:hungry: :hungry: How many calories do you do a day?:hungry: :hungry:

Honestly, I have no idea. I don't count calories, carbs, protein or anything else. I have no desire to spend the rest of my life counting anything, which is one of the reasons I got the band. I eat until my band tells me I am satisifed and I stop. I only eat my 3 scheduled meals a day and an occassional healthy snack.

I don't count anything either. I eat my 3 meals a day and stop when I'm full. That's it. Counting calories never worked for me before, so why start now?

I eat somewhere between 800-1200 a day, I count everything from sodium to carbs.

Right after I moved to soft foods I usually ate around 800. Now that I am full foods I am at 1000. Some days I go over alittle.

I like to keep a journal of what I eat for a couple of reasons. First, it helps me with my grocery list...I glance back and say, "Oh, yeah, *that* was really good...I'll pick up some more." But also, if I stall out, I can glance back and think about what I might want to change or limit. Although I'm still on mushies, I think it will be helpful later to jog my memory of what foods didn't work...if I PB a certain food, and note whether I really chewed that bite well. If I really chewed it well, then I'll probably just have to avoid that food. If I didn't really think it was well-chewed, then I'll know to try again with caution!

And, out of curiousity, I also have started checking the calories and protein grams of the foods I'm eating. So far, it's been staying around 800-1000 calories a day and 30-40 gr. protein. But, I don't really see this as "calorie counting", because I'm not shooting for a specific calorie level, as I did when "counting calories" for dieting in the past. I'm simply limiting myself on the *quantity* of food I'm eating, and sticking with low-fat and low-sugar foods. Somehow that makes it much easier for me.

Tami

Birmingham, AL

273/249/150ish

I do count my calories, and while I agree that this may re-semble "just another diet"- for me, i find writing things down in general gives me a feeling of control and accomplishment- so while I write down calories, I also write down what i spend my money on, my weekly, monthly and yearly goals etc.

I am currently consuming 2000- 2200 calories a day which to many may sound excessive, but note I am a 28 year old male, over 6 ft tall, who is very active (walk a minimum of 12 km a day and weight train 3 times a week).

If I go too far below this, I find myself losing muscle rather than fat (I have scales than measure body fat vs lean body mass). At this level, I am continuing to lose body fat and I expect to be at my target weight by Christmas this year.

I record everything on www.fitday.com......it helps keep me on track. Maybe I won't do it forever but it has helped this first 6 months. I know that we need to do around 80-100 gr. protein a day. I try to keep my intake of carbs under 50-60. And most of the new research shows that if you stay under 1200 cal. for an extended length of time, your body will rebel and refuse to turn lose of fat (hibernation mode).....it's been hard for me to keep my calories up to a healthy, weight-losing level, so fitday.com helps me keep an eye on that. So far, it has worked for me.

I'm eating between 700 - 850 cal/day. I can't seem to get anymore than that down at this time. I'm only 18 days out. I think once I'm on solids, it will increase. I only want to eat about 1000 cal/day once I start solids. Two more weeks. I CAN'T WAIT!!

emily......sounds like you're doing well....don't worry about calories at this point....just concentrate on healing and getting strong. We've got a long road of counting and watching what we eat, don't we! Best wishes!

Thanks Gayle. Isn't that the truth. Best wishes to you as well.

Regards,

ftday.com has really helped me too! Thanks for all of the input!

I write down everything I eat. It makes me feel more in control. I eat about 1000 to 1075 ish daily. My surgeon said no more than 1200.