[DocSanae]

Hi everyone.

Do you know how many calories you are supposed to be taking?
Do you know how many calories you can take once you achieve goal?
The first thing is to confirm with your dr/surgeon/dietitian, of course.
Post-op, during your losing period, you probably have been given explicit instructions by your surgeon, so you must stick with that.
However, as you near goal, you may, or many not, be instructed how many caloris you can take.
If your dr/dietitian has given you the numbers how much, and how to distribute the balance among protein, carbs and fat, then follow their instructions.
If no one has indicated how many calories are sufficient, there's a short article, How Many Calories Do I Need, that will tell you how to figure it out. Again, after you've figured it out, confirm with your dr/dietitian if the numbers and balance you come up with, is alright for your dr.

Edit: The link to the original article is broken. I have the same article in my blog in the section called Room 101, broken down into several pieces due to the word number limit per blog. Here's the link to the intro of the article. Please follow the subsquent numbers in my blog for the rest of the article.
http://www.renewedreflections.com/fo...roduction.html

[xsmith95]

Your article is very good, a wealth of knowledge that many of us need. Thank you for taking YOUR time to do this for us.

[DocSanae]

Thank you, Shelly, you are welcome, it was a pleasure working on it.
My thanks also goes to Leslie, Craig's beloved wife, for taking the time to edit and clean up the article, when she is so busy with her own stuff.

[DocSanae]

One note.
In the article mentioned (linked) in lisa's post, "evaluation for weight loss failure, the author of the article states, "The meal needs to be 75% protein." Now, in my article, I have written that the protein distribution should be 10-35%. This difference is going to confuse you all. Please note that I am talking about the distribution of calories of nutrients, while the other article is about the volume of protein as whole food. When translated into calories, the result is in the same range.

The secret to the difference it this. Food that is thought of as "protein"-- beef, pork, chicken, fish--actually contain only around 20% protein. Also some fat, somtimes carb, but in truth, the major content is--water!! So, if you make 75% of your meal protein, only 20% of that, in other words, 15% of your total intake is actually protein. This is also the reason the author of the article insists that you must take protein supplements. If you try to get say 120g protein entirely from whole food, you are going to need 600g(over 20oz!!) of whatever protein food you choose. That's quite a volume, plus, often these food include fat, which you want to stay off. So, choose your food wisely, and what you can't get from food, utilize supplements.

[xsmith95]

Thanks for the clarification. You know your calorie percentage helped me because I use fitday and they go by percentages for calories.

Shelley

[willadeegee]

I just ead this after all this time and boy am i glad you put it here Doc.

I have been unable to see my surgeon because he moved out of state and then my insurance changed and I am no longer able to go to the Barix Center where I had my surgery in the first place. So I have to depend on my primary care physician and she is not up on the requirements of the post-op bariatric requirements. (she is willing to learn tho)

I copied and pasted your article into my notepad program so I can have it handy for reference when I need it.

Thanks for all your help Doc.

[fr1endly2]

THANK you for a very informative article docSanae!
suCH GREAT INFORMATION!
THANKS

[Sherryk]

I had my surgery 2 weeks ago, the first week I lost a pound to a pound and half a day, then I went for my staples to be removed and the stage 2 diet and I totally stopped losing weight. Did this happen to anyone else?

I looked at the calorie thingy I could never have that many calories it says I can have anything over 1200 puts weight on me no matter how small or big I am. I was told to keep all my protein shakes but I wonder if I need to cut one of them out. They give me 25g of protein alone without milk?

[DocSanae]

Sherry, you are too early out for anything to really kick in. Your body NEEDS the protein to HEAL FIRST from surgery. Your body *suffered* MAJOR invasion from your surgeon's hands. It's going to take a couple of months until everything heals completely and the body functions adjust to the new plumbing.
DO NOT OBSESS ABOUT THE LBS. STICK TO YOUR SURGEON'S INSTRUCTIONS AND PROGRAM, THAT IS THE BEST BET FOR SUCCESS. Deviating from the program will throw a curve into your final result. Keep in mind that you didn't gain all the weight in a few days or a few weeks. It took you years and years and years to get to the point where surgery was the best bet for you. So, it isn't going to come off in a few days or a few weeks or a few months. You need to give your body up to two years for your tool to do the job.
(((((HUGS))))) Hang in there, and follow your surgeon's instructions to a T, don't forget to cross all ts and dot all the is. Your body is doing just as it is expected to.

[mrsvanessa]

That article was very good. I'm going to see the Nutritionist tomorrow. The RN seems to think I need guidance on how to put my meals together, but I totally agree. I would be fine in having my two turkey sausages in the morning. Lunch a chicken breast with cheese and marinara sauce and 4 spears of asparagus, then for supper maybe a bison burger. I'll let you guys know what I learn tomorrow. I'm excited about the meeting and hopefully I will learn something and be a lot more productive then it was with my nutritionist back on the west coast (I’ve moved to the east coast now).