group and I'd love to see everyone reach all their health goals. From my experience that can be done without major calorie restriction.

@Aztec4Life my surgeon actually said to avoid eating protein bars regularly because they are so processed and sit on the shelf for so long. For the most part I avoid them except for a few of the brands like @jcavanna2 described, and those are mostly when I am in a bind. I think you both made great points and gave good examples about the choices we make, especially the further out from surgery we are. I have definitely found though that the more natural/whole foods I eat, the less sugar/carbs/starches I eat, the better I do. I appreciate everyone at every phase pre- and post-surgery sharing in this group, it's SO helpful!!