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There is a lot a variable to this based on your metabolism and activity levels. The best advice is to go by your dr or nut suggestions and determine what works best for you. I personally eat between 700 and 900 a day. I am 7 months out and 135 lbs down. Good luck.

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I haven't ever counted calories. I just make sure I get my Protein amount in and then after that I don't worry about anything. I am in maintenance now. I find I fluctuate back and forth between 165 to 175 pounds in a month. If I step on the scale and I am getting up in the 170's then I makes sure to eat extra healthy for a week and problem solved. This is what works best for me. :) good luck!

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It would depend on how close you are to goal. If you're still 100 pounds from your "healthy weight" then you'll continue to be fine on 700-1000 calories.. if you're within 20-30 pounds of your goal weight, you'll want to increase your calories to a more moderate deficit. At least that's how I understand it!

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Thanks guys. I feel like im plateauing a lot. Been going to the gym 3 times a week and doing elliptical 3 times a week burning 500 calories each time. Im eating enough Protein. I need help lol

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Thanks guys. I feel like im plateauing a lot. Been going to the gym 3 times a week and doing elliptical 3 times a week burning 500 calories each time. Im eating enough Protein. I need help lol

With working out as much as that you may need to increase your calories. This sometimes helps a lot! ;)

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I am 6 months out and my nutritionist still wants me at 500 calories. I work out 5 days a week (run/walk 3 miles a day + an hour step class twice weekly + weightlifting 2x a week). I try to stay at the 500 but i tend to get lightheaded during my workouts when I do. So,because of that fact, I average, more often than not at around 600 to 700 calories a day. I think you have to take serious consideration of the recommendations of the professionals, but you still have to listen to your own body and it's needs. The best part about having had the sleeve surgery is that now I am at a point when I am able to listen to my body; instead of listening to my mind and it's constant chatter or "i want chocolate, i want pizza, i want..." :)

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6 months out, that active and only on 500 calories a day? No wonder you're light headed. I'd flat pass out on 500 calories a day in the gym.

I'm 4 months out, I take in roughly 800-1200 calories a day, sometimes as much as 1800 calories depending on my calories burned and workouts. If I'm getting in two lifting workouts or a lifting session plus cardio later on, I'll up my calories. I'm more concerned with muscle building and retaining my lean mass at this point rather than losing fat at this point, but everyone is different.

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Your calories do seem excessively low for an active person. I burn in excess of 500 calories when I do a good workout and therefore its no wonder you feeling light headed. Your body needs fuel and if you're not giving it enough perhaps your body is in starvation mode and that's why the plateau is occurring.

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I'm at 700 to 800 calories a day and burn between 400 to 550 during a workout session (according to my heart rate monitor. I workout 6 days a week and now have a nice set of "guns" so apparently have been building muscle even with the low calories. At 55 and having been in menopause since age 31 my metabolism is lower than someone younger and its important to remember that as you age you do need less calories as your body will function more efficiently on less. That being said, I'm trying to focus on maintaining so do need to up my calories. Since I'm still losing 1.5 to 2 lbs a week that tells me I need about 800 more calories a day so roughly 1500 or so to maintain at my current exercise level. Its also important to focus on your Protein levels and based on my exercise routine I take in 120 grams a day.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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