How many calories?

Hi! I was just wondering how many calories you are all able to eat a day. I have been using fitday.com to record my food intake and my activities. I am floored that I am generally taking in less than 300 calories a day! I am getting 60 plus grams of protein a day.....less than 5 fat grams....and about 2 grams of carbs. Also.....if you haven't tried a Boca Burger yet they are great! I had about 3/4 of one for dinner tonight. I put it on the grill with my husbands hamburger and couldn't tell that it wasn't meat! Only 90 calories and 14 grams of protein! Sue

I was told not to go over 600 calories per day. I wouldn't worry about less as long as you are getting the protein in... As a matter of fact, the nurse / nutritionist told me today that most people have a hard time getting in 40 grams of protein this early and that you should work up to it, that they didn't want me to get too many calories by pushing too much. I was surprised because I always get in 40-60 grams. The programs are all so different. Mine tells me 3 meals, no snacks. Most people that write in have been told 6 small meals. Oh well. I say there has to be a range of what is right. I love Boca Burgers. They also have a crumbled "meat" that you can use to make things like chili that is really good too. Good luck! Jo

Jo, I saw the crumbled "meat"....I will try that in chili. I have a boat load of roma tomatoes ripening right now! My program also stresses 3 meals a day.....they don't want us in the grazing mode! It's so hard to eat 3 meals a day! I don't know what I would do if I had to do 6 smaller....mine are small enough now. How can you have less than a string cheese?! Sue

I think I've been getting from 300 - 500 calories a day. I really need to eat more in order to get the protein in. My doctor said not to worry about calories , although I do. I'm not supposed to drink the protein shakes. I might have to because I'm not getting nearly enough protein in just eating food. I worry about it after reading everyones posts. I'll have to try a Boca Burger. So far I've only tried chicken - no problems.

Dawn, I am allowe to have a protein mix instead of one meal only! I have one for breakfast...doesn't make any sense to me to make an egg.....70 calories and only 9 grams of protein....or have my protein mix.....90 calories and 23 grams of protein! I also have one before bed to max out my protein. If I didn't use it I wouldn't get more than 20-30 grams a day! My rule is at least 10 grams of protein per 100 calores.......if it isn't there than I won't eat or drink it! I will try the chicken Boca.....would be a nice change! Sue

Sue, what protein are you drinking that is only 90 calories for 23 grams of protein? I have Eas whey protein, same protein, but 120 calories. Maybe I will try what you have next.

I use fitday every day and my average is 300 the other night in my support group I asked this question the Dr and nutritionist were there and i asked how many I should have at 2 months out they said 800-1000 I about flipped I told them I was in the 300 range and they said increase it with it this low my body is going into starvation mode - i thought so as I had a 4 week plateu 2 weeks after surgery and the last 2 weeks i went down 1 pound only!!!

I'm really glad I dropped in and saw this post. I am currently 5 weeks out and last week when I weighed in I had only lost 1 lb. so I immediatly contacted my nutritionist and she told me I should be getting a MINIMUM of 800 cals a day! I couldn't believe it! She also told me to up my liquid intake (she doesn't care what kind of liquid - just non-caffeine, non-carbonated). Anyway - that week I had "averaged" barely 600 cals per day - one of the days was only a little over 300 cals. She basically said my body had stopped releasing it's "stores" because it thought we were experiencing famine or something like that - in other words starvation mode. I'll tell you - this is not why I went through this surgery and so I determined to get that 800 cals. per day! My first action was to start drinking milk (luckily I can tolerate it really well) - I found a milk called "Simply Smart" - it comes in 2 varieties - 1% (120 cals, 10 protein, 35% calcium) and 0% (90 cals, 10 protein, 35% calcium). Dinking 2 cups a day as part of my liquid gives me liquid, protein, calories and more calcium! That REALLY helped me bump things up. I've also started planning my menu for the day BEFOREHAND. So when I put in everything I want to eat for the day I can see if I'm going to fall short in ANY area or if I'm ok (and make any neccessary adjustments) - and I don't worry so much about it during the day - it's already planned out and I just try to follow it. I also placed an order with a company called Smart Forme. They had come to one of our support groups and done a presentation and I had had some samples of protein stuff they make (especially made for bariatric surgery patients) - it's a little pricey, but so is GNC for the Isopure so I did it. I have only had my order a couple of days, but yesterday was EASY to get everything in and I liked what I had. This week - after averaging 760 cals per day I started losing again (2 lbs)! I could actually tell by mid-week that I was losing because I started peeing ALOT more. It is so hard to know what exactly we need at each stage post-op - looks to me like we will be changing every few weeks! Also, the fact that every Surgeon and Nutritionist has differing opinions on what we need is very discouraging. Maybe someday there will be a "standard". Oh well, as long as I can figure it out and have places like this I am hopeful that I'll come through it ok. Penny -21 lbs since surgery day -69 lbs total

HI Penny, I know what you mean about the starvation mode.....that is when I went to fitday.com to see how much I was actually getting in. I was trying to make my meals a little more balanced by eating some veggies but then wasn't able to eat my protein...the motto at the hospital is protein first then if you are still hungry then eat a few veggies.....problem is I am not hungry at all and start to feel kind of sick to my stomach when I do eat....that is when I know I have had enough! Yesterday I had 65 grams of protein! That is a record for me! And the scale moved.....that was very rewarding! -47 since surgery -116 total! Sue

Great discussion! My Dr. and nutritionist said to keep calories between 200-300 per day and to eat 4-6 meals of 2-3 oz. I have not been able to get in enough protein since I'm not allowed protein drinks. I still had one every 3 days or so, just to get in protein. You can't get enough from yogurt and cott. cheese. They haven't said anything about me eating more now since it is going on 6 weeks. I started out with pureed foods for 4 weeks and have started eating soft "real" food now. I have vomited a few times from the new foods, and I think now that it was mostly because of eating too fast, so I have tried to slow down. I think my calories have increased maybe to 300-400 since I have been eating the new foods. It is hard to count calories when you eat out. (I went on a boat trip.) I have had small amounts of minestrone, clam chowder w/o clams, shrimp ****tail, and today spinach/feta quiche. I have still been eating the old pureed-type foods along with 1 or 2 new things a day. I tried salmon 2 times and got sick. I tried tuna, LF mayo, and LF saltines. That went okay and was a nice treat. I just ordered a protein supplement that is suppose to be tasteless and you can sprinkle it on food or mix with water. Have you heard of it? BariatricEating.com Any Whey Tasteless Protein $15.25 I'm wondering now if I should eat more calories? I'll talk to my Dr. soon. The boca burgers sound yummy! Good luck everyone! Mari