So i had meeting with my nutritionist today. i weighed in at 218. WOOO. But she dropped a bomb on me i wasnt expecting. Time to start thinking about maintenance and upping my calories. While i knew this was approaching it makes me nervous. I do realize for my body type and the way im working out to build muscle, that this is something that has to be done. I told her my energy has been down. So she would now like me to shoot for 1500 cals a day, eventually working to 2000. Is this even gonna be possible or what? im coming up on 7 months out, Ive stuck to this program pretty hard. I guess its just nerves and i have to trust her. Shes gotten me this far. How was your transitions and any advice is welcomed. thanks!!

ps. im 28 years old.

i do crossfit 5-6 times and week

also run 3 times a week. training for a half marathon in September then a full in January.

Edited February 5, 20206 yr by JAKE H

21 minutes ago, JAKE H said:

Time to start thinking about maintenance and upping my calories.

Jake - Just went thru the same thing 3 weeks ago and my answer is NO. I have tried but fall short almost every day, Plus I am cheating, For example this morning after Crossfit i took two pieces of toast. Butter and Homemade peanut butter (Honey Roasted) - That is about 500 calories but it took me nearly two hours at my desk to get it down. No its 11 and lunch is coming and not hugry at all.

My Nutra girl have me hitting a few hershey kisses thru the day to get calories and energy. The meal powders add some calories but nothing for energy. It is hard to get the calories in without the carbs and sugar. Not sure how much you can eat but i can not eat that much at all. Unless its junk food for calories it is very hard to do.

I stopped and stalled at 850 Calories so as long as i hit that I do not loose any more. By the way you Rocked this weight lose, we both had surgerys within 10 days - I actually am finding this to be harder then losing weight-

Quick question you skin getting tighter from Working out? Mine is not or very little

Edited February 5, 20206 yr by AJ Tylo

you can probably handle maintaining at 2000 kcal. I gain on that, but I'm female and older (I can maintain if I stay between 1500-1700 a day). At any rate, I don't think you'll gain on that. If you do, you can always cut back a bit. Finding your maintenance range takes a little trial and error.

Thanks for the response Aj. I kinda figured this is how it would be. Im the same way. If i want i can load up on junk, but obviously want the good proteins. And theyre much more filling.

Thank you about the weight lose. its been a ride for sure.

As far as skin, well here is a picture. im good in my arms and everywhere but im lower stomach. its bad there. But hopefully i can save for surgery.

2 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

you can probably handle maintaining at 2000 kcal. I gain on that, but I'm female and older (I can maintain if I stay between 1500-1700 a day). At any rate, I don't think you'll gain on that. If you do, you can always cut back a bit. Finding your maintenance range takes a little trial and error.

thats awesome to hear. I guess i just need to trust her. Plus she knows i wont be able to get up there right away. Its a goal to get to i guess. And i have to remember ill probably still lose weight until i can get there. We will see what happens.

13 minutes ago, JAKE H said:

Thanks for the response Aj. I kinda figured this is how it would be. Im the same way. If i want i can load up on junk, but obviously want the good Proteins. And theyre much more filling.

Thank you about the weight lose. its been a ride for sure.

As far as skin, well here is a picture. im good in my arms and everywhere but im lower stomach. its bad there. But hopefully i can save for surgery.

This is the mental switch from weight loss mode to maintenance. When you are early out and have a lot of restriction, filling foods and upping your calories are incompatible. You need to eat some slider foods.

And concur with @catwoman7, you will likely be able to maintain at 2K+. I'm an early 40's woman, who's not active and I maintain around 2K or so.

Just now, sillykitty said:

This is the mental switch from weight loss mode to maintenance. When you are early out and have a lot of restriction, filling foods and upping your calories are incompatible. You need to eat some slider foods.

im so scared to go down the road of slider foods. Closest i get is almonds. but ill only eat 15-20 because i know i can keep going on them. Any healthier slider foods you suggest?

Just now, JAKE H said:

im so scared to go down the road of slider foods. Closest i get is almonds. but ill only eat 15-20 because i know i can keep going on them. Any healthier slider foods you suggest?

I'm sure others will chime in with more suggestions. But nuts are a good start, as are nut butters. Adding healthy oils to your food, like cook some eggs in olive or avocado oil, and add some cheese. Whole grains are a good option too, especially since you're working out.

You can ease into it and learn to trust yourself.

Thank you Kitty!!!

2 hours ago, JAKE H said:

So i had meeting with my nutritionist today. i weighed in at 218. WOOO. But she dropped a bomb on me i wasnt expecting. Time to start thinking about maintenance and upping my calories. While i knew this was approaching it makes me nervous. I do realize for my body type and the way im working out to build muscle, that this is something that has to be done. I told her my energy has been down. So she would now like me to shoot for 1500 cals a day, eventually working to 2000. Is this even gonna be possible or what? im coming up on 7 months out, Ive stuck to this program pretty hard. I guess its just nerves and i have to trust her. Shes gotten me this far. How was your transitions and any advice is welcomed. thanks!!

ps. im 28 years old.

i do crossfit 5-6 times and week

also run 3 times a week. training for a half marathon in September then a full in January.

Hi Jake, Congratulations on going into maintenance. Do you have your dietitians maintenance food plan? Did she mention adding in low glycemic carbohydrates?

We get it, Transitioning to maintenance after living the "baratric weight loss rules" is hard. It takes time to get into a new mind set.

Talk with @BigViffer @BlueCrush @NurseMichael @Albus @deadmanwalking @PWMDMD for lifting advice from a guy's perspective.

This will be long, because I love this topic.

I'm five years out, I got to goal in six months, I still had tight surgery restriction. You may need graze maintenance food and calories ( eating many small meals) It can feel like you are eating all day long. Did you ever think you would have to work to eat more food? Your surgery restriction will relax over time. It gets easier to eat to fuel your body correctly for lifting/running.

I lift and distance run. I hired a sports medicine dietitian to learn how to fuel for endurance sports with my sleeve.

Some things to think about:

Exercise on low calories is counter productive. Many of us lose muscle with rapid weight loss. If you workout hard on low calories you will lose even more muscle. It's not a healthy look.

When you eat your maintenance plan, you will see better lifting and sport performance results.

I have done full and half marathons. I am training for an elevation half marathon trail run in April. I've learned many things from other bariatric runners and my own experiences. Fueling your body is going to be a different diet. I carb load seven days prior and do a taper before the race. (I'm on facebook - BAC with you. If you want, message me. We can talk more about running/lifting and fueling healthy. Also GardianWilliam in BAC has done competitive lifting/body building. He had RNY and is a certified personal trainer.

Some threads to read on this site:

Join the maintenance thread

7 minutes ago, Healthy_life2 said:

Many of us lose muscle with rapid weight loss.

You are 100% correct and i lost about 40 percent of my muscle mass! Next week going in for a scan for the exact number but never saw this coming = At 377 i could lift anything, grab full coolers of ice and fish, Fight fish, move a 50 pound bag of dog food like it was nothing. Now I am a freaking weak as hell.

For the first 3 weeks of cross fit i was on a very low calorie diet and that just burned of a little fat but tons of muscle, I actually got weaker after 3 weeks doing it wrong. MRE lite powder saved my ass - Now i slam a shake of it 2 hours before working out and seems to help. You can get it on Amazon and its about 500 healthy calories per shake -

By the way you go first Jake on the maintenance phase, I want to stay on the schedule i am on till i quit smoking because i know that is going to be a massive Head F#@cking and will mess up everything.

Great thread and great posts by everyone

AJ

wow thank you!! I will definitely look into all of this. She is writing up a new plan on what foods she wants me to eat but she did give me the amount of protein, carbs, and fats.

starting off at 1500 cals shes looking for

125g protein

200g carbs

40g fat

for 2000 cal

150g protein

250g carbs

44g fat.

And yes that exactly what she said. She told me im starting to get counter productive and its because i told her i was feeling weaker and more fatigued. Its the mental games for me. Eating MORE feels so wrong now.

I was below goal weight at 7 months so I increased from 600 calories to 1000 over several weeks then over a few months up towards 1500/1600 where I am now to maintain. Initially I added nut butters, I switched from low fat yogurt to 4%. I drank 2% Fairlife milk to up calories since it added nutrition and calcium. It took a long time to get more food in volume wise. I did start adding some slider foods but purposely chose things that were not very appealing like boring graham crackers or adding granola to yogurt. I didn't want to add tempting sliders like bread, pasta, pizza or donuts etc that could cause bad habits. Now at 1 year out I do have a piece (100 calories) of dark chocolate a few times a week and 1-2 cookies or 1/4 cup of regular ice cream 1-2 times a week. I have even had a few chips but I put them on a plate, never eat out of a bag. I was so scared of going into maintenance that I would over eat and make poor choices but I feel like I have a good handle on it now.

Just remember to try a little of new food slowly to see what you tolerance is. I don't dump but get stomach discomfort from some foods.

Here is the link to the powder This stuff is great and will give you a boast of energy for working out, However be careful they say 4 scoops per shake start out slow with 2 scopes, I tossed the first few up with 4 scoops was not pretty, Also it takes a while to digest so plan on atleast 2 hours before a work out - IT does taste great however

https://www.amazon.com/Redcon1-Chicken-Dehydrated-Replacement-Blueberry/dp/B072XT69DR/ref=pd_ys_c_rfy_rp_m_120_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B072XT69DR&pd_rd_r=R92AN26XEYJ7EN9YFNSV&pd_rd_w=SPnpU&pd_rd_wg=uKS6E&pf_rd_p=6ff6e24d-f86e-4f8b-a686-93fe454eac13&pf_rd_r=R92AN26XEYJ7EN9YFNSV&psc=1&refRID=N25DBAX2SJH5QWAPQ9T2

13 minutes ago, JAKE H said:

wow thank you!! I will definitely look into all of this. She is writing up a new plan on what foods she wants me to eat but she did give me the amount of Protein, carbs, and fats.

starting off at 1500 cals shes looking for

125g protein

200g carbs

40g fat

for 2000 cal

150g protein

250g carbs

44g fat.

And yes that exactly what she said. She told me im starting to get counter productive and its because i told her i was feeling weaker and more fatigued. Its the mental games for me. Eating MORE feels so wrong now.

You have done fantastic. New year and new fitness goals!

I agree, It felt like I was doing something wrong. I was scared to eat more calories and add carbs. Its pretty normal to feel this way.

My instructions are healthy fats, low glycemic and plant based carbs. (whole wheat,Whole grains, brown rice and sweet potato) Mashed sweet potato is my go to. It fits in my pouch better. Rice bloats me..*laughing * It's going to be trial and error to find the foods that you can fit in and tolerate to increase your calories.

Avocado is also wonderful.