Burning Calories

My surgeon currently has me on a 1,000 calories daily, low fat--high protein diet. How many calories should I burn a day? i'm a little lost here, because when i calculate my exercise and how many calories i burned for the day, I have either burned half or more than half. My Dr told me anything less than 500 calories is too few daily. does this mean i need to put some of the calories back or? because i don't want to go over what i should be eating, but i also don't want to end up in the hospital with malnutrition either. And when burning calories, does this also burn carbs, sugar and protein too?

Sorry if these are stupid questions, as you can see, i've never paid any attention before. I'm confused is putting it mildly!:confused:



Thanks,
Kris:rolleyes::o

I never counted calories but as far out as you are and if you are exercising it seems to me that 1000 calories seems a bit low. I would focus on just brisk walking for your cardio and do some strength training. I would talk to your doctor about his expectations though. Your body burns calories for exercise. Carbs (which includes sugar) are burned first as they convert to energy easier. Then fats and lastly protein. When you exercise it is about how many calories you burn. You don't have to really worry about where they come from. And what you burn from exercise is just that. You burn calories all day long so that would add to your total daily calorie burn. Does that make sense?

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Originally Posted by Christie13

I never counted calories but as far out as you are and if you are exercising it seems to me that 1000 calories seems a bit low. I would focus on just brisk walking for your cardio and do some strength training. I would talk to your doctor about his expectations though. Your body burns calories for exercise. Carbs (which includes sugar) are burned first as they convert to energy easier. Then fats and lastly protein. When you exercise it is about how many calories you burn. You don't have to really worry about where they come from. And what you burn from exercise is just that. You burn calories all day long so that would add to your total daily calorie burn. Does that make sense?

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I think so! :) Dr Pakula, just told me to start walking, which i've been doing accept when its really cold out. I find something to do around the house to be active. I was just concerned because she said not less than like 550, 600 calories daily. but if i'm burning what i eat, how is that being healthy? She also wants me to eat 2 oz of meat and 1 oz of veg. That is more calories than i was taking in 3 months ago, has also slowed my weight loss from 5 lbs a week to maybe 3 if that..

Lately i've been trying to cut back on the carbs, not that i do bad or anything. She said no more than 40 carbs daily, I average about 35 or right at 40 carbs daily. And at first i found hard because there is just carbs in everything. But, then it got easier, i figured out how to count w/ reduced portions, for instance if i have some chicken w/ a flour tortilla, the brand i buy is 70 calories &14 carbs for 1 whole tortilla, so I cut them in 4ths. I can't eat a whole one anyways too much food. I have 2 oz of chicken on 1/4th slice of tortilla, that is the calories in the chicken, plus 21 calories & 3.5 carbs for the slice of tortilla. I've learned to do this with everything that is high in calories and carbs and or just too big to eat. I love mexican food, was raised on it. I love Chicken tacos. so for one mini soft chicken taco with 1/4 slice of real cheddar cheese, would be, 105 Calories | 3.5g Carbs | 0g Sugar | 12g Protein, I've learned to count everything, everyday. it actually makes me accountable, keeps me inline.

I exercise daily, and I keep to my 1500 - 1800 calorie diet. I will go over 1500 on hard / long workout days, but I don't go over 1800. I have not had any issues with lack of energy or inability to finish workouts because of lack of calories. I think (just my personal opinion) that because I eat nutrient dense meals (no junk) the calories go further.... Not sure if that makes sense. But, when I was training for my half marathon I did not increase calories beyond 1800 and most days I was at 1500. Some of my workout days were 1.5 - 2 hour runs (10 - 13 miles) and I did not have any issues with my nutrition. I have been doing this since April of 2017 and my blood work from the Dr is perfect with no deficiencies of any kind.

I wouldn't worry about increasing calories until you start having energy issues during workouts.... But this is just based on my experience and only an opinion. Ask your Dr.

Hope this helps.

My doctor never had me count calories, just protein grams and liquid ounces. So I can't help. But my way was much less confusing!

When you are counting carbs, don't forget about fiber. Fiber grams directly affect how many carbs you are actually using. If you're a counter (which I typically am not but am right now to get me back on track) you have to throw away that lump sum you see on the label next to carbohydrates. That's not the number you're actually going to burn. You should be more concerned with NET carbohydrates. That's what counts. NET carbohydrates are the total number of carbs on the label MINUS the amount of fiber. SO - If you have half an avocado, that's 7g carbs. Well, it has 6g of fiber. SO, after you subtract the fiber from the carbs, you're really only using 1g of carbs. The fiber has a definite impact on how our bodies process carbs. So for those tortillas you're talking about, look at the fiber, subtract it from the total carb count, and that's how many carbs you're really supposed to count. I'm sure it's a LOT less and gives you more to work with if you need more food in your diet.
I personally got to a point where I was working out SO much and eating SO little that I got below 500 calories a day. I almost passed out a couple of times in the gym and when my trainer found out what I was eating vs. how much I was working out, he made me sit down, he went to the vending machine, got me a snickers, and made me eat it in front of him so he could see that I was getting carbs. He actually had me cut back on my workouts. But - being newly sleeved is overwhelming enough. Having to count all of that crap is just unnecessary stress for me. I counted protein. That's it. That's all my doctor wanted me to do was worry about my protein and I lost 118lbs that way. At the end of the day, this is your journey. If what your doctor has you doing is confusing the hell out of you and making things harder than they should be, then find out what works best for you and do it that way. There are many ways to do this lifestyle. You'll find that out as you go along through your own experiences and from reading about the experiences of others. Find out what works for you and make that your plan to own and change as necessary. I'm not saying don't listen to your doctor. But I'll bet your doctor isn't sleeved so can't REALLY know what it's like to be in your shoes and have so much information thrown at you when all you're trying to do is learn how to function again and praying to God that this time it will actually work. Just sayin...

Good luck and take care.